The Altar of Incense^(A)

30 “Make an altar^(B) of acacia wood for burning incense.^{(C) 2} It is to be square, a cubit long and a cubit wide, and two cubits high^[a]—its horns^(D) of one piece with it. ³ Overlay the top and all the sides and the horns with pure gold, and make a gold molding around it.^{(E) 4} Make two gold rings^(F) for the altar below the molding—two on each of the opposite sides—to hold the poles used to carry it. ⁵ Make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold.^{(G) 6} Put the altar in front of the curtain that shields the ark of the covenant law—before the atonement cover^(H) that is over the tablets of the covenant law—where I will meet with you.

⁷ “Aaron must burn fragrant incense^(I) on the altar every morning when he tends the lamps. ⁸ He must burn incense again when he lights the lamps at twilight so incense will burn regularly before the Lord for the generations to come.^{(J) 9} Do not offer on this altar any other incense^(K) or any burnt offering or grain offering, and do not pour a drink offering on it. ¹⁰ Once a year^(L) Aaron shall make atonement^(M) on its horns. This annual atonement must be made with the blood of the atoning sin offering^[b](N) for the generations to come.^(O) It is most holy to the Lord.”

Atonement Money

¹¹ Then the Lord said to Moses, ¹² “When you take a census^(P) of the Israelites to count them, each one must pay the Lord a ransom^(Q) for his life at the time he is counted. Then no plague^(R) will come on them when you number them. ¹³ Each one who crosses over to those already counted is to give a half shekel,^[c] according to the sanctuary shekel,^(S) which weighs twenty gerahs. This half shekel is an offering to the Lord. ¹⁴ All who cross over, those twenty years old or more,^(T) are to give an offering to the Lord. ¹⁵ The rich are not to give more than a half shekel and the poor are not to give less^(U) when you make the offering to the Lord to atone for your lives. ¹⁶ Receive the atonement^(V) money from the Israelites and use it for the service of the tent of meeting.^(W) It will be a memorial^(X) for the Israelites before the Lord, making atonement for your lives.”

Basin for Washing

¹⁷ Then the Lord said to Moses, ¹⁸ “Make a bronze basin,^(Y) with its bronze stand, for washing. Place it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and put water in it. ¹⁹ Aaron and his sons are to wash their hands and feet^(Z) with water^(AA) from it. ²⁰ Whenever they enter the tent of meeting, they shall wash with water so that they will not die.^(AB) Also, when they approach the altar to minister by presenting a food offering to the Lord, ²¹ they shall wash their hands and feet so that they will not die. This is to be a lasting ordinance^(AC) for Aaron and his descendants for the generations to come.”^(AD)

¹⁰ David was conscience-stricken^(A) after he had counted the fighting men, and he said to the Lord, “I have sinned^(B) greatly in what I have done. Now, Lord, I beg you, take away the guilt of your servant. I have done a very foolish thing.^(C)”

¹¹ Before David got up the next morning, the word of the Lord had come to Gad^(D) the prophet, David’s seer:^{(E) 12} “Go and tell David, ‘This is what the Lord says: I am giving you three options. Choose one of them for me to carry out against you.’”

¹³ So Gad went to David and said to him, “Shall there come on you three^[a] years of famine^(F) in your land? Or three months of fleeing from your enemies while they pursue you? Or three days of plague^(G) in your land? Now then, think it over and decide how I should answer the one who sent me.”

¹⁴ David said to Gad, “I am in deep distress. Let us fall into the hands of the Lord, for his mercy^(H) is great; but do not let me fall into human hands.”

¹⁵ So the Lord sent a plague on Israel from that morning until the end of the time designated, and seventy thousand of the people from Dan to Beersheba died.^{(I) 16} When the angel stretched out his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the Lord relented^(J) concerning the disaster and said to the angel who was afflicting the people, “Enough! Withdraw your hand.” The angel of the Lord^(K) was then at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

¹⁷ When David saw the angel who was striking down the people, he said to the Lord, “I have sinned; I, the shepherd,^[b] have done wrong. These are but sheep.^(L) What have they done?^(M) Let your hand fall on me and my family.”^(N)

David Builds an Altar^(O)

¹⁸ On that day Gad went to David and said to him, “Go up and build an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah^(P) the Jebusite.” ¹⁹ So David went up, as the Lord had commanded through Gad. ²⁰ When Araunah looked and saw the king and his officials coming toward him, he went out and bowed down before the king with his face to the ground.

²¹ Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?”

“To buy your threshing floor,” David answered, “so I can build an altar to the Lord, that the plague on the people may be stopped.”^(Q)

²² Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take whatever he wishes and offer it up. Here are oxen^(R) for the burnt offering, and here are threshing sledges and ox yokes for the wood. ²³ Your Majesty, Araunah^[c] gives^(S) all this to the king.” Araunah also said to him, “May the Lord your God accept you.”

²⁴ But the king replied to Araunah, “No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.”^(T)

So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen and paid fifty shekels^[d](U) of silver for them. ²⁵ David built an altar^(V) to the Lord there and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then the Lord answered his prayer^(W) in behalf of the land, and the plague on Israel was stopped.

Jeremiah Thrown Into a Cistern

38 Shephatiah son of Mattan, Gedaliah son of Pashhur^(A), Jehukal^[a](B) son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur son of Malkijah heard what Jeremiah was telling all the people when he said, ² “This is what the Lord says: ‘Whoever stays in this city will die by the sword, famine or plague,^(C) but whoever goes over to the Babylonians^[b] will live. They will escape with their lives; they will live.’^{(D) 3} And this is what the Lord says: ‘This city will certainly be given into the hands of the army of the king of Babylon, who will capture it.’”^(E)

⁴ Then the officials^(F) said to the king, “This man should be put to death.^(G) He is discouraging^(H) the soldiers who are left in this city, as well as all the people, by the things he is saying to them. This man is not seeking the good of these people but their ruin.”

⁵ “He is in your hands,”^(I) King Zedekiah answered. “The king can do nothing^(J) to oppose you.”

⁶ So they took Jeremiah and put him into the cistern of Malkijah, the king’s son, which was in the courtyard of the guard.^(K) They lowered Jeremiah by ropes^(L) into the cistern; it had no water in it,^(M) only mud, and Jeremiah sank down into the mud.^(N)

⁷ But Ebed-Melek,^(O) a Cushite,^[c] an official^[d](P) in the royal palace, heard that they had put Jeremiah into the cistern. While the king was sitting in the Benjamin Gate,^{(Q) 8} Ebed-Melek went out of the palace and said to him, ⁹ “My lord the king, these men have acted wickedly in all they have done to Jeremiah the prophet. They have thrown him into a cistern,^(R) where he will starve to death when there is no longer any bread^(S) in the city.”

¹⁰ Then the king commanded Ebed-Melek the Cushite, “Take thirty men from here with you and lift Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he dies.”

¹¹ So Ebed-Melek took the men with him and went to a room under the treasury in the palace. He took some old rags and worn-out clothes from there and let them down with ropes^(T) to Jeremiah in the cistern. ¹² Ebed-Melek the Cushite said to Jeremiah, “Put these old rags and worn-out clothes under your arms to pad the ropes.” Jeremiah did so, ¹³ and they pulled him up with the ropes and lifted him out of the cistern. And Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard.^(U)

Psalm 60^[a](A)

For the director of music. To the tune of “The Lily of the Covenant.” A miktam^[b] of David. For teaching. When he fought Aram Naharaim^[c] and Aram Zobah,^[d] and when Joab returned and struck down twelve thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt.^(B)

Marriage at the Resurrection^(A)

¹⁸ Then the Sadducees,^(B) who say there is no resurrection,^(C) came to him with a question. ¹⁹ “Teacher,” they said, “Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother.^{(D) 20} Now there were seven brothers. The first one married and died without leaving any children. ²¹ The second one married the widow, but he also died, leaving no child. It was the same with the third. ²² In fact, none of the seven left any children. Last of all, the woman died too. ²³ At the resurrection^[a] whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?”

²⁴ Jesus replied, “Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures^(E) or the power of God? ²⁵ When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.^{(F) 26} Now about the dead rising—have you not read in the Book of Moses, in the account of the burning bush, how God said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’^[b]?^{(G) 27} He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are badly mistaken!”

⁵ Moses writes this about the righteousness that is by the law: “The person who does these things will live by them.”^{[a](A) 6} But the righteousness that is by faith^(B) says: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’”^[b](C) (that is, to bring Christ down) ⁷ “or ‘Who will descend into the deep?’”^[c](D) (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).^{(E) 8} But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,”^[d](F) that is, the message concerning faith that we proclaim: ⁹ If you declare^(G) with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,”^(H) and believe^(I) in your heart that God raised him from the dead,^(J) you will be saved.^{(K) 10} For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. ¹¹ As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.”^{[e](L) 12} For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile^(M)—the same Lord is Lord of all^(N) and richly blesses all who call on him, ¹³ for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord^(O) will be saved.”^[f](P)

¹⁴ How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? ¹⁵ And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”^[g](Q)

¹⁶ But not all the Israelites accepted the good news.^(R) For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our message?”^{[h](S) 17} Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message,^(T) and the message is heard through the word about Christ.^{(U) 18} But I ask: Did they not hear? Of course they did:

¹⁹ Again I ask: Did Israel not understand? First, Moses says,

²⁰ And Isaiah boldly says,

²¹ But concerning Israel he says,