²⁸ The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁹ “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, ^(A)Whoever offers the sacrifice of his peace offerings to the Lord shall bring his offering to the Lord from the sacrifice of his peace offerings. ^30 (B)His own hands shall bring the Lord's food offerings. He shall bring the fat with ^(C)the breast, that the breast may be waved as a wave offering before the Lord. ^31 (D)The priest shall burn the fat on the altar, but ^(E)the breast shall be for Aaron and his sons. ³² And ^(F)the right thigh you shall give to the priest as a contribution from the sacrifice of your peace offerings. ³³ Whoever among the sons of Aaron offers the blood of the peace offerings and the fat shall have the right thigh for a portion. ³⁴ For the breast that is ^(G)waved and the thigh that is ^(H)contributed I have taken from the people of Israel, out of the sacrifices of their peace offerings, and ^(I)have given them to Aaron the priest and to his sons, as a perpetual due from the people of Israel. ³⁵ This is the portion of Aaron and of his sons from the Lord's food offerings, from the day they were presented to serve as priests of the Lord. ³⁶ The Lord commanded this to be given them by the people of Israel, ^(J)from the day that he anointed them. It is a perpetual due throughout their generations.”

³⁷ This is the law ^(K)of the burnt offering, of the grain offering, of the sin offering, ^(L)of the guilt offering, ^(M)of the ordination offering, and ^(N)of the peace offering, ³⁸ which the Lord commanded Moses on Mount Sinai, on the day that he commanded the people of Israel ^(O)to bring their offerings to the Lord, in the wilderness of Sinai.

Consecration of Aaron and His Sons

8 ^(P)The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Take Aaron and his sons with him, and ^(Q)the garments and ^(R)the anointing oil and the bull of the sin offering and the two rams and the basket of unleavened bread. ³ And assemble all the congregation at the entrance of the tent of meeting.” ⁴ And Moses did as the Lord commanded him, and the congregation was assembled at the entrance of the tent of meeting.

⁵ And Moses said to the congregation, ^(S)“This is the thing that the Lord has commanded to be done.” ⁶ And Moses brought Aaron and his sons and washed them with water. ⁷ And he put ^(T)the coat on him and tied the sash around his waist and clothed him with the robe and put the ephod on him and tied the skillfully woven band of the ephod around him, binding it to him with the band.^{[a] 8} And he placed the breastpiece on him, and ^(U)in the breastpiece he put the Urim and the Thummim. ⁹ And he set ^(V)the turban on his head, and ^(W)on the turban, in front, he set the golden plate, the holy crown, as the Lord commanded Moses.

^10 (X)Then Moses took the anointing oil and anointed the tabernacle and all that was in it, and consecrated them. ¹¹ And he sprinkled some of it on the altar seven times, and anointed the altar and all its utensils and the basin and its stand, to consecrate them. ¹² And ^(Y)he poured some of the anointing oil on Aaron's head and anointed him to consecrate him. ¹³ And Moses brought Aaron's sons and clothed them with coats and tied sashes around their waists and bound caps on them, as the Lord commanded Moses.

¹⁴ Then he brought ^(Z)the bull of the sin offering, and Aaron and his sons ^(AA)laid their hands on the head of the bull of the sin offering. ¹⁵ And he^[b] killed it, and ^(AB)Moses took the blood, and with his finger put it on the horns of the altar around it and purified the altar and poured out the blood at the base of the altar and consecrated it to make atonement for it. ^16 (AC)And he took all the fat that was on the entrails and the long lobe of the liver and the two kidneys with their fat, and Moses burned them on the altar. ¹⁷ But ^(AD)the bull and its skin and its flesh and its dung he burned up with fire outside the camp, as the Lord commanded Moses.

^18 (AE)Then he presented the ram of the burnt offering, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the ram. ¹⁹ And he killed it, and Moses threw the blood against the sides of the altar. ²⁰ He cut the ram into pieces, and Moses burned ^(AF)the head and the pieces and the fat. ²¹ He washed the entrails and the legs with water, and Moses burned the whole ram on the altar. It was a burnt offering with a pleasing aroma, a food offering for the Lord, as the Lord commanded Moses.

²² Then ^(AG)he presented the other ram, the ram of ordination, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the ram. ²³ And he killed it, and Moses took some of its blood and ^(AH)put it on the lobe of Aaron's right ear and on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot. ²⁴ Then he presented Aaron's sons, and Moses put some of the blood on the lobes of their right ears and on the thumbs of their right hands and on the big toes of their right feet. And Moses threw the blood against the sides of the altar. ²⁵ Then he took the fat and the fat tail and all the fat that was on the entrails and the long lobe of the liver and the two kidneys with their fat and the right thigh, ²⁶ and out of the basket of unleavened bread that was before the Lord he took one unleavened loaf and one loaf of bread with oil and one wafer and placed them on the pieces of fat and on the right thigh. ²⁷ And he put all these in the hands of Aaron and in the hands of his sons and waved them as a wave offering before the Lord. ²⁸ Then Moses took them from their hands and burned them on the altar with the burnt offering. This was an ordination offering with a pleasing aroma, a food offering to the Lord. ²⁹ And Moses took the breast and waved it for a wave offering before the Lord. It was Moses' portion of the ram of ordination, as the Lord commanded Moses.

³⁰ Then ^(AI)Moses took some of the anointing oil and of the blood that was on the altar and sprinkled it on Aaron and his garments, and also on his sons and his sons' garments. So he consecrated Aaron and his garments, and his sons and his sons' garments with him.

³¹ And Moses said to Aaron and his sons, “Boil the flesh at the entrance of the tent of meeting, and there eat it and the bread that is in the basket of ordination offerings, as I commanded, saying, ‘Aaron and his sons shall eat it.’ ³² And what remains of the flesh and the bread you shall burn up with fire. ³³ And you shall not go outside the entrance of the tent of meeting for seven days, until the days of your ordination are completed, for it ^(AJ)will take seven days to ordain you. ³⁴ As has been done today, the Lord has commanded to be done to make atonement for you. ³⁵ At the entrance of the tent of meeting you shall remain day and night for seven days, performing what the Lord has ^(AK)charged, so that you do not die, for so I have been commanded.” ³⁶ And Aaron and his sons did all the things that the Lord commanded by Moses.

The Lord Accepts Aaron's Offering

9 ^(AL)On the eighth day Moses called Aaron and his sons and the elders of Israel, ² and he said to Aaron, ^(AM)“Take for yourself a bull calf for a sin offering and ^(AN)a ram for a burnt offering, both without blemish, and offer them before the Lord. ³ And say to the people of Israel, ^(AO)‘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 ^(AP)a grain offering mixed with oil, for ^(AQ)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.”

Jesus' Mother and Brothers

^31 (A)And his mother and his ^(B)brothers came, and standing outside they sent to him and called him. ³² And a crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers^[a] are outside, seeking you.” ³³ And he answered them, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” ³⁴ And ^(C)looking about at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! ^35 (D)For whoever ^(E)does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.”

The Parable of the Sower

4 Again ^(F)he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, ^(G)so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. ² And ^(H)he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: ³ “Listen! Behold, ^(I)a sower went out to sow. ⁴ And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. ⁵ Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. ⁶ And ^(J)when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, ^(K)it withered away. ⁷ Other seed fell among ^(L)thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. ⁸ And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and ^(M)a hundredfold.” ⁹ And he said, ^(N)“He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

The Purpose of the Parables

¹⁰ And ^(O)when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. ¹¹ And he said to them, ^(P)“To you has been given ^(Q)the secret of the kingdom of God, but for ^(R)those outside everything is in parables, ^12 (S)so that

^13 (V)And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? ^14 (W)The sower sows ^(X)the word. ¹⁵ And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. ¹⁶ And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it ^(Y)with joy. ¹⁷ And they have no root in themselves, but ^(Z)endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately ^(AA)they fall away.^{[b] 18} And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, ¹⁹ but ^(AB)the cares of ^(AC)the world and ^(AD)the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. ²⁰ But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and ^(AE)bear fruit, ^(AF)thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”

A Lamp Under a Basket

^21 (AG)And he said to them, ^(AH)“Is a lamp brought in to be put under a basket, or under a bed, and not on a stand? ^22 (AI)For nothing is hidden except to be made manifest; nor is anything secret except to come to light. ^23 (AJ)If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” ²⁴ And he said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear: ^(AK)with the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you. ^25 (AL)For to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”