Behar-Bechukotai

Passages

Torah: Leviticus 26:10 - 26:46
Gospel: Matthew 27:45-60

Torah — Leviticus 26:10 - 26:46

26:10 And you shall eat old grain, and you shall clear away the old before the new.

26:11 And I will put my dwelling place in your midst, and my inner self shall not abhor you.

26:12 And I will walk about in your midst, and I shall be your God, and you shall be my people.

26:13 I am Yahweh, your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, from being their slaves; and I broke the bars of your yoke, and I caused you to walk erectly.

26:14 Punishment for Disobedience “‘But if you do not listen to me and you do not carry out all these commands,

26:15 and if you reject my statutes and if your inner self abhors my regulations, to not carry out all my commands by your breaking my covenant,

26:16 I in turn will do this to you: then I will summon onto you horror, the wasting disease, and the fever that wastes eyes and that drains away life; and you shall sow your seed in vain, and your enemies shall eat it.

26:17 And I will set my face against you, and you shall be defeated before your enemies; and your haters shall rule over you, and you shall flee away, but there shall not be anybody who is pursuing you.

26:18 “‘And if in spite of these things you do not listen to me, then I will continue to discipline you seven times for your sins.

26:19 And I will break the pride of your strength; and I will make your heaven like iron and your land like copper.

26:20 And your strength shall be consumed in vain; and your land shall not give its produce, and the land’s trees shall not give their fruit.

26:21 “‘And if you go against me in hostility and you are not willing to listen to me, then I will add a plague onto you seven times according to your sins.

26:22 And I will send wild animals out among you, and they shall make you childless, and they shall cut down your domestic animals, and they shall make you fewer; and your roads shall be desolate.

26:23 “‘And if you do not accept correction from me through these things, but you go against me in hostility,

26:24 then I myself will also go against you in hostility, and I myself also will strike you seven times for your sins.

26:25 And I will bring upon you a sword that seeks vengeance for the covenant, and you shall be gathered to your cities; and I will send a plague in your midst, and you shall be given into the hand of an enemy.

26:26 At my breaking the supply of bread for you, then ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall return your bread by weight; and you shall eat it, and you shall not be satisfied.

26:27 “‘And if through this you do not listen to me and you go against me in hostility,

26:28 then I will go against you in hostile anger, and also I myself will discipline you seven times for your sins.

26:29 And you shall eat the flesh of your sons; and the flesh of your daughters you shall eat.

26:30 And I will destroy your high places, and I will cut down your incense altars, and I will place your corpses on your idols’ corpses; and my inner self shall abhor you.

26:31 And I will lay your cities in ruins, and I will lay waste your sanctuaries; and I shall not smell your sacrifices’ appeasing fragrance.

26:32 And I myself will lay waste the land, and your enemies who are living in it shall be appalled over it.

26:33 And I will scatter you among the nations, and I will draw a sword behind you; and your land shall be a desolation, and your cities shall be a ruin.

26:34 Then the land shall enjoy its Sabbaths all the days of its lying desolate, and you shall be in the land of your enemies; then the land shall rest, and it shall enjoy its Sabbaths.

26:35 All the days of its lying desolate it shall rest for the time that it had not rested during your Sabbaths while you were living on it.

26:36 As for the ones who remain among you, I will bring fearfulness in their hearts in the land of their enemies; and a sound of a windblown leaf shall pursue them, and they shall flee like flight before a sword, and they shall fall, but there shall not be a pursuer.

26:37 And they shall stumble over one another as from before a sword, but there shall not be a pursuer; and you shall have no resistance before your enemies.

26:38 And you shall perish among the nations, and the land of your enemies shall eat you.

26:39 And because of their guilt, the ones among you who remain shall decay in the land of their enemies; and also because of the iniquities of their ancestors, they shall decay with them.

26:40 “‘But when they confess their guilt and the guilt of their ancestors in their infidelity that they displayed against me, and moreover that they went against me in hostility—

26:41 I myself also went against them in hostility, and I brought them into the land of their enemies—or if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled and then they pay for their guilt,

26:42 I will remember my covenant with Jacob; and I will remember also my covenant with Isaac and also my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land.

26:43 And the land shall be deserted by them, and it shall enjoy its Sabbaths in its being desolate from them, and they themselves must pay for their guilt, simply because they rejected my regulations, and their inner self abhorred my statutes.

26:44 And in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies I will not reject them, and I will not abhor them to destroy them, to break my covenant with them, because I am Yahweh their God.

26:45 And I will remember the first covenant for them—whom I brought out from the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations to be their God. I am Yahweh.’”

26:46 These are the rules and the regulations and the laws that Yahweh gave between himself and the Israelites on Mount Sinai through Moses.

26:10 You will still be eating last year’s crops when you have to move them out to make room for new crops.

26:11 “‘I will live among you. I will not turn away from you.

26:12 I will walk among you. I will be your God. And you will be my people.

26:13 I am the Lord your God. I brought you out of Egypt. I did not want you to be slaves in Egypt anymore. I threw off your heavy load. I helped you walk with your heads held high.

26:14 Punishment for Not Obeying the Lord “‘But suppose you will not listen to me. You will not carry out all of my commands.

26:15 You will say no to my rules and turn away from my laws. And you will break my covenant by failing to carry out all of my commands.

26:16 Then here is what I will do to you. All at once I will bring terror on you. I will send sicknesses that will make you weak. I will send fever that will destroy your sight. It will slowly take your life away. When you plant seeds, it will not do you any good. Instead, your enemies will eat what you have planted.

26:17 I will turn against you. Then your enemies will win the battle over you. Those who hate you will rule over you. You will run away even when no one is chasing you.

26:18 “‘After all of that, suppose you still will not listen to me. Then I will punish you for your sins seven times.

26:19 I will break down your stubborn pride. I will make the sky above you like iron, and it will not rain. I will make the ground under you like bronze, and you will not be able to farm it.

26:20 You will work with all of your strength, but it will not do you any good. That is because your soil will not produce any crops. The trees of the land will not bear any fruit.

26:21 “‘Suppose you continue to be my enemy. And suppose you still refuse to listen to me. Then I will multiply your troubles many times because of your sins.

26:22 I will send wild animals against you. They will kill your children. They will destroy your cattle. There will be so few of you left that your roads will be deserted.

26:23 “‘After all of those things, suppose you still do not accept my warnings. And suppose you continue to be my enemy.

26:24 Then I myself will be your enemy. I will make you suffer for your sins again and again.

26:25 I will send war against you to punish you for breaking my covenant. When you go back into your cities, I will send a plague among you. You will be handed over to your enemies.

26:26 I will cut off your supply of bread. Ten women will need only one oven to bake your bread. They will weigh out the bread piece by piece. Even when you eat all of it, it will not be enough to satisfy you.

26:27 “‘After all of that, suppose you still do not listen to me. And suppose you continue to be my enemy.

26:28 Then I will be angry with you. I will be your enemy. I myself will again punish you for your sins over and over.

26:29 You will eat the dead bodies of your sons. You will also eat the dead bodies of your daughters.

26:30 “‘I will destroy the high places where you worship other gods. I will pull down your incense altars. I will pile up your dead bodies on the lifeless statues of your gods. And I will turn away from you.

26:31 I will completely destroy your cities. I will destroy your places of worship. The pleasant smell of your offerings will not give me any delight.

26:32 “‘I will destroy your land so completely that your enemies who live there will be shocked.

26:33 I will scatter you among the nations. I will pull out my sword and hunt you down. Your land and your cities will be completely destroyed.

26:34 “‘Then the deserted land will enjoy its sabbath years. It will rest. It will not be farmed. It will enjoy its sabbaths. But you will become prisoners in the country of your enemies.

26:35 The land will rest the whole time it is deserted. It was not able to rest during the sabbaths you lived in it.

26:36 “‘Some of you will be left in the lands of your enemies. I will fill your hearts with fear. The sound of a leaf that is blown by the wind will scare you away. You will run as if you were escaping from swords. You will fall down, even though no one is chasing you.

26:37 You will trip over one another as if you were running away from the battle. You will run away, even though no one is chasing you. You will not be able to stand and fight against your enemies.

26:38 “‘While you are still scattered among the nations, you will die. The lands of your enemies will destroy you.

26:39 You who are left in those lands will become weaker and weaker. You will die because of your sins and the sins of your parents.

26:40 “‘But suppose you admit that you and your parents have sinned. You admit the evil and dishonest things you have done against me. And you admit you have become my enemy.

26:41 What you did made me become your enemy. I let your enemies take you into their land. But suppose you stop being stubborn. You stop being proud. And you pay for your sin.

26:42 Then I will remember my covenant with Jacob. I will remember my covenant with Isaac. I will remember my covenant with Abraham. I will remember what I said to them about the land.

26:43 “‘You will leave the land. It will enjoy its sabbaths while it lies deserted because you are not there. You will pay for your sins because you said no to my laws. You turned away from my rules.

26:44 “‘But even after all of that, I will not say no to you or turn away from you. I will not destroy you completely in the land of your enemies. I will not break my covenant with you. I am the Lord your God.

26:45 Because of you, I will remember the covenant I made with the people of Israel who lived before you. I brought them out of Egypt to be their God. The nations saw me do it. I am the Lord.’”

26:46 Those are the orders, the laws and the rules of the covenant the Lord made on Mount Sinai. He made it between himself and the people of Israel through Moses.

Gospel — Matthew 27:45-60

27:45 Jesus Dies on the Cross Now from the sixth hour, darkness came over all the land until the ninth hour.

27:46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”)

27:47 And some of those who were standing there, when they heard it, said, “This man is summoning Elijah!”

27:48 And immediately one of them ran and took a sponge and filled it with sour wine and put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink.

27:49 But the others said, “Leave him alone! let us see if Elijah is coming to save him.”

27:50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and gave up his spirit.

27:51 And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, and the earth shook and the rocks were split.

27:52 And the tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised,

27:53 and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.

27:54 Now the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus, when they saw the earthquake and the things that took place, were extremely frightened, saying, “Truly this man was God’s Son!”

27:55 And there were many women there, observing from a distance, who had followed Jesus from Galilee, serving him,

27:56 among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.

27:57 Jesus Is Buried Now when it was evening, a rich man from Arimathea named Joseph came, who also was a disciple of Jesus himself.

27:58 This man approached Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him.

27:59 And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth,

27:60 and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut in the rock. And he rolled a large stone to the entrance of the tomb and went away.

27:45 Jesus Dies From noon until three o’clock, the whole land was covered with darkness.

27:46 About three o’clock, Jesus cried out in a loud voice. He said, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” This means “My God, my God, why have you deserted me?” ()

27:47 Some of those standing there heard Jesus cry out. They said, “He’s calling for Elijah.”

27:48 Right away one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar and put it on a stick. He offered it to Jesus to drink.

27:49 The rest said, “Leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to save him.”

27:50 After Jesus cried out again in a loud voice, he died.

27:51 At that moment the temple curtain was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook. The rocks split.

27:52 Tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life.

27:53 They came out of the tombs. After Jesus was raised to life, they went into the holy city. There they appeared to many people.

27:54 The Roman commander and those guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened. They were terrified. They exclaimed, “He was surely the Son of God!”

27:55 Not very far away, many women were watching. They had followed Jesus from Galilee to take care of his needs.

27:56 Mary Magdalene was among them. Mary, the mother of James and Joses, was also there. So was the mother of Zebedee’s sons.

27:57 Jesus Is Buried As evening approached, a rich man came from the town of Arimathea. His name was Joseph. He had become a follower of Jesus.

27:58 He went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. Pilate ordered that it be given to him.

27:59 Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth.

27:60 He placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb. Then he went away.

Passages

Torah — Leviticus 26:10 - 26:46

LEB translation

NIRV translation

Gospel — Matthew 27:45-60

LEB translation

NIRV translation