The Living Bible (35 page)

Leviticus
5

“Anyone refusing to give testimony concerning what he knows about a crime is guilty.

    
²
 “Anyone touching anything ceremonially unclean—such as the dead body of an animal forbidden for food, wild or domesticated, or the dead body of some forbidden insect—is guilty, even though he wasn’t aware of touching it.
³
 Or if he touches human discharge of any kind, he becomes guilty as soon as he realizes that he has touched it.

    
⁴
 “If anyone makes a rash vow, whether the vow is good or bad, when he realizes what a foolish vow he has taken, he is guilty.

    
⁵
 “In any of these cases, he shall confess his sin
⁶
 and bring his guilt offering to the Lord, a female lamb or goat, and the priest shall make atonement for him, and he shall be freed from his sin, and need not fulfill the vow.
*

    
⁷
 “If he is too poor to bring a lamb to the Lord, then he shall bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons as his guilt offering; one of the birds shall be his sin offering and the other his burnt offering.
⁸
 The priest shall offer as the sin sacrifice whichever bird is handed to him first, breaking its neck, but not severing its head from its body.
⁹
 Then he shall sprinkle some of the blood at the side of the altar and the rest shall be drained out at the base of the altar; this is the sin offering.
¹⁰
 He shall offer the second bird as a burnt offering, following the customary procedures that have been set forth; so the priest shall make atonement for him concerning his sin, and he shall be forgiven.

    
¹¹
 “If he is too poor to bring turtledoves or young pigeons as his sin offering, then he shall bring a tenth of a bushel of fine flour. He must not mix it with olive oil or put any incense on it because it is a sin offering.
¹²
 He shall bring it to the priest, and the priest shall take out a handful as a representative portion and burn it on the altar just as any other offering to Jehovah made by fire; this shall be his sin offering.
¹³
 In this way the priest shall make atonement for him for any sin of this kind, and he shall be forgiven. The rest of the flour shall belong to the priest, just as was the case with the grain offering.”

    
¹⁴
 And the Lord said to Moses,
¹⁵
 “If anyone sins by unintentionally defiling what is holy, then he shall bring a ram without defect, worth whatever fine
*
you charge against him, as his guilt offering to the Lord.
¹⁶
 And he shall make restitution for the holy thing he has defiled, or the tithe omitted,
*
by paying for the loss, plus a 20 percent penalty; he shall bring it to the priest, and the priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering, and he shall be forgiven.

    
^17-18
 “Anyone who disobeys some law of God without realizing it is guilty anyway, and must bring his sacrifice of a value determined by Moses. This sacrifice shall be a ram without blemish taken to the priest as a guilt offering; with it the priest shall make atonement for him, so that he will be forgiven for whatever it is he has done without realizing it.
¹⁹
 It must be offered as a guilt offering, for he is certainly guilty before the Lord.”

Leviticus
6

And the Lord said to Moses,
²
 “If anyone sins against me by refusing to return a deposit on something borrowed or rented, or by refusing to return something entrusted to him, or by robbery, or by oppressing his neighbor,
³
 or by finding a lost article and lying about it, swearing that he doesn’t have it—
^4-5
 on the day he is found guilty of any such sin, he shall restore what he took, adding a 20 percent fine, and give it to the one he has harmed; and on the same day he shall bring his guilt offering to the Tabernacle.
⁶
 His guilt offering shall be a ram without defect, and must be worth whatever value you demand. He shall bring it to the priest,
⁷
 and the priest shall make atonement for him before the Lord, and he shall be forgiven.”

    
⁸
 Then the Lord said to Moses,
⁹
 
“Give Aaron and his sons these regulations concerning the burnt offering:

    
“The burnt offering shall be left upon the hearth of the altar all night, with the altar fire kept burning.
¹⁰
 The next morning the priest shall put on his linen undergarments and his linen outer garments, and clean out the ashes of the burnt offering, and put them beside the altar.
¹¹
 Then he shall change his clothes and carry the ashes outside the camp to a place that is ceremonially clean.
¹²
 Meanwhile, the fire on the altar must be kept burning—it must not go out. The priest shall put on fresh wood each morning, and lay the daily burnt offering on it, and burn the fat of the daily peace offering.
¹³
 The fire must be kept burning upon the altar continually. It must never go out.

    
¹⁴
 
“These are the regulations concerning the grain offering:

    
“Aaron’s sons shall stand in front of the altar to offer it before the Lord.
¹⁵
 The priest shall then take out a handful of the finely ground flour, with the olive oil and the incense mixed into it, and burn it upon the altar as a representative portion for the Lord; and it will be received with pleasure by the Lord.
¹⁶
 After taking out this handful, the remainder of the flour will belong to Aaron and his sons for their food; it shall be eaten without yeast in the courtyard of the Tabernacle.
¹⁷
 (Stress this instruction, that if it is baked, it must be without yeast.) I have given to the priests this part of the burnt offerings made to me. However, all of it is most holy, just as is the entire sin offering and the entire guilt offering.
¹⁸
 It may be eaten by any male descendant of Aaron, any priest, generation after generation. But only the priests
*
may eat these offerings made by fire to the Lord.”

    
^19-20
 And Jehovah said to Moses, “On the day Aaron and his sons are anointed and inducted into the priesthood, they shall bring to the Lord a regular grain offering—a tenth of a bushel of fine flour, half to be offered in the morning and half in the evening.
²¹
 It shall be cooked on a griddle, using olive oil, and should be well cooked, then brought to the Lord as an offering that pleases him very much.
^22-23
 As the sons of the priests replace their fathers, they shall be inducted into office by offering this same sacrifice on the day of their anointing. This is a perpetual law. These offerings shall be entirely burned up before the Lord; none of it shall be eaten.”

    
²⁴
 Then the Lord said to Moses,
²⁵
 
“Tell Aaron and his sons that these are the instructions concerning the sin offering:

    
“This sacrifice is most holy, and shall be killed before the Lord at the place where the burnt offerings are killed.
²⁶
 The priest who performs the ceremony shall eat it in the courtyard of the Tabernacle.
²⁷
 Only those who are sanctified—the priests—may touch this meat; if any blood sprinkles onto their clothing, it must be washed in a holy place.
²⁸
 Then the clay pot in which the clothing is boiled shall be broken; or if a bronze kettle is used, it must be scoured and rinsed out thoroughly.
²⁹
 Every male among the priests may eat this offering, but only they, for it is most holy.
³⁰
 No sin offering may be eaten by the priests if any of its blood is taken into the Tabernacle to make atonement in the Holy Place. That carcass must be entirely burned with fire before the Lord.

Leviticus
7

“Here are the instructions concerning the most holy offering for guilt:

    
²
 “The sacrificial animal shall be killed at the place where the burnt offering sacrifices are slain, and its blood shall be sprinkled back and forth upon the altar.
³
 The priest will offer upon the altar all its fat, including the tail, the fat that covers the insides,
⁴
 the two kidneys and the loin fat, and the gall bladder—all shall be set aside for sacrificing.
⁵
 The priests will burn them upon the altar as a guilt offering to the Lord.
⁶
 Only males among the priests may then eat the carcass, and it must be eaten in a holy place, for this is a most holy sacrifice.

    
⁷
 “The same instructions apply to both the sin offering and the guilt offering—the carcass shall be given to the priest who is in charge of the atonement ceremony, for his food.
⁸
 (When the offering is a burnt sacrifice, the priest who is in charge shall also be given the animal’s hide.)
⁹
 The priests who present the people’s grain offerings to the Lord shall be given whatever remains of the sacrifice after the ceremony is completed. This rule applies whether the sacrifice is baked, fried, or grilled.
¹⁰
 All other grain offerings, whether mixed with olive oil or dry, are the common property of all sons of Aaron.

    
¹¹
 
“Here are the instructions concerning the sacrifices given to the Lord as special peace offerings:

    
¹²
 “If it is an offering of thanksgiving, unleavened short bread
*
shall be included with the sacrifice, along with unleavened wafers spread with olive oil and loaves from a batter of flour mixed with olive oil.
¹³
 This thanksgiving peace offering shall be accompanied with loaves of leavened bread.
¹⁴
 Part of this sacrifice shall be presented to the Lord by a gesture of waving it before the altar, then it shall be given to the assisting priest, the one who sprinkles the blood of the animal presented for the sacrifice.
¹⁵
 After the animal has been sacrificed and presented to the Lord as a peace offering to show special appreciation and thanksgiving to him, its meat is to be eaten that same day, and none left to be eaten the next day.

    
¹⁶
 “However, if someone brings a sacrifice that is not for thanksgiving, but is because of a vow or is simply a voluntary offering to the Lord, any portion of the sacrifice that is not eaten the day it is sacrificed may be eaten the next day.
^17-18
 But anything left over until the third day shall be burned. For if any of it is eaten on the third day, the Lord will not accept it; it will have no value as a sacrifice, and there will be no credit to the one who brought it to be offered; and the priest who eats it shall be guilty, for it is detestable to the Lord, and the person who eats it must answer for his sin.

    
¹⁹
 “Any meat that comes into contact with anything that is ceremonially unclean shall not be eaten, but burned; and as for the meat that may be eaten, it may be eaten only by a person who is ceremonially clean.
²⁰
 Any priest who is ceremonially unclean but eats the thanksgiving offering anyway, shall be cut off from his people, for he has defiled what is sacred.
*
²¹
 Anyone who touches anything that is ceremonially unclean, whether it is uncleanness from man or beast, and then eats the peace offering, shall be cut off from his people, for he has defiled what is holy.”

    
²²
 Then the Lord said to Moses,
²³
 “Tell the people of Israel never to eat fat, whether from oxen, sheep, or goats.
²⁴
 The fat of an animal that dies of disease, or is attacked and killed by wild animals, may be used for other purposes, but never eaten.
²⁵
 Anyone who eats fat from an offering sacrificed by fire to the Lord shall be outlawed from his people.

    
^26-27
 “Never eat blood, whether of birds or animals. Anyone who does shall be excommunicated from his people.”

    
²⁸
 And the Lord said to Moses,
²⁹
 “Tell the people of Israel that anyone bringing a thanksgiving offering to the Lord must bring it personally with his own hands.
³⁰
 He shall bring the offering of the fat and breast, which is to be presented to the Lord by waving it before the altar.
³¹
 Then the priest shall burn the fat upon the altar, but the breast shall belong to Aaron and his sons,
^32-33
 while the right thigh shall be given to the officiating priest.
³⁴
 For I have designated the breast and thigh as donations from the people of Israel to the sons of Aaron. Aaron and his sons must always be given this portion of the sacrifice.
³⁵
 This is their pay! It is to be set apart from the burnt offerings, and given to all who have been appointed to minister to the Lord as priests—to Aaron and to his sons.
³⁶
 For on the day the Lord anointed them, he commanded that the people of Israel give these portions to them; it is their right forever throughout all their generations.”

    
³⁷
 These were the instructions concerning the burnt offering, grain offering, sin offering, and guilt offering, and concerning the consecration offering and the peace offering;
³⁸
 these instructions were given to Moses by the Lord on Mount Sinai, to be passed on to the people of Israel so that they would know how to offer their sacrifices to God in the Sinai Desert.