Leviticus 23–24

1 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 2 Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: Concerning the feasts of the Lord that you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are My appointed feasts.

3 For six days work shall be done, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of complete rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work. It is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings.

4 These are the appointed feasts of the Lord, holy convocations which you shall proclaim in their appointed times. 5 On the fourteenth day of the first month at evening is the Lord’s Passover. 6 On the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord. For seven days you must eat unleavened bread. 7 On the first day you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no regular work. 8 But you shall offer a food offering made by fire to the Lord for seven days. On the seventh day is a holy convocation. You shall do no regular work.

9 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 10 Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: When you have come into the land that I am giving to you and reap its harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf bundle of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest. 11 And he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord so that you may be accepted. On the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. 12 You shall offer that day when you wave the sheaf a year-old male lamb without blemish for a burnt offering to the Lord. 13 The grain offering shall be two-tenths of an ephah of wheat flour mixed with oil, a food offering made by fire to the Lord for a pleasing aroma; its drink offering shall be of wine, a fourth of a hin. 14 You shall eat neither bread nor grain, parched or fresh, until the same day that you have brought an offering to your God. It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwellings.

15 You shall count seven full weeks from the next day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf bundle of the wave offering. 16 You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall offer a new grain offering to the Lord. 17 You shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two-tenths of an ephah. They shall be of wheat flour, baked with leaven. They are the first fruits to the Lord. 18 You shall offer with the bread seven lambs without blemish of the first year, one bull, and two rams. They shall be for a burnt offering to the Lord, with their grain offering and their drink offerings, that is, a food offering made by fire, of a pleasing aroma to the Lord. 19 Then you shall sacrifice one male goat for a sin offering, and two lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace offerings. 20 The priest shall wave them with the bread of the first fruits for a wave offering before the Lord with the two lambs. They shall be holy to the Lord for the priest. 21 You shall make a proclamation on the same day and shall hold a holy convocation. You shall do no regular work. It shall be a perpetual statute in all your dwellings throughout your generations.

22 When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field up to the edge, nor shall you gather any gleaning of your harvest. You shall leave them to the poor and to the foreigner: I am the Lord your God.

23 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 24 Speak to the children of Israel, saying: In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a sabbath, a memorial with the blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation. 25 You shall do no regular work, and you shall offer a food offering made by fire to the Lord.

26 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 27 Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be the Day of Atonement. It shall be a holy convocation to you, and you shall humble yourselves, and offer a food offering made by fire to the Lord. 28 You shall do no work on that same day, for it is the Day of Atonement to make atonement for you before the Lord your God. 29 For whoever is not humbled on that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people. 30 And whoever does any work in that same day, that person I will destroy from among his people. 31 You shall do no manner of work. It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwellings. 32 It shall be to you a sabbath of complete rest, and you shall afflict your souls. On the ninth day of the month starting at the evening, from evening to evening, you shall celebrate your sabbath.

33 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 34 Speak to the children of Israel, saying: The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days to the Lord. 35 On the first day shall be a holy convocation. You shall do no regular work. 36 For seven days you shall offer food offerings made by fire to the Lord. On the eighth day it shall be a holy convocation to you, and you shall offer a food offering made by fire to the Lord. It is a solemn assembly, and you shall do no regular work.

37 These are the appointed feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer a food offering made by fire to the Lord, burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and drink offerings, each on its proper day, 38 besides the Sabbaths of the Lord, besides your gifts, besides all your vows, and besides all your freewill offerings which you give to the Lord.

39 On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the produce of the land, you shall keep a feast to the Lord for seven days. On the first day shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath. 40 You shall take on the first day the branches of majestic trees—branches of palm trees, branches of leafy trees, and willows from a brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days. 41 You shall keep it as a feast to the Lord for seven days in the year. It shall be a perpetual statute in your generations. You shall celebrate it in the seventh month. 42 You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All who are native children of Israel shall dwell in booths, 43 that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.

44 Moses declared to the children of Israel the feasts of the Lord.

Chapter 24

1 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 2 Command the children of Israel that they bring to you pure olive oil beaten for the lamp, to cause the lamps to burn continually. 3 Outside the veil of the sanctuary, in the tent of meeting, Aaron shall arrange it continually, from the evening until the morning before the Lord. It shall be a perpetual statute in your generations. 4 He shall arrange the lamps continually on the pure gold lampstand before the Lord.

5 You shall take wheat flour and bake twelve cakes. Two-tenths of an ephah shall be in each cake. 6 You shall set them in two rows, six in a row, on the pure gold table before the Lord. 7 You shall put pure frankincense on each row, so that it may be on the bread for a memorial, a food offering made by fire to the Lord. 8 Every Sabbath he shall set it in order continually before the Lord, with the portion taken from the children of Israel by a perpetual covenant. 9 It shall be for Aaron and his sons, and they shall eat it in a holy place, for it is most holy to him of the food offerings of the Lord made by fire by a perpetual statute.

10 The son of an Israelite woman, whose father was an Egyptian, went out among the children of Israel, and this son of the Israelite woman and a man of Israel fought together in the camp. 11 And the Israelite woman’s son blasphemed the name of the Lord and cursed. And they brought him to Moses. (His mother’s name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan.) 12 And they put him in custody, so that the words of the Lord might be shown to them.

13 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 14 Bring outside the camp him who has cursed, and let all who heard him lay their hands on his head, and let the entire congregation stone him. 15 You shall speak to the children of Israel, saying: Whoever curses his God shall bear his sin. 16 Whoever blasphemes the name of the Lord, he shall surely be put to death, and the entire congregation shall certainly stone him. The foreigner as well as the native in the land, when he blasphemes the name, then he shall be put to death.

17 Whoever kills any man shall surely be put to death. 18 Whoever kills an animal shall make restitution, animal for animal. 19 If anyone causes injury to his neighbor, as he has done, so shall it be done to him, 20 fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; as he has caused an injury to another, so shall it be done to him. 21 Whoever kills an animal shall make restitution. And whoever kills a man shall be put to death. 22 You shall have one manner of law for the foreigner as for the native, for I am the Lord your God.

23 So Moses spoke to the children of Israel, and they brought outside the camp him who had cursed, and stoned him. And the children of Israel did as the Lord commanded Moses.

Mark 1:1–20

1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 2 As it is written in the Prophets:

“Look, I am sending My messenger before Your face,

who will prepare Your way before You.”

3 “The voice of one crying in the wilderness:

‘Prepare the way of the Lord,

make His paths straight.’”

4 John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. 5 The whole region of Judea and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him and were all baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins. 6 John was clothed with camel’s hair and with a leather belt around his waist. And he ate locusts and wild honey. 7 He preached saying, “After me is coming One mightier than I, the straps of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. 8 I indeed have baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 Coming up out of the water, He immediately saw the heavens opened and the Spirit descending on Him like a dove. 11 And a voice came from heaven, saying, “You are My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.”

12 The Spirit immediately drove Him into the wilderness. 13 And He was there in the wilderness for forty days, tempted by Satan, and was with the wild beasts. And the angels ministered to Him.

14 After John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, 15 saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the gospel.”

16 As He walked by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew, his brother, throwing a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 17 Jesus said to them, “Come, follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” 18 Immediately they left their nets and followed Him.

19 When He had gone a little farther from there, He saw James the son of Zebedee and John, his brother, who also were in the boat mending their nets. 20 Immediately He called them. And they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed Him.