Duties of Priests and Levites

18 So the Lord said to Aaron, “You and your sons and your father's house with you shall ^(A)bear iniquity connected with the sanctuary, ^(B)and you and your sons with you shall bear iniquity connected with your priesthood. ² And with you bring your brothers also, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, that they may ^(C)join you and ^(D)minister to you while you and your sons with you are before the tent of the testimony. ³ They shall keep guard over you and ^(E)over the whole tent, ^(F)but shall not come near to the vessels of the sanctuary or to the altar ^(G)lest they, and you, die. ⁴ They shall join you and keep guard over the tent of meeting for all the service of the tent, ^(H)and no outsider shall come near you. ⁵ And you shall ^(I)keep guard over the sanctuary and over the altar, ^(J)that there may never again be wrath on the people of Israel. ^6 (K)And behold, I have taken your brothers the Levites from among the people of Israel. ^(L)They are a gift to you, given to the Lord, to do the service of the tent of meeting. ⁷ And ^(M)you and your sons with you shall guard your priesthood for all that concerns the altar and ^(N)that is within the veil; and you shall serve. I give your priesthood as a gift,^[a] and ^(O)any outsider who comes near shall be put to death.”

⁸ Then the Lord spoke to Aaron, “Behold, ^(P)I have given you charge of the contributions made to me, all the consecrated things of the people of Israel. I have given them to you ^(Q)as a portion and to your sons as a perpetual due. ⁹ This shall be yours of the most holy things, reserved from the fire: every offering of theirs, every grain offering of theirs and every ^(R)sin offering of theirs and every ^(S)guilt offering of theirs, which they render to me, shall be most holy to you and to your sons. ¹⁰ In a most holy place shall you eat it. Every male may eat it; it is holy to you. ¹¹ This also is yours: the contribution of their gift, all the ^(T)wave offerings of the people of Israel. I have given them to ^(U)you, and to your sons and daughters with you, as a perpetual due. ^(V)Everyone who is clean in your house may eat it. ^12 (W)All the best of the oil and all the best of the wine and of the grain, ^(X)the firstfruits of what they give to the Lord, I give to you. ¹³ The first ripe fruits of all that is in their land, ^(Y)which they bring to the Lord, shall be yours. ^(Z)Everyone who is clean in your house may eat it. ^14 (AA)Every devoted thing in Israel shall be yours. ^15 (AB)Everything that opens the womb of all flesh, whether man or beast, which they offer to the Lord, shall be yours. Nevertheless, ^(AC)the firstborn of man you shall redeem, and the firstborn of unclean animals you shall redeem. ¹⁶ And their redemption price ^(AD)(at a month old you shall redeem them) you shall fix at five shekels^[b] in silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, ^(AE)which is twenty gerahs. ^17 (AF)But the firstborn of a cow, or the firstborn of a sheep, or the firstborn of a goat, you shall not redeem; they are holy. You shall sprinkle their blood on the altar and shall burn their fat as a food offering, with a pleasing aroma to the Lord. ¹⁸ But their flesh shall be yours, as ^(AG)the breast that is waved and as the right thigh are yours. ^19 (AH)All the holy contributions that the people of Israel present to the Lord I give to you, and to your sons and daughters with you, as a perpetual due. ^(AI)It is a covenant of salt forever before the Lord for you and for your offspring with you.” ²⁰ And the Lord said to Aaron, “You shall have no inheritance in their land, neither shall you have any portion among them. ^(AJ)I am your portion and your inheritance among the people of Israel.

^21 (AK)“To the Levites I have given every tithe in Israel for an inheritance, in return for their service that they do, their service in the tent of meeting, ^22 (AL)so that the people of Israel do not come near the tent of meeting, ^(AM)lest they bear sin and die. ²³ But ^(AN)the Levites shall do the service of the tent of meeting, ^(AO)and they shall bear their iniquity. It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations, and among the people of Israel they shall have no inheritance. ²⁴ For the tithe of the people of Israel, which ^(AP)they present as a contribution to the Lord, I have given to the Levites for an inheritance. Therefore I have said of them that they shall have no inheritance ^(AQ)among the people of Israel.”

²⁵ And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁶ “Moreover, you shall speak and say to the Levites, ‘When you take from the people of Israel the tithe that I have given you from them for your inheritance, then you shall present a contribution from it to the Lord, ^(AR)a tithe of the tithe. ^27 (AS)And your contribution shall be counted to you as though it were the grain of the threshing floor, and as the fullness of the winepress. ²⁸ So you shall also present a contribution to the Lord from all your tithes, which you receive from the people of Israel. And from it you shall give the Lord's contribution to Aaron the priest. ²⁹ Out of all the gifts to you, you shall present every contribution due to the Lord; from each its best part is to be dedicated.’ ³⁰ Therefore you shall say to them, ‘When you have offered from it the best of it, ^(AT)then the rest shall be counted to the Levites as produce of the threshing floor, and as produce of the winepress. ³¹ And you may eat it in any place, you and your households, for it is ^(AU)your reward in return for your service in the tent of meeting. ³² And you shall ^(AV)bear no sin by reason of it, when you have contributed the best of it. But you shall not ^(AW)profane the holy things of the people of Israel, lest you die.’”

Laws for Purification

19 Now the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, ² “This is the statute of the law that the Lord has commanded: Tell the people of Israel to bring you a red heifer without defect, in which there is no blemish, ^(AX)and on which a yoke has never come. ³ And you shall give it to Eleazar the priest, and ^(AY)it shall be taken outside the camp and slaughtered before him. ⁴ And Eleazar the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger, and ^(AZ)sprinkle some of its blood toward the front of the tent of meeting seven times. ⁵ And the heifer shall be burned in his sight. ^(BA)Its skin, its flesh, and its blood, with its dung, shall be burned. ⁶ And the priest shall take ^(BB)cedarwood and hyssop and scarlet yarn, and throw them into the fire burning the heifer. ⁷ Then the priest ^(BC)shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward he may come into the camp. But the priest shall be unclean until evening. ^8 (BD)The one who burns the heifer ^(BE)shall wash his clothes in water and bathe his body in water and shall be unclean until evening. ⁹ And a man who is clean shall gather up ^(BF)the ashes of the heifer and deposit them outside the camp in a ^(BG)clean place. And they shall be kept for the water for ^(BH)impurity for the congregation of the people of Israel; it is a sin offering. ¹⁰ And the one who gathers the ashes of the heifer ^(BI)shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening. And this shall be a perpetual statute for the people of Israel, and for the stranger who sojourns among them.

^11 (BJ)“Whoever touches the dead body of any person shall be unclean seven days. ¹² He ^(BK)shall cleanse himself with the water on the third day and on the seventh day, and so be clean. But if he does not cleanse himself on the third day and on the seventh day, he will not become clean. ¹³ Whoever touches a dead person, the body of anyone who has died, and does not cleanse himself, ^(BL)defiles the tabernacle of the Lord, ^(BM)and that person shall be cut off from Israel; because the water for impurity was not thrown on him, he shall be unclean. His uncleanness is still on him.

¹⁴ “This is the law when someone dies in a tent: everyone who comes into the tent and everyone who is in the tent shall be unclean seven days. ¹⁵ And every ^(BN)open vessel that has no cover fastened on it is unclean. ^16 (BO)Whoever in the open field touches someone who was killed with a sword or who died naturally, or touches a human bone or a ^(BP)grave, shall be unclean seven days. ¹⁷ For the unclean they shall take ^(BQ)some ashes of the burnt sin offering, and fresh^[c] water shall be added in a vessel. ¹⁸ Then a clean person shall take ^(BR)hyssop and dip it in the water and sprinkle it on the tent and on all the furnishings and on the persons who were there and on whoever touched the bone, or the slain or the dead or the grave. ¹⁹ And the clean person shall sprinkle it on the unclean ^(BS)on the third day and on the seventh day. ^(BT)Thus on the seventh day he shall cleanse him, and he shall ^(BU)wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and at evening he shall be clean.

²⁰ “If the man who is unclean does not cleanse himself, ^(BV)that person shall be cut off from the midst of the assembly, since he has defiled the sanctuary of the Lord. Because the water for impurity has not been thrown on him, he is unclean. ²¹ And it shall be a statute forever for them. The one who sprinkles the water for impurity shall wash his clothes, and the one who touches the water for impurity shall be unclean until evening. ²² And ^(BW)whatever the unclean person touches shall be unclean, and anyone who touches it shall be unclean until evening.”

The Death of Miriam

20 And the people of Israel, the whole congregation, came ^(BX)into the wilderness of Zin in the first month, and the people stayed in Kadesh. And ^(BY)Miriam died there and was buried there.

The Waters of Meribah

^2 (BZ)Now there was no water for the congregation. ^(CA)And they assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. ³ And the people ^(CB)quarreled with Moses and said, “Would that we had perished ^(CC)when our brothers perished before the Lord! ⁴ Why have you brought the assembly of the Lord into this wilderness, that we should die here, both we and our cattle? ⁵ And ^(CD)why have you made us come up out of Egypt to bring us to this evil place? It is no place for grain or figs or vines or pomegranates, and there is no water to drink.” ⁶ Then Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the entrance of the tent of meeting and ^(CE)fell on their faces. ^(CF)And the glory of the Lord appeared to them, ⁷ and the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ^8 (CG)“Take the staff, and assemble the congregation, you and Aaron your brother, and tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water. So ^(CH)you shall bring water out of the rock for them and give drink to the congregation and their cattle.” ⁹ And Moses took the staff ^(CI)from before the Lord, as he commanded him.

Moses Strikes the Rock

¹⁰ Then Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, ^(CJ)“Hear now, you rebels: shall we bring water for you out of this rock?” ¹¹ And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice, ^(CK)and water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock. ¹² And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because ^(CL)you did not believe in me, ^(CM)to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.” ^13 (CN)These are the waters of Meribah,^[d] where the people of Israel quarreled with the Lord, and through them he showed himself holy.

Edom Refuses Passage

^14 (CO)Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to ^(CP)the king of Edom: “Thus says ^(CQ)your brother Israel: You know all the hardship that we have met: ^15 (CR)how our fathers went down to Egypt, ^(CS)and we lived in Egypt a long time. ^(CT)And the Egyptians dealt harshly with us and our fathers. ¹⁶ And ^(CU)when we cried to the Lord, he heard our voice and ^(CV)sent an angel and brought us out of Egypt. And here we are in Kadesh, a city on the edge of your territory. ^17 (CW)Please let us pass through your land. We will not pass through field or vineyard, ^(CX)or drink water from a well. 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 But Edom said to him, “You shall not pass through, lest I come out with the sword against you.” ¹⁹ And the people of Israel said to him, “We will go up by the highway, ^(CY)and if we drink of your water, I and my livestock, ^(CZ)then I will pay for it. Let me only pass through on foot, nothing more.” ²⁰ But he said, ^(DA)“You shall not pass through.” And Edom came out against them with a large army and with a strong force. ²¹ Thus Edom ^(DB)refused to give Israel passage through his territory, so Israel ^(DC)turned away from him.

The Death of Aaron

²² And they journeyed from ^(DD)Kadesh, and the people of Israel, the whole congregation, came to ^(DE)Mount Hor. ²³ And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron at Mount Hor, on the border of the land of Edom, ^24 (DF)“Let Aaron be gathered to his people, for he shall not enter the land that I have given to the people of Israel, because ^(DG)you rebelled against my command at the waters of Meribah. ²⁵ 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. And Aaron ^(DH)shall be gathered to his people and shall die there.” ²⁷ Moses did as the Lord commanded. And they went up Mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation. ^28 (DI)And Moses stripped Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son. And Aaron died there ^(DJ)on the top of the mountain. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain. ²⁹ And when all the congregation saw that Aaron had perished, ^(DK)all the house of Israel wept for Aaron thirty days.

The Triumphal Entry

21 ^(A)Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to ^(B)the Mount of Olives, then Jesus ^(C)sent two disciples, ² saying to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. ³ If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.” ⁴ This took place ^(D)to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying,

⁶ The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. ⁷ They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. ⁸ Most of the crowd ^(G)spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. ⁹ And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, ^(H)“Hosanna to ^(I)the Son of David! ^(J)Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna ^(K)in the highest!” ¹⁰ And ^(L)when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?” ¹¹ And the crowds said, “This is ^(M)the prophet Jesus, ^(N)from Nazareth of Galilee.”

Jesus Cleanses the Temple

^12 (O)And Jesus entered the temple^[b] and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of ^(P)the money-changers and the seats of those who sold ^(Q)pigeons. ¹³ He said to them, “It is written, ^(R)‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but ^(S)you make it a den of robbers.”

^14 (T)And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. ^15 (U)But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, ^(V)“Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant, ¹⁶ and they said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes; ^(W)have you never read,

¹⁷ And ^(Z)leaving them, he ^(AA)went out of the city to ^(AB)Bethany and lodged there.

Jesus Curses the Fig Tree

^18 (AC)In the morning, as he was returning to the city, ^(AD)he became hungry. ^19 (AE)And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” And the fig tree withered at once.

²⁰ When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither at once?” ²¹ And Jesus answered them, ^(AF)“Truly, I say to you, ^(AG)if you have faith and ^(AH)do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ^(AI)‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen. ²² And ^(AJ)whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, ^(AK)if you have faith.”

The Triumphal Entry

11 ^(A)Now when they drew near to Jerusalem, to ^(B)Bethphage and Bethany, at ^(C)the Mount of Olives, Jesus^[a] sent ^(D)two of his disciples ² and said to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately as you enter it you will find a colt tied, ^(E)on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it. ³ If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord has need of it and will send it back here immediately.’” ⁴ And they went away and found a colt tied at a door outside in the street, and they untied it. ⁵ And some of those standing there said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” ⁶ And they told them what Jesus had said, and they let them go. ⁷ And they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it, and he sat on it. ⁸ And many ^(F)spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields. ⁹ And those who went before and those who followed were shouting, ^(G)“Hosanna! ^(H)Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! ¹⁰ Blessed is ^(I)the coming ^(J)kingdom of ^(K)our father ^(L)David! ^(M)Hosanna ^(N)in the highest!”

^11 (O)And he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple. And when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, ^(P)he went out to Bethany with the twelve.

Jesus Curses the Fig Tree

^12 (Q)On the following day, when they came from Bethany, ^(R)he was hungry. ^13 (S)And seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for ^(T)it was not the season for figs. ¹⁴ And he said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard it.

Jesus Cleanses the Temple

^15 (U)And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of ^(V)the money-changers and the seats of those who sold ^(W)pigeons. ¹⁶ And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. ¹⁷ And he was teaching them and saying to them, “Is it not written, ^(X)‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But ^(Y)you have made it a den of robbers.” ¹⁸ And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and ^(Z)were seeking a way to destroy him, for they feared him, because ^(AA)all the crowd was astonished at his teaching. ^19 (AB)And when evening came they^[b] went out of the city.

The Lesson from the Withered Fig Tree

^20 (AC)As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. ²¹ And Peter remembered and said to him, ^(AD)“Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.” ²² And Jesus answered them, “Have ^(AE)faith in God. ^23 (AF)Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ^(AG)‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not ^(AH)doubt in his heart, but ^(AI)believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. ²⁴ Therefore I tell you, ^(AJ)whatever you ask in prayer, ^(AK)believe that you ^(AL)have received^[c] it, and it will be yours. ²⁵ And whenever ^(AM)you stand praying, ^(AN)forgive, ^(AO)if you have anything against anyone, so that ^(AP)your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”^[d]

The Authority of Jesus Challenged

^27 (AQ)And they came again to Jerusalem. And as he was walking in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders came to him, ²⁸ and they said to him, ^(AR)“By what authority are you doing these things, or who gave you this authority to do them?” ²⁹ Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question; answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. ³⁰ Was the baptism of John ^(AS)from heaven or from man? Answer me.” ³¹ And they discussed it with one another, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ^(AT)‘Why then did you not believe him?’ ³² But shall we say, ‘From man’?”—^(AU)they were afraid of the people, for they all held that John really was ^(AV)a prophet. ³³ So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

The Triumphal Entry

²⁸ And when he had said these things, ^(A)he went on ahead, ^(B)going up to Jerusalem. ^29 (C)When he drew near to Bethphage and ^(D)Bethany, at ^(E)the mount that is called Olivet, he sent ^(F)two of the disciples, ³⁰ saying, “Go into the village in front of you, where on entering you will find a colt tied, ^(G)on which no one has ever yet sat. Untie it and bring it here. ³¹ If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ you shall say this: ‘The Lord has need of it.’” ³² So those who were sent went away and found it ^(H)just as he had told them. ³³ And as they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?” ³⁴ And they said, “The Lord has need of it.” ³⁵ And they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. ³⁶ And as he rode along, they ^(I)spread their cloaks on the road. ³⁷ As he was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—^(J)the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice ^(K)for all the mighty works that they had seen, ³⁸ saying, ^(L)“Blessed is ^(M)the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and ^(N)glory in the highest!” ^39 (O)And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” ⁴⁰ He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, ^(P)the very stones would cry out.”

Jesus Weeps over Jerusalem

^41 (Q)And when he drew near and saw the city, ^(R)he wept over it, ⁴² saying, ^(S)“Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now ^(T)they are hidden from your eyes. ⁴³ For ^(U)the days will come upon you, when your enemies ^(V)will set up a barricade around you and ^(W)surround you and hem you in on every side ^44 (X)and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And ^(Y)they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know ^(Z)the time of your ^(AA)visitation.”

Jesus Cleanses the Temple

^45 (AB)And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold, ⁴⁶ saying to them, “It is written, ^(AC)‘My house shall be a house of prayer,’ but ^(AD)you have made it a den of robbers.”

^47 (AE)And he was teaching daily in the temple. ^(AF)The chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people were seeking to destroy him, ⁴⁸ but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were hanging on his words.

Mary Anoints Jesus at Bethany

12 Six days before ^(A)the Passover, ^(B)Jesus therefore came to Bethany, ^(C)where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. ² So they gave a dinner for him there. ^(D)Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table. ^3 (E)Mary therefore took a pound^[a] of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. ⁴ But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, ⁵ “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii^[b] and ^(F)given to the poor?” ⁶ He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and ^(G)having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it. ⁷ Jesus said, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it^[c] for the day of my burial. ⁸ For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.”

The Plot to Kill Lazarus

⁹ When the large crowd of the Jews learned that Jesus^[d] was there, they came, not only on account of him but also to see Lazarus, ^(H)whom he had raised from the dead. ^10 (I)So the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well, ¹¹ because ^(J)on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus.

The Triumphal Entry

¹² The next day ^(K)the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. ¹³ So they took branches of ^(L)palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, ^(M)“Hosanna! Blessed is ^(N)he who comes in the name of the Lord, even ^(O)the King of Israel!” ¹⁴ And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written,

^16 (Q)His disciples did not understand these things at first, but ^(R)when Jesus was glorified, then ^(S)they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him. ^17 (T)The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to bear witness. ¹⁸ The reason why the crowd went to meet him ^(U)was that they heard he had done this sign. ¹⁹ So the Pharisees said to one another, ^(V)“You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, ^(W)the world has gone after him.”