Old/New Testament
Rules for Discharges From the Body
15 The Lord also said to Moses and Aaron, 2 “Say to the Israelites: Whoever has a genital discharge is unclean. 3 The person is unclean whether the discharge continues to flow or whether it stops.
4 “If a man with a discharge lies on a bed, that bed becomes unclean. Everything he sits on will become unclean. 5 If you touch that bed, you must wash your clothes and bathe in water. You will be unclean until evening. 6 If you sit on anything that he sat on, you must wash your clothes and bathe in water. You will be unclean until evening. 7 If you touch him, you must wash your clothes and bathe in water. You will be unclean until evening. 8 If he spits on you, you must wash your clothes and bathe in water. You will be unclean until evening. 9 If that man sits on a saddle, it will become unclean. 10 If you touch or carry anything that was under him, you will be unclean until evening. 11 If he touches you, you must wash your clothes and bathe in water. You will be unclean until evening.
12 “If a man with a discharge touches a clay bowl, that bowl must be broken. If he touches a wooden bowl, that bowl must be washed in water.
13 “When it comes time for a man with a discharge to be made clean, he must wait seven days. Then he must wash his clothes and bathe his body in running water. Then he will become clean. 14 On the eighth day, he must take for himself two doves or two young pigeons and come before the Lord at the entrance of the Meeting Tent. He will give the two birds to the priest. 15 The priest will offer the birds, one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering. In this way the priest will make that man pure before the Lord.
16 “If a man has a flow of semen, he must bathe his whole body in water. He will be unclean until evening. 17 If the semen is on any clothing or leather, that clothing or leather must be washed with water. It will be unclean until evening. 18 If a woman has sexual relations with a man, and he has a flow of semen, both the man and the woman must bathe in water. They will be unclean until evening.
19 “If a woman has a discharge from her monthly time of bleeding, she will be unclean for seven days. Anyone who touches her will be unclean until evening. 20 Everything she lies on during her monthly time of bleeding will be unclean. And everything she sits on during that time will be unclean. 21 Whoever touches her bed must wash their clothes and bathe in water. They will be unclean until evening. 22 Whoever touches anything she has sat on must wash their clothes and bathe in water. They will be unclean until evening. 23 It doesn’t matter if they touched the woman’s bed or if they touched something she sat on, they will be unclean until evening.
24 “If a man has sexual relations with a woman during her monthly time of bleeding, he will be unclean for seven days. Every bed he lies on will be unclean.
25 “If a woman has a discharge of blood for many days, not during her time of monthly bleeding, or if she has a discharge after that time, she will be unclean, just as during the time of her monthly bleeding. She will be unclean for as long as she has a discharge. 26 Any bed she lies on during the time of her discharge will be like her bed during the time of her monthly bleeding. Everything she sits on will be unclean, just as it is during the time she is unclean from her monthly bleeding. 27 Whoever touches these things will be unclean until evening. They must wash their own clothes and bathe in water. 28 After the woman’s discharge stops, she must wait seven days. After that she will be clean. 29 Then on the eighth day, she must bring two doves or two young pigeons to the priest at the entrance of the Meeting Tent. 30 Then the priest must offer one bird for a sin offering and the other bird for a burnt offering. In this way the priest will make her pure before the Lord.
31 “So you must warn the Israelites about being unclean. If you don’t warn the people, they might make my Holy Tent unclean. And then they would have to die!”
32 These are the rules for anyone with a discharge from the body. These rules are for men who become unclean from a flow of semen. 33 And these rules are for women who become unclean from their monthly time of bleeding. And these are the rules for anyone who becomes unclean by sleeping with another person who is unclean.
The Day of Atonement
16 Two of Aaron’s sons died while offering incense to the Lord.[a] After that time, the Lord spoke to Moses. 2 The Lord said, “Talk to your brother Aaron. Tell him that he cannot go behind the curtain into the Most Holy Place anytime he wants to. The mercy-cover is in the room behind that curtain on top of the Holy Box, and I appear in a cloud over that mercy-cover. If Aaron goes into that room, he will die!
3 “Before Aaron enters the Most Holy Place, he will offer a bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. 4 Aaron will wash his whole body with water and put on the special clothes. He will put on the linen underwear next to his body, the linen robe, the linen belt, and then he will put the linen turban on his head.
5 “From the whole community of Israel, Aaron will accept two male goats for a sin offering and one ram for a burnt offering. 6 Then he will offer the bull for the sin offering. This sin offering is for himself. He will do this to purify[b] himself and his family.
7 “Then Aaron will take the two goats and bring them before the Lord at the doorway of the Meeting Tent. 8 Aaron will throw lots for the two goats. One lot will be for the Lord. The other lot will be for Azazel.[c]
9 “Then Aaron will offer the goat chosen by the lot for the Lord. Aaron will make this goat a sin offering. 10 But the goat chosen by the lot for Azazel will be brought alive before the Lord. Then this goat will be sent out to Azazel in the desert. This is to make the people pure.
11 “Then Aaron will offer the bull as a sin offering for himself. He will purify himself and his family. He will kill the bull for the sin offering for himself. 12 Then he will take a firepan full of coals of fire from the altar before the Lord. Aaron will take two handfuls of sweet incense that has been ground into powder and take it into the room behind the curtain. 13 He will put the incense on the fire before the Lord. Then the cloud of incense will hide the mercy-cover that is over the Box that holds the Agreement.[d] This way Aaron will not die. 14 Aaron will dip his finger into the bull’s blood and sprinkle it on the front of the Holy Box. Then he will sprinkle the blood seven times onto the front of the mercy-cover.
15 “Then Aaron will kill the goat of the sin offering for the people. He will bring this goat’s blood into the room behind the curtain. He will do with the goat’s blood as he did with the bull’s blood. He will sprinkle the goat’s blood on the mercy-cover and in front of it. 16 In this way Aaron will purify the Most Holy Place from all the uncleanness and sins of the Israelites. He will also purify the Meeting Tent, because it stands in the middle of people whose sins have made them unclean.
17 “No one must be in the Meeting Tent when Aaron goes in to purify the Most Holy Place. No one is to go in there until Aaron comes out after purifying himself, his family, and all the Israelites. 18 Then Aaron will go out to the altar that is before the Lord. Aaron will make the altar pure. He will take some of the blood from the bull and from the goat and put it on the corners of the altar on all four sides. 19 Then he will dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle it on the altar seven times. In this way Aaron will make the altar holy and clean from all the sins of the Israelites.
20 “So Aaron will make the Most Holy Place, the Meeting Tent, and the altar pure. Then he will bring the living goat to the front of the tent. 21 He will put both his hands on the head of the living goat. Then he will confess the sins and crimes of the Israelites over the goat. In this way Aaron will lay the people’s sins on the goat’s head. Then he will send the goat away into the desert. A man will be standing by, ready to lead this goat away. 22 So the goat will carry all the people’s sins on itself into the empty desert. The man who leads the goat will let it loose in the desert.
23 “Then Aaron will enter the Meeting Tent. He will take off the linen clothes that he put on when he went into the Holy Place. He will leave these clothes there. 24 He will wash his whole body with water in a holy place. Then he will put on his clothes. He will come out and offer his burnt offering and the people’s burnt offering. He will make himself and the people pure. 25 Then he will burn the fat of the sin offering on the altar.
26 “The man who led the goat to Azazel must wash his clothes and his whole body with water. After that he may come into the camp.
27 “The bull and the goat for the sin offerings will be taken outside the camp. (The blood from these animals was brought into the Holy Place to make the holy things pure.) The skins, bodies, and body waste of those animals will be burned in the fire. 28 Then the man who burns them must wash his clothes and bathe his whole body with water. After that he may come into the camp.
29 “This law will always continue for you: On the tenth day of the seventh month, you must not eat food.[e] You must not do any work. None of the travelers or foreigners living in your land can do any work either. 30 Because on this day, the priest will do this to make you pure and wash away your sins. Then you will be clean to the Lord. 31 You must humble yourselves[f] because this day is a very important day of rest for you. This law will continue forever.
32 “In the future, this ceremony will be done by the priest who will be anointed and appointed to serve after his father. That priest will put on the holy linen clothes 33 and make the Most Holy Place, the Meeting Tent, and the altar pure. He will also make the priests and all the people pure. 34 That law will continue forever. Once every year you will purify the Israelites from all their sins.”
So they did everything that the Lord had commanded Moses.
Jesus Is Taken to Governor Pilate(A)
27 Early the next morning, all the leading priests and older leaders of the people met and decided to kill Jesus. 2 They tied him, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate, the governor.
Judas Kills Himself(B)
3 Judas saw that they had decided to kill Jesus. He was the one who had handed him over. When he saw what happened, he was very sorry for what he had done. So he took the 30 silver coins back to the priests and the older leaders. 4 Judas said, “I sinned. I handed over to you an innocent man to be killed.”
The Jewish leaders answered, “We don’t care! That’s a problem for you, not us.”
5 So Judas threw the money into the Temple. Then he went out from there and hanged himself.
6 The leading priests picked up the silver coins in the Temple. They said, “Our law does not allow us to keep this money with the Temple money, because this money has paid for a man’s death.” 7 So they decided to use the money to buy a field called Potter’s Field. This field would be a place to bury people who died while visiting in Jerusalem. 8 That is why that field is still called the Field of Blood. 9 This showed the full meaning of what Jeremiah the prophet said:
“They took 30 silver coins. That was how much the people of Israel decided to pay for his life. 10 They used those 30 silver coins to buy the potter’s field, as the Lord commanded me.”[a]
Governor Pilate Questions Jesus(C)
11 Jesus stood before Pilate, the governor, who asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”
Jesus answered, “Yes, that’s right.”
12 Then, when the leading priests and the older Jewish leaders made their accusations against Jesus, he said nothing.
13 So Pilate said to him, “Don’t you hear all these charges they are making against you? Why don’t you answer?”
14 But Jesus did not say anything, and this really surprised the governor.
Pilate Tries but Fails to Free Jesus(D)
15 Every year at Passover time the governor would free one prisoner—whichever one the people wanted him to free. 16 At that time there was a man in prison who was known to be very bad. His name was Barabbas.[b]
17 When a crowd gathered, Pilate said to them, “I will free one man for you. Which one do you want me to free: Barabbas or Jesus who is called the Messiah?” 18 Pilate knew that they had handed Jesus over to him because they were jealous of him.
19 While Pilate was sitting there in the place for judging, his wife sent a message to him. It said, “Don’t do anything with that man. He is not guilty. Last night I had a dream about him, and it troubled me very much.”
20 But the leading priests and older Jewish leaders told the people to ask for Barabbas to be set free and for Jesus to be killed.
21 Pilate said, “I have Barabbas and Jesus. Which one do you want me to set free for you?”
The people answered, “Barabbas!”
22 Pilate asked, “So what should I do with Jesus, the one called the Messiah?”
All the people said, “Kill him on a cross!”
23 Pilate asked, “Why do you want me to kill him? What wrong has he done?”
But they shouted louder, “Kill him on a cross!”
24 Pilate saw that there was nothing he could do to make the people change. In fact, it looked as if there would be a riot. So he took some water and washed his hands[c] in front of them all. He said, “I am not guilty of this man’s death. You are the ones who are doing it!”
25 The people answered, “We will take full responsibility for his death. You can blame us and even our children!”
26 Then Pilate set Barabbas free. And he told some soldiers to beat Jesus with whips. Then he handed him over to the soldiers to be killed on a cross.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International