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Second census and the Levites’ duties
The Kohathites’ duties
4 The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron: 2 Take a census of the Kohathites from among the Levites by their clans and their households, 3 from 30 to 50 years old, all who are eligible for service to do the work of the meeting tent. 4 These are the responsibilities of the Kohathites in the meeting tent: the most holy things.
5 When it’s time to break camp, Aaron and his sons will enter and take down the screening curtain, and they will cover the chest containing the covenant with it. 6 Then they will place a covering of fine leather[a] on it. They will spread a whole cloth of blue over it, and they will set its poles in place. 7 They will spread a blue cloth on the presentation table and place on it the plates, the dishes, the bowls, and the container for the drink offering. The usual bread will be on it. 8 They will spread on them a red cloth, cover it with fine leather, and set its poles in place. 9 They will take a blue cloth and cover the lampstand used for light, its lamps, its extinguishers, its trays, and all the containers for oil that are used in its service. 10 They will place it and its equipment in a covering of fine leather, and then place it on the carrying frame. 11 They will spread a blue cloth on the gold altar and cover it with fine leather. 12 They will take all the service equipment used in the sanctuary, place it in a blue cloth, and cover it with fine leather. Then they will place it on the carrying frame. 13 They will remove the ashes from the altar and spread a purple cloth on it. 14 They will place on it all the equipment used for servicing it, the censers, the meat fork, the shovels, the bowls, all the equipment of the altar. They will spread a covering of fine leather over it and then set its poles in place.
15 Aaron and his sons will finish covering the sanctuary and all the equipment of the sanctuary when it is time to break camp. After that the Kohathites will enter to carry it, but they will not touch the sanctuary, lest they die. These are the objects in the dwelling that the Kohathites are to carry. 16 But Eleazar son of Aaron the priest will have oversight of the oil for lighting, the fragrant incense, the regular grain offering, and the anointing oil, as well as oversight of the entire dwelling and everything in it related to the sanctuary and its equipment.
17 The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron: 18 You must not let the tribe of the Kohathite clans be eliminated from the Levites. 19 This is what you must do for them so that they stay alive and don’t die when they approach the most holy things. Aaron and his sons will enter and assign each of them his work and his load. 20 But they may not enter to look at the sanctuary even for a moment, lest they die.
The Gershonites’ duties
21 The Lord spoke to Moses: 22 Take a census of the Gershonites also, by their households and their clans. 23 You will enroll those from 30 to 50 years old, all who are eligible for service to do work in the dwelling. 24 This is the duty of the Gershonite clans for work and for carrying the load: 25 They will carry the fabric of the dwelling, the meeting tent with its covering, the outer covering of fine leather, the screen for the entrance of the meeting tent, 26 the curtains of the courtyard, the screen of the entrance at the gate of the courtyard that surrounds the meeting tent and the altar, their cords, and all their equipment for their work. They will do everything that needs to be done with these objects.
27 All the duties of the Gershonites for carrying their load and for their work will be at the command of Aaron and his sons. You will assign to them the responsibility to carry their load. 28 This is the work of the Gershonite clans in the dwelling. Their responsibility will be under Ithamar son of Aaron the priest.
The Merarites’ duties
29 You will enroll the Merarites by their clans and their households. 30 You will enroll those from 30 to 50 years old, all who are eligible for service to do work in the meeting tent. 31 This is what they are responsible to carry as their work in the meeting tent: the frames of the meeting tent, its bars, pillars, and bases; 32 the pillars of the courtyard all around, with their bases, pegs, cords, and all the equipment used with them. You will list by name the objects they are required to carry. 33 This is the duty of the Merarite clans for all their work in the meeting tent under the supervision of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest.
Summary of the census
34 So Moses, Aaron, and the chiefs of the community enrolled the Kohathites by their clans and their households, 35 those from 30 to 50 years old who were eligible for work in the meeting tent. 36 Their enrollment by their clans was 2,750. 37 These are the enrolled of the Kohathite clans, all who worked in the meeting tent and whom Moses and Aaron enrolled according to the Lord’s command through Moses.
38 The enrollment of the Gershonites by their clans and their households, 39 those 30 to 50 years old who were eligible for work in the meeting tent: 40 their enrollment by their clans and their households was 2,630. 41 These are the enrolled of the Gershonite clans, all who worked in the meeting tent, and whom Moses and Aaron enrolled according to the Lord’s command.
42 The enrollment of the Merarite clans by their clans and their households, 43 those 30 to 50 years old who were eligible for work in the meeting tent: 44 their enrollment by their clans was 3,200. 45 These are the enrolled of the Merarite clans, whom Moses and Aaron enrolled according to the Lord’s command through Moses.
46 All the enrolled Levites whom Moses, Aaron, and the chiefs of Israel enrolled by their clans and their households, 47 those 30 to 50 years old who were eligible to do the work and to carry the load of the meeting tent: 48 their enrollment was 8,580. 49 Each was enrolled by the Lord’s command through Moses to work and to carry his load. Each was assigned just as the Lord had commanded Moses.
Instructions about purity in the camp
5 The Lord spoke to Moses: 2 Command the Israelites to send out from the camp anyone with a skin disease, an oozing discharge, or who has become unclean from contact with a corpse. 3 You must send out both male and female. You must send them outside the camp so that they will not make their camp, where I live among them, unclean.
4 The Israelites did so and sent them outside the camp. The Israelites did just what the Lord said to Moses.
5 The Lord spoke to Moses: 6 Tell the Israelites: When a man or a woman commits any sin against anyone else, thus breaking faith with the Lord, that person becomes guilty. 7 Such persons will confess the sin they have done. Each will make payment for his guilt, add one-fifth more, and give it to the injured party. 8 If the person has no close relative to whom the payment can be made, then the compensation payment will go to the Lord for the priest. This is in addition to the ram of reconciliation by which the guilty party himself is reconciled. 9 Any gift offering from all the sacred donations that the Israelites offer will be the property of the priest. 10 The sacred donations belong to each person alone; whatever anyone gives to the priest will be his.
A woman accused of adultery
11 The Lord spoke to Moses: 12 Speak to the Israelites and say to them: A man may suspect that his wife has had an affair[b] and has broken faith with him, 13 that a man has had intercourse with her unknown to her husband and that she has defiled herself in secret—even though there are no witnesses and she isn’t caught. 14 If jealousy overcomes him and he is jealous of his wife who has defiled herself, or if jealousy overcomes him and he is jealous of his wife who hasn’t defiled herself, 15 then the man will bring his wife to the priest. He will bring the offering required for her, one-tenth of an ephah[c] of barley flour. He will not pour oil on it, nor offer frankincense with it, because it is a grain offering for jealousy, a grain offering for recognition in order to recognize guilt. 16 The priest will bring her close and make her stand before the Lord. 17 The priest will take holy water in a clay jar, and taking dust from the floor of the dwelling, the priest will place it in the water. 18 The priest will make the woman stand before the Lord, let the hair of the woman hang down, and place the grain offering for recognition, that is, the grain offering for jealousy, in her hands. The water of bitterness that brings the curse will be in the hands of the priest.
19 Then the priest will make her swear a solemn pledge, saying to the woman, “If no man has slept with you and if you haven’t had an affair, becoming defiled while married to your husband, then be immune from the water of bitterness that brings these curses. 20 But if you have had an affair while married to your husband, if you have defiled yourself, and a man other than your husband has had intercourse with you”— 21 then the priest must make the woman utter the curse and say to the woman, “May the Lord make you a curse and a harmful pledge among your people, when the Lord induces a miscarriage and your womb discharges. 22 And may the water that brings these curses enter your stomach and make your womb discharge and make you miscarry.”
And the woman will say, “I agree, I agree.”
23 The priest will write these curses in the scroll and wipe them off into the water of bitterness. 24 Then he will make the woman drink the water of bitterness that brings the curse. And the water that brings the curse will enter her, causing bitterness. 25 The priest will take the grain offering for jealousy from the woman’s hands, elevate the grain offering before the Lord, and bring it to the altar. 26 The priest will take a handful of the grain offering as a token part of it and turn it into smoke on the altar. And afterward he will make the woman drink the water. 27 When he has made her drink the water, if she has defiled herself and has broken faith with her husband, then the water that brings the curse will enter her, causing bitterness, and her womb will discharge and she will miscarry. The woman will be a curse among her people. 28 But if the woman hasn’t defiled herself and she is pure, then she will be immune and able to conceive.
29 These are the instructions about jealousy, when a wife has an affair while married to her husband and defiles herself, 30 or when jealousy overcomes a man and he is jealous of his wife. The priest will make the woman stand before the Lord and will follow all these instructions concerning her. 31 The man will be free from guilt, but the woman will bear her guilt.
A question about the resurrection
18 Sadducees, who deny that there is a resurrection, came to Jesus and asked, 19 “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, leaving a widow but no children, the brother must marry the widow and raise up children for his brother.[a] 20 Now there were seven brothers. The first one married a woman; when he died, he left no children. 21 The second married her and died without leaving any children. The third did the same. 22 None of the seven left any children. Finally, the woman died. 23 At the resurrection, when they all rise up, whose wife will she be? All seven were married to her.”
24 Jesus said to them, “Isn’t this the reason you are wrong, because you don’t know either the scriptures or God’s power? 25 When people rise from the dead, they won’t marry nor will they be given in marriage. Instead, they will be like God’s angels. 26 As for the resurrection from the dead, haven’t you read in the scroll from Moses, in the passage about the burning bush, how God said to Moses, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?[b] 27 He isn’t the God of the dead but of the living. You are seriously mistaken.”
God’s most important command
28 One of the legal experts heard their dispute and saw how well Jesus answered them. He came over and asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?”
29 Jesus replied, “The most important one is Israel, listen! Our God is the one Lord, 30 and you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being, with all your mind, and with all your strength.[c] 31 The second is this, You will love your neighbor as yourself.[d] No other commandment is greater than these.”
32 The legal expert said to him, “Well said, Teacher. You have truthfully said that God is one and there is no other besides him. 33 And to love God with all of the heart, a full understanding, and all of one’s strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself is much more important than all kinds of entirely burned offerings and sacrifices.”
34 When Jesus saw that he had answered with wisdom, he said to him, “You aren’t far from God’s kingdom.” After that, no one dared to ask him any more questions.
Jesus corrects the legal experts
35 While Jesus was teaching in the temple, he said, “Why do the legal experts say that the Christ is David’s son? 36 David himself, inspired by the Holy Spirit, said, The Lord said to my lord, ‘Sit at my right side until I turn your enemies into your footstool.’[e] 37 David himself calls him ‘Lord,’ so how can he be David’s son?” The large crowd listened to him with delight.
Psalm 48
A song. A psalm of the Korahites.
48 In the city belonging to our God,
the Lord is great and so worthy of praise!
His holy mountain 2 is a beautiful summit,
the joy of the whole world.
Mount Zion, in the far north,
is the city of the great king.
3 God is in its fortifications,
revealing himself as a place of safety.
4 Look: the kings assembled themselves,
advancing all together—
5 when they saw it, they were stunned;
they panicked and ran away frightened.
6 Trembling took hold of them right there—
like a woman giving birth,
7 or like the east wind when it smashes
the ships of Tarshish.
8 Just like we had heard,
now we’ve seen it for ourselves
in the city of the Lord of heavenly forces,
in the city of our God.
May God make it secure forever! Selah
9 We dwell on your faithful love, God,
in your temple.
10 Your praise, God, just like your reputation,
extends to the far corners of the earth.
Your strong hand is filled with righteousness.
11 Let Mount Zion be glad;
let the towns of Judah rejoice
because of your acts of justice!
12 Walk around Zion;
go all the way around it;
count its towers.
13 Examine its defenses closely;
tour its fortifications
so that you may tell future generations:
14 “This is God,
our God, forever and always!
He is the one who will lead us
even to the very end.”[a]
26 Like vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes,
so are lazy people to those who authorize them.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible