⁸ Then the Lord spoke to Aaron, “Behold, ^(A)I have given you charge of the contributions made to me, all the consecrated things of the people of Israel. I have given them to you ^(B)as a portion and to your sons as a perpetual due. ⁹ This shall be yours of the most holy things, reserved from the fire: every offering of theirs, every grain offering of theirs and every ^(C)sin offering of theirs and every ^(D)guilt offering of theirs, which they render to me, shall be most holy to you and to your sons. ¹⁰ In a most holy place shall you eat it. Every male may eat it; it is holy to you. ¹¹ This also is yours: the contribution of their gift, all the ^(E)wave offerings of the people of Israel. I have given them to ^(F)you, and to your sons and daughters with you, as a perpetual due. ^(G)Everyone who is clean in your house may eat it. ^12 (H)All the best of the oil and all the best of the wine and of the grain, ^(I)the firstfruits of what they give to the Lord, I give to you. ¹³ The first ripe fruits of all that is in their land, ^(J)which they bring to the Lord, shall be yours. ^(K)Everyone who is clean in your house may eat it. ^14 (L)Every devoted thing in Israel shall be yours. ^15 (M)Everything that opens the womb of all flesh, whether man or beast, which they offer to the Lord, shall be yours. Nevertheless, ^(N)the firstborn of man you shall redeem, and the firstborn of unclean animals you shall redeem. ¹⁶ And their redemption price ^(O)(at a month old you shall redeem them) you shall fix at five shekels^[a] in silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, ^(P)which is twenty gerahs. ^17 (Q)But the firstborn of a cow, or the firstborn of a sheep, or the firstborn of a goat, you shall not redeem; they are holy. You shall sprinkle their blood on the altar and shall burn their fat as a food offering, with a pleasing aroma to the Lord. ¹⁸ But their flesh shall be yours, as ^(R)the breast that is waved and as the right thigh are yours. ^19 (S)All the holy contributions that the people of Israel present to the Lord I give to you, and to your sons and daughters with you, as a perpetual due. ^(T)It is a covenant of salt forever before the Lord for you and for your offspring with you.” ²⁰ And the Lord said to Aaron, “You shall have no inheritance in their land, neither shall you have any portion among them. ^(U)I am your portion and your inheritance among the people of Israel.

^21 (V)“To the Levites I have given every tithe in Israel for an inheritance, in return for their service that they do, their service in the tent of meeting, ^22 (W)so that the people of Israel do not come near the tent of meeting, ^(X)lest they bear sin and die. ²³ But ^(Y)the Levites shall do the service of the tent of meeting, ^(Z)and they shall bear their iniquity. It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations, and among the people of Israel they shall have no inheritance. ²⁴ For the tithe of the people of Israel, which ^(AA)they present as a contribution to the Lord, I have given to the Levites for an inheritance. Therefore I have said of them that they shall have no inheritance ^(AB)among the people of Israel.”

²⁵ And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁶ “Moreover, you shall speak and say to the Levites, ‘When you take from the people of Israel the tithe that I have given you from them for your inheritance, then you shall present a contribution from it to the Lord, ^(AC)a tithe of the tithe. ^27 (AD)And your contribution shall be counted to you as though it were the grain of the threshing floor, and as the fullness of the winepress. ²⁸ So you shall also present a contribution to the Lord from all your tithes, which you receive from the people of Israel. And from it you shall give the Lord's contribution to Aaron the priest. ²⁹ Out of all the gifts to you, you shall present every contribution due to the Lord; from each its best part is to be dedicated.’ ³⁰ Therefore you shall say to them, ‘When you have offered from it the best of it, ^(AE)then the rest shall be counted to the Levites as produce of the threshing floor, and as produce of the winepress. ³¹ And you may eat it in any place, you and your households, for it is ^(AF)your reward in return for your service in the tent of meeting. ³² And you shall ^(AG)bear no sin by reason of it, when you have contributed the best of it. But you shall not ^(AH)profane the holy things of the people of Israel, lest you die.’”

David Prepares for Temple Building

² David commanded to gather together the ^(A)resident aliens who were in the land of Israel, and he ^(B)set stonecutters to prepare dressed stones for building the house of God. ³ David also provided great quantities of iron for nails for the doors of the gates and for clamps, ^(C)as well as bronze in quantities beyond weighing, ⁴ and cedar timbers without number, ^(D)for the Sidonians and Tyrians brought great quantities of cedar to David. ⁵ For David said, ^(E)“Solomon my son is young and inexperienced, and the house that is to be built for the Lord must be exceedingly magnificent, of fame and glory throughout all lands. I will therefore make preparation for it.” So David provided materials in great quantity before his death.

Solomon Charged to Build the Temple

⁶ Then he called for Solomon his son and charged him to build a house for the Lord, the God of Israel. ⁷ David said to Solomon, “My son, ^(F)I had it in my heart to build a house to the name of the Lord my God. ⁸ But the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ^(G)‘You have shed much blood and have waged great wars. You shall not build a house to my name, because you have shed so much blood before me on the earth. ⁹ Behold, a son shall be born to you who shall be a man of rest. ^(H)I will give him rest from all his surrounding enemies. ^(I)For his name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and quiet to Israel in his days. ^10 (J)He shall build a house for my name. ^(K)He shall be my son, and I will be his father, and I will establish his royal throne in Israel forever.’

¹¹ “Now, my son, ^(L)the Lord be with you, so that you may succeed in building the house of the Lord your God, as he has spoken concerning you. ^12 (M)Only, may the Lord grant you discretion and understanding, that when he gives you charge over Israel you may keep the law of the Lord your God. ^13 (N)Then you will prosper if you are careful to observe the statutes and the rules that the Lord commanded Moses for Israel. ^(O)Be strong and courageous. Fear not; do not be dismayed. ¹⁴ With great pains I have provided for the house of the Lord ^(P)100,000 talents^[a] of gold, a million talents of silver, and ^(Q)bronze and iron beyond weighing, for there is so much of it; timber and stone, too, I have provided. To these you must add. ¹⁵ You have an abundance of workmen: stonecutters, masons, carpenters, and all kinds of craftsmen without number, skilled in working ¹⁶ gold, silver, bronze, and iron. Arise and work! ^(R)The Lord be with you!”

¹⁷ David also commanded ^(S)all the leaders of Israel to help Solomon his son, saying, ¹⁸ “Is not the Lord your God with you? And ^(T)has he not given you peace^[b] on every side? For he has delivered the inhabitants of the land into my hand, and the land is subdued before the Lord and his people. ¹⁹ Now ^(U)set your mind and heart to seek the Lord your God. Arise and build the sanctuary of the Lord God, ^(V)so that the ark of the covenant of the Lord and the holy vessels of God may be brought into a house built ^(W)for the name of the Lord.”

¹⁸ “Thus says the Lord God: In the first month, ^(A)on the first day of the month, you shall take a bull from the herd without blemish, and ^(B)purify the sanctuary. ^19 (C)The priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering and put it ^(D)on the doorposts of the temple, the four corners of the ledge of the altar, and the posts of the gate of the inner court. ²⁰ You shall do the same on the seventh day of the month for anyone who has sinned through error or ignorance; so you shall make atonement for the temple.

^21 (E)“In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, you shall celebrate the Feast of the Passover, and for seven days unleavened bread shall be eaten. ²² On that day the prince ^(F)shall provide for himself and all the people of the land a young bull for a sin offering. ²³ And on ^(G)the seven days of the festival he shall provide as a burnt offering to the Lord seven young bulls and seven rams without blemish, on each of the seven days; and ^(H)a male goat daily for a sin offering. ²⁴ And ^(I)he shall provide as ^(J)a grain offering an ephah for each bull, an ephah for each ram, and a hin^[a] of oil to each ephah. ^25 (K)In the seventh month, on the fifteenth day of the month and for the seven days of the feast, ^(L)he shall make the same provision for sin offerings, burnt offerings, and grain offerings, and for the oil.

The Prince and the Feasts

46 “Thus says the Lord God: ^(M)The gate of ^(N)the inner court that faces east shall be shut on the six working days, but on the Sabbath day it shall be opened, and ^(O)on the day of the new moon it shall be opened. ^2 (P)The prince shall enter by the vestibule of the gate from outside, and shall take his stand by ^(Q)the post of the gate. ^(R)The priests shall offer his burnt offering and his peace offerings, and he shall worship at ^(S)the threshold of the gate. Then he shall go out, but the gate shall not be shut until evening. ^3 (T)The people of the land shall bow down at the entrance of that gate before the Lord on the Sabbaths and on the new moons. ^4 (U)The burnt offering that the prince offers to the Lord ^(V)on the Sabbath day shall be six lambs without blemish and a ram without blemish. ⁵ And ^(W)the grain offering with the ram shall be an ephah,^[b] and the grain offering with the lambs shall be ^(X)as much as he is able, together with a hin^[c] of oil to each ephah. ⁶ On the day of the new moon he shall offer a bull from the herd without blemish, and six lambs and a ram, which shall be without blemish. ⁷ As a grain offering he shall provide an ephah with the bull and an ephah with the ram, and with the lambs ^(Y)as much as he is able, together with a hin of oil to each ephah. ^8 (Z)When the prince enters, he shall enter by the vestibule of the gate, and he shall go out by the same way.

Betrayal and Arrest of Jesus

^47 (A)While he was still speaking, there came a crowd, and the man called ^(B)Judas, one of the twelve, was leading them. He drew near to Jesus to kiss him, ⁴⁸ but Jesus said to him, “Judas, would you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?” ⁴⁹ And when those who were around him saw what would follow, they said, “Lord, shall we strike ^(C)with the sword?” ⁵⁰ And one of them struck the servant^[a] of the high priest and cut off his right ear. ⁵¹ But Jesus said, “No more of this!” And he touched his ear and healed him. ⁵² Then Jesus said to the chief priests and ^(D)officers of the temple and elders, who had come out against him, “Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs? ⁵³ When ^(E)I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me. But this is ^(F)your hour, and ^(G)the power of darkness.”

Rules for Christian Households

^18 (A)Wives, submit to your husbands, as ^(B)is fitting in the Lord. ¹⁹ Husbands, love your wives, and ^(C)do not be harsh with them. ²⁰ Children, obey your parents ^(D)in everything, for this pleases the Lord. ²¹ Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged. ²² Bondservants, obey ^(E)in everything those who are your earthly masters,^[a] not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. ^23 (F)Whatever you do, work heartily, ^(G)as for the Lord and not for men, ²⁴ knowing that from the Lord ^(H)you will receive the inheritance as your reward. ^(I)You are serving the Lord Christ. ²⁵ For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality.

4 Masters, treat your bondservants^[b] justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven.

Further Instructions

^2 (J)Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it ^(K)with thanksgiving. ³ At the same time, pray also for us, that God may ^(L)open to us a door for the word, ^(M)to declare the mystery of Christ, ^(N)on account of which I am in prison— ⁴ that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak.

^5 (O)Walk in wisdom toward ^(P)outsiders, making the best use of the time. ⁶ Let your speech always ^(Q)be gracious, ^(R)seasoned with salt, ^(S)so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.