The Daily Audio Bible

²² “‘You are to observe all my regulations and rulings and act on them, so that the land to which I am bringing you will not vomit you out. (LY: vii) ²³ Do not live by the regulations of the nation which I am expelling ahead of you; because they did all these things, which is why I detested them. ²⁴ But to you I have said, “You will inherit their land; I will give it to you as a possession, a land flowing with milk and honey.” I am Adonai your God, who has set you apart from other peoples. (Maftir) ²⁵ Therefore you are to distinguish between clean and unclean animals and between clean and unclean birds; do not make yourselves detestable with an animal, bird or reptile that I have set apart for you to regard as unclean. ²⁶ Rather, you people are to be holy for me; because I, Adonai, am holy; and I have set you apart from the other peoples, so that you can belong to me.

²⁷ “‘A man or woman who is a spirit-medium or sorcerer must be put to death; they are to stone them to death; their blood will be on them.’”

Haftarah K’doshim: ‘Amos 9:7–15 (A); Yechezk’el (Ezekiel) 20:2–20 (S)

B’rit Hadashah suggested readings for Parashah K’doshim: Mattityahu (Matthew) 5:33–37; 5:43–48; 15:1–11; 19:16–30; 22:33–40; Mark 7:1–23; 12:28–34; Luke 10:25–39; Romans 13:8–10; Galatians 5:13–26; Ya‘akov (James) 2:1–9; 1 Kefa (1 Peter) 1:13–21

Parashah 31: Emor (Speak) 21:1–24:23

21 Adonai said to Moshe, “Speak to the cohanim, the sons of Aharon; tell them: ‘No cohen is to make himself unclean for any of his people who dies, ² except for his close relatives — his mother, father, son, daughter and brother; ³ he may also make himself unclean for his virgin sister who has never married and is therefore dependent on him. ⁴ He may not make himself unclean, because he is a leader among his people; doing so would profane him. ⁵ Cohanim are not to make bald spots on their heads, mar the edges of their beards or cut gashes in their flesh. ⁶ Rather, they are to be holy for their God and not profane the name of their God. For they are the ones who present Adonai with offerings made by fire, the bread of their God; therefore they must be holy.

⁷ “‘A cohen is not to marry a woman who is a prostitute, who has been profaned or who has been divorced; because he is holy for his God. ⁸ Rather, you are to set him apart as holy, because he offers the bread of your God; he is to be holy for you, because I, Adonai, who makes you holy, am holy. ⁹ The daughter of a cohen who profanes herself by prostitution profanes her father; she is to be put to death by fire.

¹⁰ “‘The cohen who is ranked highest among his brothers, the one on whose head the anointing oil is poured and who is consecrated to put on the garments, is not to stop grooming his hair, tear his clothes, ¹¹ go in to where any dead body is or make himself unclean, even when his father or mother dies. ¹² He may not leave the sanctuary then or profane the sanctuary of his God, because the consecration of the anointing oil of his God is on him; I am Adonai.

¹³ “‘He is to marry a virgin; ¹⁴ he may not marry a widow, divorcee, profaned woman or prostitute; but he must marry a virgin from among his own people ¹⁵ and not disqualify his descendants among his people; because I am Adonai, who makes him holy.’”

(ii) ¹⁶ Adonai said to Moshe, ¹⁷ “Tell Aharon, ‘None of your descendants who has a defect may approach to offer the bread of his God. ¹⁸ No one with a defect may approach — no one blind, lame, with a mutilated face or a limb too long, ¹⁹ a broken foot or a broken arm, ²⁰ a hunched back, stunted growth, a cataract in his eye, festering or running sores, or damaged testicles — ²¹ no one descended from Aharon the cohen who has such a defect may approach to present the offerings for Adonai made by fire; he has a defect and is not to approach to offer the bread of his God. ²² He may eat the bread of his God, both the especially holy and the holy; ²³ only he is not to go in to the curtain or approach the altar, because he has a defect — so that he will not profane my holy places, because I am Adonai, who makes them holy.’”

²⁴ Moshe said these things to Aharon, his sons and all the people of Isra’el.

22 Adonai said to Moshe, ² “Tell Aharon and his sons to separate themselves from the holy things of the people of Isra’el which they set apart as holy for me, so that they will not profane my holy name; I am Adonai. ³ Tell them, ‘Any descendant of yours through all your generations who approaches the holy things that the people of Isra’el consecrate to Adonai and is unclean will be cut off from before me; I am Adonai.

⁴ “‘Any descendant of Aharon with tzara‘at or a discharge is not to eat the holy things until he is clean. Anyone who has touched a person made unclean by a dead body, or who has had a seminal emission, ⁵ or who has touched a reptile or insect that can make him unclean, or a man who is unclean for any reason and who can transmit to him his uncleanness — ⁶ the person who touches any of these will be unclean until evening and is not to eat the holy things unless he bathes his body in water. ⁷ After sunset he will be clean; and afterwards, he may eat the holy things; because they are his food. ⁸ But he is not to eat anything that dies naturally or is torn to death by wild animals and thereby make himself unclean; I am Adonai. ⁹ The cohanim must observe this charge of mine; otherwise, if they profane it, they will bear the consequences of their sin for doing so and die in it; I am Adonai, who makes them holy.

¹⁰ “‘No one who is not a cohen may eat anything holy, nor may a tenant or employee of a cohen eat anything holy. ¹¹ But if a cohen acquires a slave, either through purchase or through his being born in his household, he may share his food. ¹² If the daughter of a cohen is married to a man who is not a cohen, she is not to have a share of the food set aside from the holy things. ¹³ But if the daughter of a cohen is a widow or divorcee and has no child, and she is sent back to her father’s house as when she was young, she may share in her father’s food; but no one not a cohen is to share in it. ¹⁴ If a person eats holy food by mistake, he must add one-fifth to it and give the holy food to the cohen. ¹⁵ They are not to profane the holy things of the people of Isra’el that they have set apart for Adonai ¹⁶ and thus cause them to bear guilt requiring a guilt offering, by eating their holy things; because I am Adonai, who makes them holy.’”

9 Yes!” he went on, “I tell you that there are some people standing here who will not experience death until they see the Kingdom of God come in a powerful way!”

² Six days later, Yeshua took Kefa, Ya‘akov and Yochanan and led them up a high mountain privately. As they watched, he began to change form, ³ and his clothes became dazzlingly white, whiter than anyone in the world could possibly bleach them. ⁴ Then they saw Eliyahu and Moshe speaking with Yeshua. ⁵ Kefa said to Yeshua, “It’s good that we’re here, Rabbi! Let’s put up three shelters — one for you, one for Moshe and one for Eliyahu.” ⁶ (He didn’t know what to say, they were so frightened.) ⁷ Then a cloud enveloped them; and a voice came out of the cloud, “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!” ⁸ Suddenly, when they looked around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Yeshua.

⁹ As they came down the mountain, he warned them not to tell anyone what they had seen until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead. ¹⁰ So they kept the matter to themselves; but they continued asking each other, “What is this ‘rising from the dead’?” ¹¹ They also asked him, “Why do the Torah-teachers say that Eliyahu has to come first?” ¹² “Eliyahu will indeed come first,” he answered, “and he will restore everything. Nevertheless, why is it written in the Tanakh that the Son of Man must suffer much and be rejected? ¹³ There’s more to it: I tell you that Eliyahu has come, and they did whatever they pleased to him, just as the Tanakh says about him.”

¹⁴ When they got back to the talmidim, they saw a large crowd around them and some Torah-teachers arguing with them. ¹⁵ As soon as the crowd saw him, they were surprised and ran out to greet him. ¹⁶ He asked them, “What’s the discussion about?” ¹⁷ One of the crowd gave him the answer: “Rabbi, I brought my son to you because he has an evil spirit in him that makes him unable to talk. ¹⁸ Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground — he foams at the mouth, grinds his teeth and becomes stiff all over. I asked your talmidim to drive the spirit out, but they couldn’t do it.” ¹⁹ “People without any trust!” he responded. “How long will I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring him to me!” ²⁰ They brought the boy to him; and as soon as the spirit saw him, it threw the boy into a convulsion. ²¹ Yeshua asked the boy’s father, “How long has this been happening to him?” “Ever since childhood,” he said; ²² “and it often tries to kill him by throwing him into the fire or into the water. But if you can do anything, have pity on us and help us!” ²³ Yeshua said to him, “What do you mean, ‘if you can’? Everything is possible to someone who has trust!” ²⁴ Instantly the father of the child exclaimed, “I do trust — help my lack of trust!” ²⁵ When Yeshua saw that the crowd was closing in on them, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You deaf and dumb spirit! I command you: come out of him, and never go back into him again!” ²⁶ Shrieking and throwing the boy into a violent fit, it came out. The boy lay there like a corpse, so that most of the people said he was dead. ²⁷ But Yeshua took him by the hand and raised him to his feet, and he stood up.

²⁸ After Yeshua had gone indoors, his talmidim asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” ²⁹ He said to them “This is the kind of spirit that can be driven out only by prayer.”