The Daily Audio Bible

²² “You shall keep all my statutes and all my ordinances and observe them, so that the land to which I bring you to settle in may not vomit you out.^{(A) 23} You shall not follow the practices of the nation that I am driving out before you. Because they did all these things, I abhorred them.^{(B) 24} But I have said to you, ‘You shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you to possess, a land flowing with milk and honey. I am the Lord your God; I have separated you from the peoples.’^{(C) 25} You shall therefore make a distinction between the clean animal and the unclean and between the unclean bird and the clean; you shall not bring abomination on yourselves by animal or by bird or by anything with which the ground teems, which I have set apart for you to hold unclean.^{(D) 26} You shall be holy to me, for I the Lord am holy, and I have separated you from the other peoples to be mine.^(E)

²⁷ “A man or a woman who is a medium or a spiritualist shall be put to death; they shall be stoned to death; their bloodguilt is upon them.”^(F)

The Holiness of Priests

21 The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them:

“No one shall defile himself for a dead person among his relatives,^{(G) 2} except for his nearest kin: his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, his brother; ³ likewise, for a virgin sister close to him because she has had no husband, he may defile himself for her. ⁴ But he shall not defile himself for those related to him by marriage and so profane himself. ⁵ They shall not make bald spots upon their heads or shave off the edges of their beards or make any gashes in their flesh.^{(H) 6} They shall be holy to their God and not profane the name of their God, for they offer the Lord’s offerings by fire,^[a] the food of their God; therefore they shall be holy.^{(I) 7} They shall not marry a prostitute or a woman who has been defiled; neither shall they marry a woman divorced from her husband. For they are holy to their God,^{(J) 8} and you shall treat them as holy, since they offer the food of your God; they shall be holy to you, for I the Lord, I who sanctify you, am holy. ⁹ When the daughter of a priest profanes herself through prostitution, she profanes her father; she shall be burned to death.

¹⁰ “The priest who is exalted above his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil has been poured and who has been consecrated to wear the vestments, shall not dishevel his hair nor tear his vestments.^{(K) 11} He shall not go where there is a dead body; he shall not defile himself even for his father or mother.^{(L) 12} He shall not go outside the sanctuary and thus profane the sanctuary of his God, for the consecration of the anointing oil of his God is upon him: I am the Lord.^{(M) 13} He shall marry only a woman who is a virgin.^{(N) 14} A widow or a divorced woman or a woman who has been defiled, a prostitute—these he shall not marry. He shall marry a virgin of his own people, ¹⁵ that he may not profane his offspring among his people, for I am the Lord; I sanctify him.”

¹⁶ The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁷ “Speak to Aaron and say: No one of your offspring throughout their generations who has a blemish may approach to offer the food of his God.^{(O) 18} Indeed, no one who has a blemish shall draw near, one who is blind or lame, or one who is mutilated or deformed,^{[b](P) 19} or one who has a broken foot or a broken hand, ²⁰ or a hunchback, or a dwarf, or a man with a defect in his eyes or an itching disease or scabs or crushed testicles.^{(Q) 21} No descendant of Aaron the priest who has a blemish shall come near to offer the Lord’s offerings by fire;^[c] since he has a blemish, he shall not come near to offer the food of his God.^{(R) 22} He may eat the food of his God, of the most holy as well as of the holy. ²³ But he shall not come near the curtain or approach the altar because he has a blemish, that he may not profane my sanctuaries, for I am the Lord; I sanctify them.”^{(S) 24} Thus Moses spoke to Aaron and to his sons and to all the Israelites.

The Use of Holy Offerings

22 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ² “Direct Aaron and his sons to deal carefully with the sacred donations of the Israelites, which they dedicate to me, so that they may not profane my holy name: I am the Lord.^{(T) 3} Say to them, ‘If anyone among all your offspring throughout your generations comes near the sacred donations, which the Israelites dedicate to the Lord, while he is in a state of uncleanness, that person shall be cut off from my presence: I am the Lord.’^{(U) 4} No one of Aaron’s offspring who has a defiling skin disease or suffers a discharge may eat of the sacred donations until he is clean. Whoever touches anything made unclean by a corpse or a man who has had an emission of semen,^{(V) 5} and whoever touches any swarming thing by which he may be made unclean or any human being by whom he may be made unclean—whatever his uncleanness may be^(W)— ⁶ the person who touches any such shall be unclean until evening and shall not eat of the sacred donations unless he has washed his body in water. ⁷ When the sun sets he shall be clean, and afterward he may eat of the sacred donations, for they are his food. ⁸ That which died or was torn by wild animals he shall not eat, becoming unclean by it: I am the Lord.^{(X) 9} They shall keep my charge, so that they may not incur guilt and die because of it for having profaned them: I am the Lord; I sanctify them.^(Y)

¹⁰ “No layperson shall eat of the sacred donations. No bound or hired servant of the priest shall eat of the sacred donations,^{(Z) 11} but if a priest acquires anyone by purchase, the person may eat of them, and those who are born in his house may eat of his food. ¹² If a priest’s daughter marries a layman, she shall not eat of the offering of the sacred donations, ¹³ but if a priest’s daughter is widowed or divorced, without offspring, and returns to her father’s house, as in her youth, she may eat of her father’s food. No layperson shall eat of it.^{(AA) 14} If a man eats of the sacred donation unintentionally, he shall add one-fifth of its value to it and give the sacred donation to the priest.^{(AB) 15} No one shall profane the sacred donations of the Israelites, which they offer to the Lord, ¹⁶ causing them to bear guilt requiring a guilt offering, by eating their sacred donations, for I am the Lord; I sanctify them.”^(AC)

9 ¹ And he said to them, “Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see that the kingdom of God has come with^[a] power.”^(A)

The Transfiguration

² Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them,^{(B) 3} and his clothes became dazzling bright, such as no one^[b] on earth could brighten them.^{(C) 4} And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. ⁵ Then Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us set up three tents: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”^{(D) 6} He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. ⁷ Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, “This is my Son, the Beloved;^[c] listen to him!”^{(E) 8} Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus.

The Coming of Elijah

⁹ As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead. ¹⁰ So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead could mean. ¹¹ Then they asked him, “Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” ¹² He said to them, “Elijah is indeed coming first to restore all things. How then is it written about the Son of Man, that he is to go through many sufferings and be treated with contempt? ¹³ But I tell you that Elijah has come, and they did to him whatever they pleased, as it is written about him.”

The Healing of a Boy with a Spirit

¹⁴ When they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them and some scribes arguing with them. ¹⁵ When the whole crowd saw him, they were immediately overcome with awe, and they ran forward to greet him. ¹⁶ He asked them, “What are you arguing about with them?” ¹⁷ Someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought you my son; he has a spirit that makes him unable to speak, ¹⁸ and whenever it seizes him, it dashes him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid, and I asked your disciples to cast it out, but they could not do so.” ¹⁹ He answered them, “You faithless generation, how much longer must I be with you? How much longer must I put up with you? Bring him to me.” ²⁰ And they brought the boy^[d] to him. When the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy,^[e] and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. ²¹ Jesus^[f] asked the father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. ²² It has often cast him into the fire and into the water, to destroy him; but if you are able to do anything, help us! Have compassion on us!” ²³ Jesus said to him, “If you are able! All things can be done for the one who believes.” ²⁴ Immediately the father of the child cried out,^[g] “I believe; help my unbelief!” ²⁵ When Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You spirit that keeps this boy from speaking and hearing, I command you, come out of him, and never enter him again!” ²⁶ After crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, “He is dead.” ²⁷ But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he was able to stand. ²⁸ When he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?”^{(F) 29} He said to them, “This kind can come out only through prayer.”^[h]

Psalm 43

Prayer to God in Time of Trouble