Knox Bible

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The Lord gave Moses this message

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for the sons of Israel: Here are rules to be kept, when you have reached the settled home I mean to give you.

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When you offer the Lord ox or sheep in burnt-sacrifice, or by way of welcome-offering (whether in payment of a vow, or out of devotion, or because you would greet the Lord with acceptable fragrance on occasion of some solemn feast),

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the man who is immolating such a victim must make the Lord a bloodless offering as well. This must be a tenth of a bushel of flour, kneaded in three pints of oil,

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with the same measure of wine for a libation, for every lamb offered.✻

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For every ram a fifth of a bushel of flour, two quarts of oil,

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and the same measure of wine, a fragrant offering for the Lord’s acceptance.

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But when, by way of burnt-sacrifice, or offering for a vow, or welcome-offering, thy victim is a bullock,

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with each bullock thou must use three tenths of a bushel of flour, six pints of oil,

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and the same measure of wine, a fragrant offering, this too, for the Lord’s acceptance.

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A separate offering must be made

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to go with each bullock, or ram, or lamb, or kid.

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Native-born or foreign residents,

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all must use the same rite in doing sacrifice;

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precept and award are binding on you and on the aliens that dwell with you, without distinction.

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And the Lord gave Moses this command,

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to be laid on the sons of Israel:

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When you have reached the land I mean to give you,

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you must not eat the bread its harvest yields without assigning to the Lord first-fruits

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from your table. Just as you set apart first-fruits when your corn is threshed,

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you must give the Lord the first share when your dough is kneaded.

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It may be you will neglect one of these commandments through inadvertence; so many has the Lord given to Moses

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to be handed on to you, from the day when first he spoke to you till now.

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If it is the whole congregation that has thus unwittingly offended, they must offer a bullock, a burnt-sacrifice to please the Lord with the smell of its burning, and the bloodless offering and libations which due order demands; a goat, too, by way of offering for a fault.✻

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So the priest will make intercession for the whole congregation of Israel, and their fault shall be pardoned. It was an unwitting offence, and even so they have brought the Lord burnt-sacrifice, and a victim for fault, to atone for their error.

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When the whole congregation is guilty of such a fault through inadvertence, not only the people of Israel, but all the aliens that dwell among them, will receive forgiveness.

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If it is one person only that has unwittingly offended, the sacrifice due for the fault will be a yearling she-goat;

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and when the priest makes intercession for what was inadvertently done amiss, grace and pardon will be given.

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This law about faults of inadvertence must be observed by all alike, native-born or foreign resident.

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But if anyone, citizen or alien, is guilty of an offence through pride, and in a spirit of rebellion against the Lord, he is lost to his people.

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Would he despise the Lord’s word, annul his commandment? That fault deserves death, and he will be held to account for it.

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It happened once, as the Israelites were passing through the desert that a man was found gathering firewood on the sabbath day.

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When he was brought before Moses and Aaron and the common assembly of the people,

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they put him in ward, uncertain what they should do with him.

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But the Lord said to Moses, His life must pay for it; he must be stoned by the whole multitude, away from the camp.

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So they took him out and stoned him to death, as the Lord had bidden them.

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This, too, was the Lord’s word to Moses,

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Bid the Israelites pass blue cords through the corners of their cloaks, and hang tassels on them;

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reminding themselves, as they look on these, of all the commandments the Lord has given them. They must not let their thoughts and eyes wander free, into all manner of unfaithfulness,

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but rather bethink them of the Lord’s decrees and carry them out, a people set apart for their God;

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and that God the Lord, who brought them out of the land of Egypt to make them his own people.