The Death of Aaron

²² And they journeyed from ^(A)Kadesh, and the people of Israel, the whole congregation, came to ^(B)Mount Hor. ²³ And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron at Mount Hor, on the border of the land of Edom, ^24 (C)“Let Aaron be gathered to his people, for he shall not enter the land that I have given to the people of Israel, because ^(D)you rebelled against my command at the waters of Meribah. ²⁵ Take Aaron and Eleazar his son and bring them up to Mount Hor. ²⁶ And strip Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son. And Aaron ^(E)shall be gathered to his people and shall die there.” ²⁷ Moses did as the Lord commanded. And they went up Mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation. ^28 (F)And Moses stripped Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son. And Aaron died there ^(G)on the top of the mountain. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain. ²⁹ And when all the congregation saw that Aaron had perished, ^(H)all the house of Israel wept for Aaron thirty days.

Arad Destroyed

21 When ^(I)the Canaanite, the king of Arad, who lived in ^(J)the Negeb, heard that Israel was coming by the way of Atharim, he fought against Israel, and took some of them captive. ^2 (K)And Israel vowed a vow to the Lord and said, “If you will indeed give this people into my hand, then I will devote their cities to destruction.”^{[a] 3} And the Lord heeded the voice of Israel and gave over the Canaanites, and they devoted them and their cities to destruction. So the name of the place was called ^(L)Hormah.^[b]

The Bronze Serpent

⁴ From Mount Hor ^(M)they set out by the way to the Red Sea, ^(N)to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. ⁵ And the people ^(O)spoke against God and against Moses, ^(P)“Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and ^(Q)we loathe this worthless food.” ^6 (R)Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and ^(S)they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. ^7 (T)And the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. ^(U)Pray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. ⁸ And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” ⁹ So ^(V)Moses made a bronze^[c] serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.

David Organizes the Musicians

25 David and the chiefs of the service also set apart for the service the sons of ^(A)Asaph, and of ^(B)Heman, and of ^(C)Jeduthun, who ^(D)prophesied with lyres, with ^(E)harps, and with cymbals. The list of those who did the work and of their duties was: ² Of the sons of Asaph: Zaccur, Joseph, Nethaniah, and Asharelah, sons of Asaph, under the direction of Asaph, who ^(F)prophesied under the direction of the king. ³ Of Jeduthun, the sons of Jeduthun: Gedaliah, Zeri, Jeshaiah, Shimei,^[a] Hashabiah, and Mattithiah, six, under the direction of their father Jeduthun, ^(G)who prophesied with the lyre in thanksgiving and praise to the Lord. ⁴ Of Heman, the sons of Heman: Bukkiah, Mattaniah, Uzziel, Shebuel and Jerimoth, Hananiah, Hanani, Eliathah, Giddalti, and Romamti-ezer, Joshbekashah, Mallothi, Hothir, Mahazioth. ⁵ All these were the sons of Heman ^(H)the king's seer, according to the promise of God to exalt him, for God had given Heman fourteen sons and three daughters. ⁶ They were all under the direction of their father in the music in the house of the Lord with cymbals, ^(I)harps, and lyres for the service of the house of God. Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman were under the order of the king. ⁷ The number of them along with their brothers, who were trained in singing to the Lord, all who were skillful, was ^(J)288. ⁸ And they cast lots for their duties, ^(K)small and great, teacher and pupil alike.

⁹ The first lot fell for Asaph to Joseph; the second to Gedaliah, to him and his brothers and his sons, twelve; ¹⁰ the third to Zaccur, his sons and his brothers, twelve; ¹¹ the fourth to Izri, his sons and his brothers, twelve; ¹² the fifth to Nethaniah, his sons and his brothers, twelve; ¹³ the sixth to Bukkiah, his sons and his brothers, twelve; ¹⁴ the seventh to Jesharelah, his sons and his brothers, twelve; ¹⁵ the eighth to Jeshaiah, his sons and his brothers, twelve; ¹⁶ the ninth to Mattaniah, his sons and his brothers, twelve; ¹⁷ the tenth to Shimei, his sons and his brothers, twelve; ¹⁸ the eleventh to Azarel, his sons and his brothers, twelve; ¹⁹ the twelfth to Hashabiah, his sons and his brothers, twelve; ²⁰ to the thirteenth, Shubael, his sons and his brothers, twelve; ²¹ to the fourteenth, Mattithiah, his sons and his brothers, twelve; ²² to the fifteenth, to Jeremoth, his sons and his brothers, twelve; ²³ to the sixteenth, to Hananiah, his sons and his brothers, twelve; ²⁴ to the seventeenth, to Joshbekashah, his sons and his brothers, twelve; ²⁵ to the eighteenth, to Hanani, his sons and his brothers, twelve; ²⁶ to the nineteenth, to Mallothi, his sons and his brothers, twelve; ²⁷ to the twentieth, to Eliathah, his sons and his brothers, twelve; ²⁸ to the twenty-first, to Hothir, his sons and his brothers, twelve; ²⁹ to the twenty-second, to Giddalti, his sons and his brothers, twelve; ³⁰ to the twenty-third, to Mahazioth, his sons and his brothers, twelve; ³¹ to the twenty-fourth, to Romamti-ezer, his sons and his brothers, twelve.

48 “These are the names of the tribes: Beginning at the northern extreme, beside ^(A)the way of Hethlon ^(B)to Lebo-hamath, as far as ^(C)Hazar-enan (which is on the northern border of ^(D)Damascus over against Hamath), and extending^[a] from the east side to the west,^{[b] (E)}Dan, one portion. ² Adjoining the territory of Dan, from the east side to the west, ^(F)Asher, one portion. ³ Adjoining the territory of Asher, from the east side to the west, ^(G)Naphtali, one portion. ⁴ Adjoining the territory of Naphtali, from the east side to the west, Manasseh, one portion. ⁵ Adjoining the territory of Manasseh, from the east side to the west, Ephraim, one portion. ⁶ Adjoining the territory of Ephraim, from the east side to the west, Reuben, one portion. ⁷ Adjoining the territory of Reuben, from the east side to the west, Judah, one portion.

⁸ “Adjoining the territory of Judah, from the east side to the west, shall be ^(H)the portion which you shall set apart, 25,000 cubits^[c] in breadth, and in length equal to one of the tribal portions, from the east side to the west, with ^(I)the sanctuary in the midst of it. ⁹ The portion that you shall set apart for the Lord shall be 25,000 cubits in length, and 20,000^[d] in breadth. ^10 (J)These shall be the allotments of the holy portion: the priests shall have an allotment measuring 25,000 cubits on the northern side, 10,000 cubits in breadth on the western side, 10,000 in breadth on the eastern side, and 25,000 in length on the southern side, with the sanctuary of the Lord in the midst of it. ¹¹ This shall be for ^(K)the consecrated priests, ^(L)the sons of Zadok, who kept my charge, who did not go astray when the people of Israel went astray, ^(M)as the Levites did. ¹² And it shall belong to them as a special portion from the holy portion of the land, a most holy place, adjoining the territory of the Levites. ^13 (N)And alongside the territory of the priests, the Levites shall have an allotment 25,000 cubits in length and 10,000 in breadth. The whole length shall be 25,000 cubits and the breadth 20,000.^{[e] 14} They ^(O)shall not sell or exchange any of it. They shall not alienate ^(P)this choice portion of the land, for it is holy to the Lord.

^15 (Q)“The remainder, 5,000 cubits in breadth and 25,000 in length, shall be ^(R)for common use for the city, for dwellings and for ^(S)open country. In the midst of it shall be the city, ¹⁶ and these shall be its measurements: ^(T)the north side 4,500 cubits, the south side 4,500, the east side 4,500, and the west side 4,500.

Sing to the Lord a New Song

Let Everything Praise the Lord

¹³ Pilate then called together the chief priests and ^(A)the rulers and the people, ¹⁴ and said to them, “You brought me this man ^(B)as one who was misleading the people. And ^(C)after examining him before you, behold, I ^(D)did not find this man guilty of any of your charges against him. ¹⁵ Neither did Herod, for ^(E)he sent him back to us. Look, nothing deserving death has been done by him. ^16 (F)I will therefore punish and release him.”^[a]

Pilate Delivers Jesus to Be Crucified

^18 (G)But they all cried out together, ^(H)“Away with this man, and release to us Barabbas”— ¹⁹ a man who had been thrown into prison for an insurrection started in the city and ^(I)for murder. ²⁰ Pilate addressed them once more, desiring to release Jesus, ²¹ but they kept shouting, “Crucify, crucify him!” ²² A third time he said to them, “Why? ^(J)What evil has he done? ^(K)I have found in him no guilt deserving death. ^(L)I will therefore punish and release him.” ²³ But they were urgent, demanding with loud cries that he should be crucified. And their voices prevailed. ²⁴ So Pilate decided that their demand should be granted. ²⁵ He released the man who had been thrown into prison ^(M)for insurrection and murder, for whom they asked, ^(N)but he delivered Jesus over to their will.

Paul's Longing to See Them Again

¹⁷ But since we were torn away from you, brothers, for a short time, ^(A)in person not in heart, we endeavored the more eagerly and with great desire ^(B)to see you face to face, ¹⁸ because we wanted to come to you—I, Paul, again and again—but Satan ^(C)hindered us. ¹⁹ For what is our hope or ^(D)joy or crown of boasting ^(E)before our Lord Jesus at his ^(F)coming? Is it not you? ²⁰ For you are our glory and joy.