Old/New Testament
Rules About Eating Meat
11 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 2 “Tell the Israelites: These are the animals you can eat: 3 If an animal has hooves that are split into two parts, and if that animal also chews the cud, then you may eat the meat from that animal.
4-6 “Some animals chew the cud, but they don’t have split hooves. Don’t eat these animals. Camels, rock badgers, and rabbits are like that, so they are unclean for you. 7 Other animals have hooves that are split into two parts, but they don’t chew the cud. Don’t eat these animals. Pigs are like that, so they are unclean for you. 8 Don’t eat the meat from these animals. Don’t even touch their dead bodies! They are unclean for you.
Rules About Sea Food
9 “You may eat everything that lives in the sea or in a river that has fins and scales. 10-11 But you must not eat anything that lives in the sea or in a river and does not have fins and scales. Just the thought of eating such a creature should make you sick. This will never change. So don’t ever eat meat from anything like that. Don’t even touch its dead body! 12 It is a sickening thought for you to touch anything that lives in the water and does not have fins and scales.
Birds That Must Not Be Eaten
13 “You must also treat some birds as things that are wrong to eat. Stay away from them. It is a sickening thought for you to eat any of these birds: eagles, vultures, buzzards, 14 kites, all kinds of falcons, 15 all kinds of black birds, 16 ostriches, nighthawks, sea gulls, all kinds of hawks, 17 owls, cormorants, great owls, 18 water hens, pelicans, carrion vultures, 19 storks, all kinds of herons, hoopoes, and bats.
Rules About Eating Insects
20 “Don’t eat insects that have wings and crawl.[a] Even the thought of eating them should make you sick! 21 But you may eat insects if they have legs with joints above their feet so that they can jump. 22 You may also eat all kinds of locusts, all kinds of winged locusts, all kinds of crickets, and all kinds of grasshoppers.
23 “But stay away from all the other insects that have wings and crawl. 24 They will make you unclean. If you touch the dead bodies of these insects, you will become unclean until evening. 25 If you pick up one of these dead insects, you must wash your clothes. You will be unclean until evening.
More Rules About Animals
26-27 “Some animals have split hooves, but the hooves don’t make exactly two parts. Some animals don’t chew the cud. Some animals don’t have hooves—they walk on their paws.[b] All these animals are unclean for you. If you touch them, you will become unclean until evening. 28 If you pick up the dead bodies of these unclean animals, you must wash your clothes. You will be unclean until evening. These animals are unclean for you.
Rules About Crawling Animals
29 “These small animals are unclean for you: moles, mice, all kinds of great lizards, 30 geckos, crocodiles, lizards, sand reptiles, and chameleons. 31 Whoever touches their dead bodies will be unclean until evening.
Rules About Unclean Animals
32 “If any of these unclean animals dies and falls on something, that thing will become unclean. It might be something made from wood, cloth, leather, or sackcloth. Whatever it is or is used for, it must be washed with water. It will be unclean until evening. Then it will become clean again. 33 If any of these unclean animals dies and falls into a clay dish, anything in the dish will become unclean. And you must break the dish. 34 If water from the unclean clay dish touches any food, that food will become unclean. Any drink in the unclean dish will become unclean. 35 If any part of a dead, unclean animal falls on something, that thing is unclean. It may be a clay oven or a clay baking pan. It must be broken into pieces. These things will remain unclean. They will always be unclean for you.
36 “A spring or a well that collects water will remain clean, but anyone who touches the dead bodies of any unclean animal in that water will become unclean. 37 If any part of a dead, unclean animal falls on seed that is to be planted, that seed is still clean. 38 But if you put water on some seed and if any part of a dead, unclean animal falls on those seeds, they are unclean for you.
39 “Also, if an animal which you use for food dies, whoever touches its dead body will be unclean until evening. 40 If you eat meat from this animal’s body, you must wash your clothes. You will be unclean until evening. If you pick up the dead body of the animal, you must wash your clothes. You will be unclean until evening.
41 “You must treat all the crawling animals that live on the dirt as disgusting things that you must not eat. 42 You must not eat any of the reptiles that crawl on their bellies or that walk on all four feet or that have many feet. Don’t eat these animals! 43 Don’t let them make you filthy.[c] You must not become unclean, 44 because I am the Lord your God. I am holy, so you should keep yourselves holy. Don’t make yourselves unclean with these crawling things. 45 I, the Lord, brought you out of Egypt so that you could be my special people and I could be your God. I am holy, so you must be holy too.”
46 These are the rules about all the tame animals, birds, all the animals in the sea, and all the animals that crawl on the ground. 47 These rules will help the people know which animals are unclean and which animals they are allowed to eat and which ones they cannot eat.
Rules for New Mothers
12 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Tell the Israelites:
“When a woman gives birth, she will be unclean, just as she is during her monthly time of bleeding. If the baby is a boy, the mother will be unclean for seven days. 3 The baby boy must be circumcised on the eighth day. 4 Because of the blood from childbirth, another 33 days must pass before she can touch anything that is holy. She must not enter the Holy Place until the time of her purification[d] is finished. 5 But if she gives birth to a girl, the mother will be unclean for 14 days, just as she is during her monthly time of bleeding. Because of the blood from childbirth, another 66 days must pass before she becomes clean.
6 “After the time of her purification is finished, the new mother of a baby girl or boy must bring special sacrifices to the Meeting Tent. She must give her sacrifices to the priest at the entrance of the Meeting Tent. She must bring a one-year-old lamb for a burnt offering and a dove or young pigeon for a sin offering. 7-8 If the woman cannot afford a lamb, she may bring two doves or two young pigeons. One bird will be for a burnt offering and one for a sin offering. The priest will offer them before the Lord. In this way the priest will make her pure, and she will be clean from the blood of childbirth. These are the rules for a woman who gives birth to a baby boy or a baby girl.”
The Jewish Leaders Plan to Kill Jesus(A)
26 After Jesus finished saying all these things, he said to his followers, 2 “You know that the day after tomorrow is Passover. On that day the Son of Man will be handed over to his enemies to be killed on a cross.”
3 Then the leading priests and the older Jewish leaders had a meeting at the palace where the high priest lived. The high priest’s name was Caiaphas. 4 In the meeting they tried to find a way to arrest and kill Jesus without anyone knowing what they were doing. They planned to arrest Jesus and kill him. 5 They said, “We cannot arrest Jesus during Passover. We don’t want the people to become angry and cause a riot.”
A Woman Does Something Special(B)
6 Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper. 7 While he was there, a woman came to him. She had an alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume. She poured the perfume on Jesus’ head while he was eating.
8 The followers saw the woman do this and were upset at her. They said, “Why waste that perfume? 9 It could be sold for a lot of money, and the money could be given to those who are poor.”
10 But Jesus knew what happened. He said, “Why are you bothering this woman? She did a very good thing for me. 11 You will always have the poor with you.[a] But you will not always have me. 12 This woman poured perfume on my body. She did this to prepare me for burial after I die. 13 The Good News will be told to people all over the world. And I can assure you that everywhere the Good News is told, the story of what this woman did will also be told, and people will remember her.”
Judas Agrees to Help Jesus’ Enemies(C)
14 Then one of the twelve followers went to talk to the leading priests. This was the follower named Judas Iscariot. 15 He said, “I will hand Jesus over to you. What will you pay me for doing this?” The priests gave him 30 silver coins. 16 After that Judas waited for the best time to hand Jesus over to them.
The Passover Meal(D)
17 On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the followers came to Jesus. They said, “We will prepare everything for you to eat the Passover meal. Where do you want us to have the meal?”
18 Jesus answered, “Go into the city. Go to a man I know. Tell him that the Teacher says, ‘The chosen time is near. I will have the Passover meal with my followers at your house.’” 19 They obeyed and did what Jesus told them to do. They prepared the Passover meal.
20 In the evening Jesus was at the table with the twelve followers. 21 They were all eating. Then Jesus said, “Believe me when I say that one of you twelve here will hand me over to my enemies.”
22 The followers were very sad to hear this. Each one said, “Lord, surely I am not the one!”
23 Jesus answered, “One who has dipped his bread in the same bowl with me will be the one to hand me over. 24 The Son of Man will suffer what the Scriptures say will happen to him. But it will be very bad for the one who hands over the Son of Man to be killed. It would be better for him if he had never been born.”
25 Then Judas, the very one who would hand him over, said to Jesus, “Teacher, surely I am not the one you are talking about, am I?”
Jesus answered, “Yes, it is you.”
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International