Leviticus 6:1-30
Then the Lord said to Moses,“ Suppose one of you sins against your associate and is unfaithful to the Lord. Suppose you cheat in a deal involving a security deposit, or you steal or commit fraud,or you find lost property and lie about it, or you lie while swearing to tell the truth, or you commit any other such sin.If you have sinned in any of these ways, you are guilty. You must give back whatever you stole, or the money you took by extortion, or the security deposit, or the lost property you found,or anything obtained by swearing falsely. You must make restitution by paying the full price plus an additional 20 percent to the person you have harmed. On the same day you must present a guilt offering.As a guilt offering to the Lord, you must bring to the priest your own ram with no defects, or you may buy one of equal value.Through this process, the priest will purify you before the Lord, making you right with him, and you will be forgiven for any of these sins you have committed.”Then the Lord said to Moses,“ Give Aaron and his sons the following instructions regarding the burnt offering. The burnt offering must be left on top of the altar until the next morning, and the fire on the altar must be kept burning all night.In the morning, after the priest on duty has put on his official linen clothing and linen undergarments, he must clean out the ashes of the burnt offering and put them beside the altar.Then he must take off these garments, change back into his regular clothes, and carry the ashes outside the camp to a place that is ceremonially clean.Meanwhile, the fire on the altar must be kept burning; it must never go out. Each morning the priest will add fresh wood to the fire and arrange the burnt offering on it. He will then burn the fat of the peace offerings on it.Remember, the fire must be kept burning on the altar at all times. It must never go out.“ These are the instructions regarding the grain offering. Aaron’s sons must present this offering to the Lord in front of the altar.The priest on duty will take from the grain offering a handful of the choice flour moistened with olive oil, together with all the frankincense. He will burn this representative portion on the altar as a pleasing aroma to the Lord.Aaron and his sons may eat the rest of the flour, but it must be baked without yeast and eaten in a sacred place within the courtyard of the Tabernacle.Remember, it must never be prepared with yeast. I have given it to the priests as their share of the special gifts presented to me. Like the sin offering and the guilt offering, it is most holy.Any of Aaron’s male descendants may eat from the special gifts presented to the Lord. This is their permanent right from generation to generation. Anyone or anything that touches these offerings will become holy.”Then the Lord said to Moses,“ On the day Aaron and his sons are anointed, they must present to the Lord the standard grain offering of two quarts of choice flour, half to be offered in the morning and half to be offered in the evening.It must be carefully mixed with olive oil and cooked on a griddle. Then slice this grain offering and present it as a pleasing aroma to the Lord.In each generation, the high priest who succeeds Aaron must prepare this same offering. It belongs to the Lord and must be burned up completely. This is a permanent law.All such grain offerings of a priest must be burned up entirely. None of it may be eaten.”Then the Lord said to Moses,“ Give Aaron and his sons the following instructions regarding the sin offering. The animal given as an offering for sin is a most holy offering, and it must be slaughtered in the Lord’s presence at the place where the burnt offerings are slaughtered.The priest who offers the sacrifice as a sin offering must eat his portion in a sacred place within the courtyard of the Tabernacle.Anyone or anything that touches the sacrificial meat will become holy. If any of the sacrificial blood spatters on a person’s clothing, the soiled garment must be washed in a sacred place.If a clay pot is used to boil the sacrificial meat, it must then be broken. If a bronze pot is used, it must be scoured and thoroughly rinsed with water.Any male from a priest’s family may eat from this offering; it is most holy.But the offering for sin may not be eaten if its blood was brought into the Tabernacle as an offering for purification in the Holy Place. It must be completely burned with fire.
Leviticus 26:1-46
“ Do not make idols or set up carved images, or sacred pillars, or sculptured stones in your land so you may worship them. I am the Lord your God.You must keep my Sabbath days of rest and show reverence for my sanctuary. I am the Lord.“ If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands,I will send you the seasonal rains. The land will then yield its crops, and the trees of the field will produce their fruit.Your threshing season will overlap with the grape harvest, and your grape harvest will overlap with the season of planting grain. You will eat your fill and live securely in your own land.“ I will give you peace in the land, and you will be able to sleep with no cause for fear. I will rid the land of wild animals and keep your enemies out of your land.In fact, you will chase down your enemies and slaughter them with your swords.Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand! All your enemies will fall beneath your sword.“ I will look favorably upon you, making you fertile and multiplying your people. And I will fulfill my covenant with you.You will have such a surplus of crops that you will need to clear out the old grain to make room for the new harvest!I will live among you, and I will not despise you.I will walk among you; I will be your God, and you will be my people.I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt so you would no longer be their slaves. I broke the yoke of slavery from your neck so you can walk with your heads held high.“ However, if you do not listen to me or obey all these commands,and if you break my covenant by rejecting my decrees, treating my regulations with contempt, and refusing to obey my commands,I will punish you. I will bring sudden terrors upon you— wasting diseases and burning fevers that will cause your eyes to fail and your life to ebb away. You will plant your crops in vain because your enemies will eat them.I will turn against you, and you will be defeated by your enemies. Those who hate you will rule over you, and you will run even when no one is chasing you!“ And if, in spite of all this, you still disobey me, I will punish you seven times over for your sins.I will break your proud spirit by making the skies as unyielding as iron and the earth as hard as bronze.All your work will be for nothing, for your land will yield no crops, and your trees will bear no fruit.“ If even then you remain hostile toward me and refuse to obey me, I will inflict disaster on you seven times over for your sins.I will send wild animals that will rob you of your children and destroy your livestock. Your numbers will dwindle, and your roads will be deserted.“ And if you fail to learn the lesson and continue your hostility toward me,then I myself will be hostile toward you. I will personally strike you with calamity seven times over for your sins.I will send armies against you to carry out the curse of the covenant you have broken. When you run to your towns for safety, I will send a plague to destroy you there, and you will be handed over to your enemies.I will destroy your food supply, so that ten women will need only one oven to bake bread for their families. They will ration your food by weight, and though you have food to eat, you will not be satisfied.“ If in spite of all this you still refuse to listen and still remain hostile toward me,then I will give full vent to my hostility. I myself will punish you seven times over for your sins.Then you will eat the flesh of your own sons and daughters.I will destroy your pagan shrines and knock down your places of worship. I will leave your lifeless corpses piled on top of your lifeless idols, and I will despise you.I will make your cities desolate and destroy your places of pagan worship. I will take no pleasure in your offerings that should be a pleasing aroma to me.Yes, I myself will devastate your land, and your enemies who come to occupy it will be appalled at what they see.I will scatter you among the nations and bring out my sword against you. Your land will become desolate, and your cities will lie in ruins.Then at last the land will enjoy its neglected Sabbath years as it lies desolate while you are in exile in the land of your enemies. Then the land will finally rest and enjoy the Sabbaths it missed.As long as the land lies in ruins, it will enjoy the rest you never allowed it to take every seventh year while you lived in it.“ And for those of you who survive, I will demoralize you in the land of your enemies. You will live in such fear that the sound of a leaf driven by the wind will send you fleeing. You will run as though fleeing from a sword, and you will fall even when no one pursues you.Though no one is chasing you, you will stumble over each other as though fleeing from a sword. You will have no power to stand up against your enemies.You will die among the foreign nations and be devoured in the land of your enemies.Those of you who survive will waste away in your enemies’ lands because of their sins and the sins of their ancestors.“ But at last my people will confess their sins and the sins of their ancestors for betraying me and being hostile toward me.When I have turned their hostility back on them and brought them to the land of their enemies, then at last their stubborn hearts will be humbled, and they will pay for their sins.Then I will remember my covenant with Jacob and my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land.For the land must be abandoned to enjoy its years of Sabbath rest as it lies deserted. At last the people will pay for their sins, for they have continually rejected my regulations and despised my decrees.“ But despite all this, I will not utterly reject or despise them while they are in exile in the land of their enemies. I will not cancel my covenant with them by wiping them out, for I am the Lord their God.For their sakes I will remember my ancient covenant with their ancestors, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of all the nations, that I might be their God. I am the Lord.”These are the decrees, regulations, and instructions that the Lord gave through Moses on Mount Sinai as evidence of the relationship between himself and the Israelites.
