Daily Text and Bible Reading: Saturday, February 8 [Press play below]

22.1 Jehovah spoke further to Moses, saying:
22.2 “Tell Aaron and his sons that they should be careful how they handle the holy things of the Israelites and not profane my holy name regarding the things they are sanctifying to me. I am Jehovah.
22.3 Say to them, ‘Throughout your generations, any of your offspring who, while he is unclean, comes near to the holy things that the Israelites sanctify to Jehovah, that person will be cut off from before me. I am Jehovah.
22.4 No man of Aaron’s offspring who has leprosy or a discharge may eat of the holy things until he becomes clean, neither the man who touches someone who became unclean by a dead person, nor a man who has a seminal emission,
22.5 nor a man who touches an unclean swarming creature or who touches a man who is unclean for any reason and who can make him unclean.
22.6 The person who touches any of these will be unclean until the evening and may not eat any of the holy things, but he should bathe himself in water.
22.7 When the sun has set, he will be clean, and afterward he may eat some of the holy things because it is his food.
22.8 Also, he should not eat any animal found dead or anything torn by wild animals and become unclean by it. I am Jehovah.
22.9 “‘They must keep their obligation to me, so that they may not incur sin because of it and have to die for it because they were profaning it. I am Jehovah, who is sanctifying them.
22.10 “‘No unauthorized person may eat anything holy. No foreign guest of a priest or hired worker may eat anything holy.
22.11 But if a priest should purchase someone with his own money, that person may share in eating it. Slaves born in his house may also share in eating his food.
22.12 If the daughter of a priest should marry someone who is not a priest, she may not eat of the contribution of the holy things.
22.13 But if the daughter of a priest should become a widow or is divorced and she has no offspring and she returns to her father’s house as in her youth, she may eat some of her father’s food; but no unauthorized person may eat it.
22.14 “‘Now if a man eats a holy thing by mistake, he must add a fifth of its value and give the holy offering to the priest.
22.15 So they should not profane the holy things of the Israelites that they contribute to Jehovah
22.16 and cause them to incur punishment for their guilt because of eating their holy things; for I am Jehovah, who is sanctifying them.’”
22.17 Jehovah continued speaking to Moses, saying:
22.18 “Speak to Aaron and his sons and all the Israelites and say to them, ‘When an Israelite man or a foreign resident in Israel presents a burnt offering to Jehovah to fulfill his vows or to make a voluntary offering,
22.19 he should present a sound male from the herd, the young rams, or the goats, in order to gain approval.
22.20 You must not present anything with a defect, for it will not serve to gain approval for you.
22.21 “‘If a man presents a communion sacrifice to Jehovah to pay a vow or as a voluntary offering, it should be a sound animal from the herd or the flock, in order to gain approval. No defect at all should be in it.
22.22 No offering should be blind, have a fracture, a cut, a wart, scabbiness, or ringworm; you must not present any of these to Jehovah or make such an offering on the altar for Jehovah.
22.23 You may present a bull or a sheep with a limb that is too long or too short as a voluntary offering, but it will not be accepted with approval as a vow offering.
22.24 You must not present to Jehovah one having the testicles damaged or crushed or pulled off or cut off, and you should not offer such animals in your land.
22.25 And you must not present any of these from the hand of a foreigner as the bread of your God, for they are corrupted and defective. They will not be accepted with approval for you.’”
22.26 Jehovah spoke further to Moses, saying:
22.27 “When a bull or a young ram or a goat is born, it will continue with its mother for seven days, but from the eighth day forward it will be accepted with approval as an offering, an offering made by fire to Jehovah.
22.28 As for a bull or a sheep, you must not slaughter it and its young on the same day.
22.29 “If you sacrifice a thanksgiving sacrifice to Jehovah, you should sacrifice it to gain approval for yourselves.
22.30 It should be eaten on that day. You must not leave any of it until morning. I am Jehovah.
22.31 “You must keep my commandments and carry them out. I am Jehovah.
22.32 You must not profane my holy name, and I must be sanctified in the midst of the Israelites. I am Jehovah, who is sanctifying you,
22.33 the one bringing you out of the land of Egypt to prove myself God to you. I am Jehovah.”
23.1 Jehovah continued speaking to Moses, saying:
23.2 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘The seasonal festivals of Jehovah that you should proclaim are holy conventions. These are my seasonal festivals:
23.3 “‘Six days work may be done, but on the seventh day is a sabbath of complete rest, a holy convention. You may not do any sort of work. It is to be a sabbath to Jehovah wherever you dwell.
23.4 “‘These are the seasonal festivals of Jehovah, holy conventions that you should proclaim at the times appointed for them:
23.5 In the first month, on the 14th day of the month, at twilight is the Passover to Jehovah.
23.6 “‘On the 15th day of this month is the Festival of Unleavened Bread to Jehovah. Seven days you should eat unleavened bread.
23.7 On the first day, you will observe a holy convention. You should not do any hard work.
23.8 But you are to present an offering made by fire to Jehovah for seven days. There will be a holy convention on the seventh day. You should not do any hard work.’”
23.9 Jehovah continued to speak to Moses, saying:
23.10 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘When you eventually come into the land that I am giving you and you have reaped its harvest, you must bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest.
23.11 And he will wave the sheaf back and forth before Jehovah to gain approval for you. The priest should wave it on the day after the Sabbath.
23.12 On the day you have the sheaf waved, you must offer a sound young ram in its first year, as a burnt offering to Jehovah.
23.13 Its grain offering will be two tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, as an offering made by fire to Jehovah, a pleasing aroma. Its drink offering will be a fourth of a hin of wine.
23.14 You must not eat any bread, roasted grain, or new grain until this day, until you bring the offering of your God. It is a lasting statute for all your generations wherever you dwell.
23.15 “‘You are to count seven sabbaths from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you bring the sheaf of the wave offering. They should be complete weeks.
23.16 You will count off 50 days until the day after the seventh Sabbath, and then you should present a new grain offering to Jehovah.
23.17 You should bring from your dwelling places two loaves as a wave offering. These should be made of two tenths of an ephah of fine flour. They should be baked with leaven, as first ripe fruits to Jehovah.
23.18 And you should present along with the loaves seven sound male lambs, each a year old, and one young bull and two rams. They will serve as a burnt offering to Jehovah along with the corresponding grain offering and drink offerings, as an offering made by fire, of a pleasing aroma to Jehovah.
23.19 And you must offer one young goat as a sin offering and two male lambs, each a year old, as a communion sacrifice.
23.20 The priest will wave them back and forth along with the loaves of the first ripe fruits, as a wave offering before Jehovah, together with the two male lambs. They should serve as something holy to Jehovah for the priest.
23.21 On this day you will make a proclamation for a holy convention for yourselves. You may not do any hard work. It is a lasting statute in all your dwelling places for all your generations.
23.22 “‘When you reap the harvest of your land, you must not reap the edge of your field completely and you should not pick up what is left from your harvest. You should leave it for the poor and for the foreign resident. I am Jehovah your God.’”
23.23 Jehovah went on speaking to Moses, saying:
23.24 “Tell the Israelites, ‘In the seventh month, on the first of the month, you should observe a complete rest, a memorial signaled by a trumpet blast, a holy convention.
23.25 You may not do any hard work, and you will present an offering made by fire to Jehovah.’”
23.26 Jehovah spoke further to Moses, saying:
23.27 “However, on the tenth of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. You should observe a holy convention, and you must afflict yourselves and present an offering made by fire to Jehovah.
23.28 You are not to do any sort of work on this particular day because it is a day of atonement to make atonement for you before Jehovah your God.
23.29 Anyone who will not afflict himself on this day will be cut off from his people.
23.30 And I will destroy from among his people every person who does any sort of work on this day.
23.31 You must not do any sort of work. It is a lasting statute for all your generations wherever you dwell.
23.32 It is a sabbath of complete rest for you, and you will afflict yourselves on the ninth of the month in the evening. You should observe your sabbath from evening to evening.”
23.33 Jehovah continued speaking to Moses, saying:
23.34 “Tell the Israelites, ‘On the 15th day of this seventh month is the Festival of Booths for seven days to Jehovah.
23.35 There is to be a holy convention on the first day, and you should not do any hard work.
23.36 Seven days you must present an offering made by fire to Jehovah. On the eighth day, you should observe a holy convention, and you should present an offering made by fire to Jehovah. It is a solemn assembly. You may not do any hard work.
23.37 “‘These are the seasonal festivals of Jehovah that you should proclaim as holy conventions for presenting an offering made by fire to Jehovah: the burnt offering and the grain offering of the sacrifice and the drink offerings according to the daily schedule.
23.38 These are in addition to what is offered on Jehovah’s sabbaths, and your gifts, your vow offerings, and your voluntary offerings, which you should give to Jehovah.
23.39 However, on the 15th day of the seventh month, when you have gathered the produce of the land, you should celebrate the festival of Jehovah for seven days. On the first day is a complete rest and on the eighth day is a complete rest.
23.40 On the first day, you will take the fruit of majestic trees, the fronds of palm trees, the branches of leafy trees and poplars of the valley, and you will rejoice before Jehovah your God for seven days.
23.41 You will celebrate it as a festival to Jehovah for seven days in the year. As a lasting statute during all your generations, you should celebrate it in the seventh month.
23.42 You should dwell in the booths for seven days. All the natives in Israel should dwell in the booths,
23.43 so that your future generations may know that it was in the booths that I made the Israelites dwell when I was bringing them out of the land of Egypt. I am Jehovah your God.’”
23.44 So Moses spoke of the seasonal festivals of Jehovah to the Israelites.