Murmuring and Plague

⁴¹ But on the next day all the congregation of the sons of Israel ^(A)grumbled against Moses and Aaron, saying, “You are the ones who have caused the death of the Lord’s people!” ⁴² It came about, however, when the congregation had assembled against Moses and Aaron, that they turned toward the tent of meeting, and behold, the cloud covered it and ^(B)the glory of the Lord appeared. ⁴³ Then Moses and Aaron came to the front of the tent of meeting, ⁴⁴ and the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ⁴⁵ “^(C)Get away from among this congregation so that I may consume them instantly.” Then they fell on their faces. ⁴⁶ And Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer and put fire in it from the altar, and place incense on it; then bring it quickly to the congregation and ^(D)make atonement for them, for ^(E)wrath has gone out from the Lord, the plague has begun!” ⁴⁷ Then Aaron took it just as Moses had spoken, and he ran into the midst of the assembly; and behold, the plague had begun among the people. ^(F)So he put on the incense and made atonement for the people. ⁴⁸ And he took his stand between the dead and the living, so that the plague was brought to a halt. ^49 (G)But those who died by the plague were 14,700 in number, besides those who ^(H)died on account of Korah. ⁵⁰ Then Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance of the tent of meeting, for the plague had been brought to a halt.

Aaron’s Staff Buds

17 ^[a]Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Speak to the sons of Israel, and obtain from them a staff for each father’s household: twelve staffs, from all their leaders for their fathers’ households. You shall write each man’s name on his staff, ³ and write Aaron’s name on the staff of Levi; for there is to be one staff for the head of each of their fathers’ households. ⁴ You shall then leave them in the tent of meeting in front of ^(I)the testimony, where I meet with you. ⁵ And it will come about that the staff of ^(J)the man whom I choose will sprout. So I will relieve Myself of the grumblings of the sons of Israel, who are grumbling against you.” ⁶ So Moses spoke to the sons of Israel, and all their leaders gave him a staff, one for each leader, for their fathers’ households, twelve staffs in all, with the staff of Aaron among their staffs. ⁷ Then Moses left the staffs before the Lord in ^(K)the tent of the testimony.

⁸ Now on the next day Moses went into the tent of the testimony; and behold, ^(L)Aaron’s staff for the house of Levi had sprouted and produced buds and bloomed with blossoms, and it yielded ripe almonds. ⁹ Moses then brought out all the staffs from the presence of the Lord to all the sons of Israel; and they looked, and each man took his staff. ¹⁰ But the Lord said to Moses, “Put the staff of Aaron ^(M)back in front of the testimony ^[b]to be kept as a sign against the ^[c](N)rebels, so that you may put an end to their grumblings against Me and they do not die.” ¹¹ Moses did so; just as the Lord had commanded him, so he did.

¹² Then the sons of Israel spoke to Moses, saying, “^(O)Behold, we are passing away, we are perishing, we are all perishing! ^13 (P)Everyone who comes near, who comes near to the tabernacle of the Lord, must die. Are we to perish completely?”

Duties of Levites

18 So the Lord said to Aaron, “You, your sons, and your father’s household with you shall ^(Q)bear the guilt ^[d]in connection with the sanctuary, and you and your sons with you shall bear the guilt ^[e]in connection with your priesthood. ² But also bring your brothers with you, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, so that they may ^(R)join you and serve you, while you and your sons with you are before the tent of the testimony. ³ And they shall perform duties for you and the duties of the whole tent, but ^(S)they shall not come near the furnishings of the sanctuary and ^(T)the altar, or both they and you will die. ⁴ They shall join you and perform the duties of the tent of meeting, for all the service of the tent; but ^[f]an unauthorized person shall not come near you. ⁵ So you shall perform the ^(U)duties of the sanctuary and the duties of the altar, ^(V)so that there will no longer be wrath on the sons of Israel. ⁶ Behold, I Myself ^(W)have taken your ^[g]fellow Levites from among the sons of Israel; they are ^(X)a gift to you, ^[h]dedicated to the Lord, to perform the service for the tent of meeting. ⁷ But you and your sons with you shall ^(Y)attend to your priesthood for everything that concerns the altar and inside the veil, and you are to perform service. I am giving you the priesthood as ^(Z)a ^[i]service that is a gift, and ^(AA)the ^[j]unauthorized person who comes near shall be put to death.”

The Priests’ Portion

⁸ Then the Lord spoke to Aaron, “Now behold, I Myself have put you in charge of My ^[k](AB)offerings, all the holy gifts of the sons of Israel I have given to you as a portion and to your sons as a permanent allotment. ⁹ This shall be yours from the most holy gifts reserved from the fire; every offering of theirs, namely ^(AC)every grain offering, every ^(AD)sin offering, and every guilt offering, with which they shall make restitution to Me, shall be most holy for you and for your sons. ¹⁰ As the most holy gifts you shall eat it; every male shall eat it. It shall be holy to you. ¹¹ This also is yours, ^(AE)the offering of their gift, that is, all the wave offerings of the sons of Israel; I have ^(AF)given them to you and to your sons and daughters with you as a permanent allotment. Everyone of your household who is clean may eat it. ^12 (AG)All the ^[l]best of the fresh oil and all the ^[m]best of the fresh wine and of the grain, the first fruits of what they give to the Lord, I have given them to you. ^13 (AH)The first ripe fruits of all that is in their land, which they bring to the Lord, shall be yours; everyone of your household who is clean may eat it. ^14 (AI)Everything banned from secular use in Israel shall be yours. ^15 [n](AJ)Every firstborn of the womb of all flesh, whether human or animal, which they offer to the Lord, shall be yours; however you must redeem the human firstborn, and the firstborn of unclean animals you shall redeem. ¹⁶ As to ^[o]their redemption price, from a month old you shall redeem them, by your assessment, five ^[p]shekels in silver by the ^[q]shekel of the sanctuary, which is twenty gerahs. ¹⁷ But ^(AK)the firstborn of an ox, the firstborn of a sheep, or the firstborn of a goat, you shall not redeem; they are holy. ^(AL)You shall sprinkle their blood on the altar and offer up their fat in smoke as an offering by fire, for a soothing aroma to the Lord. ¹⁸ However, their ^[r]meat shall be yours; it shall be yours like the ^(AM)breast of a wave offering and like the right thigh. ^19 (AN)All the offerings of the holy gifts, which the sons of Israel offer to the Lord, I have given to you and your sons and your daughters with you, as a permanent allotment. It is ^(AO)a permanent covenant of salt before the Lord to you and your ^[s]descendants with you.” ²⁰ Then the Lord said to Aaron, “^(AP)You shall have no inheritance in their land nor own any portion among them; ^(AQ)I am your portion and your inheritance among the sons of Israel.

²¹ “To the sons of Levi, behold, I have given all the ^(AR)tithe in Israel as an inheritance, in return for their service which they perform, the service of the tent of meeting. ²² And ^(AS)the sons of Israel shall not come near the tent of meeting again, or they will bring sin on themselves and die. ²³ Only the Levites shall perform the service of the tent of meeting, and they shall ^(AT)bear their own guilt; it shall be a permanent statute throughout your generations, and among the sons of Israel ^(AU)they shall have no inheritance. ²⁴ For the tithe of the sons of Israel, which they offer as an offering to the Lord, I have given to the Levites as an inheritance; therefore I have said concerning them, ‘^(AV)They shall have no inheritance among the sons of Israel.’”

²⁵ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁶ “Moreover, you shall speak to the Levites and say to them, ‘When you take from the sons of Israel ^(AW)the tithe which I have given you from them for your inheritance, then you shall present an offering from it to the Lord, a ^(AX)tithe of the tithe. ²⁷ Your offering shall be credited to you like the grain from the threshing floor or the full produce from the wine vat. ²⁸ So you shall also present an offering to the Lord from all your tithes, which you receive from the sons of Israel; and from it you shall give the Lord’s offering to Aaron the priest. ²⁹ Out of all your gifts you shall present every offering due to the Lord, from all the ^[t]best of them, ^[u]the sacred part from them.’ ³⁰ And you shall say to them, ‘When you have ^[v]offered from it the best of it, then the rest shall be credited to the Levites like the product of the threshing floor, and like the product of the wine vat. ³¹ You may eat it anywhere, you and your households, for it is your compensation in return for your service in the tent of meeting. ³² And you will bring on yourselves no sin by reason of it when you have ^[w]offered the ^[x]best of it. But you shall not ^(AY)profane the sacred gifts of the sons of Israel, so that you do not die.’”

The Resurrection

16 ^(A)When the Sabbath was over, ^(B)Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of ^[a]James, and Salome ^(C)bought spices so that they might come and anoint Him. ² And very early on the first day of the week, they *came to the tomb when the sun had risen. ³ They were saying to one another, “Who will roll away ^(D)the stone from the entrance of the tomb for us?” ⁴ And looking up, they *noticed that the stone had been rolled away; ^[b]for it was extremely large. ⁵ And ^(E)entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting at the right, wearing a white robe; and they ^(F)were amazed. ⁶ But he *said to them, “^(G)Do not be amazed; you are looking for Jesus the ^(H)Nazarene, who has been crucified. ^(I)He has risen; He is not here; see, here is the place where they laid Him. ⁷ But go, tell His disciples and Peter, ‘^(J)He is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see Him, just as He told you.’” ⁸ And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had gripped them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

⁹ [[^[c]Now after He had risen early on the first day of the week, He first appeared to ^(K)Mary Magdalene, from whom He had cast out seven demons. ^10 (L)She went and reported to those who had been with Him, while they were mourning and weeping. ¹¹ And when they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, ^(M)they refused to believe it.

¹² Now after that, ^(N)He appeared in a different form ^(O)to two of them while they were walking along on their way to the country. ¹³ And they went away and reported it to the rest, but they ^(P)did not believe them, either.

The Disciples Commissioned

¹⁴ Later ^(Q)He appeared ^(R)to the eleven disciples themselves as they were reclining at the table; and He reprimanded them for their ^(S)unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who had seen Him after He had risen from the dead. ¹⁵ And He said to them, “^(T)Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. ^16 (U)The one who has believed and has been baptized will be saved; but the one who has not believed will be condemned. ¹⁷ These signs will accompany those who have believed: ^(V)in My name they will cast out demons, they will ^(W)speak with new tongues; ¹⁸ they will ^(X)pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not harm them; they will ^(Y)lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

¹⁹ So then, when the Lord Jesus had ^(Z)spoken to them, He ^(AA)was received up into heaven and ^(AB)sat down at the right hand of God. ²⁰ And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them, and confirmed the word by the signs that followed.]]

[[^[d]And they promptly reported all these instructions to Peter and his companions. And after that, Jesus Himself also sent out through them from east to west the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation.]]

Prayer for the Destruction of the Treacherous.

For the music director; on stringed instruments. A ^[a]Maskil of David.