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Leviticus 17

Sacredness of Blood.

1The LORD said to Moses:

2Speak to Aaron and his sons, as well as to all the Israelites, and tell them: This is what the LORD has commanded:

3^* Any Israelite who slaughters an ox or a sheep or a goat, whether in the camp or outside of it,

4without first bringing it to the entrance of the tent of meeting to present it as an offering to the LORD in front of the LORD’s tabernacle, shall be judged guilty of bloodshed^{* a}—that individual has shed blood, and shall be cut off^b from the people.

5This is so that such sacrifices as they used to offer in the open field the Israelites shall henceforth bring to the LORD at the entrance of the tent of meeting, to the priest, and sacrifice them there as communion sacrifices to the LORD.^c

6The priest will splash the blood on the altar of the LORD at the entrance of the tent of meeting and burn the fat for an odor pleasing to the LORD.

7No longer shall they offer their sacrifices to the demons^* with whom they prostituted themselves.^d This shall be an everlasting statute for them and their descendants.

8Tell them, therefore: Anyone, whether of the house of Israel or of the aliens residing among them, who offers a burnt offering or sacrifice

9without bringing it to the entrance of the tent of meeting to offer it to the LORD, shall be cut off from the people.

10^e As for anyone, whether of the house of Israel or of the aliens residing among them, who consumes any blood, I will set myself against that individual and will cut that person off from among the people,

11since the life of the flesh is in the blood,^f and I have given it to you to make atonement^* on the altar for yourselves, because it is the blood as life that makes atonement.

12That is why I have told the Israelites: No one among you, not even a resident alien, may consume blood.

13Anyone hunting,^* whether of the Israelites or of the aliens residing among them, who catches an animal or a bird that may be eaten, shall pour out its blood and cover it with earth,^g

14since the life of all flesh is its blood. I have told the Israelites: You shall not consume the blood of any flesh. Since the life of all flesh is its blood, anyone who consumes it shall be cut off.

15Everyone, whether a native or an alien, who eats of an animal that died of itself or was killed by a wild beast, shall wash his garments, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening, and then become clean.^h

16If one does not wash his garments and bathe, that person shall bear the penalty.

Leviticus 18

Laws Concerning Sexual Behavior.

1The LORD said to Moses:

2Speak to the Israelites and tell them: I, the LORD, am your God.^*

3You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you once lived, nor shall you do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you; do not conform to their customs.^a

4My decrees you shall carry out, and my statutes you shall take care to follow. I, the LORD, am your God.

5Keep, then, my statutes and decrees, for the person who carries them out will find life^* through them. I am the LORD.^b

6^* None of you shall approach a close relative^* to have sexual intercourse. I am the LORD.

7^* You shall not disgrace your father by having intercourse with your mother.^c She is your own mother; you shall not have intercourse with her.

8You shall not have intercourse with your father’s wife, for that would be a disgrace to your father.

9You shall not have intercourse with your sister,^{* d} your father’s daughter or your mother’s daughter, whether she was born in your own household or born elsewhere.

10You shall not have intercourse with your son’s daughter or with your daughter’s daughter,^* for that would be a disgrace to you.

11You shall not have intercourse with the daughter whom your father’s wife bore to him in his household,^e since she, too, is your sister.

12You shall not have intercourse with your father’s sister,^f since she is your father’s relative.

13You shall not have intercourse with your mother’s sister, since she is your mother’s relative.

14You shall not disgrace your father’s brother by having sexual relations with his wife,^g since she, too, is your aunt.

15You shall not have intercourse with your daughter-in-law;^{* h} she is your son’s wife; you shall not have intercourse with her.

16You shall not have intercourse with your brother’s wife;^{* i} that would be a disgrace to your brother.

17You shall not have intercourse with a woman and also with her daughter, nor shall you marry and have intercourse with her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter;^j they are related to her. This would be shameful.

18While your wife is still living you shall not marry her sister as her rival and have intercourse with her.^k

19You shall not approach a woman to have intercourse with her while she is in her menstrual uncleanness.^l

20You shall not have sexual relations with your neighbor’s wife,^{* m} defiling yourself with her.

21ⁿ You shall not offer any of your offspring for immolation to Molech,^* thus profaning the name of your God. I am the LORD.

22You shall not lie with a male as with a woman;^o such a thing is an abomination.

23You shall not have sexual relations with an animal, defiling yourself with it; nor shall a woman set herself in front of an animal to mate with it; that is perverse.^p

24Do not defile yourselves by any of these things, because by them the nations whom I am driving out of your way have defiled themselves.

25And so the land has become defiled, and I have punished it for its wickedness, and the land has vomited out its inhabitants.^q

26You, however, must keep my statutes and decrees, avoiding all these abominations, both the natives and the aliens resident among you—

27because the previous inhabitants did all these abominations and the land became defiled;

28otherwise the land will vomit you out also for having defiled it, just as it vomited out the nations before you.

29For whoever does any of these abominations shall be cut off from the people.

30Heed my charge, then, not to observe the abominable customs that have been observed before your time, and thus become impure by them.^r I, the LORD, am your God.

Romans 6

Freedom from Sin; Life in God.

1^* What then shall we say? Shall we persist in sin that grace may abound? Of course not!^a

2How can we who died to sin yet live in it?^b

3Or are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?^c

4We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life.^d

5For if we have grown into union with him through a death like his, we shall also be united with him in the resurrection.^e

6We know that our old self was crucified with him, so that our sinful body might be done away with, that we might no longer be in slavery to sin.^f

7For a dead person has been absolved from sin.

8If, then, we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him.^g

9We know that Christ, raised from the dead, dies no more; death no longer has power over him.^h

10As to his death, he died to sin once and for all; as to his life, he lives for God.ⁱ

11Consequently, you too must think of yourselves as [being] dead to sin and living for God in Christ Jesus.^j

12^* Therefore, sin must not reign over your mortal bodies so that you obey their desires.^k

13And do not present the parts of your bodies to sin as weapons for wickedness, but present yourselves to God as raised from the dead to life and the parts of your bodies to God as weapons for righteousness.^l

14For sin is not to have any power over you, since you are not under the law but under grace.^m

15What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? Of course not!ⁿ

16Do you not know that if you present yourselves to someone as obedient slaves,^o you are slaves of the one you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?^p

17But thanks be to God that, although you were once slaves of sin, you have become obedient from the heart to the pattern of teaching to which you were entrusted.^*

18Freed from sin, you have become slaves of righteousness.

19I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your nature. For just as you presented the parts of your bodies as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness for lawlessness, so now present them as slaves to righteousness for sanctification.

20^q For when you were slaves of sin, you were free from righteousness.^*

21But what profit did you get then from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.^r

22But now that you have been freed from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit that you have leads to sanctification,^* and its end is eternal life.^s

23For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.^t

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