The Living Bible (41 page)

Leviticus
22

The Lord told Moses, “Instruct Aaron and his sons to be very careful not to defile my holy name by desecrating the people’s sacred gifts; for I am Jehovah.
³
 From now on and forever, if a priest who is ceremonially defiled sacrifices the animals brought by the people or handles the gifts dedicated to Jehovah, he shall be discharged from the priesthood. For I am Jehovah!

    
⁴
 “No priest who is a leper or who has a running sore may eat the holy sacrifices until healed. And any priest who touches a dead person, or who is defiled by a seminal emission,
⁵
 or who touches any reptile or other forbidden thing, or who touches anyone who is ceremonially defiled for any reason—
⁶
 that priest shall be defiled until evening and shall not eat of the holy sacrifices until after he has bathed that evening.
⁷
 When the sun is down, then he shall be purified again and may eat the holy food, for it is his source of life.
⁸
 He may not eat any animal that dies of itself or is torn by wild animals, for this will defile him. I am Jehovah.
⁹
 Warn the priests to follow these instructions carefully, lest they be declared guilty and die for violating these rules. I am the Lord who sanctifies them.

    
¹⁰
 “No one may eat of the holy sacrifices unless he is a priest; no one visiting the priest, for instance, nor a hired servant, may eat this food.
¹¹
 However, there is one exception—if the priest buys a slave with his own money, that slave may eat it, and any slave children born in his household may eat it.
¹²
 If a priest’s daughter is married outside the tribe, she may not eat the sacred offerings.
*
¹³
 But if she is a widow or divorced and has no son to support her, and has returned home to her father’s household, she may eat of her father’s food again. But otherwise, no one who is not in the priestly families may eat this food.

    
¹⁴
 “If someone should eat of the holy sacrifices without realizing it, he shall return to the priest the amount he has used, with 20 percent added;
¹⁵
 for the holy sacrifices brought by the people of Israel must not be defiled by being eaten by unauthorized persons, for these sacrifices have been offered to the Lord.
¹⁶
 Anyone who violates this law is guilty and is in great danger because he has eaten the sacred offerings; for I am Jehovah who sanctifies the offerings.”

    
^17-18
 And the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron and his sons and all the people of Israel that if an Israelite or other person living among you offers a burnt offering sacrifice to the Lord—whether it is to fulfill a promise or is a spontaneous freewill offering—
¹⁹
 it will only be acceptable to the Lord if it is a male animal without defect; it must be a young bull or a sheep or a goat.
²⁰
 Anything that has a defect must not be offered, for it will not be accepted.

    
²¹
 “Anyone sacrificing a peace offering to the Lord from the herd or flock, whether to fulfill a vow or as a voluntary offering, must sacrifice an animal that has no defect, or it will not be accepted:
²²
 An animal that is blind or disabled or mutilated, or which has sores or itch or any other skin disease, must not be offered to the Lord; it is not a fit burnt offering for the altar of the Lord.
²³
 If the young bull or lamb presented to the Lord has anything superfluous or lacking in its body parts, it may be offered as a freewill offering, but not for a vow.
²⁴
 An animal that has injured genitals—crushed or castrated—shall not be offered to the Lord at any time.
²⁵
 This restriction applies to the sacrifices made by foreigners among you as well as those made by yourselves, for no defective animal is acceptable for this sacrifice.”

    
^26-27
 And the Lord said to Moses, “When a bullock, sheep, or goat is born, it shall be left with its mother for seven days, but from the eighth day onward it is acceptable as a sacrifice by fire to the Lord.
²⁸
 You shall not slaughter a mother animal and her offspring the same day, whether she is a cow or ewe.
^29-30
 When you offer the Lord a sacrifice of thanksgiving, you must do it in the right way, eating the sacrificial animal the same day it is slain. Leave none of it for the following day. I am the Lord.

    
³¹
 “You must keep all of my commandments, for I am the Lord.
^32-33
 You must not treat me as common and ordinary. Revere me and hallow me, for I, the Lord, made you holy to myself and rescued you from Egypt to be my own people! I am Jehovah!”

Leviticus
23

The Lord said to Moses, “Announce to the people of Israel that they are to celebrate several annual festivals of the Lord—times when all Israel will assemble and worship me.
³
 (These are in addition to your Sabbaths
*
—the seventh day of every week—which are always days of rest in every home, times for assembling to worship, and for resting from the normal business of the week.)
⁴
 These are the holy festivals which are to be observed each year:

    
⁵
 
“The Passover of the Lord:
This is to be celebrated on the first day of April,
*
beginning at sundown.

    
⁶
 
“The Festival of Unleavened Bread:
This is to be celebrated beginning the day following the Passover, and for seven days you must not eat any bread made with yeast.
⁷
 On the first day of this festival, you shall gather the people for worship, and all ordinary work shall cease.
*
⁸
 You shall do the same on the seventh day of the festival. On each of the intervening days you shall make an offering by fire to the Lord.

    
^9-11
 
“The Festival of First Fruits:
When you arrive in the land I will give you and you reap your first harvest, bring the first sheaf of the harvest to the priest on the day after the Sabbath. He shall wave it before the Lord in a gesture of offering, and it will be accepted by the Lord as your gift.
¹²
 That same day you shall sacrifice to the Lord a male yearling lamb without defect as a burnt offering.
¹³
 A grain offering shall accompany it, consisting of a fifth of a bushel of finely ground flour mixed with olive oil, to be offered by fire to the Lord; this will be very pleasant to him. Also offer a drink offering consisting of three pints of wine.
¹⁴
 Until this is done you must not eat any of the harvest for yourselves—neither fresh kernels nor bread nor parched grain. This is a permanent law throughout your nation.

    
^15-16
 
“The Harvest Festival (Festival of Pentecost):
Fifty days later you shall bring to the Lord an offering of a sample of the new grain of your later crops.
¹⁷
 This shall consist of two loaves of bread from your homes to be waved before the Lord in a gesture of offering. Bake this bread from a fifth of a bushel of fine flour containing yeast. It is an offering to the Lord of the first sampling of your later crops.
*
¹⁸
 Along with the bread and the wine, you shall sacrifice as burnt offerings to the Lord seven yearling lambs without defects, one young bull, and two rams. All are fire offerings, very acceptable to Jehovah.
*
¹⁹
 And you shall offer one male goat for a sin offering and two male yearling lambs for a peace offering.

    
²⁰
 “The priests shall wave these offerings before the Lord along with the loaves representing the first sampling of your later crops. They are holy to the Lord and will be given to the priests as food.
²¹
 That day shall be announced as a time of sacred convocation of all the people; don’t do any work that day. This is a law to be honored from generation to generation.
²²
 (When you reap your harvests, you must not thoroughly reap all the corners of the fields, nor pick up the fallen grain; leave it for the poor and for foreigners living among you who have no land of their own; I am Jehovah your God!)

    
^23-24
 
“The Festival of Trumpets:
Mid-September
*
is a time for all the people to meet together for worship; it is a time of remembrance, and is to be announced by loud blowing of trumpets.
²⁵
 Don’t do any hard work on that day, but offer a sacrifice by fire to the Lord.

    
^26-27
 
“The Day of Atonement
follows nine days later:
*
All the people are to come together before the Lord, saddened by their sin; and they shall offer sacrifices by fire to the Lord.
²⁸
 Don’t do any work that day, for it is a special day for making atonement before the Lord your God.
²⁹
 Anyone who does not spend the day in repentance and sorrow for sin shall be excommunicated from his people.
^30-31
 And I will put to death anyone who does any kind of work that day. This is a law of Israel from generation to generation.
³²
 For this is a Sabbath of rest, and in it you shall go without food and be filled with sorrow; this time for atonement begins in the evening and continues through the next day.

    
^33-34
 
“The Festival of Shelters:
Five days later, on the last day of September,
*
is the Festival of Shelters
*
to be celebrated before the Lord for seven days.
³⁵
 On the first day there will be a sacred assembly of all the people; don’t do any hard work that day.
³⁶
 On each of the seven days of the festival you are to sacrifice an offering by fire to the Lord. The eighth day requires another sacred convocation of all the people, at which time there will again be an offering by fire to the Lord. It is the closing assembly, and no regular work is permitted.

    
³⁷
 “(These, then, are the regular annual festivals—sacred convocations of all people—when offerings to the Lord are to be made by fire.
³⁸
 These annual festivals are in addition to your regular Sabbaths—the weekly days of holy rest. The sacrifices made during the festivals are to be in addition to your regular giving and normal fulfillment of your vows.)

    
³⁹
 “This last day of September, at the end of your harvesting, is the time to begin to celebrate this seven-day festival before the Lord. Remember that the first and last days of the festival are special days of rest.
⁴⁰
 On the first day, take boughs of fruit trees laden with fruit, and palm fronds, and the boughs of leafy trees—such as willows that grow by the brooks—and build shelters with them,
*
rejoicing before the Lord your God for seven days.
⁴¹
 This seven-day annual feast is a law from generation to generation.
⁴²
 During those seven days, all of you who are native Israelites are to live in these shelters.
⁴³
 The purpose of this is to remind the people of Israel, generation after generation, that I rescued you from Egypt, and caused you to live in shelters. I am Jehovah your God.”

    
⁴⁴
 So Moses announced these annual festivals of the Lord to the people of Israel.