Old/New Testament

Priests are special servants of God

29 When you make the priests God's special servants, do it in this way: Take a young bull and two male sheep. They must not have anything wrong with them. ² Use good flour from wheat to make three kinds of bread, with no yeast in it. Mix olive oil with some of the flour before you cook it. Cook some of the flour without any oil in it. And cook some flour to make biscuits that you then put oil on. ³ Put the bread and the biscuits into a basket. Bring them to the Tent of Meeting with the bull and the two sheep.^[a]

⁴ Then bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. Use water to wash them there and make them clean. ⁵ Then take the special clothes. Dress Aaron in the shirt, the robe, the ephod and the breastpiece. Tie the ephod on him with its special belt. ⁶ Put the linen hat on Aaron's head. Fix the special gold sign to the hat. ⁷ Take the special olive oil. Pour it on his head to show that God has chosen him to be his servant.

⁸ Bring Aaron's sons and dress them in their special shirts. ⁹ Put the cloth hats on their heads. Tie the long cloth belts around Aaron and on his sons. These men and their descendants will always be priests. That is a law that continues for ever. That is how you must make Aaron and his sons God's special servants.

¹⁰ Bring the bull to the front of the Tent of Meeting. Aaron and his sons must put their hands on the bull's head. ¹¹ Then kill the animal as an offering to the Lord, at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. ¹² Take some of the bull's blood. Use your finger to put some of it on the horns of the altar. Pour the blood that remains on the ground around the altar. ¹³ Take all the fat that is round the inside parts of the animal. Take the best part of the liver. Take both the kidneys with the fat that is round them. Burn all these things on the altar. ¹⁴ But burn the rest of the bull's body outside the camp, with its skin and the food in its stomach. It is an offering to make the priests clean from their sins.

¹⁵ Take one of the male sheep. Aaron and his sons must put their hands on its head. ¹⁶ Kill the sheep and take its blood to the altar. Throw some of the blood onto every side of the altar. ¹⁷ Cut the sheep into pieces. Wash its inside parts and its legs. Then put them together with its head and the other pieces. ¹⁸ Completely burn the whole sheep on the altar. It is a burnt offering to the Lord. Its smell pleases him.

¹⁹ Take the second male sheep. Aaron and his sons must put their hands on its head. ²⁰ Kill the sheep. Put some of its blood on Aaron's right ear, the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot. Do the same thing to each of his sons. Then throw some of the sheep's blood onto every side of the altar. ²¹ Mix together some of the blood on the altar and some of the special oil. Splash this onto Aaron and onto his clothes. Splash it also onto his sons and onto their clothes. Then Aaron and his sons and their clothes will be holy.

²² Take all the fat from this male sheep. Take its fat tail, the fat around its inside parts and the best part of the liver. Take the two kidneys with the fat that is round them. Also take the top part of its right leg. (This is the sheep that makes Aaron and his sons special servants of God.) ²³ Take one piece of each kind of flat bread out of the basket: bread that has no oil in it, bread with oil in it and a biscuit. These are an offering to the Lord. ²⁴ Put all these things in the hands of Aaron and his sons. Then lift these things up to the Lord as an offering to him. ²⁵ Then take them from Aaron and his sons and burn them on the altar. It is a burnt offering to the Lord. Its smell pleases him.

²⁶ Take the meat from the ribs of the sheep that makes Aaron God's special servant. Lift it up to the Lord as an offering to him. Then you may eat this meat from the sheep. ²⁷ You must keep separate this meat from the sheep's ribs, as well as the top part of its right leg. Those are the pieces that you lifted up to the Lord as an offering to him. Those pieces belong to Aaron and his sons. ²⁸ In the future, when the Israelites bring a peace offering to the Lord, these pieces will belong to Aaron and his descendants. This will always be the regular gift from the Israelites to the priests. That is the law that will continue for ever. It is the gift that the Israelites must bring to the Lord.

²⁹ Aaron's special clothes will belong to his descendants after he dies. When they too become God's special servants as his priests, they will wear them. ³⁰ After Aaron's death, his son who becomes priest will first take seven days to serve the Lord in the tabernacle. The new priest must wear the special clothes in the Holy Place for those seven days.

³¹ Take the male sheep that makes Aaron God's special servant. Cook its meat in a holy place in the yard of the tabernacle. ³² Aaron and his sons must eat this meat and the bread that was in the basket. They must do this at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. ³³ That meat was part of the sacrifice which made them clean from their sins. It made them God's special servants as his priests. No other person may eat those things, because they are holy. ³⁴ But if any of the meat from the offerings remains until the morning, you must burn it. Also burn any bread that remains. You must not eat it, because it is holy.

³⁵ Do everything that I have commanded you, to make Aaron and his sons my special servants. Take seven days to do this. ³⁶ Kill a bull each day, as a sacrifice that makes people clean from their sins.

Also make the altar clean and pure. Pour oil over it to make it holy for me. ³⁷ Do this to the altar for seven days to make it pure. Then it will be completely holy. Anything that touches the altar will become holy too. ³⁸ You must offer a regular gift on the altar each day. This offering must be two lambs that are one year old. ³⁹ Offer one lamb in the morning and the other lamb in the evening. ⁴⁰ With the first lamb, offer two litres of good flour. Mix the flour with one litre of olive oil. Also offer one litre of wine as a drink offering. ⁴¹ Kill the other lamb in the evening. Offer it with the same gifts of food and drink as in the morning. It is a burnt offering to the Lord. Its smell pleases him.

⁴² You and your descendants must continue to make this burnt offering as a regular offering to me, the Lord. Offer it to me at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. I will meet with you there and I will speak to you. ⁴³ I will meet with the Israelites there. My bright glory will make it a holy place.

⁴⁴ In that way I will make the Tent of Meeting and its altar a special, holy place. Aaron and his sons will become my special servants. They will serve me as my priests. ⁴⁵ I will live among the Israelites and I will be their God. ⁴⁶ They will know that I am the Lord their God. I brought them out of Egypt so that I could live among them. I am the Lord their God.

The altar for incense

30 Use acacia wood to make an altar so that you can burn incense on it. ² The altar must be square. Make it 45 centimetres long, 45 centimetres wide and 90 centimetres high. The altar's horns must be part of it, made from one piece of wood. ³ Cover all the altar with gold: its top, its sides and the horns. Build up an edge of gold around the four sides. ⁴ Make two gold rings for the altar. Fix them below the gold edge on two opposite sides. They will hold the poles for you to carry the altar. ⁵ Use acacia wood to make the poles. Cover them with gold.

⁶ Put the altar for incense in the Holy Place in the tabernacle. Put it in front of the curtain that hides the Covenant Box. It will be near the special lid that covers the Covenant Box. That is the place where I will meet with you.

⁷ Every morning, Aaron must burn sweet incense on this altar. He must do this when he goes in to take care of the lamps. ⁸ He must burn incense again when he lights the lamps in the evening. Incense must burn there as an offering to the Lord every day from now on. ⁹ Only offer proper incense on this altar. Do not offer any burnt offerings or grain offerings on it. And do not pour any drink offerings on it. ¹⁰ Once every year, Aaron must make the altar clean and pure. He must put some of the blood from the sin offering on the horns of the altar. A priest must do this every year from now on. The altar is holy because it belongs to me, the Lord.’

Money for the tabernacle

¹¹ Then the Lord said to Moses, ¹² ‘When you count the number of the Israelites, each person must pay the Lord a price for his life. Everyone must do this at the time when you count them. Then no bad illness will happen to them as you count them. ¹³ Each person that you count must give six grams of silver. That is the proper weight that they use in the tabernacle. The silver is an offering to the Lord. ¹⁴ You must count every person who is 20 years old or more. Each person must offer his gift to the Lord. ¹⁵ Rich people must not give more than six grams of silver. Poor people must not give less than that. That is the offering that you must each give to the Lord. It is the price that everyone must pay for his life. ¹⁶ Receive these silver coins from the Israelites. Use the money to take care of the Tent of Meeting.^[b] Then the Lord will always remember that you belong to him. You have paid money for your lives.’

The bronze bowl

¹⁷ Then the Lord said to Moses, ¹⁸ ‘Use bronze to make a large bowl for water. Also use bronze to make a base for it to stand on. Put it between the Tent of Meeting and the altar. Fill it with water.

¹⁹ Aaron and his sons must use the water from the bowl to wash their hands and their feet. ²⁰ Every time they go into the Tent of Meeting, they must wash in the same way. Then they will not die. They must also wash before they go to the altar to make a burnt offering to the Lord. ²¹ If they wash their hands and their feet, they will not die as they serve me. This will always be a rule for Aaron and for his descendants, the priests.’

Special oil and incense

²² Then the Lord said to Moses, ²³ ‘Mix together these special spices:

²⁵ Mix these spices to make a special oil. A worker should use special skills to make it, so that it has a sweet smell, like perfume. It will be a very special oil to put on things that belong to me.

²⁶ Then pour some of this special oil on these things:

²⁹ You must make all these things special for me. They will be very holy things. Anything that touches them will also become holy.

³⁰ Pour some of the special oil on Aaron's head and on the heads of his sons. Make them special for me. Then they can serve me as my priests. ³¹ Say to the Israelites, “This will always be my special oil for all time. ³² Do not put it on the bodies of anyone, except priests. Do not use spices like this to make oil for yourselves. It is holy and you must always think about it as holy. ³³ Nobody must make a perfume that has a sweet smell like this oil. Nobody must put this oil on any person who is not a priest. Anyone who does not obey this rule will no longer belong to my people.” ’

³⁴ Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Use the same amount of each of these sweet spices to make some incense: gum resin, onycha, galbanum and frankincense.^{[d] 35} Give them to a worker who can use special skills to make the incense. It must have a sweet smell, like a perfume. Add some salt to it so that it is a pure and holy incense. ³⁶ Beat some of the incense to make powder. Put this in front of the Covenant Box, in the Tent of Meeting. That is where I will meet with you. This incense will be a very holy thing for you. ³⁷ Do not make any incense like this for yourselves. You must always think about it as very holy. It belongs to the Lord. ³⁸ If anyone makes any incense like it for his own perfume, he will no longer belong to my people.’

²³ Then Jesus returned to the yard of the temple. While he was teaching the people there, the leaders of the priests and important Jews went to him. They asked him, ‘What authority do you have to do these things? Tell us. Who gave you the authority to do them?’

²⁴ Jesus replied, ‘I also will ask you one question. If you tell me the answer, then I will answer your question. I will tell you what authority I have to do these things. ²⁵ John baptized people. Did God give him the authority to do this? Or did men tell him to do it?’ Then the Jewish leaders talked to each other about Jesus' question. They said, ‘We could say that God gave John his authority. But if we say that, Jesus will say to us, “Then you should have believed John.” ²⁶ But we do not want to say that only men gave John his authority. All the people think that John was a prophet from God. We are afraid that the crowd might attack us.’

²⁷ So the Jewish leaders answered Jesus: ‘We do not know who gave John his authority.’

Jesus said to them, ‘You will not answer my question. So I will not tell you what authority I have to do these things.’

Jesus tells a story about two sons

²⁸ Jesus said to the Jewish leaders, ‘Tell me what you think about this story. A man had two sons. He went to the older son and said, “Son, go and work in my field today.”

²⁹ The older son replied, “I do not want to go and work there today.” But after he had said that, he did go and work in the field.

³⁰ The man went to his other son and he said the same thing to him. The second son replied, “Yes, father, I will go.” But then he did not go to work in the field.

³¹ Tell me, which of the man's sons did what his father wanted?’

The Jewish leaders replied, ‘The older son did what his father wanted.’

Jesus said to them, ‘I tell you this: The men who take taxes from people are going into the kingdom of God before you. It is the same with prostitutes. They also are going into the kingdom of God before you. ³² John the Baptist came to show you the right way to live. You did not believe him. But the men who take taxes did believe him. Prostitutes also believed him. Even after you saw this, you did not believe him. You did not change the way that you live.’

Jesus tells a story about a farmer

³³ Then Jesus said again to the Jewish leaders, ‘Listen to another story that I will tell you. There was a man who had his own farm. He planted vines in a garden to grow grapes there. He built a wall around the garden. He dug a hole in the ground for a winepress to make wine. He also built a tall building to watch over the garden.^[a]

The man then found some farmers to work in the garden for him. Then he went away to another country. ³⁴ When it was nearly time for the harvest, the master sent his servants to speak to the farmers. He wanted them to give him the fruit that was his. ³⁵ But the farmers took hold of the servants. They hit one of them with sticks. They killed another one. They threw stones at another servant and killed him. ³⁶ So the master sent other servants to go to the farmers. He sent more servants than the first time. But the farmers did the same thing to those servants too. ³⁷ After that, the master sent his own son to the farmers. He thought, “The farmers will surely respect my son.”

³⁸ The farmers saw the master's son coming. They said to each other, “This is the master's own son. The garden will belong to him when his father dies. So we should kill the son and then the garden will be ours.” ³⁹ Then the farmers took hold of the son. They threw him out of the garden and they killed him.’

⁴⁰ Jesus then said, ‘One day, the master will return to his garden. What do you think he will do then to those farmers?’

⁴¹ The Jewish leaders said to Jesus, ‘The master will completely destroy those bad people. Then he will give the garden to other farmers to take care of it. Those new farmers will give the master the fruit that he should have at the time of harvest.’

⁴² Jesus said to them, ‘I am sure that you have read this in the Bible:

⁴³ I tell you this: Because you do not believe in me, God will take his kingdom away from you. He will give it to people who show that they obey him.

⁴⁴ When a person falls onto that stone, it will break his body into pieces. When that stone falls on top of someone, it will destroy him completely.’^[d]

⁴⁵ The leaders of the priests and the Pharisees heard what Jesus said in his stories. They knew that he was speaking against them. ⁴⁶ They wanted to take hold of him and put him in prison. But they did not try to do it because they were afraid of the people. The people thought that Jesus was a prophet from God.