Old/New Testament
The Lord gives rules about food to the people
11 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 2 ‘Some animals walk on the land. Tell Israel's people which of these animals they can eat. 3 Each foot on the animal must have two separate parts. The animal must eat its food and then it must bring the food back into its mouth. And then it must eat the food again. Some animals eat their food twice and they have feet with two parts. You can eat those animals.
4 Some animals have feet that have two separate parts. But they do not eat their food twice. Other animals eat their food twice. But their feet do not have two separate parts. You must not eat those animals. The camel eats its food twice. But its feet are not in two separate parts. The people must not eat the camel. 5 The rock badger eats its food twice. But its feet are not in two separate parts. They must not eat the rock badger. 6 The rabbit eats its food twice. But its feet are not in two separate parts. They must not eat the rabbit. 7 The pig's feet are in two parts. But when the pig eats its food, it does not bring the food back into its mouth. It does not eat it twice. The people must not eat the pig. 8 They must not touch the dead bodies of those animals. They must not eat their meat. They are not clean for you to eat.
9 They can eat some animals that live in the sea or in the river. Those animals must have fins and scales on their bodies.[a] 10 They must not eat any other animals from the sea or the river. They must keep away from them. 11 They must not touch the dead bodies of the animals from the sea or the river. They must not eat the meat from those other animals. 12 Animals from the sea and the river may have fins and scales on their bodies. Those are the only ones that you can eat. Those without fins or scales are unclean.
13 They must not eat some birds because they are not clean. They must not eat either the eagle or the vulture. 14 They must not eat the buzzard or the kite. 15 They must not eat the raven. 16 They must not eat any owl, seagull or hawk. 17 They must not eat the cormorant. 18 They must not eat the osprey. 19 They must not eat the heron, the hoopoe or the bat. The people must not eat them nor touch their dead bodies. They are not clean.[b]
20 Some insects fly in the air and walk on the ground. The people must not eat them. 21 Some insects can fly. And they have legs that can jump. They can eat those insects. 22 They can eat any of these. They include the locust, the cricket and the grasshopper. 23 They must not eat any other flying insect that has legs.
24 A person may touch the dead body of an animal that is not clean. If he does, that person is not clean either. They must keep him separate from the other people until the evening. 25 He must wash his clothes immediately.
26 An animal might not have feet that are in two separate parts. It is wrong to touch the dead body of this animal. Some animals do not bring food back into their mouths and eat it again. It is wrong to touch the dead bodies of these animals. 27 Some animals walk on four feet. It is wrong to touch the dead body of an animal that has paws. 28 A person who picks up the dead body of these animals must wash his clothes immediately. They must keep him separate from the people until the evening.
29 Some animals that walk on the ground are not clean. You must not touch a weasel, a rat or a mouse. 30 You must not touch any kind of lizard. 31 A person might touch the dead body of one of those animals. If he does, he will not be clean. So they must keep him separate from the people until evening. 32 A dead animal may fall onto something that someone made from wood, cloth or skin. That thing becomes unclean. A person must put it into water until the evening. Then it will be clean. 33 A dead animal might fall into a pot. Then the pot and the things in it are not clean. The person must break the pot. 34 The food or water from the pot is not clean. A person must not drink it or eat any of that food. Water from the pot may have touched some food. If it did, that food is not clean. You must not eat it. 35 If a dead animal falls onto a cooking pot, then the pot is not clean. You must break the pot. 36 If a dead animal falls into a fresh water stream, the stream stays clean. The pot that a person uses to get fresh water from the stream is clean. 37 If a dead animal falls onto some seeds, they stay clean. 38 A person might pour water on the seeds. A dead animal might fall on the wet seeds. Then those seeds are not clean.
39 An animal that is good for food might die. A man might touch its dead body. If he does, they must keep him separate from the people until the evening. 40 If a person eats meat from the body of the dead animal, he must wash his clothes. He will not be clean until the evening. If a person picks up the body of the dead animal, he must wash his clothes. He will not be clean until the evening.
41 The people must not eat small animals that move across the ground. 42 This means animals that pass across the ground on their stomachs. It also means animals that walk on four legs or many legs. 43 The people must not touch them or eat them. 44 God says, “I am the Lord your God. I am holy. Make yourselves holy. Do not touch any small animal that moves across the ground. If you do, you will not be clean or holy 45 I am the Lord who brought you away from Egypt. I became your God. So be holy because I am holy.” ’
46 These rules are about animals, birds and all animals that move in water or on the ground. 47 The people must learn to know which animals are clean. They must recognize which animals they can eat. And they must recognize which animals they must not eat.[c]
What a woman must do when she has a baby
12 The Lord said to Moses, 2 ‘Say this to Israel's people. When a boy is born, his mother is not clean for seven days. When she is bleeding each month, the rule is the same. She is not clean. 3 Eight days after he is born, they must circumcise the boy. 4 The woman must wait for 35 days after the boy is born. All this time she must not touch anything that is holy. She must not go into the Tent of Meeting. After this time, she will become clean.
5 After a girl is born, her mother will not be clean for two weeks. The rule is the same as for each month, when she is bleeding. She will not be clean then. She must wait 66 days after a girl is born. Then she will become clean.
6 When the days to wait are finished, the woman must come to the door of the Tent of Meeting. She must bring to the priest a sheep that is one year old for a burnt offering. And she must bring a bird for a sin offering. The bird must be a pigeon or a dove. These are gifts to God. 7 The priest will offer the gifts to the Lord. Then the woman will become clean. These are the rules at the birth of a boy or of a girl.
8 If the woman does not have money to buy a sheep she can give two doves or pigeons. The priest will use one bird for a sin offering and he will burn the other one. That is how he will make atonement for her. Then she will be clean.’
Those who are against Jesus want to take hold of him
26 When Jesus finished saying all these things, he said to his disciples, 2 ‘You know that after two days it will be the time of the Passover festival. Then those people who are against me will put me into the power of the rulers. They will fix me, the Son of Man, to a cross to kill me.’[a]
3 Then the leaders of the priests and the important Jews met together in the house of the most important priest. His name was Caiaphas. 4 They wanted to kill Jesus. But they wanted to take hold of him secretly. So they tried to decide how they could do that. 5 They said to each other, ‘We do not want to take hold of him during the Passover festival. If we do that, the people will be angry and they may fight against us.’
A woman pours beautiful oil on Jesus' head
6 Then Jesus went to Bethany and he visited Simon at his house. At one time, Simon had had a bad disease of the skin.[b]
7 While Jesus was eating a meal there, a woman came into the house. She brought a small stone jar with her. The jar contained expensive oil with a very nice smell.[c] She poured the oil over Jesus' head while he sat there.
8 Jesus' disciples saw what the woman had done. They became angry and they said, ‘This woman should not have wasted the oil. 9 She could have sold it for a lot of money. Then she could have given the money to poor people.’
10 Jesus knew what his disciples were saying. So he said to them, ‘Do not cause trouble for her. She has done a good thing to me. 11 You will always have poor people with you. But you will not always have me with you. 12 She has poured oil over my body. So now I will be ready for people to bury me. 13 I tell you this: Everywhere in the world people will speak about this good news. At the same time, they will also tell people about the good thing that this woman has done. And so people will remember her.’
Judas Iscariot promises to sell Jesus for money
14 Judas Iscariot was one of Jesus' 12 apostles. He went to see the leaders of the priests 15 and he asked them, ‘How much money will you give me if I help you to take hold of Jesus?’ The priests gave Judas 30 silver coins. 16 Judas then waited for the right moment to help them to take hold of Jesus.
Jesus eats his last meal with his 12 disciples
17 The first day of the festival when the Jews eat flat bread arrived.[d] Jesus' disciples came to him and they asked him, ‘Where do you want us to prepare the Passover meal for you to eat?’
18 Jesus replied, ‘Go to a certain man in the city and say to him, “The teacher says: This is the moment that God has prepared for me. I will eat the Passover meal with my disciples in your house.” ’ 19 So Jesus' disciples did what he had told them to do. They went and they prepared the Passover meal.
20 When it was evening, Jesus and the 12 apostles sat down to eat the Passover meal together. 21 While they were eating, Jesus said, ‘I tell you this: One of you will help the Jewish leaders to take hold of me.’
22 They were very sad about what Jesus had said. Each one of them said to Jesus, ‘Lord, surely you do not mean me, do you?’
23 Jesus said to them ‘The man who will give me to the rulers is eating from the same dish as I am.[e] 24 The Son of Man must die in the way that the Bible says. But it will be very bad for the man who gives me to my enemies. It would be better for that man if he had not been born.’
25 Judas was the one who would give Jesus to the Jewish leaders. But he said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, surely you do not mean me, do you?’ Jesus replied to him, ‘Yes, you have said it.’
EasyEnglish Bible Copyright © MissionAssist 2019 - Charitable Incorporated Organisation 1162807. Used by permission. All rights reserved.