Read Through the Bible in a Year / February

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Read Through the Bible in a Year / February Index

February 20 / Leviticus 13–14


CHAPTER 13


AND THE Lord said to Moses and Aaron,
2 When a man has a swelling on his skin, a scab, or a bright spot, and it becomes the disease of leprosy in his skin, then he shall be brought to the priest, to Aaron or one of his sons.
3 The priest shall look at the diseased spot on his skin, and if the hair in it has turned white and the disease appears depressed and deeper than his skin, it is a leprous disease; and the priest shall examine him, and pronounce him unclean.
4 If the bright spot is white on his skin, not depressed, and the hair on it not turned white, the priest shall quarantine the person or bind up the spot for seven days.
5 And the priest shall examine him on the seventh day, and if the disease in his estimation is at a standstill and has not spread in the skin, then the priest shall quarantine the person or bind up the spot seven more days.
6 And the priest shall examine him again the seventh day, and if the diseased part has a more normal color and the disease has not spread in the skin, the priest shall pronounce him clean; it is only an eruption or a scab; and he shall wash his clothes and be clean.
7 But if the eruption or scab spreads farther in the skin after he has shown himself to the priest for his cleansing, he shall be seen by the priest again.
8 If the priest sees that the eruption or scab is spreading in the skin, then he shall pronounce him unclean; it is leprosy.
9 When the disease of leprosy is in a man, he shall be brought to the priest;
10 And the priest shall examine him, and if there is a white swelling in the skin and the hair on it has turned white and there is quick raw flesh in the swelling,
11 It is a chronic leprosy in the skin of his body, and the priest shall pronounce him unclean; he shall not bind the spot up, for he is unclean.
12 But if [supposed] leprosy breaks out in the skin, and it covers all the skin of him who has the disease from head to foot, wherever the priest looks,
13 The priest shall examine him; if the [supposed] leprosy covers all his body, he shall pronounce him clean of the disease; it is all turned white, and he is clean.
14 But when the raw flesh appears on him, he shall be unclean.
15 And the priest shall examine the raw flesh and pronounce him unclean; for the raw flesh is unclean; it is leprosy.
16 But if the raw flesh turns again and becomes white, he shall come to the priest,
17 And the priest shall examine him, and if the diseased part is turned to white again, then the priest shall pronounce him clean who had the disease; he is clean.
18 And when there is in the skin of the body [the scar of] a boil that is healed,
19 And in the place of the boil there is a white swelling or a bright spot, reddish white, and it is shown to the priest,
20 And if when the priest examines it it looks lower than the skin and the hair on it is turned white, the priest shall pronounce him unclean; it is the disease of leprosy; it has broken out in the boil.
21 But if the priest examines it and finds no white hair in it and it is not lower than the skin but appears darker, then the priest shall bind it up for seven days.
22 If it spreads in the skin, [he] shall pronounce him unclean; it is diseased.
23 But if the bright spot does not spread, it is the scar of the boil, and the priest shall pronounce him clean.
24 Or if there is any flesh in the skin of which there is a burn by fire and the quick flesh of the burn becomes a bright spot, reddish white or white,
25 Then the priest shall examine it, and if the hair in the bright spot is turned white, and it appears deeper than the skin, it is leprosy broken out in the burn. Therefore the priest shall pronounce him unclean; it is the disease of leprosy.
26 But if the priest examines it and there is no white hair in the bright spot and it is not lower than the rest of the skin but is darker, then the priest shall bind it up for seven days.
27 And the priest shall examine him on the seventh day; if it is spreading in the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean; it is leprosy.
28 But if the bright spot has not spread but is darker, it is a swelling from the burn, and the priest shall pronounce him clean; for it is the scar of the burn.
29 When a man or woman has a disease upon the head or in the beard,
30 The priest shall examine the diseased place; if it appears to be deeper than the skin, with yellow, thin hair in it, the priest shall pronounce him unclean; it is a mangelike leprosy of the head or beard.
31 If the priest examines the spot infected by the mangelike disease, and it does not appear deeper than the skin and there is no black hair in it, the priest shall bind up the spot for seven days.
32 On the seventh day the priest shall examine the diseased spot; if the mange has not spread and has no yellow hair in it and does not look deeper than the skin,
33 Then the patient shall be shaved, except the mangelike spot; and the priest shall bind up the spot seven days more.
34 On the seventh day the priest shall look at the mangelike spot; if the mange has not spread and looks no deeper than the skin, he shall pronounce the patient clean; he shall wash his clothes and be clean.
35 But if the mangelike spot spreads in the skin after his cleansing,
36 Then the priest shall examine him, and if the mangelike spot is spread in the skin, the priest need not look for the yellow hair; the patient is unclean.
37 But if in his estimation the mange is at a standstill and has black hair in it, the mangelike disease is healed; he is clean; the priest shall pronounce him clean.
38 When a man or a woman has on the skin bright spots, even white bright spots,
39 Then the priest shall look, and if the bright spots in the skin are a dull white, it is a harmless eruption; he is clean.
40 If a man’s hair has fallen from his head, he is bald, but he is clean.
41 And if his hair has fallen out from the front of his head, he has baldness of the forehead, but he is clean.
42 But if there is on the bald head or forehead a reddish white diseased spot, it is leprosy breaking out on his baldness.
43 Then the priest shall examine him, and if the diseased swelling is reddish white on his bald head or forehead like the appearance of leprosy in the skin of the body,
44 He is a leprous man; he is unclean; the priest shall surely pronounce him unclean; his disease is on his head.
45 And the leper’s clothes shall be rent, and the hair of his head shall hang loose, and he shall cover his upper lip and cry, Unclean, unclean!
46 He shall remain unclean as long as the disease is in him; he is unclean; he shall live alone [and] his dwelling shall be outside the camp.
47 The garment also that the disease of leprosy [symbolic of sin] is in, whether a wool or a linen garment, [Jude 23; Rev. 3:4.]
48 Whether it be in woven or knitted stuff or in the warp or woof of linen or of wool, or in a skin or anything made of skin,
49 If the disease is greenish or reddish in the garment, or in a skin or in the warp or woof or in anything made of skin, it is the plague of leprosy; show it to the priest.
50 The priest shall examine the diseased article and shut it up for seven days.
51 He shall examine the disease on the seventh day; if [it] is spread in the garment, or in the article, whatever service it may be used for, the disease is a rotting or corroding leprosy; it is unclean.
52 He shall burn the garment, whether diseased in warp or woof, in wool or linen, or anything made of skin; for it is a rotting or corroding leprosy, to be burned in the fire.
53 But if the priest finds the disease has not spread in the garment, in the warp or the woof, or in anything made of skin,
54 Then the priest shall command that they wash the thing in which the plague is, and he shall shut it up seven days more.
55 And the priest shall examine the diseased article after it has been washed, and if the diseased portion has not changed color, though the disease has not spread, it is unclean; you shall burn it in the fire; it is a rotting or corroding [disease], whether the leprous spot be inside or outside.
56 If the priest looks and the diseased portion is less noticeable after it is washed, he shall tear it out of the garment, or the skin (leather), or out of the warp or woof.
57 If it appears still in the garment, either in the warp or in the woof, or in anything made of skin, it is spreading; you shall burn the diseased part with fire.
58 But the garment, or the woven or knitted stuff or warp or woof, or anything made of skin from which the disease departs when you have washed it, shall then be washed a second time, and be clean.
59 This is the law for a leprous disease in a garment of wool or linen, either in the warp or woof, or in anything made of skin, to pronounce it clean or unclean.


CHAPTER 14

AND THE Lord said to Moses,
2 This shall be the law of the leper on the day when he is to be pronounced clean: he shall be brought to the priest [at a meeting place outside the camp];
3 The priest shall go out of the camp [to meet him]; and [he] shall examine him, and if the disease is healed in the leper,
4 Then the priest shall command to take for him who is to be cleansed two living clean birds and cedar wood and scarlet [material] and hyssop. [Heb. 9:19-22.]
5 And the priest shall command to kill one of the birds in an earthen vessel over fresh, running water.
6 As for the living bird, he shall take it, the cedar wood, and the scarlet [material], and the hyssop, and shall dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird killed over the running water;
7 And he shall sprinkle [the blood] on him who is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let go the living bird into the open field. [Heb. 9:13-15.]
8 He who is to be cleansed shall wash his clothes, shave off all his hair, and bathe himself in water; and he shall be clean. After that he shall come into the camp, but stay outside his tent seven days.
9 But on the seventh day he shall shave all his hair off his head, his beard, his eyebrows, and his [body]; and he shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and be clean.
10 On the eighth day he shall take two he-lambs without blemish and one ewe lamb a year old without blemish, and three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour for a cereal offering, mixed with oil, and one log of oil.
11 And the priest who cleanses him shall set the man who is to be cleansed and these things before the Lord at the door of the Tent of Meeting;
12 The priest shall take one of the male lambs and offer it for a guilt or trespass offering, and the log of oil, and wave them for a wave offering before the Lord.
13 He shall kill the lamb in the place where they kill the sin offering and the burnt offering, in the sacred place [the court of the tabernacle]; for as the sin offering is the priest’s, so is the guilt or trespass offering; it is most holy;
14 And the priest shall take some of the blood of the guilt or trespass offering and put it on the tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the great toe of his right foot.
15 And the priest shall take some of the log of oil and pour it into the palm of his own left hand;
16 And the priest shall dip his right finger in the oil that is in his left hand and shall sprinkle some of the oil with his finger seven times before the Lord;
17 And of the rest of the oil that is in his hand shall the priest put some on the tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the great toe of his right foot, on the blood of the guilt or trespass offering [which he has previously placed in each of these places].
18 And the rest of the oil that is in the priest’s hand he shall pour upon the head of him who is to be cleansed and make atonement for him before the Lord.
19 And the priest shall offer the sin offering and make atonement for him who is to be cleansed from his uncleanness, and afterward kill the burnt offering [victim].
20 And the priest shall offer the burnt offering and the cereal offering on the altar; and he shall make atonement for him, and he shall be clean.
21 If the cleansed leper is poor and cannot afford so much, he shall take one lamb for a guilt or trespass offering to be waved to make atonement for him, and one tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil for a cereal offering, and a log of oil,
22 And two turtledoves or two young pigeons, such as he can afford, one for a sin offering, the other for a burnt offering.
23 He shall bring them on the eighth day for his cleansing to the priest at the door of the Tent of Meeting, before the Lord.
24 And the priest shall take the lamb of the guilt or trespass offering, and the log of oil, and shall wave them for a wave offering before the Lord.
25 And he shall kill the lamb of the guilt or trespass offering, and the priest shall take some of the blood of the offering and put it on the tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the great toe of his right foot.
26 And the priest shall pour some of the oil into the palm of his own left hand,
27 And shall sprinkle with his right finger some of the oil that is in his left hand seven times before the Lord.
28 The priest shall put some of the oil in his hand on the tip of the right ear of the one to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the great toe of his right foot, on the places where he has put the blood of the guilt offering.
29 The rest of the oil that is in the priest’s hand he shall put on the head of the one to be cleansed, to make atonement for him before the Lord.
30 And he shall offer one of the turtledoves or of the young pigeons, such as he is able to get,
31 As he can afford, one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering, together with the cereal offering; and the priest shall make atonement for him who is to be cleansed before the Lord.
32 This is the law of him in whom is the plague of leprosy, who is not able to get what is required for his cleansing.
33 And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron,
34 When you have come into the land of Canaan, which I give to you for a possession, and I put the disease of leprosy in a house of the land of your possession,
35 Then he who owns the house shall come and tell the priest, It seems to me there is some sort of disease in my house.
36 Then the priest shall command that they empty the house before [he] goes in to examine the disease, so that all that is in the house may not be declared unclean; afterward [he] shall go in to see the house.
37 He shall examine the disease, and if it is in the walls of the house with depressed spots of dark green or dark red appearing beneath [the surface of] the wall,
38 Then the priest shall go out of the door and shut up the house seven days.
39 The priest shall come again on the seventh day and shall look; and if the disease has spread in the walls of the house,
40 He shall command that they take out the diseased stones and cast them into an unclean place outside the city.
41 He shall cause the house to be scraped within round about and the plaster or mortar that is scraped off to be emptied out in an unclean place outside the city.
42 And they shall put other stones in the place of those stones, and he shall plaster the house with fresh mortar.
43 If the disease returns, breaking out in the house after he has removed the stones and has scraped and plastered the house,
44 Then the priest shall come and look, and if the disease is spreading in the house, it is a rotting or corroding leprosy in the house; it is unclean.
45 He shall tear down the house—its stones and its timber and all the plaster or mortar of the house—and shall carry them forth out of the city to an unclean place.
46 Moreover, he who enters the house during the whole time that it is shut up shall be unclean until the evening.
47 And he who lies down or eats in the house shall wash his clothes.
48 But if the priest inspects it and the disease has not spread after the house was plastered, he shall pronounce the house clean, because the disease is healed.
49 He shall take to cleanse the house two birds, cedar wood, scarlet [material], and hyssop;
50 And he shall kill one of the birds in an earthen vessel over running water,
51 And he shall take the cedar wood, and the hyssop, and the scarlet [material], and the living bird, and dip them in the blood of the slain bird and in the running water, and sprinkle the house seven times.
52 And he shall cleanse the house with the blood of the bird, the running water, the living bird, the cedar wood, the hyssop, and the scarlet [material].
53 But he shall let the living bird go out of the city into the open field; so he shall make atonement for the house, and it shall be clean.
54 This is the law for all kinds of leprous diseases, and mangelike conditions,
55 For the leprosy of a garment or of a house,
56 And for a swelling or an eruption or a scab or a bright spot,
57 To teach when it is unclean and when it is clean. This is the law of leprosy.
 

Read Through the Bible in a Year / February Index

February 21 / Leviticus 15–17

CHAPTER 15


AND THE Lord said to Moses and Aaron,
2 Say to the Israelites, When any man has a running discharge from his body, because of his discharge he is unclean.
3 This shall be [the law concerning] his uncleanness in his discharge: whether his body runs with his discharge or has stopped [running], it is uncleanness in him.
4 Every bed on which the one who has the discharge lies is unclean, and everything on which he sits shall be unclean.
5 Whoever touches that person’s bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening.
6 And whoever sits on anything on which he who has the discharge has sat shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening.
7 And he who touches the flesh of him who has the discharge shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening.
8 And if he who has the discharge spits on him who is clean, then he shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening.
9 And any saddle on which he who has the discharge rides shall be unclean.
10 Whoever touches anything that has been under him shall be unclean until evening; and he who carries those things shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until evening.
11 Whomever he who has the discharge touches without rinsing his hands in water shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until evening.
12 The earthen vessel that he with the discharge touches shall be broken, and every vessel of wood shall be rinsed in water.
13 When he who has a discharge is cleansed of it, he shall count seven days for his purification, then wash his clothes, bathe in running water, and be clean.
14 On the eighth day he shall take two turtledoves or two young pigeons and come before the Lord to the door of the Tent of Meeting and give them to the priest;
15 And the priest shall offer them, one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering; and [he] shall make atonement for the man before the Lord for his discharge.
16 And if any man has a discharge of semen, he shall wash all his body in water, and be unclean until evening.
17 And every garment and every skin on which the sperm comes shall be washed with water, and be unclean until evening.
18 The woman also with whom a man with emission of semen shall lie, they shall both bathe themselves in water, and be unclean until evening.
19 And if a woman has a discharge, her [regular] discharge of blood of her body, she shall be in her impurity or separation for seven days, and whoever touches her shall be unclean until evening.
20 And everything that she lies on in her separation shall be unclean; everything also that she sits on shall be unclean.
21 And whoever touches her bed shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until evening.
22 Whoever touches anything she sat on shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until evening.
23 And if her flow has stained her bed or anything on which she sat, when he touches it, he shall be unclean until evening.
24 And if any man lie with her and her impurity be upon him, he shall be unclean seven days; and every bed on which he lies shall be unclean.
25 And if a woman has an issue of blood for many days, not during the time of her separation, or if she has a discharge beyond the time of her [regular] impurity, all the days of the issue of her uncleanness she shall be as in the days of her impurity; she shall be unclean. [Matt. 9:20.]
26 Every bed on which she lies all the days of her discharge shall be as the bed of her impurity, and whatever she sits on shall be unclean, as in her impurity.
27 And whoever touches those things shall be unclean, and shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until evening.
28 But if she is cleansed of her discharge, then she shall wait seven days, and after that she shall be clean.
29 And on the eighth day she shall take two turtledoves or two young pigeons and bring them to the priest at the door of the Tent of Meeting;
30 He shall offer one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering; and he shall make atonement for her before the Lord for her unclean discharge.
31 Thus you shall separate the Israelites from their uncleanness, lest they die in their uncleanness by defiling My tabernacle that is in the midst of them.
32 This is the law for him who has a discharge and for him who has emissions of sperm, being made unclean by it;
33 And for her who is sick with her impurity, and for any person who has a discharge, whether man or woman, and for him who lies with her who is unclean.


CHAPTER 16

AFTER THE death of Aaron’s two sons, when they drew near before the Lord [offered false fire] and died, [Lev. 10:1, 2.]
2 The Lord said to Moses, Tell Aaron your brother he must not come at all times into the Holy of Holies within the veil before the mercy seat upon the ark, lest he die; for I will appear in the cloud on the mercy seat. [Heb. 9:7–15, 25–28.]
3 But Aaron shall come into the holy enclosure in this way: with a young bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering.
4 He shall put on the holy linen undergarment, and he shall have the linen breeches upon his body, and be girded with the linen girdle or sash, and with the linen turban or miter shall he be attired; these are the holy garments; he shall bathe his body in water and then put them on.
5 He shall take [at the expense] of the congregation of the Israelites two male goats for a sin offering and one ram for a burnt offering.
6 And Aaron shall present the bull as the sin offering for himself and make atonement for himself and for his house [the other priests].
7 He shall take the two goats and present them before the Lord at the door of the Tent of Meeting.
8 Aaron shall cast lots on the two goats—one lot for the Lord, the other lot for Azazel or removal.
9 And Aaron shall bring the goat on which the Lord’s lot fell and offer him as a sin offering.
10 But the goat on which the lot fell for Azazel or removal shall be presented alive before the Lord to make atonement over him, that he may be let go into the wilderness for Azazel (for dismissal).
11 Aaron shall present the bull as the sin offering for his own sins and shall make atonement for himself and for his house [the other priests], and shall kill the bull as the sin offering for himself.
12 He shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from off the [bronze] altar before the Lord, and his two hands full of sweet incense beaten small, and bring it within the veil [into the Holy of Holies],
13 And put the incense on the fire [in the censer] before the Lord, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is upon [the ark of] the Testimony, lest he die.
14 He shall take of the bull’s blood and sprinkle it with his finger on the front [the east side] of the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat he shall sprinkle of the blood with his finger seven times.
15 Then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering that is for [the sins of] the people and bring its blood within the veil [into the Holy of Holies] and do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it on the mercy seat and before the mercy seat. [Heb. 2:17.]
16 Thus he shall make atonement for the Holy Place because of the uncleanness of the Israelites and because of their transgressions, even all their sins; and so shall he do for the Tent of Meeting, that remains among them in the midst of their uncleanness. [Heb. 9:22-24.]
17 There shall be no man in the Tent of Meeting when the high priest goes in to make atonement in the Holy of Holies [within the veil] until he comes out and has made atonement for his own sins and those of his house [the other priests] and of all the congregation of Israel.
18 And he shall go out to the altar [of burnt offering in the court] which is before the Lord and make atonement for it, and shall take some of the blood of the bull and of the goat and put it on the horns of the altar round about.
19 And he shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his fingers seven times and cleanse it and hallow it from the uncleanness of the Israelites.
20 And when he has finished atoning for the Holy of Holies and the Tent of Meeting and the altar [of burnt offering], he shall present the live goat;
21 And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat and confess over him all the iniquities of the Israelites and all their transgressions, all their sins; and he shall put them upon the head of the goat [the sin-bearer], and send him away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is timely (ready, fit).
22 The goat shall bear upon himself all their iniquities, carrying them to a land cut off (a land of forgetfulness and separation, not inhabited)! And the man leading it shall let the goat go in the wilderness. [Ps. 103:12; Isa. 53:11, 12; John 1:29.]
23 Aaron shall come into the Tent of Meeting and put off the linen garments which he put on when he went into the Holy of Holies, and leave them there;
24 And he shall bathe his body with water in a sacred place and put on his garments, and come forth and offer his burnt offering and that of the people, and make atonement for himself and for them.
25 And the fat of the sin offering he shall burn upon the altar.
26 The man who led the sin-bearing goat out and let him go for Azazel or removal shall wash his clothes and bathe his body, and afterward he may come into the camp.
27 The bull and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the Holy of Holies, shall be carried forth without the camp; their skins, their flesh, and their dung shall be burned with fire. [Heb. 13:11-13.]
28 And he who burns them shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward he may come into the camp.
29 It shall be a statute to you forever that in the seventh month [nearly October] on the tenth day of the month you shall afflict yourselves [by fasting with penitence and humiliation] and do no work at all, either the native-born or the stranger who dwells temporarily among you.
30 For on this day atonement shall be made for you, to cleanse you; from all your sins you shall be clean before the Lord. [Heb. 10:1, 2; I John 1:7, 9.]
31 It is a sabbath of [solemn] rest to you, and you shall afflict yourselves [by fasting with penitence and humiliation]; it is a statute forever.
32 And the priest who shall be anointed and consecrated to minister in the priest’s office in his father’s stead shall make atonement, wearing the holy linen garments;
33 He shall make atonement for the Holy Sanctuary, for the Tent of Meeting, and for the altar [of burnt offering in the court], and shall make atonement for the priests and for all the people of the assembly.
34 This shall be an everlasting statute for you, that atonement may be made for the Israelites for all their sins once a year. And Moses did as the Lord commanded him.


CHAPTER 17

AND THE Lord said to Moses,
2 Tell Aaron, his sons, and all the Israelites, This is what the Lord has commanded:
3 If any man of the house of Israel kills an ox or lamb or goat in the camp or kills it outside the camp
4 And does not bring it to the door of the Tent of Meeting to offer it as an offering to the Lord before the Lord’s tabernacle, [guilt for shedding] blood shall be imputed to that man; he has shed blood and shall be cut off from among his people.
5 This is so that the Israelites, rather than offer their sacrifices [to idols] in the open field [where they slew them], may bring them to the Lord at the door of the Tent of Meeting, to the priest, to offer them as peace offerings to the Lord.
6 And the priest shall dash the blood on the altar of the Lord at the door of the Tent of Meeting and burn the fat for a sweet and satisfying fragrance to the Lord.
7 So they shall no more offer their sacrifices to goatlike gods or demons or field spirits after which they have played the harlot. This shall be a statute forever to them throughout their generations.
8 And you shall say to them, Whoever of the house of Israel or of the strangers who dwell temporarily among you offers a burnt offering or sacrifice
9 And does not bring it to the door of the Tent of Meeting to offer it to the Lord shall be cut off from among his people.
10 Any one of the house of Israel or of the strangers who dwell temporarily among them who eats any kind of blood, against that person I will set My face and I will cut him off from among his people [that he may not be included in the atonement made for them]. [Ezek. 33:25.]
11 For the life (the animal soul) is in the blood, and I have given it for you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement, by reason of the life [which it represents]. [Rom. 3:24-26.]
12 Therefore I have said to the Israelites, No person among you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger who dwells temporarily among you eat blood.
13 And any of the Israelites or of the strangers who sojourn among them who takes in hunting any clean beast or bird shall pour out its blood and cover it with dust.
14 As for the life of all flesh, the blood of it represents the life of it; therefore I said to the Israelites, You shall partake of the blood of no kind of flesh, for the life of all flesh is its blood. Whoever eats of it shall be cut off.
15 And every person who eats what dies of itself or was torn by beasts, whether he is native-born or a temporary resident, shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until evening; then shall he be clean. [Acts 15:20.]
16 But if he does not wash his clothes or bathe his body, he shall bear his own iniquity [for it shall not be borne by the sacrifice of atonement].
 

Read Through the Bible in a Year / February Index

February 22 / Leviticus 18–20


CHAPTER 18


AND THE Lord said to Moses,
2 Say to the Israelites, I am the Lord your God.
3 You shall not do as was done in the land of Egypt in which you dwelt, nor shall you do as is done in the land of Canaan to which I am bringing you; neither shall you walk in their statutes.
4 You shall do My ordinances and keep My statutes and walk in them. I am the Lord your God.
5 You shall therefore keep My statutes and My ordinances which, if a man does, he shall live by them. I am the Lord. [Luke 10:25-28; Rom. 10:4, 5; Gal. 3:12.]
6 None of you shall approach anyone close of kin to him to have sexual relations. I am the Lord.
7 The nakedness of your father, which is the nakedness of your mother, you shall not uncover; she is your mother; you shall not have intercourse with her.
8 The nakedness of your father’s wife you shall not uncover; it is your father’s nakedness.
9 You shall not have intercourse with or uncover the nakedness of your sister, the daughter of your father or of your mother, whether born at home or born abroad.
10 You must not have sexual relations with your son’s daughter or your daughter’s daughter; their nakedness you shall not uncover, for they are your own flesh.
11 You must not have intercourse with your father’s wife’s daughter; begotten by your father, she is your sister; you shall not uncover her nakedness.
12 You shall not have intercourse with your father’s sister; she is your father’s near kinswoman.
13 You shall not have sexual relations with your mother’s sister, for she is your mother’s near kinswoman.
14 You shall not have intercourse with your father’s brother’s wife; you shall not approach his wife; she is your aunt.
15 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your daughter-in-law; she is your son’s wife; you shall not have intercourse with her.
16 You shall not have intercourse with your brother’s wife; she belongs to your brother.
17 You shall not marry a woman and her daughter, nor shall you take her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter to have intercourse; they are [her] near kinswomen; it is wickedness and an outrageous offense.
18 You must not marry a woman in addition to her sister, to be a rival to her, having sexual relations with the second sister when the first one is alive.
19 Also you shall not have intercourse with a woman during her [menstrual period or similar] uncleanness.
20 Moreover, you shall not lie carnally with your neighbor’s wife, to defile yourself with her.
21 You shall not give any of your children to pass through the fire and sacrifice them to Molech [the fire god], nor shall you profane the name of your God [by giving it to false gods]. I am the Lord.
22 You shall not lie with a man as with a woman; it is an abomination. [I Cor. 6:9, 10.]
23 Neither shall you lie with any beast and defile yourself with it; neither shall any woman yield herself to a beast to lie with it; it is confusion, perversion, and degradedly carnal.
24 Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, for in all these things the nations are defiled which I am casting out before you.
25 And the land is defiled; therefore I visit the iniquity of it upon it, and the land itself vomits out her inhabitants.
26 So you shall keep My statutes and My ordinances and shall not commit any of these abominations, neither the native-born nor any stranger who sojourns among you,
27 For all these abominations have the men of the land done who were before you, and the land is defiled—
28 [Do none of these things] lest the land spew you out when you defile it as it spewed out the nation that was before you.
29 Whoever commits any of these abominations shall be cut off from among [his] people.
30 So keep My charge: do not practice any of these abominable customs which were practiced before you and defile yourselves by them. I am the Lord your God.

CHAPTER 19

AND THE Lord said to Moses,
2 Say to all the assembly of the Israelites, You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy. [I Pet. 1:15.]
3 Each of you shall give due respect to his mother and his father, and keep My Sabbaths holy. I the Lord am your God.
4 Do not turn to idols and things of nought or make for yourselves molten gods. I the Lord am your God.
5 And when you offer a sacrifice of peace offering to the Lord, you shall offer it so that you may be accepted.
6 It shall be eaten the same day you offer it and on the day following; and if anything remains until the third day, it shall be burned in the fire.
7 If it is eaten at all the third day, it is loathsome; it will not be accepted.
8 But everyone who eats it shall bear his iniquity, for he has profaned a holy thing of the Lord; and that soul shall be cut off from his people [and not be included in the atonement made for them].
9 And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field to its very corners, neither shall you gather the fallen ears or gleanings of your harvest.
10 And you shall not glean your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather its fallen grapes; you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger. I am the Lord your God.
11 You shall not steal, or deal falsely, or lie one to another. [Col. 3:9, 10.]
12 And you shall not swear by My name falsely, neither shall you profane the name of your God. I am the Lord.
13 You shall not defraud or oppress your neighbor or rob him; the wages of a hired servant shall not remain with you all night until morning.
14 You shall not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall [reverently] fear your God. I am the Lord.
15 You shall do no injustice in judging a case; you shall not be partial to the poor or show a preference for the mighty, but in righteousness and according to the merits of the case judge your neighbor.
16 You shall not go up and down as a dispenser of gossip and scandal among your people, nor shall you [secure yourself by false testimony or by silence and] endanger the life of your neighbor. I am the Lord.
17 You shall not hate your brother in your heart; but you shall surely rebuke your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him. [Gal. 6:1; I John 2:9, 11; 3:15.]
18 You shall not take revenge or bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. [Matt. 5:43-46; Rom. 12:17, 19.]
19 You shall keep My statutes. You shall not let your domestic animals breed with a different kind [of animal]; you shall not sow your field with mixed seed, neither wear a garment of linen mixed with wool.
20 And if a man lies carnally with a woman who is a slave betrothed to a husband and not yet ransomed or given her freedom, they shall be punished [after investigation]; they shall not be put to death, because she was not free;
21 But he shall bring his guilt or trespass offering to the Lord to the door of the Tent of Meeting, a ram for a guilt or trespass offering.
22 The priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt or trespass offering before the Lord for his sin, and he shall be forgiven for committing the sin.
23 And when you come into the land and have planted all kinds of trees for food, then you shall count the fruit of them as inedible and forbidden to you for three years; it shall not be eaten.
24 In the fourth year all their fruit shall be holy for giving praise to the Lord.
25 But in the fifth year you may eat of the fruit [of the trees], that their produce may enrich you; I am the Lord your God.
26 You shall not eat anything with the blood; neither shall you use magic, omens, or witchcraft [or predict events by horoscope or signs and lucky days].
27 You shall not round the corners of the hair of your heads nor trim the corners of your beard [as some idolaters do].
28 You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead nor print or tattoo any marks upon you; I am the Lord.
29 Do not profane your daughter by causing her to be a harlot, lest the land fall into harlotry and become full of wickedness.
30 You shall keep My Sabbaths and reverence My sanctuary. I am the Lord.
31 Turn not to those [mediums] who have familiar spirits or to wizards; do not seek them out to be defiled by them. I am the Lord your God.
32 You shall rise up before the hoary head and honor the face of the old man and [reverently] fear your God. I am the Lord.
33 And if a stranger dwells temporarily with you in your land, you shall not suppress and mistreat him.
34 But the stranger who dwells with you shall be to you as one born among you; and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.
35 You shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in measures of length or weight or quantity.
36 You shall have accurate and just balances, just weights, just ephah and hin measures. I am the Lord your God, Who brought you out of the land of Egypt.
37 You shall observe all My statutes and ordinances and do them. I am the Lord.


CHAPTER 20

AND THE Lord said to Moses,
2 Moreover, you shall say to the Israelites, Any one of the Israelites or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel who gives any of his children to Molech [the fire god worshiped with human sacrifices] shall surely be put to death; the people of the land shall stone him with stones.
3 I also will set My face against that man [opposing him, withdrawing My protection from him, and excluding him from My covenant] and will cut him off from among his people, because he has given of his children to Molech, defiling My sanctuary and profaning My holy name.
4 And if the people of the land do at all hide their eyes from the man when he gives one of his children [as a burnt offering] to Molech [the fire god] and they overlook it or neglect to take legal action to punish him, winking at his sin, and do not kill him [as My law requires],
5 Then I will set My face against that man and against his family and will cut him off from among their people, him and all who follow him to [unfaithfulness to Me, and thus] play the harlot after Molech.
6 The person who turns to those who have familiar spirits and to wizards, [being unfaithful to Israel’s Maker Who is her Husband, and thus] playing the harlot after them, I will set My face against that person and will cut him off from among his people [that he may not be included in the atonement made for them]. [Isa. 54:5.]
7 Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy; for I am the Lord your God.
8 And you shall keep My statutes and do them. I am the Lord Who sanctifies you.
9 Everyone who curses his father or mother shall surely be put to death; he has cursed his father or mother; his bloodguilt is upon him.
10 The man who commits adultery with another’s wife, even his neighbor’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. [John 8:4-11.]
11 And the man who lies carnally with his father’s wife has uncovered his father’s nakedness; both of the guilty ones shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon their own heads.
12 And if a man lies carnally with his daughter-in-law, both of them shall surely be put to death; they have wrought confusion, perversion, and defilement; their blood shall be upon their own heads.
13 If a man lies with a male as if he were a woman, both men have committed an offense (something perverse, unnatural, abhorrent, and detestable); they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.
14 And if a man takes a wife and her mother, it is wickedness and an outrageous offense; all three shall be burned with fire, both he and they [after being stoned to death], that there be no wickedness among you. [Josh. 7:15, 25.]
15 And if a man lies carnally with a beast, he shall surely be [stoned] to death, and you shall slay the beast.
16 If a woman approaches any beast and lies carnally with it, you shall [stone] the woman and the beast; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.
17 If a man takes his sister, his father’s or his mother’s daughter, and sees her nakedness and she sees his nakedness, it is a wicked and shameful thing; and they shall be cut off in the sight of their people; he has had sexual relations with his sister; he shall bear his iniquity.
18 And if a man shall lie with a woman having her menstrual pains and shall uncover her nakedness, he has made naked her fountain, and she has uncovered the fountain of her blood; and both of them shall be cut off from among their people.
19 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister or of your father’s sister, for that is to make naked his close kin; they shall bear their iniquity.
20 And if a man shall lie carnally with his uncle’s wife, he has uncovered his uncle’s nakedness; they shall bear their sin; they shall die childless [not literally, but in a legal sense].
21 And if a man shall take his brother’s wife, it is impurity; he has uncovered his brother’s nakedness; they shall be childless [not literally, but in a legal sense].
22 You shall therefore keep all My statutes and all My ordinances and do them, that the land where I am bringing you to dwell may not vomit you out [as it did those before you]. [Lev. 18:28.]
23 You shall not walk in the customs of the nation which I am casting out before you; for they did all these things, and therefore I was wearied and grieved by them.
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, Who has separated you from the peoples.
25 You shall therefore make a distinction between the clean beast and the unclean, and between the unclean fowl and the clean; and you shall not make yourselves detestable with beast or with bird or with anything with which the ground teems or that creeps, which I have set apart from you as unclean.
26 And you shall be holy to Me; for I the Lord am holy, and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be Mine.
27 A man or woman who is a medium and has a familiar spirit or is a wizard shall surely be put to death, be stoned with stones; their blood shall be upon them.
 

Read Through the Bible in a Year / February Index

February 23 / Leviticus 21–23

CHAPTER 21


THE LORD said to Moses, Speak to the priests [exclusive of the high priest], the sons of Aaron, and say to them that none of them shall defile himself for the dead among his people [by touching a corpse or assisting in preparing it for burial],
2 Except for his near [blood] kin, for his mother, father, son, daughter, brother,
3 And for his sister, a virgin, who is near to him because she has had no husband; for her he may be defiled.
4 He shall not even defile himself, being a [bereaved] husband [his wife not being his blood kin] or being a chief man among his people, and so profane himself.
5 The priests [like the other Israelite men] shall not shave the crown of their heads or clip off the corners of their beard or make any cuttings in their flesh.
6 They shall be holy to their God and not profane the name of their God; for they offer the offerings made by fire to the Lord, the bread of their God; therefore they shall be holy.
7 They shall not take a wife who is a harlot or polluted or profane or divorced, for [the priest] is holy to his God.
8 You shall consecrate him therefore, for he offers the bread of your God; he shall be holy to you, for I the Lord Who sanctifies you am holy.
9 The daughter of any priest who profanes herself by playing the harlot profanes her father; she shall be burned with fire [after being stoned]. [Josh. 7:15, 25.]
10 But he who is the high priest among his brethren, upon whose head the anointing oil was poured and who is consecrated to put on the [sacred] garments, shall not let the hair of his head hang loose or rend his clothes [in mourning],
11 Neither shall he go in where any dead body lies nor defile himself [by doing so, even] for his father or for his mother;
12 Neither shall he go out of the sanctuary nor desecrate or make ceremonially unclean the sanctuary of his God, for the crown or consecration of the anointing oil of his God is upon him. I am the Lord.
13 He shall take a wife in her virginity.
14 A widow or a divorced woman or a woman who is polluted or profane or a harlot, these he shall not marry, but he shall take as his wife a virgin of his own people, [I Tim. 3:2-7; Tit. 1:7-9.]
15 That he may not profane or dishonor his children among his people; for I the Lord do sanctify the high priest.
16 And the Lord said to Moses,
17 Say to Aaron, Any one of your sons in their successive generations who has any blemish, let him not come near to offer the bread of his God.
18 For no man who has a blemish shall approach [God’s altar to serve as priest], a man blind or lame, or he who has a disfigured face or a limb too long,
19 Or who has a fractured foot or hand,
20 Or is a hunchback, or a dwarf, or has a defect in his eye, or has scurvy or itch, or scabs or skin trouble, or has damaged testicles.
21 No man of the offspring of Aaron the priest who has a blemish and is disfigured or deformed shall come near [the altar] to offer the offerings of the Lord made by fire. He has a blemish; he shall not come near to offer the bread of his God.
22 He may eat the bread of his God, both of the most holy and of the holy things,
23 But he shall not come within the veil or come near the altar [of incense], because he has a blemish, that he may not desecrate and make unclean My sanctuaries and hallowed things; for I the Lord do sanctify them. [Heb. 7:28.]
24 And Moses told it to Aaron and to his sons and to all the Israelites.


CHAPTER 22

AND THE Lord said to Moses,
2 Say to Aaron and his sons that they shall stay away from the holy things which the Israelites dedicate to Me, that they may not profane My holy name; I am the Lord.
3 Tell them, Any one of your offspring throughout your generations who goes to the holy things which the Israelites dedicate to the Lord when he is unclean, that [priest] shall be cut off from My presence and excluded from the sanctuary; I am the Lord.
4 No man of the offspring of Aaron who is a leper or has a discharge shall eat of the holy things [the offerings and the showbread] until he is clean. And whoever touches any person or thing made unclean by contact with a corpse or a man who has had a discharge of semen,
5 Or whoever touches any dead creeping thing by which he may be made unclean, or a man from whom he may acquire uncleanness, whatever it may be, [Lev. 11:24-28.]
6 The priest who has touched any such thing shall be unclean until evening and shall not eat of the holy things unless he has bathed with water. [Heb. 10:22.]
7 When the sun is down, he shall be clean, and afterward may eat of the holy things, for they are his food.
8 That which dies of itself or is torn by beasts he shall not eat, defiling himself with it. I am the Lord.
9 The priests therefore shall observe My ordinance, lest they bear sin for it and die thereby if they profane it. I am the Lord, Who sanctifies them.
10 No outsider [not of the family of Aaron] shall eat of the holy thing [which has been offered to God]; a sojourner with the priest or a hired servant shall not eat of the holy thing.
11 But if a priest buys a slave with his money, the slave may eat of the holy thing, and he also who is born in the priest’s house; they may eat of his food.
12 If a priest’s daughter is married to an outsider [not of the priestly tribe], she shall not eat of the offering of the holy things.
13 But if a priest’s daughter is a widow or divorced, and has no child, and returns to her father’s house as in her youth, she shall eat of her father’s food; but no stranger shall eat of it.
14 And if a man eats unknowingly of the holy thing [which has been offered to God], then he shall add one-fifth of its value to it and repay that amount to the priest for the holy thing.
15 The priests shall not profane the holy things the Israelites offer to the Lord,
16 And so cause them [by neglect of any essential observance] to bear the iniquity when they eat their holy things; for I the Lord sanctify them.
17 And the Lord said to Moses,
18 Say to Aaron and his sons and to all the Israelites, Whoever of the house of Israel and of the foreigners in Israel brings his offering, whether to pay a vow or as a freewill offering which is offered to the Lord for a burnt offering
19 That you may be accepted, you shall offer a male without blemish of the young bulls, the sheep, or the goats.
20 But you shall not offer anything which has a blemish, for it will not be acceptable for you. [I Pet. 1:19.]
21 And whoever offers a sacrifice of peace offering to the Lord to make a special vow to the Lord or for a freewill offering from the herd or from the flock must bring what is perfect to be accepted; there shall be no blemish in it.
22 Animals blind or made infirm and weak or maimed, or having sores or a wen or an itch or scabs, you shall not offer to the Lord or make an offering of them by fire upon the altar to the Lord.
23 For a freewill offering you may offer either a bull or a lamb which has some part too long or too short, but for [the payment of] a vow it shall not be accepted.
24 You shall not offer to the Lord any animal which has its testicles bruised or crushed or broken or cut, neither sacrifice it in your land.
25 Neither shall you offer as the bread of your God any such animals obtained from a foreigner [who may wish to pay respect to the true God], because their defects render them unfit; there is a blemish in them; they will not be accepted for you.
26 And the Lord said to Moses,
27 When a bull or a sheep or a goat is born, it shall remain for seven days with its mother; and from the eighth day on it shall be accepted for an offering made by fire to the Lord.
28 And whether [the mother] is a cow or a ewe, you shall not kill her and her young both in one day.
29 And when you sacrifice an offering of thanksgiving to the Lord, sacrifice it so that you may be accepted.
30 It shall be eaten on the same day; you shall leave none of it until the next day. I am the Lord.
31 So shall you heartily accept My commandments and conform your life and conduct to them. I am the Lord.
32 Neither shall you profane My holy name [applying it to an idol, or treating it with irreverence or contempt or as a byword]; but I will be hallowed among the Israelites. I am the Lord, Who consecrates and makes you holy,
33 Who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord.


CHAPTER 23

THE LORD said to Moses,
2 Say to the Israelites, The set feasts or appointed seasons of the Lord which you shall proclaim as holy convocations, even My set feasts, are these:
3 Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, a holy convocation or assembly by summons. You shall do no work on that day; it is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings.
4 These are the set feasts or appointed seasons of the Lord, holy convocations you shall proclaim at their stated times:
5 On the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight 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 shall eat unleavened bread. [I Cor. 5:7, 8.]
7 On the first day you shall have a holy “calling together;” you shall do no servile or laborious work on that day.
8 But you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord for seven days; on the seventh day is a holy convocation; you shall do no servile or laborious work on that day.
9 And the Lord said to Moses,
10 Tell the Israelites, When you have come into the land I give you and reap its harvest, you shall bring the sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest.
11 And he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, that you may be accepted; on the next day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it [before the Lord].
12 You shall offer on the day when you wave the sheaf a male lamb a year old without blemish for a burnt offering to the Lord.
13 Its cereal offering shall be two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, an offering made by fire to the Lord for a sweet, pleasing, and satisfying fragrance; and the drink offering of it [to be poured out] shall be of wine, a fourth of a hin.
14 And you shall eat neither bread nor parched grain nor green ears, until this same day when you have brought the offering of your God; it is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your houses.
15 And you shall count from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, seven Sabbaths; [seven full weeks] shall they be.
16 Count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall present a cereal offering of new grain to the Lord.
17 You shall bring from your dwellings two loaves of bread to be waved, made from two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour; they shall be baked with leaven, for firstfruits to the Lord.
18 And you shall offer with the bread seven lambs, a year old and without blemish, and one young bull and two rams. They shall be a burnt offering to the Lord, with their cereal offering and their drink offerings, an offering made by fire, of a sweet and satisfying fragrance to the Lord.
19 Then you shall sacrifice one he-goat for a sin offering and two he-lambs, a year old, for a sacrifice of peace offering.
20 The priest shall wave the two lambs, together with the bread of the firstfruits, for a wave offering before the Lord. They shall be holy to the Lord for the priest.
21 You shall make proclamation the same day, summoning a holy assembly; you shall do no servile work that day. It shall be a statute forever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.
22 And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field, neither shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest; you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger. I am the Lord your God.
23 And the Lord said to Moses,
24 Say to the Israelites, On the first day of the seventh month [almost October], you shall observe a day of solemn [sabbatical] rest, a memorial day announced by blowing of trumpets, a holy [called] assembly.
25 You shall do no servile work on it, but you shall present an offering made by fire to the Lord.
26 And the Lord said to Moses,
27 Also the tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement; it shall be a holy [called] assembly, and you shall afflict yourselves [by fasting in penitence and humility] and present an offering made by fire to the Lord.
28 And you shall do no work on this day, for it is the Day of Atonement, to make atonement for you before the Lord your God.
29 For whoever is not afflicted [by fasting in penitence and humility] on this day shall be cut off from among his people [that he may not be included in the atonement made for them].
30 And whoever does any work on that same day I will destroy from among his people.
31 You shall do no kind of work [on that day]. It is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
32 It shall be to you a sabbath of rest, and you shall afflict yourselves [by fasting in penitence and humility]. On the ninth day of the month from evening to evening you shall keep your sabbath.
33 And the Lord said to Moses,
34 Say to the Israelites, The fifteenth day of this seventh month, and for seven days, is the Feast of Tabernacles or Booths to the Lord.
35 On the first day shall be a holy convocation; you shall do no servile work on that day.
36 For seven days you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord; on the eighth day shall be a holy convocation and you shall present an offering made by fire to the Lord. It is a solemn assembly; you shall do no laborious work on that day.
37 These are the set feasts or appointed seasons of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to present an offering made by fire to the Lord, a burnt offering and a cereal offering, sacrifices and drink offerings, each on its own day.
38 This is in addition to the Sabbaths of the Lord and besides your gifts and all your vowed offerings and all your freewill offerings which you give to the Lord.
39 Also on the fifteenth day of the seventh month [nearly October], when you have gathered in the fruit of the land, you shall keep the feast of the Lord for seven days, the first day and the eighth day each a Sabbath.
40 And on the first day you shall take the fruit of pleasing trees [and make booths of them], branches of palm trees, and boughs of thick (leafy) trees, and willows of the 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, a statute forever throughout your generations; you shall keep it in the seventh month.
42 You shall dwell in booths (shelters) for seven days: All native Israelites shall dwell in booths,
43 That your generations may know that I made the Israelites dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.
44 Thus Moses declared to the Israelites the set or appointed feasts of the Lord.
 

Read Through the Bible in a Year / February Index

February 24 / Leviticus 24–25


CHAPTER 24


AND THE Lord said to Moses,
2 Command the Israelites that they bring to you pure oil from beaten olives for the light [of the golden lampstand] to cause a lamp to burn continually.
3 Outside the veil of the Testimony [between the Holy and the Most Holy Places] in the Tent of Meeting, Aaron shall keep it in order from evening to morning before the Lord continually; it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations.
4 He shall keep the lamps in order upon the lampstand of pure gold before the Lord continually. [Rev. 1:12-18.]
5 And you shall take fine flour and bake twelve cakes with it; two-tenths of an ephah shall be in each cake [of the showbread or bread of the Presence].
6 And you shall set them in two rows, six in a row, upon the table of pure gold before the Lord.
7 You shall put pure frankincense [in a bowl or spoon] beside each row, that it may be with the bread as a memorial portion, an offering to be made by fire to the Lord.
8 Every Sabbath day Aaron shall set the showbread in order before the Lord continually; it is on behalf of the Israelites, an everlasting covenant.
9 And the bread shall be for Aaron and his sons, and they shall eat it in a sacred place, for it is for [Aaron] a most holy portion of the offerings to the Lord made by fire, a perpetual due [to the high priest].
10 Now the son of an Israelite woman, whose father was an Egyptian, went out among the Israelites, and he and a man of Israel quarreled and strove together in the camp.
11 The Israelite woman’s son blasphemed the Name [of the Lord] and cursed. They brought him to Moses—his mother was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan.
12 And they put him in custody until the will of the Lord might be declared to them.
13 And the Lord said to Moses,
14 Bring him who has cursed out of the camp, and let all who heard him lay their hands upon his head; then let all the congregation stone him.
15 And you shall say to the Israelites, Whoever curses his God shall bear his sin.
16 And he who blasphemes the Name of the Lord, he shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall certainly stone him; the stranger as well as he who was born in the land shall be put to death when he blasphemes the Name [of the Lord].
17 And he who kills any man shall surely be put to death.
18 And he who kills a beast shall make it good, beast for beast.
19 And if a man causes a blemish or disfigurement on his neighbor, it shall be done to him as he has done:
20 Fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; as he has caused a blemish or disfigurement on a man, so shall it be done to him. [Matt. 5:38-42; 7:2.]
21 He who kills a beast shall replace it; he who kills a man shall be put to death.
22 You shall have the same law for the sojourner among you as for one of your own nationality, for I am the Lord your God.
23 Moses spoke to the Israelites, and they brought him who had cursed out of the camp and stoned him with stones. Thus the Israelites did as the Lord commanded Moses.


CHAPTER 25

THE LORD said to Moses on Mount Sinai,
2 Say to the Israelites, When you come into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a sabbath to the Lord.
3 For six years you shall sow your field, and for six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its fruits.
4 But in the seventh year there shall be a sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a sabbath to the Lord; you shall neither sow your field nor prune your vineyard.
5 What grows of itself in your harvest you shall not reap and the grapes on your uncultivated vine you shall not gather, for it is a year of rest to the land.
6 And the sabbath rest of the [untilled] land shall [in its increase] furnish food for you, for your male and female slaves, your hired servant, and the temporary resident who lives with you,
7 For your domestic animals also and for the [wild] beasts in your land; all its yield shall be for food.
8 And you shall number seven sabbaths or weeks of years for you, seven times seven years, so the total time of the seven weeks of years shall be forty-nine years.
9 Then you shall sound abroad the loud trumpet on the tenth day of the seventh month [almost October]; on the Day of Atonement blow the trumpet in all your land.
10 And you shall hallow the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you; and each of you shall return to his ancestral possession [which through poverty he was compelled to sell], and each of you shall return to his family [from whom he was separated in bond service].
11 That fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; in it you shall not sow, or reap and store what grows of itself, or gather the grapes of the uncultivated vines.
12 For it is a jubilee; it shall be holy to you; you shall eat the [sufficient] increase of it out of the field.
13 In this Year of Jubilee each of you shall return to his ancestral property.
14 And if you sell anything to your neighbor or buy from your neighbor, you shall not wrong one another.
15 According to the number of years after the Jubilee, you shall buy from your neighbor. And he shall sell to you according to the number of years [remaining in which you may gather] the crops [before you must restore the property to him].
16 If the years [to the next Jubilee] are many, you may increase the price, and if the years remaining are few, you shall diminish the price, for the number of the crops is what he is selling to you.
17 You shall not oppress and wrong one another, but you shall [reverently] fear your God. For I am the Lord your God.
18 Therefore you shall do and give effect to My statutes and keep My ordinances and perform them, and you will dwell in the land in safety.
19 The land shall yield its fruit; you shall eat your fill and dwell there in safety.
20 And if you say, What shall we eat in the seventh year if we are not to sow or gather in our increase?
21 Then [this is My answer:] I will command My [special] blessings on you in the sixth year, so that it shall bring forth [sufficient] fruit for three years.
22 And you shall sow in the eighth year, but eat of the old store of produce; until the crops of the ninth year come in you shall eat of the old supply.
23 The land shall not be sold into perpetual ownership, for the land is Mine; you are [only] strangers and temporary residents with Me. [Heb. 11:13; I Pet. 2:11-17.]
24 And in all the country you possess you shall grant a redemption for the land [in the Year of Jubilee].
25 If your brother has become poor and has sold some of his property, if any of his kin comes to redeem it, he shall [be allowed to] redeem what his brother has sold.
26 And if the man has no one to redeem his property, and he himself has become more prosperous and has enough to redeem it,
27 Then let him count the years since he sold it and restore the overpayment to the man to whom he sold it, and return to his ancestral possession. [I Kings 21:2, 3.]
28 But if he is unable to redeem it, it shall remain in the buyer’s possession until the Year of Jubilee, when it shall be set free and he may return to it.
29 If a man sells a dwelling house in a fortified city, he may redeem it within a whole year after it is sold; for a full year he may have the right of redemption.
30 And if it is not redeemed within a full year, then the house that is in the fortified city shall be made sure, permanently and without limitations, for him who bought it, throughout his generations. It shall not go free in the Year of Jubilee.
31 But the houses of the unwalled villages shall be counted with the fields of the country. They may be redeemed, and they shall go free in the Year of Jubilee.
32 Nevertheless, the cities of the Levites, the houses in the cities of their possession, the Levites may redeem at any time.
33 But if a house is not redeemed by a Levite, the sold house in the city they possess shall go free in the Year of Jubilee, for the houses in the Levite cities are their ancestral possession among the Israelites.
34 But the field of unenclosed or pasture lands of their cities may not be sold; it is their perpetual possession.
35 And if your [Israelite] brother has become poor and his hand wavers [from poverty, sickness, or age and he is unable to support himself], then you shall uphold (strengthen, relieve) him, [treating him with the courtesy and consideration that you would] a stranger or a temporary resident with you [without property], so that he may live [along] with you. [I John 3:17.]
36 Charge him no interest or [portion of] increase, but fear your God, so your brother may [continue to] live along with you.
37 You shall not give him your money at interest nor lend him food at a profit.
38 I am the Lord your God, Who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God.
39 And if your brother becomes poor beside you and sells himself to you, you shall not compel him to serve as a bondman (a slave not eligible for redemption),
40 But as a hired servant and as a temporary resident he shall be with you; he shall serve you till the Year of Jubilee,
41 And then he shall depart from you, he and his children with him, and shall go back to his own family and return to the possession of his fathers.
42 For the Israelites are My servants; I brought them out of the land of Egypt; they shall not be sold as bondmen. [I Cor. 7:23.]
43 You shall not rule over him with harshness (severity, oppression), but you shall [reverently] fear your God. [Eph. 6:9; Col. 4:1.]
44 As for your bondmen and your bondmaids whom you may have, they shall be from the nations round about you, of whom you may buy bondmen and bondmaids.
45 Moreover, of the children of the strangers who sojourn among you, of them you may buy and of their families that are with you which they have begotten in your land, and they shall be your possession.
46 And you shall make them an inheritance for your children after you, to hold for a possession; of them shall you take your bondmen always, but over your brethren the Israelites you shall not rule one over another with harshness (severity, oppression).
47 And if a sojourner or stranger with you becomes rich and your [Israelite] brother becomes poor beside him and sells himself to the stranger or sojourner with you or to a member of the stranger’s family,
48 After he is sold he may be redeemed. One of his brethren may redeem him:
49 Either his uncle or his uncle’s son may redeem him, or a near kinsman may redeem him; or if he has enough and is able, he may redeem himself.
50 And [the redeemer] shall reckon with the purchaser of the servant from the year when he sold himself to the purchaser to the Year of Jubilee, and the price of his release shall be adjusted according to the number of years. The time he was with his owner shall be counted as that of a hired servant.
51 If there remain many years [before the Year of Jubilee], in proportion to them he must refund [to the purchaser] for his release [the overpayment] for his acquisition.
52 And if little time remains until the Year of Jubilee, he shall count it over with him and he shall refund the proportionate amount for his release.
53 And as a servant hired year by year shall he deal with him; he shall not rule over him with harshness (severity, oppression) in your sight [make sure of that].
54 And if he is not redeemed during these years and by these means, then he shall go free in the Year of Jubilee, he and his children with him.
55 For to Me the Israelites are servants, My servants, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.
 

Read Through the Bible in a Year / February Index

February 25 / Leviticus 26–27


CHAPTER 26


YOU SHALL make for yourselves no idols nor shall you erect a graven image, pillar, or obelisk, nor shall you place any figured stone in your land to which or on which to bow down; for I am the Lord your God.
2 You shall keep My Sabbaths and reverence My sanctuary. I am the Lord.
3 If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments and do them,
4 I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase and the trees of the field yield their fruit.
5 And your threshing [time] shall reach to the vintage and the vintage [time] shall reach to the sowing time, and you shall eat your bread to the full and dwell in your land securely.
6 I will give peace in the land; you shall lie down and none shall fill you with dread or make you afraid; and I will clear ferocious (wild) beasts out of the land, and no sword shall go through your land.
7 And you shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword.
8 Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight; your enemies shall fall before you by the sword.
9 For I will be leaning toward you with favor and regard for you, rendering you fruitful, multiplying you, and establishing and ratifying My covenant with you. [II Kings 13:23.]
10 And you shall eat the [abundant] old store of produce long kept, and clear out the old [to make room] for the new.
11 I will set My dwelling in and among you, and My soul shall not despise or reject or separate itself from you.
12 And I will walk in and with and among you and will be your God, and you shall be My people.
13 I am the Lord your God, Who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, that you should no more be slaves; and I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect [as free men].
14 But if you will not hearken to Me and will not do all these commandments,
15 And if you spurn and despise My statutes, and if your soul despises and rejects My ordinances, so that you will not do all My commandments, but break My covenant,
16 I will do this: I will appoint over you [sudden] terror (trembling, trouble), even consumption and fever that consume and waste the eyes and make the [physical] life pine away. You shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.
17 I [the Lord] will set My face against you and you shall be defeated and slain before your enemies; they who hate you shall rule over you; you shall flee when no one pursues you. [I Sam. 4:10; 31:1.]
18 And if in spite of all this you still will not listen and be obedient to Me, then I will chastise and discipline you seven times more for your sins.
19 And I will break and humble your pride in your power, and I will make your heavens as iron [yielding no answer, no blessing, no rain] and your earth [as sterile] as brass. [I Kings 17:1.]
20 And your strength shall be spent in vain, for your land shall not yield its increase, neither shall the trees of the land yield their fruit.
21 If you walk contrary to Me and will not heed Me, I will bring seven times more plagues upon you, according to your sins.
22 I will loose the wild beasts of the field among you, which shall rob you of your children, destroy your livestock, and make you few so that your roads shall be deserted and desolate. [II Kings 17:25, 26.]
23 If by these means you are not turned to Me but determine to walk contrary to Me,
24 I also will walk contrary to you, and I will smite you seven times for your sins.
25 And I will bring a sword upon you that shall execute the vengeance [for the breaking] of My covenant; and you shall be gathered together within your cities, and I will send the pestilence among you, and you shall be delivered into the hands of the enemy. [Num. 16:49; II Sam. 24:15.]
26 When I break your staff of bread and cut off your supply of food, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall ration your bread and deliver it again by weight; and you shall eat, and not be satisfied. [Hag. 1:6.]
27 And if in spite of all this you will not listen and give heed to Me but walk contrary to Me,
28 Then I will walk contrary to you in wrath, and I also will chastise you seven times for your sins.
29 You shall eat the flesh of your sons and of your daughters. [II Kings 6:28, 29.]
30 And I will destroy your high places [devoted to idolatrous worship], and cut down your sun-images, and throw your dead bodies upon the [wrecked] bodies of your idols, and My soul shall abhor you [with deep and unutterable loathing]. [II Kings 23:8, 20.]
31 I will lay your cities waste, bring your sanctuaries to desolation, and I will not smell the fragrance of your sweet and soothing odors [of offerings made by fire]. [II Kings 25:4-10; II Chron. 36:19.]
32 And I will bring the land into desolation, and your enemies who dwell in it shall be astonished at it.
33 I will scatter you among the nations and draw out [your enemies’] sword after you; and your land shall be desolate and your cities a waste. [Ps. 44:11-14.]
34 Then shall the land [of Israel have the opportunity to] enjoy its sabbaths as long as it lies desolate and you are in your enemies’ land; then shall the land rest, to enjoy and receive payments for its sabbaths [divinely ordained for it].
35 As long as it lies desolate and waste, it shall have rest, the rest it did not have in your sabbaths when you dwelt upon it. [II Chron. 36:21.]
36 As for those who are left of you, I will send dejection (lack of courage, a faintness) into their hearts in the lands of their enemies; the sound of a driven leaf shall put them to hasty and tumultuous flight, and they shall flee as if from the sword, and fall when no one pursues them.
37 They shall stumble over one another as if to escape a sword when no one pursues them; and you shall have no power to stand before your enemies.
38 You shall perish among the nations; the land of your enemies shall eat you up.
39 And those of you who are left shall pine away in their iniquity in your enemies’ lands; also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away like them.
40 But if they confess their own and their fathers’ iniquity in their treachery which they committed against Me—and also that because they walked contrary to Me
41 I also walked contrary to them and brought them into the land of their enemies—if then their uncircumcised hearts are humbled and they then accept the punishment for their iniquity, [II Kings 24:10-14; Dan. 9:11-14.]
42 Then will I [earnestly] remember My covenant with Jacob, My covenant with Isaac, and My covenant with Abraham, and [earnestly] remember the land. [Ps. 106:44-46.]
43 But the land shall be left behind them and shall enjoy its sabbaths while it lies desolate without them; and they shall accept the punishment for their sins and make amends because they despised and rejected My ordinances and their soul scorned and rejected My statutes.
44 And yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not spurn and cast them away, neither will I despise and abhor them to destroy them utterly and to break My covenant with them, for I am the Lord their God. [Deut. 4:31-35; Jer. 33:4, 5, 23-26; Rom. 11:2-5.]
45 But I will for their sake [earnestly] remember the covenant with their forefathers whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God. I am the Lord.
46 These are the statutes, ordinances, and laws which the Lord made between Him and the Israelites on Mount Sinai through Moses.


CHAPTER 27

AND THE Lord said to Moses,
2 Say to the Israelites, When a man shall make a special vow of persons to the Lord at your valuation,
3 Then your valuation of a male from twenty years old to sixty years old shall be fifty shekels of silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary.
4 And if the person is a female, your valuation shall be thirty shekels.
5 And if the person is from five years old up to twenty years old, then your valuation shall be for the male twenty shekels and for the female ten shekels.
6 And if a child is from a month up to five years old, then your valuation shall be for the male five shekels of silver and for the female three shekels.
7 And if the person is from sixty years old and above, if it be a male, then your valuation shall be fifteen shekels and for the female ten shekels.
8 But if the man is too poor to pay your valuation, then he shall be set before the priest, and the priest shall value him; according to the ability of him who vowed shall the priest value him.
9 If it is a beast of which men offer an offering to the Lord, all that any man gives of such to the Lord shall be holy.
10 He shall not replace it or exchange it, a good for a bad, or a bad for a good; and if he makes any exchange of a beast for a beast, then both the original offering and that exchanged for it shall be holy.
11 If it is an unclean animal, such as is not offered as an offering to the Lord, he shall bring the animal before the priest,
12 And the priest shall value it, whether it be good or bad; as you, the priest, value it, so shall it be.
13 But if he wishes to redeem it, he shall add a fifth to your valuation.
14 If a man dedicates his house to be sacred to the Lord, the priest shall appraise it, whether it be good or bad; as the priest appraises it, so shall it stand.
15 If he who dedicates his house wants to redeem it, he shall add a fifth of your valuation to it, and it shall be his.
16 And if a man shall dedicate to the Lord some part of a field of his possession, then your valuation shall be according to the seed [required] for it; [a sowing of] a homer of barley shall be valued at fifty shekels of silver.
17 If he dedicates his field during the Year of Jubilee, it shall stand according to your full valuation.
18 But if he dedicates his field after the Jubilee, then the priest shall count the money value in proportion to the years that remain until the Year of Jubilee, and it shall be deducted from your valuation.
19 If he who dedicates the field wishes to redeem it, then he shall add a fifth of the money of your appraisal to it, and it shall remain his.
20 But if he does not want to redeem the field, or if he has sold it to another man, it shall not be redeemed any more.
21 But the field, when it is released in the Jubilee, shall be holy to the Lord, as a field devoted [to God or destruction]; the priest shall have possession of it.
22 And if a man dedicates to the Lord a field he has bought, which is not of the fields of his [ancestral] possession,
23 The priest shall compute the amount of your valuation for it up to the Year of Jubilee; the man shall give that amount on that day as a holy thing to the Lord.
24 In the Year of Jubilee the field shall return to him of whom it was bought, to him to whom the land belonged [as his ancestral inheritance].
25 And all your valuations shall be according to the sanctuary shekel; twenty gerahs shall make a shekel.
26 But the firstling of the animals, since a firstling belongs to the Lord, no man may dedicate, whether it be ox or sheep. It is the Lord’s [already].
27 If it be of an unclean animal, the owner may redeem it according to your valuation, and shall add a fifth to it; or if it is not redeemed, then it shall be sold according to your valuation.
28 But nothing that a man shall devote to the Lord of all that he has, whether of man or beast or of the field of his possession, shall be sold or redeemed; every devoted thing is most holy to the Lord.
29 No one doomed to death [under the claim of divine justice], who is to be completely destroyed from among men, shall be ransomed [from suffering the death penalty]; he shall surely be put to death.
30 And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord’s; it is holy to the Lord. [I Cor. 9:11; Gal. 6:6.]
31 And if a man wants to redeem any of his tithe, he shall add a fifth to it.
32 And all the tithe of the herd or of the flock, whatever passes under the herdsman’s staff [by means of which each tenth animal as it passes through a small door is selected and marked], the tenth shall be holy to the Lord. [II Cor. 9:7-9.]
33 The man shall not examine whether the animal is good or bad nor shall he exchange it. If he does exchange it, then both it and the animal substituted for it shall be holy; it shall not be redeemed.
34 These are the commandments which the Lord commanded Moses on Mount Sinai for the Israelites. [Rom. 10:4; Heb. 4:2; 12:18-29.]
 

Read Through the Bible in a Year / February Index

February 26 / Numbers 1–2


CHAPTER 1


THE LORD spoke to Moses in the Wilderness of Sinai in the Tent of Meeting on the first day of the second month in the second year after they came out of the land of Egypt, saying,
2 Take a census of all the males of the congregation of the Israelites by families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, head by head.
3 From twenty years old and upward, all in Israel who are able to go forth to war you and Aaron shall number, company by company.
4 And with you there shall be a man [to assist you] from each tribe, each being the head of his father’s house.
5 And these are the names of the men who shall attend you: Of Reuben, Elizur son of Shedeur;
6 Of Simeon, Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai;
7 Of Judah, Nahshon son of Amminadab;
8 Of Issachar, Nethanel son of Zuar;
9 Of Zebulun, Eliab son of Helon;
10 Of the sons of Joseph: of Ephraim, Elishama son of Ammihud; of Manasseh, Gamaliel son of Pedahzur;
11 Of Benjamin, Abidan son of Gideoni;
12 Of Dan, Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai;
13 Of Asher, Pagiel son of Ochran;
14 Of Gad, Eliasaph son of Deuel;
15 Of Naphtali, Ahira son of Enan.
16 These were those chosen from the congregation, the leaders of their ancestral tribes, heads of thousands [the highest class of officers] in Israel.
17 And Moses and Aaron took these men who have been named,
18 And assembled all the congregation on the first day of the second month, and they declared their ancestry after their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of names from twenty years old and upward, head by head,
19 As the Lord commanded Moses. So he numbered them in the Wilderness of Sinai.
20 The sons of Reuben, Israel’s firstborn, their generations, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, head by head, every male from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go to war:
21 Those of the tribe of Reuben numbered 46,500.
22 Of the sons of Simeon, their generations, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, those numbered of them according to the number of names, head by head, every male from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go to war:
23 Those of the tribe of Simeon numbered 59,300.
24 Of the sons of Gad, their generations, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go to war:
25 Those of the tribe of Gad numbered 45,650.
26 Of the sons of Judah, their generations, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, all able to go to war:
27 Those of the tribe of Judah numbered 74,600.
28 Of the sons of Issachar, their generations, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, all able to go to war:
29 Those of the tribe of Issachar numbered 54,400.
30 Of the sons of Zebulun, their generations, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, all able to go to war:
31 Those of the tribe of Zebulun numbered 57,400.
32 Of the sons of Joseph: the sons of Ephraim, their generations, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, all able to go to war:
33 Those of the tribe of Ephraim numbered 40,500.
34 Of the sons of Manasseh, their generations, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, all able to go to war:
35 Those of the tribe of Manasseh numbered 32,200.
36 Of the sons of Benjamin, their generations, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, all able to go to war:
37 Those of the tribe of Benjamin numbered 35,400.
38 Of the sons of Dan, their generations, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, all able to go to war:
39 Those of the tribe of Dan numbered 62,700.
40 Of the sons of Asher, their generations, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, all able to go to war:
41 Those of the tribe of Asher numbered 41,500.
42 Of the sons of Naphtali, their generations, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, all able to go to war:
43 Those of the tribe of Naphtali numbered 53,400.
44 These were numbered by Moses and Aaron, and the leaders of Israel, twelve men, each representing his father’s house.
45 So all those numbered of the Israelites, by their fathers’ houses, from twenty years old and upward, able to go to war in Israel,
46 All who were numbered were 603,550.
47 But the Levites by their fathers’ tribe were not numbered with them.
48 For the Lord had said to Moses,
49 Only the tribe of Levi you shall not number in the census of the Israelites.
50 But appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of the Testimony, and over all its vessels and furnishings and all things that belong to it. They shall carry the tabernacle [when journeying] and all its furnishings, and they shall minister to it and encamp around it.
51 When the tabernacle is to go forward, the Levites shall take it down, and when the tabernacle is to be pitched, the Levites shall set it up. And the excluded [any not of the tribe of Levi] who approach the tabernacle shall be put to death.
52 The Israelites shall pitch their tents by their companies, every man by his own camp and every man by his own [tribal] standard.
53 But the Levites shall encamp around the tabernacle of the Testimony, that there may be no wrath upon the congregation of the Israelites; and the Levites shall keep charge of the tabernacle of the Testimony.
54 Thus did the Israelites; according to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so they did.


CHAPTER 2

THE LORD said to Moses and Aaron,
2 The Israelites shall encamp, each by his own [tribal] standard or banner with the ensign of his father’s house, opposite the Tent of Meeting and facing it on every side.
3 On the east side toward the sunrise shall they of the standard of the camp of Judah encamp by their companies; Nahshon son of Amminadab being the leader of the sons of Judah.
4 Judah’s host as numbered totaled 74,600.
5 Next to Judah the tribe of Issachar shall encamp, Nethanel son of Zuar being the leader of the sons of Issachar.
6 Issachar’s host as numbered totaled 54,400.
7 Then the tribe of Zebulun, Eliab son of Helon being the leader of the sons of Zebulun.
8 Zebulun’s host as numbered totaled 57,400.
9 All these [three tribes] numbered in the camp of Judah totaled 186,400. They shall set forth first [on the march].
10 On the south side shall be the standard of the camp of Reuben by their companies, the leader of the sons of Reuben being Elizur son of Shedeur.
11 Reuben’s host as numbered totaled 46,500.
12 Those who encamp next to Reuben shall be the tribe of Simeon, the leader of the sons of Simeon being Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai.
13 Simeon’s host as numbered totaled 59,300.
14 Then the tribe of Gad, the leader of the sons of Gad being Eliasaph son of Reuel (Deuel).
15 Gad’s host as numbered totaled 45,650.
16 The whole number in [the three tribes of] the camp of Reuben was 151,450. They shall take second place [on the march].
17 Then the Tent of Meeting shall set out, with the camp of the Levites in the midst of the camps; as they encamp so shall they set forward, every man in his place, standard after standard.
18 On the west side shall be the standard of the camp of Ephraim by their companies, the leader of the sons of Ephraim being Elishama son of Ammihud.
19 Ephraim’s host as numbered totaled 40,500.
20 Beside Ephraim shall be the tribe of Manasseh, the leader of the sons of Manasseh being Gamaliel son of Pedahzur.
21 Manasseh’s host as numbered totaled 32,200.
22 Then the tribe of Benjamin, the leader of the sons of Benjamin being Abidan son of Gideoni.
23 Benjamin’s host as numbered totaled 35,400.
24 The whole number [of the three tribes] in the camp of Ephraim totaled 108,100. They shall go forward in third place.
25 The standard of the camp of Dan shall be on the north side [of the tabernacle] by their companies, the leader of the sons of Dan being Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai.
26 Dan’s host as numbered totaled 62,700.
27 Encamped next to Dan shall be the tribe of Asher, the leader of the sons of Asher being Pagiel son of Ochran.
28 Asher’s host as numbered totaled 41,500.
29 Then the tribe of Naphtali, the leader of the sons of Naphtali being Ahira son of Enan.
30 Naphtali’s host as numbered totaled 53,400.
31 The whole number [of the three tribes] in the camp of Dan totaled 157,600. They shall set out last, standard after standard.
32 These are the Israelites as numbered by their fathers’ houses. All in the camps who were numbered by their companies were 603,550.
33 But the Levites were not numbered with the Israelites, for so the Lord commanded Moses.
34 Thus the Israelites did according to all the Lord commanded Moses; so they encamped by their standards, and so they set forward, everyone with his [tribal] families, according to his father’s house.
 

Read Through the Bible in a Year / February Index

February 27 / Numbers 3–4


CHAPTER 3


NOW THESE are the generations of Aaron and Moses when the Lord spoke with Moses on Mount Sinai.
2 These are the names of the sons of Aaron: Nadab the firstborn, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.
3 These are the names of the sons of Aaron, the priests who were anointed, whom Aaron consecrated and ordained to minister in the priest’s office.
4 But Nadab and Abihu died before the Lord when they offered strange fire before the Lord in the Wilderness of Sinai; and they had no children. So Eleazar and Ithamar ministered in the priest’s office in the presence and under the supervision of Aaron their father. [Lev. 10:1-4.]
5 And the Lord said to Moses,
6 Bring the tribe of Levi near and set them before Aaron the priest, that they may minister to him.
7 And they shall carry out his instructions and the duties connected with the whole assembly before the Tent of Meeting, doing the service of the tabernacle.
8 And they shall keep all the instruments and furnishings of the Tent of Meeting and take charge of [attending] the Israelites, to serve in the tabernacle.
9 And you shall give the Levites [as servants and helpers] to Aaron and his sons; they are wholly given to him from among the Israelites.
10 And you shall appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall observe and attend to their priest’s office; but the excluded [anyone daring to assume priestly duties or privileges who is not of the house of Aaron and called of God] who comes near [the holy things] shall be put to death.
11 And the Lord said to Moses,
12 Behold, I have taken the Levites from among the Israelites instead of every firstborn who opens the womb among the Israelites; and the Levites shall be Mine,
13 For all the firstborn are Mine. On the day that I slew all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I consecrated for Myself all the firstborn in Israel, both man and beast; Mine they shall be. I am the Lord.
14 And the Lord said to Moses in the Wilderness of Sinai,
15 Number the sons of Levi by their fathers’ houses and by families. Every male from a month old and upward you shall number.
16 So Moses numbered them as he was commanded by the word of the Lord.
17 These were the sons of Levi by their names: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.
18 And these are the names of the sons of Gershon by their families: Libni and Shimei.
19 The sons of Kohath by their families: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel.
20 The sons of Merari by their families: Mahli and Mushi. These are the families of the Levites by their fathers’ houses.
21 Of Gershon were the families of the Libnites and of the Shimeites. These are the families of the Gershonites.
22 The males who were numbered of them from a month old and upward totaled 7,500.
23 The families of the Gershonites were to encamp behind the tabernacle on the west,
24 The leader of the fathers’ houses of the Gershonites being Eliasaph son of Lael.
25 And the responsibility of the sons of Gershon in the Tent of Meeting was to be the tabernacle, the tent, its covering, and the hangings for the door of the Tent of Meeting,
26 And the hangings of the court, the curtain for the door of the court which is around the tabernacle and the altar, its cords, and all the service pertaining to them.
27 Of Kohath were the families of the Amramites, the Izharites, the Hebronites, and the Uzzielites; these are the families of the Kohathites.
28 The number of all the males from a month old and upward totaled 8,600, attending to the duties of the sanctuary.
29 The families of the sons of Kohath were to encamp on the south side of the tabernacle,
30 The chief of the fathers’ houses of the families of the Kohathites being Elizaphan son of Uzziel.
31 Their charge was to be the ark, the table, the lampstand, the altars, and the utensils of the sanctuary with which the priests minister, and the screen, and all the service having to do with these.
32 Eleazar son of Aaron the priest was to be chief over the leaders of the Levites, and have the oversight of those who had charge of the sanctuary.
33 Of Merari were the families of the Mahlites and the Mushites; these are the families of Merari.
34 Their number of all the males from a month old and upward totaled 6,200.
35 And the head of the fathers’ houses of the families of Merari was Zuriel son of Abihail; the Merarites were to encamp on the north side of the tabernacle.
36 And the appointed charge of the sons of Merari was the boards or frames of the tabernacle, and its bars, pillars, sockets or bases, and all the accessories or instruments of it, and all the work connected with them,
37 And the pillars of the surrounding court and their sockets or bases, with their pegs and their cords.
38 But those to encamp before the tabernacle toward the east, before the Tent of Meeting, toward the sunrise, were to be Moses and Aaron and his sons, keeping the full charge of the rites of the sanctuary in whatever was required for the Israelites; and the excluded [one not a descendant of Aaron and called of God] who came near [the sanctuary] was to be put to death.
39 All the Levites whom Moses and Aaron numbered at the command of the Lord, by their families, all the males from a month old and upward, were 22,000.
40 And the Lord said to Moses, Number all the firstborn of the males of the Israelites from a month old and upward, and take the number of their names.
41 You shall take the Levites for Me instead of all the firstborn among the Israelites. I am the Lord; and you shall take the cattle of the Levites for Me instead of all the firstlings among the cattle of the Israelites.
42 So Moses numbered, as the Lord commanded him, all the firstborn Israelites.
43 But all the firstborn males from a month old and upward as numbered were 22,273 [273 more than the Levites].
44 And the Lord said to Moses,
45 Take the Levites [for Me] instead of all the firstborn Israelites, and the Levites’ cattle instead of their cattle; and the Levites shall be Mine. I am the Lord.
46 And for those 273 who are to be redeemed of the firstborn of the Israelites who outnumber the Levites,
47 You shall take five shekels apiece, reckoning by the sanctuary shekel of twenty gerahs; you shall collect them,
48 And you shall give the ransom silver from the excess number [over the Levites] to be redeemed to Aaron and his sons.
49 So Moses took the redemption money from those who were left over from the number who were redeemed by the Levites.
50 From the firstborn of the Israelites he took the money, 1,365 shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary.
51 And Moses gave the money from those who were ransomed to Aaron and his sons, as the Lord commanded Moses.


CHAPTER 4

AND THE Lord said to Moses and Aaron,
2 Take a census of the Kohathite division among the sons of Levi, by their families, by their fathers’ houses,
3 From thirty years old and up to fifty years old, all who can enter the service to do the work in the Tent of Meeting.
4 This shall be the responsibility of the sons of Kohath in the Tent of Meeting: the most holy things.
5 When the camp prepares to set forward, Aaron and his sons shall take down the veil [screening the Holy of Holies] and cover the ark of the Testimony with it,
6 And shall put on it the covering of dolphin or porpoise skin, and shall spread over that a cloth wholly of blue, and shall put in place the poles of the ark.
7 And upon the table of showbread they shall spread a cloth of blue and put on it the plates, the dishes for incense, the bowls, the flagons for the drink offering, and also the continual showbread.
8 And they shall spread over them a cloth of scarlet, and put over that a covering of dolphin or porpoise skin, and put in place the poles [for carrying].
9 And they shall take a cloth of blue and cover the lampstand for the light and its lamps, its snuffers, its ashtrays, and all the oil vessels from which it is supplied.
10 And they shall put the lampstand and all its utensils within a covering of dolphin or porpoise skin and shall put it upon the frame [for carrying].
11 And upon the golden [incense] altar they shall spread a cloth of blue, and cover it with a covering of dolphin or porpoise skin, and shall put in place its poles [for carrying].
12 And they shall take all the utensils of the service with which they minister in the sanctuary, and put them in a cloth of blue, and cover them with a covering of dolphin or porpoise skin, and shall put them on the frame [for carrying].
13 And they shall take away the ashes from the altar [of burnt offering] and spread a purple cloth over it.
14 And they shall put upon it all its vessels and utensils with which they minister there, the firepans, the fleshhooks or forks, the shovels, the basins, and all the vessels and utensils of the altar, and they shall spread over it all a covering of dolphin or porpoise skin, and shall put in its poles [for carrying].
15 When Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary and all its furniture, as the camp sets out, after all that [is done but not before], the sons of Kohath shall come to carry them. But they shall not touch the holy things, lest they die. These are the things of the Tent of Meeting which the sons of Kohath are to carry.
16 And Eleazar son of Aaron the priest shall have charge of the oil for the light, the fragrant incense, the continual cereal offering, and the anointing oil, with the oversight of all the tabernacle and of all that is in it, of the sanctuary and its utensils.
17 And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron,
18 [Since] the tribe of the families of the Kohathites [are only Levites and not priests], do not [by exposing them to the sin of touching the most holy things] cut them off from among the Levites.
19 But deal thus with them, that they may live and not die when they approach the most holy things: Aaron and his sons shall go in and appoint them each to his work and to his burden [to be carried on the march].
20 But [the Kohathites] shall not go in to see the sanctuary [the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies] or its holy things, even for an instant, lest they die.
21 And the Lord said to Moses,
22 Take a census of the sons of Gershon, by their fathers’ houses, by their families.
23 From thirty years old and up to fifty years old you shall number them, all who enter for service to do the work in the Tent of Meeting.
24 This is the service of the families of the Gershonites, in serving and in bearing burdens [when on the march]:
25 And they shall carry the curtains of the tabernacle, and the Tent of Meeting, its covering, and the covering of dolphin or porpoise skin that is on top of it, and the hanging or screen for the door of the Tent of Meeting,
26 And the hangings of the court, and the hanging or screen for the entrance of the gate of the court which is around the tabernacle and the altar [of burnt offering], and their cords, and all the equipment for their service; whatever needs to be done with them, that they shall do.
27 Under the direction of Aaron and his sons shall be all the service of the sons of the Gershonites, in all they have to carry and in all they have to do; and you shall assign to their charge all that they are to carry [on the march].
28 This is the service of the families of the sons of Gershon in the Tent of Meeting; and their work shall be under the direction of Ithamar son of Aaron, the [high] priest.
29 As for the sons of Merari, you shall number them by their families and their fathers’ houses;
30 From thirty years old up to fifty years old you shall number them, everyone who enters the service to do the work of the Tent of Meeting.
31 And this is what they are assigned to carry and to guard [on the march], according to all their service in the Tent of Meeting: the boards or frames of the tabernacle, and its bars, and its pillars, and its sockets or bases,
32 And the pillars of the court round about with their sockets or bases, and pegs, and cords, with all their equipment and all their accessories for service; and you shall assign to them by name the articles which they are to carry [on the march].
33 This is the work of the families of the sons of Merari, according to all their tasks in the Tent of Meeting, under the direction of Ithamar son of Aaron, the [high] priest.
34 And Moses and Aaron and the leaders of the congregation numbered the sons of the Kohathites by their families and their fathers’ houses,
35 From thirty years old up to fifty years old, everyone who enters the service to do the work of the Tent of Meeting;
36 And those who were numbered of them by their families were 2,750.
37 These were numbered of the families of the Kohathites, all who did service in the Tent of Meeting, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the command of the Lord through Moses.
38 And those that were numbered of the sons of Gershon, by their families, and by their fathers’ houses,
39 From thirty years old up to fifty years old, everyone who entered the service to do the work of the Tent of Meeting,
40 Those who were enrolled of them, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, were 2,630.
41 These were numbered of the families of the sons of Gershon, all who served in the Tent of Meeting, whom Moses and Aaron numbered as the Lord commanded.
42 And those numbered of the families of the sons of Merari, by their families, by their fathers’ houses,
43 From thirty years old up to fifty years old, everyone who entered into the service for work in the Tent of Meeting,
44 Even those who were numbered of them by their families, were 3,200.
45 These are those who were numbered of the families of the sons of Merari, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the command of the Lord by Moses.
46 All those who were numbered of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron and the leaders of Israel counted by their families and by their fathers’ houses,
47 From thirty years old up to fifty years old, everyone who could enter to do the work of service and of burden bearing in the Tent of Meeting,
48 Those that were numbered of them were 8,580.
49 According to the command of the Lord through Moses, they were assigned each to his work of serving and carrying. Thus they were numbered by him, as the Lord had commanded Moses.
 

Read Through the Bible in a Year / February Index

February 28 / Numbers 5–6

CHAPTER 5


THE LORD said to Moses,
2 Command the Israelites that they put outside the camp every leper and everyone who has a discharge, and whoever is defiled by [coming in contact with] the dead.
3 Both male and female you shall put out; without the camp you shall put them, that they may not defile their camp, in the midst of which I dwell.
4 The Israelites did so, and put them outside the camp; as the Lord said to Moses, so the Israelites did.
5 And the Lord said to Moses,
6 Say to the Israelites, When a man or woman commits any sin that men commit by breaking faith with the Lord, and that person is guilty,
7 Then he shall confess the sin which he has committed, and he shall make restitution for his wrong in full, and add a fifth to it, and give it to him whom he has wronged.
8 But if the man [wronged] has no kinsman to whom the restitution may be made, let it be given to the Lord for the priest, besides the ram of atonement with which atonement shall be made for the offender.
9 And every offering of all the holy things of the Israelites which they bring to the priest shall be his.
10 And every man’s hallowed things shall be the priest’s; whatever any man gives the priest shall be his.
11 And the Lord said to Moses,
12 Say to the Israelites, If any man’s wife goes astray and commits an offense of guilt against him,
13 And a man lies with her carnally, and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband and it is kept secret though she is defiled, and there is no witness against her nor was she taken in the act,
14 And if the spirit of jealousy comes upon him and he is jealous and suspicious of his wife who has defiled herself—or if the spirit of jealousy comes upon him and he is jealous and suspicious of his wife though she has not defiled herself—
15 Then shall the man bring his wife to the priest, and he shall bring the offering required of her, a tenth of an ephah of barley meal; but he shall pour no oil upon it nor put frankincense on it [symbols of favor and joy], for it is a cereal offering of jealousy and suspicion, a memorial offering bringing iniquity to remembrance.
16 And the priest shall bring her near and set her before the Lord.
17 And the priest shall take holy water [probably from the sacred laver] in an earthen vessel and take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle and put it in the water.
18 And the priest shall set the woman before the Lord, and let the hair of the woman’s head hang loose, and put the meal offering of remembrance in her hands, which is the jealousy and suspicion offering. And the priest shall have in his hand the water of bitterness that brings the curse.
19 Then the priest shall make her take an oath, and say to the woman, If no man has lain with you and if you have not gone astray to uncleanness with another instead of your husband, then be free from any effect of this water of bitterness which brings the curse.
20 But if you have gone astray and you are defiled, some man having lain with you beside your husband,
21 Then the priest shall make the woman take the oath of the curse, and say to the woman, The Lord make you a curse and an oath among your people when the Lord makes your thigh fall away and your body swell.
22 May this water that brings the curse go into your bowels and make your body swell and your thigh fall away. And the woman shall say, So let it be, so let it be.
23 The priest shall then write these curses in a book and shall wash them off into the water of bitterness;
24 And he shall cause the woman to drink the water of bitterness that brings the curse, and the water that brings the curse shall enter into her [to try her] bitterly.
25 Then the priest shall take the cereal offering of jealousy and suspicion out of the woman’s hand and shall wave the offering before the Lord and offer it upon the altar.
26 And the priest shall take a handful of the cereal offering as the memorial portion of it and burn it on the altar, and afterward shall cause the woman to drink the water.
27 And when he has made her drink the water, then if she is defiled and has committed a trespass against her husband, the curse water which she drank shall be bitterness and cause her body to swell and her thigh to fall away, and the woman shall be a curse among her people.
28 But if the woman is not defiled and is clean, then she shall be free [from the curse] and be able to have children.
29 This is the law of jealousy and suspicion when a wife goes aside to another instead of her husband and is defiled,
30 Or when the spirit of jealousy and suspicion comes upon a man and he is jealous and suspicious of his wife; then shall he set the woman before the Lord, and the priest shall execute on her all this law.
31 The [husband] shall be free from iniquity and guilt, and that woman [if guilty] shall bear her iniquity.


CHAPTER 6

AND THE Lord said to Moses,
2 Say to the Israelites, When either a man or a woman shall make a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, that is, one separated and consecrated to the Lord,
3 He shall separate himself from wine and strong drink; he shall drink no vinegar of wine or of strong drink, and shall drink no grape juice, or eat grapes, fresh or dried. [Luke 1:15.]
4 All the days of his separation he shall eat nothing produced from the grapevine, not even the seeds or the skins.
5 All the days of the vow of his separation and abstinence there shall no razor come upon his head. Until the time is completed for which he separates himself to the Lord, he shall be holy, and shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow long.
6 All the days that he separates himself to the Lord he shall not go near a dead body.
7 He shall not make himself unclean for his father, mother, brother, or sister, when they die, because his separation and abstinence to his God is upon his head.
8 All the days of his separation and abstinence he is holy to the Lord.
9 And if any man dies very suddenly beside him, and he has defiled his consecrated head, then he shall shave his head on the day of his cleansing; on the seventh day shall he shave it.
10 On the eighth day he shall bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons to the priest to the door of the Tent of Meeting,
11 And the priest shall offer the one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering and make atonement for him because he sinned by reason of the dead body. He shall consecrate his head the same day,
12 And he shall consecrate and separate himself to the Lord for the days of his separation and shall bring a male lamb a year old for a trespass or guilt offering; but the previous days shall be void and lost, because his separation was defiled.
13 And this is the law of the Nazirite when the days of his separation and abstinence are fulfilled. He shall be brought to the door of the Tent of Meeting,
14 And he shall offer his gift to the Lord, one he-lamb a year old without blemish for a burnt offering, and one ewe lamb a year old without blemish for a sin offering, and one ram without blemish for a peace offering,
15 And a basket of unleavened bread, cakes of fine flour mingled with oil, and wafers of unleavened bread spread with oil, and their cereal offering, and their drink offering.
16 And the priest shall present them before the Lord and shall offer the person’s sin offering and his burnt offering.
17 And he shall offer the ram for a sacrifice of peace offering to the Lord, with the basket of unleavened bread; the priest shall offer also its cereal offering and its drink offering.
18 And the Nazirite shall shave his consecrated head at the door of the Tent of Meeting, and shall take the hair and put it on the fire which is under the sacrifice of the peace offerings.
19 And the priest shall take the boiled shoulder of the ram, and one unleavened cake out of the basket, and one unleavened wafer and shall put them upon the hands of the Nazirite, after he has shaven the hair of his separation and abstinence.
20 And the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before the Lord; they are a holy portion for the priest, with the breast that is waved and the thigh or shoulder that is offered; and after that the Nazirite may drink wine.
21 This is the law for the Nazirite who has made a vow. His offering to the Lord, besides what else he is able to afford, shall be according to the vow which he has vowed; so shall he do according to the law for his separation and abstinence [as a Nazirite]. [Acts 21:24, 26.]
22 And the Lord said to Moses,
23 Say to Aaron and his sons, This is the way you shall bless the Israelites. Say to them,
24 The Lord bless you and watch, guard, and keep you;
25 The Lord make His face to shine upon and enlighten you and be gracious (kind, merciful, and giving favor) to you;
26 The Lord lift up His [approving] countenance upon you and give you peace (tranquility of heart and life continually).
27 And they shall put My name upon the Israelites, and I will bless them.
 
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