Old/New Testament
Aaron’s Rod Buds
17 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the sons of Israel and get rods from them, a rod for each father’s household, from all their leaders according to their fathers’ households, twelve rods. Write every man’s name on his rod, 3 and write Aaron’s name on the rod of Levi [his ancestor]; for there is one rod for the head of each of their fathers’ households. 4 You shall then deposit them in the Tent of Meeting (tabernacle) in front of [the ark of] the Testimony, where I meet with you. 5 It shall be that the rod of the man whom I choose will bud, and I will no longer hear the constant grumblings of the Israelites, who are grumbling against you.” 6 So Moses spoke to the Israelites, and each of their leaders gave him a rod, one for each leader according to their fathers’ households, twelve rods, and the rod of Aaron was among their rods. 7 So Moses deposited the rods before the Lord in the Tent of the Testimony (tabernacle).
8 Now on the next day Moses went into the Tent of the Testimony, and [a]the rod of Aaron of the tribe of Levi had sprouted and put out buds and produced blossoms and yielded [ripe] almonds. 9 Moses brought out all the rods from the presence of Lord to all the Israelites; and they looked, and each man took his rod. 10 But the Lord said to Moses, “Put Aaron’s rod back before the Testimony [in the ark], to be kept as a [warning] sign for the rebellious and contentious, so that you may put an end to their murmurings [of discontent] against Me, so that they do not die.” 11 And Moses did so; just as the Lord had commanded him, so he did.
12 The sons of Israel said to Moses, “Look, we perish, we are doomed, all doomed! 13 Everyone who approaches, who approaches the tabernacle of the Lord, must die. Are we to perish completely?”
Duties of Levites
18 So the Lord said to Aaron, “You and your sons and your father’s household (family) with you shall bear the guilt in connection with the sanctuary [that is, through your service as priests you will atone for the offenses which the people unknowingly commit when brought into contact with the manifestations of God’s presence]; and you and your sons with you shall bear the guilt in connection with your priesthood [that is, your own unintentional offenses]. 2 But bring with you also your brothers, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father (ancestor), so that they may join with you and serve you [as assistants], while you and your sons with you are before the Tent of the Testimony [the Holy Place where only priests may go, and the Most Holy Place which only the high priest may enter]. 3 And the Levites shall attend to your duty [as assistants] and to the duties of all the tent (tabernacle); only they shall not approach the articles of the sanctuary and the altar, or both they and you will die. 4 They shall join you and attend to the duties of the Tent of Meeting—all the service of the tent—and no stranger [no layman, anyone who is not a Levite] may approach you [and your sons]. 5 So you shall attend to the duties of the sanctuary and the duties of the altar [of burnt offering and the altar of incense], so that there will no longer be wrath on the Israelites [as with Korah, Dathan, and Abiram].(A) 6 Behold, I Myself have taken your fellow Levites from among the sons of Israel; they are a gift to you, given (dedicated) to the Lord, to do the service for the Tent of Meeting (tabernacle). 7 Therefore you and your sons with you shall attend to your priesthood for everything concerning the altar [of burnt offering and the altar of incense] and [of the Holy of Holies] within the veil, and you are to serve. I am giving you the priesthood as a bestowed service, but the stranger (outsider, layman) who approaches shall be put to death.”(B)
The Priests’ Portion
8 Then the Lord spoke to Aaron, “Now behold, I [the Lord] have entrusted you with My heave offerings, even all the holy gifts of the Israelites, I have given them to you as a portion, and to your sons as a continual allotment.(C) 9 This shall be yours of the most holy things, [reserved] from the fire: every offering of the people, every grain offering and sin offering and guilt offering, which they shall render (give) to Me, shall be most holy for you and for your sons. 10 You shall eat it as the most holy thing; every male [of your family] shall eat it. It shall be holy to you.(D) 11 This also is yours: the heave offering of their gift, including all the wave offerings of the Israelites. I have given them to you and to your sons and to your daughters with you as a continual allotment; everyone in your household who is [ceremonially] clean may eat it. 12 All the best of the fresh [olive] oil, and all the best of the new wine and of the grain, the first fruits of those which they give to the Lord, I give them to you. 13 The first ripe fruits of all that is in the land, which they bring to the Lord, shall be yours; everyone in your household who is [ceremonially] clean may eat it. 14 Every devoted thing in Israel [everything that has been promised to the Lord with an oath] shall be yours. 15 Every firstborn of the womb of all flesh, whether it is man or animal, which they bring to the Lord, shall be yours; nevertheless, the firstborn of man you shall most certainly redeem, and the firstborn of unclean animals you shall redeem. 16 And their redemption price, from a month old you shall redeem, according to your [b]valuation, for the [fixed] price of five shekels in silver, in accordance with the shekel of the sanctuary, which is twenty gerahs. 17 But the firstborn of a cow or of a sheep or of a goat you shall not redeem; they are holy [and belong to the Lord]. You shall sprinkle their blood on the altar and shall offer up their fat in smoke as an offering by fire, for a sweet and soothing aroma to the Lord. 18 Their meat shall be yours, like the breast of a wave offering and like the right thigh. 19 All the offerings of the holy things, which the Israelites offer to the Lord I have given to you and to your sons and your daughters with you as a continual allotment. It is an everlasting covenant of [c]salt [that cannot be dissolved or violated] before the Lord to you and to your descendants with you.” 20 Then the Lord said to Aaron, “You shall have no inheritance in the land [of the Israelites], nor have any portion [of land] among them. I am your portion and your inheritance among the children of Israel.
21 “Behold, I have given the Levites all the tithe in Israel as an inheritance, in return for their service which they perform, the service of the Tent of Meeting (tabernacle). 22 The Israelites shall never again approach the Tent of Meeting [the covered sanctuary, the Holy Place, and the Holy of Holies], or they [who do] will incur sin and die. 23 Only the Levites shall perform the service of the Tent of Meeting (tabernacle), and they shall bear their iniquity; it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations, that the Levites shall have no inheritance [of land] among the children of Israel. 24 But the tithe of the Israelites, which they present as an offering to the Lord, I have given to the Levites as an inheritance; therefore I have said to them, ‘They shall [d]have no inheritance among the children of Israel.’”
25 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 26 “Moreover, you shall speak to the Levites and say to them, ‘When you take from the Israelites the tithe which I have given to you from them as your inheritance, then you shall present an offering from it to the Lord, a tithe of the tithe [paid by the people]. 27 Your offering shall be credited to you as the grain from the threshing floor or as the full produce from the wine vat. 28 Likewise you shall also present an offering to the Lord from all your tithes, which you receive from the Israelites; and from it you shall give the Lord’s offering to Aaron the priest. 29 Out of all your gifts, you shall present every offering due to the Lord, from all the best of it, even the sacred part from them.’ 30 Therefore you shall say to them, ‘When you have offered the best from it, then the rest shall be credited to the Levites as the product of the threshing floor, and as the product of the wine vat. 31 You may eat it anywhere, you and [the members of] your households, for it is your compensation in return for your service in the Tent of Meeting (tabernacle). 32 You will bear no sin because of it when you have offered the best of it; but you shall not profane the sacred gifts of the children of Israel, or you will die [because of it].’”
Ordinance of the Red Heifer
19 Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, 2 “This is the statute of the law which the Lord has commanded: ‘Tell the Israelites to bring you an unblemished red heifer in which there is no defect and on which a yoke has never been placed. 3 You shall give it to Eleazar the priest, and it shall be brought outside the camp and be slaughtered in his presence. 4 Next Eleazar the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger and sprinkle some of it toward the front of the Tent of Meeting (tabernacle) seven times. 5 Then the heifer shall be burned in his sight; its skin, its flesh, its blood, and its waste, shall be burned (reduced to ash). 6 The priest shall take cedar wood and [e]hyssop and scarlet [material] and cast them into the midst of the burning heifer. 7 Then the priest shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water; and afterward come into the camp, but he shall be [ceremonially] unclean until evening. 8 The one who burns the heifer shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and shall be unclean until evening. 9 Now a man who is [ceremonially] clean shall collect the ashes of the heifer and deposit them outside the camp in a clean place, and the congregation of the Israelites shall keep it for [f]water to remove impurity; it is [to be used for] purification from sin. 10 The one who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until evening. This shall be a perpetual statute to the Israelites and to the stranger who lives as a resident alien among them.
11 ‘The one who touches the dead body of any person shall be unclean for seven days. 12 That one shall purify himself from uncleanness with the water [made with the ashes of the burned heifer] on the third day and on the seventh day, and then he will be clean; but if he does not purify himself on the third day and on the seventh day, he will not be clean. 13 Whoever touches a corpse, the body of anyone who has died, and does not purify himself, defiles the tabernacle of the Lord; and that person shall be cut off from Israel [that is, excluded from the atonement made for them]. Because the water for impurity was not sprinkled on him, he shall be unclean; his uncleanness is still on him.
14 ‘This is the law when a man dies in a tent: everyone who comes into the tent and everyone who is in the tent shall be [ceremonially] unclean for seven days. 15 Every open container [in the tent], which has no covering tied down on it, is unclean. 16 Also, anyone in the open field who touches one who has been killed with a sword or who has died [of natural causes], or a human bone or a grave, shall be unclean for seven days. 17 Then for the unclean person they shall take some of the ashes of the heifer burnt for the purification from sin, and running water shall be added to them in a container. 18 A clean person shall take [g]hyssop and dip it in the water and sprinkle it on the tent and on all the furnishings and on the people who were there, and on the one who touched the bone or the one who was killed or the one who died [naturally] or the grave. 19 Then the clean person shall sprinkle [the water for purification] on the unclean person on the third day and on the seventh day, and on the seventh day the unclean man shall purify himself, and wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and shall be [ceremonially] clean at evening.
20 ‘But the man who is unclean and does not purify himself, that person shall be cut off from among the assembly, because he has defiled the sanctuary of the Lord. The water for purification has not been sprinkled on him; he is unclean. 21 So it shall be a perpetual statute to them. He who sprinkles the water for impurity [on another] shall wash his clothes, and he who touches the water for impurity shall be unclean until evening. 22 Furthermore, anything the unclean person touches shall be unclean, and anyone who touches it shall be [ceremonially] unclean until evening.’”
Five Thousand Fed
30 The apostles [who had been sent out on a mission] gathered together with Jesus and told Him everything that they had done and taught. 31 He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a little while”—for there were many [people who were continually] coming and going, and they could not even find time to eat. 32 And they went away by themselves in the boat to a secluded place.(A) 33 Many [people] saw them leaving, and recognized them and ran there together on foot from all the [surrounding] cities, and got there ahead of them. 34 When Jesus went ashore, He saw a large crowd [waiting], and He was moved with compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd [lacking guidance]; and He began to teach them many things. 35 When the day was nearly gone, His disciples came to Him and said, “This is an isolated place, and it is already late; 36 send the crowds away so that they may go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.” 37 But He replied, “You give them something to eat!” And they asked Him, “Shall we go and buy 200 [a]denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?”(B) 38 He said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go look!” And when they found out, they said, “Five [loaves], and two fish.” 39 Then Jesus commanded them all to sit down by groups on the green grass. 40 They sat down in groups of hundreds and of fifties [so that the crowd resembled an orderly arrangement of colorful garden plots]. 41 Taking the five loaves and two fish, He looked up to heaven and said a blessing [of praise and thanksgiving to the Father]. Then He broke the loaves and [repeatedly] gave them to the disciples to set before the people; and He divided up the two fish among them all. 42 They all ate and were satisfied. 43 And the disciples picked up twelve full baskets of the broken pieces [of the loaves], and of the fish. 44 Those who ate the loaves were five thousand men [not counting the women and children].
Jesus Walks on the Water
45 Jesus immediately insisted that His disciples get into the boat and go ahead [of Him] to the other side to Bethsaida, while He was dismissing the crowd.(C) 46 And after He said goodbye to them, He went to the mountain to pray.
47 Now when evening had come, the boat was in the middle of the sea, and Jesus was alone on the land. 48 Seeing the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them, at about the fourth watch of the night (3:00-6:00 a.m.) He came to them, walking on the sea. And [acted as if] He intended to pass by them.(D) 49 But when they saw Him walking on the sea, they thought it was a ghost, and cried out [in horror]; 50 for they all saw Him and were shaken and terrified. But He immediately spoke with them and said, “Take courage! It is I (I Am)! Stop being afraid.”(E) 51 Then He got into the boat with them, and the wind ceased [as if exhausted by its own activity]; and they were completely overwhelmed, 52 because they had not understood [the miracle of] the loaves [how it revealed the power and deity of Jesus]; but [in fact] their heart was hardened [being oblivious and indifferent to His amazing works].
Healing at Gennesaret
53 When they had crossed over [the sea], they reached the land of Gennesaret and anchored at the shore. 54 They got out of the boat and immediately people recognized Him, 55 and ran throughout that surrounding countryside and began to carry around on their mats those who were sick, to any place where they heard He was. 56 And wherever He came into villages, or cities, or the countryside, they were laying the sick in the market places and pleading with Him [to allow them] just to touch the fringe (tassel with a blue cord) of His robe; and all who touched it were healed.
Copyright © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, CA 90631. All rights reserved.