Complaints of the People

⁴¹ On the next day ^(A)all the congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, saying, “You have killed the people of the Lord.” ⁴² Now it happened, when the congregation had gathered against Moses and Aaron, that they turned toward the tabernacle of meeting; and suddenly ^(B)the cloud covered it, and the glory of the Lord appeared. ⁴³ Then Moses and Aaron came before the tabernacle of meeting.

⁴⁴ And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ⁴⁵ “Get away from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment.”

And they fell on their faces.

⁴⁶ So Moses said to Aaron, “Take a censer and put fire in it from the altar, put incense on it, and take it quickly to the congregation and make ^[a]atonement for them; ^(C)for wrath has gone out from the Lord. The plague has begun.” ⁴⁷ Then Aaron took it as Moses commanded, and ran into the midst of the assembly; and already the plague had begun among the people. So he put in the incense and made atonement for the people. ⁴⁸ And he stood between the dead and the living; so ^(D)the plague was stopped. ⁴⁹ Now those who died in the plague were fourteen thousand seven hundred, besides those who died in the Korah incident. ⁵⁰ So Aaron returned to Moses at the door of the tabernacle of meeting, for the plague had stopped.

The Budding of Aaron’s Rod

17 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ² “Speak to the children of Israel, and get from them a rod from each father’s house, all their leaders according to their fathers’ houses—twelve rods. Write each man’s name on his rod. ³ And you shall write Aaron’s name on the rod of Levi. For there shall be one rod for the head of each father’s house. ⁴ Then you shall place them in the tabernacle of meeting before ^(E)the Testimony, ^(F)where I meet with you. ⁵ And it shall be that the rod of the man ^(G)whom I choose will blossom; thus I will rid Myself of the complaints of the children of Israel, ^(H)which they make against you.”

⁶ So Moses spoke to the children of Israel, and each of their leaders gave him a rod apiece, for each leader according to their fathers’ houses, twelve rods; and the rod of Aaron was among their rods. ⁷ And Moses placed the rods before the Lord in ^(I)the tabernacle of witness.

⁸ Now it came to pass on the next day that Moses went into the tabernacle of witness, and behold, the ^(J)rod of Aaron, of the house of Levi, had sprouted and put forth buds, had produced blossoms and yielded ripe almonds. ⁹ Then Moses brought out all the rods from before the Lord to all the children of Israel; and they looked, and each man took his rod.

¹⁰ And the Lord said to Moses, “Bring ^(K)Aaron’s rod back before the Testimony, to be kept ^(L)as a sign against the rebels, ^(M)that you may put their complaints away from Me, lest they die.” ¹¹ Thus did Moses; just as the Lord had commanded him, so he did.

¹² So the children of Israel spoke to Moses, saying, “Surely we die, we perish, we all perish! ^13 (N)Whoever even comes near the tabernacle of the Lord must die. Shall we all utterly die?”

Duties of Priests and Levites

18 Then the Lord said to Aaron: ^(O)“You and your sons and your father’s house with you shall ^(P)bear the ^[b]iniquity related to the sanctuary, and you and your sons with you shall bear the iniquity associated with your priesthood. ² Also bring with you your brethren of the ^(Q)tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, that they may be ^(R)joined with you and serve you while you and your sons are with you before the tabernacle of ^[c]witness. ³ They shall attend to your ^[d]needs and ^(S)all the needs of the tabernacle; ^(T)but they shall not come near the articles of the sanctuary and the altar, ^(U)lest they die—they and you also. ⁴ They shall be joined with you and attend to the needs of the tabernacle of meeting, for all the work of the tabernacle; ^(V)but an outsider shall not come near you. ⁵ And you shall attend to ^(W)the duties of the sanctuary and the duties of the altar, ^(X)that there may be no more wrath on the children of Israel. ⁶ Behold, I Myself have ^(Y)taken your brethren the Levites from among the children of Israel; ^(Z)they are a gift to you, given by the Lord, to do the work of the tabernacle of meeting. ⁷ Therefore ^(AA)you and your sons with you shall attend to your priesthood for everything at the altar and ^(AB)behind the veil; and you shall serve. I give your priesthood to you as a ^(AC)gift for service, but the outsider who comes near shall be put to death.”

Offerings for Support of the Priests

⁸ And the Lord spoke to Aaron: “Here, ^(AD)I Myself have also given you ^[e]charge of My heave offerings, all the holy gifts of the children of Israel; I have given them ^(AE)as a portion to you and your sons, as an ordinance forever. ⁹ This shall be yours of the most holy things reserved from the fire: every offering of theirs, every ^(AF)grain offering and every ^(AG)sin offering and every ^(AH)trespass offering which they render to Me, shall be most holy for you and your sons. ^10 (AI)In a most holy place you shall eat it; every male shall eat it. It shall be holy to you.

¹¹ “This also is yours: ^(AJ)the heave offering of their gift, with all the wave offerings of the children of Israel; I have given them to you, and your sons and daughters with you, as an ordinance forever. ^(AK)Everyone who is ^[f]clean in your house may eat it.

^12 (AL)“All the ^[g]best of the oil, all the best of the new wine and the grain, ^(AM)their firstfruits which they offer to the Lord, I have given them to you. ¹³ Whatever first ripe fruit is in their land, ^(AN)which they bring to the Lord, shall be yours. Everyone who is clean in your house may eat it.

^14 (AO)“Every ^[h]devoted thing in Israel shall be yours.

¹⁵ “Everything that first opens ^(AP)the womb of all flesh, which they bring to the Lord, whether man or beast, shall be yours; nevertheless ^(AQ)the firstborn of man you shall surely redeem, and the firstborn of unclean animals you shall redeem. ¹⁶ And those redeemed of the devoted things you shall redeem when one month old, ^(AR)according to your valuation, for five shekels of silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, which is ^(AS)twenty gerahs. ^17 (AT)But the firstborn of a cow, the firstborn of a sheep, or the firstborn of a goat you shall not redeem; they are holy. ^(AU)You shall sprinkle their blood on the altar, and burn their fat as an offering made by fire for a sweet aroma to the Lord. ¹⁸ And their flesh shall be yours, just as the ^(AV)wave^[i] breast and the right thigh are yours.

¹⁹ “All the heave offerings of the holy things, which the children of Israel offer to the Lord, I have given to you and your sons and daughters with you as an ordinance forever; ^(AW)it is a covenant of salt forever before the Lord with you and your descendants with you.”

²⁰ Then the Lord said to Aaron: “You shall have ^(AX)no inheritance in their land, nor shall you have any portion among them; ^(AY)I am your portion and your inheritance among the children of Israel.

Tithes for Support of the Levites

²¹ “Behold, ^(AZ)I have given the children of Levi all the tithes in Israel as ^[j]an inheritance in return for the work which they perform, ^(BA)the work of the tabernacle of meeting. ^22 (BB)Hereafter the children of Israel shall not come near the tabernacle of meeting, ^(BC)lest they bear sin and die. ²³ But the Levites shall perform the work of the tabernacle of meeting, and they shall bear their iniquity; it shall be a statute forever, throughout your generations, that among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance. ²⁴ For the tithes of the children of Israel, which they offer up as a heave offering to the Lord, I have given to the Levites ^[k]as an inheritance; therefore I have said to them, ‘Among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance.’ ”

The Tithe of the Levites

²⁵ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁶ “Speak thus to the Levites, and say to them: ‘When you take from the children of Israel the tithes which I have given you from them as your inheritance, then you shall offer up a heave offering of it to the Lord, ^(BD)a tenth of the tithe. ²⁷ And your heave offering shall be reckoned to you as though it were the grain of the ^(BE)threshing floor and as the fullness of the winepress. ²⁸ Thus you shall also offer a heave offering to the Lord from all your tithes which you receive from the children of Israel, and you shall give the Lord’s heave offering from it to Aaron the priest. ²⁹ Of all your gifts you shall offer up every heave offering due to the Lord, from all the ^[l]best of them, the consecrated part of them.’ ³⁰ Therefore you shall say to them: ‘When you have lifted up the best of it, then the rest shall be accounted to the Levites as the produce of the threshing floor and as the produce of the winepress. ³¹ You may eat it in any place, you and your households, for it is ^(BF)your ^[m]reward for your work in the tabernacle of meeting. ³² And you shall ^(BG)bear no sin because of it, when you have lifted up the best of it. But you shall not ^(BH)profane the holy gifts of the children of Israel, lest you die.’ ”

He Is Risen^(A)

16 Now ^(B)when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome ^(C)bought spices, that they might come and anoint Him. ^2 (D)Very early in the morning, on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen. ³ And they said among themselves, “Who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us?” ⁴ But when they looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away—for it was very large. ^5 (E)And entering the tomb, they saw a young man clothed in a long white robe sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed.

^6 (F)But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him. ⁷ But go, tell His disciples—and Peter—that He is going ^[a]before you into Galilee; there you will see Him, ^(G)as He said to you.”

⁸ So they went out ^[b]quickly and fled from the tomb, for they trembled and were amazed. ^(H)And they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

Mary Magdalene Sees the Risen Lord^(I)

^9 [c]Now when He rose early on the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, ^(J)out of whom He had cast seven demons. ^10 (K)She went and told those who had been with Him, as they mourned and wept. ^11 (L)And when they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they did not believe.

Jesus Appears to Two Disciples^(M)

¹² After that, He appeared in another form ^(N)to two of them as they walked and went into the country. ¹³ And they went and told it to the rest, but they did not believe them either.

The Great Commission^(O)

^14 (P)Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen. ^15 (Q)And He said to them, “Go into all the world ^(R)and preach the gospel to every creature. ^16 (S)He who believes and is baptized will be saved; ^(T)but he who does not believe will be condemned. ¹⁷ And these ^(U)signs will follow those who ^[d]believe: ^(V)In My name they will cast out demons; ^(W)they will speak with new tongues; ^18 (X)they^[e] will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; ^(Y)they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

Christ Ascends to God’s Right Hand^(Z)

¹⁹ So then, ^(AA)after the Lord had spoken to them, He was ^(AB)received up into heaven, and ^(AC)sat down at the right hand of God. ²⁰ And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them ^(AD)and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen.

Trust in God Concerning the Treachery of Friends

To the Chief Musician. With ^[a]stringed instruments. A ^[b]Contemplation of David.