Aaron’s Staff Buds

17 ^[a]Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Speak to the sons of Israel, and obtain from them a staff for each father’s household: twelve staffs, from all their leaders for their fathers’ households. You shall write each man’s name on his staff, ³ and write Aaron’s name on the staff of Levi; for there is to be one staff for the head of each of their fathers’ households. ⁴ You shall then leave them in the tent of meeting in front of ^(A)the testimony, where I meet with you. ⁵ And it will come about that the staff of ^(B)the man whom I choose will sprout. So I will relieve Myself of the grumblings of the sons of Israel, who are grumbling against you.” ⁶ So Moses spoke to the sons of Israel, and all their leaders gave him a staff, one for each leader, for their fathers’ households, twelve staffs in all, with the staff of Aaron among their staffs. ⁷ Then Moses left the staffs before the Lord in ^(C)the tent of the testimony.

⁸ Now on the next day Moses went into the tent of the testimony; and behold, ^(D)Aaron’s staff for the house of Levi had sprouted and produced buds and bloomed with blossoms, and it yielded ripe almonds. ⁹ Moses then brought out all the staffs from the presence of the Lord to all the sons of Israel; and they looked, and each man took his staff. ¹⁰ But the Lord said to Moses, “Put the staff of Aaron ^(E)back in front of the testimony ^[b]to be kept as a sign against the ^[c](F)rebels, so that you may put an end to their grumblings against Me and they do not die.” ¹¹ Moses did so; just as the Lord had commanded him, so he did.

¹² Then the sons of Israel spoke to Moses, saying, “^(G)Behold, we are passing away, we are perishing, we are all perishing! ^13 (H)Everyone who comes near, who comes near to the tabernacle of the Lord, must die. Are we to perish completely?”

Duties of Levites

18 So the Lord said to Aaron, “You, your sons, and your father’s household with you shall ^(I)bear the guilt ^[d]in connection with the sanctuary, and you and your sons with you shall bear the guilt ^[e]in connection with your priesthood. ² But also bring your brothers with you, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, so that they may ^(J)join you and serve you, while you and your sons with you are before the tent of the testimony. ³ And they shall perform duties for you and the duties of the whole tent, but ^(K)they shall not come near the furnishings of the sanctuary and ^(L)the altar, or both they and you will die. ⁴ They shall join you and perform the duties of the tent of meeting, for all the service of the tent; but ^[f]an unauthorized person shall not come near you. ⁵ So you shall perform the ^(M)duties of the sanctuary and the duties of the altar, ^(N)so that there will no longer be wrath on the sons of Israel. ⁶ Behold, I Myself ^(O)have taken your ^[g]fellow Levites from among the sons of Israel; they are ^(P)a gift to you, ^[h]dedicated to the Lord, to perform the service for the tent of meeting. ⁷ But you and your sons with you shall ^(Q)attend to your priesthood for everything that concerns the altar and inside the veil, and you are to perform service. I am giving you the priesthood as ^(R)a ^[i]service that is a gift, and ^(S)the ^[j]unauthorized person who comes near shall be put to death.”

The Priests’ Portion

⁸ Then the Lord spoke to Aaron, “Now behold, I Myself have put you in charge of My ^[k](T)offerings, all the holy gifts of the sons of Israel I have given to you as a portion and to your sons as a permanent allotment. ⁹ This shall be yours from the most holy gifts reserved from the fire; every offering of theirs, namely ^(U)every grain offering, every ^(V)sin offering, and every guilt offering, with which they shall make restitution to Me, shall be most holy for you and for your sons. ¹⁰ As the most holy gifts you shall eat it; every male shall eat it. It shall be holy to you. ¹¹ This also is yours, ^(W)the offering of their gift, that is, all the wave offerings of the sons of Israel; I have ^(X)given them to you and to your sons and daughters with you as a permanent allotment. Everyone of your household who is clean may eat it. ^12 (Y)All the ^[l]best of the fresh oil and all the ^[m]best of the fresh wine and of the grain, the first fruits of what they give to the Lord, I have given them to you. ^13 (Z)The first ripe fruits of all that is in their land, which they bring to the Lord, shall be yours; everyone of your household who is clean may eat it. ^14 (AA)Everything banned from secular use in Israel shall be yours. ^15 [n](AB)Every firstborn of the womb of all flesh, whether human or animal, which they offer to the Lord, shall be yours; however you must redeem the human firstborn, and the firstborn of unclean animals you shall redeem. ¹⁶ As to ^[o]their redemption price, from a month old you shall redeem them, by your assessment, five ^[p]shekels in silver by the ^[q]shekel of the sanctuary, which is twenty gerahs. ¹⁷ But ^(AC)the firstborn of an ox, the firstborn of a sheep, or the firstborn of a goat, you shall not redeem; they are holy. ^(AD)You shall sprinkle their blood on the altar and offer up their fat in smoke as an offering by fire, for a soothing aroma to the Lord. ¹⁸ However, their ^[r]meat shall be yours; it shall be yours like the ^(AE)breast of a wave offering and like the right thigh. ^19 (AF)All the offerings of the holy gifts, which the sons of Israel offer to the Lord, I have given to you and your sons and your daughters with you, as a permanent allotment. It is ^(AG)a permanent covenant of salt before the Lord to you and your ^[s]descendants with you.” ²⁰ Then the Lord said to Aaron, “^(AH)You shall have no inheritance in their land nor own any portion among them; ^(AI)I am your portion and your inheritance among the sons of Israel.

²¹ “To the sons of Levi, behold, I have given all the ^(AJ)tithe in Israel as an inheritance, in return for their service which they perform, the service of the tent of meeting. ²² And ^(AK)the sons of Israel shall not come near the tent of meeting again, or they will bring sin on themselves and die. ²³ Only the Levites shall perform the service of the tent of meeting, and they shall ^(AL)bear their own guilt; it shall be a permanent statute throughout your generations, and among the sons of Israel ^(AM)they shall have no inheritance. ²⁴ For the tithe of the sons of Israel, which they offer as an offering to the Lord, I have given to the Levites as an inheritance; therefore I have said concerning them, ‘^(AN)They shall have no inheritance among the sons of Israel.’”

²⁵ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁶ “Moreover, you shall speak to the Levites and say to them, ‘When you take from the sons of Israel ^(AO)the tithe which I have given you from them for your inheritance, then you shall present an offering from it to the Lord, a ^(AP)tithe of the tithe. ²⁷ Your offering shall be credited to you like the grain from the threshing floor or the full produce from the wine vat. ²⁸ So you shall also present an offering to the Lord from all your tithes, which you receive from the sons of Israel; and from it you shall give the Lord’s offering to Aaron the priest. ²⁹ Out of all your gifts you shall present every offering due to the Lord, from all the ^[t]best of them, ^[u]the sacred part from them.’ ³⁰ And you shall say to them, ‘When you have ^[v]offered from it the best of it, then the rest shall be credited to the Levites like the product of the threshing floor, and like the product of the wine vat. ³¹ You may eat it anywhere, you and your households, for it is your compensation in return for your service in the tent of meeting. ³² And you will bring on yourselves no sin by reason of it when you have ^[w]offered the ^[x]best of it. But you shall not ^(AQ)profane the sacred gifts of the sons of Israel, so that you do not die.’”

The Voice of the Lord in the Storm.

A Psalm of David.

Parable of the Sower and Soils

4 Again ^(A)He began to teach ^(B)by the sea. And such a very large crowd gathered to Him that ^(C)He got into a boat on the sea and sat down; and the whole crowd was by the sea on the land. ² And He was teaching them many things in ^(D)parables, and was saying to them in His teaching, ³ “Listen to this! Behold, the sower went out to sow; ⁴ as he was sowing, some seed fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate it up. ⁵ Other seed fell on the rocky ground where it did not have much soil; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of soil. ⁶ And when the sun had risen, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. ⁷ Other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. ⁸ Other seeds fell into the good soil, and as they grew up and increased, they yielded a crop and produced thirty, sixty, and a hundred times as much.” ⁹ And He was saying, “^(E)He who has ears to hear, ^[a]let him hear.”

¹⁰ As soon as He was alone, ^[b]His followers, along with the twelve disciples, began asking Him about the parables. ¹¹ And He was saying to them, “To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God, but for ^(F)those who are outside, everything comes ^(G)in parables, ¹² so that ^(H)while seeing they may see, and not perceive, and while hearing, they may hear, and not understand, otherwise they might return and it would be forgiven them.”

Explanation of the Parable

^13 (I)And He *said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How will you understand all the parables? ¹⁴ The sower sows the word. ¹⁵ These are the ones who are beside the road where the word is sown; and when they hear, immediately ^(J)Satan comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them. ¹⁶ And in a similar way these are the ones sown with seed on the rocky places, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy; ¹⁷ and yet they have no firm root in themselves, but are only temporary; then, when affliction or persecution occurs because of the word, immediately they ^[c]fall away. ¹⁸ And others are the ones sown with seed among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word, ¹⁹ but the worries of ^(K)the ^[d]world, and the ^(L)deceitfulness of wealth, and the desires for other things enter and choke the word, and it ^[e]becomes unfruitful. ²⁰ And those are the ones sown with seed on the good soil; and they hear the word and accept it and ^(M)bear fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundred times as much.”

²¹ And He was saying to them, “^(N)A lamp is not brought to be put under a ^[f]basket, or under a bed, is it? Is it not brought to be put on the lampstand? ^22 (O)For nothing is hidden, except to be revealed; nor has anything been secret, but that it would come to light. ^23 (P)If anyone has ears to hear, ^[g]let him hear.” ²⁴ And He was saying to them, “Take care what you listen to. ^[h](Q)By your standard of measure it will be measured to you; and more will be given you besides. ^25 (R)For whoever has, to him more will be given; and whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.”

Parable of the Seed

²⁶ And He was saying, “The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil; ²⁷ and he goes to bed at night and gets up daily, and the seed sprouts and grows—how, he himself does not know. ²⁸ The soil produces crops by itself; first the stalk, then the head, then the mature grain in the head. ²⁹ Now when the crop permits, he immediately ^[i](S)puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

Parable of the Mustard Seed

^30 (T)And He was saying, “How shall we ^[j](U)picture the kingdom of God, or by what parable shall we present it? ³¹ It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the soil, though it is the smallest of all the seeds that are upon the soil, ³² yet when it is sown, it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants, and forms large branches, with the result that ^(V)the birds of the sky can nest under its shade.”

³³ And with many such parables He was speaking the word to them, so far as they were able to ^[k]understand it; ³⁴ and He did not speak to them ^(W)without a parable; but He was ^(X)explaining everything privately to His own disciples.

Jesus Stills the Sea

^35 (Y)On that day, when evening came, He *said to them, “Let’s go over to the other side.” ³⁶ After dismissing the crowd, they *took Him along with them ^(Z)in the boat, just as He was; and other boats were with Him. ³⁷ And a fierce gale of wind *developed, and the waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling with water. ³⁸ And yet Jesus Himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they *woke Him and *said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” ³⁹ And He got up and ^(AA)rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Hush, be still.” And the wind died down and ^[l]it became perfectly calm. ⁴⁰ And He said to them, “Why are you ^[m]afraid? ^(AB)Do you still have no faith?” ⁴¹ They became very much afraid and said to one another, “Who, then, is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?”