Laws About Sacrifices

¹The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²“Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, xWhen you come into the land you are to inhabit, which I am giving you, ³and yyou offer to the Lord from the herd or from the flock a food offering1 or a burnt offering or a sacrifice, zto fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering or aat your appointed feasts, to make a bpleasing aroma to the Lord, ⁴then che who brings his offering shall offer to the Lord da grain offering of a tenth of an ephah2 of fine flour, emixed with a quarter of a hin3 of oil; ⁵and you shall offer with the burnt offering, or for the sacrifice, a quarter of a hin of fwine for the drink offering for each lamb. ⁶gOr for a ram, you shall offer for a grain offering two tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with a third of a hin of oil. ⁷And for the drink offering you shall offer a third of a hin of wine, a bpleasing aroma to the Lord. ⁸And when you offer a bull as a burnt offering or sacrifice, to zfulfill a vow or for hpeace offerings to the Lord, ⁹then one shall offer iwith the bull a grain offering of three tenths of an ephah of fine flour, mixed with half a hin of oil. ¹⁰And you shall offer for the drink offering half a hin of wine, as a food offering, a pleasing aroma to the Lord.

¹¹j“Thus it shall be done for each bull or ram, or for each lamb or young goat. ¹²As many as you offer, so shall you do with each one, as many as there are. ¹³Every native Israelite shall do these things in this way, in offering a food offering, with a pleasing aroma to the Lord. ¹⁴And if a stranger is sojourning with you, or anyone is living permanently among you, and he wishes to offer a food offering, with a pleasing aroma to the Lord, he shall do as you do. ¹⁵For the assembly, kthere shall be one statute for you and for the stranger who sojourns with you, a statute forever throughout your generations. You and the sojourner shall be alike before the Lord. ¹⁶One law and one rule shall be for you and for the stranger who sojourns with you.”

¹⁷The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁸l“Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land to which I bring you ¹⁹and when you eat of mthe bread of the land, you shall present a contribution to the Lord. ²⁰nOf the first of your dough you shall present a loaf as a contribution; like a ocontribution from the threshing floor, so shall you present it. ²¹nSome of the first of your dough you shall give to the Lord as a contribution throughout your generations.

Laws About Unintentional Sins

²²p“But if you sin unintentionally,4 and do not observe all these commandments that the Lord has spoken to Moses, ²³all that the Lord has commanded you by Moses, from the day that the Lord gave commandment, and onward throughout your generations, ²⁴then if it was done unintentionally qwithout the knowledge of the congregation, all the congregation shall offer one bull from the herd for a burnt offering, a pleasing aroma to the Lord, rwith its grain offering and its drink offering, according to the rule, and sone male goat for a sin offering. ²⁵tAnd the priest shall make atonement for all the congregation of the people of Israel, and they shall be forgiven, because it was a mistake, and they have brought their offering, a food offering to the Lord, and their sin offering before the Lord for their mistake. ²⁶And all the congregation of the people of Israel shall be forgiven, and the stranger who sojourns among them, because the whole population was involved in the mistake.

²⁷u“If one person sins unintentionally, he shall offer a female goat a year old for a sin offering. ²⁸vAnd the priest shall make atonement before the Lord for the person who makes a mistake, when he sins unintentionally, to make atonement for him, and he shall be forgiven. ²⁹wYou shall have one law for him who does anything unintentionally, for him who is native among the people of Israel and for the stranger who sojourns among them. ³⁰xBut the person who does anything with a high hand, whether he is native or a sojourner, reviles the Lord, and that person shall be cut off from among his people. ³¹Because he has ydespised the word of the Lord and has broken his commandment, that person shall be utterly cut off; his iniquity shall be on him.”

A Sabbathbreaker Executed

³²While the people of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man zgathering sticks on the Sabbath day. ³³And those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation. ³⁴aThey put him in custody, because it had not been made clear what should be done to him. ³⁵And the Lord said to Moses, b“The man shall be put to death; all the congregation shall cstone him with stones outside the camp.” ³⁶And all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him to death with stones, as the Lord commanded Moses.

Tassels on Garments

³⁷The Lord said to Moses, ³⁸“Speak to the people of Israel, and tell them to dmake tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and to put a cord of blue on the tassel of each corner. ³⁹And it shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments of the Lord, to do them, enot to follow5 after your own heart and your own eyes, which you are inclined fto whore after. ⁴⁰So you shall remember and do all my commandments, and be gholy to your God. ⁴¹hI am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God: I am the Lord your God.”

Create in Me a Clean Heart, O God

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, when vNathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.

¹wHave mercy on me,1 O God,

according to your steadfast love;

according to your xabundant mercy

yblot out my transgressions.

²zWash me thoroughly from my iniquity,

and acleanse me from my sin!

³bFor I know my transgressions,

and my sin is ever before me.

⁴cAgainst you, you only, have I sinned

and done what is evil din your sight,

eso that you may be justified in your words

and blameless in your judgment.

⁵Behold, fI was brought forth in iniquity,

and in sin did my mother conceive me.

⁶Behold, you delight in truth in gthe inward being,

and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.

⁷Purge me hwith hyssop, and I shall be clean;

zwash me, and I shall be iwhiter than snow.

⁸Let me hear joy and gladness;

jlet the bones kthat you have broken rejoice.

⁹lHide your face from my sins,

and yblot out all my iniquities.

¹⁰mCreate in me a nclean heart, O God,

and orenew a right2 spirit within me.

¹¹pCast me not away from your presence,

and take not qyour Holy Spirit from me.

¹²Restore to me the joy of your salvation,

and uphold me with a willing spirit.

¹³Then I will teach transgressors your ways,

and sinners will rreturn to you.

¹⁴Deliver me from sbloodguiltiness, O God,

O tGod of my salvation,

and umy tongue will sing aloud of your vrighteousness.

¹⁵O Lord, open my lips,

and my mouth will declare your praise.

¹⁶wFor you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;

you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.

¹⁷The sacrifices of God are xa broken spirit;

a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

¹⁸yDo good to Zion in your good pleasure;

zbuild up the walls of Jerusalem;

¹⁹then will you delight in aright sacrifices,

in burnt offerings and bwhole burnt offerings;

then bulls will be offered on your altar.

The Vineyard of the Lord Destroyed

¹Let me sing for my beloved

my love song concerning his vineyard:

My beloved had va vineyard

on a very fertile hill.

²He dug it and cleared it of stones,

and planted it with wchoice vines;

he built a watchtower in the midst of it,

and hewed out a wine vat in it;

and xhe looked for it to yield grapes,

but it yielded wild grapes.

³And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem

and men of Judah,

judge between me and my vineyard.

⁴yWhat more was there to do for my vineyard,

that I have not done in it?

xWhen I looked for it to yield grapes,

why did it yield wild grapes?

⁵And now I will tell you

what I will do to my vineyard.

I will remove zits hedge,

and it shall be devoured;1

aI will break down its wall,

and it shall be trampled down.

⁶I will make it a waste;

it shall not be pruned or hoed,

and bbriers and thorns shall grow up;

cI will also command the clouds

that they rain no rain upon it.

⁷dFor the vineyard of the Lord of hosts

is the house of Israel,

and the men of Judah

are his pleasant planting;

and he looked for justice,

but behold, bloodshed;2

for righteousness,

but behold, an outcry!3

Woe to the Wicked

⁸Woe to those who ejoin house to house,

who add field to field,

until there is no more room,

and you are made to dwell alone

in the midst of the land.

⁹The Lord of hosts has sworn in my hearing:

f“Surely many houses shall be desolate,

large and beautiful houses, without inhabitant.

¹⁰gFor ten acres4 of vineyard shall yield but one bath,

and a hhomer of seed shall yield but an ephah.”5

¹¹Woe to those who irise early in the morning,

that they may run after strong drink,

who tarry late into the evening

as wine inflames them!

¹²jThey have lyre and harp,

tambourine and flute and wine at their feasts,

kbut they do not regard the deeds of the Lord,

or see the work of his hands.

¹³Therefore my people go into exile

lfor lack of knowledge;6

their mhonored men go hungry,7

and their multitude is parched with thirst.

¹⁴Therefore Sheol has nenlarged its appetite

and opened oits mouth beyond measure,

and the nobility of Jerusalem8 and her multitude will go down,

her revelers and he who pexults in her.

¹⁵qMan is humbled, and each one is brought low,

and the eyes of the haughty9 are brought low.

¹⁶rBut the Lord of hosts is exalted10 in justice,

and the Holy God shows himself holy in righteousness.

¹⁷Then shall the lambs graze sas in their pasture,

and tnomads shall eat among the ruins of the rich.

¹⁸Woe to those who draw iniquity with ucords of falsehood,

who draw sin as with cart ropes,

¹⁹who say: v“Let him be quick,

let him speed his work

that we may see it;

let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near,

and let it come, that we may know it!”

²⁰Woe to wthose who call evil good

and good evil,

xwho put darkness for light

and light for darkness,

who put bitter for sweet

and sweet for bitter!

²¹Woe to those who are ywise in their own eyes,

and shrewd in their own sight!

²²Woe to those who are zheroes at drinking wine,

and valiant men in mixing strong drink,

²³who aacquit the guilty for a bribe,

and deprive the innocent of his right!

²⁴Therefore, bas the tongue of fire devours the stubble,

and as dry grass sinks down in the flame,

so ctheir root will be das rottenness,

and their blossom go up like dust;

for they have erejected the law of the Lord of hosts,

and have fdespised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

²⁵Therefore gthe anger of the Lord was kindled against his people,

and he stretched out his hand against them and struck them,

and hthe mountains quaked;

and their corpses were ias refuse

in the midst of the streets.

jFor all this his anger has not turned away,

and his hand is stretched out still.

²⁶He will kraise a signal for nations far away,

and lwhistle for them mfrom the ends of the earth;

and behold, quickly, speedily they come!

²⁷nNone is weary, none stumbles,

none slumbers or sleeps,

not a waistband is loose,

not a sandal strap broken;

²⁸otheir arrows are sharp,

all their bows bent,

their horses' hoofs seem like flint,

and their wheels plike the whirlwind.

²⁹Their roaring is like a lion,

like young lions they roar;

they growl and qseize their prey;

they carry it off, and none can rescue.

³⁰They will growl over it on that day,

like the growling of the sea.

And if one looks to the land,

behold, rdarkness and distress;

and the light is darkened by its clouds.

Jesus, Founder and Perfecter of Our Faith

¹Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and wsin which clings so closely, and xlet us run ywith endurance the race that is zset before us, ²looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, awho for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising bthe shame, and cis seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Do Not Grow Weary

³dConsider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or efainthearted. ⁴In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. ⁵And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?

f“My son, gdo not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,

nor be weary when reproved by him.

⁶For hthe Lord disciplines the one he loves,

and chastises every son whom he receives.”

⁷It is for discipline that you have to endure. iGod is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? ⁸If you are left without discipline, jin which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. ⁹Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to kthe Father of spirits land live? ¹⁰For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, mthat we may share his holiness. ¹¹nFor the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields othe peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

¹²Therefore plift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, ¹³and qmake straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint rbut rather be healed. ¹⁴sStrive for peace with everyone, and for the tholiness uwithout which no one will see the Lord. ¹⁵See to it that no one vfails to obtain the grace of God; that no w“root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; ¹⁶that no one is xsexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. ¹⁷For you know that yafterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.

A Kingdom That Cannot Be Shaken

¹⁸For you have not come to zwhat may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest ¹⁹and athe sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words bmade the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. ²⁰For they could not endure the order that was given, c“If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.” ²¹Indeed, dso terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.” ²²But you have come to eMount Zion and to the city of the living God, fthe heavenly Jerusalem, and to ginnumerable angels in festal gathering, ²³and to hthe assembly1 of the firstborn who are ienrolled in heaven, and to jGod, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, ²⁴and to Jesus, kthe mediator of a new covenant, and to lthe sprinkled blood mthat speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

²⁵See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For nif they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. ²⁶At that time ohis voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, p“Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” ²⁷This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates qthe removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. ²⁸Therefore let us be grateful for receiving ra kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus slet us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, ²⁹for our tGod is a consuming fire.