The Family of Moses and Aaron^(A)

¹⁴ These are the heads of their fathers’ houses: ^(B)The sons of Reuben, the firstborn of Israel, were Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi. These are the families of Reuben. ^15 (C)And the sons of Simeon were ^[a]Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanite woman. These are the families of Simeon. ¹⁶ These are the names of ^(D)the sons of Levi according to their generations: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. And the years of the life of Levi were one hundred and thirty-seven. ^17 (E)The sons of Gershon were Libni and Shimi according to their families. ¹⁸ And ^(F)the sons of Kohath were Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. And the years of the life of Kohath were one hundred and thirty-three. ^19 (G)The sons of Merari were Mahli and Mushi. These are the families of Levi according to their generations.

²⁰ Now ^(H)Amram took for himself ^(I)Jochebed, his father’s sister, as wife; and she bore him ^(J)Aaron and Moses. And the years of the life of Amram were one hundred and thirty-seven. ^21 (K)The sons of Izhar were Korah, Nepheg, and Zichri. ²² And ^(L)the sons of Uzziel were Mishael, Elzaphan, and Zithri. ²³ Aaron took to himself Elisheba, daughter of ^(M)Amminadab, sister of Nahshon, as wife; and she bore him ^(N)Nadab, Abihu, ^(O)Eleazar, and Ithamar. ²⁴ And ^(P)the sons of Korah were Assir, Elkanah, and Abiasaph. These are the families of the Korahites. ²⁵ Eleazar, Aaron’s son, took for himself one of the daughters of Putiel as wife; and ^(Q)she bore him Phinehas. These are the heads of the fathers’ houses of the Levites according to their families.

²⁶ These are the same Aaron and Moses to whom the Lord said, “Bring out the children of Israel from the land of Egypt according to their ^(R)armies.”^{[b] 27} These are the ones who spoke to Pharaoh king of Egypt, ^(S)to bring out the children of Israel from Egypt. These are the same Moses and Aaron.

Aaron Is Moses’ Spokesman

²⁸ And it came to pass, on the day the Lord spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt, ²⁹ that the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “I am the Lord. ^(T)Speak to Pharaoh king of Egypt all that I say to you.”

³⁰ But Moses said before the Lord, “Behold, ^(U)I am ^[c]of uncircumcised lips, and how shall Pharaoh heed me?”

Jehoash Repairs the Temple^(A)

12 In the seventh year of Jehu, ^(B)Jehoash^[a] became king, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zibiah of Beersheba. ² Jehoash did what was right in the sight of the Lord all the days in which ^(C)Jehoiada the priest instructed him. ³ But ^(D)the ^[b]high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.

⁴ And Jehoash said to the priests, ^(E)“All the money of the dedicated gifts that are brought into the house of the Lord—each man’s ^(F)census^[c] money, each man’s ^(G)assessment money—and all the money that ^[d]a man ^(H)purposes in his heart to bring into the house of the Lord, ⁵ let the priests take it themselves, each from his constituency; and let them repair the ^[e]damages of the temple, wherever any dilapidation is found.”

⁶ Now it was so, by the twenty-third year of King Jehoash, ^(I)that the priests had not repaired the damages of the temple. ^7 (J)So King Jehoash called Jehoiada the priest and the other priests, and said to them, “Why have you not repaired the damages of the temple? Now therefore, do not take more money from your constituency, but deliver it for repairing the damages of the temple.” ⁸ And the priests agreed that they would neither receive more money from the people, nor repair the damages of the temple.

⁹ Then Jehoiada the priest took ^(K)a chest, bored a hole in its lid, and set it beside the altar, on the right side as one comes into the house of the Lord; and the priests who ^[f]kept the door put ^(L)there all the money brought into the house of the Lord. ¹⁰ So it was, whenever they saw that there was much money in the chest, that the king’s ^(M)scribe^[g] and the high priest came up and ^[h]put it in bags, and counted the money that was found in the house of the Lord. ¹¹ Then they gave the money, which had been apportioned, into the hands of those who did the work, who had the oversight of the house of the Lord; and they ^[i]paid it out to the carpenters and builders who worked on the house of the Lord, ¹² and to masons and stonecutters, and for buying timber and hewn stone, to ^(N)repair the damage of the house of the Lord, and for all that was paid out to repair the temple. ¹³ However ^(O)there were not made for the house of the Lord basins of silver, trimmers, sprinkling-bowls, trumpets, any articles of gold or articles of silver, from the money brought into the house of the Lord. ¹⁴ But they gave that to the workmen, and they repaired the house of the Lord with it. ¹⁵ Moreover ^(P)they did not require an account from the men into whose hand they delivered the money to be paid to workmen, for they dealt faithfully. ^16 (Q)The money from the trespass offerings and the money from the sin offerings was not brought into the house of the Lord. ^(R)It belonged to the priests.

Concern for Their Faith

3 Therefore, when we could no longer endure it, we thought it good to be left in Athens alone, ² and sent ^(A)Timothy, our brother and minister of God, and our fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ, to establish you and encourage you concerning your faith, ^3 (B)that no one should be shaken by these afflictions; for you yourselves know that ^(C)we are appointed to this. ^4 (D)For, in fact, we told you before when we were with you that we would suffer tribulation, just as it happened, and you know. ⁵ For this reason, when I could no longer endure it, I sent to know your faith, ^(E)lest by some means the tempter had tempted you, and ^(F)our labor might be in vain.

Encouraged by Timothy

^6 (G)But now that Timothy has come to us from you, and brought us good news of your faith and love, and that you always have good remembrance of us, greatly desiring to see us, ^(H)as we also to see you— ⁷ therefore, brethren, in all our affliction and distress ^(I)we were comforted concerning you by your faith. ⁸ For now we live, if you ^(J)stand fast in the Lord.

⁹ For what thanks can we render to God for you, for all the joy with which we rejoice for your sake before our God, ¹⁰ night and day praying exceedingly that we may see your face ^(K)and perfect what is lacking in your faith?

Prayer for the Church

¹¹ Now may our God and Father Himself, and our Lord Jesus Christ, ^(L)direct our way to you. ¹² And may the Lord make you increase and ^(M)abound in love to one another and to all, just as we do to you, ¹³ so that He may establish ^(N)your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints.