Bible Reading Plan

Chapter 20

On Human Sacrifice and Immoralities

¹ Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

² "You shall also say to the sons of Israel: 'Anyone from the sons of Israel or from the strangers residing in Israel ^(C1)who gives any of his ^(F1)children to Molech, shall certainly be put to death; ^(C2)the people of the land shall stone him with stones.³ 'I will also set My face against that man and will cut him off from among his people, because he has given some of his ^(F1)children to Molech, ^(C1)so as to defile My sanctuary and ^(C2)to profane My holy name.⁴ 'If the people of the land, however, ^(F1)should ever disregard that man when he gives any of his ^(F2)children to Molech, so as not to put him to death,⁵ then I Myself will set My face against that man and against his family, and I will cut off from among their people both him and all those who play the prostitute with him, by playing the prostitute with Molech.

⁶ 'As for the person who turns to ^(F1)(C1)mediums and to spiritists, to play the prostitute with them, I will also set My face against that person and will cut him off from among his people.⁷ 'You shall consecrate yourselves therefore and ^(C1)be holy, for I am the LORD your God.⁸ 'So ^(C1)you shall keep My statutes and practice them; I am the LORD who sanctifies you.

⁹ '^(C1)If there is anyone who curses his father or his mother, he shall certainly be put to death. He has cursed his father or his mother, and has brought his ^(F1)own death upon himself.

¹⁰ '^(C1)If there is a man who commits adultery with another man's wife, one who commits adultery with his friend's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death.¹¹ '^(C1)If there is a man who sleeps with his father's wife, he has uncovered his father's nakedness. Both of them must be put to death, they have brought their ^(F1)own deaths upon themselves.¹² '^(C1)If there is a man who sleeps with his daughter-in-law, both of them must be put to death. They have committed ^(F1)incest, and have brought their ^(F2)own deaths upon themselves.¹³ '^(C1)If there is a man who sleeps with a male as those who sleep with a woman, both of them have committed a detestable act; they must be put to death. They have brought their ^(F1)own deaths upon themselves.¹⁴ '^(C1)If there is a man who ^(F1)marries a woman and her mother, it is an outrageous sin; both he and they shall be burned with fire, so that there will be no such outrageous sin in your midst.¹⁵ '^(C1)If there is a man who has sexual intercourse with an animal, he must be put to death; you shall also kill the animal.¹⁶ 'If there is a woman who approaches any animal to ^(F1)mate with it, you shall kill the woman and the animal; they must be put to death. They have brought their ^(F2)own deaths upon themselves.

¹⁷ '^(C1)If there is a man who takes his sister, his father's daughter or his mother's daughter, so that he sees her nakedness and she sees his nakedness, it is a disgrace; and they shall be cut off in the sight of the sons of their people. He has uncovered his sister's nakedness; he bears his guilt.¹⁸ '^(C1)If there is a man who sleeps with a menstruous woman and uncovers her nakedness, he has exposed her flow, and she has uncovered the flow of her blood; so both of them shall be cut off from among their people.¹⁹ '^(C1)You shall also not uncover the nakedness of your mother's sister or of your father's sister, for such a one has uncovered his ^(F1)blood relative; they will bear their guilt.²⁰ '^(C1)If there is a man who sleeps with his uncle's wife, he has uncovered his uncle's nakedness; they will bear their sin. They will die childless.²¹ '^(C1)If there is a man who takes his brother's wife, it is ^(F1)detestable; he has uncovered his brother's nakedness. They will be childless.

²² 'You are therefore to keep all My statutes and all My ordinances, and do them, so that the land to which I am bringing you to ^(F1)live will not ^(C1)vomit you out.²³ 'Furthermore, you shall not ^(F1)follow ^(C1)the customs of the nation which I am going to drive out before you, because they did all these things; ^(C2)therefore I have felt disgust for them.²⁴ 'So I have said to you, "^(C1)You are to take possession of their land, and I Myself will give it to you to possess, a land flowing with milk and honey." I am the LORD your God, who has ^(C2)singled you out from the peoples.²⁵ '^(C1)You are therefore to make a distinction between the clean animal and the unclean, and between the unclean bird and the clean; and you shall not make ^(F1)yourselves detestable by animal or by bird, or by anything ^(F2)that crawls on the ground, which I have distinguished for you as unclean.²⁶ 'So you are to be holy to Me, for I the LORD am holy; and I ^(C1)have singled you out from the peoples to be Mine.

²⁷ 'Now a man or a woman ^(C1)who is a medium or a spiritist ^(F1)must be put to death. They shall be stoned with stones; they have brought their ^(F2)own deaths upon themselves.'"

Chapter 14

John the Baptist Beheaded

^1 (F1)(C1)At that time ^(F2)(C2)Herod ^(F3)the tetrarch heard the news about Jesus,² and said to his servants, "^(C1)This is John the Baptist; he himself has been raised from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in him."

³ For when ^(C1)Herod had John arrested, he bound him and put him ^(C2)in prison because of ^(C3)Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip.⁴ For John had been saying to him, "^(C1)It is not lawful for you to have her."⁵ Although Herod wanted to put him to death, he feared the crowd, because they regarded ^(F1)John as ^(C1)a prophet.

⁶ But when Herod's birthday came, the daughter of ^(C1)Herodias danced ^(F1)before them and pleased ^(C2)Herod,⁷ so much that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked.⁸ And after being prompted by her mother, she ^(*)said, "Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter."⁹ And although he was grieved, the king commanded it to be given because of his oaths and ^(F1)his dinner guests.¹⁰ He sent word and had John beheaded in the prison.¹¹ And his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother.^12 (F1)John's disciples came and took away the body and buried ^(F2)it; and they went and reported to Jesus.

Five Thousand Men Fed

^13 (C1)Now when Jesus heard about John, He withdrew from there in a boat to a secluded place by Himself; and when the ^(F1)people heard about this, they followed Him on foot from the cities.¹⁴ When He came ^(F1)ashore, He ^(C1)saw a large crowd, and felt compassion for them and ^(C2)healed their sick.

¹⁵ Now when it was evening, the disciples came to Him and said, "This place is secluded and the hour is already past to eat; send the crowds away, so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves."¹⁶ But Jesus said to them, "They do not need to go; you give them something to eat!"¹⁷ They ^(*)said to Him, "We have nothing here except ^(C1)five loaves and two fish."¹⁸ And He said, "Bring them here to Me."¹⁹ And ordering the crowds to ^(F1)sit down on the grass, He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looked up toward heaven. He ^(C1)blessed the food and breaking the loaves, He gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.²⁰ And they all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up what was left over of the broken pieces: twelve full ^(C1)baskets.²¹ There were about five thousand men who ate, besides women and children.<