The Altar of Incense

30 ^(A)“You shall make ^(B)an altar on which to burn incense; you shall make it of acacia wood. ² A cubit^[a] shall be its length, and a cubit its breadth. It shall be square, and two cubits shall be its height. ^(C)Its horns shall be of one piece with it. ³ You shall ^(D)overlay it with pure gold, its top and around its sides and its horns. And you shall make a molding of gold around it. ⁴ And you shall make two golden rings for it. Under its molding on two opposite sides of it you shall make them, and they shall be ^(E)holders for poles with which to carry it. ⁵ You shall make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. ⁶ And you shall put it in front of the veil that is above the ark of the testimony, in front of the ^(F)mercy seat that is above the testimony, where I will meet with you. ⁷ And Aaron shall ^(G)burn fragrant incense on it. Every morning when he ^(H)dresses the lamps he shall burn it, ⁸ and when Aaron sets up the lamps at twilight, he shall burn it, a regular incense offering before the Lord throughout your generations. ⁹ You shall not offer ^(I)unauthorized incense on it, or a burnt offering, or a grain offering, and you shall not pour a drink offering on it. ^10 (J)Aaron shall make atonement on its horns once a year. With the blood of the ^(K)sin offering of atonement he shall make atonement for it once in the year throughout your generations. It is most holy to the Lord.”

The Census Tax

¹¹ The Lord said to Moses, ^12 (L)“When you take the census of the people of Israel, then each shall give ^(M)a ransom for his life to the Lord when you number them, that there be no plague among them when you number them. ¹³ Each one who is numbered in the census shall give this: half a shekel^[b] according to the ^(N)shekel of the sanctuary (the ^(O)shekel is twenty gerahs),^{[c] (P)}half a shekel as an offering to the Lord. ¹⁴ Everyone who is numbered in the census, from twenty years old and upward, shall give the Lord's offering. ¹⁵ The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less, than ^(Q)the half shekel, when you give the Lord's offering to make atonement for your lives. ¹⁶ You shall take the atonement money from the people of Israel and shall ^(R)give it for the service of the tent of meeting, that it may bring the people of Israel to ^(S)remembrance before the Lord, so as to make atonement for your lives.”

The Bronze Basin

¹⁷ The Lord said to Moses, ¹⁸ “You shall also make a ^(T)basin of bronze, with its stand of bronze, for washing. ^(U)You shall put it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and you shall put water in it, ¹⁹ with which Aaron and his sons ^(V)shall wash their hands and their feet. ²⁰ When they go into the tent of meeting, or when they come near the altar to minister, to burn a food offering^[d] to the Lord, they shall wash with water, so that they may not die. ²¹ They shall wash their hands and their feet, so that they may not die. It shall ^(W)be a statute forever to them, even to him and to his offspring throughout their generations.”

The Lord's Judgment of David's Sin

¹⁰ But ^(A)David's heart struck him after he had numbered the people. And David said to the Lord, ^(B)“I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O Lord, please take away the iniquity of your servant, for I have done ^(C)very foolishly.” ¹¹ And when David arose in the morning, the word of the Lord came to ^(D)the prophet Gad, David's ^(E)seer, saying, ¹² “Go and say to David, ‘Thus says the Lord, Three things I offer^[a] you. Choose one of them, that I may do it to you.’” ¹³ So Gad came to David and told him, and said to him, “Shall ^(F)three^[b] years of famine come to you in your land? Or will you flee three months before your foes while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days' pestilence in your land? Now consider, and decide what answer I shall return to him who sent me.” ¹⁴ Then David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Let us fall into the hand of the Lord, ^(G)for his mercy is great; but let me not fall into the hand of man.”

^15 (H)So the Lord sent a pestilence on Israel from the morning until the appointed time. And there died of the people from ^(I)Dan to Beersheba 70,000 men. ¹⁶ And when ^(J)the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem ^(K)to destroy it, ^(L)the Lord relented from the calamity and said to the angel ^(M)who was working destruction among the people, “It is enough; now stay your hand.” And ^(N)the angel of the Lord was by the threshing floor of ^(O)Araunah the Jebusite. ¹⁷ Then David spoke to the Lord when he saw the angel who was striking the people, and said, “Behold, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly. But these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand be against me and against my father's house.”

David Builds an Altar

¹⁸ And Gad came that day to David and said to him, “Go up, raise an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of ^(P)Araunah the Jebusite.” ¹⁹ So David went up at Gad's word, as the Lord commanded. ²⁰ And when Araunah looked down, he saw the king and his servants coming on toward him. And Araunah went out and paid homage to the king with his face to the ground. ²¹ And Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?” David said, “To buy the threshing floor from you, in order to build an altar to the Lord, that the plague ^(Q)may be averted from the people.” ²² Then Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take and offer up what seems good to him. Here are the oxen for the burnt offering and the ^(R)threshing sledges and the yokes of the oxen for the wood. ²³ All this, O king, Araunah gives to the king.” And Araunah said to the king, “May the Lord your God ^(S)accept you.” ²⁴ But the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God that cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels^[c] of silver. ²⁵ And David built there an altar to the Lord and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. ^(T)So the Lord responded to the plea for the land, and the plague was averted from Israel.

Jeremiah Cast into the Cistern

38 Now Shephatiah the son of Mattan, Gedaliah the son of Pashhur, ^(A)Jucal the son of Shelemiah, and ^(B)Pashhur the son of Malchiah heard the words that Jeremiah was saying to all the people: ² “Thus says the Lord: ^(C)He who stays in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, ^(D)but he who goes out to the Chaldeans shall live. He shall have his life as a prize of war, and live. ³ Thus says the Lord: ^(E)This city shall surely be given into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon and be taken.” ⁴ Then the officials said to the king, ^(F)“Let this man be put to death, ^(G)for he is weakening the hands of the soldiers who are left in this city, and the hands of all the people, by speaking such words to them. For this man is not seeking ^(H)the welfare of this people, but their harm.” ⁵ King Zedekiah said, “Behold, he is in your hands, ^(I)for the king can do nothing against you.” ⁶ So they took Jeremiah ^(J)and cast him into the cistern of Malchiah, the king's son, which was in ^(K)the court of the guard, letting Jeremiah down ^(L)by ropes. ^(M)And there was no water in the cistern, but only mud, and ^(N)Jeremiah sank in the mud.

Jeremiah Rescued from the Cistern

⁷ When ^(O)Ebed-melech ^(P)the Ethiopian, ^(Q)a eunuch who was in the king's house, heard that they had put Jeremiah into the cistern—the king was sitting ^(R)in the Benjamin Gate— ^8 (S)Ebed-melech went from the king's house and said to the king, ⁹ “My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they did to Jeremiah the prophet by casting him into the cistern, and he will die there of ^(T)hunger, ^(U)for there is no bread left in the city.” ¹⁰ Then the king commanded ^(V)Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, “Take thirty men with you from here, and lift Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he dies.” ¹¹ So ^(W)Ebed-melech took the men with him and went to the house of the king, to a wardrobe in the storehouse, and took from there old rags and worn-out clothes, which he let down to Jeremiah in the cistern ^(X)by ropes. ¹² Then ^(Y)Ebed-melech the Ethiopian said to Jeremiah, “Put the rags and clothes between your armpits and ^(Z)the ropes.” Jeremiah did so. ¹³ Then they drew Jeremiah up with ^(AA)ropes and lifted him out of the cistern. And Jeremiah remained in the ^(AB)court of the guard.

He Will Tread Down Our Foes

To the choirmaster: according to ^(A)Shushan Eduth. A ^(B)Miktam^[a] of David; ^(C)for instruction; when he ^(D)strove with Aram-naharaim and with Aram-zobah, and when Joab on his return struck down twelve thousand of Edom in the Valley of Salt.

The Sadducees Ask About the Resurrection

¹⁸ And ^(A)Sadducees came to him, ^(B)who say that there is no resurrection. And they asked him a question, saying, ¹⁹ “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that ^(C)if a man's brother dies and leaves a wife, but leaves no child, the man^[a] must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. ²⁰ There were seven brothers; the first took a wife, and when he died left no offspring. ²¹ And the second took her, and died, leaving no offspring. And the third likewise. ²² And the seven left no offspring. Last of all the woman also died. ²³ In the resurrection, when they rise again, whose wife will she be? For the seven had her as wife.”

²⁴ Jesus said to them, “Is this not the reason you are wrong, because ^(D)you know neither the Scriptures nor ^(E)the power of God? ²⁵ For when they rise from the dead, they neither ^(F)marry nor ^(G)are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. ²⁶ And as for the dead being raised, ^(H)have you not read in ^(I)the book of Moses, in ^(J)the passage about the bush, how God spoke to him, saying, ^(K)‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? ²⁷ He is not God of the dead, but of the living. You are quite wrong.”

The Message of Salvation to All

⁵ For ^(A)Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that ^(B)the person who does the commandments shall live by them. ⁶ But ^(C)the righteousness based on faith says, ^(D)“Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down) ⁷ “or ‘Who will descend into the ^(E)abyss?’” (that is, ^(F)to bring Christ up from the dead). ⁸ But what does it say? ^(G)“The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); ⁹ because, if ^(H)you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and ^(I)believe in your heart ^(J)that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. ¹¹ For the Scripture says, ^(K)“Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” ^12 (L)For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; ^(M)for the same Lord is Lord of all, ^(N)bestowing his riches on all who call on him. ¹³ For ^(O)“everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

¹⁴ How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him ^(P)of whom they have never heard?^[a] And how are they to hear ^(Q)without someone preaching? ¹⁵ And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ^(R)“How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” ¹⁶ But ^(S)they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, ^(T)“Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” ¹⁷ So ^(U)faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

¹⁸ But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have, for

¹⁹ But I ask, did Israel not understand? First Moses says,

²⁰ Then Isaiah is so bold as to say,

²¹ But of Israel he says, ^(AB)“All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.”