The Lord Accepts Aaron's Offering

9 ^(A)On the eighth day Moses called Aaron and his sons and the elders of Israel, ² and he said to Aaron, ^(B)“Take for yourself a bull calf for a sin offering and ^(C)a ram for a burnt offering, both without blemish, and offer them before the Lord. ³ And say to the people of Israel, ^(D)‘Take a male goat for a sin offering, and a calf and a lamb, both a year old without blemish, for a burnt offering, ⁴ and an ox and a ram for peace offerings, to sacrifice before the Lord, and ^(E)a grain offering mixed with oil, for ^(F)today the Lord will appear to you.’” ⁵ And they brought what Moses commanded in front of the tent of meeting, and all the congregation drew near and stood before the Lord. ⁶ And Moses said, “This is the thing that the Lord commanded you to do, that the glory of the Lord may appear to you.” ⁷ Then Moses said to Aaron, “Draw near to the altar and ^(G)offer your sin offering and your burnt offering and ^(H)make atonement for yourself and for the people, and bring the offering of the people and make atonement for them, as the Lord has commanded.”

⁸ So Aaron drew near to the altar and killed the calf of the sin offering, which was for himself. ^9 (I)And the sons of Aaron presented the blood to him, and he dipped his finger in the blood and ^(J)put it on the horns of the altar and poured out the blood at the base of the altar. ^10 (K)But the fat and the kidneys and the long lobe of the liver from the sin offering he burned on the altar, ^(L)as the Lord commanded Moses. ^11 (M)The flesh and the skin he burned up with fire outside the camp.

¹² Then he killed the burnt offering, and Aaron's sons handed him the blood, and he ^(N)threw it against the sides of the altar. ^13 (O)And they handed the burnt offering to him, piece by piece, and the head, and he burned them on the altar. ^14 (P)And he washed the entrails and the legs and burned them with the burnt offering on the altar.

^15 (Q)Then he presented the people's offering and took the goat of the sin offering that was for the people and killed it and ^(R)offered it as a sin offering, ^(S)like the first one. ¹⁶ And he presented the burnt offering and offered it ^(T)according to the ^(U)rule. ¹⁷ And he presented the ^(V)grain offering, took a handful of it, and burned it on the altar, ^(W)besides the burnt offering of the morning.

¹⁸ Then he killed the ox and the ram, ^(X)the sacrifice of peace offerings for the people. And Aaron's sons handed him the blood, and he threw it against the sides of the altar. ¹⁹ But the fat pieces of the ox and of the ram, the fat tail and that which covers ^(Y)the entrails and the kidneys and the long lobe of the liver— ²⁰ they put the fat pieces on the breasts, ^(Z)and he burned the fat pieces on the altar, ²¹ but the breasts and the right thigh Aaron waved ^(AA)for a wave offering before the Lord, as Moses commanded.

²² Then Aaron ^(AB)lifted up his hands toward the people and ^(AC)blessed them, and he came down from offering the sin offering and the burnt offering and the peace offerings. ²³ And Moses and Aaron went into the tent of meeting, and when they came out they blessed the people, and ^(AD)the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people. ²⁴ And ^(AE)fire came out from before the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the pieces of fat on the altar, and when all the people saw it, ^(AF)they shouted and ^(AG)fell on their faces.

The Death of Nadab and Abihu

10 Now ^(AH)Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, ^(AI)each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered ^(AJ)unauthorized^[a] fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them. ² And fire ^(AK)came out from before the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord. ³ Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord has said: ‘Among ^(AL)those who are near me ^(AM)I will be sanctified, and before all the people I will be glorified.’” ^(AN)And Aaron held his peace.

⁴ And Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of ^(AO)Uzziel the uncle of Aaron, and said to them, “Come near; carry your brothers away from the front of the sanctuary and out of the camp.” ⁵ So they came near and carried them in their coats out of the camp, as Moses had said. ⁶ And Moses said to Aaron and to Eleazar and Ithamar his sons, ^(AP)“Do not let the hair of your heads hang loose, and do not tear your clothes, lest you die, and ^(AQ)wrath come upon all the congregation; but let your brothers, the whole house of Israel, bewail the burning that the Lord has kindled. ^7 (AR)And do not go outside the entrance of the tent of meeting, lest you die, ^(AS)for the anointing oil of the Lord is upon you.” And they did according to the word of Moses.

⁸ And the Lord spoke to Aaron, saying, ^9 (AT)“Drink no wine or strong drink, you or your sons with you, when you go into the tent of meeting, lest you die. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations. ¹⁰ You are to ^(AU)distinguish between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean, ¹¹ and ^(AV)you are to teach the people of Israel all the statutes that the Lord has spoken to them by Moses.”

¹² Moses spoke to Aaron and to Eleazar and Ithamar, his surviving sons: “Take the ^(AW)grain offering that is left of the Lord's food offerings, and eat it unleavened beside the altar, for ^(AX)it is most holy. ¹³ You shall eat it in a holy place, because it is your due and your sons' due, from the Lord's food offerings, for ^(AY)so I am commanded. ¹⁴ But the ^(AZ)breast that is waved and the thigh that is contributed you shall eat in a clean place, you and your sons and your daughters with you, for they are given as your due and your sons' due from the sacrifices of the peace offerings of the people of Israel. ^15 (BA)The thigh that is contributed and the breast that is waved they shall bring with the food offerings of the fat pieces to wave for a wave offering before the Lord, and it shall be yours and your sons' with you as a due forever, as the Lord has commanded.”

¹⁶ Now Moses diligently inquired about ^(BB)the goat of the sin offering, and behold, it was burned up! And he was angry with Eleazar and Ithamar, the surviving sons of Aaron, saying, ^17 (BC)“Why have you not eaten the sin offering in the place of the sanctuary, since ^(BD)it is a thing most holy and has been given to you that you may bear the iniquity of the congregation, to make atonement for them before the Lord? ¹⁸ Behold, ^(BE)its blood was not brought into the inner part of the sanctuary. You certainly ought to have eaten it in the sanctuary, ^(BF)as I commanded.” ¹⁹ And Aaron said to Moses, “Behold, ^(BG)today they have offered their sin offering and their burnt offering before the Lord, and yet such things as these have happened to me! If I had eaten the sin offering today, ^(BH)would the Lord have approved?” ²⁰ And when Moses heard that, he approved.

Paul and Silas in Thessalonica

17 Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to ^(A)Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. ² And Paul went in, ^(B)as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them ^(C)from the Scriptures, ^3 (D)explaining and proving that it was necessary for ^(E)the Christ to suffer and ^(F)to rise from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.” ⁴ And ^(G)some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did ^(H)a great many of the devout ^(I)Greeks and not a few of the leading women. ^5 (J)But the Jews^{[a] (K)}were jealous, and taking ^(L)some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd. ⁶ And when they could not find them, ^(M)they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also, ⁷ and Jason has received them, and they are all acting against ^(N)the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is ^(O)another king, Jesus.” ⁸ And the people and the city authorities were disturbed when they heard these things. ⁹ And when they had taken money as security from Jason and the rest, they let them go.

Paul and Silas in Berea

^10 (P)The brothers^[b] immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they ^(Q)went into the Jewish synagogue. ¹¹ Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, ^(R)examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. ^12 (S)Many of them therefore believed, with not a few Greek ^(T)women of high standing as well as men. ¹³ But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the word of God was proclaimed by Paul at Berea also, they came there too, ^(U)agitating and stirring up the crowds. ¹⁴ Then the brothers ^(V)immediately sent Paul off on his way to the sea, but Silas and ^(W)Timothy remained there. ^15 (X)Those who conducted Paul brought him as far as ^(Y)Athens, and after receiving a command ^(Z)for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible, they departed.

Paul in Athens

¹⁶ Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was ^(AA)provoked within him as he saw that the city was ^(AB)full of idols. ¹⁷ So ^(AC)he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. ¹⁸ Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him. And some said, ^(AD)“What does this babbler wish to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities”—because ^(AE)he was preaching ^(AF)Jesus and the resurrection. ¹⁹ And they took him and brought him to ^(AG)the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this ^(AH)new teaching is that you are presenting? ²⁰ For you bring some ^(AI)strange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean.” ²¹ Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.

Paul Addresses the Areopagus

²² So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. ²³ For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ^(AJ)‘To the unknown god.’ ^(AK)What therefore you worship ^(AL)as unknown, this I proclaim to you. ^24 (AM)The God who made the world and everything in it, being ^(AN)Lord of heaven and earth, ^(AO)does not live in temples made by man,^{[c] 25} nor is he served by human hands, ^(AP)as though he needed anything, since he himself ^(AQ)gives to all mankind ^(AR)life and breath and everything. ²⁶ And ^(AS)he made from one man every nation of mankind to live ^(AT)on all the face of the earth, ^(AU)having determined allotted periods and ^(AV)the boundaries of their dwelling place, ^27 (AW)that they should seek God, ^(AX)and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. ^(AY)Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, ²⁸ for

as even some of ^(BA)your own poets have said,

^29 (BB)Being then God's offspring, ^(BC)we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. ^30 (BD)The times of ignorance ^(BE)God overlooked, but ^(BF)now he ^(BG)commands all people everywhere to repent, ³¹ because he has fixed ^(BH)a day on which ^(BI)he will judge the world ^(BJ)in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and ^(BK)of this he has given assurance to all ^(BL)by raising him from the dead.”

³² Now when they heard of ^(BM)the resurrection of the dead, ^(BN)some mocked. But others said, ^(BO)“We will hear you again about this.” ³³ So Paul went out from their midst. ³⁴ But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius ^(BP)the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.