Old/New Testament

Voluntary Sacrifices and Offerings

1 ^[a] So the Lord called out to Moses from inside the Meeting Tent and said, ² “Tell the Israelites: When you bring an offering to the Lord, the offering must be one of your tame animals—it can be a sheep, a goat, or one of your cattle.

³ “If you offer one of your cattle as a burnt offering, it must be a bull that has nothing wrong with it. You must take the animal to the entrance of the Meeting Tent where the Lord will accept the offering. ⁴ You must put your hand on the animal’s head while it is being killed. So the Lord will accept it as your burnt offering to make you pure.

⁵ “You^[b] must kill the young bull in front of the Lord. Then Aaron’s sons, the priests, will bring the blood to the altar that is near the entrance of the Meeting Tent. He will splash the blood on all four sides of the altar. ⁶ You must remove the skin from that animal and then cut the animal into pieces. ⁷ Aaron’s sons, the priests, will put the fire on the altar and arrange the wood on the fire. ⁸ They will lay the pieces of the animal, including the head and fat, on top of the burning wood. ⁹ You must wash the legs and inner parts of the animal with water. Then the priest will bring all these parts to the altar to be offered as a burnt offering, a sweet-smelling gift to the Lord.

¹⁰ “If you offer a sheep or a goat as a burnt offering, it must be a male that has nothing wrong with it. ¹¹ You must kill the animal on the north side of the altar in front of the Lord. Then Aaron’s sons, the priests, will splash the animal’s blood on all four sides of the altar. ¹² You must cut the animal into pieces and remove the head and the fat. The priest will then lay them on the wood that is on the fire of the altar. ¹³ You must wash the legs and inner parts of the animal with water. Then the priest will bring all these parts to the altar to be offered as a burnt offering, a sweet-smelling gift to the Lord.

¹⁴ “If you offer a bird as a burnt offering to the Lord, that bird must be a dove or a young pigeon. ¹⁵ The priest will bring the offering to the altar. There the priest will remove the bird’s head, drain out the blood on the side of the altar, and burn the bird on the altar. ¹⁶ He will remove the bird’s tail and inner parts^[c] and throw them onto the pile of ashes east of the altar. ¹⁷ Then the priest will tear the bird open by its wings, but he must not divide it completely into two parts. So he will bring the bird to the altar to be offered as a burnt offering, a sweet-smelling gift to the Lord.

Grain Offerings

2 “When you give a grain offering to the Lord, your offering must be made from fine flour. You must pour oil on this flour and put frankincense on it. ² Then you must bring it to Aaron’s sons, the priests. One of them will take a handful of the fine flour with oil and frankincense in it. He will bring this part, which represents the whole grain offering, to the altar. There it will be burned up as a sweet-smelling gift to the Lord. ³ The rest of that grain offering will belong to Aaron and his sons. This gift to the Lord is very holy.

Baked Grain Offerings

⁴ “If you give a grain offering that was baked in the oven, it must be unleavened bread made from fine flour mixed with oil, or it must be wafers with oil poured over them. ⁵ If you bring a grain offering cooked in a baking pan, it must be made from fine flour without yeast and mixed with oil. ⁶ You must break it into pieces and pour oil over it. It is a grain offering. ⁷ If you bring a grain offering cooked in a frying pan, it must be made from fine flour mixed with oil.

⁸ “When you bring grain offerings made from these things to the Lord, you must give them to the priest, and he will take them to the altar. ⁹ Then the priest will take part of the grain offering and lift it up as a memorial offering. He will bring it to the altar to be burned up as a sweet-smelling gift to the Lord. ¹⁰ The rest of that grain offering will belong to Aaron and his sons. This gift to the Lord is very holy.

¹¹ “You must not give any grain offering to the Lord that has yeast in it. You must not burn yeast or honey as a gift to the Lord. ¹² You may bring yeast and honey to the Lord as an offering from the first harvest, but they must not be put on the altar to be burned as a sweet smell. ¹³ Also, you must put salt on every grain offering you bring. You must not forget to add salt, because it represents God’s agreement with you. Always put salt on these offerings.

Grain Offerings From the First Harvest

¹⁴ “If you bring a grain offering from the first harvest to the Lord, you must bring roasted heads of grain. They must be crushed heads of fresh grain. This will be your grain offering from the first harvest. ¹⁵ You must put oil and frankincense on it. It is a grain offering. ¹⁶ The priest must burn part of the crushed grain, the oil, and all the frankincense on it as a memorial offering. It is a gift to the Lord.

Fellowship Offerings

3 “If you offer one of your cattle as a fellowship offering, it can be a bull or a cow. But the animal you offer to the Lord must have nothing wrong with it. ² You must put your hand on the animal’s head and kill the animal at the entrance of the Meeting Tent. Then Aaron’s sons, the priests, will splash the blood on all four sides of the altar. ³ The priest will take a part of that fellowship offering as a gift to the Lord. He will take the fat that is over and around the inner parts. ⁴ He will take the two kidneys and the fat covering them near the lower back muscle. He will also remove the fat part of the liver that is near the kidneys. ⁵ Then Aaron’s sons will bring the fat to the altar and put it on the burnt offering that is on the wood on the fire. It is a sweet-smelling gift to the Lord.

⁶ “If you offer a sheep or a goat as a fellowship offering to the Lord, whether it is a male or a female, it must have nothing wrong with it. ⁷ If you bring a lamb as an offering to the Lord, ⁸ you must put your hand on the animal’s head and kill it in front of the Meeting Tent. Then Aaron’s sons will splash the animal’s blood on all four sides of the altar. ⁹ The priest will take part of the fellowship offering to the altar as a gift to the Lord. The priest must cut off the tail close to the backbone. Then he will offer the tail with all its fat and the fat that is over and around the animal’s inner parts. ¹⁰ He will also offer the two kidneys and the fat covering them near the lower back muscles. He will also offer the fat part of the liver. He must remove it with the kidneys. ¹¹ Then the priest will take that part to the altar to be burned up as food, a gift to the Lord.

¹² “If the offering is a goat, you must bring it before the Lord. ¹³ You must put your hand on the goat’s head and kill it in front of the Meeting Tent. Then Aaron’s sons, the priests, must splash the goat’s blood on all four sides of the altar. ¹⁴ The priest will give part of the fellowship offering as a gift to the Lord. He will offer the fat that is over and around the animal’s inner parts. ¹⁵ He will offer the two kidneys and the fat covering them near the lower back muscle. He will also offer the fat part of the liver. He will remove it with the kidneys. ¹⁶ Then the priest will bring that food as a sweet-smelling gift to the Lord. The fat belongs to the Lord. ¹⁷ This rule will continue forever through all your generations. Wherever you live, you must never eat fat or blood.”

Jesus Warns About the Future^(A)

24 Jesus left the Temple area and was walking away. But his followers came to him to show him the Temple’s buildings. ² He asked them, “Are you looking at these buildings? The fact is, they will be destroyed. Every stone will be thrown down to the ground. Not one stone will be left on another.”

³ Later, Jesus was sitting at a place on the Mount of Olives. The followers came to be alone with him. They said, “Tell us when these things will happen. And what will happen to prepare us for your coming and the end of time?”

⁴ Jesus answered, “Be careful! Don’t let anyone fool you. ⁵ Many people will come and use my name. They will say, ‘I am the Messiah.’ And they will fool many people. ⁶ You will hear about wars that are being fought. And you will hear stories about other wars beginning. But don’t be afraid. These things must happen before the end comes. ⁷ Nations will fight against other nations. Kingdoms will fight against other kingdoms. There will be times when there is no food for people to eat. And there will be earthquakes in different places. ⁸ These things are only the beginning of troubles, like the first pains of a woman giving birth.

⁹ “Then you will be arrested and handed over to be punished and killed. People all over the world will hate you because you believe in me. ¹⁰ During that time many believers will lose their faith. They will turn against each other and hate each other. ¹¹ Many false prophets will come and cause many people to believe things that are wrong. ¹² There will be so much more evil in the world that the love of most believers will grow cold. ¹³ But the one who remains faithful to the end will be saved. ¹⁴ And the Good News I have shared about God’s kingdom will be told throughout the world. It will be spread to every nation. Then the end will come.

¹⁵ “Daniel the prophet spoke about ‘the terrible thing that causes destruction.’^[a] You will see this terrible thing standing in the holy place.” (You who read this should understand what it means.) ¹⁶ “The people in Judea at that time should run away to the mountains. ¹⁷ They should run away without wasting time to stop for anything. If they are on the roof of their house, they must not go down to get anything out of the house. ¹⁸ If they are in the field, they must not go back to get a coat.

¹⁹ “During that time it will be hard for women who are pregnant or have small babies! ²⁰ Pray that it will not be winter or a Sabbath day when these things happen and you have to run away, ²¹ because it will be a time of great trouble. There will be more trouble than has ever happened since the beginning of the world. And nothing as bad as that will ever happen again.

²² “But God has decided to make that terrible time short. If it were not made short, no one would continue living. But God will make that time short to help the people he has chosen.

²³ “Someone might say to you at that time, ‘Look, there is the Messiah!’ Or someone else might say, ‘There he is!’ But don’t believe them. ²⁴ False messiahs and false prophets will come and do great miracles and wonders,^[b] trying to fool the people God has chosen, if that is possible. ²⁵ Now I have warned you about this before it happens.

²⁶ “Someone might tell you, ‘The Messiah is there in the desert!’ But don’t go into the desert to look for him. Someone else might say, ‘There is the Messiah in that room!’ But don’t believe it. ²⁷ When the Son of Man comes, everyone will see him. It will be like lightning flashing in the sky that can be seen everywhere. ²⁸ It’s like looking for a dead body: You will find it where the vultures are gathering above.