Old/New Testament
Rules about sacrifices
15 The Lord said to Moses, 2 ‘Say to the Israelites, “You will go into the land that I am giving to you. 3 When you are living there, you can sacrifice bulls, male sheep or goats to the Lord. You will burn them on the altar as a burnt offering. You may offer special sacrifices to the Lord when you have promised to do it. Or you may offer sacrifices because you choose to do it. Also, you will give sacrifices during your regular festivals. The smell of these sacrifices as they burn will please the Lord. 4 The person who gives the gift to the Lord must also give a gift of flour. He must mix the flour with oil. It should be 1 kilogram of your best flour. Mix this flour with 1 litre of olive oil. 5 You must also give 1 litre of wine for each lamb. You must give that as a drink offering with each burnt offering or sacrifice.
6 If the animal is a male sheep, you must also offer 2 kilograms of flour. Mix this flour with 1.5 litres of olive oil. 7 Also, you must pour 1.5 litres of wine on the altar as a drink offering. The smell of the smoke from this sacrifice will please the Lord.
8 A person can give a young bull as a burnt offering. This may be a special sacrifice that he has promised to give to God. Or it may be a friendship offering to the Lord. 9 Also, you must offer 3 kilograms of flour. Mix this flour with 2 litres of olive oil. Do that if the bull is a burnt offering, or a friendship offering. Do the same if you offer this sacrifice because of a promise. 10 Also, you must pour 2 litres of wine on the altar as a drink offering. The smell of this smoke will please the Lord.
11 You must do the same thing for each bull or for each male sheep. And you must do the same thing for each male lamb or for each young goat. 12 You must do that for every animal that you offer as a gift to God. 13 All the Israelites must do that when they burn sacrifices. The smell of them as they burn will please the Lord. 14 A stranger who is living in your land may want to give a gift by fire to the Lord. He must do the same as you do now, and for all future time. 15 These rules will be the same for the Israelites and for all foreign people who live with them. These rules are for now and for all future time. Both you and the foreign person must obey the Lord's rules. 16 There is the same law for you and for the foreign person who is living among you. There is only one set of rules.” ’
17 The Lord said to Moses, 18 ‘Tell the Israelites this. I am bringing them into the land of Canaan. After they have gone into it, they must obey my rules. 19 When they first eat the food from that land, they must give a special offering to the Lord. 20 You must give a cake as a special offering from the first of your flour. You must do it as you give your special gift from your threshing floor. 21 From the first of your flour, you must give to the Lord a special offering. And your descendants must continue to do that.
22 The people might not obey a rule that the Lord told Moses about. But they might not know that they are not obeying a rule. 23 It might be any rule that the Lord gave to you by Moses. 24 Perhaps somebody does not know that they are not obeying one of my rules. When that happens, they must sacrifice a young bull as a burnt offering. The smell of the smoke from this sacrifice will please the Lord. Also, they must give a grain offering, a drink offering and a male goat as a sin offering. 25 Then the priest will make things right with God for all the Israelites. The Lord will forgive them. That is because their sin was a mistake. They have brought their offering, an offering by fire to the Lord. And they have brought their sin offering to the Lord, for their mistake. 26 God will forgive all the Israelites and the foreign people who live among you. That is because your sin was a mistake. And also you offered the proper sacrifices to me.
27 Also, a person may not know that something is a sin. If he does that thing, he must sacrifice a female goat. The goat must be one year old. It will be a sin offering. 28 The priest will bring the gift to the Lord. That is to make things right. Then the Lord will forgive that person who did the sin. The person did not know that he had done a wrong thing. 29 The same rule is for the Israelites and for all the foreign people who live among them. That is when it was a mistake. 30 But a person might do something that he knows to be wrong. He does it because he wants to do it. That person is as bad as someone who insults the Lord. It does not matter whether he is an Israelite or a foreign person. You must make that person separate from all the people. 31 That person thought that the Lord's command was not important. He has not obeyed God's rules. So you must make that person completely separate from the people. He is a guilty person.’
A man does not obey the rules for the day of rest
32 When the Israelites were in the desert, a man was picking up sticks on the day of rest. 33 Some people found him while he was picking up the sticks. They took him to Moses and Aaron and to all the people. 34 They were not sure what to do with the man. So they put him by himself in a tent. Men stood at the door of the tent so that he could not leave it. 35 The Lord said to Moses, ‘This man must die. All the people must take him outside the camp. They must throw stones at him to kill him.’ 36 So the people took the man outside the camp. They threw stones at him until he died. That was what the Lord had told Moses to do.
Tassels
37 The Lord said to Moses, 38 ‘Tell the Israelites that they must put tassels on the corners of their clothes. They must fix the tassels on blue strings. They must do this now and for all future time. 39 You will be able to look at the tassels. They will help you to remember all the Lord's rules. Then you can obey them. Then you will not only do what you yourself want to do. You will not turn away from me. 40 When you see the tassels, you will remember to obey all my rules. You will be holy for your God. 41 I am the Lord your God. I brought you out from Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord your God.’
Korah and other people turn against Moses
16 Then Korah the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, decided to speak against Moses. Eliab's sons, Dathan and Abiram, and Peleth's son, On, who were descendants of Reuben, were with him. 2 Together with 250 leaders of the Israelites, they all turned against Moses. Those were famous men that the people had chosen as their leaders. 3 They all came to Moses and Aaron and they said, ‘All the Israelites are special. The Lord has chosen all of us and he is with us all. So you should not say that you are better than the rest of the Lord's people.’
4 When Moses heard that, he threw himself onto the ground. 5 Moses said to Korah and to all the other men, ‘Tomorrow the Lord will show us who is truly special to him. He will show us who really belongs to him. He will make the person that he chooses come near to him. 6 Now do this: Get some pots for yourselves, Korah and your group of friends. 7 Put fire and incense in them, to burn in front of the Lord tomorrow. Then the Lord will choose the man who is holy. You make yourselves too important, you descendants of Levi!’
8 Then Moses said to Korah, ‘Listen, you descendants of Levi. 9 The God of Israel has caused you Levites to be separate from all the other Israelites. He has brought you near to himself, to work in the Lord's Tent. He has chosen you to stand in front of all the people to serve them. But it seems that this is not enough for you. 10 He has brought you, Korah, and all the other descendants of Levi near to himself. But it seems that you want to be priests as well. 11 You are not only speaking bad words against Aaron. You and all your group are complaining against the Lord!’
12 Then Moses called Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, to come to him. But they said, ‘No, we will not come. 13 You have brought us out of a country where there is plenty of food and drink, enough for everyone. You have brought us here, where we will die in the desert. But it seems that that is not enough for you. It seems that you want to be our master as well! 14 You have certainly not brought us into a land where there is plenty of food and drink. You have not given to us fields and vineyards, for us and for our descendants. You cannot deceive all these men. We will not come up to meet with you!’
15 Moses was angry. He said to the Lord, ‘Do not accept what these men offer to you. I did not take anything from them, not even one donkey! I did not do a wrong thing to any of them.’
16 Moses said to Korah, ‘Tomorrow, you and your men must come to the Tent of Meeting. You must come to stand in front of the Lord. Aaron will be there too. 17 Each of you must take a pot and you must put incense in it. You must put the pots on the altar in front of the Lord. That will be 250 pots. You yourself must do the same thing, as well as Aaron.’ 18 So each man took a pot. He put incense in it, and fire to burn it. They stood with Moses and Aaron at the door of the Tent of Meeting.
19 Korah brought all his group of people to stand against Moses and Aaron at the door of the Tent of Meeting. Then the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people. 20 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 21 ‘Stand away from these men so that I can kill them.’
22 But Moses and Aaron threw themselves on the ground. Their faces were touching the ground. They said, ‘You, our God, are the God who gives life to all people. When one man does a bad thing, will you be angry with all the people? Is that right?’
23 The Lord said to Moses, 24 ‘Tell the people to move away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram.’
25 Moses got up from the ground. He went to Dathan and Abiram. The leaders of the Israelites went with him. 26 Moses said to all the people, ‘Move away from the tents of these wicked men. Do not touch anything that belongs to them. If you do not move away, God may destroy you together with them, because of all their sins.’
27 So the people moved away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram were standing with their wives, babies and children at the doors of their tents.
28 Then Moses said to the people, ‘Now you will know that the Lord has chosen me to lead you. He has told me to do this. It was not my own idea. This is how you will know. 29 If these men die in a usual way, as all men will die one day, then the Lord did not choose me. 30 But if the Lord causes something new to happen to these men, you will know that they have turned against him. For example, a hole might appear in the ground so that these men fall into it. They might fall down into their own graves while they are still alive. If that happens to them and to all that belongs to them, then you will know that the Lord has punished them.’
31 When Moses finished speaking, a hole opened in the ground. 32 Like a big mouth, it ate those men, their families and everything that belonged to them. The earth covered Korah, all his group and everything that belonged to them. 33 They all went down into the deep grave while they were still alive. The ground closed over them and they died, no longer part of God's people. 34 When the other Israelites heard those men shout, they ran away quickly. They were saying, ‘Help! The ground might eat us too!’
35 Then the Lord sent fire down. It killed the 250 men who were offering the incense to God.
36 The Lord said to Moses, 37 ‘Tell Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, that he must take the pots with incense out of the burning fire. That is because those pots are holy. Then you must throw away the coal over all the ground round that place. 38 Those men died because they did a bad thing. But the pots that they were holding are holy, because they were offering the incense to the Lord. So workers must use hammers to make the pots into thin metal. Then cover the altar with the metal. That will be like a sign to warn the Israelites.’ 39 So Eleazar took the 250 pots and he used the bronze metal to cover the altar. 40 Then the Israelites would remember not to do what Korah and his group did. Only people from the family of Aaron could burn incense on the Lord's altar. God would punish anyone else, like he punished Korah and his men. The Lord had given this command through Moses.
41 But on the next day, all the Israelites together complained against Moses and Aaron. They said, ‘You have killed the Lord's people!’ 42 When the people came together to stand against Moses and Aaron, they turned to look at the Tent of Meeting. The Lord's cloud covered the Tent and his glory appeared. 43 Moses and Aaron went to stand at the front of the Tent of Meeting.
44 The Lord said to Moses, 45 ‘Get away from the people so that I can destroy them immediately!’ Moses and Aaron threw themselves down so that their faces touched the ground. 46 Moses said to Aaron, ‘Pick up your pot. Take coals with fire from the altar and put incense with them in the pot. Then take it quickly among all the people. Remove their sin so that God will forgive them. Be quick! The Lord is so angry with the people that he is already punishing them with a bad disease!’
47 The bad disease was already killing some of the people. But Aaron did what Moses had told him to do. He took the pot of incense among the people to remove their sin. 48 In that way, he stood between the people who had died and those who were still living. The bad disease stopped killing people. 49 But 14,700 people died because of the disease, as well as the people who had died with Korah. 50 After the disease stopped, Aaron went back to Moses at the door of the Tent of Meeting.
Jesus goes to Nazareth
6 Jesus left that place. He went to his own town. His disciples went with him.[a]
2 When it was the Jewish day of rest, Jesus went to their meeting place. He began to teach the people who were there. Many of them were surprised about the things that he was saying to them. They said to each other, ‘How did this man learn all these things? How did he become so wise? How does he do all these powerful things? 3 We know he is an ordinary man. He is the carpenter.[b] He is the son of Mary and the brother of James, Joses, Simon and Judas. His sisters live here in the town among us. Isn't that true?’ So the people there turned against Jesus.
4 Then Jesus said to them, ‘If a man is a prophet from God, people everywhere will respect him. But the people in his own town will not accept him. Even his own people and his own family will not respect him.’
5 Jesus could not do any powerful miracles in his own town. But he did put his hands on a few sick people and he made them well. 6 Jesus was very surprised because the people there would not believe in him.
Then he went to visit the other villages that were near there. He was teaching the people who lived in those villages.
Jesus sends the 12 apostles to tell God's message
7 Jesus asked his 12 apostles to come to him. He started to send them out to tell God's message to people. He sent them out two by two and he gave them authority over bad spirits.
8 Jesus told the disciples, ‘Only take a stick for the journey, nothing else. Do not take any bread or a bag. Do not take any money in your pockets. 9 Wear shoes but do not take extra clothes. 10 In each town, stay at the first house that you go into. Continue to stay there until you leave that town. 11 Perhaps you might go to a town where the people do not accept you. They will not listen to you. So you should leave that town. Clean that town's dirt off your feet. Then it will be clear that they have done something wrong.’
12 So the 12 apostles went out. They told people that they must change the way that they live. They must stop doing wrong things. 13 The disciples caused many bad spirits to come out of people. They also put olive oil on many sick people, and the sick people became well.
Herod kills John the Baptist
14 People were talking about Jesus. King Herod heard about what was happening.[c] Some people were saying that Jesus was really John the Baptist. They said that John had died, but he had become alive again. ‘That is why this man can do these very powerful things,’ they said.
15 Other people said, ‘This man is Elijah.’ And other people said, ‘He is a prophet. He is like one of God's prophets who lived a long time ago.’[d]
16 But when someone told Herod, he said, ‘This man is surely John. I sent a soldier to cut off his head. But he has become alive again!’
17 Herod himself had sent his soldiers to take hold of John. He had said to his soldiers, ‘Tie his hands and feet and put him in prison.’ Herod had done that because of his wife, Herodias. She had been the wife of Herod's brother, Philip. But Herod had married her. 18 John had said to him, ‘Herodias is your brother's wife. It is not right for you to have her as your wife.’[e]
19 So Herodias was angry with John. She wanted to kill him. But she could not do that, 20 because Herod was afraid of John. Herod knew that John was a good man and a servant of God. So Herod kept John safe. Herod liked to listen to the things that John said. But he did not know what to think about those things.
21 One day, Herodias had her chance. It was Herod's birthday and he asked many people to come to a special meal. Important men and officers came. The rulers from Galilee were also there. 22 The daughter of Herodias came in and she danced. Herod and his visitors were very happy when they saw her dance.
King Herod said to the girl, ‘Ask me for anything that you want. I will give it to you.’ 23 He made a strong promise, ‘I will give you anything that you ask me to give to you. I will even give you half of everything that I rule over.’
24 The girl went out and she said to her mother, ‘What should I ask him for?’ Her mother replied, ‘Ask for the head of John the Baptist.’
25 The girl went quickly to Herod and she said to him, ‘I want the head of John the Baptist. Put it on a plate! Do it now!’
26 Then Herod felt very sad. Because he had made a special promise, he did not want to refuse her. All his visitors had heard him. 27 So immediately, the king sent a soldier to go to John. The king told the soldier that he must bring John's head. So the soldier went to the prison and he cut off John's head there. 28 Then he brought it back on a plate. He gave it to the girl, and she gave it to her mother. 29 People told John's disciples about what had happened. So they went to the prison. They took away John's body and they buried it.
EasyEnglish Bible Copyright © MissionAssist 2019 - Charitable Incorporated Organisation 1162807. Used by permission. All rights reserved.