Old/New Testament
Offerings for sins that people did not really want to do
4 The Lord said to Moses, 2 ‘Say to Israel's people, “A man may sin, when he did not really want to sin against the Lord. This is what that person must do.
3 The man may be a priest that you have anointed. If that is true, his sins will cause the people to sin. He must bring a young bull as a gift to the Lord. 4 The priest must bring the young bull to the door of the Lord's Tent of Meeting. He must put his hand on the animal's head. And then he must kill it in front of the Lord. 5 The priest that you have anointed must carry some of the blood into the Tent of Meeting. 6 He must put his finger in the blood. He must shake it in front of the holy curtain seven times in front of the Lord. 7 He must put some of the blood on the horns of the incense altar in front of the Lord. The priest must pour the blood that he did not use onto the floor in front of the altar. That altar is near the door outside the Tent of Meeting. 8 He must cut all the fat from inside the dead animal. 9 He must also cut out the kidneys and the best piece of the liver. He must take them from inside the animal. 10 He must burn the fat on the altar. The priest does this when the people give a friendship offering to God. 11 He must take up the skin and all the meat. He must take the head, the legs and all the inside pieces. He must include the stomach. 12 The priest must take all the pieces to a clean place outside the camp. He must put them on the ashes and he must burn them on a wood fire.
13 All of the people might do bad things when they did not really want to do them. They might not obey some of the Lord's rules. They will have sinned, even if they did not know this. 14 When they do know about it they must bring a young bull to the Tent of Meeting. The animal is a sin offering. 15 The leaders of the people must put their hands on the young bull's head. Then they must kill it in front of the Lord. 16 The priest will take some of the blood into the Tent of Meeting. 17 He will put his finger in the blood. He must shake it in front of the Lord and the holy curtain seven times. 18 He will take some of the blood. Then he will put it on the horns of the altar that is in front of the Lord. He will pour the blood that he did not use onto the floor. He must pour it in front of the burnt offering altar. This altar is outside the door of the Tent of Meeting. 19 The priest will cut all the fat from the dead animal. And he will burn all the fat on the altar of burnt offering. 20 He will do with this bull what he did with the bull for the sin offering. This is how the priest will atone for the sins of the people. God will forgive them when the priest does this. 21 The priest will take the dead animal outside the camp. He will put it on the ashes from the altar fire. He will burn the animal as he did the first bull. This is the sin offering for all the people.
22 A leader might do bad things when he did not really want to do them. He has sinned if he does not obey one of the Lord's rules. 23 People will tell him that he has done wrong things. So then he must give a male goat to God. The animal must be perfect. 24 He must put his hand on the goat's head and then he must kill it. He must do this where they kill animals in front of the Lord for the burnt offering. It is a sin offering. 25 The priest will put his finger in the blood of the dead animal. He will put some of it on the horns of the altar. He will pour the blood that he did not use onto the ground. He will pour it in front of the altar. 26 Then the priest will cut all the fat from the goat. And he will burn it on the altar. He will do this as he did for the friendship offering. This is how the priest will make atonement for the leader's sin. Then God will forgive the leader.
27 One of the people might do bad things when he did not really want to do them. He did not obey one of the Lord's rules. That person has sinned. 28 They will tell him that he has done bad things. Then he must give a female goat to God. The animal must be perfect. 29 He must put his hand on the goat's head. Then he must kill it by the altar of burnt offering. 30 The priest will put his finger in the blood of the goat. He will put some of it on the altar's corners. He will pour out the blood that he did not use. He will pour it onto the ground in front of the altar. 31 The priest will cut all the fat from the goat as he did with the friendship offering. And he will burn it on the altar. This will make atonement for the wrong things that the person has done. The smell of it while it is burning will give the Lord pleasure. Then the Lord will forgive the person.
32 If a person wants to give a young sheep to God, it must be a female. It must be perfect. 33 He must put his hand on the animal's head. He will kill it at the altar of burnt offering. 34 The priest will put his finger in the blood of the sheep. He will take some of it and he will put it on the horns of the altar. He will pour the blood that he did not use on the ground in front of the altar. 35 The priest will cut all the fat from the sheep as he did with the friendship offering. He will burn it on the altar. He must burn it on top of the burnt offerings. This is how the priest will make atonement for the person's sin. Then the Lord will forgive the person.
Sins for which people must give an offering
5 A person may know about something that is wrong. He may not speak about it at a public meeting. That person is sinning.
2 God has said that some animals and insects are not clean. A person may touch a dead animal or an insect like that. If he does, he is doing something wrong. It is a sin even if he did not really want to touch it.
3 A person may touch something that another person has made bad. If he does, he is doing something wrong. He might not know that it is bad, but he is still doing a wrong thing.
4 A person is doing a wrong thing if he says any careless promise. The promise might be good or bad. People will tell him that he has not obeyed God's rules. Then he will know that he has sinned.
5 A person must tell the priest if he has done any of these things. 6 He must give a sheep or a goat for a sin offering. Then the Lord will not be angry with him. The priest will kill the animal as a sacrifice to atone for that sin.
What the people should do if they do not have much money
7 A person may not have money to buy a sheep or a goat. If he does not, he must buy two doves or two pigeons.[a] He must give them to the Lord. One bird will be a sin offering. The second bird will be a burnt offering.
8 The priest will bring one of the birds to the altar. It is the sin offering. He will break the neck of the bird, but he will not pull the head off. 9 He will shake some of the blood onto the side of the altar. He will pour the blood that he did not shake onto the floor. He must pour it in front of the altar. 10 The priest will burn the other bird. God will not be angry with the man when the priest does this.
11 A person may not have money to buy two doves or two pigeons. If he does not, he must give a tenth of an ephah (about two litres) of flour. He must not put oil or incense on the flour because it is a sin offering. 12 He must take it to the priest. The priest will burn some of the flour on the altar as a special part of the flour. It is a sin offering to the Lord. 13 He will forgive the person when the priest does this. The flour that he did not burn is like the grain offering. It belongs to the priests.” ’
The gift to the Lord when a person does wrong things
14 The Lord said to Moses, 15 ‘If a person does not obey the Lord's holy rules he is sinning. He must give a male sheep to the Lord. He must do this even if he did not know that he had sinned. It is a gift to the Lord to pay for his sins. It must be a perfect male animal. It must be worth the correct amount of money. 16 He must also give money worth one fifth more. The person must give the sheep and the money to the priest. The priest will sacrifice the sheep. It is an atonement for the wrong things that the person has done. God will forgive the person.
17 A person might do wrong things against the Lord. But the person might not know that they were wrong. He is sinning. 18 When he knows about it, he must bring a sheep to the priest. The animal must be a perfect male. The sheep must be worth the right amount of money. The priest will give the sheep to the Lord. It will be an atonement for the wrong things that the person has done. Then the Lord will forgive the person. 19 The sheep is an offering because the person did not obey the Lord.’
29 Then after all these bad things have happened,
“The sun will become dark.
The moon will not shine any more.
Stars will fall out of the sky.
And the powerful things in the sky will shake.”[a]
30 Then people will see a powerful thing in the sky. This will show them that the Son of Man is coming. All the families of people in the world will cry because they are very sad. Then they will see the Son of Man. He will be riding on the clouds in the sky. He will have great power and bright glory. 31 People will hear the sound of a loud trumpet. The Son of Man will send out his angels. They will go in every direction. They will bring together all the people that God has chosen from every part of the earth and from every part of the sky.’
Jesus tells a story about a fig tree
32 ‘Here is a lesson for you to learn about the fig tree. When the new branches on the tree start to grow, the leaves appear. Then you know that the summer will come soon. 33 In the same way, you will see all these strange things happening. Then you will know that the Son of Man will come very soon. He will be like someone at the door who is ready to come in. 34 I tell you this: The people who are alive now will not all die until all these things happen. 35 One day, the earth and the sky will have an end. But my words will be there for ever.’
Nobody will know when the Son of Man will return
36 Jesus then said, ‘Nobody knows the day or the hour when all these things will happen. Only God the Father knows when they will happen. The angels who are in heaven do not know. Even the Son does not know. 37 Remember what happened when Noah was alive.[b] It will be like that when the Son of Man returns to the earth. 38 In Noah's time, in the days before the flood, people were eating their meals every day. Men married women and women married men. They continued to do all these things until the day that Noah went into his big boat. 39 The people did not know what would happen. Then rain fell for a long time and all these people died in the deep water. When the Son of Man returns, it will happen quickly in the same way. 40 At that time, it will be like this: Two men will be working in a field. God will take one man away, but he will leave the other man behind. 41 Two women will be preparing food together in the same place. God will take one of them away, but he will leave the other woman behind.
42 So you must watch carefully! You do not know the day when your Master will come back. 43 You can be sure about this. The master of a house does not know at what time of night a man would come to rob him. If he knew the time, he would watch his house more carefully. He would not let the robber come into his house and take away his things. 44 So you must also be ready. The Son of Man will come at a time when you are not thinking about it.’
Jesus tells a story about two servants
45 Jesus then said, ‘You should be like a wise servant. Be someone that the master can trust. The master will choose a man like that. He will say to him, “Rule over my house and all my other servants. Give everyone their food to eat at the right time.” 46 That servant will be very happy when his master comes home. His master will see that he has done everything well. 47 Yes, I tell you this: The master will give that servant authority to rule over everything in his house. 48 But another servant might be bad. He might say to himself, “My master will not come yet.” 49 Then he begins to hit the other servants. He eats too much and he drinks too much. He meets with other people who become drunk. 50 Then the master of that servant will come home and he will surprise the servant. He did not think that his master would come home on that day or at that time. 51 Then the master will punish him a lot. He will put the servant with those people who do not obey him. The people in that place will cry and they will bite their teeth together.’
EasyEnglish Bible Copyright © MissionAssist 2019 - Charitable Incorporated Organisation 1162807. Used by permission. All rights reserved.