The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Sunday February 18, 2018 (NIV)

For Sins against the Lord’s People

6 ^[a]The Lord spoke to Moses, ² “If any of you sin against the Lord by failing to do your duty, if you lie to your neighbor about something you were supposed to take care of or if you lie about something stolen or seized from your neighbor, you are sinning and will be guilty. ³ If you find something that someone lost and lie about it under oath, or commit any other sin like this, ⁴ you are sinning and will be guilty. Return what you stole or seized, what you were supposed to take care of, the lost item you found, ⁵ or whatever it was that you swore falsely about. Pay it back in full plus one-fifth more. Give it back to its owner on the day you bring your guilt offering. ⁶ Then bring the Lord your guilt offering, a ram that has no defects or its value in money. Bring it to the priest. ⁷ So the priest will make peace with the Lord. Then you will be forgiven for whatever you did that made you guilty.”

Instructions for Taking Care of the Fire

⁸ The Lord spoke to Moses, ⁹ “Command Aaron and his sons: These are the instructions for the burnt offering that stays on the altar overnight while the altar fire is kept burning.

¹⁰ “The priest must put on his linen clothes, including his linen undergarments. Then he will remove the ashes left on the altar from the fire that consumed the burnt offering and will put them next to the altar. ¹¹ Then he will take off these clothes and put on some others. He will take the ashes to a clean place outside the camp. ¹² The fire must always be burning on the altar. It must never go out. The priest will burn wood on it every morning. He will lay the burnt offering on the fire and burn the fat of the fellowship offering. ¹³ The fire must always be burning on the altar. It must never go out.

The Grain Offering from the People

¹⁴ “These are the instructions for the grain offering. Aaron’s sons must bring it into the Lord’s presence in front of the altar. ¹⁵ One of them will remove a handful of flour from the grain offering, together with the olive oil and all the incense. He will burn it on the altar as a reminder. It is a soothing aroma to the Lord. ¹⁶ Aaron and his sons will eat the rest of it. They will eat unleavened bread in a holy place, in the courtyard of the tent of meeting. ¹⁷ Don’t use yeast in baking the bread. I have given it to them as their share from the offerings by fire made to me. It is very holy like the offering for sin and the guilt offering. ¹⁸ Every male descendant of Aaron may eat it. It is a permanent law for generations to come regarding the offering by fire to the Lord. Everyone who touches it will become holy.”

Special Grain Offerings from the Priests

¹⁹ The Lord spoke to Moses, ²⁰ “This is the offering that Aaron and his sons must bring to the Lord on the day he is anointed—eight cups of flour. They must do this every day. He must offer half of it in the morning and half in the evening. ²¹ Prepare it in a frying pan with olive oil, mixing it well. Offer baked pieces of the grain offering as a soothing aroma to the Lord. ²² Aaron’s son who is anointed to take his place as priest will prepare it. This is a permanent law of the Lord: It must be completely burned. ²³ Every grain offering made by a priest must be completely burned. It must not be eaten.”

Instructions for the Offering for Sin

²⁴ The Lord spoke to Moses, ²⁵ “Tell Aaron and his sons: These are the instructions for the offering for sin. The offering for sin must be slaughtered in the Lord’s presence in the same place where the burnt offering is slaughtered. It is very holy. ²⁶ The priest who makes the offering for sin will eat it in a holy place, in the courtyard of the tent of meeting. ²⁷ Anything that touches its meat will be holy. If blood gets on someone’s clothes, he must wash them in a holy place. ²⁸ Any piece of pottery in which the offering for sin is cooked must be broken into pieces. Any copper kettle in which the offering for sin is cooked must be scoured and rinsed with water. ²⁹ Any male among the priests may eat the offering for sin. It is very holy. ³⁰ Any offering for sin must not be eaten if some of the blood was brought into the holy place in the tent of meeting to make peace with the Lord. It must be burned.”

Instructions for the Guilt Offering

7 The Lord continued, “These are the instructions for the guilt offering. It is very holy. ² It must be slaughtered in the same place where the burnt offering is slaughtered. A priest will throw the blood against the altar on all sides. ³ He will offer all the fat, the fat from the tail, the fat covering the internal organs, ⁴ and the two kidneys with the fat on them. He will also remove the lobe of the liver along with the kidneys. ⁵ The priest will burn them on the altar. It is a guilt offering by fire to the Lord. ⁶ Any male among the priests may eat it. It will be eaten in a holy place. It is very holy.

⁷ “The same instructions apply to the offering for sin and the guilt offering. Both offerings belong to the priest to make peace with the Lord. ⁸ The skin of the burnt offering belongs to the priest who sacrifices it. ⁹ Every grain offering, whether baked in an oven or prepared in a skillet or a frying pan, belongs to the priest who offers it. ¹⁰ Every grain offering, whether mixed with olive oil or dry, will be shared equally by all of Aaron’s sons.

Instructions for the Fellowship Offering of Thanksgiving

¹¹ “These are the instructions for the fellowship offering that you must bring to the Lord. ¹² If you offer it as a thank offering, you must also bring rings of unleavened bread mixed with olive oil, wafers of unleavened bread brushed with olive oil, and loaves made from flour mixed well with olive oil. ¹³ In addition to these rings of bread, you must bring bread with yeast along with your fellowship offering of thanksgiving. ¹⁴ From every offering you must bring one loaf to the Lord as a special contribution. It will belong to the priest who throws the blood of the fellowship offering.

¹⁵ “The meat from your fellowship offering of thanksgiving must be eaten on the day it is offered. Never leave any of it until morning.

Instructions for Other Fellowship Offerings

¹⁶ “If your sacrificial offering is something you vowed or a freewill offering, it must be eaten the day you offer it or the next day. ¹⁷ However, on the third day any meat left over from the sacrifice must be burned. ¹⁸ You will not be accepted if any meat from the fellowship offering is eaten on the third day. You will not receive credit for it. It is repulsive to God. The person who eats any of it must be punished.

¹⁹ “Meat that touches anything unclean must not be eaten. It must be burned. Anyone who is clean may eat from these sacrifices. ²⁰ Those who eat meat from the Lord’s fellowship offering while unclean must be excluded from the people. ²¹ Those who touch anything unclean, human or animal, or any other disgusting uncleanness and still eat the Lord’s fellowship offering must be excluded from the people.”

No Fat or Blood May Be Eaten

²² The Lord spoke to Moses, ²³ “Tell the Israelites: Never eat any fat from bulls, sheep, or goats. ²⁴ The fat from an animal that dies naturally or is killed by wild animals you may use for any other purpose, but you must never eat it. ²⁵ Those who eat the fat from an animal which they sacrificed by fire to the Lord must be excluded from the people.

²⁶ “Never eat the blood of any bird or animal no matter where you live. ²⁷ Those who eat any blood must be excluded from the people.”

Many People Are Cured^(A)

⁷ Jesus left with his disciples for the Sea of Galilee. A large crowd from Galilee, Judea, ⁸ Jerusalem, Idumea, and from across the Jordan River, and from around Tyre and Sidon followed him. They came to him because they had heard about everything he was doing. ⁹ Jesus told his disciples to have a boat ready so that the crowd would not crush him. ¹⁰ He had cured so many that everyone with a disease rushed up to him in order to touch him. ¹¹ Whenever people with evil spirits saw him, they would fall down in front of him and shout, “You are the Son of God!” ¹² He gave them orders not to tell people who he was.

Jesus Appoints Twelve Apostles^(B)

¹³ Jesus went up a mountain, called those whom he wanted, and they came to him. ¹⁴ He appointed twelve whom he called apostles.^[a] They were to accompany him and to be sent out by him to spread the Good News. ¹⁵ They also had the authority to force demons out of people.

¹⁶ He appointed these twelve: Simon (whom Jesus named Peter), ¹⁷ James and his brother John (Zebedee’s sons whom Jesus named Boanerges, which means “Thunderbolts”), ¹⁸ Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James (son of Alphaeus), Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot, ¹⁹ and Judas Iscariot (who later betrayed Jesus).

Jesus Is Accused of Working with Beelzebul^(C)

²⁰ Then Jesus went home. Another crowd gathered so that Jesus and his disciples could not even eat. ²¹ When his family heard about it, they went to get him. They said, “He’s out of his mind!”

²² The experts in Moses’ Teachings who had come from Jerusalem said, “Beelzebul is in him,” and “He forces demons out of people with the help of the ruler of demons.”

²³ Jesus called them together and used this illustration: “How can Satan force out Satan? ²⁴ If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot last. ²⁵ And if a household is divided against itself, that household will not last. ²⁶ So if Satan rebels against himself and is divided, he cannot last. That will be the end of him.

²⁷ “No one can go into a strong man’s house and steal his property. First he must tie up the strong man. Then he can go through the strong man’s house and steal his property.

²⁸ “I can guarantee this truth: People will be forgiven for any sin or curse. ²⁹ But whoever curses the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven. He is guilty of an everlasting sin.” ³⁰ Jesus said this because the experts in Moses’ Teachings had said that he had an evil spirit.