Leviticus 22
22
The Holiness of the Offerings
1The LORD commanded Moses 2to say to Aaron and his sons, “You must not bring disgrace on my holy name, so treat with respect the sacred offerings that the people of Israel dedicate to me. I am the LORD. 3If any of your descendants, while he is ritually unclean, comes near the sacred offerings which the people of Israel have dedicated to me, he can never again serve at the altar. This applies for all time to come. I am the LORD.
4“None of the descendants of Aaron who has a dreaded skin disease or a discharge may eat any of the sacred offerings until he is ritually clean. Any priest is unclean if he touches anything which is unclean through contact with a corpse or if he has an emission of semen 5or if he has touched an unclean animal or person. 6Any priest who becomes unclean remains unclean until evening, and even then he may not eat any of the sacred offerings until he has had a bath. 7After the sun sets he is clean, and then he may eat the sacred offerings, which are his food. 8He shall not eat the meat of any animal that has died a natural death or has been killed by wild animals; it will make him unclean. I am the LORD.
9“All priests shall observe the regulations that I have given. Otherwise, they will be guilty and die, because they have disobeyed the sacred regulations. I am the LORD and I make them holy.
10“Only a member of a priestly family may eat any of the sacred offerings; no one else may eat them — not even someone staying with a priest or hired by him. 11But a priest's slaves, bought with his own money or born in his home, may eat the food the priest receives. 12A priest's daughter who marries someone who is not a priest may not eat any of the sacred offerings. 13But a widowed or divorced daughter who has no children and who has returned to live in her father's house as a dependant may eat the food her father receives as a priest. Only a member of a priestly family may eat any of it.
14“If any person who is not a member of a priestly family eats any of the sacred offerings without intending to, he must repay the priest its full value plus an additional twenty per cent. 15The priests shall not profane the sacred offerings 16by letting any unauthorized person eat them; this would bring guilt and punishment on such a person. I am the LORD and I make the offerings holy.”
17The LORD commanded Moses 18to give Aaron and his sons and all the people of Israel the following regulations. When any Israelite or any foreigner living in Israel presents a burnt offering, whether in fulfilment of a vow or as a freewill offering, the animal must not have any defects. 19To be accepted, it must be a male without any defects. 20#Deut 17.1If you offer any animal that has any defect, the LORD will not accept it. 21When anyone presents a fellowship offering to the LORD, whether in fulfilment of a vow or as a freewill offering, the animal must be without any defect if it is to be accepted. 22Do not offer to the LORD any animal that is blind or crippled or mutilated, or that has a running sore or a skin eruption or scabs. Do not offer any such animals on the altar as a food offering. 23As a freewill offering you may offer an animal that is stunted or not perfectly formed, but it is not acceptable in fulfilment of a vow. 24Do not offer to the LORD any animal whose testicles have been crushed, cut, bruised, or torn off. This is not permitted in your land.
25Do not offer as a food offering any animal obtained from a foreigner. Such animals are considered defective and are not acceptable.
26-27When a calf or a lamb or a kid is born, it must not be taken from its mother for seven days, but after that it is acceptable as a food offering. 28Do not sacrifice a cow and its calf or a sheep and its lamb or a goat and its kid on the same day. 29When you offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the LORD, follow the rules so that you will be accepted; 30eat it the same day and leave none of it until the next morning.
31The LORD said, “Obey my commands; I am the LORD. 32Do not bring disgrace on my holy name; all the people of Israel must acknowledge me to be holy. I am the LORD and I make you holy; 33and I brought you out of Egypt to become your God. I am the LORD.”
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Leviticus 22: GNBUK
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Good News Bible. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.
Leviticus 22
22
1The Lord God said to Moses, 2“Tell Aaron and his sons: The gifts that the Israelites bring to me become holy. They belong to me, so you priests must show respect for these things. If you don’t, you will show that you don’t respect my holy name. I am the Lord. 3If any one of your descendants touches these things, that person will become unclean. That person must be separated from me. The Israelites gave these things to me. I am the Lord.
4“If any of Aaron’s descendants has a serious skin disease#22:4 serious skin disease This could be leprosy, or it could be another kind of contagious skin disease. Also in verse 22. or a discharge, he cannot eat the holy food until he becomes clean. This rule is for any priest who becomes unclean. That priest can become unclean from a dead body or from his own semen. 5He can also become unclean if he touches any unclean crawling animal. And he can become unclean if he touches an unclean person. It doesn’t matter what made that person unclean. 6If he touches any of these things, he will become unclean until evening. He must not eat any of the holy food. Even if he washes with water, he cannot eat the holy food. 7He will be clean only after the sun goes down. Then he can eat the holy food because it is his share.
8“A priest must not eat any animal that died by itself or that was killed by wild animals. If he eats that animal, he will be unclean. I am the Lord.
9“The priests must be very careful when it comes time to serve me. They must be careful not to dishonor the holy things. If they are careful, they will not die. I, the Lord, have separated them from the rest of the people for this special job. 10Only a priest’s family can eat the holy food. A visitor staying with the priest or a hired worker must not eat any of the holy food. 11But if the priest buys a person as a slave with his own money, that person may eat some of the holy things. Slaves who were born in the priest’s house may also eat some of the priest’s food. 12A priest’s daughter might marry a man who is not a priest. If she does that, she cannot eat any of the holy offerings. 13A priest’s daughter might become a widow, or she might be divorced. If she does not have any children to support her, and she goes back to her father’s house where she lived as a child, she can eat some of her father’s food. But only people from a priest’s family can eat this food.
14“Whoever eats some of the holy food by mistake must give the priest the price of that food and add another one-fifth of the price as a fine.
15“The Israelites will bring offerings to the Lord. These offerings become holy, so the priests must not let them be used in a wrong way. 16They must not let the people eat these offerings. If they do, they are guilty of doing wrong, and they must pay for it. I am the Lord, the one who makes these offerings holy.”
17The Lord God said to Moses, 18“Tell Aaron and his sons and all the Israelites: A citizen of Israel or a foreigner might want to bring an offering. It might be because of a promise that person made, or it might just be a special sacrifice that person wanted to give to the Lord as a burnt offering. 19-20These are gifts that the people bring because they really want to give a gift to God. If the gift is a bull, or a sheep, or a goat, the animal must be a male. And it must not have anything wrong with it. You must not accept any offering that has anything wrong with it. I will not accept that gift.
21“You might bring a fellowship offering to the Lord. That fellowship offering might be payment for a special promise that you made. Or maybe it is a special gift that you wanted to give to the Lord. It can be a bull or a sheep, but it must be healthy. There must be nothing wrong with that animal. 22You must not offer to the Lord any animal that is blind, that has broken bones or is crippled, or that has a discharge or a serious skin disease. You must not offer sick animals as a gift to the Lord. You must not put anything like that on his altar.
23“Sometimes a bull or lamb will have a leg that is too long, or a foot that did not grow right. If you want to give that animal as a special gift to the Lord, it will be accepted. But it will not be accepted as payment for a special promise that you made.
24“If an animal has bruised, crushed, or torn testicles, you must not offer that animal to the Lord. You must not do this anywhere in your land.
25“You must not take animals from foreigners as sacrifices to your God. The animals might have been hurt in some way. They might have something wrong with them, so they will not be accepted.”
26The Lord said to Moses, 27“When a calf, or a sheep, or a goat is born, it must stay seven days with its mother. Then from the eighth day on, this animal will be accepted as a sacrifice offered as a gift to the Lord. 28But you must not kill the animal and its mother on the same day. This rule is the same for cattle and sheep.
29“If you want to offer some special offering of thanks to the Lord, you are free to offer that gift. But you must do it in a way that pleases God. 30You must eat the whole animal that day. You must not leave any of the meat for the next morning. I am the Lord.
31“Remember my commands, and obey them. I am the Lord. 32Show respect for my holy name. I must be very special to the Israelites. I, the Lord, have made you my special people. 33I brought you out of Egypt in order to be your God. I am the Lord.”
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