Old/New Testament

On Unclean Persons

5 The Lord told Moses, ² “Command the Israelis to send outside the encampment every leper, everyone who has a discharge, and whoever is ritually defiled by contact with a corpse.^{[a] 3} Whether male or female, send them outside the camp so that they won’t defile their camp, because I live among them.” ⁴ So the Israelis sent them outside the camp. The Israelis did just what the Lord had told Moses.

On Restitution for Offenses

⁵ The Lord told Moses, ⁶ “Instruct the Israelis that whenever a man or woman does something contained in the list^[b] of the sins of man, thereby acting treacherously against the Lord, then that person stands guilty. ⁷ He^[c] is to confess the sin that he had committed, pay its full compensation, add one fifth to it, and give the compensation to whomever he offended. ⁸ But if the person has no related redeemer to whom compensation may be made, the payment is to be brought to the Lord and given to the priest, in addition to a ram for atonement with which he is to be atoned. ⁹ Every offering from all the most sacred things of the Israelis that they bring to the priest is to belong to him. ¹⁰ Furthermore, everyone’s sacred things belong to him, as well as whatever a person gives to the priest.”

The Test for Marital Unfaithfulness

¹¹ Then the Lord told Moses, ¹² “Instruct the Israelis what to do if a man’s wife turns astray so that she unfaithfully acts against him, ¹³ a man has sexual relations^[d] with her and she conceals it from her husband,^[e] keeping it secret although she has defiled herself with there being no witnesses against her, but she was caught anyway. ¹⁴ If an attitude of jealousy overcomes him so that he becomes jealous at his wife when she is defiled, or if an attitude of jealousy overcomes him and he becomes jealous of his wife even though she isn’t defiled, ¹⁵ then that man is to bring his wife to the priest along with an offering for her consisting of a tenth of an ephah^[f] of barley flour. He is not to pour oil or set frankincense over it, because it’s to be a jealousy offering, a memorial offering that will serve as a reminder of iniquity. ¹⁶ Then the priest is to bring it and make her stand in the Lord’s presence. ¹⁷ The priest is to put some holy water into an earthen vessel, take some dust from the floor of the tent, and put it into the water. ¹⁸ The priest is to have the woman stand in the Lord’s presence, uncover her head,^[g] and put the grain offering as a memorial, a reminder of jealousy, into her hands. The priest is also to have in his hand the contaminated^[h] water that carries a curse.

¹⁹ “The priest is to administer this oath to the woman: ‘If indeed another man didn’t have sexual relations^[i] with you and you didn’t become unfaithful to your husband,^[j] then may you be free from these waters that bring a curse. ²⁰ But if you have become unfaithful to your husband and have become defiled because a man who isn’t your husband has had sexual relations with you…’ ²¹ then the priest is to have the woman commit to an oath by saying to the woman, ‘May the Lord make you a curse and a curse among your people. When the Lord makes your thigh waste away and your abdomen swell ²² and this water that brings a curse enters your abdomen, making it swell and your thigh waste away.’

“Then the woman is to say ‘Amen.’

²³ “Then the priest is to write all of these words in a document and wipe it off with the contaminated water. ²⁴ The woman is to drink the bitter water that brings a curse and the water that brings a curse is to be considered contaminated. ²⁵ The priest is to take the offering of jealousy from the woman’s hand, wave the offering in the Lord’s presence, and have her approach the altar. ²⁶ The priest is to take a handful of grain from the memorial and offer a sacrifice on the altar, after which he is to have the woman drink the water. ²⁷ When he has had her drink the water, if she was defiled and had acted unfaithfully toward her husband, then the contaminated water that brings a curse will enter her and infect her, causing her abdomen to swell and her thigh to waste away. Then she is to be a cursed woman among her people. ²⁸ But if the woman isn’t defiled, then she is to be freed and will be able to bear children.^{[k] 29} This is the law in cases of jealousy when a woman defiles herself while under her husband’s authority: ³⁰ When a man becomes under the control of an attitude^[l] of jealousy regarding his wife, he is to present her to the Lord, and the priest is to apply this entire statute to her. ³¹ The husband^[m] will be free from guilt, but the wife is to bear the punishment of her iniquity.”

Nazirites

6 Then the Lord told Moses, ² “Tell the Israelis that a man or woman who commits to the vow of the Nazirite, is to be separated to the Lord, ³ then is to remain separate from wine and strong drink. He is not to drink vinegar or strong drink made from wine. He is not to drink grape juice or eat grapes, whether fresh or dried. ⁴ During the entire time of his dedication, he is not to eat any product from the grapevine, from the seed to the skin. ⁵ During the entire time of his dedication, he is not to allow a razor to pass over his head until the days of his holy consecration to the Lord have been fulfilled. He is to let the locks on his head grow long.

⁶ “During the entire time of his dedication, he is not to come near a dead body.^{[n] 7} He is not to defile himself on account of his father, mother, brother, and sister when they die, because the crown of his consecration to God is on his head. ⁸ During the entire time of his dedication, he is set apart to God. ⁹ When someone suddenly dies beside him, so that his consecrated head is defiled, then he is to shave his head on the day of his purification. Seven days later he is to shave it again. ¹⁰ On the eighth day, he is to bring two turtledoves or two pigeons to the priest at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. ¹¹ Then the priest is to offer one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering to make atonement for him because of the guilt he incurred on account of his contact with the dead body. Then he is to consecrate his head on that day. ¹² He is to dedicate to the Lord the days of his consecration by bringing a year old male lamb as his offering. The previous time will have failed because his consecration became defiled.

¹³ “This is the law of the Nazirite: When the days of his consecration are completed, he is to come to the entrance at the Tent of Meeting. ¹⁴ He is to bring an offering to the Lord, a year old male lamb, and a year old ewe female lamb, both without blemish, for a sin offering and a ram without blemish for a peace offering, ¹⁵ a basket of unleavened bread made^[o] from choice flour, cakes mixed with oil, a wafer of unleavened bread smeared with oil, along with grain and drink offerings. ¹⁶ The priest is to come into the Lord’s presence and present his sin and burnt offerings. ¹⁷ He is to offer the ram, a sacrifice of peace offering to the Lord, along with the basket of unleavened bread. Then the priest is to present his grain and drink offerings. ¹⁸ The Nazirite is then to shave his head of consecration at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. He is to take the lock of his head of consecration and set it over the fire where the peace offering for sacrifice is. ¹⁹ Then the priest is to take the boiled shoulder of the ram, one cake of unleavened bread from the basket, and one wafer of unleavened bread. He is to place them in the hands of the Nazirite, after he himself has shaved his symbol of consecration. ²⁰ The priest is to wave the offerings, that is, the breast and the thigh offering in the Lord’s presence. Then the Nazirite may drink wine afterward. ²¹ This is to be the law of the Nazirite when he commits his offering to the Lord on account of his consecration, over and beyond what he owns alone plus whatever he can provide,^[p] based on the vow from his own mouth that he vows to fulfill on account of the law of his consecration.”

On Blessing the Israelis

²² Later, the Lord told Moses, ²³ “Teach Aaron and his sons to bless the Israelis:

²⁷ They are to pour out my name to the Israelis while I continue to bless them.”

The Parable about a Farmer^(A)

4 Then Jesus^[a] began to teach again beside the sea. Such a large crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it,^[b] while the entire crowd remained beside the sea on the shore. ² He began teaching them many things in parables. While he was teaching them he said, ³ “Listen! A farmer went out to sow. ⁴ As he was sowing, some seeds fell along the path, and birds came and ate them up. ⁵ Others fell on stony ground, where they didn’t have a lot of soil. They sprouted at once, because the soil wasn’t deep. ⁶ But when the sun came up, they were scorched. Since they didn’t have any roots, they dried up. ⁷ Others fell among thorn bushes, and the thorn bushes came up and choked them out, and they didn’t produce anything. ⁸ But others fell on good soil and produced a crop. They grew up, increased in size, and produced 30, 60, or 100 times what was sown.”^{[c] 9} He added, “Let the person who has ears to hear, listen!”

The Purpose of the Parables^(B)

¹⁰ When he was alone with the Twelve and those around him, they began to ask him about the parables. ¹¹ He told them, “The secret about the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside, everything comes in parables ¹² so that

Jesus Explains the Parable about the Farmer^(C)

¹³ Then he told them, “You don’t understand this parable, so how can you understand any of the parables? ¹⁴ The farmer sows the word. ¹⁵ Some people are like the seeds^[e] along the path, where the word is sown. When they hear it, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. ¹⁶ Others are like the seeds^[f] sown on the stony ground. When they hear the word, at once they joyfully accept it, ¹⁷ but since they don’t have any roots, they last for only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes along because of the word, they immediately fall away. ¹⁸ Still others are like the seeds^[g] sown among the thorn bushes. These are the people who hear the word, ¹⁹ but the worries of life, the deceitful pleasures of wealth, and the desires for other things come in and choke the word so that it can’t produce a crop. ²⁰ Others are like the seeds^[h] sown on good soil. They hear the word, accept it, and produce crops—30, 60, or 100 times what was sown.”^[i]