²⁵ “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! ^(A)For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and ^[a]self-indulgence. ²⁶ Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also.

²⁷ “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! ^(B)For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. ²⁸ Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

^29 (C)“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and ^[b]adorn the monuments of the righteous, ³⁰ and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’

³¹ “Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that ^(D)you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. ^32 (E)Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers’ guilt. ³³ Serpents, ^(F)brood^[c] of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell? ^34 (G)Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: ^(H)some of them you will kill and crucify, and ^(I)some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, ^35 (J)that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, ^(K)from the blood of righteous Abel to ^(L)the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. ³⁶ Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

Jesus Laments over Jerusalem^(M)

^37 (N)“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets ^(O)and stones those who are sent to her! How often ^(P)I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks ^(Q)under her wings, but you were not willing! ³⁸ See! Your house is left to you desolate; ³⁹ for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ^(R)‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ”

Dead to Sin, Alive to God

6 What shall we say then? ^(A)Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? ² Certainly not! How shall we who ^(B)died to sin live any longer in it? ³ Or do you not know that ^(C)as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus ^(D)were baptized into His death? ⁴ Therefore we were ^(E)buried with Him through baptism into death, that ^(F)just as Christ was raised from the dead by ^(G)the glory of the Father, ^(H)even so we also should walk in newness of life.

^5 (I)For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, ⁶ knowing this, that ^(J)our old man was crucified with Him, that ^(K)the body of sin might be ^[a]done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. ⁷ For ^(L)he who has died has been ^[b]freed from sin. ⁸ Now ^(M)if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, ⁹ knowing that ^(N)Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. ¹⁰ For the death that He died, ^(O)He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, ^(P)He lives to God. ¹¹ Likewise you also, ^[c]reckon yourselves to be ^(Q)dead indeed to sin, but ^(R)alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

^12 (S)Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. ¹³ And do not present your ^(T)members as ^[d]instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but ^(U)present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. ¹⁴ For ^(V)sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

Trust in God Concerning the Treachery of Friends

To the Chief Musician. With ^[a]stringed instruments. A ^[b]Contemplation of David.

Duties of Priests and Levites

18 Then the Lord said to Aaron: ^(A)“You and your sons and your father’s house with you shall ^(B)bear the ^[a]iniquity related to the sanctuary, and you and your sons with you shall bear the iniquity associated with your priesthood. ² Also bring with you your brethren of the ^(C)tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, that they may be ^(D)joined with you and serve you while you and your sons are with you before the tabernacle of ^[b]witness. ³ They shall attend to your ^[c]needs and ^(E)all the needs of the tabernacle; ^(F)but they shall not come near the articles of the sanctuary and the altar, ^(G)lest they die—they and you also. ⁴ They shall be joined with you and attend to the needs of the tabernacle of meeting, for all the work of the tabernacle; ^(H)but an outsider shall not come near you. ⁵ And you shall attend to ^(I)the duties of the sanctuary and the duties of the altar, ^(J)that there may be no more wrath on the children of Israel. ⁶ Behold, I Myself have ^(K)taken your brethren the Levites from among the children of Israel; ^(L)they are a gift to you, given by the Lord, to do the work of the tabernacle of meeting. ⁷ Therefore ^(M)you and your sons with you shall attend to your priesthood for everything at the altar and ^(N)behind the veil; and you shall serve. I give your priesthood to you as a ^(O)gift for service, but the outsider who comes near shall be put to death.”

Offerings for Support of the Priests

⁸ And the Lord spoke to Aaron: “Here, ^(P)I Myself have also given you ^[d]charge of My heave offerings, all the holy gifts of the children of Israel; I have given them ^(Q)as a portion to you and your sons, as an ordinance forever. ⁹ This shall be yours of the most holy things reserved from the fire: every offering of theirs, every ^(R)grain offering and every ^(S)sin offering and every ^(T)trespass offering which they render to Me, shall be most holy for you and your sons. ^10 (U)In a most holy place you shall eat it; every male shall eat it. It shall be holy to you.

¹¹ “This also is yours: ^(V)the heave offering of their gift, with all the wave offerings of the children of Israel; I have given them to you, and your sons and daughters with you, as an ordinance forever. ^(W)Everyone who is ^[e]clean in your house may eat it.

^12 (X)“All the ^[f]best of the oil, all the best of the new wine and the grain, ^(Y)their firstfruits which they offer to the Lord, I have given them to you. ¹³ Whatever first ripe fruit is in their land, ^(Z)which they bring to the Lord, shall be yours. Everyone who is clean in your house may eat it.

^14 (AA)“Every ^[g]devoted thing in Israel shall be yours.

¹⁵ “Everything that first opens ^(AB)the womb of all flesh, which they bring to the Lord, whether man or beast, shall be yours; nevertheless ^(AC)the firstborn of man you shall surely redeem, and the firstborn of unclean animals you shall redeem. ¹⁶ And those redeemed of the devoted things you shall redeem when one month old, ^(AD)according to your valuation, for five shekels of silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, which is ^(AE)twenty gerahs. ^17 (AF)But the firstborn of a cow, the firstborn of a sheep, or the firstborn of a goat you shall not redeem; they are holy. ^(AG)You shall sprinkle their blood on the altar, and burn their fat as an offering made by fire for a sweet aroma to the Lord. ¹⁸ And their flesh shall be yours, just as the ^(AH)wave^[h] breast and the right thigh are yours.

¹⁹ “All the heave offerings of the holy things, which the children of Israel offer to the Lord, I have given to you and your sons and daughters with you as an ordinance forever; ^(AI)it is a covenant of salt forever before the Lord with you and your descendants with you.”

²⁰ Then the Lord said to Aaron: “You shall have ^(AJ)no inheritance in their land, nor shall you have any portion among them; ^(AK)I am your portion and your inheritance among the children of Israel.

Tithes for Support of the Levites

²¹ “Behold, ^(AL)I have given the children of Levi all the tithes in Israel as ^[i]an inheritance in return for the work which they perform, ^(AM)the work of the tabernacle of meeting. ^22 (AN)Hereafter the children of Israel shall not come near the tabernacle of meeting, ^(AO)lest they bear sin and die. ²³ But the Levites shall perform the work of the tabernacle of meeting, and they shall bear their iniquity; it shall be a statute forever, throughout your generations, that among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance. ²⁴ For the tithes of the children of Israel, which they offer up as a heave offering to the Lord, I have given to the Levites ^[j]as an inheritance; therefore I have said to them, ‘Among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance.’ ”

The Tithe of the Levites

²⁵ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁶ “Speak thus to the Levites, and say to them: ‘When you take from the children of Israel the tithes which I have given you from them as your inheritance, then you shall offer up a heave offering of it to the Lord, ^(AP)a tenth of the tithe. ²⁷ And your heave offering shall be reckoned to you as though it were the grain of the ^(AQ)threshing floor and as the fullness of the winepress. ²⁸ Thus you shall also offer a heave offering to the Lord from all your tithes which you receive from the children of Israel, and you shall give the Lord’s heave offering from it to Aaron the priest. ²⁹ Of all your gifts you shall offer up every heave offering due to the Lord, from all the ^[k]best of them, the consecrated part of them.’ ³⁰ Therefore you shall say to them: ‘When you have lifted up the best of it, then the rest shall be accounted to the Levites as the produce of the threshing floor and as the produce of the winepress. ³¹ You may eat it in any place, you and your households, for it is ^(AR)your ^[l]reward for your work in the tabernacle of meeting. ³² And you shall ^(AS)bear no sin because of it, when you have lifted up the best of it. But you shall not ^(AT)profane the holy gifts of the children of Israel, lest you die.’ ”

Laws of Purification

19 Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, ² “This is the ^[m]ordinance of the law which the Lord has commanded, saying: ‘Speak to the children of Israel, that they bring you a red heifer without ^[n]blemish, in which there is no ^(AU)defect ^(AV)and on which a yoke has never come. ³ You shall give it to Eleazar the priest, that he may take it ^(AW)outside the camp, and it shall be slaughtered before him; ⁴ and Eleazar the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger, and ^(AX)sprinkle some of its blood seven times directly in front of the tabernacle of meeting. ⁵ Then the heifer shall be burned in his sight: ^(AY)its hide, its flesh, its blood, and its offal shall be burned. ⁶ And the priest shall take ^(AZ)cedar wood and ^(BA)hyssop and scarlet, and cast them into the midst of the fire burning the heifer. ^7 (BB)Then the priest shall wash his clothes, he shall bathe in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp; the priest shall be unclean until evening. ⁸ And the one who burns it shall wash his clothes in water, bathe in water, and shall be unclean until evening. ⁹ Then a man who is clean shall gather up ^(BC)the ashes of the heifer, and store them outside the camp in a clean place; and they shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel ^(BD)for the water of ^[o]purification; it is for purifying from sin. ¹⁰ And the one who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until evening. It shall be a statute forever to the children of Israel and to the stranger who dwells among them.

^11 (BE)‘He who touches the dead ^[p]body of anyone shall be unclean seven days. ^12 (BF)He shall purify himself with the water on the third day and on the seventh day; then he will be clean. But if he does not purify himself on the third day and on the seventh day, he will not be clean. ¹³ Whoever touches the body of anyone who has died, and ^(BG)does not purify himself, ^(BH)defiles the tabernacle of the Lord. That person shall be cut off from Israel. He shall be unclean, because ^(BI)the water of purification was not sprinkled on him; ^(BJ)his uncleanness is still on him.

¹⁴ ‘This is the law when a man dies in a tent: All who come into the tent and all who are in the tent shall be unclean seven days; ¹⁵ and every ^(BK)open vessel, which has no cover fastened on it, is unclean. ^16 (BL)Whoever in the open field touches one who is slain by a sword or who has died, or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days.

¹⁷ ‘And for an unclean person they shall take some of the ^(BM)ashes of the heifer burnt for purification from sin, and ^[q]running water shall be put on them in a vessel. ¹⁸ A clean person shall take ^(BN)hyssop and dip it in the water, sprinkle it on the tent, on all the vessels, on the persons who were there, or on the one who touched a bone, the slain, the dead, or a grave. ¹⁹ The clean person shall sprinkle the unclean on the third day and on the seventh day; ^(BO)and on the seventh day he shall purify himself, wash his clothes, and bathe in water; and at evening he shall be clean.

²⁰ ‘But the man who is unclean and does not purify himself, that person shall be cut off from among the assembly, because he has ^(BP)defiled the sanctuary of the Lord. The water of purification has not been sprinkled on him; he is unclean. ²¹ It shall be a perpetual statute for them. He who sprinkles the water of purification shall wash his clothes; and he who touches the water of purification shall be unclean until evening. ^22 (BQ)Whatever the unclean person touches shall be unclean; and ^(BR)the person who touches it shall be unclean until evening.’ ”

Moses’ Error at Kadesh^(BS)

20 Then^(BT) the children of Israel, the whole congregation, came into the Wilderness of Zin in the first month, and the people stayed in ^(BU)Kadesh; and ^(BV)Miriam died there and was buried there.

^2 (BW)Now there was no water for the congregation; ^(BX)so they gathered together against Moses and Aaron. ³ And the people ^(BY)contended with Moses and spoke, saying: “If only we had died ^(BZ)when our brethren died before the Lord! ^4 (CA)Why have you brought up the assembly of the Lord into this wilderness, that we and our animals should die here? ⁵ And why have you made us come up out of Egypt, to bring us to this evil place? It is not a place of grain or figs or vines or pomegranates; nor is there any water to drink.” ⁶ So Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the door of the tabernacle of meeting, and ^(CB)they ^[r]fell on their faces. And ^(CC)the glory of the Lord appeared to them.

⁷ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ^8 (CD)“Take the rod; you and your brother Aaron gather the congregation together. Speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will yield its water; thus ^(CE)you shall bring water for them out of the rock, and give drink to the congregation and their animals.” ⁹ So Moses took the rod ^(CF)from before the Lord as He commanded him.

¹⁰ And Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock; and he said to them, ^(CG)“Hear now, you rebels! Must we bring water for you out of this rock?” ¹¹ Then Moses lifted his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; ^(CH)and water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their animals drank.

¹² Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, “Because ^(CI)you did not believe Me, to ^(CJ)hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.”

^13 (CK)This was the water of ^[s]Meribah, because the children of Israel contended with the Lord, and He was hallowed among them.

Passage Through Edom Refused

^14 (CL)Now Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of ^(CM)Edom. ^(CN)“Thus says your brother Israel: ‘You know all the hardship that has befallen us, ^15 (CO)how our fathers went down to Egypt, ^(CP)and we dwelt in Egypt a long time, ^(CQ)and the Egyptians ^[t]afflicted us and our fathers. ^16 (CR)When we cried out to the Lord, He heard our voice and ^(CS)sent the Angel and brought us up out of Egypt; now here we are in Kadesh, a city on the edge of your border. ¹⁷ Please ^(CT)let us pass through your country. We will not pass through fields or vineyards, nor will we drink water from wells; we will go along the King’s Highway; we will not turn aside to the right hand or to the left until we have passed through your territory.’ ”

¹⁸ Then ^(CU)Edom said to him, “You shall not pass through my land, lest I come out against you with the sword.”

¹⁹ So the children of Israel said to him, “We will go by the Highway, and if I or my livestock drink any of your water, ^(CV)then I will pay for it; let me only pass through on foot, nothing more.”

²⁰ Then he said, ^(CW)“You shall not pass through.” So Edom came out against them with many men and with a strong hand. ²¹ Thus Edom ^(CX)refused to give Israel passage through his territory; so Israel ^(CY)turned away from him.

Death of Aaron

²² Now the children of Israel, the whole congregation, journeyed from ^(CZ)Kadesh ^(DA)and came to Mount Hor. ²³ And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in Mount Hor by the border of the land of Edom, saying: ²⁴ “Aaron shall ^[u]be ^(DB)gathered to his people, for he shall not enter the land which I have given to the children of Israel, because you rebelled against My word at the water of Meribah. ^25 (DC)Take Aaron and Eleazar his son, and bring them up to Mount Hor; ²⁶ and strip Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son; for Aaron shall be gathered to his people and die there.” ²⁷ So Moses did just as the Lord commanded, and they went up to Mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation. ^28 (DD)Moses stripped Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son; and ^(DE)Aaron died there on the top of the mountain. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain. ²⁹ Now when all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead, all the house of Israel mourned for Aaron ^(DF)thirty days.