Old/New Testament
God Proves Aaron Is the High Priest
17 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Speak to the Israelites. Get twelve wooden walking sticks from them. Get one from the leader of each of the twelve tribes. Write the name of each man on his walking stick. 3 On the stick from Levi, write Aaron’s name. There must be one stick for the head of each of the twelve tribes. 4 Put these walking sticks in the Meeting Tent in front of the Box of the Agreement. This is the place where I meet with you. 5 I will choose one man to be the true priest. You will know which man I choose because his walking stick will begin to grow new leaves. In this way I will stop the people from always complaining against you and me.”
6 So Moses spoke to the Israelites. Each of the leaders gave him a walking stick. There were twelve walking sticks. There was one stick from each leader of each tribe. One of the walking sticks belonged to Aaron. 7 Moses put the walking sticks before the Lord in the Tent of the Agreement.
8 The next day Moses entered the Tent. He saw that Aaron’s walking stick, the stick from the family of Levi, was the one that had grown new leaves. That walking stick had even grown branches and made almonds. 9 So Moses brought out all the sticks from the Lord’s place. He showed the walking sticks to the Israelites. They all looked at the sticks, and each man took his own stick back.
10 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Put Aaron’s walking stick back in front of the Box that holds the Agreement.[a] This will be a warning for these people who are always turning against me. This will stop their complaining against me so that I will not destroy them.” 11 So Moses did what the Lord commanded him.
12 The Israelites said to Moses, “We know that we will die! We are lost! We will all be destroyed! 13 Anyone who even comes near the Lord’s holy place will die. Is it true that we will all die?”
The Work of the Priests and Levites
18 The Lord said to Aaron, “You, your sons, and all the people in your father’s family must bear the responsibility for any wrong that is done against the holy place or against the priests. 2 To prevent that from happening, you must bring the rest of the men from the tribe of Levi to join you. These Levites will help you and your sons do your work in the Tent of the Agreement. 3 These Levites will be under your control. They will do all the work that needs to be done in the Tent. But they must not go near the things in the Holy Place or the altar. If they do, they will die—and you also will die. 4 They will join you and work with you. They will be responsible for caring for the Meeting Tent. All the work that must be done in the Tent will be done by them. No one else may come near the place where you are.
5 “You are responsible for caring for the holy place and the altar. I don’t want to become angry with the Israelites again. 6 I myself chose the Levites from among all the Israelites. They are as a gift to you. I gave them to you to serve the Lord and work in the Meeting Tent. 7 But, Aaron, only you and your sons may serve as priests. You are the only ones who can go near the altar or behind the curtain into the Most Holy Place. I am giving you a gift—your service as a priest. Anyone else who tries to come too close must be killed.”
8 Then the Lord said to Aaron, “I myself gave you responsibility over all the special gifts people give to me. All the holy gifts that the Israelites give to me, I give to you. You and your sons can share in these gifts. They will always belong to you. 9 The people will bring gifts, grain offerings, sin offerings, and guilt offerings. These offerings are most holy. Your share in the most holy offerings will come from the parts that are not burned. All these things will be for you and your sons. 10 Eat these things only in a very holy place. Every male in your family may eat them, but you must remember that these offerings are holy.
11 “The Israelites will bring special gifts that you will lift up to me. I give these gifts to you and your sons and daughters. That is your share. Everyone in your family who is clean will be able to eat it.
12 “And I give you all the best olive oil and all the best new wine and grain. These are the things that the Israelites give to me, the Lord. These are the first things that they gather in their harvest. 13 When the people gather a harvest, they bring all the first things to the Lord. So these things I will give to you. And everyone in your family who is clean may eat it.
14 “Anything in Israel that is a special gift to God[b] is yours.
15 “A woman’s first baby and an animal’s first baby must be given to the Lord. That baby will belong to you. If the firstborn animal is unclean, then it must be bought back. If the baby is a child, that child must be bought back. 16 They must make the payment when the baby is one month old. The cost will be 5 shekels[c] of silver. You must use the official measure to weigh this silver. A shekel by the official measure is 20 gerahs.[d]
17 “But you must not make a payment for the firstborn cow, sheep, or goat. These animals are holy. Sprinkle their blood on the altar and burn their fat as a sweet-smelling gift to the Lord. 18 But the meat from these animals will be yours. And also the breast that was lifted up to the Lord will be yours. And the right thigh from other offerings will be yours. 19 I, the Lord, give you everything that the people offer as holy gifts. This is your share. I give it to you and your sons and daughters. This law will continue forever. It is an agreement with the Lord that cannot be broken.[e] I make this promise to you and to your descendants.”
20 The Lord also said to Aaron, “You will not get any of the land. And you will not own anything that the other people own. I myself will be yours. The Israelites will get the land that I promised, but I am my gift to you.
21 “The Israelites will give one-tenth of everything they have. So I give that one-tenth to the Levites. This is their payment for the work that they do while they serve at the Meeting Tent. 22 But the other Israelites must never go near that Meeting Tent. If they do, they must be put to death! 23 The Levites will do the work of caring for the Meeting Tent. They must bear the responsibility for anything done against it. This is a law that will continue forever. The Levites will not get any of the land that I promised to the other Israelites. 24 But the Israelites will give one-tenth of everything they have to the Lord, and I will give that one-tenth to the Levites. That is why I said these words about the Levites: They will not get the land that I promised the Israelites.”
25 The Lord said to Moses, 26 “Speak to the Levites and tell them: The Israelites will give one-tenth of everything they own to the Lord. That one-tenth will belong to the Levites. But you must give one-tenth of that to the Lord as your offering. 27 That tenth will be your offering to the Lord. It will be like grain from your own threshing floor or wine from your own winepress. 28 In this way you will also give an offering to the Lord just as the other Israelites do. You will get the one-tenth that the Israelites give to the Lord, and then you will give one-tenth of that to Aaron the priest. 29 When the Israelites give you one-tenth of everything that they own, then you must give the best and the holiest part of these things as your gift to the Lord.
30 “Moses, tell this to the Levites: When you give the best part of what you receive to the Lord, it will be the same as grain from your own threshing floor and wine from your own winepress. 31 You and your families can eat all that is left. This is your payment for the work you do in the Meeting Tent. 32 And if you always give the best part of it to the Lord, you will never be guilty. You will always remember that these gifts are the holy offerings from the Israelites. And you will not die.”
The Ashes of the Red Cow
19 The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron. He said, 2 “These are the laws from the teachings that the Lord gave to the Israelites. Get a red cow that has nothing wrong with it. That cow must not have any bruises. And it must never have worn a yoke. 3 Give that cow to Eleazar, and he will take it outside the camp and kill it there. 4 Then Eleazar the priest must put some of its blood on his finger and sprinkle some of the blood toward the Holy Tent. He must do this seven times. 5 Then the whole cow must be burned in front of him; the skin, the meat, the blood, and the intestines must all be burned. 6 Then the priest must take a cedar stick, a hyssop branch, and some red string. He must throw these things into the fire where the cow is burning. 7 Then the priest must wash himself and his clothes with water. Then he must come back into the camp. He will be unclean until evening. 8 The man who burns that cow must wash himself and his clothes in water. He will be unclean until evening.
9 “Then someone who is clean will collect the ashes from the cow and put them in a clean place outside the camp. These ashes will be used when someone must keep a special ceremony to become clean. These ashes will also be used to remove a person’s sins.
10 “The man who collected the cow’s ashes must wash his clothes. He will be unclean until evening.
“This rule will continue forever. This rule is for the citizens of Israel and for the foreigners living with you. 11 Those who touch a dead body will be unclean for seven days. 12 They must wash themselves with the special water on the third day and again on the seventh day. If they don’t do this, they will remain unclean. 13 Those who touch the body of someone who has died are unclean. If they stay unclean and then go to the Lord’s Holy Tent, they make it unclean. So they must be separated from the Israelites. Because the special water was not thrown on them, they remain unclean.
14 “This is the rule about those who die in their tents: If someone dies in the tent, everyone in the tent will be unclean for seven days. 15 And every jar or pot without a lid becomes unclean. 16 If there is a dead body out in a field, whether the person died in battle or for some other reason, whoever touches that dead body, or its bones, or even its grave will be unclean for seven days.
17 “If you have become unclean, someone must use the ashes from the burned cow to make you clean again. They must pour fresh water[f] over the ashes into a jar. 18 That clean person must take a hyssop branch and dip it into the water. The clean person must sprinkle it over the tent, the dishes, and any people who were in the tent. That clean person must do this for anyone who touches a dead body, its bones, or even a grave.
19 “Then that clean person must sprinkle this water on you on the third day and again on the seventh day. On the seventh day you will become clean. You must wash your clothes in water and you will become clean in the evening.
20 “Whoever becomes unclean and does not become clean must be separated from the community. If an unclean person is not sprinkled with that special water and does not become clean, that person might make the Lord’s Holy Tent unclean. 21 This rule will be for you forever. And whoever sprinkled the special water must wash their clothes because they will be unclean until evening. 22 And whoever an unclean person touches will be unclean until evening.”
Jesus Feeds More Than 5000(A)
30 The apostles Jesus had sent out came back to him. They gathered around him and told him about all they had done and taught. 31 Jesus and his followers were in a very busy place. There were so many people that he and his followers did not even have time to eat. He said to them, “Come with me. We will go to a quiet place to be alone. There we will get some rest.”
32 So Jesus and his followers went away alone. They went in a boat to a place where no one lived. 33 But many people saw them leave and knew who they were. So people from every town ran to the place where they were going and got there before Jesus. 34 As Jesus stepped out of the boat, he saw a large crowd waiting. He felt sorry for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd to care for them. So he taught the people many things.
35 It was now very late in the day. Jesus’ followers came to him and said, “No one lives around here, and it is already very late. 36 So send the people away. They need to go to the farms and towns around here to buy some food to eat.”
37 But Jesus answered, “You give them some food to eat.”
They said to Jesus, “We can’t buy enough bread to feed all these people. We would all have to work a month to earn enough to buy that much bread!”
38 Jesus asked them, “How many loaves of bread do you have now? Go and see.”
They counted their loaves of bread. They came to Jesus and said, “We have five loaves of bread and two fish.”
39 Then Jesus said to them, “Tell everyone to sit in groups on the green grass.” 40 So all the people sat in groups. There were about 50 or 100 people in each group.
41 Jesus took the five loaves and two fish. He looked up to the sky and thanked God for the food. Then he broke the bread into pieces, which he gave to his followers to distribute to the people. Then he divided the two fish among everyone there.
42 They all ate until they were full. 43 After they finished eating, the followers filled twelve baskets with the pieces of bread and fish that were left. 44 There were about 5000 men there who ate.
Jesus Walks on Water(B)
45 Then Jesus told the followers to get into the boat. He told them to go to the other side of the lake to Bethsaida. He said he would come later. He stayed there to tell everyone they could go home. 46 After he said goodbye to them, he went up into the hills to pray.
47 That night, the boat was still in the middle of the lake. Jesus was alone on the land. 48 He saw the boat far away on the lake. And he saw the followers working hard to row the boat. The wind was blowing against them. Sometime between three and six o’clock in the morning, Jesus went out to the boat, walking on the water. He continued walking until he was almost past the boat. 49 But the followers saw Jesus walking on the water. They thought he was a ghost, and they started screaming. 50 It scared them all to see him. But he spoke to them and said, “Don’t worry! It’s me! Don’t be afraid.” 51 When he got into the boat with the followers, the wind stopped. The followers were completely amazed. 52 They could not believe what happened. It was like the miracle he did with the bread. They still didn’t understand what that meant.
Jesus Heals Many Sick People(C)
53 Jesus and his followers went across the lake and came to shore at Gennesaret. They tied the boat there. 54 When they were out of the boat, the people there saw Jesus. They knew who he was, 55 so they ran to tell others throughout that area. They brought sick people on mats to every place Jesus went. 56 Jesus went into towns, cities, and farms around that area. And every place he went, the people brought sick people to the marketplaces. They begged him to let them touch any part of his coat. And all those who touched him were healed.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International