The Priests and the Offerings

^8 [a] The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ⁹ “Command Aaron and his sons, saying, This is the law of the burnt offering. The burnt offering shall be on the hearth on the altar all night until the morning, and the fire of the altar shall be kept burning on it. ¹⁰ And ^(A)the priest shall put on his linen garment and put his linen undergarment on his body, and he shall take up the ashes to which the fire has reduced the burnt offering on the altar and put them ^(B)beside the altar. ¹¹ Then ^(C)he shall take off his garments and put on other garments and carry the ashes ^(D)outside the camp to a clean place. ¹² The fire on the altar shall be kept burning on it; it shall not go out. The priest shall burn wood on it every morning, and he shall arrange the burnt offering on it and shall burn on it ^(E)the fat of the peace offerings. ¹³ Fire shall be kept burning on the altar continually; it shall not go out.

¹⁴ “And this is the law of ^(F)the grain offering. The sons of Aaron shall offer it before the Lord in front of the altar. ¹⁵ And one shall take from it a handful of the fine flour of the grain offering and its oil and all the frankincense that is on the grain offering and burn this as its ^(G)memorial portion on the altar, a pleasing aroma to the Lord. ¹⁶ And ^(H)the rest of it Aaron and his sons shall eat. It shall be eaten unleavened ^(I)in a holy place. In the court of the tent of meeting they shall eat it. ^17 (J)It shall not be baked with leaven. ^(K)I have given it as their portion of my food offerings. ^(L)It is a thing most holy, like the sin offering and the guilt offering. ¹⁸ Every male among the children of Aaron may eat of it, as decreed forever throughout your generations, from the Lord's food offerings. Whatever touches them shall become holy.”

¹⁹ The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ^20 (M)“This is the offering that Aaron and his sons shall offer to the Lord on the day when he is anointed: a ^(N)tenth of an ephah^[b] of fine flour as a regular grain offering, half of it in the morning and half in the evening. ²¹ It shall be made with oil ^(O)on a griddle. You shall bring it ^(P)well mixed, in baked^[c] pieces like a grain offering, and offer it for a pleasing aroma to the Lord. ²² The priest from among Aaron's sons, who is anointed to succeed him, shall offer it to the Lord as decreed forever. ^(Q)The whole of it shall be burned. ²³ Every grain offering of a priest shall be wholly burned. It shall not be eaten.”

²⁴ The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁵ “Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, ^(R)This is the law of the sin offering. ^(S)In the place where the burnt offering is killed shall the sin offering be killed before the Lord; ^(T)it is most holy. ^26 (U)The priest who offers it for sin shall eat it. ^(V)In a holy place it shall be eaten, in the court of the tent of meeting. ²⁷ Whatever touches its flesh shall be holy, and when any of its blood is splashed on a garment, you shall wash that on which it was splashed in a holy place. ²⁸ And ^(W)the earthenware vessel in which it is boiled ^(X)shall be broken. But if it is boiled in a bronze vessel, that shall be scoured and rinsed in water. ²⁹ Every male among the priests may eat of it; ^(Y)it is most holy. ^30 (Z)But no sin offering shall be eaten from which any blood is brought into the tent of meeting to make atonement in the Holy Place; it shall be burned up with fire.

Asa Reigns in Judah

⁹ In the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Asa began to reign over Judah, ¹⁰ and he reigned forty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Maacah the daughter of Abishalom. ^11 (A)And Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as David his father had done. ¹² He put away the ^(B)male cult prostitutes out of the land and removed ^(C)all the idols that his fathers had made. ^13 (D)He also removed Maacah his mother from being queen mother because she had made an abominable image for Asherah. And Asa cut down her image and ^(E)burned it at the brook Kidron. ^14 (F)But the high places were not taken away. Nevertheless, ^(G)the heart of Asa was wholly true to the Lord all his days. ¹⁵ And ^(H)he brought into the house of the Lord the sacred gifts of his father and his own sacred gifts, silver, and gold, and vessels.

^16 (I)And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days. ^17 (J)Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah and ^(K)built Ramah, ^(L)that he might permit no one to go out or come in to Asa king of Judah. ¹⁸ Then Asa took all the silver and the gold ^(M)that were left in the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king's house and gave them into the hands of his servants. ^(N)And King Asa sent them to Ben-hadad the son of Tabrimmon, the son of Hezion, king of Syria, ^(O)who lived in Damascus, saying, ¹⁹ “Let there be ^(P)a covenant^[a] between me and you, as there was between my father and your father. Behold, I am sending to you a present of silver and gold. Go, break your covenant with Baasha king of Israel, that he may withdraw from me.” ²⁰ And Ben-hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel and conquered ^(Q)Ijon, ^(R)Dan, ^(S)Abel-beth-maacah, and all ^(T)Chinneroth, with all the land of Naphtali. ²¹ And when Baasha heard of it, ^(U)he stopped building Ramah, and he lived in ^(V)Tirzah. ²² Then King Asa made a proclamation to all Judah, none was exempt, and they carried away the stones of Ramah and its timber, with which Baasha had been building, and with them King Asa built ^(W)Geba of Benjamin and ^(X)Mizpah. ^23 (Y)Now the rest of all the acts of Asa, all his might, and all that he did, and the cities that he built, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? But in his old age he was diseased in his feet. ²⁴ And Asa slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father, and ^(Z)Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his place.

Nadab Reigns in Israel

^25 (AA)Nadab the son of Jeroboam began to reign over Israel in the second year of Asa king of Judah, and he reigned over Israel two years. ²⁶ He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord ^(AB)and walked in the way of his father, and in his sin ^(AC)which he made Israel to sin.

^27 (AD)Baasha the son of Ahijah, of the house of Issachar, conspired against him. And Baasha struck him down at ^(AE)Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines, for Nadab and all Israel were laying siege to Gibbethon. ²⁸ So Baasha killed him in the third year of Asa king of Judah and reigned in his place. ²⁹ And as soon as he was king, he killed all the house of Jeroboam. He left to the house of Jeroboam not one that breathed, until he had destroyed it, ^(AF)according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by his servant Ahijah the Shilonite. ³⁰ It was for the sins of Jeroboam that he sinned and ^(AG)that he made Israel to sin, and because of the anger to which he provoked the Lord, the God of Israel.

³¹ Now the rest of the acts of Nadab and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? ^32 (AH)And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days.

The Lord Has Destroyed Without Pity

How Long, O Lord?

A Psalm of ^(A)Asaph.

²¹ And ^(A)at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, ^(B)he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

Jesus Presented at the Temple

²² And ^(C)when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem ^(D)to present him to the Lord ²³ (as it is written in ^(E)the Law of the Lord, ^(F)“Every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”) ²⁴ and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in ^(G)the Law of the Lord, ^(H)“a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.” ²⁵ Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was ^(I)righteous and ^(J)devout, ^(K)waiting for ^(L)the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. ²⁶ And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not ^(M)see death before he had seen ^(N)the Lord's Christ. ²⁷ And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when ^(O)the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law, ²⁸ he took him up in his arms and ^(P)blessed God and said,

Food Offered to Idols

8 Now concerning^{[a] (A)}food offered to idols: we know that ^(B)“all of us possess knowledge.” This “knowledge” ^(C)puffs up, ^(D)but love builds up. ^2 (E)If anyone imagines that he knows something, ^(F)he does not yet know as he ought to know. ³ But if anyone loves God, ^(G)he is known by God.^[b]

⁴ Therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that ^(H)“an idol has no real existence,” and that ^(I)“there is no God but one.” ⁵ For although there may be ^(J)so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”— ⁶ yet ^(K)for us there is one God, the Father, ^(L)from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and ^(M)one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and ^(N)through whom we exist.

⁷ However, not all possess this knowledge. But some, ^(O)through former association with idols, eat food as really offered to an idol, and ^(P)their conscience, being weak, is defiled. ^8 (Q)Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do. ⁹ But take care ^(R)that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block ^(S)to the weak. ¹⁰ For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating^[c] in an idol's temple, will he not be encouraged,^[d] if his conscience is weak, to eat food offered to idols? ¹¹ And so by your knowledge this weak person is ^(T)destroyed, the brother for whom Christ died. ¹² Thus, sinning against your brothers^[e] and ^(U)wounding their conscience when it is weak, ^(V)you sin against Christ. ¹³ Therefore, ^(W)if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.