The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Sunday February 20, 2022 (NIV)

⁷ Then Moses said to Aaron, “Approach the altar and sacrifice your sin offering and your burnt offering; make atonement for yourself and the people.^[a](A) Sacrifice the people’s offering and make atonement for them, as the Lord commanded.”

⁸ So Aaron approached the altar and slaughtered the calf as a sin offering for himself. ⁹ Aaron’s sons brought the blood to him, and he dipped his finger in the blood and applied it to the horns of the altar. He poured out the blood at the base of the altar. ¹⁰ He burned the fat, the kidneys, and the fatty lobe of the liver from the sin offering on the altar, as the Lord had commanded Moses. ¹¹ He burned the flesh and the hide^(B) outside the camp.^(C)

¹² Then he slaughtered the burnt offering. Aaron’s sons brought him the blood, and he splattered it on all sides of the altar. ¹³ They brought him the burnt offering piece by piece, along with the head, and he burned them on the altar. ¹⁴ He washed the entrails and the legs and burned them with the burnt offering on the altar.

¹⁵ Aaron presented the people’s offering. He took the male goat for the people’s sin offering, slaughtered it, and made a sin offering with it as he did before. ¹⁶ He presented the burnt offering and sacrificed it according to the regulation.^{(D) 17} Next he presented the grain offering, took a handful of it, and burned it on the altar in addition to the morning burnt offering.^(E)

¹⁸ Finally, he slaughtered the ox and the ram as the people’s fellowship sacrifice. Aaron’s sons brought him the blood, and he splattered it on all sides of the altar. ¹⁹ They also brought the fat portions from the ox and the ram—the fat tail, the fat surrounding the entrails, the kidneys, and the fatty lobe of the liver— ²⁰ and placed these on the breasts. Aaron burned the fat portions on the altar, ²¹ but he presented the breasts^(F) and the right thigh as a presentation offering^(G) before the Lord, as Moses had commanded.^[b]

²² Aaron lifted up his hands toward the people and blessed^(H) them. He came down after sacrificing the sin offering, the burnt offering, and the fellowship offering. ²³ Moses and Aaron then entered the tent of meeting. When they came out, they blessed the people, and the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people. ²⁴ Fire came from the Lord and consumed^(I) the burnt offering and the fat portions on the altar. And when all the people saw it, they shouted^(J) and fell facedown.^(K)

Nadab and Abihu

10 Aaron’s sons Nadab^(L) and Abihu^(M) each took his own firepan,^(N) put fire in it, placed incense on it,^(O) and presented unauthorized^(P) fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them to do. ² Then fire came from the Lord^(Q) and consumed them, and they died before the Lord.^{(R) 3} Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord has spoken:

And Aaron remained silent.

⁴ Moses summoned Mishael and Elzaphan,^(V) sons of Aaron’s uncle Uzziel,^(W) and said to them, “Come here and carry your relatives away from the front of the sanctuary to a place outside the camp.”^{(X) 5} So they came forward and carried them in their tunics outside the camp, as Moses had said.

⁶ Then Moses said to Aaron and his sons Eleazar and Ithamar,^(Y) “Do not let your hair hang loose^(Z) and do not tear your clothes,^(AA) or else you will die, and the Lord will become angry^(AB) with the whole community. However, your brothers, the whole house of Israel, may weep^(AC) over the fire that the Lord caused. ⁷ You must not go outside the entrance to the tent of meeting or you will die, for the Lord’s anointing oil^(AD) is on you.” So they did as Moses said.

Regulations for Priests

⁸ The Lord spoke to Aaron: ⁹ “You and your sons are not to drink wine^(AE) or beer^(AF) when you enter the tent of meeting, or else you will die; this is a permanent statute^(AG) throughout your generations. ¹⁰ You must distinguish^(AH) between the holy and the common,^(AI) and the clean and the unclean,^{(AJ) 11} and teach the Israelites all the statutes^(AK) that the Lord has given to them through Moses.”

¹² Moses spoke to Aaron and his remaining sons, Eleazar and Ithamar: “Take the grain offering that is left over from the food offerings^(AL) to the Lord, and eat it prepared without yeast beside the altar, because it is especially holy. ¹³ You must eat it in a holy place because it is your portion^[e] and your sons’ from the food offerings to the Lord, for this is what I was commanded. ¹⁴ But you and your sons and your daughters may eat the breast of the presentation offering and the thigh of the contribution in any ceremonially clean place, because these portions have been assigned to you and your children from the Israelites’ fellowship sacrifices. ¹⁵ They are to bring the thigh of the contribution and the breast of the presentation offering, together with the food offerings of the fat portions, to present as a presentation offering before the Lord. It will belong permanently^(AM) to you and your children, as the Lord commanded.”

¹⁶ Then Moses inquired carefully about the male goat of the sin offering, but it had already been burned up. He was angry with Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron’s surviving sons, and asked, ¹⁷ “Why didn’t you eat the sin offering in the sanctuary area?^(AN) For it is especially holy, and he has assigned it to you to take away the guilt^(AO) of the community^(AP) and make atonement for them before the Lord. ¹⁸ Since its blood was not brought inside the sanctuary, you should have eaten it in the sanctuary area, as I commanded.”^(AQ)

¹⁹ But Aaron replied to Moses, “See, today they presented their sin offering and their burnt offering before the Lord. Since these things have happened to me, if I had eaten the sin offering today, would it have been acceptable in the Lord’s sight?” ²⁰ When Moses heard this, it was acceptable to him.^[f]

The Parable of the Growing Seed

²⁶ “The kingdom of God^(A) is like this,” he said. “A man scatters seed on the ground. ²⁷ He sleeps^(B) and rises^(C) night^(D) and day; the seed sprouts and grows, although he doesn’t know how. ²⁸ The soil produces a crop^(E) by itself—first the blade, then the head, and then the full grain^(F) on the head. ²⁹ As soon as the crop is ready, he sends for the sickle,^(G) because the harvest^(H) has come.”

The Parable of the Mustard Seed

³⁰ And^(I) he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God,^(J) or what parable^(K) can we use to describe it? ³¹ It’s like a mustard seed^(L) that, when sown upon the soil, is the smallest of all the seeds on the ground. ³² And when sown,^(M) it comes up and grows taller than all the garden plants,^(N) and produces large branches, so that the birds of the sky^(O) can nest in its shade.”

Using Parables

³³ He was speaking the word^(P) to them with many parables^(Q) like these, as they were able to understand.^{(R) 34} He did not speak to them without a parable. Privately, however, he explained everything to his own disciples.^(S)

Wind and Waves Obey Jesus

³⁵ On^(T) that day, when evening had come, he told them, “Let’s cross over to the other side of the sea.” ³⁶ So they left the crowd and took him along since he was in the boat. And other boats were with him. ³⁷ A great windstorm^(U) arose, and the waves^(V) were breaking over the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. ³⁸ He was in the stern, sleeping^(W) on the cushion. So they woke him up^(X) and said to him, “Teacher! Don’t you care that we’re going to die?” ^(Y)

³⁹ He got up, rebuked^(Z) the wind, and said to the sea, “Silence!^(AA) Be still!” The wind ceased, and there was a great calm. ⁴⁰ Then he said to them, “Why are you afraid?^(AB) Do you still have no faith?”

⁴¹ And they were terrified^[a](AC) and asked one another, “Who then is this? Even the wind and the sea obey^(AD) him!” ^(AE)

Demons Driven Out by Jesus

5 They^(AF) came to the other side of the sea, to the region of the Gerasenes.^{[b] 2} As soon as he got out of the boat, a man with an unclean^(AG) spirit^(AH) came out of the tombs^(AI) and met him. ³ He lived in the tombs,^(AJ) and no one was able to restrain him anymore—not even with a chain^(AK)— ⁴ because he often had been bound with shackles and chains, but had torn the chains apart and smashed^(AL) the shackles. No one was strong enough to subdue^(AM) him. ⁵ Night^(AN) and day among the tombs^(AO) and on the mountains,^(AP) he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones.

⁶ When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and knelt down before him. ⁷ And he cried out with a loud voice, “What do you have to do with me, Jesus, Son^(AQ) of the Most High God?^(AR) I beg you before God, don’t torment^(AS) me!” ⁸ For he had told him, “Come out of the man, you unclean^(AT) spirit!”^(AU)

⁹ “What is your name?” he asked him.

“My name is Legion,”^(AV) he answered him, “because we are many.” ¹⁰ And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the region.

¹¹ A large herd of pigs^(AW) was there, feeding^(AX) on the hillside. ¹² The demons^[c] begged him, “Send us to the pigs, so that we may enter them.” ¹³ So he gave them permission, and the unclean^(AY) spirits^(AZ) came out and entered the pigs. The herd of about two thousand rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned there.

¹⁴ The men who tended them ran off^(BA) and reported it in the town and the countryside, and people went to see what had happened. ¹⁵ They came to Jesus and saw the man who had been demon-possessed,^(BB)(BC) sitting there, dressed and in his right mind;^(BD) and they were afraid.^{(BE) 16} Those who had seen it described to them what had happened to the demon-possessed^(BF) man and told about the pigs. ¹⁷ Then they began to beg him to leave their region.

¹⁸ As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged him earnestly that he might remain with him. ¹⁹ Jesus did not let him but told him, “Go home to your own people, and report to them how much the Lord^(BG) has done^(BH) for you and how he has had mercy on you.” ²⁰ So he went out and began to proclaim^(BI) in the Decapolis^(BJ) how much Jesus had done for him, and they were all amazed.^(BK)