Levite Priesthood Established

3 ^(A)Now these are the records of the generations of Aaron and Moses at the time when the Lord spoke with Moses on Mount Sinai. ^2 (B)These then are the names of the sons of Aaron: Nadab the firstborn, and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. ³ These are the names of the sons of Aaron, the ^(C)anointed priests, whom he ^[a]ordained to serve as priests. ^4 (D)But Nadab and Abihu died in the presence of the Lord when they offered ^[b]strange fire before the Lord in the wilderness of Sinai; and they had no children. So Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests ^[c]in the lifetime of their father Aaron.

⁵ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ⁶ “^(E)Bring the tribe of Levi forward and present them before Aaron the priest, that they may serve him. ⁷ They shall perform the duties for ^[d]him and for the whole congregation in front of the tent of meeting, to do the ^(F)service of the tabernacle. ⁸ They shall also take care of all the furnishings of the tent of meeting, along with the duties of the sons of Israel, to do the service of the tabernacle. ⁹ So you shall ^(G)assign the Levites to Aaron and to his sons; they are exclusively assigned to him from the sons of Israel. ¹⁰ So you shall appoint Aaron and his sons that ^(H)they may ^[e]keep their priesthood, but ^(I)the ^[f]layman who comes near shall be put to death.”

¹¹ Again the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹² “Now, behold, I ^(J)have taken the Levites from among the sons of Israel instead of every ^(K)firstborn, the firstborn of the womb among the sons of Israel. So the Levites shall be Mine. ¹³ For ^(L)all the firstborn are Mine; on the day that I fatally struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I sanctified to Myself all the firstborn in Israel, from the human firstborn to animals. They shall be Mine; I am the Lord.”

¹⁴ Then the Lord spoke to Moses ^(M)in the wilderness of Sinai, saying, ¹⁵ “^[g](N)Count the sons of Levi by their fathers’ households, by their families; every male from a month old and upward you shall count.” ¹⁶ So Moses counted them according to the ^[h]word of the Lord, just as he had been commanded. ^17 (O)These, then, are the sons of Levi by their names: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. ¹⁸ And these are the names of the ^(P)sons of Gershon by their families: Libni and Shimei; ¹⁹ and the sons of Kohath by their families: Amram and Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel; ²⁰ and the sons of Merari by their families: Mahli and Mushi. These are the families of the Levites according to their fathers’ households.

²¹ Of Gershon was the family of the Libnites and the family of the Shimeites; these were the families of the Gershonites. ²² Their numbered men, in the counting of every male from a month old and upward, their numbered men were 7,500. ²³ The families of the Gershonites were to camp behind the ^[i]tabernacle westward, ²⁴ and the leader of the fathers’ households of the Gershonites: Eliasaph the son of Lael.

Duties of the Levites

²⁵ Now ^(Q)the duties of the sons of Gershon in the tent of meeting included the tabernacle and ^(R)the tent, its covering, and ^(S)the curtain for the entrance of the tent of meeting, ²⁶ and ^(T)the curtains of the courtyard, ^(U)the curtain for the entrance of the courtyard which is around the tabernacle and the altar, and its ropes, according to all the service ^[j]concerning them.

²⁷ Of Kohath was the family of the Amramites, the family of the Izharites, the family of the Hebronites, and the family of the Uzzielites; these were the families of the Kohathites. ²⁸ In the counting of every male from a month old and upward, there were 8,600, performing the duties of the sanctuary. ²⁹ The families of the sons of Kohath were to camp on the south side of the tabernacle, ³⁰ and the leader of the fathers’ households of the Kohathite families: ^[k]Elizaphan the son of Uzziel. ³¹ Now ^(V)their duties included ^(W)the ark, ^(X)the table, ^(Y)the lampstand, ^(Z)the altars, the utensils of the sanctuary with which they minister, the ^[l]curtain, and all the service ^[m]concerning them; ³² and Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest was the head of the leaders of Levi, and he had the supervision of those who performed the duties of the sanctuary.

³³ Of Merari was the family of the Mahlites and the family of the Mushites; these were the families of Merari. ³⁴ Their numbered men in the counting of every male from a month old and upward: 6,200. ³⁵ And the leader of the fathers’ households of the families of Merari was Zuriel the son of Abihail. They were to ^(AA)camp on the northward side of the tabernacle. ³⁶ Now the appointment of duties of the sons of Merari included the framework of the tabernacle, its bars, its pillars, its bases, all its equipment, and all the service concerning them, ³⁷ and the pillars around the courtyard with their bases, their pegs, and their ropes.

³⁸ Now those who were to ^(AB)camp in front of the tabernacle eastward, in front of the tent of meeting toward the sunrise, were Moses and Aaron and his sons, performing the duties of the sanctuary for the obligation of the sons of Israel; but ^(AC)the ^[n]layman coming near was to be put to death. ³⁹ All the numbered men of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron counted at the ^[o]command of the Lord by their families, every male from a month old and upward, were ^(AD)twenty-two thousand.

Firstborn Redeemed

⁴⁰ Then the Lord said to Moses, “^(AE)Count every firstborn male of the sons of Israel from a month old and upward, and ^[p]make a list of their names. ⁴¹ And you ^(AF)shall take the Levites for Me—I am the Lord—instead of all the firstborn among the sons of Israel; and the cattle of the Levites in place of all the firstborn among the cattle of the sons of Israel.” ⁴² So Moses counted all the firstborn among the sons of Israel, just as the Lord had commanded him; ⁴³ and all the firstborn males, by the number of names from a month old and upward for their numbered men, were ^(AG)22,273.

⁴⁴ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ⁴⁵ “^(AH)Take the Levites in place of all the firstborn among the sons of Israel, and the cattle of the Levites in place of their cattle. And the Levites shall be Mine; I am the Lord. ^46 (AI)And as ^[q]a redemption price for the 273 of the firstborn of the sons of Israel who are in excess of the number of the Levites, ⁴⁷ you shall take ^(AJ)five shekels apiece, per head; you shall take them in ^(AK)terms of the shekel of the sanctuary (^(AL)the shekel is twenty ^[r]gerahs), ⁴⁸ and you shall give the money, the redemption price of those who are in excess among them, to Aaron and to his sons.” ⁴⁹ So Moses took the redemption money from those who were in excess of the number of those redeemed by the Levites; ⁵⁰ from the firstborn of the sons of Israel he took the money in terms of the shekel of the sanctuary, 1,365. ⁵¹ Then Moses gave the redemption money to Aaron and to his sons, at the ^[s]command of the Lord, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

Duties of the Kohathites

4 Then the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, ² “Take a ^[t]census of the ^[u]descendants of Kohath from among the sons of Levi, by their families, by their fathers’ households, ³ from ^(AM)thirty years old and upward, even to fifty years old, everyone who can enter the service of ministry to do work in the tent of meeting. ⁴ This is the work of the ^[v]descendants of Kohath in the tent of meeting, concerning the most holy things.

⁵ “When the camp sets out, Aaron and his sons shall go in and take down ^(AN)the veil of the curtain, and cover the ^(AO)ark of the testimony with it; ⁶ and they shall place a ^(AP)covering of ^[w]fine leather on it, and spread over it a cloth of pure ^[x]violet, and insert its carrying poles. ⁷ Over the table of the bread of the Presence they shall also spread a cloth of violet and put on it the dishes, the pans, the sacrificial bowls, and the jugs for the drink offering; and ^(AQ)the continual bread shall be on it. ⁸ And they shall spread over them a cloth of scarlet material, and cover the same with a covering of fine leather, and they shall insert its carrying poles. ⁹ Then they shall take a violet cloth and cover the ^(AR)lampstand for the light, ^(AS)along with its lamps, its tongs, its trays, and all its oil containers, by which they attend to it; ¹⁰ and they shall put it and all its utensils in a covering of fine leather, and put it on the carrying ^[y]bars. ¹¹ Over the golden altar they shall spread a violet cloth, and cover it with a covering of fine leather, and they shall insert its carrying poles; ¹² and they shall take all the utensils of service, with which they serve in the sanctuary, and put them in a violet cloth and cover them with a covering of fine leather, and put them on the carrying ^[z]bars. ¹³ Then they shall clean away the ^[aa]ashes from the ^(AT)altar, and spread a purple cloth over it. ¹⁴ They shall also put on it all its utensils by which they serve in connection with it: the firepans, the forks, shovels, and the basins, all the utensils of the altar; and they shall spread a cover of fine leather over it and insert its carrying poles. ¹⁵ When Aaron and his sons have finished covering the holy objects and all the furnishings of the sanctuary, when the camp is to set out, after that the sons of Kohath shall come to carry them by the poles, so that they will not touch the holy objects ^(AU)and die. These are the ^[ab]things in the tent of meeting that the sons of Kohath are to carry.

¹⁶ “Now the responsibility of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest is ^(AV)the oil for the light, the ^(AW)fragrant incense, ^(AX)the continual grain offering, and ^(AY)the anointing oil—the responsibility of all the ^[ac]tabernacle and everything that is in it, with the sanctuary and its furnishings.”

¹⁷ Then the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, ¹⁸ “Do not let the tribe of the families of the Kohathites be eliminated from among the Levites. ¹⁹ Rather, do this for them so that they will live and ^(AZ)not die when they approach the most holy objects: Aaron and his sons shall go in and assign each of them to his work and to his load; ²⁰ but ^(BA)they shall not come in to see the holy objects even for a moment, or they will die.”

Duties of the Gershonites

²¹ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²² “Take a ^[ad]census of the sons of Gershon ^[ae]also, by their fathers’ households, by their families; ²³ from ^(BB)thirty years old and upward to fifty years old you shall ^[af]count them: all who can enter to perform service, to do the work in the tent of meeting. ²⁴ This is the service of the families of the Gershonites, in serving and in carrying: ²⁵ they shall carry ^(BC)the curtains of the tabernacle and the tent of meeting with its covering and ^(BD)the covering of fine leather that is on top of it, and the curtain for the entrance of the tent of meeting, ²⁶ and ^(BE)the curtains of the courtyard, the curtain for the entrance of the gate of the courtyard that is around the tabernacle and the altar, and their ropes and all the equipment for their service; and everything that is to be done ^[ag]by them, ^[ah]they shall perform. ²⁷ All the service of the sons of the Gershonites, that is, all their loads and all their work, shall be performed at the ^[ai]command of Aaron and his sons; and you shall assign to them as a duty all their loads. ²⁸ This is the service of the families of the sons of the Gershonites in the tent of meeting; and their duties shall be ^[aj]under the direction of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.

Duties of the Merarites

²⁹ “As for the sons of Merari, you shall count them by their families, by their fathers’ households; ³⁰ from ^(BF)thirty years old and upward, even to fifty years old, you shall count them, everyone who can enter the service to do the work of the tent of meeting. ³¹ Now this is the duty of their loads, for all their service in the tent of meeting: the boards of the tabernacle, its bars, its pillars, and its bases, ³² and the pillars around the courtyard and their bases, their pegs, and their ropes, with all their equipment and with all their service; and you shall assign by names of the men the items ^[ak]that each is to carry. ³³ This is the service of the families of the sons of Merari, according to all their service in the tent of meeting, ^[al]under the direction of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.”

³⁴ So Moses, Aaron, and the leaders of the congregation counted the sons of the Kohathites by their families and by their fathers’ households, ³⁵ from ^(BG)thirty years old and upward even to fifty years old, everyone who could enter the service for work in the tent of meeting. ³⁶ Their numbered men by their families were 2,750. ³⁷ These were the numbered men of the Kohathite families, everyone who was serving in the tent of meeting, whom Moses and Aaron counted according to the ^[am]commandment of the Lord ^[an]through Moses.

³⁸ And the numbered men of the sons of Gershon by their families and by their fathers’ households, ³⁹ from thirty years old and upward even to fifty years old, everyone who could enter the service for work in the tent of meeting— ⁴⁰ their numbered men by their families, by their fathers’ households, were 2,630. ⁴¹ These were the numbered men of the families of the sons of Gershon, everyone who was serving in the tent of meeting, whom Moses and Aaron counted according to the ^[ao]commandment of the Lord.

⁴² And the numbered men of the families of the sons of Merari by their families, by their fathers’ households, ⁴³ from ^(BH)thirty years old and upward even to fifty years old, everyone who could enter the service for work in the tent of meeting— ⁴⁴ their numbered men by their families were 3,200. ⁴⁵ These were the numbered men of the families of the sons of Merari, whom Moses and Aaron counted according to the ^[ap]commandment of the Lord ^[aq]through Moses.

⁴⁶ All the numbered men of the Levites, whom Moses, Aaron, and the leaders of Israel counted, by their families and by their fathers’ households, ⁴⁷ from thirty years old and upward even to fifty years old, everyone who could enter to do the work of service and the work of carrying in the tent of meeting— ⁴⁸ their numbered men were ^(BI)8,580. ⁴⁹ According to the ^[ar]commandment of the Lord ^[as]through Moses, they ^(BJ)were counted, everyone by his serving or carrying; so these were his numbered men, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

On Defilement

5 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Command the sons of Israel that they ^(BK)send away from the camp everyone with leprosy, everyone having a ^(BL)discharge, and everyone who is ^(BM)unclean because of contact with a dead person. ³ You shall send away both male and female; you shall send them outside the camp so that they do not defile their camp where I dwell ^(BN)in their midst.” ⁴ And the sons of Israel did so and sent them outside the camp; just as the Lord had spoken to Moses, that is what the sons of Israel did.

⁵ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ⁶ “Speak to the sons of Israel: ‘^(BO)When a man or woman commits any of the sins of mankind, acting unfaithfully against the Lord, and that person is guilty, ⁷ then ^[at]he shall ^(BP)confess ^[au]his sin which ^[av]he has committed, and he ^(BQ)shall make restitution in full for his wrong and add to it a fifth of it, and give it to him whom he has wronged. ⁸ But if the person has no ^[aw]redeemer to whom restitution may be made for the wrong, the restitution which is made for the wrong must go to the Lord for the priest, besides the ram of atonement, by which atonement is made for him. ^9 (BR)Also every ^[ax]contribution pertaining to all the holy gifts of the sons of Israel, which they offer to the priest, shall be his. ¹⁰ So every person’s holy gifts shall be his; whatever anyone gives to the priest, it ^(BS)becomes his.’”

The Adultery Test

¹¹ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹² “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘If any man’s wife ^(BT)goes astray and is unfaithful to him, ¹³ and a man has ^(BU)sexual relations with her and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband and she remains undiscovered, although she has defiled herself, and there is no witness against her and she has not been caught in the act, ^14 [ay]if ^[az]an attitude of ^(BV)jealousy comes over him and he is jealous of his wife when she has defiled herself, or if ^[ba]an attitude of jealousy comes over him and he is jealous of his wife when she has not defiled herself, ¹⁵ the man shall then bring his wife to the priest, and shall bring as ^[bb]an offering for her a tenth of an ^[bc]ephah of barley meal; he shall not pour oil on it nor put frankincense on it, because it is a grain offering of jealousy, a grain offering of reminder, ^(BW)a reminder of wrongdoing.

¹⁶ ‘Then the priest shall bring her forward and have her stand before the Lord, ¹⁷ and the priest shall take holy water in an earthenware container; and ^[bd]he shall take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle and put it in the water. ¹⁸ The priest shall then have the woman stand before the Lord and let down the hair of the woman’s head, and place the grain offering of reminder ^[be]in her hands, that is, the grain offering of jealousy; and in the hand of the priest is to be the water of bitterness that brings a curse. ¹⁹ And the priest shall have her take an oath and shall say to the woman, “If no man has had sexual relations with you and if you have not ^(BX)gone astray into uncleanness, as you are under the authority of your husband, be ^[bf]immune to this water of bitterness that brings a curse; ²⁰ if, however, you have ^(BY)gone astray, though under the authority of your husband, and if you have defiled yourself and a man other than your husband has had sexual intercourse with you” ²¹ (then the priest shall have the woman ^(BZ)swear with the oath of the curse, and the priest shall say to the woman), “may the Lord make you a curse and an oath among your people by the Lord’s making your thigh ^[bg]shriveled and your ^[bh]belly swollen; ²² and this water that brings a curse shall go into your ^[bi]stomach, to make your belly swell up and your thigh ^[bj]shrivel.” And the woman ^(CA)shall say, “Amen, Amen.”

²³ ‘The priest shall then write these curses on a scroll, and he shall ^[bk]wash them off into the water of bitterness. ²⁴ Then he shall make the woman drink the water of bitterness that brings a curse, so that the water which brings a curse will go into her ^[bl]and cause bitterness. ²⁵ And the priest shall take the grain offering of jealousy from the woman’s hand, and he shall wave the grain offering before the Lord and bring it to the altar; ²⁶ and ^(CB)the priest shall take a handful of the grain offering as its reminder offering and offer it up in smoke on the altar, and afterward he shall make the woman drink the water. ²⁷ When he has made her drink the water, then it will come about, if she has defiled herself and has been unfaithful to her husband, that the water which brings a curse will go into her ^[bm]and cause bitterness, and her belly will swell up and her thigh will ^[bn]shrivel, and the woman will become ^(CC)a curse among her people. ²⁸ But if the woman has not defiled herself and is clean, she will be ^[bo]immune and conceive ^[bp]children.

²⁹ ‘This is the law of jealousy: when a wife, who is under the authority of her husband, ^(CD)goes astray and defiles herself, ³⁰ or when ^[bq]an attitude of jealousy comes over a man and he is jealous of his wife, he shall then have the woman stand before the Lord, and the priest shall apply all of this law to her. ³¹ The man, moreover, will be free of ^[br]guilt, but that woman shall ^(CE)bear the consequences of her ^[bs]guilt.’”

Jesus, the Example

12 Therefore, since we also have such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let’s ^(A)rid ourselves of every obstacle and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let’s ^(B)run with ^(C)endurance the race that is set before us, ² looking only at Jesus, the ^[a](D)originator and perfecter of the faith, who for the joy set before Him ^(E)endured the cross, ^(F)despising the shame, and has ^(G)sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

³ For ^(H)consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary ^[b](I)and lose heart.

A Father’s Discipline

^4 (J)You have not yet resisted ^[c](K)to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin; ⁵ and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons,

⁷ It is for discipline that you endure; ^(P)God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? ⁸ But if you are without discipline, ^(Q)of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. ⁹ Furthermore, we had ^[d]earthly fathers to discipline us, and we ^(R)respected them; shall we not much more be subject to ^(S)the Father of ^[e]spirits, and ^(T)live? ¹⁰ For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, ^(U)so that we may share His holiness. ^11 (V)For the moment, all discipline seems not to be pleasant, but painful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterward it yields the ^(W)peaceful fruit of righteousness.

¹² Therefore, ^[f](X)strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble, ¹³ and ^(Y)make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is impaired may not be dislocated, but rather ^(Z)be healed.

^14 (AA)Pursue peace with all people, and the ^(AB)holiness without which no one will ^(AC)see the Lord. ¹⁵ See to it that no one ^(AD)comes short of the grace of God; that no ^(AE)root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many become ^(AF)defiled; ¹⁶ that there be no ^(AG)sexually immoral or ^(AH)godless person like Esau, ^(AI)who sold his own birthright for a single meal. ¹⁷ For you know that even afterward, ^(AJ)when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears.

Contrast of Sinai and Zion

^18 (AK)For you have not come to ^(AL)a mountain that can be touched and to a blazing fire, and to darkness and gloom and whirlwind, ¹⁹ and to the ^(AM)blast of a trumpet and the ^(AN)sound of words, which sound was such that those who heard ^(AO)begged that no further word be spoken to them. ²⁰ For they could not ^[g]cope with the command, “^(AP)If even an animal touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.” ²¹ And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, “^(AQ)I am terrified and trembling.” ²² But ^(AR)you have come to Mount Zion and to ^(AS)the city of ^(AT)the living God, ^(AU)the heavenly Jerusalem, and to ^(AV)myriads of ^[h]angels, ²³ to the general assembly and ^(AW)church of the firstborn who ^(AX)are enrolled in heaven, and to God, ^(AY)the Judge of all, and to the ^(AZ)spirits of the righteous made perfect, ²⁴ and to Jesus, the ^(BA)mediator of a new covenant, and to the ^(BB)sprinkled blood, which speaks better than ^(BC)the blood of Abel.

The Unshaken Kingdom

^25 (BD)See to it that you do not refuse Him who is ^(BE)speaking. For ^(BF)if those did not escape when they ^(BG)refused him who ^(BH)warned them on earth, ^[i]much less will we escape who turn away from Him who ^(BI)warns us from heaven. ²⁶ And ^(BJ)His voice shook the earth then, but now He has promised, saying, “^(BK)Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heaven.” ²⁷ This expression, “Yet once more,” denotes ^(BL)the removing of those things which can be shaken, as of created things, so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. ²⁸ Therefore, since we receive a ^(BM)kingdom which cannot be shaken, let’s ^[j]show gratitude, by which we may ^(BN)offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; ²⁹ for ^(BO)our God is a consuming fire.