Leviticus 22

• 1. The LORD said to Moses,
• 2. "Tell Aaron and his sons to treat the sacred gifts that the Israelites set apart for me with great care, so they do not profane my holy name. I am the LORD.
• 3. Remind them that if any of their descendants are ceremonially unclean when they approach the sacred food presented by the Israelites, they must be cut off from my presence. I am the LORD!
• 4. "If any of the priests have a contagious skin disease or any kind of discharge that makes them ceremonially unclean, they may not eat the sacred offerings until they have been pronounced clean. If any of the priests become unclean by touching a corpse, or are defiled by an emission of semen,
• 5. or by touching a creeping creature that is unclean, or by touching someone who is ceremonially unclean for any reason,
• 6. they will remain defiled until evening. They must not eat any of the sacred offerings until they have purified their bodies with water.
• 7. When the sun goes down, they will be clean again and may eat the sacred offerings. After all, this food has been set aside for them.
• 8. The priests may never eat an animal that has died a natural death or has been torn apart by wild animals, for this would defile them. I am the LORD.
• 9. Warn all the priests to follow these instructions carefully; otherwise they will be subject to punishment and die for violating them. I am the LORD who makes them holy.
• 10. "No one outside a priest's family may ever eat the sacred offerings, even if the person lives in a priest's home or is one of his hired servants.
• 11. However, if the priest buys slaves with his own money, they may eat of his food. And if his slaves have children, they also may share his food.
• 12. If a priest's daughter marries someone outside the priestly family, she may no longer eat the sacred offerings.
• 13. But if she becomes a widow or is divorced and has no children to support her, and she returns to live in her father's home, she may eat her father's food again. But other than these exceptions, only members of the priests' families are allowed to eat the sacred offerings.
• 14. "Anyone who eats the sacred offerings without realizing it must pay the priest for the amount eaten, plus an added penalty of 20 percent.
• 15. No one may defile the sacred offerings brought to the LORD by the Israelites
• 16. by allowing unauthorized people to eat them. The negligent priest would bring guilt upon the people and require them to pay compensation. I am the LORD, who makes them holy."
• 17. And the LORD said to Moses,
• 18. "Give Aaron and his sons and all the Israelites these instructions, which apply to those who are Israelites by birth as well as to the foreigners living among you. If you offer a whole burnt offering to the LORD, whether to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering,
• 19. it will be accepted only if it is a male animal with no physical defects. It may be either a bull, a ram, or a male goat.
• 20. Do not bring an animal with physical defects, because it won't be accepted on your behalf.
• 21. "If you bring a peace offering to the LORD from the herd or flock, whether to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering, you must offer an animal that has no physical defects of any kind.
• 22. An animal that is blind, injured, mutilated, or that has a growth, an open sore, or a scab must never be offered to the LORD by fire on the altar.
• 23. If the bull or lamb is deformed or stunted, it may still be offered as a freewill offering, but it may not be offered to fulfill a vow.
• 24. If an animal has damaged testicles or is castrated, it may never be offered to the LORD.
• 25. You must never accept mutilated or defective animals from foreigners to be offered as a sacrifice to your God. Such animals will not be accepted on your behalf because they are defective."
• 26. And the LORD said to Moses,
• 27. "When a bull or a ram or a male goat is born, it must be left with its mother for seven days. From the eighth day on, it will be acceptable as an offering given to the LORD by fire.
• 28. But you must never slaughter a mother animal and her offspring on the same day, whether from the herd or the flock.
• 29. When you bring a thanksgiving offering to the LORD, it must be sacrificed properly so it will be accepted on your behalf.
• 30. Eat the entire sacrificial animal on the day it is presented. Don't leave any of it until the second day. I am the LORD.
• 31. "You must faithfully keep all my commands by obeying them, for I am the LORD.
• 32. Do not treat my holy name as common and ordinary. I must be treated as holy by the people of Israel. It is I, the LORD, who makes you holy.
• 33. It was I who rescued you from Egypt, that I might be your very own God. I am the LORD."

Leviticus 23

• 1. The LORD said to Moses,
• 2. "Give the Israelites instructions regarding the LORD's appointed festivals, the days when all of you will be summoned to worship me.
• 3. You may work for six days each week, but on the seventh day all work must come to a complete stop. It is the LORD's Sabbath day of complete rest, a holy day to assemble for worship. It must be observed wherever you live.
• 4. In addition to the Sabbath, the LORD has established festivals, the holy occasions to be observed at the proper time each year.
• 5. "First comes the LORD's Passover, which begins at twilight on its appointed day in early spring.
• 6. Then the day after the Passover celebration, the Festival of Unleavened Bread begins. This festival to the LORD continues for seven days, and during that time all the bread you eat must be made without yeast.
• 7. On the first day of the festival, all the people must stop their regular work and gather for a sacred assembly.
• 8. On each of the next seven days, the people must present an offering to the LORD by fire. On the seventh day, the people must again stop all their regular work to hold a sacred assembly."
• 9. Then the LORD told Moses
• 10. to give these instructions to the Israelites: "When you arrive in the land I am giving you and you harvest your first crops, bring the priest some grain from the first portion of your grain harvest.
• 11. On the day after the Sabbath, the priest will lift it up before the LORD so it may be accepted on your behalf.
• 12. That same day you must sacrifice a year-old male lamb with no physical defects as a whole burnt offering to the LORD.
• 13. A grain offering must accompany it consisting of three quarts of choice flour mixed with olive oil. It will be an offering given to the LORD by fire, and it will be very pleasing to him. Along with this sacrifice, you must also offer one quart of wine as a drink offering.
• 14. Do not eat any bread or roasted grain or fresh kernels on that day until after you have brought this offering to your God. This is a permanent law for you, and it must be observed wherever you live.
• 15. "From the day after the Sabbath, the day the bundle of grain was lifted up as an offering, count off seven weeks.
• 16. Keep counting until the day after the seventh Sabbath, fifty days later, and bring an offering of new grain to the LORD.
• 17. From wherever you live, bring two loaves of bread to be lifted up before the LORD as an offering. These loaves must be baked from three quarts of choice flour that contains yeast. They will be an offering to the LORD from the first of your crops.
• 18. Along with this bread, present seven one-year-old lambs with no physical defects, one bull, and two rams as burnt offerings to the LORD. These whole burnt offerings, together with the accompanying grain offerings and drink offerings, will be given to the LORD by fire and will be pleasing to him.
• 19. Then you must offer one male goat as a sin offering and two one-year-old male lambs as a peace offering.
• 20. "The priest will lift up these offerings before the LORD, together with the loaves representing the first of your later crops. These offerings are holy to the LORD and will belong to the priests.
• 21. That same day, you must stop all your regular work and gather for a sacred assembly. This is a permanent law for you, and it must be observed wherever you live.
• 22. "When you harvest the crops of your land, do not harvest the grain along the edges of your fields, and do not pick up what the harvesters drop. Leave it for the poor and the foreigners living among you. I, the LORD, am your God."
• 23. The LORD told Moses
• 24. to give these instructions to the Israelites: "On the appointed day in early autumn, you are to celebrate a day of complete rest. All your work must stop on that day. You will call the people to a sacred assembly--the Festival of Trumpets--with loud blasts from a trumpet.
• 25. You must do no regular work on that day. Instead, you are to present offerings to the LORD by fire."
• 26. Then the LORD said to Moses,
• 27. "Remember that the Day of Atonement is to be celebrated on the ninth day after the Festival of Trumpets. On that day you must humble yourselves, gather for a sacred assembly, and present offerings to the LORD by fire.
• 28. Do no work during that entire day because it is the Day of Atonement, when atonement will be made for you before the LORD your God, and payment will be made for your sins.
• 29. Anyone who does not spend that day in humility will be cut off from the community.
• 30. And I will destroy anyone among you who does any kind of work on that day.
• 31. You must do no work at all! This is a permanent law for you, and it must be observed wherever you live.
• 32. This will be a Sabbath day of total rest for you, and on that day you must humble yourselves. This time of rest and fasting will begin the evening before the Day of Atonement and extend until evening of that day."
• 33. And the LORD said to Moses,
• 34. "Tell the Israelites to begin the Festival of Shelters on the fifth day after the Day of Atonement. This festival to the LORD will last for seven days.
• 35. It will begin with a sacred assembly on the first day, and all your regular work must stop.
• 36. On each of the seven festival days, you must present offerings to the LORD by fire. On the eighth day, you must gather again for a sacred assembly and present another offering to the LORD by fire. This will be a solemn closing assembly, and no regular work may be done that day.
• 37. "These are the LORD's appointed annual festivals. Celebrate them by gathering in sacred assemblies to present all the various offerings to the LORD by fire--whole burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrificial meals and drink offerings--each on its proper day.
• 38. These festivals must be observed in addition to the LORD's regular Sabbath days. And these offerings must be given in addition to your personal gifts, the offerings you make to accompany your vows, and any freewill offerings that you present to the LORD.
• 39. "Now, on the first day of the Festival of Shelters, after you have harvested all the produce of the land, you will begin to celebrate this seven-day festival to the LORD. Remember that the first day and closing eighth day of the festival will be days of total rest.
• 40. On the first day, gather fruit from citrus trees, and collect palm fronds and other leafy branches and willows that grow by the streams. Then rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days.
• 41. You must observe this seven-day festival to the LORD every year. This is a permanent law for you, and it must be kept by all future generations.
• 42. During the seven festival days, all of you who are Israelites by birth must live in shelters.
• 43. This will remind each new generation of Israelites that their ancestors had to live in shelters when I rescued them from the land of Egypt. I, the LORD, am your God."
• 44. So Moses gave these instructions regarding the annual festivals of the LORD to the Israelites.

Leviticus 24

• 1. The LORD said to Moses,
• 2. "Command the people of Israel to provide you with pure olive oil for the lampstand, so it can be kept burning continually.
• 3. Aaron will set it up outside the inner curtain of the Most Holy Place in the Tabernacle and must arrange to have the lamps tended continually, from evening until morning, before the LORD. This is a permanent law for you, and it must be kept by all future generations.
• 4. The lamps on the pure gold lampstand must be tended continually in the LORD's presence.
• 5. "You must bake twelve loaves of bread from choice flour, using three quarts of flour for each loaf.
• 6. Place the bread in the LORD's presence on the pure gold table, and arrange the loaves in two rows, with six in each row.
• 7. Sprinkle some pure frankincense near each row. It will serve as a token offering, to be burned in place of the bread as an offering given to the LORD by fire.
• 8. Every Sabbath day this bread must be laid out before the LORD on behalf of the Israelites as a continual part of the covenant.
• 9. The loaves of bread belong to Aaron and his male descendants, who must eat them in a sacred place, for they represent a most holy portion of the offerings given to the LORD by fire."
• 10. One day a man who had an Israelite mother and an Egyptian father got into a fight with one of the Israelite men.
• 11. During the fight, this son of an Israelite woman blasphemed the LORD's name. So the man was brought to Moses for judgment. His mother's name was Shelomith. She was the daughter of Dibri of the tribe of Dan.
• 12. They put the man in custody until the LORD's will in the matter should become clear.
• 13. Then the LORD said to Moses,
• 14. "Take the blasphemer outside the camp, and tell all those who heard him to lay their hands on his head. Then let the entire community stone him to death.
• 15. Say to the people of Israel: Those who blaspheme God will suffer the consequences of their guilt and be punished.
• 16. Anyone who blasphemes the LORD's name must be stoned to death by the whole community of Israel. Any Israelite or foreigner among you who blasphemes the LORD's name will surely die.
• 17. "Anyone who takes another person's life must be put to death.
• 18. "Anyone who kills another person's animal must pay it back in full--a live animal for the animal that was killed.
• 19. "Anyone who injures another person must be dealt with according to the injury inflicted--
• 20. fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. Whatever anyone does to hurt another person must be paid back in kind.
• 21. "Whoever kills an animal must make full restitution, but whoever kills another person must be put to death.
• 22. "These same regulations apply to Israelites by birth and foreigners who live among you. I, the LORD, am your God."
• 23. After Moses gave all these instructions to the Israelites, they led the blasphemer outside the camp and stoned him to death, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.

New Living Translation: 39 of 324 days.