The Family of Levi^(A)

6 The sons of Levi were ^(B)Gershon,^[a] Kohath, and Merari. ² The sons of Kohath were Amram, ^(C)Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. ³ The children of Amram were Aaron, Moses, and Miriam. And the sons of Aaron were ^(D)Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. ⁴ Eleazar begot Phinehas, and Phinehas begot Abishua; ⁵ Abishua begot Bukki, and Bukki begot Uzzi; ⁶ Uzzi begot Zerahiah, and Zerahiah begot Meraioth; ⁷ Meraioth begot Amariah, and Amariah begot Ahitub; ^8 (E)Ahitub begot ^(F)Zadok, and Zadok begot Ahimaaz; ⁹ Ahimaaz begot Azariah, and Azariah begot Johanan; ¹⁰ Johanan begot Azariah (it was he ^(G)who ministered as priest in the ^(H)temple^[b] that Solomon built in Jerusalem); ^11 (I)Azariah begot ^(J)Amariah, and Amariah begot Ahitub; ¹² Ahitub begot Zadok, and Zadok begot ^[c]Shallum; ¹³ Shallum begot Hilkiah, and Hilkiah begot Azariah; ¹⁴ Azariah begot ^(K)Seraiah, and Seraiah begot Jehozadak. ¹⁵ Jehozadak went into captivity ^(L)when the Lord carried Judah and Jerusalem into captivity by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar.

¹⁶ The sons of Levi were ^(M)Gershon,^[d] Kohath, and Merari. ¹⁷ These are the names of the sons of Gershon: Libni and Shimei. ¹⁸ The sons of Kohath were Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. ¹⁹ The sons of Merari were Mahli and Mushi. Now these are the families of the Levites according to their fathers: ²⁰ Of Gershon were Libni his son, Jahath his son, ^(N)Zimmah his son, ^21 [e]Joah his son, ^[f]Iddo his son, Zerah his son, and ^[g]Jeatherai his son. ²² The sons of Kohath were ^[h]Amminadab his son, ^(O)Korah his son, Assir his son, ²³ Elkanah his son, Ebiasaph his son, Assir his son, ²⁴ Tahath his son, Uriel his son, Uzziah his son, and Shaul his son. ²⁵ The sons of Elkanah were ^(P)Amasai and Ahimoth. ²⁶ As for Elkanah, the sons of Elkanah were ^[i]Zophai his son, ^[j]Nahath his son, ^27 [k]Eliab his son, Jeroham his son, and Elkanah his son. ²⁸ The sons of Samuel were ^[l]Joel the firstborn, and Abijah ^[m]the second. ²⁹ The sons of Merari were Mahli, Libni his son, Shimei his son, Uzzah his son, ³⁰ Shimea his son, Haggiah his son, and Asaiah his son.

Musicians in the House of the Lord

³¹ Now these are ^(Q)the men whom David appointed over the service of song in the house of the Lord, after the ^(R)ark came to rest. ³² They were ministering with music before the dwelling place of the tabernacle of meeting, until Solomon had built the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, and they served in their office according to their order.

³³ And these are the ones who ^[n]ministered with their sons: Of the sons of the ^(S)Kohathites were Heman the singer, the son of Joel, the son of Samuel, ³⁴ the son of Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of ^[o]Eliel, the son of ^[p]Toah, ³⁵ the son of Zuph, the son of Elkanah, the son of Mahath, the son of Amasai, ³⁶ the son of Elkanah, the son of Joel, the son of Azariah, the son of Zephaniah, ³⁷ the son of Tahath, the son of Assir, the son of ^(T)Ebiasaph, the son of Korah, ³⁸ the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, the son of Israel. ³⁹ And his brother ^(U)Asaph, who stood at his right hand, was Asaph the son of Berachiah, the son of Shimea, ⁴⁰ the son of Michael, the son of Baaseiah, the son of Malchijah, ⁴¹ the son of ^(V)Ethni, the son of Zerah, the son of Adaiah, ⁴² the son of Ethan, the son of Zimmah, the son of Shimei, ⁴³ the son of Jahath, the son of Gershon, the son of Levi.

⁴⁴ Their brethren, the sons of Merari, on the left hand, were ^[q]Ethan the son of ^[r]Kishi, the son of Abdi, the son of Malluch, ⁴⁵ the son of Hashabiah, the son of Amaziah, the son of Hilkiah, ⁴⁶ the son of Amzi, the son of Bani, the son of Shamer, ⁴⁷ the son of Mahli, the son of Mushi, the son of Merari, the son of Levi.

⁴⁸ And their brethren, the Levites, were appointed to every ^(W)kind of service of the tabernacle of the house of God.

The Family of Aaron

^49 (X)But Aaron and his sons offered sacrifices ^(Y)on the altar of burnt offering and ^(Z)on the altar of incense, for all the work of the Most Holy Place, and to make atonement for Israel, according to all that Moses the servant of God had commanded. ⁵⁰ Now these are the ^(AA)sons of Aaron: Eleazar his son, Phinehas his son, Abishua his son, ⁵¹ Bukki his son, Uzzi his son, Zerahiah his son, ⁵² Meraioth his son, Amariah his son, Ahitub his son, ⁵³ Zadok his son, and Ahimaaz his son.

Dwelling Places of the Levites^(AB)

^54 (AC)Now these are their dwelling places throughout their settlements in their territory, for they were given by lot to the sons of Aaron, of the family of the Kohathites: ^55 (AD)They gave them Hebron in the land of Judah, with its surrounding ^[s]common-lands. ^56 (AE)But the fields of the city and its villages they gave to Caleb the son of Jephunneh. ⁵⁷ And ^(AF)to the sons of Aaron they gave one of the cities of refuge, Hebron; also Libnah with its common-lands, Jattir, Eshtemoa with its common-lands, ^58 [t]Hilen with its common-lands, Debir with its common-lands, ^59 [u]Ashan with its common-lands, and Beth Shemesh with its common-lands. ⁶⁰ And from the tribe of Benjamin: Geba with its common-lands, ^[v]Alemeth with its common-lands, and Anathoth with its common-lands. All their cities among their families were thirteen.

^61 (AG)To the rest of the family of the tribe of the Kohathites they gave ^(AH)by lot ten cities from half the tribe of Manasseh. ⁶² And to the sons of Gershon, throughout their families, they gave thirteen cities from the tribe of Issachar, from the tribe of Asher, from the tribe of Naphtali, and from the tribe of Manasseh in Bashan. ⁶³ To the sons of Merari, throughout their families, they gave ^(AI)twelve cities from the tribe of Reuben, from the tribe of Gad, and from the tribe of Zebulun. ⁶⁴ So the children of Israel gave these cities with their ^[w]common-lands to the Levites. ⁶⁵ And they gave by lot from the tribe of the children of Judah, from the tribe of the children of Simeon, and from the tribe of the children of Benjamin these cities which are called by their names.

⁶⁶ Now ^(AJ)some of the families of the sons of Kohath were given cities as their territory from the tribe of Ephraim. ^67 (AK)And they gave them one of the cities of refuge, Shechem with its common-lands, in the mountains of Ephraim, also Gezer with its common-lands, ^68 (AL)Jokmeam with its common-lands, Beth Horon with its common-lands, ⁶⁹ Aijalon with its common-lands, and Gath Rimmon with its common-lands. ⁷⁰ And from the half-tribe of Manasseh: Aner with its common-lands and Bileam with its common-lands, for the rest of the family of the sons of Kohath.

⁷¹ From the family of the half-tribe of Manasseh the sons of Gershon were given Golan in Bashan with its common-lands and ^[x]Ashtaroth with its common-lands. ⁷² And from the tribe of Issachar: ^[y]Kedesh with its common-lands, Daberath with its common-lands, ⁷³ Ramoth with its common-lands, and Anem with its common-lands. ⁷⁴ And from the tribe of Asher: Mashal with its common-lands, Abdon with its common-lands, ⁷⁵ Hukok with its common-lands, and Rehob with its common-lands. ⁷⁶ And from the tribe of Naphtali: Kedesh in Galilee with its common-lands, Hammon with its common-lands, and Kirjathaim with its common-lands.

⁷⁷ From the tribe of Zebulun the rest of the children of Merari were given ^[z]Rimmon with its common-lands and Tabor with its common-lands. ⁷⁸ And on the other side of the Jordan, across from Jericho, on the east side of the Jordan, they were given from the tribe of Reuben: Bezer in the wilderness with its common-lands, Jahzah with its common-lands, ⁷⁹ Kedemoth with its common-lands, and Mephaath with its common-lands. ⁸⁰ And from the tribe of Gad: Ramoth in Gilead with its common-lands, Mahanaim with its common-lands, ⁸¹ Heshbon with its common-lands, and Jazer with its common-lands.

The Lord the Avenger of His People

A Psalm of David.

Healing on the Sabbath^(A)

3 And ^(B)He entered the synagogue again, and a man was there who had a withered hand. ² So they ^(C)watched Him closely, whether He would ^(D)heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might ^[a]accuse Him. ³ And He said to the man who had the withered hand, ^[b]“Step forward.” ⁴ Then He said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they kept silent. ⁵ And when He had looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the ^(E)hardness of their hearts, He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored ^[c]as whole as the other. ^6 (F)Then the Pharisees went out and immediately plotted with ^(G)the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him.

A Great Multitude Follows Jesus^(H)

⁷ But Jesus withdrew with His disciples to the sea. And a great multitude from Galilee followed Him, ^(I)and from Judea ⁸ and Jerusalem and Idumea and beyond the Jordan; and those from Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, when they heard how ^(J)many things He was doing, came to Him. ⁹ So He told His disciples that a small boat should be kept ready for Him because of the multitude, lest they should crush Him. ¹⁰ For He healed ^(K)many, so that as many as had afflictions pressed about Him to ^(L)touch Him. ^11 (M)And the unclean spirits, whenever they saw Him, fell down before Him and cried out, saying, ^(N)“You are the Son of God.” ¹² But ^(O)He sternly warned them that they should not make Him known.

The Twelve Apostles^(P)

^13 (Q)And He went up on the mountain and called to Him those He Himself wanted. And they came to Him. ¹⁴ Then He appointed twelve, ^[d]that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach, ¹⁵ and to have ^[e]power ^[f]to heal sicknesses and to cast out demons: ^16 [g]Simon, ^(R)to whom He gave the name Peter; ¹⁷ James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James, to whom He gave the name Boanerges, that is, “Sons of Thunder”; ¹⁸ Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Cananite; ¹⁹ and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him. And they went into a house.

A House Divided Cannot Stand^(S)

²⁰ Then the multitude came together again, ^(T)so that they could not so much as eat bread. ²¹ But when His ^(U)own people heard about this, they went out to lay hold of Him, ^(V)for they said, “He is out of His mind.”

²² And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, ^(W)“He has Beelzebub,” and, “By the ^(X)ruler of the demons He casts out demons.”

^23 (Y)So He called them to Himself and said to them in parables: “How can Satan cast out Satan? ²⁴ If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. ²⁵ And if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. ²⁶ And if Satan has risen up against himself, and is divided, he cannot stand, but has an end. ^27 (Z)No one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. And then he will plunder his house.

The Unpardonable Sin^(AA)

^28 (AB)“Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they may utter; ²⁹ but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation”— ³⁰ because they ^(AC)said, “He has an unclean spirit.”

Jesus’ Mother and Brothers Send for Him^(AD)

^31 (AE)Then His brothers and His mother came, and standing outside they sent to Him, calling Him. ³² And a multitude was sitting around Him; and they said to Him, “Look, Your mother and Your brothers ^[h]are outside seeking You.”

³³ But He answered them, saying, “Who is My mother, or My brothers?” ³⁴ And He looked around in a circle at those who sat about Him, and said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! ³⁵ For whoever does the ^(AF)will of God is My brother and My sister and mother.”