The Kohathites

4 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ² “Take a census of the sons of Kohath from among the sons of Levi, by their families and their fathers’ houses, ³ from thirty years old up to fifty years old, all who can enter the service, to do the work in the tent of meeting. ⁴ This is the service of the sons of Kohath in the tent of meeting: the most holy things. ⁵ When the camp is to set out, Aaron and his sons shall go in and take down the veil of the screen, and cover the ark of the testimony with it; ⁶ then they shall put on it a covering of goatskin, and spread over that a cloth all of blue, and shall put in its poles. ⁷ And over the table of the bread of the Presence they shall spread a cloth of blue, and put upon it the plates, the dishes for incense, the bowls, and the flagons for the drink offering; the continual bread also shall be on it; ⁸ then they shall spread over them a cloth of scarlet, and cover the same with a covering of goatskin, and shall put in its poles. ⁹ And they shall take a cloth of blue, and cover the lampstand for the light, with its lamps, its snuffers, its trays, and all the vessels for oil with which it is supplied: ¹⁰ and they shall put it with all its utensils in a covering of goatskin and put it upon the carrying frame. ¹¹ And over the golden altar they shall spread a cloth of blue, and cover it with a covering of goatskin, and shall put in its poles; ¹² and they shall take all the vessels of the service which are used in the sanctuary, and put them in a cloth of blue, and cover them with a covering of goatskin, and put them on the carrying frame. ¹³ And they shall take away the ashes from the altar, and spread a purple cloth over it; ¹⁴ and they shall put on it all the utensils of the altar, which are used for the service there, the firepans, the forks, the shovels, and the basins, all the utensils of the altar; and they shall spread upon it a covering of goatskin, and shall put in its poles. ¹⁵ And when Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary and all the furnishings of the sanctuary, as the camp sets out, after that the sons of Kohath shall come to carry these, but they must not touch the holy things, lest they die. These are the things of the tent of meeting which the sons of Kohath are to carry.

¹⁶ “And Elea′zar the son of Aaron the priest shall have charge of the oil for the light, the fragrant incense, the continual cereal offering, and the anointing oil, with the oversight of all the tabernacle and all that is in it, of the sanctuary and its vessels.”

¹⁷ The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ¹⁸ “Let not the tribe of the families of the Ko′hathites be destroyed from among the Levites; ¹⁹ but deal thus with them, that they may live and not die when they come near to the most holy things: Aaron and his sons shall go in and appoint them each to his task and to his burden, ²⁰ but they shall not go in to look upon the holy things even for a moment, lest they die.”

The Gershonites and Merarites

²¹ The Lord said to Moses, ²² “Take a census of the sons of Gershon also, by their families and their fathers’ houses; ²³ from thirty years old up to fifty years old, you shall number them, all who can enter for service, to do the work in the tent of meeting. ²⁴ This is the service of the families of the Gershonites, in serving and bearing burdens: ²⁵ they shall carry the curtains of the tabernacle, and the tent of meeting with its covering, and the covering of goatskin that is on top of it, and the screen for the door of the tent of meeting, ²⁶ and the hangings of the court, and the screen for the entrance of the gate of the court which is around the tabernacle and the altar, and their cords, and all the equipment for their service; and they shall do all that needs to be done with regard to them. ²⁷ All the service of the sons of the Gershonites shall be at the command of Aaron and his sons, in all that they are to carry, and in all that they have to do; and you shall assign to their charge all that they are to carry. ²⁸ This is the service of the families of the sons of the Gershonites in the tent of meeting, and their work is to be under the oversight of Ith′amar the son of Aaron the priest.

²⁹ “As for the sons of Merar′i, you shall number them by their families and their fathers’ houses; ³⁰ from thirty years old up to fifty years old, you shall number them, every one that can enter the service, to do the work of the tent of meeting. ³¹ And this is what they are charged to carry, as the whole of their service in the tent of meeting: the frames of the tabernacle, with its bars, pillars, and bases, ³² and the pillars of the court round about with their bases, pegs, and cords, with all their equipment and all their accessories; and you shall assign by name the objects which they are required to carry. ³³ This is the service of the families of the sons of Merar′i, the whole of their service in the tent of meeting, under the hand of Ith′amar the son of Aaron the priest.”

Census of the Levites

³⁴ And Moses and Aaron and the leaders of the congregation numbered the sons of the Ko′hathites, by their families and their fathers’ houses, ³⁵ from thirty years old up to fifty years old, every one that could enter the service, for work in the tent of meeting; ³⁶ and their number by families was two thousand seven hundred and fifty. ³⁷ This was the number of the families of the Ko′hathites, all who served in the tent of meeting, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the commandment of the Lord by Moses.

³⁸ The number of the sons of Gershon, by their families and their fathers’ houses, ³⁹ from thirty years old up to fifty years old, every one that could enter the service for work in the tent of meeting— ⁴⁰ their number by their families and their fathers’ houses was two thousand six hundred and thirty. ⁴¹ This was the number of the families of the sons of Gershon, all who served in the tent of meeting, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the commandment of the Lord.

⁴² The number of the families of the sons of Merar′i, by their families and their fathers’ houses, ⁴³ from thirty years old up to fifty years old, every one that could enter the service, for work in the tent of meeting— ⁴⁴ their number by families was three thousand two hundred. ⁴⁵ These are those who were numbered of the families of the sons of Merar′i, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the commandment of the Lord by Moses.

⁴⁶ All those who were numbered of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron and the leaders of Israel numbered, by their families and their fathers’ houses, ⁴⁷ from thirty years old up to fifty years old, every one that could enter to do the work of service and the work of bearing burdens in the tent of meeting, ⁴⁸ those who were numbered of them were eight thousand five hundred and eighty. ⁴⁹ According to the commandment of the Lord through Moses they were appointed, each to his task of serving or carrying; thus they were numbered by him, as the Lord commanded Moses.

Unclean Persons

5 The Lord said to Moses, ² “Command the people of Israel that they put out of the camp every leper, and every one having a discharge, and every one that is unclean through contact with the dead; ³ you shall put out both male and female, putting them outside the camp, that they may not defile their camp, in the midst of which I dwell.” ⁴ And the people of Israel did so, and drove them outside the camp; as the Lord said to Moses, so the people of Israel did.

Confession and Restitution

⁵ And the Lord said to Moses, ⁶ “Say to the people of Israel, When a man or woman commits any of the sins that men commit by breaking faith with the Lord, and that person is guilty, ⁷ he shall confess his sin which he has committed; and he shall make full restitution for his wrong, adding a fifth to it, and giving it to him to whom he did the wrong. ⁸ But if the man has no kinsman to whom restitution may be made for the wrong, the restitution for wrong shall go to the Lord for the priest, in addition to the ram of atonement with which atonement is made for him. ⁹ And every offering, all the holy things of the people of Israel, which they bring to the priest, shall be his; ¹⁰ and every man’s holy things shall be his; whatever any man gives to the priest shall be his.”

Concerning an Unfaithful Wife

¹¹ And the Lord said to Moses, ¹² “Say to the people of Israel, If any man’s wife goes astray and acts unfaithfully against him, ¹³ if a man lies with her carnally, and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband, and she is undetected though she has defiled herself, and there is no witness against her, since she was not taken in the act; ¹⁴ and if the spirit of jealousy comes upon him, and he is jealous of his wife who has defiled herself; or if the spirit of jealousy comes upon him, and he is jealous of his wife, though she has not defiled herself; ¹⁵ then the man shall bring his wife to the priest, and bring the offering required of her, a tenth of an ephah of barley meal; he shall pour no oil upon it and put no frankincense on it, for it is a cereal offering of jealousy, a cereal offering of remembrance, bringing iniquity to remembrance.

¹⁶ “And the priest shall bring her near, and set her before the Lord; ¹⁷ and the priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel, and take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle and put it into the water. ¹⁸ And the priest shall set the woman before the Lord, and unbind the hair of the woman’s head, and place in her hands the cereal offering of remembrance, which is the cereal offering of jealousy. And in his hand the priest shall have the water of bitterness that brings the curse. ¹⁹ Then the priest shall make her take an oath, saying, ‘If no man has lain with you, and if you have not turned aside to uncleanness, while you were under your husband’s authority, be free from this water of bitterness that brings the curse. ²⁰ But if you have gone astray, though you are under your husband’s authority, and if you have defiled yourself, and some man other than your husband has lain with you, ²¹ then’ (let the priest make the woman take the oath of the curse, and say to the woman) ‘the Lord make you an execration and an oath among your people, when the Lord makes your thigh fall away and your body swell; ²² may this water that brings the curse pass into your bowels and make your body swell and your thigh fall away.’ And the woman shall say, ‘Amen, Amen.’

²³ “Then the priest shall write these curses in a book, and wash them off into the water of bitterness; ²⁴ and he shall make the woman drink the water of bitterness that brings the curse, and the water that brings the curse shall enter into her and cause bitter pain. ²⁵ And the priest shall take the cereal offering of jealousy out of the woman’s hand, and shall wave the cereal offering before the Lord and bring it to the altar; ²⁶ and the priest shall take a handful of the cereal offering, as its memorial portion, and burn it upon the altar, and afterward shall make the woman drink the water. ²⁷ And when he has made her drink the water, then, if she has defiled herself and has acted unfaithfully against her husband, the water that brings the curse shall enter into her and cause bitter pain, and her body shall swell, and her thigh shall fall away, and the woman shall become an execration among her people. ²⁸ But if the woman has not defiled herself and is clean, then she shall be free and shall conceive children.

²⁹ “This is the law in cases of jealousy, when a wife, though under her husband’s authority, goes astray and defiles herself, ³⁰ or when the spirit of jealousy comes upon a man and he is jealous of his wife; then he shall set the woman before the Lord, and the priest shall execute upon her all this law. ³¹ The man shall be free from iniquity, but the woman shall bear her iniquity.”

The Nazirites

6 And the Lord said to Moses, ² “Say to the people of Israel, When either a man or a woman makes a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite,^[a] to separate himself to the Lord, ³ he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink; he shall drink no vinegar made from wine or strong drink, and shall not drink any juice of grapes or eat grapes, fresh or dried. ⁴ All the days of his separation^[b] he shall eat nothing that is produced by the grapevine, not even the seeds or the skins.

⁵ “All the days of his vow of separation no razor shall come upon his head; until the time is completed for which he separates himself to the Lord, he shall be holy; he shall let the locks of hair of his head grow long.

⁶ “All the days that he separates himself to the Lord he shall not go near a dead body. ⁷ Neither for his father nor for his mother, nor for brother or sister, if they die, shall he make himself unclean; because his separation to God is upon his head. ⁸ All the days of his separation he is holy to the Lord.

⁹ “And if any man dies very suddenly beside him, and he defiles his consecrated head, then he shall shave his head on the day of his cleansing; on the seventh day he shall shave it. ¹⁰ On the eighth day he shall bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons to the priest to the door of the tent of meeting, ¹¹ and the priest shall offer one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering, and make atonement for him, because he sinned by reason of the dead body. And he shall consecrate his head that same day, ¹² and separate himself to the Lord for the days of his separation, and bring a male lamb a year old for a guilt offering; but the former time shall be void, because his separation was defiled.

¹³ “And this is the law for the Nazirite, when the time of his separation has been completed: he shall be brought to the door of the tent of meeting, ¹⁴ and he shall offer his gift to the Lord, one male lamb a year old without blemish for a burnt offering, and one ewe lamb a year old without blemish as a sin offering, and one ram without blemish as a peace offering, ¹⁵ and a basket of unleavened bread, cakes of fine flour mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers spread with oil, and their cereal offering and their drink offerings. ¹⁶ And the priest shall present them before the Lord and offer his sin offering and his burnt offering, ¹⁷ and he shall offer the ram as a sacrifice of peace offering to the Lord, with the basket of unleavened bread; the priest shall offer also its cereal offering and its drink offering. ¹⁸ And the Nazirite shall shave his consecrated head at the door of the tent of meeting, and shall take the hair from his consecrated head and put it on the fire which is under the sacrifice of the peace offering. ¹⁹ And the priest shall take the shoulder of the ram, when it is boiled, and one unleavened cake out of the basket, and one unleavened wafer, and shall put them upon the hands of the Nazirite, after he has shaven the hair of his consecration, ²⁰ and the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before the Lord; they are a holy portion for the priest, together with the breast that is waved and the thigh that is offered; and after that the Nazirite may drink wine.

²¹ “This is the law for the Nazirite who takes a vow. His offering to the Lord shall be according to his vow as a Nazirite, apart from what else he can afford; in accordance with the vow which he takes, so shall he do according to the law for his separation as a Nazirite.”

The Priestly Benediction

²² The Lord said to Moses, ²³ “Say to Aaron and his sons, Thus you shall bless the people of Israel: you shall say to them,

²⁷ “So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.”

The Parable of the Sower

4 Again he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea; and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. ² And he taught them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: ³ “Listen! A sower went out to sow. ⁴ And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. ⁵ Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it had not much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil; ⁶ and when the sun rose it was scorched, and since it had no root it withered away. ⁷ Other seed fell among thorns and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. ⁸ And other seeds fell into good soil and brought forth grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” ⁹ And he said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

The Purpose of the Parables

¹⁰ And when he was alone, those who were about him with the twelve asked him concerning the parables. ¹¹ And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables; ¹² so that^[a] they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand; lest they should turn again, and be forgiven.” ¹³ And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? ¹⁴ The sower sows the word. ¹⁵ And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown; when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word which is sown in them. ¹⁶ And these in like manner are the ones sown upon rocky ground, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy; ¹⁷ and they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away.^{[b] 18} And others are the ones sown among thorns; they are those who hear the word, ¹⁹ but the cares of the world, and the delight in riches, and the desire for other things, enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. ²⁰ But those that were sown upon the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”