Reading for February:  Leviticus 5:1 — Deuteronomy 13:18

February 1

Leviticus 5:1 — 7:38

5  “‘Now in case a soul sins in that he has heard public cursing and he is a witness or he has seen it or has come to know of it, if he does not report it, then he must answer for his error.

     2 “‘Or when a soul touches some unclean thing, whether the dead body of an unclean wild beast or the dead body of an unclean domestic animal or the dead body of an unclean swarming creature, although it has been hidden from him, still he is unclean and has become guilty. 3 Or in case he touches the uncleanness of a man as respects any uncleanness of his with which he may become unclean, although it had been hidden from him, and yet he himself has come to know it, then he has become guilty.

     4 “‘Or in case a soul swears to the extent of speaking thoughtlessly with his lips to do evil or to do good as respects anything at all that the man might speak thoughtlessly in a sworn statement, although it had been hidden from him, and yet he himself has come to know it, then he has become guilty as respects one of these things.
    
     5 “‘And it must occur that in case he becomes guilty as respects one of these things, then he must confess in what way he has sinned. 6 And he must bring his guilt offering to Jehovah for his sin that he has committed, namely, a female from the flock, a female lamb or a female kid of the goats, for a sin offering; and the priest must make an atonement for him for his sin.

     7 “‘If, though, he cannot afford enough for a sheep, then he must bring as his guilt offering for the sin that he has committed two turtledoves or two young pigeons to Jehovah, one for a sin offering and one for a burnt offering. 8 And he must bring them to the priest, who must present first the one for the sin offering and nip off its head at the front of its neck, but he should not sever it. 9 And he must spatter some of the blood of the sin offering upon the side of the altar, but the remainder of the blood will be drained out at the base of the altar. It is a sin offering. 10 And the other one he will handle as a burnt offering according to the regular procedure; and the priest must make an atonement for him for his sin that he has committed, and so it must be forgiven him.

     11 “‘Now if he does not have the means for two turtledoves or two young pigeons, then he must bring as his offering for the sin he has committed the tenth of an ephah of fine flour for a sin offering. He must not put oil upon it and he must not place frankincense upon it, for it is a sin offering. 12 And he must bring it to the priest, and the priest must grasp from it his handful as a remembrancer of it and must make it smoke on the altar upon Jehovah’s offerings made by fire. It is a sin offering. 13 And the priest must make an atonement for him for his sin that he has committed, any one of these sins, and so it must be forgiven him; and it must become the priest’s the same as a grain offering.’”

     14 And Jehovah continued to speak to Moses, saying: 15 “In case a soul behaves unfaithfully in that he actually sins by mistake against the holy things of Jehovah, then he must bring as his guilt offering to Jehovah a sound ram from the flock, according to the estimated value in silver shekels, by the shekel of the holy place, as a guilt offering. 16 And he will make compensation for the sin he has committed against the holy place and he will add to it a fifth of it, and he must give it to the priest, that the priest may make an atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering, and so it must be forgiven him.

     17 “And if a soul sins in that he does do one of all the things that Jehovah commands should not be done, although he did not know it, yet he has become guilty and must answer for his error. 18 And he must bring a sound ram from the flock according to the estimated value, for a guilt offering, to the priest; and the priest must make an atonement for him for his mistake that he committed unintentionally, although he himself did not know it, and so it must be forgiven him. 19 It is a guilt offering. He has positively become guilty against Jehovah.”

6  And Jehovah went on to speak to Moses, saying: 2 “In case a soul sins in that he does behave unfaithfully toward Jehovah and does deceive his associate about something in his charge or a deposit in hand or a robbery or he does defraud his associate, 3 or he does find something lost and is actually deceptive about it and does swear falsely over any of all the things that the man might do to sin by them; 4 then it must occur that in case he sins and indeed becomes guilty, he must return the robbed thing which he has robbed or the extorted thing which he has taken by fraud or the thing in his charge which was put in his charge or the thing lost that he has found, 5 or anything at all over which he might swear falsely, and he must make compensation for it in its full amount, and he will add to it a fifth of it. To the one whose it is he will give it on the day his guilt is proved. 6 And as his guilt offering he will bring to Jehovah a sound ram from the flock according to the estimated value, for a guilt offering, to the priest. 7 And the priest must make an atonement for him before Jehovah, and so it must be forgiven him regarding any of all the things that he might do resulting in guiltiness by it.”

     8 And Jehovah continued to speak to Moses, saying: 9 “Command Aaron and his sons, saying, ‘This is the law of the burnt offering: The burnt offering will be on the hearth upon the altar all night long until the morning, and the fire of the altar will be kindled in it. 10 And the priest must clothe himself with his official dress of linen, and he will put the linen drawers on over his flesh. Then he must lift up the fatty ashes of the burnt offering that the fire regularly consumes upon the altar, and he must place them beside the altar. 11 And he must strip off his garments and put on other garments, and he must take the fatty ashes out to a clean place outside the camp. 12 And the fire on the altar will be kept burning on it. It must not go out. And the priest must burn wood on it morning by morning and set the burnt offering in order over it, and he must make the fatty pieces of the communion sacrifices smoke over it. 13 Fire will be kept constantly burning on the altar. It must not go out.

     14 “‘Now this is the law of the grain offering: YOU sons of Aaron, present it before Jehovah in front of the altar. 15 And one of them must lift up by his handful some of the fine flour of the grain offering and some of its oil and all the frankincense that is upon the grain offering, and he must make it smoke upon the altar as a restful odor for a remembrancer of it to Jehovah. 16 And what is left of it Aaron and his sons will eat. It will be eaten as unfermented cakes in a holy place. They will eat it in the courtyard of the tent of meeting. 17 It should not be baked with anything leavened. I have given it as their share out of my offerings made by fire. It is something most holy, like the sin offering and like the guilt offering. 18 Every male among the sons of Aaron will eat it. It is an allowance to time indefinite throughout YOUR generations from Jehovah’s offerings made by fire. Everything that may touch them will become holy.’”


     19 And Jehovah went on speaking to Moses, saying: 20 “This is the offering of Aaron and his sons that they will present to Jehovah on the day of his being anointed: the tenth of an ephah of fine flour as a grain offering constantly, half of it in the morning and half of it in the evening. 21 It will be made with oil upon a griddle. You will bring it well mixed. You will present the pastries of the grain offering in pieces as a restful odor to Jehovah. 22 And the priest, the one anointed in place of him from among his sons, will make it. It is a regulation to time indefinite: As a whole offering it will be made to smoke to Jehovah. 23 And every grain offering of a priest should prove to be a whole offering. It must not be eaten.”

     24 And Jehovah spoke further to Moses, saying: 25 “Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, ‘This is the law of the sin offering: In the place where the burnt offering is regularly slaughtered the sin offering will be slaughtered before Jehovah. It is a most holy thing. 26 The priest who offers it for sin will eat it. In a holy place it will be eaten in the courtyard of the tent of meeting.

     27 “‘Everything that may touch its flesh will become holy, and when anyone spatters some of its blood upon the garment, you will wash what he spatters blood upon in a holy place. 28 And the earthenware vessel in which it may be boiled is to be shattered. But if it was boiled in a copper vessel, then it must be scoured and rinsed with water.

     29 “‘Every male among the priests will eat it. It is something most holy. 30 However, no sin offering of which some of the blood will be brought into the tent of meeting to make atonement in the holy place must be eaten. It is to be burned with fire.

7 “‘And this is the law of the guilt offering: It is something most holy. 2 In the place where they regularly slaughter the burnt offering they will slaughter the guilt offering, and its blood one will sprinkle round about upon the altar. 3 As for all its fat, he will present of it the fatty tail and the fat that covers the intestines, 4 and the two kidneys and the fat that is upon them the same as that upon the loins. And as for the appendage upon the liver, he will remove it along with the kidneys. 5 And the priest must make them smoke on the altar as an offering made by fire to Jehovah. It is a guilt offering. 6 Every male among the priests will eat it. In a holy place it will be eaten. It is something most holy. 7 Like the sin offering, so is the guilt offering. There is one law for them. The priest who will make atonement with it, his it will become.

     8 “‘As for the priest who presents the burnt offering of any man, the skin of the burnt offering that he has presented to the priest will become his.
     9 “‘And every grain offering that may be baked in the oven and every one made in the deep-fat kettle and upon the griddle belongs to the priest who presents it. It will become his. 10 But every grain offering that is moistened with oil or dry will come to be for all of Aaron’s sons, for the one the same as for the other.

     11 “‘Now this is the law of the communion sacrifice that anyone will present to Jehovah: 12 If he would present it in expression of thanksgiving, then he must present along with the sacrifice of thanksgiving unfermented ring-shaped cakes moistened with oil and unfermented wafers smeared with oil and well-mixed fine flour as ring-shaped cakes moistened with oil. 13 Along with ring-shaped cakes of leavened bread he will present his offering together with the thanksgiving sacrifice of his communion sacrifices. 14 And out of it he must present one of each offering as a sacred portion to Jehovah; as for the priest who sprinkles the blood of the communion sacrifices, it will become his. 15 And the flesh of the thanksgiving sacrifice of his communion sacrifices is to be eaten on the day of his offering. He must not save up any of it until morning.

     16 “‘And if the sacrifice of his offering is a vow or a voluntary offering, it is to be eaten on the day of his presenting his sacrifice, and on the next day what is left of it also may be eaten. 17 But what is left of the flesh of the sacrifice on the third day is to be burned with fire. 18 However, if any of the flesh of his communion sacrifice should at all be eaten on the third day, the one presenting it will not be accepted with approval. It will not be put to his account. It will become a foul thing, and the soul that eats some of it will answer for his error. 19 And the flesh that may touch anything unclean is not to be eaten. It is to be burned with fire. As for the flesh, everybody clean may eat the flesh.

     20 “‘And the soul who eats the flesh of the communion sacrifice, which is for Jehovah, while his uncleanness is upon him, that soul must be cut off from his people. 21 And in case a soul touches anything unclean, the uncleanness of a man or an unclean beast or any unclean loathsome thing, and actually eats some of the flesh of the communion sacrifice, which is for Jehovah, that soul must be cut off from his people.’”

     22 And Jehovah continued to speak to Moses, saying: 23 “Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘YOU must not eat any fat of a bull or a young ram or a goat. 24 Now the fat of a body [already] dead and the fat of an animal torn to pieces may be used for anything else conceivable, but YOU must not eat it at all. 25 For anyone eating fat from the beast from which he presents it as an offering made by fire to Jehovah, the soul that eats must be cut off from his people.

     26 “‘And YOU must not eat any blood in any places where YOU dwell, whether that of fowl or that of beast. 27 Any soul who eats any blood, that soul must be cut off from his people.’”

     28 And Jehovah went on to speak to Moses, saying: 29 “Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘He who presents his communion sacrifice to Jehovah will bring his offering to Jehovah from his communion sacrifice. 30 His hands will bring as Jehovah’s offerings made by fire the fat upon the breast. He will bring it with the breast to wave it to and fro as a wave offering before Jehovah. 31 And the priest must make the fat smoke upon the altar, but the breast must become Aaron’s and his sons’.

     32 “‘And YOU will give the right leg as a sacred portion to the priest from YOUR communion sacrifices. 33 That one of Aaron’s sons who presents the blood of the communion sacrifices and the fat, the right leg will become his as a portion. 34 For the breast of the wave offering and the leg of the sacred portion I do take from the sons of Israel from their communion sacrifices, and I shall give them to Aaron the priest and his sons, as a regulation to time indefinite, from the sons of Israel.

     35 “‘This was the priestly share of Aaron and the priestly share of his sons from Jehovah’s offerings made by fire, on the day that he presented them to act as priests to Jehovah, 36 just as Jehovah had commanded to give it to them on the day of his anointing them from among the sons of Israel. It is a statute to time indefinite for their generations.’”

     37 This is the law concerning the burnt offering, the grain offering and the sin offering and the guilt offering and the installation sacrifice and the communion sacrifice, 38 just as Jehovah had commanded Moses in Mount Sinai in the day of his commanding the sons of Israel to present their offerings to Jehovah in the wilderness of Sinai.