Numbers 8

New American Standard Bible

The Seven Lamps

8 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²“Speak to Aaron and say to him, ‘When you ^[a]mount the lamps, the seven lamps will ^(A)provide light in the front of the lampstand.’” ³Therefore Aaron did so; he ^[b]mounted its lamps at the front of the lampstand, just as the Lord had commanded Moses. ⁴^(B)Now this was the workmanship of the lampstand, hammered work of gold; from its base to its flower ornamentation it was hammered work; ^(C)according to the ^[c]pattern which the Lord had shown Moses, so he made the lampstand.

Cleansing the Levites

⁵Again the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ⁶“Take the Levites from among the sons of Israel and ^(D)cleanse them. ⁷This is what you shall do to them, for their cleansing: sprinkle ^[d]purifying ^(E)water on them, and have them ^[e]^(F)use a razor over their whole ^[f]body, and they shall ^(G)wash their clothes and cleanse themselves. ⁸Then have them take a ^[g]bull with ^(H)its grain offering, fine flour mixed with oil; and you shall take a second ^[h]bull as a sin offering. ⁹So ^(I)you shall present the Levites in front of the tent of meeting. ^(J)You shall also assemble the whole congregation of the sons of Israel, ¹⁰and present the Levites before the Lord; and the sons of Israel ^(K)shall lay their hands on the Levites. ¹¹Aaron then shall ^[i]present the Levites before the Lord as a ^(L)wave offering from the sons of Israel, so that they may ^[j]qualify to perform the service of the Lord. ¹²Now ^(M)the Levites shall lay their hands on the heads of the bulls; then you are to offer the one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering to the Lord, to make atonement for the Levites. ¹³And you shall have the Levites stand before Aaron and his sons so as to present them as a wave offering to the Lord.

¹⁴“So you shall single out the Levites from among the sons of Israel, and ^(N)the Levites shall be Mine. ¹⁵Then after that the Levites may go in to serve the tent of meeting. But you shall cleanse them and ^(O)present them as a wave offering; ¹⁶for they are ^(P)exclusively given to Me from among the sons of Israel. I have taken them for Myself ^(Q)instead of the firstborn of every womb, the firstborn of all the sons of Israel. ¹⁷For ^(R)every firstborn among the sons of Israel is Mine, among the people and among the animals; on the day that I fatally struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I sanctified them for Myself. ¹⁸But I have taken the Levites instead of every firstborn among the sons of Israel. ¹⁹And ^(S)I have given the Levites as ^[k]a gift to Aaron and to his sons from among the sons of Israel, to perform the service of the sons of Israel at the tent of meeting and to make atonement on behalf of the sons of Israel, so that there will be no ^(T)affliction among the sons of Israel due to ^[l]their approaching the sanctuary.”

²⁰So this is what Moses, Aaron, and all the congregation of the sons of Israel did to the Levites; according to everything that the Lord had commanded Moses regarding the Levites, so the sons of Israel did to them. ²¹^(U)The Levites, too, purified themselves from sin and washed their clothes; and Aaron presented them as a wave offering before the Lord. Aaron also made atonement for them to cleanse them. ²²Then after that the Levites went in to perform their service in the tent of meeting before Aaron and his sons; just as the Lord had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so they did to them.

Retirement for the Levites

²³Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁴“This is what applies to the Levites: from ^(V)twenty-five years old and upward ^[m]they shall enter to perform service in the work of the tent of meeting. ²⁵But at the age of fifty years they shall ^[n]retire from service in the work and not work anymore. ²⁶They may, however, ^[o]assist their brothers in the tent of meeting, ^(W)to fulfill an obligation, but they themselves shall do no work. In this way you shall deal with the Levites in their obligations.”

Footnotes

Numbers 8:2 Lit put up
Numbers 8:3 Lit put up
Numbers 8:4 Lit appearance
Numbers 8:7 Lit water of expiation
Numbers 8:7 Lit cause to pass
Numbers 8:7 Lit flesh
Numbers 8:8 Lit bull, a son of the herd
Numbers 8:8 Lit bull, a son of the herd
Numbers 8:11 Lit wave, and so throughout the ch
Numbers 8:11 Lit be to perform
Numbers 8:19 Lit given ones
Numbers 8:19 Lit the sons of Israel’s
Numbers 8:24 Lit he
Numbers 8:25 Lit return
Numbers 8:26 Lit serve

Psalm 44

New American Standard Bible

Former Times of Help and Present Troubles.

For the music director. A ^[a]Maskil of the sons of Korah.

44 God, we have heard with our ears,
Our ^(A)fathers have told us
The ^(B)work that You did in their days,
In the ^(C)days of old.
²You with Your own hand ^(D)drove out the nations;
Then You ^(E)planted them;
You ^(F)afflicted the peoples,
Then You ^(G)let them go free.
³For by their own sword they ^(H)did not possess the land,
And their own arm did not save them,
But Your right hand and Your ^(I)arm and the ^(J)light of Your presence,
For You ^(K)favored them.

⁴You are ^(L)my King, God;
^(M)Command ^[b]victories for Jacob.
⁵Through You we will ^(N)push back our adversaries;
Through Your name we will ^(O)trample down those who rise up against us.
⁶For I will ^(P)not trust in my bow,
Nor will my sword save me.
⁷But You ^(Q)have saved us from our adversaries,
And You have ^(R)put to shame those who hate us.
⁸In God we have ^(S)boasted all day long,
And we will ^(T)give thanks to Your name forever. Selah

⁹Yet You ^(U)have rejected us and brought us to ^(V)dishonor,
And ^(W)do not go out with our armies.
¹⁰You cause us to ^(X)turn back from the enemy;
And those who hate us ^(Y)have taken spoils for themselves.
¹¹You turn us over ^[c]to be eaten like ^(Z)sheep,
And have ^(AA)scattered us among the nations.
¹²You ^(AB)sell Your people ^[d]cheaply,
And have not ^[e]profited by their sale.
¹³You make us an object of ^(AC)reproach to our neighbors,
Of scoffing and ^(AD)ridicule to those around us.
¹⁴You make us ^(AE)a proverb among the nations,
A ^[f]^(AF)laughingstock among the peoples.
¹⁵All day long my dishonor is before me
And ^[g]I am covered with my ^(AG)humiliation,
¹⁶Because of the voice of one who ^(AH)taunts and reviles,
Because of the presence of the ^(AI)enemy and the avenger.

¹⁷All this has come upon us, but we have ^(AJ)not forgotten You,
And we have not ^(AK)dealt falsely with Your covenant.
¹⁸Our heart has not ^(AL)turned back,
And our steps ^(AM)have not deviated from Your way,
¹⁹Yet You have ^(AN)crushed us in a place of ^(AO)jackals
And covered us with ^[h]^(AP)deep darkness.

²⁰If we had ^(AQ)forgotten the name of our God
Or extended our ^[i]hands to ^(AR)a strange god,
²¹Would God not ^(AS)find this out?
For He knows the secrets of the heart.
²²But ^(AT)for Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are regarded as ^(AU)sheep to be slaughtered.
²³^(AV)Wake Yourself up, why ^(AW)do You sleep, Lord?
Awake, ^(AX)do not reject us forever.
²⁴Why do You ^(AY)hide Your face
And ^(AZ)forget our affliction and oppression?
²⁵For our ^(BA)souls have sunk down into the dust;
Our bodies cling to the earth.
²⁶^(BB)Rise up, be our help,
And ^(BC)redeem us because of Your mercy.