Restrictions against the Unclean 1 UST Then Yahweh said to Moses, BSB BSB: Then the LORD said to Moses,
2 UST “Instruct Aaron and his sons to carefully honor the holy sacrifices that the Israelites bring to me. The priests represent my holy reputation, they must not dishonor it.{ Remember:} I am Yahweh! BSB BSB: “Tell Aaron and his sons to treat with respect the sacred offerings that the Israelites have consecrated to Me, so that they do not profane My holy name. I am the LORD.
3 UST Tell them that, while he is impure, no priest should ever approach my sacred altar to present a sacrifice that the people of Israel have set aside to belong to me, Yahweh. This applies to every descendant of Aaron who serves as a priest for as long as there are priests in Israel. If this ever happens, I will make the priest who does this an outcast and remove him from my presence. Remember: I am Yahweh! BSB BSB: Tell them that for the generations to come, if any of their descendants in a state of uncleanness approaches the sacred offerings that the Israelites consecrate to the LORD, that person must be cut off from My presence. I am the LORD.
4 UST Until the priests declare him to be pure once again, no descendant of Aaron who suffers from an infectious skin disease or a flowing discharge may eat the special food that I have set aside from the food gifts that the people of Israel offer to me for the priests to eat. This rule also applies to any priest who touches a dead body, which is impure, or who experiences an abnormal genital discharge, BSB BSB: If a descendant of Aaron has a skin disease or a discharge, he may not eat the sacred offerings until he is clean. Whoever touches anything defiled by a corpse or by a man who has an emission of semen,
5 UST or who touches any creature that swarms and crawls along the ground and becomes unclean or who touches a person who is currently impure— no matter the reason for which that person is impure. BSB BSB: or whoever touches a crawling creature or a person that makes him unclean, whatever the uncleanness may be—
6 UST Remember: any priest who touches anything or anyone impure should consider himself to be impure until the evening of that day. The priest must not eat any of the special food that I have set aside from my food gifts for the priests to eat unless the priest first bathes himself. BSB BSB: the man who touches any of these will remain unclean until evening. He must not eat from the sacred offerings unless he has bathed himself with water.
7 UST After the sun sets, the priest should consider himself to be pure once again. He may eat the special food that I have set apart from my food gifts for the priests to eat, because I have made provision for the priests by giving them this food. BSB BSB: When the sun has set, he will become clean, and then he may eat from the sacred offerings, for they are his food.
8 UST But no priest should eat the meat from an animal’ s corpse or from an animal that wild animals killed and someone later found dead. If a priest does this, he makes himself impure and unfit to serve or worship me. Remember: I am Yahweh. BSB BSB: He must not eat anything found dead or torn by wild animals, which would make him unclean. I am the LORD.
9 UST The priests must carefully avoid exactly what I, Yahweh, have told them to avoid. If they do not, they will have shown me disrespect and defiled the sacred food gifts that the people of Israel have offered to me. I will hold them responsible for their wrongdoing and kill them. Remember: I am Yahweh, and I have set the priests apart to serve and worship me. BSB BSB: The priests must keep My charge, lest they bear the guilt and die because they profane it. I am the LORD who sanctifies them.
10 UST No one outside of the priest’ s immediate family may eat the sacred food that I have set apart for the priests to eat. This includes any passing guest that a priest hosts in his home or any hired laborer. BSB BSB: No one outside a priest’s family may eat the sacred offering, nor may the guest of a priest or his hired hand eat it.
11 UST However, a slave that a priest has bought with his own money may eat this special food. Likewise, any slave that is born into a priest’ s household is welcome to eat the sacred food that I, Yahweh, have set apart for the priests to eat. BSB BSB: But if a priest buys a slave with his own money, or if a slave is born in his household, that slave may eat his food.
12 UST However, when a priest’ s daughter marries a man who is not a priest, she may no longer eat the sacred foods that the people of Israel have presented to Yahweh as a special contribution of food for the priests to eat. BSB BSB: If the priest’s daughter is married to a man other than a priest, she is not to eat of the sacred contributions.
13 UST It may happen that a priest’ s daughter becomes a widow or divorces from her husband and yet has no children. If this happens, and the woman returns to her father’ s household to live there as she did when she was young, she may eat the special food that I have set apart for the priests to eat. However, no one outside of the priest’ s immediate family may ever eat this sacred food. BSB BSB: But if a priest’s daughter with no children becomes widowed or divorced and returns to her father’s house, she may share her father’s food as in her youth. But no outsider may share it.
14 UST It may happen that a person who is not a priest mistakenly eats the special food that I, Yahweh, have set aside for the priests to eat. If this happens, the person who ate the food must repay the full value of the food that he ate, plus an additional one- fifth of its value, and give the money to the priest to whom the food belonged. BSB BSB: If anyone eats a sacred offering in error, he must add a fifth to its value and give the sacred offering to the priest.
15 UST By practicing these rules, the priests will not disrespect and profane the sacred food that the people of Israel have offered as their sacrifice to me, Yahweh. BSB BSB: The priests must not profane the sacred offerings that the Israelites present to the LORD
16 UST However, if the priests fail to do this, and they eat the special food when they are impure or anyone outside of the priest’ s immediate family eats the special food, I will hold both the priests and the people of Israel responsible for the guilt of their wrongdoing. I will do this because I am Yahweh, and I have set the priests apart to serve and worship me.” BSB BSB: by allowing the people to eat the sacred offerings and thus to bear the punishment for guilt. For I am the LORD who sanctifies them.”
Worthy Offerings 17 UST Then Yahweh said to Moses, BSB BSB: Then the LORD said to Moses,
18 UST “Tell Aaron, his sons, and all the people of Israel that any Israelite or non- Israelite living among the people of Israel may present wholly burned sacrifices to me, Yahweh. They may present sacrifices because of a vow that they make to me, or freely and unprompted. BSB BSB: “Speak to Aaron and his sons and all the Israelites and tell them, ‘Any man of the house of Israel or any foreign resident who presents a gift for a burnt offering to the LORD, whether to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering,
19 UST However, for me to accept such sacrifices, whoever offers a sacrifice that the priest completely burns on the altar must present a totally healthy male animal, whether a bovine, sheep, or goat. BSB BSB: must offer an unblemished male from the cattle, sheep, or goats in order for it to be accepted on your behalf.
20 UST This means that no one should ever offer to me an animal that suffers from disabilities or defects. I will not accept these animals for the people of Israel. BSB BSB: You must not present anything with a defect, because it will not be accepted on your behalf.
21 UST Any animal that someone presents to me, Yahweh, as a fellowship sacrifice must be totally healthy for me to accept the sacrifice. Whether a person presents it to fulfill an extraordinary vow that he made to me or whether the person offers the sacrifice freely and unprompted, whether bovine or flock animals: no animal presented as a sacrifice to me, Yahweh, must suffer from a disability or deformity. BSB BSB: When a man presents a peace offering to the LORD from the herd or flock to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering, it must be without blemish or defect to be acceptable.
22 UST This includes animals that are blind, have broken bones, are maimed, or any animals that suffer from running sores or any visible infectious skin disease. The people of Israel must never present any animal in this condition to me, Yahweh, as a sacrifice. The priests must not burn even a piece of such an animal on my altar. BSB BSB: You are not to present to the LORD any animal that is blind, injured, or maimed, or anything with a running sore, a festering rash, or a scab; you must not put any of these on the altar as a food offering to the LORD.
23 UST However, the people of Israel may present to me an ox or a sheep that has misshapen or stunted limbs, if they intend the sacrifice to be a voluntary offering. Nevertheless, I will not accept such animals for a sacrifice that someone intends to fulfill a promise that he made to me. BSB BSB: You may present as a freewill offering an ox or sheep that has a deformed or stunted limb, but it is not acceptable in fulfillment of a vow.
24 UST Particularly, the people of Israel should never offer to me a bovine or flock animal whose owner has crushed, pulverized, torn off, or removed its testicles. As long as they live in the land of Canaan, the people of Israel must not present such animals as sacrifices to me. BSB BSB: You are not to present to the LORD an animal whose testicles are bruised, crushed, torn, or cut; you are not to sacrifice them in your land.
25 UST The people of Israel must not offer such animals as food gifts to me, their God, even if they have purchased the animal from a non- Israelite, because these animals suffer from disabilities and deformities. I consider such animals as unacceptable sacrifices from you.” BSB BSB: Neither you nor a foreigner shall present food to your God from any such animal. They will not be accepted on your behalf, because they are deformed and flawed.’”
26 UST Then Yahweh said to Moses, BSB BSB: Then the LORD said to Moses,
27 UST “A newborn calf or lamb or goat must remain with its mother for a week after its mother has given birth to it. After that week has passed, I, Yahweh, will accept the young animal as a sacrifice and food gift to me. BSB BSB: “When an ox, a sheep, or a goat is born, it must remain with its mother for seven days. From the eighth day on, it will be acceptable as a food offering presented to the LORD.
28 UST However, make sure that the people of Israel do not slaughter a fully grown bovine or flock animal and its young on the same day. BSB BSB: But you must not slaughter an ox or a sheep on the same day as its young.
29 UST The people of Israel may sacrifice an animal to thank me for what I have done for them. When they do this, they should present it in such a way that I will accept the sacrifice for the one presenting it. BSB BSB: When you sacrifice a thank offering to the LORD, offer it so that it may be acceptable on your behalf.
30 UST This means that the people who will eat the meat of such a sacrifice must do so on the same day that the individual offers the sacrifice. He should make sure that he does not leave any of the meat of the sacrifice until the next morning.{ Remember:} I am Yahweh! BSB BSB: It must be eaten that same day. Do not leave any of it until morning. I am the LORD.
31 UST The people of Israel must make a habit of doing everything that I have commanded them to do. Remember: I am Yahweh! BSB BSB: You are to keep My commandments and practice them. I am the LORD.
32 UST This means that the people of Israel should not profane and dishonor my reputation as their God by disobeying what I have told them to do. Instead, the people of Israel should behave in a way that demonstrates that I am set apart from impurity and wrongdoing and that I, Yahweh, live in their midst. Remember: I am Yahweh, and I have set my people apart to serve and worship me! BSB BSB: You must not profane My holy name. I must be acknowledged as holy among the Israelites. I am the LORD who sanctifies you,
33 UST I am the one who rescued the people of Israel from their slavery in Egypt so that I could be their God. Remember: I am Yahweh!” BSB BSB: who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God. I am the LORD.”
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.