Leviticus 6; Leviticus 7; Matthew 25:1-30

1 The Lord gave the following regulations to Moses.

2 An offering is to be made if any of you sin against the Lord by refusing to return what another Israelite has left as a deposit or by stealing something from him or by cheating him

3 or by lying about something that has been lost and swearing that you did not find it.

4 When you sin in any of these ways, you must repay whatever you got by dishonest means. On the day you are found guilty, you must repay the owner in full, plus an additional 20 percent.

6 You shall bring to the priest as your repayment offering to the Lord a male sheep or goat without any defects. Its value is to be determined according to the official standard.

7 The priest shall offer the sacrifice for your sin, and you will be forgiven.

8 The Lord commanded Moses

9 to give Aaron and his sons the following regulations for burnt offerings. A burnt offering is to be left on the altar all night long, and the fire is to be kept burning.

10 Then the priest, wearing his linen robe and linen shorts, shall remove the greasy ashes left on the altar and put them at the side of the altar.

11 Then he shall change his clothes and take the ashes outside the camp to a ritually clean place.

12 The fire on the altar must be kept burning and never allowed to go out. Every morning the priest shall put firewood on it, arrange the burnt offering on it, and burn the fat of the fellowship offering.

13 The fire must always be kept burning on the altar and never allowed to go out.

14 The following are the regulations for grain offerings. An Aaronite priest shall present the grain offering to the Lord in front of the altar.

15 Then he shall take a handful of the flour and oil, and the incense on it, and burn it on the altar as a token that all of it has been offered to the Lord. The odor of this offering is pleasing to the Lord.

16 The priests shall eat the rest of it. It shall be made into bread baked without yeast and eaten in a holy place, the courtyard of the Tent of the Lord's presence. The Lord has given it to the priests as their part of the food offerings. It is very holy, like the sin offerings and the repayment offerings.

18 For all time to come any of the male descendants of Aaron may eat it as their continuing share of the food offered to the Lord. Anyone else who touches a food offering will be harmed by the power of its holiness.

19 The Lord gave Moses the following regulations

20 for the ordination of an Aaronite priest. On the day he is ordained, he shall present as an offering to the Lord two pounds of flour (the same amount as the daily grain offering), half in the morning and half in the evening.

21 It is to be mixed with oil and cooked on a griddle and then crumbled and presented as a grain offering, an odor pleasing to the Lord.

22 For all time to come this offering is to be made by every descendant of Aaron who is serving as High Priest. It shall be completely burned as a sacrifice to the Lord.

23 No part of a grain offering that a priest makes may be eaten; all of it must be burned.

24 The Lord commanded Moses

25 to give Aaron and his sons the following regulations for sin offerings. The animal for a sin offering shall be killed on the north side of the altar, where the animals for the burnt offerings are killed. This is a very holy offering.

26 The priest who sacrifices the animal shall eat it in a holy place, the courtyard of the Tent of the Lord's presence.

27 Anyone or anything that touches the flesh of the animal will be harmed by the power of its holiness. If any article of clothing is spattered with the animal's blood, it must be washed in a holy place.

28 Any clay pot in which the meat is boiled must be broken, and if a metal pot is used, it must be scrubbed and rinsed with water.

29 Any male of the priestly families may eat this offering; it is very holy.

30 But if any of the blood is brought into the Tent and used in the ritual to take away sin, the animal must not be eaten; it must be burned.

1 The following are the regulations for repayment offerings, which are very holy.

2 The animal for this offering is to be killed on the north side of the altar, where the animals for the burnt offerings are killed, and its blood is to be thrown against all four sides of the altar.

3 All of its fat shall be removed and offered on the altar: the fat tail, the fat covering the internal organs,

4 the kidneys and the fat on them, and the best part of the liver.

5 The priest shall burn all the fat on the altar as a food offering to the Lord. It is a repayment offering.

6 Any male of the priestly families may eat it, but it must be eaten in a holy place, because it is very holy.

7 There is one regulation that applies to both the sin offering and the repayment offering: the meat belongs to the priest who offers the sacrifice.

8 The skin of an animal offered as a burnt offering belongs to the priest who offers the sacrifice.

9 Every grain offering that has been baked in an oven or prepared in a pan or on a griddle belongs to the priest who has offered it to God.

10 But all uncooked grain offerings, whether mixed with oil or dry, belong to all the Aaronite priests and must be shared equally among them.

11 The following are the regulations for the fellowship offerings presented to the Lord.

12 If you make this offering as a thanksgiving offering to God, you shall present, together with the animal to be sacrificed, an offering of bread made without yeast: either thick loaves made of flour mixed with olive oil or thin cakes brushed with olive oil or cakes made of flour mixed with olive oil.

13 In addition, you shall offer loaves of bread baked with yeast.

14 You shall present one part of each kind of bread as a special contribution to the Lord; it belongs to the priest who takes the blood of the animal and throws it against the altar.

15 The flesh of the animal must be eaten on the day it is sacrificed; none of it may be left until the next morning.

16 If you bring a fellowship offering as fulfillment of a vow or as your own freewill offering, not all of it has to be eaten on the day it is offered, but any that is left over may be eaten on the following day.

17 Any meat that still remains on the third day must be burned.

18 If any of it is eaten on the third day, God will not accept your offering. The offering will not be counted to your credit but will be considered unclean, and whoever eats it will suffer the consequences.

19 If the meat comes into contact with anything ritually unclean, it must not be eaten, but must be burned. Any of you that are ritually clean may eat the meat,

20 but if any of you who are not clean eat it, you shall no longer be considered one of God's people.

21 Also, if you eat the meat of this offering after you have touched anything ritually unclean, whether from a person or an animal, you shall no longer be considered one of God's people.

22 The Lord gave Moses the following regulations

23 for the people of Israel. No fat of cattle, sheep, or goats shall be eaten.

24 The fat of an animal that has died a natural death or has been killed by a wild animal must not be eaten, but it may be used for any other purpose.

25 Anyone who eats the fat of an animal that may be offered as a food offering to the Lord will no longer be considered one of God's people.

26 No matter where the Israelites live, they must never use the blood of birds or animals for food.

27 Anyone who breaks this law will no longer be considered one of God's people.

28 The Lord gave Moses the following regulations

29 for the people of Israel. When any of you offer a fellowship offering you must bring part of it as a special gift to the Lord,

30 bringing it with your own hands as a food offering. You shall bring the fat of the animal with its breast and present it as a special gift to the Lord.

31 The priest shall burn the fat on the altar, but the breast shall belong to the priests.

32 The right hind leg of the animal shall be given as a special contribution

33 to the priest who offers the blood and the fat of the fellowship offering.

34 The breast of the animal is a special gift, and the right hind leg is a special contribution that the Lord has taken from the people of Israel and given to the priests. This is what the people of Israel must give to the priests for all time to come.

35 This is the part of the food offered to the Lord that was given to Aaron and his sons on the day they were ordained as priests.

36 On that day the Lord commanded the people of Israel to give them this part of the offering. It is a regulation that the people of Israel must obey for all time to come.

37 These, then, are the regulations for the burnt offerings, the grain offerings, the sin offerings, the repayment offerings, the ordination offerings, and the fellowship offerings.

38 There on Mount Sinai in the desert, the Lord gave these commands to Moses on the day he told the people of Israel to make their offerings.

1 "At that time the Kingdom of heaven will be like this. Once there were ten young women who took their oil lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.

2 Five of them were foolish, and the other five were wise.

3 The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any extra oil with them,

4 while the wise ones took containers full of oil for their lamps.

5 The bridegroom was late in coming, so they began to nod and fall asleep.

6 "It was already midnight when the cry rang out, "Here is the bridegroom! Come and meet him!'

7 The ten young women woke up and trimmed their lamps.

8 Then the foolish ones said to the wise ones, "Let us have some of your oil, because our lamps are going out.'

9 "No, indeed,' the wise ones answered, "there is not enough for you and for us. Go to the store and buy some for yourselves.'

10 So the foolish ones went off to buy some oil; and while they were gone, the bridegroom arrived. The five who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast, and the door was closed.

11 "Later the others arrived. "Sir, sir! Let us in!' they cried out.

12 "Certainly not! I don't know you,' the bridegroom answered."

13 And Jesus concluded, "Watch out, then, because you do not know the day or the hour.

14 "At that time the Kingdom of heaven will be like this. Once there was a man who was about to leave home on a trip; he called his servants and put them in charge of his property.

15 He gave to each one according to his ability: to one he gave five thousand gold coins, to another he gave two thousand, and to another he gave one thousand. Then he left on his trip.

16 The servant who had received five thousand coins went at once and invested his money and earned another five thousand.

17 In the same way the servant who had received two thousand coins earned another two thousand.

18 But the servant who had received one thousand coins went off, dug a hole in the ground, and hid his master's money.

19 "After a long time the master of those servants came back and settled accounts with them.

20 The servant who had received five thousand coins came in and handed over the other five thousand. "You gave me five thousand coins, sir,' he said. "Look! Here are another five thousand that I have earned.'

21 "Well done, you good and faithful servant!' said his master. "You have been faithful in managing small amounts, so I will put you in charge of large amounts. Come on in and share my happiness!'

22 Then the servant who had been given two thousand coins came in and said, "You gave me two thousand coins, sir. Look! Here are another two thousand that I have earned.'

23 "Well done, you good and faithful servant!' said his master. "You have been faithful in managing small amounts, so I will put you in charge of large amounts. Come on in and share my happiness!'

24 Then the servant who had received one thousand coins came in and said, "Sir, I know you are a hard man; you reap harvests where you did not plant, and you gather crops where you did not scatter seed.

25 I was afraid, so I went off and hid your money in the ground. Look! Here is what belongs to you.'

26 "You bad and lazy servant!' his master said. "You knew, did you, that I reap harvests where I did not plant, and gather crops where I did not scatter seed?

27 Well, then, you should have deposited my money in the bank, and I would have received it all back with interest when I returned.

28 Now, take the money away from him and give it to the one who has ten thousand coins.

29 For to every person who has something, even more will be given, and he will have more than enough; but the person who has nothing, even the little that he has will be taken away from him.

30 As for this useless servant - throw him outside in the darkness; there he will cry and gnash his teeth.'