The Daily Audio Bible

²² If the people want to remain in the land that I am giving to them, they must obey my laws and my rules. ²³ The people who are living in Canaan now are doing bad things. I, the Lord, hate them because they do these things. I will send them out of Canaan. ²⁴ I, the Lord, will give their land to Israel's people. I will give it to you and to your children to keep for all time. In that land, there is plenty of food and drink, enough for everyone. I am the Lord your God. I want you to be separate from other people.

²⁵ The people must know which animals are clean. And they must know which animals are unclean. They must know which birds are clean. And they must know which birds are unclean. They must not eat any animal or bird that is unclean. ²⁶ I am the Lord and I am holy. So my people must be holy for me. I have made them separate from other people. They belong to me.

²⁷ A man or a woman who uses magic is doing a wrong thing. People must throw stones at that person until they die. Their sin will cause their death.’

Rules for the priests

21 The Lord said to Moses, ‘Say this to the priests. They must not touch a dead body. That would make them unclean. ² It may be the body of a person from their own family. The priest can touch the dead person if it is his mother or father. He can touch the dead person if it is his son or his daughter or his brother. ³ He can touch the dead person if it is his sister. But he must not touch her if she has a husband. ⁴ The priest must not touch a dead person who is married to a person of his family. That would make him unclean.

⁵ A priest must not cut all the hair from his head. He must not cut the sides of his beard. He must not cut his body. ⁶ A priest must be holy. He must not speak bad words about the Lord. He is the person who sacrifices the people's burnt offerings.

⁷ A priest must not marry a woman who has left her husband. He must not marry a woman if men have paid her to have sex with her. He must not marry a woman whose husband has sent her away. A priest must be holy. ⁸ A priest is holy because he sacrifices the people's offerings to God. A priest is holy because I, the Lord, am holy.

⁹ A priest's daughter must not have sex with men who pay her. That would make her unclean. She would take away her father's honour. If she does not obey, you must burn her in a fire.

¹⁰ They have poured special oil on the leader of the priests' head to show that he is greater than his brothers. He must wear special clothes. He must comb his hair. He must not tear his clothes. ¹¹ He must not go into a room where there is a dead body. Even if it is the body of his parent, he must not go in. It will make him unclean. ¹² He must not leave the house of God. He has the holy oil on his head. He must be separate. I am the Lord.

¹³ The leader of the priests must marry a woman who has not had sex before. ¹⁴ The woman must not have had a husband who died. She must not have a husband that she has left. Men must not have paid to have sex with her. She must be a woman from Israel's people, ¹⁵ so that their children will be holy. I am the Lord. I make priests holy.’

¹⁶ The Lord said to Moses, ¹⁷ ‘Talk to Aaron. Say, “A priest who does not have a perfect body must not sacrifice the burnt offerings to God.” This rule is for now and for all time. ¹⁸ A priest who cannot see must not sacrifice the food to God. A priest who cannot walk must not sacrifice food to God. A priest with a body that is the wrong shape must not offer food to God. ¹⁹ A priest with a hand that is the wrong shape must not offer food to God. A priest with a foot that is the wrong shape must not offer food to God. ²⁰ A priest with a back that is not straight must not offer food to God. Neither must a priest who is very small offer a food gift. A priest who has an eye disease or a skin disease must not offer food to God. Neither must a priest offer food if his testicles are spoiled. ²¹ If a priest's son has something wrong with his body, he must not come near to the altar. He must not give the food offering to the Lord. ²² He can eat God's holy food and God's most holy food. ²³ But none of Aaron's family who is not perfect can go near the holy curtain or the altar. He would make the holy places unclean. I am the Lord. I make them holy.’

²⁴ Moses told all these rules to Aaron, to his sons and to all Israel's people.

22 The Lord said to Moses, ² ‘Israel's people give gifts to God. Those gifts are holy. Tell Aaron and his sons that those things are holy. Tell them that they must remember that. They must give honour to my name. I am the Lord.

³ One of your sons may not be clean. That son must not come near the Lord's holy offerings. But perhaps he may not obey my rule. He might go near to the holy gifts. The priests who are clean must punish him. They must send him away. He must go from God's house. I am the Lord. This rule is for now and for all time. ⁴ If a son of Aaron has a skin disease, he must not eat the holy gifts. If pus is coming from his body, he is not clean. He must not eat the holy offerings until he is clean. He might touch something that has touched a dead body. Or if he touches an unclean man, he will become unclean. The man may be unclean because semen is coming from his body. ⁵ Aaron's son might touch an animal that moves on its stomach. Or he might touch a person who is not clean. If he does, Aaron's son will be unclean. ⁶ The son of Aaron who touches any of these things will be unclean until evening. He must not eat any of the holy gifts until he washes his body. ⁷ When the sun goes down, he will be clean. He can eat the holy gifts. They are his food. ⁸ He might find something that is dead. He must not eat it. He must not eat anything that an animal has torn. It will make him unclean. I am the Lord.

⁹ Aaron's sons must obey God's rules. If they do not obey them, it is a sin. They will die. I am the Lord who makes people holy. ¹⁰ Only a person who is from the priest's family can eat the holy gifts. Another person who is living in the priest's house must not eat the holy gifts. If a person is being paid to work for the priest, he must not eat the holy gifts. ¹¹ A slave can eat the holy gifts if he was born in the priest's house. Or he can eat the holy gifts if the priest bought him. ¹² A priest's daughter might marry a man who is not a priest. If she has done that, she must not eat the holy food. ¹³ A priest's daughter's husband might send her away. Or her husband might die. She might not have any children. She may go back to live in her father's house. Then she can eat her father's food.

¹⁴ A person might make a mistake and eat a holy gift. He must give back to the priest the same food. He must also give one fifth more. ¹⁵ The priest must not give the Lord's holy gifts to people who are not from Aaron's family. The gifts would become unclean. ¹⁶ If the people eat them they are sinning. They will have to pay for their sin. I am the Lord and I make them holy.’

Three disciples see how great Jesus is

9 Jesus then said to them, ‘I tell you this: Some people who are standing here will see God begin to rule in his kingdom with great power. They will see that before they die.’

² Six days after that, Jesus asked Peter, James and John to go with him. Jesus led them up a high mountain, where they were alone together. Peter, James and John saw Jesus change in front of them. ³ His clothes became very white; they were shining. They were a brighter white than anyone on earth could wash them. ⁴ Then Elijah and Moses appeared in front of the three disciples. Elijah and Moses were talking with Jesus.^[a][b]

⁵ So Peter said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, it is good that we are here. Please let us build three huts. One hut will be for you. One hut will be for Moses. And one hut will be for Elijah.’ ⁶ Peter did not really know what to say. That was because the three disciples were very afraid.^[c]

⁷ Then a cloud appeared and it covered them all. A voice spoke from the cloud and it said, ‘This is my Son, and I love him. Listen to him.’

⁸ At that moment, the three disciples looked around. They saw that nobody else was there now. Only Jesus was there with them.

⁹ While they were walking down the mountain, Jesus said to the three disciples, ‘You must not tell anyone now about the things that you have just seen. One day the Son of Man will become alive again after his death. Then you can tell people about these things.’ ¹⁰ The three disciples kept these words secret. But they talked together about the words, ‘become alive again after his death’. They asked each other, ‘What does this mean?’

¹¹ Then the three disciples asked Jesus, ‘Why do the teachers of God's Law say that God's prophet Elijah must return first, before the Messiah comes?’

¹² Jesus said to them, ‘Elijah does come first. He makes everything ready. But what is written in the Bible about the Son of Man? It says that people will cause him to suffer a lot. They will think that he is nothing.^{[d] 13} But I tell you that Elijah has already come.^[e] People did to him everything that they wanted to do. The Bible already showed that those things would happen to him.’

Jesus helps a boy who has a bad spirit

¹⁴ They reached the place where the other disciples were. They saw that there was a large crowd there with them. Some teachers of God's Law were arguing with the disciples. ¹⁵ The people in the crowd saw Jesus and immediately they were very surprised. They ran to say ‘hello’ to Jesus.

¹⁶ Jesus asked his disciples, ‘What are you arguing about with the teachers of God's Law?’

¹⁷ A man in the crowd answered. He said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, I brought my son to you. He is not able to speak because he has a bad spirit. ¹⁸ When the bad spirit takes hold of him, it throws him to the ground. Water comes out of his mouth and he bites his teeth together. Then his body stops moving. I asked your disciples to send the spirit out of him. But they were not able to do it.’

¹⁹ Jesus replied, ‘You people today still do not believe in God. I have been with you for a long time and still you do not believe. It is difficult for me to be patient with you. Bring the boy to me.’

²⁰ So the people brought the boy to Jesus. When the bad spirit saw Jesus, it immediately caused the boy's body to shake strongly. The boy fell onto the ground and he rolled about. Water was coming from his mouth.

²¹ Jesus asked the boy's father, ‘How long has he been like this?’

‘He has been like this since he was a small boy,’ the father replied. ²² ‘Often the spirit has caused him to fall into the fire or into water. It is trying to kill him. Please be kind to us. If you can do anything, help us!’

²³ Jesus said to the father, ‘You should not say, “If you can do anything.” Everything is possible for those people who believe.’

²⁴ Immediately, the boy's father shouted, ‘Oh! I believe! Help me to believe more!’

²⁵ Jesus saw that the crowd of people was quickly becoming bigger. So he told the bad spirit to stop. Jesus said to it, ‘Spirit, I am telling you that you must leave this boy. He cannot hear or speak because of you. I tell you to come out of him! You must never go into him again.’

²⁶ The spirit screamed. It caused the boy's body to shake many times. Then it came out of him. The boy seemed to be dead, so many people said, ‘He is dead.’ ²⁷ But Jesus held the boy's hand and he helped the boy to stand up.

²⁸ Jesus went into a house and the disciples were alone with him. Then they asked him, ‘Why could we not cause the bad spirit to leave the boy?’

²⁹ Jesus said to them, ‘You must pray. This kind of spirit will not leave a person unless you pray.’

A prayer when you are in trouble^[a]