¹² He said to them, “You are the heads of the Levitical families; you and your fellow Levites are to consecrate^(A) yourselves and bring up the ark of the Lord, the God of Israel, to the place I have prepared for it.

⁶ Slaughter the Passover lambs, consecrate yourselves^(A) and prepare the lambs for your fellow Israelites, doing what the Lord commanded through Moses.”

¹⁴ After Moses had gone down the mountain to the people, he consecrated them, and they washed their clothes.^{(A) 15} Then he said to the people, “Prepare yourselves for the third day. Abstain^(B) from sexual relations.”

¹⁵ They slaughtered the Passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the second month. The priests and the Levites were ashamed and consecrated^(A) themselves and brought burnt offerings to the temple of the Lord.

¹⁴ So the priests and Levites consecrated themselves in order to bring up the ark of the Lord, the God of Israel.

⁹ And they sang a new song, saying:^(A)

A Living Sacrifice

12 Therefore, I urge you,^(A) brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice,^(B) holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. ² Do not conform^(C) to the pattern of this world,^(D) but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.^(E) Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is^(F)—his good, pleasing^(G) and perfect will.

¹¹ This will be for the consecrated priests, the Zadokites,^(A) who were faithful in serving me^(B) and did not go astray as the Levites did when the Israelites went astray.^(C)