The Daily Audio Bible

Instructions for the priests’ ordination

29 Now this is what you should do to make them holy in order to serve me as priests. Take a young bull and two flawless rams. ² Take unleavened bread, unleavened flatbread made with oil, and unleavened wafers spread with oil. Make them out of high-quality wheat flour. ³ Put them all in one basket and present them in the basket along with the bull and the two rams. ⁴ Present Aaron and his sons at the entrance to the meeting tent and wash them with water. ⁵ Then take the priestly clothes and put them on Aaron: the tunic, the vest’s robe, the vest itself, and the chest pendant. Put the vest on him with the vest’s belt. ⁶ Set the turban on his head and place the holy crown on the turban. ⁷ Take the anointing oil and pour it on his head to anoint him. ⁸ Then present his sons and put the tunics on them. ⁹ Tighten the sashes on them, on both Aaron and his sons. Wrap the turbans on their heads. It will be a permanent regulation that the duties of priesthood belong to them. In this way, you will ordain Aaron and his sons.

¹⁰ Present the bull at the front of the meeting tent. Aaron and his sons will lay their hands on the bull’s head. ¹¹ Then slaughter the bull in the Lord’s presence at the meeting tent’s entrance. ¹² Take some of the bull’s blood and smear it on the altar’s horns with your finger. Pour out the rest of the blood at the altar’s base. ¹³ Then take all the fat that covers the inner organs, the lobe of the liver, and the two kidneys along with the fat that is on them, and burn them up in smoke on the altar. ¹⁴ Burn the rest of the meat of the bull, its hide, and the intestines with their contents with a fire outside the camp. It is a purification offering.

¹⁵ Choose one of the rams, and have Aaron and his sons lay their hands on the ram’s head. ¹⁶ Then slaughter the ram. Take its blood and throw it against all the altar’s sides. ¹⁷ Cut up the ram into parts. Wash its inner organs and legs, and put them together with its parts and its head. ¹⁸ Then turn the entire ram into smoke by burning it on the altar. It is an entirely burned offering for the Lord, a soothing smell, a food gift for the Lord.

¹⁹ Take the second ram, and have Aaron and his sons lay their hands on the ram’s head. ²⁰ Slaughter the ram. Take some of its blood and smear it on the right earlobes of Aaron and his sons, on the thumbs of their right hands, and on the big toes of their right feet. Throw the rest of the blood against all the altar’s sides. ²¹ Then take some of the blood on the altar and some of the anointing oil and sprinkle them on Aaron and on his clothes and on his sons and on his sons’ clothes. In this way, Aaron, his sons, and all their priestly garments will be holy.

²² Take the fatty parts of the ram: the fat tail, the fat around the inner organs, the lobe of the liver, the two kidneys with the fat around them, and the right thigh (because it is a ram for ordination). ²³ Add one loaf of bread, one flatbread made with oil, and one wafer from the basket of unleavened bread that was presented to the Lord. ²⁴ Place all of these in the hands of Aaron and his sons, and lift them as an uplifted offering in the Lord’s presence. ²⁵ Then take them from their hands and turn them into smoke by burning them on the altar with the entirely burned offering as a soothing smell in the Lord’s presence. It is a food gift for the Lord.

²⁶ Take the breast of the ram for Aaron’s ordination and lift it as an uplifted offering in the Lord’s presence. It will be your portion. ²⁷ Make holy the breast that was lifted for the uplifted offering and the thigh that was raised for the gift offering from the ram for the ordination. They belong to Aaron and his sons. ²⁸ Those parts will be given to Aaron and his sons from the Israelites as a permanent provision, because they are a gift offering. They will be a gift offering from the Israelites, their gift offering to the Lord from their well-being sacrifices.

²⁹ Aaron’s holy clothes should be passed on to his sons after him. His sons should be anointed in them and ordained in them. ³⁰ The son who is priest in his place should wear them seven days when he comes into the meeting tent to minister in the sanctuary.

³¹ Take the ram for the ordination and boil its meat in a holy place. ³² Aaron and his sons will eat the ram’s meat and the bread that is in the basket at the meeting tent’s entrance. ³³ They alone should eat the food that was used to purify them, to ordain them, and to make them holy. No one else should eat it because it is holy. ³⁴ If any meat for the ordination or any of the bread is left over until morning, then you should burn the leftovers with fire. It shouldn’t be eaten because it’s holy.

³⁵ Treat Aaron and his sons just as I have commanded you. Ordain them for seven days. ³⁶ Every day you should offer a bull as a purification offering for reconciliation. You should remove the sin from the altar through a ritual of reconciliation, and you should anoint the altar to make it holy. ³⁷ Seven days you should perform the ritual of reconciliation for the altar and make it holy. In this way, the altar will become most holy, and whatever touches the altar will also become holy.

Instructions for daily entirely burned offerings

³⁸ Now this is what you should offer on the altar: two one-year-old lambs regularly every day. ³⁹ Offer one lamb in the morning and offer the other lamb at twilight. ⁴⁰ With the first lamb, add one-tenth of a measure of the high-quality flour mixed with a quarter of a hin^[a] of oil from crushed olives and a quarter of a hin of wine for a drink offering. ⁴¹ With the second lamb offered at twilight, again include a grain offering and its drink offering as in the morning as a soothing smell, a gift offering for the Lord. ⁴² This should be the regular entirely burned offering in every generation at the meeting tent’s entrance in the Lord’s presence. There I will meet with you, and there I will speak to you. ⁴³ I will meet with the Israelites there, and it will be made holy by my glorious presence. ⁴⁴ I will make the meeting tent and the altar holy. Likewise, I will make Aaron and his sons holy to serve me as priests. ⁴⁵ I will be at home among the Israelites, and I will be their God. ⁴⁶ They will know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt so that I could make a home among them. I am the Lord their God.

Instructions for the incense altar

30 Make an acacia-wood altar for burning incense. ² The altar should be square, eighteen inches long and eighteen inches wide. It should be three feet high. Its horns should be permanently attached. ³ Cover the altar with pure gold, including its top, all its sides, and its horns. You should also make a gold molding all around it. ⁴ Make two gold rings and attach them under the molding on two opposite sides of the altar. They will house the poles used to carry the altar. ⁵ Make acacia-wood poles and cover them with gold. ⁶ Place the incense altar in front of the veil that hangs before the chest containing the covenant, in front of the cover that is on top of the covenant document where I will meet with you. ⁷ Aaron will burn sweet-smelling incense on the incense altar every morning when he takes care of the lamps. ⁸ And again when Aaron lights the lamps at twilight, he will burn incense. It should be a regular incense offering in the Lord’s presence in every generation. ⁹ Don’t offer the wrong incense on the altar or an entirely burned offering or a grain offering. Don’t pour a drink offering on it. ¹⁰ Once a year Aaron should perform a ritual of reconciliation on its horns with the blood of the purification offering for reconciliation. Once a year in every generation he should perform a ritual of reconciliation at the altar. It is most holy to the Lord.

Judas betrays Jesus

¹⁴ Then one of the Twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests ¹⁵ and said, “What will you give me if I turn Jesus over to you?” They paid him thirty pieces of silver. ¹⁶ From that time on he was looking for an opportunity to turn him in.

Passover with the disciples

¹⁷ On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus and said, “Where do you want us to prepare for you to eat the Passover meal?”

¹⁸ He replied, “Go into the city, to a certain man, and say, ‘The teacher says, “My time is near. I’m going to celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your house.”’” ¹⁹ The disciples did just as Jesus instructed them. They prepared the Passover.

²⁰ That evening he took his place at the table with the twelve disciples. ²¹ As they were eating he said, “I assure you that one of you will betray me.”

²² Deeply saddened, each one said to him, “I’m not the one, am I, Lord?”

²³ He replied, “The one who will betray me is the one who dips his hand with me into this bowl. ²⁴ The Human One^[a] goes to his death just as it is written about him. But how terrible it is for that person who betrays the Human One!^[b] It would have been better for him if he had never been born.”

²⁵ Now Judas, who would betray him, replied, “It’s not me, is it, Rabbi?”

Jesus answered, “You said it.”

Last supper

²⁶ While they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take and eat. This is my body.” ²⁷ He took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from this, all of you. ²⁸ This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many so that their sins may be forgiven. ²⁹ I tell you, I won’t drink wine again until that day when I drink it in a new way with you in my Father’s kingdom.” ³⁰ Then, after singing songs of praise, they went to the Mount of Olives.

Predictions about disciples leaving Jesus

³¹ Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Tonight you will all fall away because of me. This is because it is written, I will hit the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will go off in all directions.^{[c] 32} But after I’m raised up, I’ll go before you to Galilee.”

³³ Peter replied, “If everyone else stumbles because of you, I’ll never stumble.”

³⁴ Jesus said to him, “I assure you that, before the rooster crows tonight, you will deny me three times.”

³⁵ Peter said, “Even if I must die alongside you, I won’t deny you.” All the disciples said the same thing.

Jesus in prayer

³⁶ Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane. He said to the disciples, “Stay here while I go and pray over there.” ³⁷ When he took Peter and Zebedee’s two sons, he began to feel sad and anxious. ³⁸ Then he said to them, “I’m very sad. It’s as if I’m dying. Stay here and keep alert with me.” ³⁹ Then he went a short distance farther and fell on his face and prayed, “My Father, if it’s possible, take this cup of suffering away from me. However—not what I want but what you want.”

⁴⁰ He came back to the disciples and found them sleeping. He said to Peter, “Couldn’t you stay alert one hour with me? ⁴¹ Stay alert and pray so that you won’t give in to temptation. The spirit is eager, but the flesh is weak.” ⁴² A second time he went away and prayed, “My Father, if it’s not possible that this cup be taken away unless I drink it, then let it be what you want.”

⁴³ Again he came and found them sleeping. Their eyes were heavy with sleep. ⁴⁴ But he left them and again went and prayed the same words for the third time. ⁴⁵ Then he came to his disciples and said to them, “Will you sleep and rest all night? Look, the time has come for the Human One^[d] to be betrayed into the hands of sinners. ⁴⁶ Get up. Let’s go. Look, here comes my betrayer.”