Consecration of Aaron and His Sons

8 ^(A)The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Take Aaron and his sons with him, and ^(B)the garments and ^(C)the anointing oil and the bull of the sin offering and the two rams and the basket of unleavened bread. ³ And assemble all the congregation at the entrance of the tent of meeting.” ⁴ And Moses did as the Lord commanded him, and the congregation was assembled at the entrance of the tent of meeting.

⁵ And Moses said to the congregation, ^(D)“This is the thing that the Lord has commanded to be done.” ⁶ And Moses brought Aaron and his sons and washed them with water. ⁷ And he put ^(E)the coat on him and tied the sash around his waist and clothed him with the robe and put the ephod on him and tied the skillfully woven band of the ephod around him, binding it to him with the band.^{[a] 8} And he placed the breastpiece on him, and ^(F)in the breastpiece he put the Urim and the Thummim. ⁹ And he set ^(G)the turban on his head, and ^(H)on the turban, in front, he set the golden plate, the holy crown, as the Lord commanded Moses.

^10 (I)Then Moses took the anointing oil and anointed the tabernacle and all that was in it, and consecrated them. ¹¹ And he sprinkled some of it on the altar seven times, and anointed the altar and all its utensils and the basin and its stand, to consecrate them. ¹² And ^(J)he poured some of the anointing oil on Aaron's head and anointed him to consecrate him. ¹³ And Moses brought Aaron's sons and clothed them with coats and tied sashes around their waists and bound caps on them, as the Lord commanded Moses.

¹⁴ Then he brought ^(K)the bull of the sin offering, and Aaron and his sons ^(L)laid their hands on the head of the bull of the sin offering. ¹⁵ And he^[b] killed it, and ^(M)Moses took the blood, and with his finger put it on the horns of the altar around it and purified the altar and poured out the blood at the base of the altar and consecrated it to make atonement for it. ^16 (N)And he took all the fat that was on the entrails and the long lobe of the liver and the two kidneys with their fat, and Moses burned them on the altar.

Elijah Confronts Ahab

18 ^(A)After many days the word of the Lord came to Elijah, in the third year, saying, “Go, show yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain upon the earth.” ² So Elijah went to show himself to Ahab. Now the famine was severe in Samaria. ³ And Ahab called Obadiah, who was ^(B)over the household. (Now Obadiah feared the Lord greatly, ⁴ and ^(C)when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the Lord, Obadiah took a hundred prophets and hid them by fifties in a cave and fed them with bread and water.) ⁵ And Ahab said to Obadiah, “Go through the land to all the springs of water and to all the valleys. Perhaps we may find grass and save the horses and mules alive, and not lose some of the animals.” ⁶ So they divided the land between them to pass through it. Ahab went in one direction by himself, and Obadiah went in another direction by himself.

⁷ And as Obadiah was on the way, behold, Elijah met him. And Obadiah recognized him and fell on his face and said, “Is it you, my lord Elijah?” ⁸ And he answered him, “It is I. Go, tell your lord, ‘Behold, Elijah is here.’” ⁹ And he said, “How have I sinned, that you would give your servant into the hand of Ahab, to kill me? ^10 (D)As the Lord your God lives, there is no nation or kingdom where my lord has not sent to seek you. And when they would say, ‘He is not here,’ he would take an oath of the kingdom or nation, that they had not found you. ¹¹ And now you say, ‘Go, tell your lord, “Behold, Elijah is here.”’ ¹² And as soon as I have gone from you, ^(E)the Spirit of the Lord will carry you I know not where. And so, when I come and tell Ahab and he cannot find you, he will kill me, although I your servant have feared the Lord from my youth. ¹³ Has it not been told my lord what I did ^(F)when Jezebel killed the prophets of the Lord, how I hid a hundred men of the Lord's prophets by fifties in a cave and fed them with bread and water? ¹⁴ And now you say, ‘Go, tell your lord, “Behold, Elijah is here”’; and he will kill me.” ¹⁵ And Elijah said, ^(G)“As the Lord of hosts lives, before whom I stand, I will surely show myself to him today.” ¹⁶ So Obadiah went to meet Ahab, and told him. And Ahab went to meet Elijah.

¹⁷ When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, ^(H)“Is it you, you ^(I)troubler of Israel?” ¹⁸ And he answered, “I have not troubled Israel, but you have, and your father's house, because you have ^(J)abandoned the commandments of the Lord and ^(K)followed the Baals. ¹⁹ Now therefore send and gather all Israel to me at Mount ^(L)Carmel, and the ^(M)450 prophets of Baal and ^(N)the 400 prophets of Asherah, ^(O)who eat at Jezebel's table.”

Rescue the Weak and Needy

A Psalm of ^(A)Asaph.

⁸ Bear fruits ^(A)in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ^(B)‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God is able from ^(C)these stones to raise up children for Abraham. ⁹ Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. ^(D)Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

¹⁰ And the crowds asked him, ^(E)“What then shall we do?” ¹¹ And he answered them, ^(F)“Whoever has two tunics^[a] is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.” ^12 (G)Tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, “Teacher, ^(H)what shall we do?” ¹³ And he said to them, ^(I)“Collect no more than you are authorized to do.” ¹⁴ Soldiers also asked him, “And we, ^(J)what shall we do?” And he said to them, ^(K)“Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your ^(L)wages.”

¹⁵ As the people were in expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, ^(M)whether he might be ^(N)the Christ, ^16 (O)John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but ^(P)he who is mightier than I is coming, ^(Q)the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you ^(R)with the Holy Spirit and ^(S)fire. ¹⁷ His ^(T)winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to ^(U)gather the wheat into his barn, ^(V)but the chaff he will burn with ^(W)unquenchable fire.”

¹⁸ So ^(X)with many other exhortations he preached good news to the people. ¹⁹ But ^(Y)Herod the tetrarch, who had been reproved by him for Herodias, his brother's wife, and for all the evil things that Herod had done, ²⁰ added this to them all, that ^(Z)he locked up John in prison.

¹¹ Now these things happened to them as an example, but ^(A)they were written down for our instruction, ^(B)on whom the end of the ages has come. ¹² Therefore ^(C)let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. ¹³ No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. ^(D)God is faithful, and ^(E)he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

¹⁴ Therefore, my beloved, ^(F)flee from idolatry. ¹⁵ I speak ^(G)as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. ^16 (H)The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? ^(I)The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? ¹⁷ Because there is one bread, we who are many are ^(J)one body, for we all partake of the one bread. ¹⁸ Consider ^(K)the people of Israel:^{[a] (L)}are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar? ¹⁹ What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that ^(M)an idol is anything? ²⁰ No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice ^(N)they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons. ^21 (O)You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and ^(P)the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and ^(Q)the table of demons. ^22 (R)Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? ^(S)Are we stronger than he?