Mar 2nd

“Speak to all the congregation of the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘You shall be holy, for I, Yahweh your God, am holy.

Every one of you shall fear his mother and his father, and you shall keep My sabbaths; I am Yahweh your God.

Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves molten gods; I am Yahweh your God.

‘Now when you offer a sacrifice of peace offerings to Yahweh, you shall offer it so that you may be accepted.

It shall be eaten the same day you offer it and the next day; but what remains until the third day shall be burned with fire.

So if it is eaten at all on the third day, it is an offense; it will not be accepted.

And everyone who eats it will bear his iniquity, for he has profaned the holy thing of Yahweh; and that person shall be cut off from his people.

‘Now when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very corners of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest.

Nor shall you glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather the fallen fruit of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the afflicted and for the sojourner. I am Yahweh your God.

‘You shall not steal, nor deal falsely, nor lie to one another.

And you shall not swear falsely by My name, so as to profane the name of your God; I am Yahweh.

‘You shall not oppress your neighbor nor rob him. The wages of a hired man shall not remain with you overnight until morning.

You shall not curse a deaf man nor place a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall fear your God; I am Yahweh.

‘You shall do no injustice in judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor nor defer to the great, but you shall judge your neighbor in righteousness.

You shall not go about as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not stand against the life of your neighbor; I am Yahweh.

‘You shall not hate your brother in your heart; you may surely reprove your neighbor, and so not bear sin because of him.

You shall not take vengeance, and you shall not keep your anger against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am Yahweh.

‘You are to keep My statutes. You shall not breed together two kinds of your cattle; you shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed nor wear a garment upon you of two kinds of material mixed together.

‘Now if a man lies sexually with a woman who is a slave assigned to another man, but who has in no way been redeemed nor given her freedom, there shall be punishment; they shall not, however, be put to death because she was not free.

And he shall bring his guilt offering to Yahweh to the doorway of the tent of meeting, a ram for a guilt offering.

The priest shall also make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering before Yahweh for his sin which he has committed, and the sin which he has committed will be forgiven him.

‘When you enter the land and plant all kinds of trees for food, then you shall designate their fruit as forbidden. Three years it shall be forbidden to you; it shall not be eaten.

But in the fourth year all its fruit shall be holy, an offering of praise to Yahweh.

Now in the fifth year you shall eat of its fruit, that its produce may increase for you; I am Yahweh your God.

‘You shall not eat anything with the blood nor interpret omens or soothsaying.

You shall not round off the side-growth of your heads nor harm the edges of your beard.

And you shall not make any cuts in your body for the dead nor make any tattoo marks on yourselves: I am Yahweh.

‘Do not profane your daughter by making her a harlot, so that the land will not fall to harlotry and the land become full of lewdness.

You shall keep My sabbaths and fear My sanctuary; I am Yahweh.

‘Do not turn to mediums or spiritists; do not seek them out to be defiled by them. I am Yahweh your God.

‘You shall rise up before the gray-haired and honor the aged, and you shall fear your God; I am Yahweh.

‘And when a sojourner sojourns with you in your land, you shall not mistreat him.

The sojourner who sojourns with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt; I am Yahweh your God.

‘You shall do no wrong in judgment, in measurement of weight, or in volume.

You shall have just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin; I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out from the land of Egypt.

You shall thus keep all My statutes and all My judgments and do them; I am Yahweh.’ ”

Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

“You shall also say to the sons of Israel:

‘Any man from the sons of Israel or from the sojourners sojourning in Israel who gives any of his seed to Molech shall surely be put to death; the people of the land shall stone him with stones.

I will also set My face against that man and will cut him off from among his people because he has given some of those who are his seed to Molech, so as to defile My sanctuary and to profane My holy name.

If the people of the land, however, should ever turn a blind eye to that man when he gives any of those who are his seed to Molech, so as not to put him to death,

then I Myself will set My face against that man and against his family, and I will cut off from among their people both him and all those who play the harlot after him, in playing the harlot after Molech.

‘As for the person who turns to mediums and to spiritists, to play the harlot after them, I will also set My face against that person and will cut him off from among his people.

Therefore, you shall set yourselves apart as holy and be holy, for I am Yahweh your God.

And you shall keep My statutes and do them; I am Yahweh who makes you holy.

‘If there is anyone who curses his father or his mother, he shall surely be put to death; he has cursed his father or his mother. His bloodguiltiness is upon him.

‘If there is a man who commits adultery with another man’s wife, one who commits adultery with his friend’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.

If there is a man who lies with his father’s wife, he has uncovered his father’s nakedness; both of them shall surely be put to death. Their bloodguiltiness is upon them.

If there is a man who lies with his daughter-in-law, both of them shall surely be put to death; they have committed perversion. Their bloodguiltiness is upon them.

If there is a man who lies with a male as those who lie with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death. Their bloodguiltiness is upon them.

If there is a man who marries a woman and her mother, it is lewdness; both he and they shall be burned with fire so that there will be no lewdness in your midst.

If there is a man who lies with an animal, he shall surely be put to death; you shall also kill the animal.

If there is a woman who approaches any animal to mate with it, you shall kill the woman and the animal; they shall surely be put to death. Their bloodguiltiness is upon them.

‘If there is a man who takes his sister, his father’s daughter, or his mother’s daughter, so that he sees her nakedness and she sees his nakedness, it is a disgrace; and they shall be cut off in the sight of the sons of their people. He has uncovered his sister’s nakedness; he bears his guilt.

If there is a man who lies with a menstruous woman and uncovers her nakedness, he has laid bare her flow, and she has uncovered the flow of her blood; thus both of them shall be cut off from among their people.

You shall also not uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister or of your father’s sister, for such a one has made naked his blood relative; they will bear their guilt.

If there is a man who lies with his aunt, he has uncovered his uncle’s nakedness; they will bear their sin. They will die childless.

If there is a man who takes his brother’s wife, it is an impure act; he has uncovered his brother’s nakedness. They will be childless.

‘You shall therefore keep all My statutes and all My judgments and do them, so that the land to which I am bringing you to inhabit will not vomit you out.

Moreover, you shall not walk in the statutes of the nation which I will cast out before you, for they did all these things, and therefore I have loathed them.

Hence I have said to you, “You yourselves shall possess their land, and I Myself will give it to you to possess it, a land flowing with milk and honey.” I am Yahweh your God, who has separated you from the peoples.

You are therefore to separate between the clean animal and the unclean, and between the unclean bird and the clean; and you shall not make yourselves detestable by animal or by bird or by anything that creeps on the ground, which I have separated for you as unclean.

Thus you shall be holy to Me, for I Yahweh am holy; and I have separated you from the peoples to be Mine.

‘Now a man or a woman who is a medium or a spiritist shall surely be put to death. They shall be stoned with stones. Their bloodguiltiness is upon them.’ ”

And six days later, Jesus *took with Him Peter and James and John, and *brought them up on a high mountain alone by themselves. And He was transfigured before them;

and His garments were shining intensely white, as no launderer on earth can whiten them.

And Elijah appeared to them along with Moses and they were conversing with Jesus.

And Peter answered and *said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three booths, one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”

For he did not know what to answer; for they became terrified.

Then a cloud formed, overshadowing them, and a voice came out of the cloud, “This is My beloved Son, listen to Him!”

And all at once when they looked around, they saw no one with them anymore, except Jesus alone.

And as they were coming down from the mountain, He gave them orders not to recount to anyone what they had seen, until the Son of Man rose from the dead.

And they seized upon that statement, arguing with one another what rising from the dead meant.

And they began asking Him, saying, “Why is it that the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”

And He said to them, “Elijah does first come and restore all things. And yet how is it written of the Son of Man that He will suffer many things and be treated with contempt?

And when they came back to the disciples, they saw a large crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them.

And immediately, when the entire crowd saw Him, they were amazed. And as they ran up, they were greeting Him.

And He asked them, “What are you arguing with them?”

And one of the crowd answered Him, “Teacher, I brought You my son, possessed with a spirit which makes him mute;

and whenever it seizes him, it slams him to the ground and he foams at the mouth, and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. I told Your disciples to cast it out, and they could not do it.”

And He *answered them and *said, “O unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him to Me!”

And they brought the boy to Him. When he saw Him, immediately the spirit threw him into a convulsion, and falling to the ground, he began rolling around, foaming at the mouth.

And He asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood.

And it has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!”

And Jesus said to him, “ ‘If You can?’ All things are possible to him who believes.”

Immediately the boy’s father cried out and was saying, “I do believe; help my unbelief.”

Now when Jesus saw that a crowd was rapidly gathering, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and do not enter him again.”

And after crying out and throwing him into terrible convulsions, it came out; and the boy became so much like a corpse that most of them said, “He is dead!”

But Jesus took him by the hand and raised him; and he stood up.

And when He came into the house, His disciples began questioning Him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?”

And He said to them, “This kind cannot come out by anything but prayer.”