Old/New Testament
Rules for the people's gifts
1 The Lord spoke to Moses from the Tent of Meeting.[a] He told him the rules that Israel's people must obey. 2 The Lord said, ‘Speak to Israel's people. Tell them this. When a person gives an animal to the Lord, it must be a cow or a sheep or a goat. 3 A person may want to give a gift to the Lord. That gift must be a male animal from his group of animals. It must be perfect. He must burn the whole animal as a gift to the Lord. The person must bring it to the door of the Tent of Meeting. If he does, the Lord will accept his gift. 4 The person must put his hand on the animal's head. Then he must kill it. The animal's death will pay for the person's sins. 5 The person must kill the young bull in front of the Lord. The priests who are the sons of Aaron will take the blood. They will throw it onto the sides of the altar. That is the altar near to the door of the Tent of Meeting. 6 The person must take the skin from the dead animal and then he must cut up the meat. 7 The sons of Aaron the priest will light a fire on the altar. Then they will put wood on it. 8 The priests will put the pieces of meat on the fire. They will put the head and the fat on the fire with the meat. 9 The person must wash the legs and the inside parts with water. Then the priest will burn the whole animal on the altar. The smell of it while it is burning will give the Lord pleasure.[b]
10 A person may want to give a sheep or a goat as a gift to God. It must be a male animal. It must be perfect. 11 The person must kill it at the north side of the altar. The priests will throw the blood onto the sides of the altar in front of the Lord. 12 The person must cut the animal up. The priests will take the pieces of meat, the head and the fat. They will put them on the fire that is burning on the altar. 13 The person must wash the legs and the inside parts with water. The priest will burn the whole animal on the altar. It is a burnt offering. The smell of it while it is burning will give the Lord pleasure.
Moses tells Israel's people what to do with gifts that are birds
14 If a person wants to give a bird to the Lord, it must be a dove or a pigeon. 15 The priest will bring the bird to the altar. He will tear off the head and he will burn it on the altar. The priest will pour the blood onto the side of the altar. 16 Then the priest will remove the part of the bird where the food is stored. He will throw it on the east side of the altar, with the ashes. 17 He will hold the parts that the bird uses to fly. And then he will tear open the body. But he must not tear it completely. He will burn all of it on the fire that is on the altar. The smell of it while it is burning will give the Lord pleasure.
Moses tells Israel's people what to do with gifts that are grain
2 A person may want to give grain as a gift to the Lord. He must make it into flour. He must put oil and incense on the flour. 2 He must take it to Aaron's sons, the priests. The priest will take some of the flour and oil and all the incense in his hand. He will burn them on the altar as a gift to the Lord. The smell of them while they are burning will give the Lord pleasure. 3 The flour that he did not burn is for the priests. It is very holy. That is because it is part of an offering to the Lord.
4 A person must not use yeast if he bakes his gift of grain. He must make cakes or biscuits with flour and oil. 5 He must not use yeast if he cooks his cake on a flat plate. He must make it with flour and oil. 6 He must break the cake into pieces. He must pour oil on it. It is a gift to God. 7 A person must use flour and oil to cook the cake in a pot. 8 He must give the cake to the priest. The priest will take it to the altar. 9 He will take a piece of it and he will burn it in the fire. It is a gift to the Lord. The smell of it while it is burning will give the Lord pleasure. 10 The part of the cake that he did not burn is for the priests. That is because it is most holy, part of a burnt offering to the Lord.
11 A person must not use yeast when he gives a gift of grain to the Lord. He must not give yeast or honey for the priests to burn as gifts to the Lord. 12 He can give them as the first part of his harvest. He must not burn them on the fire. He cannot use them to give the Lord pleasure. 13 A person must put salt in all his gifts of grain. Salt is a mark of God's promise to Israel's people.[c]
14 A person may want to give the first part of his harvest to the Lord. He must break the grains into pieces and he must cook them in a fire. 15 They are a gift, so he must put oil and incense on them. 16 The priest will burn a part of the grain with all the incense. It is a burnt offering to the Lord.
Moses tells Israel's people what to do with their gifts for the Lord
3 A person might want to give a friendship offering to the Lord. He must take a perfect animal from his group of animals. The animal can be male or female. 2 The person must put his hand on the animal's head. Then he must kill it at the door of the Tent of Meeting. Aaron's sons the priests will throw the blood onto the sides of the altar. 3 The person must burn some pieces of the animal as a gift to the Lord. It is a friendship offering. 4 He must bring all the fat from inside the animal. And he must bring the kidneys with their fat and the best piece of the liver. 5 The priests, Aaron's sons, will take the pieces. They must put them on top of the gift on the altar. The smell of them while they are burning will give the Lord pleasure.[d]
6 If a person wants to give a sheep to the Lord as a friendship offering, it must be perfect. The person can give a male animal or a female animal to the Lord. 7 If it is a young sheep he must offer it to the Lord. 8 He must put his hand on its head. Then he must kill it at the front of the Tent of Meeting. Aaron's sons will throw the blood onto the sides of the altar. 9 The person must cut the tail off the animal. He must give the tail and all the fat from inside the body to the Lord. 10 He must also give the kidneys and the best piece of the liver. 11 The priest will burn them as food on the altar. They are a burnt offering to the Lord.
12 A person may offer a goat to the Lord. 13 The person must put his hand on the goat's head. Then he must kill it at the front of the Tent of Meeting. Then Aaron's sons will throw the blood onto the sides of the altar. 14 The person must take all the fat round the inside parts. He must give it to the Lord for a burnt offering. 15 He must also give the kidneys with the fat on them and the best piece of the liver. 16 The priest will burn them as food on the altar. The smell of them while they are burning will give the Lord pleasure.
17 Israel's people must not eat any fat or drink any blood. This rule is for them and for their children everywhere. They must obey this rule always.’
Jesus talks about the temple
24 Jesus left the temple. While he was leaving, his disciples came to him. They began to talk to him about the buildings of the temple. 2 So Jesus said to them, ‘Yes, you can see all these beautiful buildings now. But I tell you this: Enemies will completely destroy them.[a] Not even one stone will remain on top of another stone.’
3 After that, Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives. While he was alone, his disciples came to him. They said to him, ‘Please tell us when all these things will happen. Also tell us what will show us that you will soon return? What will show us that the world will soon end?’
4 Jesus said, ‘You must be careful! Some people will tell you things that are not true. Do not believe them. 5 Many people will say that they have come on my behalf. They will say, “I am the Messiah.” Many people will believe their false words. 6 You will hear about wars. You will hear reports about wars in other places. But you must not be afraid. Those things must happen first, but it is not yet the end of everything. 7 People in one country will attack the people in another country. Kings and their armies will fight against other kings and their armies. In some places, people will be hungry, with no food. The ground will shake in many different places. 8 All those things will be like the first pains that a mother has before her baby is born.
9 Then people will take hold of you and they will give you pain. They will even kill some of you. People in every country will hate you because you are my disciples. 10 At that time, many people who believe in me will stop believing. They will put some of my disciples in the power of their rulers. They will hate each other. 11 Also at that time, many people will say that they are prophets from God. Their message is false, but many people will believe them. 12 More and more people everywhere will be doing very bad things. Because of this, many people will no longer love each other in the way that they did before. 13 But God will save the person who remains strong until the end. 14 People will tell the good news about God's kingdom to people all over the world. People in every country will hear the true message from God. Then God will cause the world to come to an end.
15 Long ago, God's prophet Daniel wrote in the Bible about something that would happen. He said that one day people would put a disgusting thing that causes trouble in the temple. You will see it in the holy place. (When you read this, you must understand what it means.) 16 At that time, people in Judea must run away to the hills to hide.
17 A person who is on the roof of his house must not go down into his house.[b] He must not stop to get anything from his home to take with him. 18 People who are outside in their fields must not go back to their homes. They must not even go to fetch their coats. 19 That will be a bad time for women who are soon to have a baby! It will also be a bad time for those women who have little babies! 20 You must pray to God about this time when you have to run away quickly. Pray that this time of trouble will not happen in winter. Pray that it will not happen on your day of rest. 21 Great troubles will happen to people at that time. Nothing as bad has ever happened before, since the beginning of the world. Nothing as bad will ever happen again. 22 God will cause those days of great trouble to be not so many. If he did not do that, there would be nobody still alive. But God will cause those days to come to an end. He will do that to help the people that he has chosen. 23 At that time, someone may say to you, “Look, here is the Messiah.” Or they may say, “There he is!” When they say that, do not believe them. 24 Some people will say to you, “I am the Messiah!” Other people will say, “I am a prophet from God.” But their words will be false. They will do strange and powerful things for people to see. If possible, they would even deceive the people that God has chosen. 25 So be careful! I have told you about these things before they happen.
26 Some people may say to you, “Look, the Messiah is out there in the wilderness.” But do not go out to see who is there. Some people may say to you, “Look, the Messiah is hiding in that secret room.” You must not believe these people. 27 Lightning shines quickly and it lights up the whole of the sky from one side to the other. It will be like that when the Son of Man returns. 28 If the dead body of an animal is lying somewhere, vultures will come together in that place.[c]
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