The One Year Bible TLB (45 page)
Read The One Year Bible TLB Online
Authors: Tyndale
There is living truth in what a good man says, but the mouth of the evil man is filled with curses.
12
Hatred stirs old quarrels, but love overlooks insults.
February 24The Lord told Moses and Aaron to give the people of Israel these further instructions:
“Any man who has a genital discharge
*
is ceremonially defiled.
3
This applies not only while the discharge is active, but also for a time after it heals.
4
Any bed he lies on and anything he sits on is contaminated:
5
so anyone touching the man’s bed is ceremonially defiled until evening, and must wash his clothes and bathe himself.
6
Anyone sitting on a seat the man has sat upon while defiled is himself ceremonially impure until evening, and must wash his clothes and bathe himself.
7
The same instructions apply to anyone touching him.
8
Anyone he spits on is ceremonially impure until evening, and must wash his clothes and bathe himself.
9
Any saddle he rides on is defiled.
10
Anyone touching or carrying anything else that was beneath him shall be defiled until evening, and must wash his clothes and bathe himself.
11
If the defiled man touches anyone without first rinsing his hands, that person must wash his clothes and bathe himself and be defiled until evening.
12
Any earthen pot touched by the defiled man must be broken, and every wooden utensil must be rinsed in water.
13
“When the discharge stops, he shall begin a seven-day cleansing ceremony by washing his clothes and bathing in running water.
14
On the eighth day he shall take two turtledoves or two young pigeons and come before the Lord at the entrance of the Tabernacle, and give them to the priest.
15
The priest shall sacrifice them there, one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering; thus the priest shall make atonement before the Lord for the man because of his discharge.
16
“Whenever a man’s semen goes out from him, he shall take a complete bath and be ceremonially impure until the evening.
17
Any clothing or bedding the semen spills on must be washed and remain ceremonially defiled until evening.
18
After sexual intercourse, the woman as well as the man must bathe, and they are ceremonially defiled until the next evening.
19
“Whenever a woman menstruates, she shall be in a state of ceremonial defilement for seven days afterwards, and during that time anyone touching her shall be defiled until evening.
20
Anything she lies on or sits on during that time shall be defiled.
21-23
Anyone touching her bed or anything she sits upon shall wash his clothes and bathe himself and be ceremonially defiled until evening.
24
A man having sexual intercourse with her during this time is ceremonially defiled for seven days, and every bed he lies upon shall be defiled.
25
“If the menstrual flow continues after the normal time, or at some irregular time during the month, the same rules apply as indicated above,
26
so that anything she lies upon during that time is defiled, just as it would be during her normal menstrual period, and everything she sits on is in a similar state of defilement.
27
Anyone touching her bed or anything she sits on shall be defiled, and shall wash his clothes and bathe and be defiled until evening.
28
Seven days after the menstruating stops, she is no longer ceremonially defiled.
29
“On the eighth day, she shall take two turtledoves or two young pigeons and bring them to the priest at the entrance of the Tabernacle,
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and the priest shall offer one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering, and make atonement for her before the Lord for her menstrual defilement.
31
In this way you shall cleanse the people of Israel from their defilement, lest they die because of defiling my Tabernacle that is among them.”
32
This, then, is the law for the man who is defiled by a genital disease
*
or by a seminal emission;
33
and for a woman’s menstrual period; and for anyone who has sexual intercourse with her while she is in her period of defilement afterwards.
16:
1-2
After Aaron’s two sons died before the Lord, the Lord said to Moses, “Warn your brother Aaron not to enter into the Holy Place behind the veil, where the Ark and the place of mercy are, just whenever he chooses. The penalty for intrusion is death. For I myself am present in the cloud above the place of mercy.
3
“Here are the conditions for his entering there: He must bring a young bull for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering.
4
He must bathe himself and put on the sacred linen coat, shorts, belt, and turban.
5
The people of Israel shall then bring him two male goats for their sin offering, and a ram for their burnt offering.
6
First he shall present to the Lord the young bull as a sin offering for himself, making atonement for himself and his family.
7
Then he shall bring the two goats before the Lord at the entrance of the Tabernacle,
8
and cast lots to determine which is the Lord’s and which is to be sent away.
*
9
The goat allotted to the Lord shall then be sacrificed by Aaron as a sin offering.
10
The other goat shall be kept alive and placed before the Lord. The rite of atonement shall be performed over it, and it shall then be sent out into the desert as a scapegoat.
11
“After Aaron has sacrificed the young bull as a sin offering for himself and his family,
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he shall take a censer full of live coals from the altar of the Lord, and fill his hands with sweet incense beaten into fine powder, and bring it inside the veil.
13
There before the Lord he shall put the incense upon the coals, so that a cloud of incense will cover the mercy place above the Ark (containing the stone tablets of the Ten Commandments); thus he will not die.
14
And he shall bring some of the blood of the young bull and sprinkle it with his finger upon the east side of the mercy place, and then seven times in front of it.
15
“Then he must go out
*
and sacrifice the people’s sin offering goat, and bring its blood within the veil, and sprinkle it upon the place of mercy and in front of it, just as he did with the blood of the young bull.
16
Thus he shall make atonement for the holy place because it is defiled by the sins of the people of Israel, and for the Tabernacle, located right among them and surrounded by their defilement.
17
Not another soul shall be inside the Tabernacle when Aaron enters to make atonement in the Holy Place—not until after he comes out again and has made atonement for himself and his household and for all the people of Israel.
18
Then he shall go out to the altar before the Lord and make atonement for it. He must smear the blood of the young bull and the goat on the horns of the altar,
19
and sprinkle blood upon the altar seven times with his finger, thus cleansing it from the sinfulness of Israel and making it holy.
*
20
“When he has completed the rite of atonement for the Holy Place, the entire Tabernacle, and the altar, he shall bring the live goat and,
21
laying both hands upon its head, confess over it all the sins of the people of Israel. He shall lay all their sins upon the head of the goat and send it into the desert, led by a man appointed for the task.
22
So the goat shall carry all the sins of the people into a land where no one lives,
*
and the man shall let it loose in the wilderness.
23
“Then Aaron shall go into the Tabernacle again and take off the linen garments he wore when he went behind the veil, and leave them there in the Tabernacle.
24
Then he shall bathe in a sacred place, put on his clothes again, and go out and sacrifice his own burnt offering for the people, making atonement for himself and for them.
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He shall also burn upon the altar the fat for the sin offering.
26
“The man who took the goat out into the desert
*
shall afterwards wash his clothes and bathe himself and then come back into the camp.
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And the young bull and the goat used for the sin offering (their blood was taken into the Holy Place by Aaron, to make atonement) shall be carried outside the camp and burned, including the hides and internal organs.
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Afterwards, the person doing the burning shall wash his clothes and bathe himself and then return to camp.”
One day some Jewish religious leaders arrived from Jerusalem to investigate him,
2
and noticed that some of his disciples failed to follow the usual Jewish rituals before eating.
3
(For the Jews, especially the Pharisees, will never eat until they have sprinkled their arms to the elbows,
*
as required by their ancient traditions.
4
So when they come home from the market, they must always sprinkle themselves in this way before touching any food. This is but one of many examples of laws and regulations they have clung to for centuries, and still follow, such as their ceremony of cleansing for pots, pans, and dishes.)
5
So the religious leaders asked him, “Why don’t your disciples follow our age-old customs? For they eat without first performing the washing ceremony.”
6-7
Jesus replied,
“You bunch of hypocrites! Isaiah the prophet described you very well when he said, ‘These people speak very prettily about the Lord but they have no love for him at all. Their worship is a farce, for they claim that God commands the people to obey their petty rules.’ How right Isaiah was!
8
For you ignore God’s specific orders and substitute your own traditions.
9
You are simply rejecting God’s laws and trampling them under your feet for the sake of tradition.
10
“For instance, Moses gave you this law from God: ‘Honor your father and mother.’ And he said that anyone who speaks against his father or mother must die.
11
But you say it is perfectly all right for a man to disregard his needy parents, telling them, ‘Sorry, I can’t help you! For I have given to God what I could have given to you.’
12-13
And so you break the law of God in order to protect your man-made tradition. And this is only one example. There are many, many others.”
14
Then Jesus called to the crowd to come and hear.
“All of you listen,”
he said,
“and try to understand.
15-16
*
Your souls aren’t harmed by what you eat, but by what you think and say!”
17
Then he went into a house to get away from the crowds, and his disciples asked him what he meant by the statement he had just made.
18
“Don’t you understand either?”
he asked.
“Can’t you see that what you eat won’t harm your soul?
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For food doesn’t come in contact with your heart, but only passes through the digestive system.”
(By saying this he showed that every kind of food is kosher.)
20
And then he added,
“It is the thought-life that pollutes.
21
For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts of lust, theft, murder, adultery,
22
wanting what belongs to others, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, pride, and all other folly.
23
All these vile things come from within; they are what pollute you and make you unfit for God.”
O Lord, don’t hold back your tender mercies from me! My only hope is in your love and faithfulness.
12
Otherwise I perish, for problems far too big for me to solve are piled higher than my head. Meanwhile my sins, too many to count, have all caught up with me, and I am ashamed to look up. My heart quails within me.
13
Please, Lord, rescue me! Quick! Come and help me!
14-15
Confuse them! Turn them around and send them sprawling—all these who are trying to destroy me. Disgrace these scoffers with their utter failure!
16
But may the joy of the Lord be given to everyone who loves him and his salvation. May they constantly exclaim, “How great God is!”
17
I am poor and weak, yet the Lord is thinking about me right now! O my God, you are my helper. You are my Savior; come quickly, and save me. Please don’t delay!