Leviticus 19–20; Mark 9:30–50

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Leviticus 19–20

The Lord Is Holy

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, tYou shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy. uEvery one of you shall revere his mother and his father, and vyou shall keep my Sabbaths: I am the Lord your God. wDo not turn to idols xor make for yourselves any gods of cast metal: I am the Lord your God.

yWhen you offer a sacrifice of peace offerings to the Lord, you shall offer it so zthat you may be accepted. It shall be eaten the same day you offer it or on the day after, and anything left over until the third day shall be burned up with fire. If it is eaten at all on the third day, it is atainted; it will not be accepted, and everyone who eats it shall bbear his iniquity, because che has profaned what is holy to the Lord, and that person shall be cut off from his people.

Love Your Neighbor as Yourself

dWhen you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. 10 And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God.

11 eYou shall not steal; fyou shall not deal falsely; you shall not lie to one another. 12 gYou shall not swear by my name falsely, and so hprofane the name of your God: I am the Lord.

13 iYou shall not oppress your neighbor or rob him. jThe wages of a hired worker shall not remain with you all night until the morning. 14 kYou shall not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall lfear your God: I am the Lord.

15 mYou shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor. 16 nYou shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not ostand up against the life1 of your neighbor: I am the Lord.

17 pYou shall not hate your brother in your heart, but qyou shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you rincur sin because of him. 18 sYou shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but tyou shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.

You Shall Keep My Statutes

19 uYou shall keep my statutes. You shall not let your cattle breed with a different kind. vYou shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed, nor shall you wear a garment of cloth made of two kinds of material.

20 If a man lies sexually with a woman who is a slave, assigned to another man and not yet ransomed or given her freedom, a distinction shall be made. They shall not be put to death, because she was not free; 21 but whe shall bring his compensation to the Lord, to the entrance of the tent of meeting, a ram for a guilt offering. 22 And the priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering before the Lord for his sin that he has committed, and he shall be forgiven for the sin that he has committed.

23 When you come into the land and plant any kind of tree for food, then you shall regard its fruit as forbidden.2 Three years it shall be forbidden to you; it must not be eaten. 24 And in the fourth year all its fruit shall be holy, an offering of praise to the Lord. 25 But in the fifth year you may eat of its fruit, to increase its yield for you: I am the Lord your God.

26 xYou shall not eat any flesh with the blood in it. yYou shall not interpret omens or ztell fortunes. 27 aYou shall not round off the hair on your temples or mar the edges of your beard. 28 You shall not make any bcuts on your body for the dead or tattoo yourselves: I am the Lord.

29 cDo not profane your daughter by making her a prostitute, lest the land fall into prostitution and the land become full of depravity. 30 dYou shall keep my Sabbaths and ereverence my sanctuary: I am the Lord.

31 fDo not turn to mediums or necromancers; do not seek them out, and so make yourselves unclean by them: I am the Lord your God.

32 gYou shall stand up before the gray head and honor the face of an old man, and you shall hfear your God: I am the Lord.

33 iWhen a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. 34 jYou shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and kyou shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.

35 lYou shall do no wrong in judgment, in measures of length or weight or quantity. 36 mYou shall have just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin:3 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. 37 And nyou shall observe all my statutes and all my rules, and do them: I am the Lord.

Punishment for Child Sacrifice

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Say to the people of Israel, oAny one of the people of Israel or of the strangers who sojourn in Israel who gives any of his children to Molech shall surely be put to death. The people of the land shall stone him with stones. pI myself will set my face against that man and will cut him off from among his people, because he has given one of his children to Molech, to make my sanctuary qunclean and rto profane my holy name. And if the people of the land do at all close their eyes to that man when he gives one of his children to Molech, and do not sput him to death, then I will set my face against that man and against his clan and will cut them off from among their people, him and all who follow him in twhoring after Molech.

If ua person turns to mediums and necromancers, whoring after them, vI will set my face against that person and will cut him off from among his people. wConsecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, for I am the Lord your God. xKeep my statutes and do them; yI am the Lord who sanctifies you. For zanyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death; he has cursed his father or his mother; ahis blood is upon him.

Punishments for Sexual Immorality

10 If a bman commits adultery with the wife of4 his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. 11 cIf a man lies with his father’s wife, he has uncovered his father’s nakedness; both of them shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them. 12 dIf a man lies with his daughter-in-law, both of them shall surely be put to death; they have committed eperversion; their blood is upon them. 13 fIf a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them. 14 gIf a man takes a woman and her mother also, it is depravity; he and they shall be burned with fire, that there may be no depravity among you. 15 hIf a man lies with an animal, he shall surely be put to death, and you shall kill the animal. 16 hIf a woman approaches any animal and lies with it, you shall kill the woman and the animal; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.

17 iIf a man takes his sister, a daughter of his father or a daughter of his mother, and sees her nakedness, and she sees his nakedness, it is a disgrace, and they shall be cut off in the sight of the children of their people. He has uncovered his sister’s nakedness, and he shall bear his iniquity. 18 jIf a man lies with a woman during her menstrual period and uncovers her nakedness, he has made naked her fountain, and she has uncovered the fountain of her blood. Both of them shall be cut off from among their people. 19 kYou shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister or of your father’s sister, for that is to make naked lone’s relative; they shall bear their iniquity. 20 mIf a man lies with his uncle’s wife, he has uncovered his uncle’s nakedness; they shall bear their sin; they shall die childless. 21 nIf a man takes his brother’s wife, it is impurity.5 He has uncovered his brother’s nakedness; they shall be childless.

You Shall Be Holy

22 oYou shall therefore keep all my statutes and all my rules and do them, that the land where I am bringing you to live may not pvomit you out. 23 qAnd you shall not walk in the customs of the nation that I am driving out before you, for they did all these things, and therefore I detested them. 24 But rI have said to you, You shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you to possess, a land sflowing with milk and honey. I am the Lord your God, twho has separated you from the peoples. 25 uYou shall therefore separate the clean beast from the unclean, and the unclean bird from the clean. You shall not make yourselves detestable by beast or by bird or by anything with which the ground crawls, which I have set apart for you to hold unclean. 26 vYou shall be holy to me, wfor I the Lord am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine.

27 xA man or a woman who is a medium or a necromancer shall surely be put to death. They shall be ystoned with stones; ztheir blood shall be upon them.


Mark 9:30–50

Jesus Again Foretells Death, Resurrection

30 wThey went on from there and passed through Galilee. And he did not want anyone to know, 31 for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he is killed, xafter three days he will rise. 32 yBut they did not understand the saying, and were afraid to ask him.

Who Is the Greatest?

33 And zthey came to Capernaum. And when he was in the house ahe asked them, What were you discussing on the way? 34 But they kept silent, for on the way bthey had argued with one another about who was the greatest. 35 And he sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them, cIf anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all. 36 And he took a child and put him in the midst of them, and dtaking him in his arms, he said to them, 37 eWhoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and ewhoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.

Anyone Not Against Us Is for Us

38 fJohn said to him, Teacher, we saw someone gcasting out demons in your name,1 and hwe tried to stop him, because he was not following us. 39 But Jesus said, Do not stop him, for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. 40 iFor the one who is not against us is for us. 41 For truly, I say to you, jwhoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward.

Temptations to Sin

42 kWhoever causes one of lthese little ones who believe in me to sin,2 mit would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. 43 nAnd if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to ohell,3 to pthe unquenchable fire.4 45 qAnd if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into ohell. 47 rAnd if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into shell, 48 where ttheir worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. 49 For everyone will be salted with fire.5 50 vSalt is good, wbut if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you make it salty again? xHave salt in yourselves, and ybe at peace with one another.