One Year Bible.

Restrictions against the Unclean

¹Then the LORD said to Moses, ²“Tell Aaron and his sons to treat with respect the sacred offerings that the Israelites have consecrated to Me, so that they do not profane My holy name. I am the LORD.

³Tell them that for the generations to come, if any of their descendants in a state of uncleanness approaches the sacred offerings that the Israelites consecrate to the LORD, that person must be cut off from My presence. I am the LORD.

⁴If a descendant of Aaron has a skin disease or a discharge, he may not eat the sacred offerings until he is clean. Whoever touches anything defiled by a corpse or by a man who has an emission of semen, ⁵or whoever touches a crawling creature or a person that makes him unclean, whatever the uncleanness may be — ⁶the man who touches any of these will remain unclean until evening. He must not eat from the sacred offerings unless he has bathed himself with water.

⁷When the sun has set, he will become clean, and then he may eat from the sacred offerings, for they are his food. ⁸He must not eat anything found dead or torn by wild animals, which would make him unclean. I am the LORD. ⁹The priests must keep My charge, lest they bear the guilt and die because they profane it. I am the LORD who sanctifies them.

¹⁰No one outside a priest’s family may eat the sacred offering, nor may the guest of a priest or his hired hand eat it. ¹¹But if a priest buys a slave with his own money, or if a slave is born in his household, that slave may eat his food.

¹²If the priest’s daughter is married to a man other than a priest, she is not to eat of the sacred contributions. ¹³But if a priest’s daughter with no children becomes widowed or divorced and returns to her father’s house, she may share her father’s food as in her youth. But no outsider may share it.

¹⁴If anyone eats a sacred offering in error, he must add a fifth to its value and give the sacred offering to the priest. ¹⁵The priests must not profane the sacred offerings that the Israelites present to the LORD ¹⁶by allowing the people to eat the sacred offerings and thus to bear the punishment for guilt. For I am the LORD who sanctifies them.”

Worthy Offerings

¹⁷Then the LORD said to Moses, ¹⁸“Speak to Aaron and his sons and all the Israelites and tell them, ‘Any man of the house of Israel or any foreign resident who presents a gift for a burnt offering to the LORD, whether to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering, ¹⁹must offer an unblemished male from the cattle, sheep, or goats in order for it to be accepted on your behalf. ²⁰You must not present anything with a defect, because it will not be accepted on your behalf.

²¹When a man presents a peace offering to the LORD from the herd or flock to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering, it must be without blemish or defect to be acceptable. ²²You are not to present to the LORD any animal that is blind, injured, or maimed, or anything with a running sore, a festering rash, or a scab; you must not put any of these on the altar as a food offering to the LORD.

²³You may present as a freewill offering an ox or sheep that has a deformed or stunted limb, but it is not acceptable in fulfillment of a vow. ²⁴You are not to present to the LORD an animal whose testicles are bruised, crushed, torn, or cut; you are not to sacrifice them in your land. ²⁵Neither you nor a foreigner shall present food to your God from any such animal. They will not be accepted on your behalf, because they are deformed and flawed.’”

²⁶Then the LORD said to Moses, ²⁷“When an ox, a sheep, or a goat is born, it must remain with its mother for seven days. From the eighth day on, it will be acceptable as a food offering presented to the LORD. ²⁸But you must not slaughter an ox or a sheep on the same day as its young.

²⁹When you sacrifice a thank offering to the LORD, offer it so that it may be acceptable on your behalf. ³⁰It must be eaten that same day. Do not leave any of it until morning. I am the LORD.

³¹You are to keep My commandments and practice them. I am the LORD. ³²You must not profane My holy name. I must be acknowledged as holy among the Israelites. I am the LORD who sanctifies you, ³³who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God. I am the LORD.”

Paul in Macedonia and Greece

¹When the uproar had ended, Paul sent for the disciples. And after encouraging them, he said goodbye to them and left for Macedonia. ²After traveling through that area and speaking many words of encouragement, he arrived in Greece, ³where he stayed three months. And when the Jews formed a plot against him as he was about to sail for Syria, he decided to go back through Macedonia.

⁴Paul was accompanied by Sopater son of Pyrrhus from Berea, Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, Gaius from Derbe, Timothy, and Tychicus and Trophimus from the province of Asia. ⁵These men went on ahead and waited for us in Troas. ⁶And after the Feast of Unleavened Bread, we sailed from Philippi, and five days later we rejoined them in Troas, where we stayed seven days.

Eutychus Revived at Troas

⁷On the first day of the week we came together to break bread. Since Paul was ready to leave the next day, he talked to them and kept on speaking until midnight.

⁸Now there were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered. ⁹And a certain young man named Eutychus, seated in the window, was sinking into a deep sleep as Paul talked on and on. When he was sound asleep, he fell from the third story and was picked up dead. ¹⁰But Paul went down, threw himself on the young man, and embraced him. “Do not be alarmed!” he said. “He is still alive!”

¹¹Then Paul went back upstairs, broke bread, and ate. And after speaking until daybreak, he departed. ¹²And the people were greatly relieved to take the boy home alive.

From Troas to Miletus

¹³We went on ahead to the ship and sailed to Assos, where we were to take Paul aboard. He had arranged this because he was going there on foot. ¹⁴And when he met us at Assos, we took him aboard and went on to Mitylene. ¹⁵Sailing on from there, we arrived the next day opposite Chios. The day after that we arrived at Samos, and on the following day we came to Miletus.

¹⁶Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus to avoid spending time in the province of Asia, because he was in a hurry to reach Jerusalem, if possible, by the day of Pentecost.

Paul’s Farewell to the Ephesians

¹⁷From Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus for the elders of the church.

¹⁸When they came to him, he said, “You know how I lived the whole time I was with you, from the first day I arrived in the province of Asia. ¹⁹I served the Lord with great humility and with tears, especially in the trials that came upon me through the plots of the Jews. ²⁰I did not shrink back from declaring anything that was helpful to you as I taught you publicly and from house to house, ²¹testifying to Jews and Greeks alike about repentance to God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

²²And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. ²³I only know that in town after town the Holy Spirit warns me that chains and afflictions await me. ²⁴But I consider my life of no value to me, if only I may finish my course and complete the ministry I have received from the Lord Jesus — the ministry of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.

²⁵Now I know that none of you among whom I have preached the kingdom will see my face again. ²⁶Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men. ²⁷For I did not shrink back from declaring to you the whole will of God.

²⁸Keep watch over yourselves and the entire flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which He purchased with His own blood. ²⁹I know that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. ³⁰Even from your own number, men will rise up and distort the truth to draw away disciples after them. ³¹Therefore be alert and remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.

³²And now I commit you to God and to the word of His grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all who are sanctified.

³³I have not coveted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing. ³⁴You yourselves know that these hands of mine have ministered to my own needs and those of my companions. ³⁵In everything, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus Himself: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

³⁶When Paul had said this, he knelt down with all of them and prayed. ³⁷They all wept openly as they embraced Paul and kissed him. ³⁸They were especially grieved by his statement that they would never see his face again. Then they accompanied him to the ship.

Judgment on Moab

¹Concerning Moab, this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says:

“Woe to Nebo,

for it will be devastated.

Kiriathaim will be captured and disgraced;

the fortress will be shattered and dismantled.

²There is no longer praise for Moab;

in Heshbon they devise evil against her:

‘Come, let us cut her off from nationhood.’

You too, O people of Madmen, will be silenced;

the sword will pursue you.

³A voice cries out from Horonaim:

‘Devastation and great destruction!’

⁴Moab will be shattered;

her little ones will cry out.

⁵For on the ascent to Luhith

they weep bitterly as they go,

and on the descent to Horonaim

cries of distress resound

over the destruction:

⁶‘Flee! Run for your lives!

Become like a juniper in the desert.’

⁷Because you trust in your works and treasures,

you too will be captured,

and Chemosh will go into exile

with his priests and officials.

⁸The destroyer will move against every city,

and not one town will escape.

The valley will also be ruined,

and the high plain will be destroyed,

as the LORD has said.

⁹Put salt on Moab,

for she will be laid waste;

her cities will become desolate,

with no one to dwell in them.

¹⁰Cursed is the one who is remiss

in doing the work of the LORD,

and cursed is he who withholds

his sword from bloodshed.

¹¹Moab has been at ease from youth,

settled like wine on its dregs;

he has not been poured from vessel to vessel

or gone into exile.

So his flavor has remained the same,

and his aroma is unchanged.

¹²Therefore behold, the days are coming,

declares the LORD,

when I will send to him wanderers,

who will pour him out.

They will empty his vessels

and shatter his jars.

¹³Then Moab will be ashamed of Chemosh,

just as the house of Israel was ashamed

when they trusted in Bethel.

¹⁴How can you say, ‘We are warriors,

mighty men ready for battle’ ?

¹⁵Moab has been destroyed

and its towns have been invaded;

the best of its young men

have gone down in the slaughter,

declares the King,

whose name is the LORD of Hosts.

¹⁶Moab’s calamity is at hand,

and his affliction is rushing swiftly.

¹⁷Mourn for him, all you who surround him,

everyone who knows his name;

tell how the mighty scepter is shattered —

the glorious staff!

¹⁸Come down from your glory; sit on parched ground,

O daughter dwelling in Dibon,

for the destroyer of Moab has come against you;

he has destroyed your fortresses.

¹⁹Stand by the road and watch,

O dweller of Aroer!

Ask the man fleeing or the woman escaping,

‘What has happened?’

²⁰Moab is put to shame, for it has been shattered.

Wail and cry out!

Declare by the Arnon

that Moab is destroyed.

²¹Judgment has come upon the high plain—

upon Holon, Jahzah, and Mephaath,

²²upon Dibon, Nebo, and Beth-diblathaim,

²³upon Kiriathaim, Beth-gamul, and Beth-meon,

²⁴upon Kerioth, Bozrah, and all the towns of Moab,

those far and near.

²⁵The horn of Moab has been cut off,

and his arm is broken,”

declares the LORD.

²⁶“Make him drunk,

because he has magnified himself against the LORD;

so Moab will wallow in his own vomit,

and he will also become a laughingstock.

²⁷Was not Israel your object of ridicule?

Was he ever found among thieves?

For whenever you speak of him

you shake your head.

²⁸Abandon the towns and settle among the rocks,

O dwellers of Moab!

Be like a dove

that nests at the mouth of a cave.

²⁹We have heard of Moab’s pomposity,

his exceeding pride and conceit,

his proud arrogance and haughtiness of heart.

³⁰I know his insolence,”

declares the LORD,

“but it is futile.

His boasting is as empty as his deeds.

³¹Therefore I will wail for Moab;

I will cry out for all of Moab;

I will moan for the men of Kir-heres.

³²I will weep for you, O vine of Sibmah,

more than I weep for Jazer.

Your tendrils have extended to the sea;

they reach even to Jazer.

The destroyer has descended

on your summer fruit and grape harvest.

³³Joy and gladness are removed from the orchard

and from the fields of Moab.

I have stopped the flow of wine from the presses;

no one treads them with shouts of joy;

their shouts are not for joy.

³⁴There is a cry from Heshbon to Elealeh;

they raise their voices to Jahaz,

from Zoar to Horonaim and Eglath-shelishiyah;

for even the waters of Nimrim have dried up.

³⁵In Moab, declares the LORD,

I will bring an end

to those who make offerings on the high places

and burn incense to their gods.

³⁶Therefore My heart laments like a flute for Moab;

it laments like a flute for the men of Kir-heres,

because the wealth they acquired has perished.

³⁷For every head is shaved

and every beard is clipped;

on every hand is a gash,

and around every waist is sackcloth.

³⁸On all the rooftops of Moab

and in the public squares,

everyone is mourning;

for I have shattered Moab like an unwanted jar,”

declares the LORD.

³⁹“How shattered it is! How they wail!

How Moab has turned his back in shame!

Moab has become an object of ridicule and horror

to all those around him.”

⁴⁰For this is what the LORD says:

“Behold, an eagle swoops down

and spreads his wings against Moab.

⁴¹Kirioth has been taken,

and the strongholds seized.

In that day the heart of Moab’s warriors

will be like the heart of a woman in labor.

⁴²Moab will be destroyed as a nation

because he vaunted himself against the LORD.

⁴³Terror and pit and snare await you, O dweller of Moab,”

declares the LORD.

⁴⁴“Whoever flees the panic

will fall into the pit,

and whoever climbs from the pit

will be caught in the snare.

For I will bring upon Moab

the year of their punishment,”

declares the LORD.

⁴⁵“Those who flee will stand helpless in Heshbon’s shadow,

because fire has gone forth from Heshbon

and a flame from within Sihon.

It devours the foreheads of Moab

and the skulls of the sons of tumult.

⁴⁶Woe to you, O Moab!

The people of Chemosh have perished;

for your sons have been taken into exile

and your daughters have gone into captivity.

⁴⁷Yet in the latter days I will restore Moab from captivity,”

declares the LORD.

Here ends the judgment on Moab.

Judgment on the Ammonites

¹Concerning the Ammonites, this is what the LORD says:

“Has Israel no sons?

Is he without heir?

Why then has Milcom taken possession of Gad?

Why have his people settled in their cities?

²Therefore, behold, the days are coming,

declares the LORD,

when I will sound the battle cry

against Rabbah of the Ammonites.

It will become a heap of ruins,

and its villages will be burned.

Then Israel will drive out their dispossessors,

says the LORD.

³Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai has been destroyed;

cry out, O daughters of Rabbah!

Put on sackcloth and mourn;

run back and forth within your walls,

for Milcom will go into exile

together with his priests and officials.

⁴Why do you boast of your valleys—

your valleys so fruitful,

O faithless daughter?

You trust in your riches and say,

‘Who can come against me?’

⁵Behold, I am about to bring terror upon you,

declares the Lord GOD of Hosts,

from all those around you.

You will each be driven headlong,

with no one to regather the fugitives.

⁶Yet afterward I will restore the Ammonites from captivity,”

declares the LORD.

Judgment on Edom

⁷Concerning Edom, this is what the LORD of Hosts says:

“Is there no longer wisdom in Teman?

Has counsel perished from the prudent?

Has their wisdom decayed?

⁸Turn and run!

Lie low, O dwellers of Dedan,

for I will bring disaster on Esau

at the time I punish him.

⁹If grape gatherers came to you,

would they not leave some gleanings?

Were thieves to come in the night,

would they not steal only what they wanted?

¹⁰But I will strip Esau bare;

I will uncover his hiding places,

and he will be unable to conceal himself.

His descendants will be destroyed

along with his relatives and neighbors,

and he will be no more.

¹¹Abandon your orphans; I will preserve their lives.

Let your widows trust in Me.”

¹²For this is what the LORD says: “If those who do not deserve to drink the cup must drink it, can you possibly remain unpunished? You will not go unpunished, for you must drink it too. ¹³For by Myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, that Bozrah will become a desolation, a disgrace, a ruin, and a curse, and all her cities will be in ruins forever.”

¹⁴I have heard a message from the LORD;

an envoy has been sent to the nations:

“Assemble yourselves to march against her!

Rise up for battle!”

¹⁵“For behold, I will make you small among nations,

despised among men.

¹⁶The terror you cause

and the pride of your heart

have deceived you,

O dwellers in the clefts of the rocks,

O occupiers of the mountain summit.

Though you elevate your nest like the eagle,

even from there I will bring you down,”

declares the LORD.

¹⁷“Edom will become an object of horror.

All who pass by will be appalled

and will scoff at all her wounds.

¹⁸As Sodom and Gomorrah were overthrown

along with their neighbors,”

says the LORD,

“no one will dwell there;

no man will abide there.

¹⁹Behold, one will come up like a lion

from the thickets of the Jordan to the watered pasture.

For in an instant I will chase Edom from her land.

Who is the chosen one I will appoint for this?

For who is like Me, and who can challenge Me?

What shepherd can stand against Me?”

²⁰Therefore hear the plans

that the LORD has drawn up against Edom

and the strategies He has devised

against the people of Teman:

Surely the little ones of the flock will be dragged away;

certainly their pasture will be made desolate because of them.

²¹At the sound of their fall the earth will quake;

their cry will resound to the Red Sea.

²²Look! An eagle will soar and swoop down,

spreading its wings over Bozrah.

In that day the hearts of Edom’s mighty men

will be like the heart of a woman in labor.

Judgment on Damascus

²³Concerning Damascus:

“Hamath and Arpad are put to shame,

for they have heard a bad report;

they are agitated like the sea;

their anxiety cannot be calmed.

²⁴Damascus has become feeble;

she has turned to flee.

Panic has gripped her;

anguish and pain have seized her

like a woman in labor.

²⁵How is the city of praise not forsaken,

the town that brings Me joy?

²⁶For her young men will fall in the streets,

and all her warriors will be silenced in that day,”

declares the LORD of Hosts.

²⁷“I will set fire to the walls of Damascus;

it will consume the fortresses of Ben-hadad.”

Judgment on Kedar and Hazor

²⁸Concerning Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon defeated, this is what the LORD says:

“Rise up, advance against Kedar,

and destroy the people of the east!

²⁹They will take their tents and flocks,

their tent curtains and all their goods.

They will take their camels for themselves.

They will shout to them: ‘Terror is on every side!’

³⁰Run! Escape quickly!

Lie low, O residents of Hazor,”

declares the LORD,

“for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon

has drawn up a plan against you;

he has devised a strategy against you.

³¹Rise up, advance against a nation at ease,

one that dwells securely,”

declares the LORD.

“They have no gates or bars;

they live alone.

³²Their camels will become plunder,

and their large herds will be spoil.

I will scatter to the wind in every direction

those who shave their temples;

I will bring calamity on them

from all sides,”

declares the LORD.

³³“Hazor will become a haunt for jackals,

a desolation forever.

No one will dwell there;

no man will abide there.”

Judgment on Elam

³⁴This is the word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning Elam at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah. ³⁵This is what the LORD of Hosts says:

“Behold, I will shatter Elam’s bow,

the mainstay of their might.

³⁶I will bring the four winds against Elam

from the four corners of the heavens,

and I will scatter them

to all these winds.

There will not be a nation

to which Elam’s exiles will not go.

³⁷So I will shatter Elam before their foes,

before those who seek their lives.

I will bring disaster upon them,

even My fierce anger,”

declares the LORD.

“I will send out the sword after them

until I finish them off.

³⁸I will set My throne in Elam,

and destroy its king and officials,”

declares the LORD.

³⁹“Yet in the last days,

I will restore Elam from captivity,”

declares the LORD.