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When you sacrifice your communion sacrifice to the Lord, you shall sacrifice it so that it is acceptable on your behalf.

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19 if it is to be acceptable for you, it must be an unblemished male of the herd, of the sheep or of the goats.(A) 20 You shall not offer one that has any blemish, for such a one would not be acceptable on your behalf.(B) 21 When anyone presents a communion sacrifice(C) to the Lord from the herd or the flock in fulfillment of a vow, or as a voluntary offering, if it is to find acceptance, it must be unblemished; it shall not have any blemish. 22 One that is blind or lame or maimed, or one that has running lesions or sores or scabs, you shall not offer to the Lord; do not put such an animal on the altar as an oblation to the Lord. 23 [a]An ox or a sheep that has a leg that is too long or is stunted you may indeed present as a voluntary offering, but it will not be acceptable as a votive offering. 24 One that has its testicles bruised or crushed or torn out or cut off you shall not offer to the Lord. You shall neither do this in your own land 25 nor receive from a foreigner any such animals to offer up as the food of your God; since they are deformed or blemished, they will not be acceptable on your behalf.

26 [b]The Lord said to Moses: 27 When an ox or a lamb or a goat is born, it shall remain with its mother for seven days; only from the eighth day onward will it be acceptable, to be offered as an oblation to the Lord.(D) 28 You shall not slaughter an ox or a sheep on one and the same day with its young. 29 Whenever you offer a thanksgiving sacrifice to the Lord, so offer it that it may be acceptable on your behalf;

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Footnotes

  1. 22:23 Burnt offerings and communion sacrifices brought as voluntary offerings may have slight defects, probably because they are freely given and do not depend upon a prior promise as do votive offerings.
  2. 22:26–30 Other activities and procedures that would impair sacrifice are appended here. The rules in vv. 27–28 are reminiscent of the rule not to boil a young goat in its mother’s milk (Ex 23:19; 34:26; Dt 14:21) and not to take a bird and its eggs (Dt 22:6–7), all of which have a humanitarian tenor.

In the course of time Cain brought an offering to the Lord from the fruit of the ground, while Abel, for his part, brought the fatty portion[a] of the firstlings of his flock.(A) The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry and dejected.

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Footnotes

  1. 4:4 Fatty portion: it was standard practice to offer the fat portions of animals. Others render, less satisfactorily, “the choicest of the firstlings.” The point is not that Abel gave a more valuable gift than Cain, but that God, for reasons not given in the text, accepts the offering of Abel and rejects that of Cain.

[a](A)When you offer a blind animal for sacrifice,
    is there no wrong in that?
When you offer a lame or sick animal,
    is there no wrong in that?
Present it to your governor!
    Will he be pleased with you—or show you favor?
    says the Lord of hosts.
So now implore God’s favor, that he may have mercy on us!
    You are the ones who have done this;
Will he show favor to any of you?
    says the Lord of hosts.
10 [b]Oh, that one of you would just shut the temple gates
    to keep you from kindling fire on my altar in vain!
I take no pleasure in you, says the Lord of hosts;
    and I will not accept any offering from your hands!
11 (B)From the rising of the sun to its setting,
    my name is great among the nations;
Incense offerings are made to my name everywhere,
    and a pure offering;
For my name is great among the nations,
    says the Lord of hosts.
12 But you profane it by saying
    that the Lord’s table is defiled,
    and its food may be disdained.
13 You say, “See what a burden this is!”
    and you exasperate me, says the Lord of hosts;
You bring in what is mutilated, or lame, or sick;
    you bring it as an offering!
Will I accept it from your hands?
    says the Lord.
14 Cursed is the cheat who has in his flock an intact male,
    and vows it, but sacrifices to the Lord a defective one instead;
For a great king am I, says the Lord of hosts,
    and my name is feared among the nations.

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Footnotes

  1. 1:8 The sacrificial offering of a lame, sick, or blind animal was forbidden in the law (Lv 22:17–25; Dt 17:1).
  2. 1:10–11 The imperfect sacrifices offered by the people of Judah are displeasing to the Lord. Kindling fire on my altar: kindle the altar fire for sacrifice. In contrast, the Lord is pleased with the sacrifices offered by other peoples in other places (the rising of the sun: the far east; its setting: the far west). Since the people of other nations could not be expected to know the Lord’s name as did the people of Judah, the rhetorical purpose of this statement is to shame the latter. Incense offerings: in the ancient world, the hallmark of an offering made to a god was the smoke it produced on an altar. In the Old Testament, this was true not only of animals (Lv 8:20–21) but also of incense (Ex 30:7), suet (Lv 3:11), and grain offerings (Lv 6:8). In a Christian interpretation of Mal 1:10–11, the “pure offering” of Mal 1:11 is seen as a reference to sacrifice in the Messianic Age. The Council of Trent endorsed this interpretation (DS 1724).