The Day of Atonement

¹The Lord spoke to Moses after cthe death of the two sons of Aaron, when they drew near before the Lord and died, ²and the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron your brother not to dcome at any time into the Holy Place inside the veil, before the mercy seat that is on the ark, so that he may not die. For eI will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat. ³But in this way Aaron shall come into the Holy Place: fwith a bull from the herd for a sin offering and ga ram for a burnt offering. ⁴He shall put on hthe holy linen coat and shall have the linen undergarment on his body, and he shall tie the linen sash around his waist, and wear the linen turban; these are the holy garments. iHe shall bathe his body in water and then put them on. ⁵And he shall take from jthe congregation of the people of Israel two male goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering.

⁶“Aaron shall koffer the bull as a sin offering for himself and shall lmake atonement for himself and for his house. ⁷Then he shall take the two goats and set them before the Lord at the entrance of the tent of meeting. ⁸And Aaron shall cast lots over the two goats, one lot for the Lord and the other lot for mAzazel.1 ⁹And Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot fell for the Lord and use it as a sin offering, ¹⁰but the goat on which the lot fell for mAzazel shall be presented alive before the Lord to make atonement over it, that it may be sent away into the wilderness to mAzazel.

¹¹“Aaron shall present kthe bull as a sin offering for himself, and shall make atonement for himself and for his house. He shall kill the bull as a sin offering for himself. ¹²And he shall take na censer full of coals of fire from the altar before the Lord, and two handfuls of sweet incense beaten small, and he shall bring it inside the veil ¹³oand put the incense on the fire before the Lord, that the cloud of the incense may cover pthe mercy seat that is over the testimony, so that he does not die. ¹⁴And qhe shall take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the front of the mercy seat on the east side, and in front of the mercy seat he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times.

¹⁵r“Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering that is for the people and bring its blood sinside the veil and do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull, sprinkling it over the mercy seat and in front of the mercy seat. ¹⁶Thus he shall tmake atonement for the Holy Place, because of the uncleannesses of the people of Israel and because of their transgressions, all their sins. And so he shall do for the tent of meeting, which dwells with them in the midst of their uncleannesses. ¹⁷uNo one may be in the tent of meeting from the time he enters to make atonement in the Holy Place until he comes out and has made atonement for himself and for his house and for all the assembly of Israel. ¹⁸Then he shall go out to the altar that is vbefore the Lord and wmake atonement for it, and shall take some of the blood of the bull and some of the blood of the goat, and put it on the horns of the altar all around. ¹⁹And he shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it and consecrate it from the uncleannesses of the people of Israel.

²⁰“And when he has made an end of xatoning for the Holy Place and the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall present the live goat. ²¹And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins. And he shall yput them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness. ²²The goat shall zbear all their iniquities on itself to a remote area, and ahe shall let the goat go free in the wilderness.

²³“Then Aaron shall come into the tent of meeting and bshall take off the linen garments that he put on when he went into the Holy Place and shall leave them there. ²⁴And he shall bathe his body in water in a holy place and put on his garments and come out and coffer his burnt offering and the burnt offering of the people and make atonement for himself and for the people. ²⁵And dthe fat of the sin offering he shall burn on the altar. ²⁶And he who lets the goat go to eAzazel shall wash his clothes and fbathe his body in water, and afterward he may come into the camp. ²⁷gAnd the bull for the sin offering and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the Holy Place, shall be carried outside the camp. Their skin and their flesh and their dung shall be burned up with fire. ²⁸And he who burns them shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward he may come into the camp.

²⁹“And it shall be a statute to you forever that hin the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall iafflict yourselves2 and shall do no work, either jthe native or the stranger who sojourns among you. ³⁰For on this day shall atonement be made for you kto cleanse you. You shall be clean before the Lord from all your sins. ³¹lIt is a Sabbath of solemn rest to you, and you shall iafflict yourselves; it is a statute forever. ³²mAnd the priest who is anointed and nconsecrated as priest in his father's place oshall make atonement, wearing the holy linen garments. ³³He shall make atonement for pthe holy sanctuary, and he shall make atonement for the tent of meeting and for qthe altar, and he shall make atonement for rthe priests and for sall the people of the assembly. ³⁴And this shall be a statute forever for you, that atonement may be made for the people of Israel tonce in the year because of all their sins.” And Aaron3 did as the Lord commanded Moses.

The Law of the Lord Is Perfect

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

¹iThe heavens declare the glory of God,

and the sky above1 proclaims his handiwork.

²Day to day pours out speech,

and night to night reveals knowledge.

³There is no speech, nor are there words,

whose voice is not heard.

⁴jTheir kvoice2 goes out through all the earth,

and their words to the end of the world.

In them he has set a tent for lthe sun,

⁵mwhich comes out like na bridegroom leaving his chamber,

and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy.

⁶Its rising is from the end of the heavens,

and its circuit to the end of them,

and there is nothing hidden from its heat.

⁷oThe law of the Lord is perfect,3

previving the soul;

qthe testimony of the Lord is rsure,

smaking wise tthe simple;

⁸uthe precepts of the Lord are right,

rejoicing the heart;

the commandment of the Lord is vpure,

wenlightening the eyes;

⁹the fear of the Lord is clean,

enduring forever;

the rules4 of the Lord are xtrue,

and righteous altogether.

¹⁰More to be desired are they than ygold,

even much zfine gold;

asweeter also than honey

and drippings of bthe honeycomb.

¹¹Moreover, by them is your servant warned;

cin keeping them there is great reward.

¹²dWho can discern his errors?

eDeclare me innocent from fhidden faults.

¹³gKeep back your servant also from hpresumptuous sins;

let them not have idominion over me!

Then I shall be blameless,

and innocent of great transgression.

¹⁴Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart

be acceptable in your sight,

O Lord, my jrock and my kredeemer.

The Words of Agur

¹The words of Agur son of Jakeh. The oracle.1

The man declares, I am weary, O God;

I am weary, O God, and worn out.2

²Surely I am too mstupid to be a man.

I have not the understanding of a man.

³I have not learned wisdom,

nor have I knowledge of nthe Holy One.

⁴Who has oascended to heaven and come down?

Who has pgathered the wind in his fists?

Who has qwrapped up the waters in a garment?

Who has established all rthe ends of the earth?

sWhat is his name, and what is his son's name?

Surely you know!

⁵tEvery word of God proves true;

he is ua shield to those who take refuge in him.

⁶vDo not add to his words,

lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar.

⁷Two things I ask of you;

deny them not to me wbefore I die:

⁸Remove far from me falsehood and lying;

give me neither poverty nor riches;

feed me with the food that is xneedful for me,

⁹lest I be yfull and zdeny you

and say, a“Who is the Lord?”

or lest I be poor and steal

band profane the name of my God.

¹⁰cDo not slander a servant to his master,

dlest he curse you, and you be held guilty.

¹¹There are those3 who ecurse their fathers

and do not bless their mothers.

¹²There are those who are fclean in their own eyes

but are not washed of their filth.

¹³There are those—how glofty are their eyes,

how high their eyelids lift!

¹⁴There are those whose teeth are hswords,

whose ifangs are knives,

to jdevour the poor from off the earth,

the needy from among mankind.

¹⁵The leech has two daughters:

Give and Give.4

kThree things are never satisfied;

kfour never say, “Enough”:

¹⁶lSheol, mthe barren womb,

the land never satisfied with water,

and the fire that never says, “Enough.”

¹⁷The eye that nmocks a father

and oscorns to obey a mother

will pbe picked out by qthe ravens of the valley

and eaten by the vultures.

¹⁸kThree things are rtoo wonderful for me;

kfour I do not understand:

¹⁹the way of an eagle in the sky,

the way of a serpent on a rock,

the way of a ship on the high seas,

and the way of a man with a virgin.

²⁰This is the way of an adulteress:

she eats and wipes her mouth

and says, “I have done no wrong.”

²¹Under kthree things sthe earth trembles;

under kfour it cannot bear up:

²²ta slave when he becomes king,

and a fool when he is ufilled with food;

²³van unloved woman when she wgets a husband,

and a maidservant when she displaces her mistress.

²⁴kFour things on earth are small,

but they are exceedingly wise:

²⁵xthe ants are a people not strong,

yet they provide their food in the summer;

²⁶ythe rock badgers are a people not mighty,

yet they make their homes in the cliffs;

²⁷the locusts have no zking,

yet all of them march in arank;

²⁸the lizard you can take in your hands,

yet it is in kings' palaces.

²⁹bThree things are stately in their tread;

bfour are stately in their stride:

³⁰the lion, which is mightiest among beasts

and cdoes not turn back before any;

³¹the dstrutting rooster,5 the he-goat,

and a king whose army is with him.6

³²If you have been foolish, exalting yourself,

or if you have been devising evil,

eput your hand on your mouth.

³³For pressing milk produces curds,

pressing the nose produces blood,

and pressing anger produces strife.

Greeting

¹Paul, aan apostle of Christ Jesus bby command of cGod our Savior and of Christ Jesus dour hope,

²To Timothy, emy true child in the faith:

fGrace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

Warning Against False Teachers

³gAs I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not hto teach any different doctrine, ⁴nor ito devote themselves to myths and endless jgenealogies, which promote kspeculations rather than the stewardship1 from God that is by faith. ⁵The aim of our charge is love lthat issues from a pure heart and ma good conscience and na sincere faith. ⁶Certain persons, by oswerving from these, have wandered away into pvain discussion, ⁷desiring to be teachers of the law, qwithout understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions.

⁸Now we know that rthe law is good, if one uses it lawfully, ⁹understanding this, that the slaw is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, ¹⁰the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers,2 liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to tsound3 doctrine, ¹¹in accordance with uthe gospel of the glory of vthe blessed God wwith which I have been entrusted.

Christ Jesus Came to Save Sinners

¹²I thank him xwho has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, yappointing me to his service, ¹³though formerly I was a blasphemer, zpersecutor, and insolent opponent. But aI received mercy bbecause I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, ¹⁴and cthe grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the dfaith and love that are in Christ Jesus. ¹⁵The saying is etrustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus fcame into the world to save sinners, gof whom I am the foremost. ¹⁶But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. ¹⁷To hthe King of the ages, iimmortal, jinvisible, kthe only God, lbe honor and glory forever and ever.4 Amen.

¹⁸This charge mI entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with nthe prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may owage the good warfare, ¹⁹pholding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have qmade shipwreck of their faith, ²⁰among whom are rHymenaeus and sAlexander, whom I thave handed over to Satan that they may learn not to ublaspheme.