Leviticus 23; Leviticus 24; Mark 1:1-22

1 The Lord said to Moses,

2 "Tell the people of Israel: 'You will announce the Lord's appointed feasts as holy meetings. These are my special feasts.

3 "'There are six days for you to work, but the seventh day will be a special day of rest. It is a day for a holy meeting; you must not do any work. It is a Sabbath to the Lord in all your homes.

4 "'These are the Lord's appointed feasts, the holy meetings, which you will announce at the times set for them

5 The Lord's Passover is on the fourteenth day of the first month, beginning at twilight.

6 The Feast of Unleavened Bread begins on the fifteenth day of the same month. You will eat bread made without yeast for seven days.

7 On the first day of this feast you will have a holy meeting, and you must not do any work.

8 For seven days you will bring an offering made by fire to the Lord. There will be a holy meeting on the seventh day, and on that day you must not do any regular work.'"

9 The Lord said to Moses,

10 "Tell the people of Israel: 'You will enter the land I will give you and gather its harvest. At that time you must bring the first bundle of grain from your harvest to the priest.

11 The priest will present the bundle before the Lord, and it will be accepted for you; he will present the bundle on the day after the Sabbath.

12 "'On the day when you present the bundle of grain, offer a male lamb, one year old, that has nothing wrong with it, as a burnt offering to the Lord.

13 You must also offer a grain offering -- four quarts of fine flour mixed with olive oil as an offering made by fire to the Lord; its smell will be pleasing to him. You must also offer a quart of wine as a drink offering.

14 Until the day you bring your offering to your God, do not eat any new grain, roasted grain, or bread made from new grain. This law will always continue for people from now on, wherever you live

15 "'Count seven full weeks from the morning after the Sabbath. (This is the Sabbath that you bring the bundle of grain to present as an offering.)

16 On the fiftieth day, the first day after the seventh week, you will bring a new grain offering to the Lord.

17 On that day bring two loaves of bread from your homes to be presented as an offering. Use yeast and four quarts of flour to make those loaves of bread; they will be your gift to the Lord from the first wheat of your harvest.

18 "'Offer with the bread one young bull, two male sheep, and seven male lambs that are one year old and have nothing wrong with them. Offer them with their grain offerings and drink offerings, as a burnt offering to the Lord. They will be an offering made by fire, and the smell will be pleasing to the Lord.

19 You must also offer one male goat for a sin offering and two male, one-year-old lambs as a fellowship offering

20 "'The priest will present the two lambs as an offering before the Lord, along with the bread from the first wheat of the harvest. They are holy to the Lord, and they will belong to the priest.

21 On that same day you will call a holy meeting; you must not do any work that day. This law will continue for you from now on, wherever you live

22 "'When you harvest your crops on your land, do not harvest all the way to the corners of your field. If grain falls onto the ground, don't gather it up. Leave it for poor people and foreigners in your country. I am the Lord your God.'"

23 Again the Lord said to Moses,

24 "Tell the people of Israel: 'On the first day of the seventh month you must have a special day of rest, a holy meeting, when you blow the trumpet for a special time of remembering.

25 Do not do any work, and bring an offering made by fire to the Lord.'"

26 The Lord said to Moses,

27 "The Day of Cleansing will be on the tenth day of the seventh month. There will be a holy meeting, and you will give up eating and bring an offering made by fire to the Lord.

28 Do not do any work on that day, because it is the Day of Cleansing. On that day the priests will go before the Lord and perform the acts to make you clean so you will belong to the Lord.

29 "Anyone who refuses to give up food on this day must be cut off from the people.

30 If anyone works on this day, I will destroy that person from among the people.

31 You must not do any work at all; this law will continue for people from now on wherever you live.

32 It will be a special day of rest for you, and you must not eat. You will start this special day of rest on the evening after the ninth day of the month, and it will continue from that evening until the next evening."

33 Again the Lord said to Moses,

34 "Tell the people of Israel: 'On the fifteenth day of the seventh month is the Feast of Shelters. This feast to the Lord will continue for seven days.

35 There will be a holy meeting on the first day; do not do any work.

36 You will bring an offering made by fire to the Lord each day for seven days. On the eighth day you will have another holy meeting, and you will bring an offering made by fire to the Lord. This will be a holy meeting; do not do any work

37 ("'These are the Lord's special feasts, when there will be holy meetings and when you bring offerings made by fire to the Lord. You will bring whole burnt offerings, grain offerings, sacrifices, and drink offerings -- each at the right time.

38 These offerings are in addition to those for the Lord's Sabbath days, in addition to offerings you give as payment for special promises, and in addition to special offerings you want to give to the Lord.

39 "'So on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, after you have gathered in the crops of the land, celebrate the Lord's festival for seven days. You must rest on the first day and the eighth day.

40 On the first day you will take good fruit from the fruit trees, as well as branches from palm trees, poplars, and other leafy trees. You will celebrate before the Lord your God for seven days.

41 Celebrate this festival to the Lord for seven days each year. This law will continue from now on; you will celebrate it in the seventh month.

42 Live in shelters for seven days. All the people born in Israel must live in shelters

43 so that all your descendants will know I made Israel live in shelters during the time I brought them out of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.'"

44 So Moses told the people of Israel about all of the Lord's appointed feast days.

1 The Lord said to Moses,

2 "Command the peo- ple of Israel to bring you pure oil from crushed olives. That oil is for the lamps so that these lamps may never go out.

3 Aaron will keep the lamps burning in the Meeting Tent from evening until morning before the Lord; this is in front of the curtain of the Ark of the Agreement. This law will continue from now on.

4 Aaron must always keep the lamps burning on the lampstands of pure gold before the Lord.

5 "Take fine flour and bake twelve loaves of bread with it, using four quarts of flour for each loaf.

6 Put them in two rows on the golden table before the Lord, six loaves in each row.

7 Put pure incense on each row as the memorial portion to take the place of the bread. It is an offering made by fire to the Lord.

8 Every Sabbath day Aaron will put the bread in order before the Lord, as an agreement with the people of Israel that will continue forever.

9 That bread will belong to Aaron and his sons. They will eat it in a holy place, because it is a most holy part of the offerings made by fire to the Lord. That bread is their share forever."

10 Now there was a son of an Israelite woman and an Egyptian father who was walking among the Israelites. A fight broke out in the camp between him and an Israelite.

11 The son of the Israelite woman began cursing and speaking against the Lord, so the people took him to Moses. (The mother's name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri from the family of Dan.)

12 The people held him as a prisoner while they waited for the Lord's command to be made clear to them.

13 Then the Lord said to Moses,

14 "Take the one who spoke against me outside the camp. Then all the people who heard him must put their hands on his head, and all the people must throw stones at him and kill him.

15 Tell the people of Israel this: 'If anyone curses his God, he is guilty of sin.

16 Anyone who speaks against the Lord must be put to death; all the people must kill him by throwing stones at him. Foreign- ers must be punished just like the people born in Israel; if they speak against the Lord, they must be put to death.

17 "'Whoever kills another person must be put to death.

18 Whoever kills an animal that belongs to another person must give that person another animal to take its place.

19 And whoever causes an injury to a neighbor must receive the same kind of injury in return:

20 Broken bone for broken bone, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. Anyone who injures another person must be injured in the same way in return.

21 Whoever kills another person's animal must give that person another animal to take its place. But whoever kills another person must be put to death.

22 "'The law will be the same for the foreigner as for those from your own country. I am the Lord your God.'"

23 Then Moses spoke to the people of Israel, and they took the person who had cursed outside the camp and killed him by throwing stones at him. So the people of Israel did as the Lord had commanded Moses.

1 This is the beginning of the Good News about Jesus Christ, the Son of God,

2 as the prophet Isaiah wrote: "I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way."

3 "This is a voice of one who calls out in the desert: 'Prepare the way for the Lord. Make the road straight for him.'"

4 John was baptizing people in the desert and preaching a baptism of changed hearts and lives for the forgiveness of sins.

5 All the people from Judea and Jerusalem were going out to him. They confessed their sins and were baptized by him in the Jordan River.

6 John wore clothes made from camel's hair, had a leather belt around his waist, and ate locusts and wild honey.

7 This is what John preached to the people: "There is one coming after me who is greater than I; I am not good enough even to kneel down and untie his sandals.

8 I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."

9 At that time Jesus came from the town of Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan River.

10 Immediately, as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven open. The Holy Spirit came down on him like a dove,

11 and a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love, and I am very pleased with you."

12 Then the Spirit sent Jesus into the desert.

13 He was in the desert forty days and was tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and the angels came and took care of him.

14 After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, preaching the Good News from God.

15 He said, "The right time has come. The kingdom of God is near. Change your hearts and lives and believe the Good News!"

16 When Jesus was walking by Lake Galilee, he saw Simonn and his brother Andrew throwing a net into the lake because they were fishermen.

17 Jesus said to them, "Come follow me, and I will make you fish for people."

18 So Simon and Andrew immediately left their nets and followed him.

19 Going a little farther, Jesus saw two more brothers, James and John, the sons of Zebedee. They were in a boat, mending their nets.

20 Jesus immediately called them, and they left their father in the boat with the hired workers and followed Jesus.

21 Jesus and his followers went to Capernaum. On the Sabbath day He went to the synagogue and began to teach.

22 The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught like a person who had authority, not like their teachers of the law.