Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

David wrote this psalm for the music leader.

It was when the prophet Nathan came to him, after David had sex with Bathsheba.

Please forgive me, Lord^[a]

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.’

Jesus is our great priest

¹⁴ Jesus, the Son of God, helps us as God's most important priest. He is our great priest who has gone up into heaven. We say that we believe in him. So we must continue to show people that we trust him. ¹⁵ Jesus, our great priest understands us. He knows how weak we are. He knows that we sometimes want to do wrong things. The Devil tried to make him do all those same kinds of wrong things. But Jesus never did anything wrong. ¹⁶ So we should come near to God and we should not be afraid. God is our King. We can ask him to help us when we need help. We know that he will forgive us and he will be kind to us in whatever way we need.^[a]

5 Every leader of God's priests comes from among the people. That special priest's work is to serve God on behalf of God's people. He offers gifts and sacrifices to God, so that God will forgive the people's sins. ² That priest himself may often do wrong things, because he is weak and human. As a result, he understands other people who make mistakes. He can be kind to people who do wrong things. ³ But, because he himself does wrong things, he must offer sacrifices to God on behalf of himself, as well as on behalf of the people.

⁴ Nobody decides for himself to become a leader of the priests. God himself must choose him. That is how Aaron became a priest.^[b]