Old/New Testament
Other rules
19 The Lord said to Moses, 2 ‘Speak to Israel's people. They must be holy because I am holy. You must tell them that.
3 Each person must respect his mother and his father. All the people must keep the Sabbath as a day of rest. I am the Lord your God.
4 You must not worship idols. You must not use metal to make gods for yourselves. I am the Lord your God.
5 When a person sacrifices a friendship offering to the Lord, he must obey the rules. If he does, the Lord will accept the gift. 6 The people must eat the meat on the day that the person offers it. Or they must eat it on the next day. The person must burn any meat that he has not eaten after the second day. 7 On the third day, the meat is not clean. 8 If he eats the meat on the third day he makes unclean a gift that is holy to the Lord. You must send him away from the camp.
9 When a person cuts the plants in his field, he must not cut to the edge of the field. He must not pick up what he drops. 10 If a person grows fruit to make wine, he must not pick all the fruit. He must not pick up the fruit that drops. The fruit that drops is for the poor people. And it is for those who are foreign. I am the Lord your God.
11 You must not take something that belongs to another person. You must not say something that is not true. You must obey my rules.
12 You must not use the name of your God to say a promise. This will make my name unclean. I am the Lord.
13 You must not rob another person. You must not keep a slave's money until the morning.
14 You must not speak bad words against a person who is deaf. You must not put something in front of a blind person, to make them fall down. I am the Lord. Obey me.
15 You must be fair to other people when you judge them. You must not be more kind to a rich person than to a poor person. You must be fair to everyone.
16 You must not speak bad words about other people. If somebody is in danger of death, do not keep quiet if you know the truth. I am the Lord.
17 You must not think bad thoughts about another person. A person may do something that is wrong. You must tell him that he is doing a wrong thing. If you do, you will not be a part of the wrong thing.
18 You must not try to punish a person who has done something wrong against you. You must not continue to hate a person like that. Instead, you must love other people as much you love yourself. I am the Lord.
19 The people must obey God's rules. They must not let two different kinds of animals have sex together. They must not put two different kinds of seeds in one field. They must not make clothes from two different materials.
20 A slave girl belongs to a man. Another man must not have sex with her. If he does, he is doing a wrong thing. But the girl is not free. He has not bought her. You must punish them. But you must not kill them because the girl was not free. 21 The man must bring a male sheep to the door of the Tent of Meeting. It is an offering to the Lord. 22 The priest will sacrifice the gift to the Lord. The sacrifice will atone for the man's sin. Then the Lord will forgive the man.
23 When you go into Canaan, a person may plant a fruit tree there. But he must not eat the fruit for three years. 24 In the fourth year, the fruit is holy. It is an offering to praise the Lord. 25 In the fifth year, the people can eat the fruit. If they do this, the trees will give much fruit to the people. I am the Lord your God.
26 You must not eat any meat that has the blood in it. You must not do magic. You must not use magic to learn about future times.
27 A man must not cut the hair on the sides of his head. He must not cut the edges of his beard.
28 He must not cut his body to remember the dead people. He must not paint his body. I am the Lord your God.
29 He must not sell his daughter for sex. You would make her ashamed. If he does this, all the people might do the same. The whole land would become full of sin.
30 God has said what the people can do on the Sabbath day of rest. On the day of rest, the people must do only those things. They must respect the Lord's house. I am the Lord.
31 They must not ask people who do magic to help them. That would make Israel's people unclean. I am the Lord your God.
32 The people must stand up when they are with old people. They must respect the old people. They must give honour to their God. I am the Lord your God.
33 A foreign person may live in your land. You must be kind to him or to her. 34 People must love the person from a different country as they love themselves. They must remember the time when they lived in Egypt. Egypt was not their country. I am the Lord your God.
35 They must be fair when they measure length or weight or size. 36 They must use correct weights and measures. I am the Lord your God. I led you out of Egypt.
37 They must obey all my rules. I am the Lord.’
What would happen if the people did not obey the rules
20 The Lord said to Moses, 2 ‘Talk to Israel's people. Say, “If any Israelite or foreign person gives his children to the god called Molech, he must die.” The people must throw stones at him to kill him. 3 I, the Lord, will turn away from that person. I will make him separate from his people. That person did not respect the Lord. He did not respect the Lord's holy name. 4 Israel's people may not think that his sin was important. So they might not kill him. 5 But the Lord himself will become an enemy of the man and of his family. The Lord will send him away with all the people who worship the god called Molech.
6 A person must not ask someone who does magic for help. They are turning away from the Lord. He will send them away from his people.
7 The people must be holy. I am the Lord your God. 8 They must always obey all my rules. I am the Lord who makes them holy.
9 If a person says bad things about his mother or his father, you must kill him. He has destroyed their honour. His sin will cause his death.
10 If a man has sex with another man's wife you must kill him and the woman.
11 A man is sinning if he has sex with his father's wife. You must kill the man and the woman. They have destroyed the father's honour. Their sin causes their death.
12 A man is sinning if he has sex with his son's wife. You must kill them both. They have done a strange thing. Their own sin causes their death.
13 A man is sinning if he has sex with another man. You must kill both of the men. They should be ashamed. Their sin causes their death.
14 A man is sinning if he marries a woman and her mother. You must burn the man and both the women in the fire. Then their sin will not make my people unclean.
15 A man is sinning if he has sex with an animal. You must kill the man and the animal.
16 A woman is sinning if she has sex with an animal. You must kill the woman and the animal. Their sin causes their death.
17 It is a sin if a man marries his sister. She may be the daughter of his father or of his mother. It is a sin if he has sex with her. The people must send them away. He has taken away his sister's honour. He must carry the punishment for his sin.
18 A man must not have sex with a woman when she is bleeding. If he does, it is a sin. They have not obeyed the rules of the Lord. The people must send them away.
19 A man must not have sex with his mother's sister or with his father's sister. They are both doing a wrong thing. They are taking away the family's honour. Their sin causes their punishment.
20 A man is sinning if he has sex with his aunt. He is taking away his father's brother's honour. They will have no children.
21 It makes the people unclean if a man marries his brother's wife. He has taken away his brother's honour. They will not have any children.
22 If the people want to remain in the land that I am giving to them, they must obey my laws and my rules. 23 The people who are living in Canaan now are doing bad things. I, the Lord, hate them because they do these things. I will send them out of Canaan. 24 I, the Lord, will give their land to Israel's people. I will give it to you and to your children to keep for all time. In that land, there is plenty of food and drink, enough for everyone. I am the Lord your God. I want you to be separate from other people.
25 The people must know which animals are clean. And they must know which animals are unclean. They must know which birds are clean. And they must know which birds are unclean. They must not eat any animal or bird that is unclean. 26 I am the Lord and I am holy. So my people must be holy for me. I have made them separate from other people. They belong to me.
27 A man or a woman who uses magic is doing a wrong thing. People must throw stones at that person until they die. Their sin will cause their death.’
51 At that moment, the curtain inside the temple tore completely into two parts. It tore from the top down to the bottom. The ground shook and rocks broke into pieces. 52 Places in the ground where people had buried dead bodies opened up. Many of God's people who had died now became alive again. 53 After Jesus became alive again, those people came up out of those places. They went into God's city, Jerusalem. Many people saw them there.
54 The captain and his soldiers had been watching Jesus. They saw the ground shaking. They saw everything that had happened. They were very frightened and they said, ‘It must be true! This man really was the Son of God.’
55 There were also many women there. They were standing a long way away and they were watching these events. They had come with Jesus from Galilee to help him. 56 Mary from Magdala was there. Mary the mother of James and Joses, and Mary the mother of Zebedee's sons, were also there.
Joseph from Arimathea buries Jesus' body
57 That evening a rich man who came from a town called Arimathea went to Pilate. The man's name was Joseph, and he had become a disciple of Jesus. 58 Joseph asked Pilate for the dead body of Jesus. Pilate told his soldiers to give Jesus' body to Joseph. 59 So Joseph took Jesus' body. He put a clean piece of linen cloth around it. 60 Then he put the body in a large hole in a rock. He had made the hole for his own body when he died. After he put Jesus' body there, he rolled a very big stone across the front of the hole to shut it. Then he went away. 61 Mary from Magdala and Mary the mother of James were there. They were sitting where they could see the hole in the rock where Joseph had put Jesus' body.
Soldiers watch the place where Joseph had buried Jesus
62 The next day was the Jewish day of rest. The leaders of the priests and the Pharisees met together with Pilate. 63 They said to him, ‘Sir, that man told lies. When he was still living, he said, “Three days after I die, I will become alive again.” We know that is what he said. 64 So you should tell some soldiers to watch the place where Joseph put Jesus' body. They should watch there for the next three days. Then his disciples cannot come to take his body away. If they did that, then they could say to the people, “God has caused Jesus to become alive again.” This will be worse than the lies that Jesus told when he was alive.’
65 Pilate said to them, ‘OK. You may take a group of soldiers to watch the place. Let them fix the rock well, so that nobody can open it.’ 66 So the Jewish leaders and the soldiers went to the place where Joseph had put Jesus' body. They fixed the big stone that closed the front of the hole with a seal. Then they would know if someone had moved it. The soldiers stayed there to watch the place very carefully.
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