Who Can Stand Before You?

To the choirmaster: with ^(A)stringed instruments. A Psalm of ^(B)Asaph. A Song.

The Altar of Incense

30 ^(A)“You shall make ^(B)an altar on which to burn incense; you shall make it of acacia wood. ² A cubit^[a] shall be its length, and a cubit its breadth. It shall be square, and two cubits shall be its height. ^(C)Its horns shall be of one piece with it. ³ You shall ^(D)overlay it with pure gold, its top and around its sides and its horns. And you shall make a molding of gold around it. ⁴ And you shall make two golden rings for it. Under its molding on two opposite sides of it you shall make them, and they shall be ^(E)holders for poles with which to carry it. ⁵ You shall make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. ⁶ And you shall put it in front of the veil that is above the ark of the testimony, in front of the ^(F)mercy seat that is above the testimony, where I will meet with you. ⁷ And Aaron shall ^(G)burn fragrant incense on it. Every morning when he ^(H)dresses the lamps he shall burn it, ⁸ and when Aaron sets up the lamps at twilight, he shall burn it, a regular incense offering before the Lord throughout your generations. ⁹ You shall not offer ^(I)unauthorized incense on it, or a burnt offering, or a grain offering, and you shall not pour a drink offering on it. ^10 (J)Aaron shall make atonement on its horns once a year. With the blood of the ^(K)sin offering of atonement he shall make atonement for it once in the year throughout your generations. It is most holy to the Lord.”

The Census Tax

¹¹ The Lord said to Moses, ^12 (L)“When you take the census of the people of Israel, then each shall give ^(M)a ransom for his life to the Lord when you number them, that there be no plague among them when you number them. ¹³ Each one who is numbered in the census shall give this: half a shekel^[b] according to the ^(N)shekel of the sanctuary (the ^(O)shekel is twenty gerahs),^{[c] (P)}half a shekel as an offering to the Lord. ¹⁴ Everyone who is numbered in the census, from twenty years old and upward, shall give the Lord's offering. ¹⁵ The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less, than ^(Q)the half shekel, when you give the Lord's offering to make atonement for your lives. ¹⁶ You shall take the atonement money from the people of Israel and shall ^(R)give it for the service of the tent of meeting, that it may bring the people of Israel to ^(S)remembrance before the Lord, so as to make atonement for your lives.”

The Bronze Basin

¹⁷ The Lord said to Moses, ¹⁸ “You shall also make a ^(T)basin of bronze, with its stand of bronze, for washing. ^(U)You shall put it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and you shall put water in it, ¹⁹ with which Aaron and his sons ^(V)shall wash their hands and their feet. ²⁰ When they go into the tent of meeting, or when they come near the altar to minister, to burn a food offering^[d] to the Lord, they shall wash with water, so that they may not die. ²¹ They shall wash their hands and their feet, so that they may not die. It shall ^(W)be a statute forever to them, even to him and to his offspring throughout their generations.”

The Anointing Oil and Incense

²² The Lord said to Moses, ²³ “Take the ^(X)finest spices: of liquid myrrh 500 shekels, and of sweet-smelling cinnamon half as much, that is, 250, and 250 of ^(Y)aromatic cane, ²⁴ and 500 of cassia, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, and a ^(Z)hin^[e] of olive oil. ²⁵ And you shall make of these a sacred anointing oil blended as by the ^(AA)perfumer; it shall be a ^(AB)holy anointing oil. ^26 (AC)With it you shall anoint the tent of meeting and the ark of the testimony, ²⁷ and the table and all its utensils, and the lampstand and its utensils, and the altar of incense, ²⁸ and the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils and the ^(AD)basin and its stand. ²⁹ You shall consecrate them, that they may be most holy. ^(AE)Whatever touches them will become holy. ^30 (AF)You shall anoint Aaron and his sons, and consecrate them, that they may serve me as priests. ³¹ And you shall say to the people of Israel, ‘This shall be my holy anointing oil throughout your generations. ³² It shall not be poured on the body of an ordinary person, and you shall make no other like it in composition. ^(AG)It is holy, and it shall be holy to you. ^33 (AH)Whoever compounds any like it or whoever puts any of it on an outsider shall be cut off from his people.’”

³⁴ The Lord said to Moses, ^(AI)“Take sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum, sweet spices with pure frankincense (of each shall there be an equal part), ³⁵ and make an ^(AJ)incense blended as by the ^(AK)perfumer, ^(AL)seasoned with salt, pure and holy. ³⁶ You shall beat some of it very small, and put part of it before the testimony in the tent of meeting ^(AM)where I shall meet with you. ^(AN)It shall be most holy for you. ³⁷ And the incense that you shall make ^(AO)according to its composition, you shall not make for yourselves. It shall be for you holy to the Lord. ^38 (AP)Whoever makes any like it to use as perfume shall be cut off from his people.”

Sadducees Ask About the Resurrection

²³ The same day ^(A)Sadducees came to him, ^(B)who say that there is no resurrection, and they asked him a question, ²⁴ saying, “Teacher, Moses said, ^(C)‘If a man dies having no children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother.’ ²⁵ Now there were seven brothers among us. The first married and died, and having no offspring left his wife to his brother. ²⁶ So too the second and third, down to the seventh. ²⁷ After them all, the woman died. ²⁸ In the resurrection, therefore, of the seven, whose wife will she be? For they all had her.”

²⁹ But Jesus answered them, “You are wrong, ^(D)because you know neither the Scriptures nor ^(E)the power of God. ³⁰ For in the resurrection they neither ^(F)marry nor ^(G)are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. ³¹ And as for the resurrection of the dead, ^(H)have you not read what was said to you by God: ^32 (I)‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living.” ³³ And when the crowd heard it, ^(J)they were astonished at his teaching.

The Great Commandment

^34 (K)But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced ^(L)the Sadducees, they gathered together. ^35 (M)And one of them, ^(N)a lawyer, asked him a question ^(O)to test him. ³⁶ “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” ³⁷ And he said to him, ^(P)“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. ³⁸ This is the great and first commandment. ³⁹ And ^(Q)a second is like it: ^(R)You shall love your neighbor as yourself. ^40 (S)On these two commandments depend ^(T)all the Law and the Prophets.”

Whose Son Is the Christ?

^41 (U)Now while the Pharisees ^(V)were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, ⁴² saying, “What do you think about ^(W)the Christ? Whose son is he?” They said to him, ^(X)“The son of David.” ⁴³ He said to them, “How is it then that David, ^(Y)in the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying,

⁴⁵ If then David calls him Lord, ^(AA)how is he his son?” ^46 (AB)And no one was able to answer him a word, ^(AC)nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.