¹⁸ Then burn the entire ram on the altar. It is a burnt offering to the Lord, a pleasing aroma,^(A) a food offering presented to the Lord.

¹⁹ “Take the other ram,^(B) and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on its head.^{(C) 20} Slaughter it, take some of its blood and put it on the lobes of the right ears of Aaron and his sons, on the thumbs of their right hands, and on the big toes of their right feet.^(D) Then splash blood against the sides of the altar.^{(E) 21} And take some blood^(F) from the altar and some of the anointing oil^(G) and sprinkle it on Aaron and his garments and on his sons and their garments. Then he and his sons and their garments will be consecrated.^(H)

²² “Take from this ram the fat,^(I) the fat tail, the fat on the internal organs, the long lobe of the liver, both kidneys with the fat on them, and the right thigh. (This is the ram for the ordination.) ²³ From the basket of bread made without yeast, which is before the Lord, take one round loaf, one thick loaf with olive oil mixed in, and one thin loaf. ²⁴ Put all these in the hands of Aaron and his sons and have them wave them before the Lord as a wave offering.^{(J) 25} Then take them from their hands and burn them on the altar along with the burnt offering for a pleasing aroma to the Lord, a food offering presented to the Lord.^{(K) 26} After you take the breast of the ram for Aaron’s ordination, wave it before the Lord as a wave offering, and it will be your share.^(L)

²⁷ “Consecrate those parts of the ordination ram that belong to Aaron and his sons:^(M) the breast that was waved and the thigh that was presented. ²⁸ This is always to be the perpetual share from the Israelites for Aaron and his sons. It is the contribution the Israelites are to make to the Lord from their fellowship offerings.^(N)

²⁹ “Aaron’s sacred garments^(O) will belong to his descendants so that they can be anointed and ordained in them.^{(P) 30} The son^(Q) who succeeds him as priest and comes to the tent of meeting to minister in the Holy Place is to wear them seven days.

³¹ “Take the ram^(R) for the ordination and cook the meat in a sacred place.^{(S) 32} At the entrance to the tent of meeting, Aaron and his sons are to eat the meat of the ram and the bread^(T) that is in the basket. ³³ They are to eat these offerings by which atonement was made for their ordination and consecration. But no one else may eat^(U) them, because they are sacred. ³⁴ And if any of the meat of the ordination ram or any bread is left over till morning,^(V) burn it up. It must not be eaten, because it is sacred.

³⁵ “Do for Aaron and his sons everything I have commanded you, taking seven days to ordain them. ³⁶ Sacrifice a bull each day^(W) as a sin offering to make atonement^(X). Purify the altar by making atonement for it, and anoint it to consecrate^(Y) it. ³⁷ For seven days make atonement for the altar and consecrate it. Then the altar will be most holy, and whatever touches it will be holy.^(Z)

David’s Mighty Warriors^(A)

⁸ These are the names of David’s mighty warriors:^(B)

Josheb-Basshebeth,^[a](C) a Tahkemonite,^[b] was chief of the Three; he raised his spear against eight hundred men, whom he killed^[c] in one encounter.

⁹ Next to him was Eleazar son of Dodai^(D) the Ahohite.^(E) As one of the three mighty warriors, he was with David when they taunted the Philistines gathered at Pas Dammim^[d] for battle. Then the Israelites retreated, ¹⁰ but Eleazar stood his ground and struck down the Philistines till his hand grew tired and froze to the sword. The Lord brought about a great victory that day. The troops returned to Eleazar, but only to strip the dead.

¹¹ Next to him was Shammah son of Agee the Hararite. When the Philistines banded together at a place where there was a field full of lentils, Israel’s troops fled from them. ¹² But Shammah took his stand in the middle of the field. He defended it and struck the Philistines down, and the Lord brought about a great victory.

¹³ During harvest time, three of the thirty chief warriors came down to David at the cave of Adullam,^(F) while a band of Philistines was encamped in the Valley of Rephaim.^{(G) 14} At that time David was in the stronghold,^(H) and the Philistine garrison was at Bethlehem.^{(I) 15} David longed for water and said, “Oh, that someone would get me a drink of water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem!” ¹⁶ So the three mighty warriors broke through the Philistine lines, drew water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem and carried it back to David. But he refused to drink it; instead, he poured^(J) it out before the Lord. ¹⁷ “Far be it from me, Lord, to do this!” he said. “Is it not the blood^(K) of men who went at the risk of their lives?” And David would not drink it.

Such were the exploits of the three mighty warriors.

¹⁸ Abishai^(L) the brother of Joab son of Zeruiah was chief of the Three.^[e] He raised his spear against three hundred men, whom he killed, and so he became as famous as the Three. ¹⁹ Was he not held in greater honor than the Three? He became their commander, even though he was not included among them.

²⁰ Benaiah^(M) son of Jehoiada, a valiant fighter from Kabzeel,^(N) performed great exploits. He struck down Moab’s two mightiest warriors. He also went down into a pit on a snowy day and killed a lion. ²¹ And he struck down a huge Egyptian. Although the Egyptian had a spear in his hand, Benaiah went against him with a club. He snatched the spear from the Egyptian’s hand and killed him with his own spear. ²² Such were the exploits of Benaiah son of Jehoiada; he too was as famous as the three mighty warriors. ²³ He was held in greater honor than any of the Thirty, but he was not included among the Three. And David put him in charge of his bodyguard.

²⁰ After they put the scroll in the room of Elishama the secretary, they went to the king in the courtyard and reported everything to him. ²¹ The king sent Jehudi^(A) to get the scroll, and Jehudi brought it from the room of Elishama the secretary and read it to the king^(B) and all the officials standing beside him. ²² It was the ninth month and the king was sitting in the winter apartment,^(C) with a fire burning in the firepot in front of him. ²³ Whenever Jehudi had read three or four columns of the scroll,^(D) the king cut them off with a scribe’s knife and threw them into the firepot, until the entire scroll was burned in the fire.^{(E) 24} The king and all his attendants who heard all these words showed no fear,^(F) nor did they tear their clothes.^{(G) 25} Even though Elnathan, Delaiah^(H) and Gemariah^(I) urged the king not to burn the scroll, he would not listen to them. ²⁶ Instead, the king commanded Jerahmeel, a son of the king, Seraiah son of Azriel and Shelemiah son of Abdeel to arrest^(J) Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet. But the Lord had hidden^(K) them.

²⁷ After the king burned the scroll containing the words that Baruch had written at Jeremiah’s dictation,^(L) the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: ²⁸ “Take another scroll^(M) and write on it all the words that were on the first scroll, which Jehoiakim king of Judah burned up. ²⁹ Also tell Jehoiakim king of Judah, ‘This is what the Lord says: You burned that scroll and said, “Why did you write on it that the king of Babylon would certainly come and destroy this land and wipe from it^(N) both man and beast?”^{(O) 30} Therefore this is what the Lord says about Jehoiakim^(P) king of Judah: He will have no one to sit on the throne of David; his body will be thrown out^(Q) and exposed^(R) to the heat by day and the frost by night.^{(S) 31} I will punish him and his children^(T) and his attendants for their wickedness; I will bring on them and those living in Jerusalem and the people of Judah every disaster^(U) I pronounced against them, because they have not listened.^(V)’”

³² So Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to the scribe Baruch son of Neriah, and as Jeremiah dictated,^(W) Baruch wrote^(X) on it all the words of the scroll that Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned^(Y) in the fire. And many similar words were added to them.

Psalm 58^[a]

For the director of music. To the tune of “Do Not Destroy.” Of David. A miktam.^[b]

The Parable of the Tenants^(A)

12 Jesus then began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard.^(B) He put a wall around it, dug a pit for the winepress and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. ² At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants to collect from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. ³ But they seized him, beat him and sent him away empty-handed. ⁴ Then he sent another servant to them; they struck this man on the head and treated him shamefully. ⁵ He sent still another, and that one they killed. He sent many others; some of them they beat, others they killed.

⁶ “He had one left to send, a son, whom he loved. He sent him last of all,^(C) saying, ‘They will respect my son.’

⁷ “But the tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ ⁸ So they took him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.

⁹ “What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others. ¹⁰ Haven’t you read this passage of Scripture:

¹² Then the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders looked for a way to arrest him because they knew he had spoken the parable against them. But they were afraid of the crowd;^(F) so they left him and went away.^(G)

¹⁹ One of you will say to me:^(A) “Then why does God still blame us?^(B) For who is able to resist his will?”^{(C) 20} But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God?^(D) “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it,^(E) ‘Why did you make me like this?’”^{[a](F) 21} Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?^(G)

²² What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience^(H) the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction?^{(I) 23} What if he did this to make the riches of his glory^(J) known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory^(K)— ²⁴ even us, whom he also called,^(L) not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?^{(M) 25} As he says in Hosea:

²⁶ and,

²⁷ Isaiah cries out concerning Israel:

²⁹ It is just as Isaiah said previously:

Israel’s Unbelief

³⁰ What then shall we say?^(U) That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith;^{(V) 31} but the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness,^(W) have not attained their goal.^{(X) 32} Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone.^{(Y) 33} As it is written: