Duties of the Kohathites

4 Then the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, ² “Take ^[a]a census of the ^[b]descendants of Kohath from among the sons of Levi, by their families, by their fathers’ households, ³ from ^(A)thirty years and upward, even to fifty years old, all who enter the service to do the work in the tent of meeting. ⁴ This is the work of the ^[c]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 they shall take down ^(B)the veil of the screen and cover the ^(C)ark of the testimony with it; ⁶ and they shall lay a ^(D)covering of porpoise skin on it, and shall spread over it a cloth of pure ^[d]blue, and shall insert its poles. ⁷ Over the table of the bread of the Presence they shall also spread a cloth of ^[e]blue and put on it the dishes and the pans and the sacrificial bowls and the jars for the drink offering, and ^(E)the continual bread shall be on it. ⁸ They shall spread over them a cloth of scarlet material, and cover the same with a covering of porpoise skin, and they shall insert its poles. ⁹ Then they shall take a ^[f]blue cloth and cover the ^(F)lampstand for the light, ^(G)along with its lamps and its snuffers, and its ^[g]trays and all its oil vessels, by which they serve it; ¹⁰ and they shall put it and all its utensils in a covering of porpoise skin, and shall put it on the carrying bars. ¹¹ Over the golden altar they shall spread a ^[h]blue cloth and cover it with a covering of porpoise skin, and shall insert its poles; ¹² and they shall take all the utensils of service, with which they serve in the sanctuary, and put them in a ^[i]blue cloth and cover them with a covering of porpoise skin, and put them on the carrying bars. ¹³ Then they shall take away the ^[j]ashes from the ^(H)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 and shovels and the basins, all the utensils of the altar; and they shall spread a cover of porpoise skin over it and insert its 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, so that they will not touch the holy objects ^(I)and die. These are the ^[k]things in the tent of meeting which the sons of Kohath are to carry.

¹⁶ “The responsibility of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest is ^(J)the oil for the light and the ^(K)fragrant incense and ^(L)the continual grain offering and ^(M)the anointing oil—the responsibility of all the ^[l]tabernacle and of all 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 cut off from among the Levites. ¹⁹ But do this to them that they may live and ^(N)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 ^(O)they shall not go 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 ^[m]a census of the sons of Gershon ^[n]also, by their fathers’ households, by their families; ²³ from ^(P)thirty years and upward to fifty years old, you shall ^[o]number them; all who enter to perform the 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 ^(Q)the curtains of the tabernacle and the tent of meeting with its covering and ^(R)the covering of porpoise skin that is on top of it, and the screen for the doorway of the tent of meeting, ²⁶ and ^(S)the hangings of the court, and the screen for the doorway 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 all that is to be done, ^[p]they shall perform. ²⁷ All the service of the sons of the Gershonites, in all their loads and in all their work, shall be performed at the ^[q]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 ^[r]under the direction of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.

Duties of the Merarites

²⁹ “As for the sons of Merari, you shall number them by their families, by their fathers’ households; ³⁰ from ^(T)thirty years and upward even to fifty years old, you shall number them, everyone who enters 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 and its bars and its pillars and its ^[s]sockets, ³² and the pillars around the court and their ^[t]sockets and their pegs and their cords, with all their equipment and with all their service; and you shall assign each man by name the items ^[u]he 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, ^[v]under the direction of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.”

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

³⁸ The numbered men of the sons of Gershon by their families and by their fathers’ households, ³⁹ from thirty years and upward even to fifty years old, everyone who entered 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 are the numbered men of the families of the sons of Gershon, everyone who was serving in the tent of meeting, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the ^[y]commandment of the Lord.

⁴² The numbered men of the families of the sons of Merari by their families, by their fathers’ households, ⁴³ from ^(V)thirty years and upward even to fifty years old, everyone who entered the service for work in the tent of meeting. ⁴⁴ Their numbered men by their families were 3,200. ⁴⁵ These are the numbered men of the families of the sons of Merari, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the ^[z]commandment of the Lord ^[aa]through Moses.

⁴⁶ All the numbered men of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron and the leaders of Israel numbered, by their families and by their fathers’ households, ⁴⁷ from thirty years 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 ^(W)8,580. ⁴⁹ According to the ^[ab]commandment of the Lord ^[ac]through Moses, they ^(X)were numbered, everyone by his serving or carrying; thus 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 ^(Y)send away from the camp every leper and everyone having a ^(Z)discharge and everyone who is ^(AA)unclean because of a dead person. ³ You shall send away both male and female; you shall send them outside the camp so that they will not defile their camp where I dwell ^(AB)in their midst.” ⁴ The sons of Israel did so and sent them outside the camp; just as the Lord had spoken to Moses, thus the sons of Israel did.

⁵ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ⁶ “Speak to the sons of Israel, ‘^(AC)When a man or woman commits any of the sins of mankind, acting unfaithfully against the Lord, and that person is guilty, ⁷ then ^[ad]he shall ^(AD)confess ^[ae]his sins which ^[af]he has committed, and he ^(AE)shall make restitution in full for his wrong and add to it one-fifth of it, and give it to him whom he has wronged. ⁸ But if the man has no ^[ag]relative 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 (AF)Also every ^[ah]contribution pertaining to all the holy gifts of the sons of Israel, which they offer to the priest, shall be his. ¹⁰ So every man’s holy gifts shall be his; whatever any man gives to the priest, it ^(AG)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 ^(AH)goes astray and is unfaithful to him, ¹³ and a man has ^(AI)intercourse with her and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband and she is ^[ai]undetected, although she has defiled herself, and there is no witness against her and she has not been caught in the act, ^14 [aj]if a spirit of ^(AJ)jealousy comes over him and he is jealous of his wife when she has defiled herself, or if a spirit 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 ^[ak]an offering for her one-tenth of an ^[al]ephah of barley meal; he shall not pour oil on it nor put frankincense on it, for it is a grain offering of jealousy, a grain offering of memorial, ^(AK)a reminder of iniquity.

¹⁶ ‘Then the priest shall bring her near and have her stand before the Lord, ¹⁷ and the priest shall take holy water in an earthenware vessel; and ^[am]he shall take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle and put it into the water. ¹⁸ The priest shall then have the woman stand before the Lord and let the hair of the woman’s head go loose, and place the grain offering of memorial ^[an]in her hands, which 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 The priest shall have her take an oath and shall say to the woman, “If no man has lain with you and if you have not ^(AL)gone astray into uncleanness, being under the authority of your husband, be ^[ao]immune to this water of bitterness that brings a curse; ²⁰ if you, however, have ^(AM)gone astray, being under the authority of your husband, and if you have defiled yourself and a man other than your husband has had intercourse with you” ²¹ (then the priest shall have the woman ^(AN)swear with the oath of the curse, and the priest shall say to the woman), “the Lord make you a curse and an oath among your people by the Lord’s making your thigh ^[ap]waste away and your abdomen swell; ²² and this water that brings a curse shall go into your ^[aq]stomach, and make your abdomen swell and your thigh ^[ar]waste away.” And the woman ^(AO)shall say, “Amen. Amen.”

²³ ‘The priest shall then write these curses on a scroll, and he shall ^[as]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 ^[at]and cause bitterness. ²⁵ 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 ^(AP)the priest shall take a handful of the grain offering as its memorial 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 shall 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 ^[au]and cause bitterness, and her abdomen will swell and her thigh will ^[av]waste away, and the woman will become ^(AQ)a curse among her people. ²⁸ But if the woman has not defiled herself and is clean, she will then be free and conceive ^[aw]children.

²⁹ ‘This is the law of jealousy: when a wife, being under the authority of her husband, ^(AR)goes astray and defiles herself, ³⁰ or when a spirit of jealousy comes over a man and he is jealous of his wife, he shall then make the woman stand before the Lord, and the priest shall apply all this law to her. ³¹ Moreover, the man will be free from ^[ax]guilt, but that woman shall ^(AS)bear her ^[ay]guilt.’”

Law of the Nazirites

6 Again the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When a man or woman makes a ^[az]special vow, the vow of ^(AT)a ^[ba]Nazirite, to ^[bb]dedicate himself to the Lord, ³ he shall ^(AU)abstain from wine and strong drink; he shall drink no vinegar, whether made from wine or strong drink, nor shall he drink any grape juice nor eat fresh or dried grapes. ⁴ All the days of his ^[bc]separation he shall not eat anything that is produced by the grape vine, from the seeds even to the skin.

⁵ ‘All the days of his vow of separation ^(AV)no razor shall pass over his head. He shall be holy until the days are fulfilled for which he separated himself to the Lord; he shall let the locks of hair on his head grow long.

⁶ ‘^(AW)All the days of his separation to the Lord he shall not go near to a dead person. ⁷ He ^(AX)shall not make himself unclean for his father or for his mother, for his brother or for his sister, when they die, because his separation to God is on his head. ⁸ All the days of his separation he is holy to the Lord.

⁹ ‘But if a man dies very suddenly beside him and he defiles his dedicated head of hair, then ^(AY)he shall shave his head on the day when he becomes clean; ^(AZ)he shall shave it on the seventh day. ¹⁰ Then on the eighth day he shall bring ^(BA)two turtledoves or two young pigeons to the priest, to the doorway of the tent of meeting. ¹¹ The priest shall offer ^(BB)one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering, and make atonement for him ^[bd]concerning his sin because of the dead person. And that same day he shall consecrate his head, ¹² and shall dedicate to the Lord his days ^[be]as a ^[bf]Nazirite, and shall bring a male lamb a year old for a guilt offering; but the former days will be void because his separation was defiled.

¹³ ‘Now this is the law of the Nazirite ^(BC)when the days of his separation are fulfilled, he shall bring ^[bg]the offering to the doorway of the tent of meeting. ¹⁴ He shall present his offering to the Lord: one male lamb a year old without defect for a burnt offering and one ^(BD)ewe-lamb a year old without defect for a sin offering and one ram without defect for a peace offering, ¹⁵ and a basket of ^(BE)unleavened cakes of fine flour mixed with oil and unleavened wafers spread with oil, along with ^(BF)their grain offering and their drink offering. ¹⁶ Then the priest shall present them before the Lord and shall offer his sin offering and his burnt offering. ¹⁷ He shall also offer the ram for a sacrifice of peace offerings to the Lord, together with the basket of unleavened cakes; the priest shall likewise offer its grain offering and its drink offering. ^18 (BG)The Nazirite shall then shave his dedicated head of hair at the doorway of the tent of meeting, and take the dedicated hair of his head and put it on the fire which is under the sacrifice of peace offerings. ^19 (BH)The priest shall take the ram’s shoulder when it has been boiled, and one unleavened cake out of the basket and one unleavened wafer, and shall put them on the ^[bh]hands of the Nazirite after he has shaved his ^[bi]dedicated hair. ²⁰ Then the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before the Lord. It is holy for the priest, together with the breast offered by waving and the thigh offered by lifting up; and ^(BI)afterward the Nazirite may drink wine.’

²¹ “This is the law of the Nazirite who vows his offering to the Lord according to his separation, in addition to what else ^[bj]he can afford; according to his vow which he takes, so he shall do according to the law of his separation.”

Aaron’s Benediction

²² Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²³ “Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying, ‘Thus ^(BJ)you shall bless the sons of Israel. You shall say to them:

²⁷ So they shall ^[bk](BQ)invoke My name on the sons of Israel, and I then will bless them.”

Things to Come

13 ^(A)As He was going out of the temple, one of His disciples *said to Him, “Teacher, behold ^[a]what wonderful stones and ^[b]what wonderful buildings!” ² And Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? ^(B)Not one stone will be left upon another which will not be torn down.”

³ As He was sitting on ^(C)the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, ^(D)Peter and ^[c]James and John and Andrew were questioning Him privately, ⁴ “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the ^[d]sign when all these things are going to be fulfilled?” ⁵ And Jesus began to say to them, “See to it that no one misleads you. ⁶ Many will come in My name, saying, ‘^(E)I am He!’ and will mislead many. ⁷ When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be frightened; those things must take place; but that is not yet the end. ⁸ For nation will rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will also be famines. These things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.

⁹ “But ^[e]be on your guard; for they will ^(F)deliver you to the ^[f]courts, and you will be flogged ^(G)in the synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them. ^10 (H)The gospel must first be preached to all the nations. ^11 (I)When they ^[g]arrest you and hand you over, do not worry beforehand about what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour; for it is not you who speak, but it is the Holy Spirit. ¹² Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and ^[h]have them put to death. ^13 (J)You will be hated by all because of My name, but the one who endures to the end, he will be saved.

¹⁴ “But ^(K)when you see the ^(L)abomination of desolation standing where it should not be (let the reader understand), then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. ^15 (M)The one who is on the housetop must not go down, or go in to get anything out of his house; ¹⁶ and the one who is in the field must not turn back to get his coat. ¹⁷ But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! ¹⁸ But pray that it may not happen in the winter. ¹⁹ For those days will be a time of tribulation such as has not occurred ^(N)since the beginning of the creation which God created until now, and never will. ²⁰ Unless the Lord had shortened those days, no ^[i]life would have been saved; but for the sake of the ^[j]elect, whom He chose, He shortened the days. ²¹ And then if anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is ^[k]the Christ’; or, ‘Behold, He is there’; do not believe him; ²² for false Christs and ^(O)false prophets will arise, and will show ^[l](P)signs and ^(Q)wonders, in order to lead astray, if possible, the elect. ²³ But take heed; behold, I have told you everything in advance.

The Return of Christ

²⁴ “But in those days, after that tribulation, ^(R)the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light, ^25 (S)and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers that are in ^[m]the heavens will be shaken. ²⁶ Then they will see ^(T)the Son of Man ^(U)coming in clouds with great power and glory. ²⁷ And then He will send forth the angels, and ^(V)will gather together His ^[n]elect from the four winds, ^(W)from the farthest end of the earth to the farthest end of heaven.

²⁸ “Now learn the parable from the fig tree: when its branch has already become tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. ²⁹ Even so, you too, when you see these things happening, ^[o]recognize that ^[p]He is near, right at the ^[q]door. ³⁰ Truly I say to you, this ^[r]generation will not pass away until all these things take place. ³¹ Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away. ^32 (X)But of that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.

³³ “Take heed, ^(Y)keep on the alert; for you do not know when the appointed time ^[s]will come. ^34 (Z)It is like a man away on a journey, who upon leaving his house and ^[t]putting his slaves in charge, assigning to each one his task, also commanded the doorkeeper to stay on the alert. ³⁵ Therefore, ^(AA)be on the alert—for you do not know when the ^[u]master of the house is coming, whether in the evening, at midnight, or ^(AB)when the rooster crows, or ^(AC)in the morning— ³⁶ in case he should come suddenly and find you ^(AD)asleep. ³⁷ What I say to you I say to all, ‘^(AE)Be on the alert!’”