for the life of all flesh is its blood. ¹  So I have said to the Israelites: You must not eat the blood of any living thing ²  because the life of every living thing is its blood – all who eat it will be cut off. ³ 

God saw the earth, and indeed ¹  it was ruined, ²  for all living creatures ³  on the earth were sinful. ⁴ 

They will eat the meat the same night; ¹  they will eat it roasted over the fire with bread made without yeast ²  and with bitter herbs.

It must be eaten in one house; you must not bring any of the meat outside the house, and you must not break a bone of it.

“You will be holy ¹  people to me; you must not eat any meat torn by animals in the field. ²  You must throw it to the dogs.

Priests ¹  must not have a bald spot shaved on their head, they must not shave the corner of their beard, and they must not cut slashes in their body. ² 

And their meat will be yours, just as the breast and the right hip of the raised offering is yours.

Who is there from the entire human race ¹  who has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the middle of the fire as we have, and has lived?

In God – I boast in his promise ¹  – in God I trust, I am not afraid. What can mere men ²  do to me? ³ 

Be warned, my son, of anything in addition to them. ¹  There is no end to the making ²  of many books, and much study is exhausting to the body. ³ 

“At that time ¹  Jacob’s splendor will be greatly diminished, ²  and he will become skin and bones. ³ 

The splendor ¹  of the Lord will be revealed, and all people ²  will see it at the same time. For ³  the Lord has decreed it.” ⁴ 

From one month ¹  to the next and from one Sabbath to the next, all people ²  will come to worship me,” ³  says the Lord.

The Lord said to the people of Judah, ¹  “The Lord God of Israel who rules over all ²  says: ‘You might as well go ahead and add the meat of your burnt offerings to that of the other sacrifices and eat it, too! ³ 

Then everyone will know that I am the Lord, who drew my sword from its sheath – it will not be sheathed again!’

just as you have given him authority over all humanity, ¹  so that he may give eternal life to everyone you have given him. ² 

For I could wish ¹  that I myself were accursed – cut off from Christ – for the sake of my people, ²  my fellow countrymen, ³ 

To them belong the patriarchs, ¹  and from them, ²  by human descent, ³  came the Christ, ⁴  who is God over all, blessed forever! ⁵  Amen.

So, brothers and sisters, ¹  I could not speak to you as spiritual people, but instead as people of the flesh, ²  as infants in Christ.

For no one has ever hated his own body ¹  but he feeds it and takes care of it, just as Christ also does the church,