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Old/New Testament

Each day includes a passage from both the Old Testament and New Testament.

Duration: 365 days

Leviticus 23-24

Chapter 23

Holy Days.^[a] ¹The Lord said to Moses: ²Speak to the Israelites and tell them: The following are the festivals^(A) of the Lord, which you shall declare holy days. These are my festivals:

³For six days work may be done; but the seventh day is a sabbath of complete rest,^[b] a declared holy day; you shall do no work. It is the Lord’s sabbath wherever you dwell.^(B)

Passover. ⁴These are the festivals of the Lord, holy days which you shall declare at their proper time.^(C) ⁵The Passover of the Lord^[c] falls on the fourteenth day of the first month, at the evening twilight.^(D) ⁶The fifteenth day of this month is the Lord’s feast of Unleavened Bread. For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread.^(E) ⁷On the first of these days you will have a declared holy day; you shall do no heavy work. ⁸On each of the seven days you shall offer an oblation to the Lord. Then on the seventh day you will have a declared holy day; you shall do no heavy work.

⁹^[d]The Lord said to Moses: ¹⁰Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When you come into the land which I am giving you, and reap its harvest, you shall bring the first sheaf of your harvest to the priest, ¹¹who shall elevate^(F) the sheaf before the Lord that it may be acceptable on your behalf.^(G) On the day after the sabbath^[e] the priest shall do this. ¹²On this day, when your sheaf is elevated, you shall offer to the Lord for a burnt offering an unblemished yearling lamb. ¹³Its grain offering shall be two tenths of an ephah of bran flour mixed with oil, as a sweet-smelling oblation to the Lord; and its libation shall be a fourth of a hin of wine. ¹⁴You shall not eat any bread or roasted grain or fresh kernels until this day, when you bring the offering for your God. This shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations wherever you dwell.

Pentecost. ¹⁵Beginning with the day after the sabbath, the day on which you bring the sheaf for elevation, you shall count seven full weeks;^(H) ¹⁶you shall count to the day after the seventh week, fifty days.^[f]^(I) Then you shall present a new grain offering to the Lord. ¹⁷For the elevated offering of your first-ripened fruits to the Lord, you shall bring with you from wherever you live two loaves of bread made of two tenths of an ephah of bran flour and baked with leaven. ¹⁸Besides the bread, you shall offer to the Lord a burnt offering of seven unblemished yearling lambs, one bull of the herd, and two rams, along with their grain offering and libations, as a sweet-smelling oblation to the Lord. ¹⁹One male goat shall be sacrificed as a purification offering, and two yearling lambs as a communion sacrifice. ²⁰The priest shall elevate them—that is, the two lambs—with the bread of the first-ripened fruits as an elevated offering before the Lord; these shall be sacred to the Lord and belong to the priest. ²¹On this same day you shall make a proclamation: there shall be a declared holy day for you; no heavy work may be done. This shall be a perpetual statute through all your generations wherever you dwell.

²²^(J)When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not be so thorough that you reap the field to its very edge, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. These things you shall leave for the poor and the alien. I, the Lord, am your God.

New Year’s Day. ²³The Lord said to Moses: ²⁴Tell the Israelites: On the first day of the seventh month^[g]^(K) you will have a sabbath rest, with trumpet blasts as a reminder, a declared holy day; ²⁵you shall do no heavy work, and you shall offer an oblation to the Lord.

The Day of Atonement. ²⁶The Lord said to Moses: ²⁷Now the tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement.^[h]^(L) You will have a declared holy day. You shall humble yourselves and offer an oblation to the Lord. ²⁸On this day you shall not do any work, because it is the Day of Atonement, when atonement is made for you before the Lord, your God. ²⁹Those who do not humble themselves on this day shall be cut off from the people. ³⁰If anyone does any work on this day, I will remove that person from the midst of the people. ³¹You shall do no work; this is a perpetual statute throughout your generations wherever you dwell; ³²it is a sabbath of complete rest for you. You shall humble yourselves. Beginning on the evening of the ninth of the month, you shall keep your sabbath from evening to evening.

The Feast of Booths. ³³The Lord said to Moses: ³⁴Tell the Israelites: The fifteenth day of this seventh month is the Lord’s feast of Booths,^[i]^(M) which shall continue for seven days. ³⁵On the first day, a declared holy day, you shall do no heavy work. ³⁶For seven days you shall offer an oblation to the Lord, and on the eighth day you will have a declared holy day. You shall offer an oblation to the Lord. It is the festival closing. You shall do no heavy work.

³⁷^[j]These, therefore, are the festivals of the Lord which you shall declare holy days, in order to offer as an oblation to the Lord burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and libations, as prescribed for each day, ³⁸in addition to the Lord’s sabbaths, your donations, your various votive offerings, and the voluntary offerings that you present to the Lord.

³⁹On the fifteenth day, then, of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the produce of the land, you shall celebrate the feast of the Lord^[k] for a whole week. The first and the eighth day shall be days of rest. ⁴⁰On the first day you shall gather fruit of majestic trees, branches of palms, and boughs^[l] of leafy trees and valley willows. Then for a week you shall make merry before the Lord, your God. ⁴¹You shall keep this feast of the Lord for one whole week in the year. By perpetual statute throughout your generations in the seventh month of the year, you shall keep it. ⁴²You shall dwell in booths for seven days; every native-born Israelite shall dwell in booths, ⁴³that your descendants may realize that, when I led the Israelites out of the land of Egypt, I made them dwell in booths. I, the Lord, am your God.

⁴⁴Thus did Moses announce to the Israelites the festivals of the Lord.

Chapter 24

The Sanctuary Light.^[m] ¹The Lord said to Moses: ²Order the Israelites to bring you clear oil of crushed olives for the light, so that you may keep the lamp burning regularly.^(N) ³In the tent of meeting, outside the veil that hangs in front of the covenant, Aaron shall set up the lamp to burn before the Lord regularly, from evening till morning, by a perpetual statute throughout your generations. ⁴He shall set up the lamps on the pure gold menorah to burn regularly before the Lord.

The Showbread.^[n] ⁵You shall take bran flour and bake it into twelve cakes,^(O) using two tenths of an ephah of flour for each cake. ⁶These you shall place in two piles, six in each pile, on the pure gold table before the Lord. ⁷With each pile put some pure frankincense, which shall serve as an oblation to the Lord, a token of the bread offering. ⁸Regularly on each sabbath day the bread^(P) shall be set out before the Lord on behalf of the Israelites by an everlasting covenant. ⁹It shall belong to Aaron and his sons, who must eat it in a sacred place, since it is most sacred,^(Q) his as a perpetual due from the oblations to the Lord.

Punishment of Blasphemy.^[o] ¹⁰A man born of an Israelite mother and an Egyptian father went out among the Israelites, and in the camp a fight broke out between the son of the Israelite woman and an Israelite man. ¹¹The son of the Israelite woman uttered the Lord’s name in a curse and blasphemed. So he was brought to Moses—now his mother’s name was Shelomith, daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan— ¹²and he was kept in custody till a decision from the Lord should settle the case for them.^(R) ¹³The Lord then said to Moses: ¹⁴Take the blasphemer outside the camp, and when all who heard him have laid their hands^[p] on his head,^(S) let the whole community stone him. ¹⁵Tell the Israelites: Anyone who blasphemes God shall bear the penalty; ¹⁶whoever utters the name of the Lord in a curse shall be put to death.^(T) The whole community shall stone that person; alien and native-born alike must be put to death for uttering the Lord’s name in a curse.

¹⁷^[q]Whoever takes the life of any human being shall be put to death;^(U) ¹⁸whoever takes the life of an animal shall make restitution of another animal, life for a life.^(V) ¹⁹^[r]Anyone who inflicts a permanent injury on his or her neighbor shall receive the same in return: ²⁰fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. The same injury that one gives another shall be inflicted in return.^(W) ²¹Whoever takes the life of an animal shall make restitution, but whoever takes a human life shall be put to death. ²²You shall have but one rule, for alien and native-born alike.^(X) I, the Lord, am your God.

²³When Moses told this to the Israelites, they took the blasphemer outside the camp and stoned him;^(Y) they did just as the Lord commanded Moses.

Footnotes

23:1–44 This is paralleled by another calendar from the Priestly tradition, in Nm 28–29. Non-Priestly resumes of festal and holy observances are found in Ex 23:10–17; 34:18–24 and Dt 16:1–17.
23:3 Sabbath of complete rest: the sabbath and the Day of Atonement are called “sabbaths of complete rest” (Ex 16:23; 31:15; 35:2; Lv 16:31; 23:32). Work of any sort is prohibited on these days (Lv 23:3, 28; Nm 29:7) as opposed to other holy days where only laborious work is prohibited but light work, such as preparing food, is allowed (Ex 12:16; cf. Lv 23:7, 8, 21, 25, 35, 36; Nm 28:18, 25, 26; 29:1, 12, 35).
23:5–6 The Passover of the Lord…feast of Unleavened Bread: the two occasions were probably separate originally. Combined they celebrate the exodus from Egypt. Cf. Ex 12:1–20, 43–49; Nm 28:16–25.
23:9–14 Around Passover a first fruits offering is to be brought (see 2:14), consisting of a sheaf of barley, the crop that matures at this time of year.
23:11 Day after the sabbath: the singular term shabbat “sabbath” may mean “week” here and refer to the seven-day period of the feast of Unleavened Bread. According to this interpretation, the barley sheaf is offered the day after the week of Unleavened Bread. Others understand it as referring to the first or last day of Unleavened Bread.
23:16–21 Fifty days: Pentecost. This festival occurs on a single day, fifty days after the feast of Unleavened Bread, elsewhere called the “feast of the Harvest” (Ex 23:16), “Day of First Fruits” (Nm 28:26), and “feast of Weeks” (Ex 34:22; Dt 16:10, 16). The name Pentecost comes from the later Greek term for the holy day (cf. Acts 2:1; 20:16; 1 Cor 16:8), referring to the fiftieth day. This is the occasion for bringing the first fruits of the wheat harvest.
23:24 First day of the seventh month: the seventh new moon is counted from a new year beginning in the spring (cf. v. 5). Like the seventh day in the week, it is preeminent among the new moon days (cf. Nm 28:11–15; 29:1–6).
23:27 Day of Atonement: see chap. 16 and notes there.
23:34 Feast of Booths: this is the final harvest festival of the year celebrating the remaining harvest. It is called the “feast of Ingathering” (Ex 23:16; 34:22), the “feast of Booths” (Lv 23:34; Dt 16:13), or simply the “feast” (1 Kgs 8:65). It is a seven-day festival with an eighth closing day. The first and eighth days are rest days (see note on v. 3).
23:37–38 This appears to be the original conclusion of the chapter.
23:39–43 The feast of the Lord: the feast of Booths, the preeminent festival. This section supplements vv. 33–36 by prescribing the popular activities for the festival.
23:40–43 Fruit…branches…boughs: the fruit and/or foliage from these trees is to be gathered, but it is not said how they are used. The command to make merry suggests they may have been used in a procession or even circumambulation of the altar (cf. Ps 26:6). Later tradition understood these prescriptions as referring to making the booths out of the foliage (Neh 8:15).
24:1–4 On the lamp, see Ex 25:31–40; 26:35; 27:20–21; 37:17–24; 40:24–25; Nm 8:1–4. It occupies the south side of the anterior room of the sanctuary tent and provides light for that room.
24:5–9 On the bread table, see Ex 25:23–29; 26:35; 37:10–16; 40:22–23. It occupies the north side of the anterior room of the sanctuary tent. The bread is a type of grain offering (see note on 2:1).
24:10–22 This is a narrative where an offense leads to clarifying revelation similar to the cases in Lv 10:1–7 and 16:1–34; Nm 9:6–14 and 15:32–36.
24:14 Laid their hands: see notes on 1:4 and 16:21. It may be that blasphemy generated a type of pollution which the hearers return to the culprit by this gesture.
24:17–22 A digression dealing with bodily injury follows the blasphemy rules. It may have been appended since the first case is another example of the death penalty. But the section develops according to its own logic. All legal traditions require death for homicide: Gn 9:5–6; Ex 21:12–14; Nm 35:9–34; Dt 19:1–13; cf. Ex 20:13 and Dt 5:17.
24:19–20 The phrase “life for a life” in v. 18 leads to introducing the law of talion in vv. 19–20. Some have interpreted the law here and the similar expressions in Ex 21:23–25 and Dt 19:21 to mean that monetary compensation equal to the injury is to be paid, though the wording of the law here and the context of Dt 19:21 indicate an injury is to be inflicted upon the injurer.

Mark 1:1-22

I. The Preparation for the Public Ministry of Jesus^[a]

Chapter 1

¹The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ [the Son of God].^[b]

The Preaching of John the Baptist. ²^(A)As it is written in Isaiah the prophet:^[c]^(B)

“Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you;
    he will prepare your way.
³^(C)A voice of one crying out in the desert:
    ‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
    make straight his paths.’”

⁴John [the] Baptist appeared in the desert proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. ⁵People of the whole Judean countryside and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the Jordan River as they acknowledged their sins. ⁶John was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist.^[d] He fed on locusts and wild honey. ⁷And this is what he proclaimed: “One mightier than I is coming after me. I am not worthy to stoop and loosen the thongs of his sandals. ⁸^[e]^(D)I have baptized you with water; he will baptize you with the holy Spirit.”

The Baptism of Jesus. ⁹^(E)It happened in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized in the Jordan by John. ¹⁰On coming up out of the water he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit, like a dove, descending upon him.^[f] ¹¹^(F)And a voice came from the heavens, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

The Temptation of Jesus.^[g] ¹²At once the Spirit drove him out into the desert,^(G) ¹³and he remained in the desert for forty days, tempted by Satan. He was among wild beasts, and the angels ministered to him.

II. The Mystery of Jesus

The Beginning of the Galilean Ministry. ¹⁴^(H)After John had been arrested,^[h] Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God: ¹⁵^(I)“This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”

The Call of the First Disciples.^[i] ¹⁶^(J)As he passed by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting their nets into the sea; they were fishermen. ¹⁷Jesus said to them, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” ¹⁸Then they abandoned their nets and followed him. ¹⁹He walked along a little farther and saw James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They too were in a boat mending their nets. ²⁰Then he called them. So they left their father Zebedee in the boat along with the hired men and followed him.

The Cure of a Demoniac. ²¹^[j]^(K)Then they came to Capernaum, and on the sabbath he entered the synagogue and taught. ²²^(L)The people were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes.

Footnotes

1:1–13 The prologue of the Gospel according to Mark begins with the title (Mk 1:1) followed by three events preparatory to Jesus’ preaching: (1) the appearance in the Judean wilderness of John, baptizer, preacher of repentance, and precursor of Jesus (Mk 1:2–8); (2) the baptism of Jesus, at which a voice from heaven acknowledges Jesus to be God’s Son, and the holy Spirit descends on him (Mk 1:9–11); (3) the temptation of Jesus by Satan (Mk 1:12–13).
1:1 The gospel of Jesus Christ [the Son of God]: the “good news” of salvation in and through Jesus, crucified and risen, acknowledged by the Christian community as Messiah (Mk 8:29; 14:61–62) and Son of God (Mk 1:11; 9:7; 15:39), although some important manuscripts here omit the Son of God.
1:2–3 Although Mark attributes the prophecy to Isaiah, the text is a combination of Mal 3:1; Is 40:3; Ex 23:20; cf. Mt 11:10; Lk 7:27. John’s ministry is seen as God’s prelude to the saving mission of his Son. The way of the Lord: this prophecy of Deutero-Isaiah concerning the end of the Babylonian exile is here applied to the coming of Jesus; John the Baptist is to prepare the way for him.
1:6 Clothed in camel’s hair…waist: the Baptist’s garb recalls that of Elijah in 2 Kgs 1:8. Jesus speaks of the Baptist as Elijah who has already come (Mk 9:11–13; Mt 17:10–12; cf. Mal 3:23–24; Lk 1:17).
1:8–9 Through the life-giving baptism with the holy Spirit (Mk 1:8), Jesus will create a new people of God. But first he identifies himself with the people of Israel in submitting to John’s baptism of repentance and in bearing on their behalf the burden of God’s decisive judgment (Mk 1:9; cf. Mk 1:4). As in the desert of Sinai, so here in the wilderness of Judea, Israel’s sonship with God is to be renewed.
1:10–11 He saw the heavens…and the Spirit…upon him: indicating divine intervention in fulfillment of promise. Here the descent of the Spirit on Jesus is meant, anointing him for his ministry; cf. Is 11:2; 42:1; 61:1; 63:9. A voice…with you I am well pleased: God’s acknowledgment of Jesus as his unique Son, the object of his love. His approval of Jesus is the assurance that Jesus will fulfill his messianic mission of salvation.
1:12–13 The same Spirit who descended on Jesus in his baptism now drives him into the desert for forty days. The result is radical confrontation and temptation by Satan who attempts to frustrate the work of God. The presence of wild beasts may indicate the horror and danger of the desert regarded as the abode of demons or may reflect the paradise motif of harmony among all creatures; cf. Is 11:6–9. The presence of ministering angels to sustain Jesus recalls the angel who guided the Israelites in the desert in the first Exodus (Ex 14:19; 23:20) and the angel who supplied nourishment to Elijah in the wilderness (1 Kgs 19:5–7). The combined forces of good and evil were present to Jesus in the desert. His sustained obedience brings forth the new Israel of God there where Israel’s rebellion had brought death and alienation.
1:14–15 After John had been arrested: in the plan of God, Jesus was not to proclaim the good news of salvation prior to the termination of the Baptist’s active mission. Galilee: in the Marcan account, scene of the major part of Jesus’ public ministry before his arrest and condemnation. The gospel of God: not only the good news from God but about God at work in Jesus Christ. This is the time of fulfillment: i.e., of God’s promises. The kingdom of God…Repent: see note on Mt 3:2.
1:16–20 These verses narrate the call of the first Disciples. See notes on Mt 4:18–22 and Mt 4:20.
1:21–45 The account of a single day’s ministry of Jesus on a sabbath in and outside the synagogue of Capernaum (Mk 1:21–31) combines teaching and miracles of exorcism and healing. Mention is not made of the content of the teaching but of the effect of astonishment and alarm on the people. Jesus’ teaching with authority, making an absolute claim on the hearer, was in the best tradition of the ancient prophets, not of the scribes. The narrative continues with events that evening (Mk 1:32–34; see notes on Mt 8:14–17) and the next day (Mk 1:35–39). The cleansing in Mk 1:40–45 stands as an isolated story.

New American Bible (Revised Edition) (NABRE)

Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

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I. The Preparation for the Public Ministry of Jesus^[a]

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I. The Preparation for the Public Ministry of Jesus[a]

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II. The Mystery of Jesus

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I. The Preparation for the Public Ministry of Jesus^[a]