¹And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²“Speak to Aaron and his sons so that they zabstain from the holy things of the people of Israel, which they adedicate to me, so that they do not bprofane my holy name: I am the Lord. ³Say to them, ‘If any one of all your offspring throughout your generations approaches the holy things that the people of Israel dedicate to the Lord, while che has an uncleanness, that person shall be cut off from my presence: I am the Lord. ⁴None of the offspring of Aaron who has a leprous disease or a ddischarge may eat of the holy things euntil he is clean. fWhoever touches anything that is unclean through contact with the dead or ga man who has had an emission of semen, ⁵and hwhoever touches a swarming thing by which he may be made unclean or ia person from whom he may take uncleanness, whatever his uncleanness may be— ⁶the person who touches such a thing shall be unclean until the evening and shall not eat of the holy things unless he has jbathed his body in water. ⁷When the sun goes down he shall be clean, and afterward he may eat of the holy things, because kthey are his food. ⁸lHe shall not eat what dies of itself or is torn by beasts, and so make himself unclean by it: I am the Lord.’ ⁹They shall therefore keep my charge, mlest they bear sin for it and die thereby when they profane it: nI am the Lord who sanctifies them.

¹⁰o“A lay person shall not eat of a holy thing; no foreign guest of the priest or hired worker shall eat of a holy thing, ¹¹but if a priest buys a slave1 as his property for money, the slave2 may eat of it, and panyone born in his house may eat of his food. ¹²If a priest's daughter marries a layman, she shall not eat of the contribution of the holy things. ¹³But if a priest's daughter is widowed or divorced and has no child and qreturns to her father's house, ras in her youth, she may eat of her father's food; yet no lay person shall eat of it. ¹⁴sAnd if anyone eats of a holy thing unintentionally, he shall add tthe fifth of its value to it and give the holy thing to the priest. ¹⁵They ushall not profane the holy things of the people of Israel, which they contribute to the Lord, ¹⁶and so cause them mto bear iniquity and guilt, by eating their holy things: nfor I am the Lord who sanctifies them.”

Acceptable Offerings

¹⁷And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁸“Speak to Aaron and his sons and all the people of Israel and say to them, vWhen any one of the house of Israel or of the sojourners in Israel presents a burnt offering as his offering, for any of their vows or freewill offerings that they offer to the Lord, ¹⁹if it is to be accepted for you it shall be a wmale without blemish, of the bulls or the sheep or the goats. ²⁰xYou shall not offer anything that has a blemish, for it will not be acceptable for you. ²¹And when anyone yoffers a sacrifice of peace offerings to the Lord zto fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering from the herd or from the flock, to be accepted it must be perfect; there shall be no blemish in it. ²²Animals ablind or disabled or mutilated or having a discharge or ban itch or scabs you shall not offer to the Lord or give them to the Lord as a food coffering on the altar. ²³You may present a bull or a lamb that has a part dtoo long or too short for a freewill offering, but for a vow offering it cannot be accepted. ²⁴Any animal that has its testicles bruised or crushed or torn or cut you shall not offer to the Lord; you shall not do it within your land, ²⁵neither shall you offer as ethe bread of your God any such animals gotten from a foreigner. Since there is a fblemish in them, because of their mutilation, they will not be accepted for you.”

²⁶And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁷g“When an ox or sheep or goat is born, it shall remain seven days with its mother, and from the eighth day on it shall be acceptable as a food offering to the Lord. ²⁸But you shall not kill an ox or a sheep hand her young in one day. ²⁹And when you sacrifice a isacrifice of thanksgiving to the Lord, you shall sacrifice it so that you may be accepted. ³⁰It shall be eaten on the same day; jyou shall leave none of it until morning: I am the Lord.

³¹k“So you shall keep my commandments and do them: I am the Lord. ³²lAnd you shall not profane my holy name, that mI may be sanctified among the people of Israel. nI am the Lord who sanctifies you, ³³who brought you out of the land of Egypt oto be your God: I am the Lord.”

Psalm 28

The Lord Is My Strength and My Shield

Of David.

¹To you, O Lord, I call;

jmy rock, be not deaf to me,

lest, if you kbe silent to me,

I become like those who lgo down to the pit.

²mHear the voice of my pleas for mercy,

when I cry to you for help,

when I nlift up my hands

otoward your most holy sanctuary.1

³Do not pdrag me off with the wicked,

with the workers of evil,

qwho speak peace with their neighbors

while evil is in their hearts.

⁴rGive to them according to their work

and according to the evil of their deeds;

give to them according to the work of their hands;

srender them their due reward.

⁵Because they tdo not regard the works of the Lord

or the work of his hands,

he will tear them down and build them up no more.

⁶Blessed be the Lord!

For he has uheard the voice of my pleas for mercy.

⁷The Lord is my strength and vmy shield;

in him my heart wtrusts, and I am helped;

my heart exults,

and with my xsong I give thanks to him.

⁸The Lord is the strength of his people;2

he is ythe saving refuge of his anointed.

⁹Oh, save your people and bless zyour heritage!

aBe their shepherd and bcarry them forever.

Psalm 29

Ascribe to the Lord Glory

A Psalm of David.

¹Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings,1

cascribe to the Lord glory and strength.

²Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;

worship the Lord in dthe splendor of holiness.2

³The voice of the Lord is over ethe waters;

the God of glory fthunders,

the Lord, over many waters.

⁴The voice of the Lord is gpowerful;

the voice of the Lord is full of majesty.

⁵The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars;

the Lord breaks hthe cedars of Lebanon.

⁶He makes Lebanon to iskip like a calf,

and jSirion like a young kwild ox.

⁷The voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire.

⁸The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness;

the Lord shakes the wilderness of lKadesh.

⁹The voice of the Lord makes mthe deer give birth3

and strips the forests bare,

and in his temple all cry, “Glory!”

¹⁰The Lord sits enthroned over nthe flood;

the Lord sits enthroned oas king forever.

¹¹May the Lord give pstrength to his people!

May the Lord bless4 his people with qpeace!

Fear God

¹1 nGuard your steps when you go to othe house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to poffer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil. ²2 Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore qlet your words be few. ³For a dream comes with much business, and a fool's voice with rmany words.

⁴When syou vow a vow to God, tdo not delay paying it, for he has no pleasure in fools. uPay what you vow. ⁵vIt is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay. ⁶Let not your mouth lead you3 into sin, and do not say before wthe messenger4 that it was xa mistake. Why should God be angry at your voice and destroy the work of your hands? ⁷For when dreams increase and words grow many, there is vanity;5 but6 yGod is the one you must fear.

The Vanity of Wealth and Honor

⁸zIf you see in a province the oppression of the poor and the violation of justice and righteousness, ado not be amazed at the matter, bfor the high official is watched by a higher, and there are yet higher ones over them. ⁹But this is gain for a land in every way: a king committed to cultivated fields.7

¹⁰He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity. ¹¹When goods increase, they increase who eat them, and what advantage has their owner but to see them with his eyes? ¹²Sweet is the sleep of a laborer, whether he eats little or much, but the full stomach of the rich will not let him sleep.

¹³cThere is a grievous evil that I have seen under the sun: riches were kept by their owner to his hurt, ¹⁴and those riches were lost in a bad venture. And he is father of a son, but he has nothing in his hand. ¹⁵dAs he came from his mother's womb he shall go again, naked as he came, and shall take nothing for his toil that he may carry away in his hand. ¹⁶This also is a grievous evil: just as he came, so shall he go, and what egain is there to him who ftoils for the wind? ¹⁷Moreover, all his days he geats in darkness in much vexation and sickness and anger.

¹⁸Behold, what I have seen to be hgood and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment8 in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his ilot. ¹⁹Everyone also to whom jGod has given kwealth and possessions land power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil—this is mthe gift of God. ²⁰For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart.

Greeting

¹Paul, aan apostle of Christ Jesus bby the will of God according to cthe promise of the life that is in Christ Jesus,

²To Timothy, dmy beloved child:

eGrace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

Guard the Deposit Entrusted to You

³fI thank God gwhom I serve, as did my ancestors, hwith a clear conscience, as I remember you iconstantly in my prayers night and day. ⁴jAs I remember your tears, kI long to see you, that I may be filled with joy. ⁵I am reminded of lyour sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and myour mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well. ⁶For this reason I remind you nto fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, ⁷for God gave us oa spirit not of fear but pof power and love and self-control.

⁸Therefore qdo not be ashamed of rthe testimony about our Lord, nor of sme his prisoner, but tshare in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, ⁹uwho saved us and vcalled us to1 a holy calling, wnot because of our works but because of vhis own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus xbefore the ages began,2 ¹⁰and which now has ybeen manifested through zthe appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, awho abolished death and bbrought life and cimmortality to light through the gospel, ¹¹dfor which I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher, ¹²ewhich is why I suffer as I do. But fI am not ashamed, for gI know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until hthat day iwhat has been entrusted to me.3 ¹³jFollow kthe pattern of lthe sound4 words mthat you have heard from me, in nthe faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. ¹⁴By the Holy Spirit owho dwells within us, guard ithe good deposit entrusted to you.

¹⁵You are aware that pall who are in Asia turned away from me, among whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes. ¹⁶May the Lord grant mercy to qthe household of Onesiphorus, for he often rrefreshed me and was not ashamed of smy chains, ¹⁷but when he arrived in Rome the searched for me earnestly and found me— ¹⁸may the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on uthat day!—and you well know all the service he vrendered at Ephesus.