But you know it was because of a physical illness that I first proclaimed the gospel to you,

“Tell Aaron, ‘No man from your descendants throughout their generations ¹  who has a physical flaw ²  is to approach to present the food of his God.

Therefore we do not despair, ¹  but even if our physical body ²  is wearing away, our inner person ³  is being renewed day by day.

because some say, “His letters are weighty and forceful, but his physical presence is weak ¹  and his speech is of no account.” ² 

but now he has reconciled you ¹  by his physical body through death to present you holy, without blemish, and blameless before him –

For “physical exercise ¹  has some value, but godliness is valuable in every way. It holds promise for the present life and for the life to come.”

who has become a priest not by a legal regulation about physical descent ¹  but by the power of an indestructible life.

No man from the descendants of Aaron the priest who has a physical flaw may step forward ¹  to present the Lord’s gifts; he has a physical flaw, so he must not step forward to present the food of his God.

Certainly ¹  no man who has a physical flaw is to approach: a blind man, or one who is lame, or one with a slit nose, ²  or a limb too long,

but he must not go into the veil-canopy ¹  or step forward to the altar because he has a physical flaw. Thus ²  he must not profane my holy places, for I am the Lord who sanctifies them.’”

and though my physical condition put you to the test, you did not despise or reject me. ¹  Instead, you welcomed me as though I were an angel of God, ²  as though I were Christ Jesus himself! ³ 

Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I fill up in my physical body – for the sake of his body, the church – what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ.

And this prefigured baptism, which now saves you ¹  – not the washing off of physical dirt ²  but the pledge ³  of a good conscience to God – through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

young men in whom there was no physical defect and who were handsome, ¹  well versed in all kinds of wisdom, well educated ²  and having keen insight, ³  and who were capable ⁴  of entering the king’s royal service ⁵  – and to teach them the literature and language ⁶  of the Babylonians. ⁷