The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Saturday February 18, 2023 (NIV)

6 ^[a] The Lord said to Moses, ² If you sin:

⁴ at that point, once you have sinned and become guilty of sin, you must return the property you took by robbery or fraud, or the deposit that was left with you for safekeeping, or the lost property that you found, ⁵ or whatever it was that you swore falsely about. You must make amends for the principal amount and add one-fifth to it. You must give it to the owner on the day you become guilty. ⁶ You must bring to the priest as your compensation to the Lord a flawless ram from the flock at the standard value as a compensation offering. ⁷ The priest will make reconciliation for you before the Lord, and you will be forgiven for anything you may have done that made you guilty.

Priestly instructions

^8 [b] The Lord said to Moses: ⁹ Command Aaron and his sons: This is the Instruction for the entirely burned offering—the entirely burned offering that must remain on the altar hearth all night until morning, while the fire is kept burning. ¹⁰ The priest will dress in his linen robe, with linen undergarments on his body. Because the fire will have devoured the entirely burned offering on the altar, he must remove the ashes and place them beside the altar. ¹¹ The priest will then take off his clothes, dress in a different set of clothes, and take the ashes outside the camp to a clean location. ¹² The altar fire must be kept burning; it must not go out. Each morning the priest will burn wood on it, will lay out the entirely burned offering on it, and will completely burn the fat of the well-being offering on it. ¹³ A continuous fire must be kept burning on the altar; it must not go out.

¹⁴ This is the Instruction for the grain offering: Aaron’s sons will present it before the Lord in front of the altar. ¹⁵ The priest will remove a handful of the choice flour and oil from the grain offering, and all of the frankincense that is on it, and burn this token portion completely on the altar as a soothing smell to the Lord. ¹⁶ Aaron and his sons will eat the rest of it. It must be eaten as unleavened bread in a holy place; the priests must eat it in the meeting tent’s courtyard. ¹⁷ It must not be baked with leaven. I have made it the priests’ share from my food gifts. It is most holy like the purification offering and the compensation offering. ¹⁸ Only the males from Aaron’s descendants can eat it as a permanent portion from the Lord’s food gifts throughout your future generations. Anything that touches these food gifts will become holy.

¹⁹ The Lord said to Moses, ²⁰ This is the offering that Aaron and his sons must present to the Lord on the day of his anointment: one-tenth of an ephah^[c] of choice flour as a regular grain offering, half in the morning and half in the evening. ²¹ It must be prepared on a griddle with oil. You must bring it thoroughly mixed up and must present it as a grain offering of crumbled pieces^[d] as a soothing smell to the Lord. ²² The priest who is anointed from among Aaron’s sons to succeed him will prepare the offering as a permanent portion for the Lord. It will be completely burned as a complete offering. ²³ Every priestly grain offering must be a complete offering; it must not be eaten.

²⁴ The Lord said to Moses, ²⁵ Say to Aaron and his sons: This is the Instruction for the purification offering: The purification offering must be slaughtered before the Lord at the same place the entirely burned offering is slaughtered; it is most holy. ²⁶ The priest who offers it as a purification offering will eat it. It must be eaten in a holy place, in the meeting tent’s courtyard. ²⁷ Anything that touches the purification offering’s flesh will become holy. If some of its blood splashes on a garment, you must wash the bloodied part in a holy place. ²⁸ A pottery container in which the purification offering is cooked must be broken, but if it is cooked in a bronze container, that must be scrubbed and rinsed with water. ²⁹ Any male priest can eat it; it is most holy. ³⁰ But no purification offering can be eaten if blood from it is brought into the meeting tent to make reconciliation in the holy place; it must be burned with fire.

7 This is the Instruction for the compensation offering: It is most holy. ² The compensation offering must be slaughtered at the same place where the entirely burned offering is slaughtered, and its blood must be tossed against all sides of the altar. ³ All of its fat will be offered: the fat tail; the fat that covers the insides; ⁴ the two kidneys and the fat around them at the loins; and the lobe on the liver, which must be removed with the kidneys. ⁵ The priest must burn them completely on the altar as a food gift for the Lord; it is a compensation offering. ⁶ Any male priest can eat it. It must be eaten in a holy place; it is most holy.

⁷ The compensation offering is like the purification offering—they share the same Instruction: It belongs to the priest who makes reconciliation with it. ⁸ The hide of the entirely burned offering that a priest has offered belongs to the priest who offered it. ⁹ Any grain offering that is baked in an oven or that is prepared in a pan or on a griddle also belongs to the priest who offered it. ¹⁰ But every other grain offering, whether mixed with oil or dry, will belong to all of Aaron’s sons equally.

¹¹ This is the Instruction for the communal sacrifice of well-being that someone may offer to the Lord: ¹² If you are offering it for thanksgiving, you must offer the following with the communal sacrifice of thanksgiving: unleavened flatbread mixed with oil, unleavened thin loaves spread with oil, and flatbread of choice flour thoroughly mixed with oil. ¹³ You must present this offering, plus the leavened flatbread, with the communal thanksgiving sacrifice of well-being. ¹⁴ From this you will present one of each kind of offering as a gift to the Lord. It will belong to the priest who tosses the blood of the well-being offering.

¹⁵ The flesh of your communal thanksgiving sacrifice of well-being must be eaten on the day you offer it; you cannot save any of it until morning. ¹⁶ But if your communal sacrifice of well-being is payment for a solemn promise or if it is a spontaneous gift, it may be eaten on the day you offer it as your communal sacrifice, and whatever is left over can be eaten the next day. ¹⁷ But whatever is left over of the flesh of the communal sacrifice on the third day must be burned with fire. ¹⁸ If any of it is eaten on the third day, it will not be accepted. It will not be credited to the one who offered it. It will be considered foul, and the person who eats of it will be liable to punishment.

¹⁹ Flesh that touches any unclean thing must not be eaten; it must be burned with fire. Any clean person may eat the flesh, ²⁰ but anyone who eats the flesh of a communal sacrifice of well-being that belongs to the Lord while in an unclean state will be cut off from their people. ²¹ Whenever anyone touches any unclean thing—whether it is human uncleanness, an unclean animal, or any unclean and disgusting creature—and then eats the flesh of a communal sacrifice of well-being that belongs to the Lord, that person will be cut off from their people.

²² The Lord said to Moses: ²³ Tell the Israelites: You must not eat the fat of an ox, sheep, or goat. ²⁴ The fat of an animal that has died naturally or the fat of an animal that was killed by another animal may be put to any use, but you must definitely not eat it. ²⁵ If anyone eats the fat of an animal from which a food gift could be offered to the Lord, that person will be cut off from their people. ²⁶ You must not consume any blood whatsoever—whether bird or animal blood—wherever you may live. ²⁷ Any person who consumes any blood whatsoever will be cut off from their people.

Healing and throwing demons out

⁷ Jesus left with his disciples and went to the lake. A large crowd followed him because they had heard what he was doing. They were from Galilee, ⁸ Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, beyond the Jordan, and the area surrounding Tyre and Sidon. ⁹ Jesus told his disciples to get a small boat ready for him so the crowd wouldn’t crush him. ¹⁰ He had healed so many people that everyone who was sick pushed forward so that they could touch him. ¹¹ Whenever the evil spirits saw him, they fell down at his feet and shouted, “You are God’s Son!” ¹² But he strictly ordered them not to reveal who he was.

Jesus appoints twelve apostles

¹³ Jesus went up on a mountain and called those he wanted, and they came to him. ¹⁴ He appointed twelve and called them apostles. He appointed them to be with him, to be sent out to preach, ¹⁵ and to have authority to throw out demons. ¹⁶ He appointed twelve: Peter, a name he gave Simon; ¹⁷ James and John, Zebedee’s sons, whom he nicknamed Boanerges, which means “sons of Thunder”; ¹⁸ and Andrew; Philip; Bartholomew; Matthew; Thomas; James, Alphaeus’ son; Thaddaeus; Simon the Cananaean;^{[a] 19} and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus.

Misunderstandings about Jesus

²⁰ Jesus entered a house. A crowd gathered again so that it was impossible for him and his followers even to eat. ²¹ When his family heard what was happening, they came to take control of him. They were saying, “He’s out of his mind!”

²² The legal experts came down from Jerusalem. Over and over they charged, “He’s possessed by Beelzebul. He throws out demons with the authority of the ruler of demons.”

²³ When Jesus called them together he spoke to them in a parable: “How can Satan throw Satan out? ²⁴ A kingdom involved in civil war will collapse. ²⁵ And a house torn apart by divisions will collapse. ²⁶ If Satan rebels against himself and is divided, then he can’t endure. He’s done for. ²⁷ No one gets into the house of a strong person and steals anything without first tying up the strong person. Only then can the house be burglarized. ²⁸ I assure you that human beings will be forgiven for everything, for all sins and insults of every kind. ²⁹ But whoever insults the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven. That person is guilty of a sin with consequences that last forever.” ³⁰ He said this because the legal experts were saying, “He’s possessed by an evil spirit.”

Psalm 37^[a]

Of David.