¹⁸ and burn the whole ram on the altar. It is a burnt offering to the Lord. It is a ^(A)pleasing aroma, a food offering^[a] to the Lord.

^19 (B)“You shall take the other ram, ^(C)and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram, ²⁰ and you shall kill the ram and take part of its blood and put it on the tip of the right ear of Aaron and on the tips of the right ears of his sons, and on the thumbs of their right hands and on the great toes of their right feet, and throw the rest of the blood against the sides of the altar. ²¹ Then you shall take part of the blood that is on the altar, and of the ^(D)anointing oil, and sprinkle it on Aaron and his garments, and on his sons and his sons' garments with him. He and his garments shall be holy, and his sons and his sons' garments with him.

²² “You shall also take the fat from the ram and the fat tail and the ^(E)fat that covers the entrails, and the long lobe of the liver and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them, and the right thigh (for it is a ram of ^(F)ordination), ²³ and ^(G)one loaf of bread and one cake of bread made with oil, and one wafer out of the basket of unleavened bread that is before the Lord. ²⁴ You shall put all these on the palms of Aaron and on the palms of his sons, and ^(H)wave them for a wave offering before the Lord. ²⁵ Then ^(I)you shall take them from their hands and burn them on the altar on top of the burnt offering, as a ^(J)pleasing aroma before the Lord. It is a food offering to the Lord.

²⁶ “You shall take the ^(K)breast of the ram of Aaron's ^(L)ordination and ^(M)wave it for a wave offering before the Lord, and it shall be your portion. ²⁷ And you shall consecrate the ^(N)breast of the wave offering that is waved and the ^(O)thigh of the priests' portion that is contributed from the ram of ^(P)ordination, from what was Aaron's and his sons'. ²⁸ It shall be for Aaron and his sons as a ^(Q)perpetual due from the people of Israel, for it is a ^(R)contribution. It shall be a ^(S)contribution from the people of Israel from their peace offerings, their contribution to the Lord.

²⁹ “The holy garments of Aaron ^(T)shall be for his sons after him; they shall ^(U)be anointed in them and ordained in them. ³⁰ The son who succeeds him as priest, who comes into the tent of meeting to minister in the Holy Place, shall wear them ^(V)seven days.

³¹ “You shall take the ram of ordination and ^(W)boil its flesh in a holy place. ³² And Aaron and his sons shall eat the flesh of the ram and the ^(X)bread that is in the basket in the entrance of the tent of meeting. ^33 (Y)They shall eat those things with which atonement was made at their ordination and consecration, but an ^(Z)outsider shall not eat of them, because they are holy. ³⁴ And if any of the flesh for the ordination or of the bread remain until the morning, then you shall ^(AA)burn the remainder with fire. It shall not be eaten, because it is holy.

³⁵ “Thus you shall do to Aaron and to his sons, according to all that I have commanded you. Through ^(AB)seven days shall you ordain them, ³⁶ and every day you shall offer a ^(AC)bull as a sin offering for atonement. Also you shall purify the altar, when you make atonement for it, and shall ^(AD)anoint it to consecrate it. ³⁷ Seven days you shall make atonement for the altar and consecrate it, and the ^(AE)altar shall be most holy. ^(AF)Whatever touches the altar shall become holy.

David's Mighty Men

^8 (A)These are the names of the mighty men whom David had: ^(B)Josheb-basshebeth a Tahchemonite; he was chief of the three.^[a] He wielded his spear^[b] against eight hundred whom he killed at one time.

⁹ And next to him among the three mighty men was Eleazar the son of ^(C)Dodo, son of ^(D)Ahohi. He was with David when they defied the Philistines who were gathered there for battle, and the men of Israel withdrew. ¹⁰ He rose and struck down the Philistines until his hand was weary, and his hand clung to the sword. And the Lord brought about a great victory that day, and the men returned after him only to strip the slain.

¹¹ And next to him was Shammah, the son of Agee the ^(E)Hararite. The Philistines gathered together at Lehi,^[c] where there was a plot of ground full of lentils, and the men fled from the Philistines. ¹² But he took his stand in the midst of the plot and defended it and struck down the Philistines, and the Lord worked a great victory.

¹³ And three of the thirty chief men went down and came about harvest time to David at the ^(F)cave of Adullam, when a band of Philistines was encamped ^(G)in the Valley of Rephaim. ¹⁴ David was then ^(H)in the stronghold, and ^(I)the garrison of the Philistines was then at Bethlehem. ¹⁵ And David said longingly, “Oh, that someone would give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem that is by the gate!” ¹⁶ Then the three mighty men broke through the camp of the Philistines and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem that was by the gate and carried and brought it to David. But he would not drink of it. He poured it out to the Lord ¹⁷ and said, “Far be it from me, O Lord, that I should do this. Shall I drink ^(J)the blood of the men who went at the risk of their lives?” Therefore he would not drink it. These things the three mighty men did.

¹⁸ Now Abishai, the brother of Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was chief of the thirty.^[d] And he wielded his spear against three hundred men^[e] and killed them and won a name beside the three. ¹⁹ He was the most renowned of the thirty^[f] and became their commander, but he did not attain to ^(K)the three.

²⁰ And ^(L)Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was a valiant man^[g] of ^(M)Kabzeel, a doer of great deeds. He struck down two ariels^[h] of Moab. He also went down and struck down a lion in a pit on a day when snow had fallen. ²¹ And he struck down an Egyptian, a handsome man. The Egyptian had a spear in his hand, but Benaiah went down to him with a staff and snatched the spear out of the Egyptian's hand and killed him with his own spear. ²² These things did Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and won a name beside the three mighty men. ²³ He was renowned among the thirty, but he did not attain to the three. And David set him over his bodyguard.

^24 (N)Asahel the brother of Joab was one of the thirty; Elhanan the son of Dodo of Bethlehem, ^25 (O)Shammah of Harod, Elika of Harod, ²⁶ Helez the Paltite, Ira the son of Ikkesh ^(P)of Tekoa, ²⁷ Abiezer ^(Q)of Anathoth, Mebunnai ^(R)the Hushathite, ²⁸ Zalmon ^(S)the Ahohite, Maharai ^(T)of Netophah, ²⁹ Heleb the son of Baanah ^(U)of Netophah, Ittai the son of Ribai of ^(V)Gibeah of the people of Benjamin, ³⁰ Benaiah ^(W)of Pirathon, Hiddai of the brooks of ^(X)Gaash, ³¹ Abi-albon the Arbathite, Azmaveth of ^(Y)Bahurim, ³² Eliahba the Shaalbonite, the sons of Jashen, Jonathan, ^33 (Z)Shammah the Hararite, Ahiam the son of Sharar the Hararite, ³⁴ Eliphelet the son of Ahasbai ^(AA)of Maacah, ^(AB)Eliam the son of ^(AC)Ahithophel the Gilonite, ³⁵ Hezro^{[i] (AD)}of Carmel, Paarai the Arbite, ³⁶ Igal the son of Nathan ^(AE)of Zobah, Bani the Gadite, ³⁷ Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai ^(AF)of Beeroth, the armor-bearer of Joab the son of Zeruiah, ^38 (AG)Ira the ^(AH)Ithrite, Gareb the Ithrite, ^39 (AI)Uriah the Hittite: thirty-seven in all.

²⁰ So they went into the court to the king, having put the scroll in ^(A)the chamber of Elishama the secretary, and they reported all the words to the king. ²¹ Then the king sent Jehudi to get the scroll, and he took it from the chamber of Elishama the secretary. And Jehudi read it to the king and all the officials who stood beside the king. ²² It was ^(B)the ninth month, and the king was sitting in ^(C)the winter house, and there was a fire burning in the fire pot before him. ²³ As Jehudi read three or four columns, the king would cut them off with a knife and throw them into the fire in the fire pot, until the entire scroll was consumed in the fire that was in the fire pot. ²⁴ Yet ^(D)neither the king nor any of his servants who heard all these words was afraid, ^(E)nor did they tear their garments. ²⁵ Even when ^(F)Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah ^(G)urged the king not to burn the scroll, he would not listen to them. ²⁶ And the king commanded Jerahmeel the ^(H)king's son and Seraiah the son of Azriel and ^(I)Shelemiah the son of Abdeel to seize ^(J)Baruch the secretary and Jeremiah the prophet, but the Lord hid them.

²⁷ Now after the king had burned the scroll with the words that Baruch wrote at Jeremiah's dictation, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: ²⁸ “Take another scroll and write on it all the former words that were in the first scroll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah has burned. ²⁹ And concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah you shall say, ‘Thus says the Lord, You have burned this scroll, saying, ^(K)“Why have you written in it that the king of Babylon will certainly come and destroy this land, and will cut off from it man and beast?” ³⁰ Therefore thus says the Lord concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: ^(L)He shall have none ^(M)to sit on the throne of David, ^(N)and his dead body shall be cast out to the heat by day and the frost by night. ^31 (O)And I will punish him and his offspring and his servants for their iniquity. I will bring upon them and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem and upon the people of Judah all the disaster that I have pronounced against them, but they would not hear.’”

³² Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to ^(P)Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah, who ^(Q)wrote on it at the dictation of Jeremiah all the words of the scroll that Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire. And many similar words were added to them.

God Who Judges the Earth

To the choirmaster: according to ^(A)Do Not Destroy. A ^(B)Miktam^[a] of David.

The Parable of the Tenants

12 ^(A)And he began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted ^(B)a vineyard ^(C)and put a fence around it and dug a pit for the winepress and built a tower, and ^(D)leased it to tenants and ^(E)went into another country. ² When the season came, he sent a servant^[a] to the tenants to get from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. ^3 (F)And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. ^4 (G)Again ^(H)he sent to them another servant, and ^(I)they struck him on the head and ^(J)treated him shamefully. ^5 (K)And he sent another, and him they killed. And so with many others: some they beat, and some they killed. ⁶ He had still one other, ^(L)a beloved son. ^(M)Finally he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ ⁷ But those tenants said to one another, ^(N)‘This is the heir. Come, ^(O)let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ ⁸ And they took him and killed him and ^(P)threw him out of the vineyard. ⁹ What will the owner of the vineyard do? ^(Q)He will ^(R)come and destroy the tenants and ^(S)give the vineyard to others. ^10 (T)Have you not read ^(U)this Scripture:

¹² And ^(W)they were seeking to arrest him ^(X)but feared the people, for they perceived that he had told the parable against them. So they ^(Y)left him and went away.

¹⁹ You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For ^(A)who can resist his will?” ²⁰ But who are you, O man, ^(B)to answer back to God? ^(C)Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” ^21 (D)Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump ^(E)one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? ²² What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience ^(F)vessels of wrath ^(G)prepared for destruction, ²³ in order to make known ^(H)the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he ^(I)has prepared beforehand for glory— ²⁴ even us whom he ^(J)has called, ^(K)not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? ²⁵ As indeed he says in Hosea,

²⁷ And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: ^(O)“Though the number of the sons of Israel^[a] be as the sand of the sea, ^(P)only a remnant of them will be saved, ²⁸ for the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay.” ²⁹ And as Isaiah predicted,

Israel's Unbelief

³⁰ What shall we say, then? ^(T)That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, ^(U)a righteousness that is by faith; ³¹ but that Israel ^(V)who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness^{[b] (W)}did not succeed in reaching that law. ³² Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the ^(X)stumbling stone, ³³ as it is written,