Exodus 29–30; Matthew 21:23–46

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Exodus 29–30

Consecration of the Priests

Now this is what you shall do to them to consecrate them, that they may serve me as priests. bTake one bull of the herd and two rams without blemish, cand unleavened bread, unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers smeared with oil. You shall make them of fine wheat flour. You shall put them in one basket and bring them in the basket, and bring the bull and the two rams. You shall bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the tent of meeting and dwash them with water. Then eyou shall take the garments, and put on Aaron the coat and the robe of the ephod, and the ephod, and the breastpiece, and gird him with the fskillfully woven band of the ephod. gAnd you shall set the turban on his head and put the holy crown on the turban. You shall take hthe anointing oil and pour it on his head and anoint him. Then you ishall bring his sons and put coats on them, and you shall gird Aaron and his sons with jsashes and bind caps on them. And kthe priesthood shall be theirs by a statute forever. Thus you shall lordain Aaron and his sons.

10 Then you shall bring the bull before the tent of meeting. mAaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the bull. 11 Then you shall kill the bull before the Lord at the entrance of the tent of meeting, 12 and nshall take part of the blood of the bull and put it on the ohorns of the altar with your finger, and the rest of1 the blood you shall pour out at the base of the altar. 13 And you shall take all pthe fat that covers the entrails, and the long lobe of the liver, and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them, and burn them on the altar. 14 But the flesh of the bull and its skin and its dung you shall burn with fire qoutside the camp; rit is a sin offering.

15 Then syou shall take one of the rams, and tAaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram, 16 and you shall kill the ram and shall take its blood and throw it against the sides of the altar. 17 Then you shall ucut the ram into pieces, and wash its entrails and its legs, and put them with its pieces and its head, 18 and burn the whole ram on the altar. It is a burnt offering to the Lord. It is a vpleasing aroma, a food offering2 to the Lord.

19 wYou shall take the other ram, tand Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram, 20 and you shall kill the ram and take part of its blood and put it on the tip of the right ear of Aaron and on the tips of the right ears of his sons, and on the thumbs of their right hands and on the great toes of their right feet, and throw the rest of the blood against the sides of the altar. 21 Then you shall take part of the blood that is on the altar, and of the xanointing oil, and sprinkle it on Aaron and his garments, and on his sons and his sons’ garments with him. He and his garments shall be holy, and his sons and his sons’ garments with him.

22 You shall also take the fat from the ram and the fat tail and the yfat that covers the entrails, and the long lobe of the liver and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them, and the right thigh (for it is a ram of zordination), 23 and aone loaf of bread and one cake of bread made with oil, and one wafer out of the basket of unleavened bread that is before the Lord. 24 You shall put all these on the palms of Aaron and on the palms of his sons, and bwave them for a wave offering before the Lord. 25 Then cyou shall take them from their hands and burn them on the altar on top of the burnt offering, as a dpleasing aroma before the Lord. It is a food offering to the Lord.

26 You shall take the ebreast of the ram of Aaron’s fordination and gwave it for a wave offering before the Lord, and it shall be your portion. 27 And you shall consecrate the hbreast of the wave offering that is waved and the ithigh of the priests’ portion that is contributed from the ram of fordination, from what was Aaron’s and his sons’. 28 It shall be for Aaron and his sons as a jperpetual due from the people of Israel, for it is a gcontribution. It shall be a gcontribution from the people of Israel from their peace offerings, their contribution to the Lord.

29 The holy garments of Aaron kshall be for his sons after him; they shall lbe anointed in them and ordained in them. 30 The son who succeeds him as priest, who comes into the tent of meeting to minister in the Holy Place, shall wear them mseven days.

31 You shall take the ram of ordination and nboil its flesh in a holy place. 32 And Aaron and his sons shall eat the flesh of the ram and the obread that is in the basket in the entrance of the tent of meeting. 33 pThey shall eat those things with which atonement was made at their ordination and consecration, but an qoutsider shall not eat of them, because they are holy. 34 And if any of the flesh for the ordination or of the bread remain until the morning, then you shall rburn the remainder with fire. It shall not be eaten, because it is holy.

35 Thus you shall do to Aaron and to his sons, according to all that I have commanded you. Through sseven days shall you ordain them, 36 and every day you shall offer a tbull as a sin offering for atonement. Also you shall purify the altar, when you make atonement for it, and shall uanoint it to consecrate it. 37 Seven days you shall make atonement for the altar and consecrate it, and the valtar shall be most holy. wWhatever touches the altar shall become holy.

38 Now this is what you shall offer on the altar: xtwo lambs a year old yday by day regularly. 39 One lamb you shall offer zin the morning, and the other lamb you shall offer aat twilight. 40 And with the first lamb a tenth measure3 of fine flour mingled with a fourth of a hin4 of beaten oil, and a fourth of a hin of wine for a drink offering. 41 The other lamb you shall offer aat twilight, and shall offer with it a grain offering and its drink offering, as bin the morning, for a cpleasing aroma, a food offering to the Lord. 42 It shall be a dregular burnt offering throughout your generations at the entrance of the tent of meeting before the Lord, ewhere I will meet with you, to speak to you there. 43 There I will meet with the people of Israel, and it shall be fsanctified by my glory. 44 I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar. gAaron also and his sons I will consecrate to serve me as priests. 45 hI will dwell among the people of Israel and will be their God. 46 And they shall know that iI am the Lord their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt that I might dwell among them. I am the Lord their God.

The Altar of Incense

jYou shall make kan altar on which to burn incense; you shall make it of acacia wood. A cubit5 shall be its length, and a cubit its breadth. It shall be square, and two cubits shall be its height. lIts horns shall be of one piece with it. You shall moverlay it with pure gold, its top and around its sides and its horns. And you shall make a molding of gold around it. And you shall make two golden rings for it. Under its molding on two opposite sides of it you shall make them, and they shall be nholders for poles with which to carry it. You shall make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. And you shall put it in front of the veil that is above the ark of the testimony, in front of the omercy seat that is above the testimony, where I will meet with you. And Aaron shall pburn fragrant incense on it. Every morning when he qdresses the lamps he shall burn it, and when Aaron sets up the lamps at twilight, he shall burn it, a regular incense offering before the Lord throughout your generations. You shall not offer runauthorized incense on it, or a burnt offering, or a grain offering, and you shall not pour a drink offering on it. 10 sAaron shall make atonement on its horns once a year. With the blood of the tsin offering of atonement he shall make atonement for it once in the year throughout your generations. It is most holy to the Lord.

The Census Tax

11 The Lord said to Moses, 12 uWhen you take the census of the people of Israel, then each shall give va ransom for his life to the Lord when you number them, that there be no plague among them when you number them. 13 Each one who is numbered in the census shall give this: half a shekel6 according to the wshekel of the sanctuary (the xshekel is twenty gerahs),7 yhalf a shekel as an offering to the Lord. 14 Everyone who is numbered in the census, from twenty years old and upward, shall give the Lord’s offering. 15 The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less, than ythe half shekel, when you give the Lord’s offering to make atonement for your lives. 16 You shall take the atonement money from the people of Israel and shall zgive it for the service of the tent of meeting, that it may bring the people of Israel to aremembrance before the Lord, so as to make atonement for your lives.

The Bronze Basin

17 The Lord said to Moses, 18 You shall also make a bbasin of bronze, with its stand of bronze, for washing. bYou shall put it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and you shall put water in it, 19 with which Aaron and his sons cshall wash their hands and their feet. 20 When they go into the tent of meeting, or when they come near the altar to minister, to burn a food offering8 to the Lord, they shall wash with water, so that they may not die. 21 They shall wash their hands and their feet, so that they may not die. It shall dbe a statute forever to them, even to him and to his offspring throughout their generations.

The Anointing Oil and Incense

22 The Lord said to Moses, 23 Take the efinest spices: of liquid myrrh 500 shekels, and of sweet-smelling cinnamon half as much, that is, 250, and 250 of faromatic cane, 24 and 500 of cassia, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, and a ghin9 of olive oil. 25 And you shall make of these a sacred anointing oil blended as by the hperfumer; it shall be a iholy anointing oil. 26 jWith it you shall anoint the tent of meeting and the ark of the testimony, 27 and the table and all its utensils, and the lampstand and its utensils, and the altar of incense, 28 and the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils and the kbasin and its stand. 29 You shall consecrate them, that they may be most holy. lWhatever touches them will become holy. 30 mYou shall anoint Aaron and his sons, and consecrate them, that they may serve me as priests. 31 And you shall say to the people of Israel, This shall be my holy anointing oil throughout your generations. 32 It shall not be poured on the body of an ordinary person, and you shall make no other like it in composition. nIt is holy, and it shall be holy to you. 33 oWhoever compounds any like it or whoever puts any of it on an outsider shall be cut off from his people.

34 The Lord said to Moses, pTake sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum, sweet spices with pure frankincense (of each shall there be an equal part), 35 and make an qincense blended as by the rperfumer, sseasoned with salt, pure and holy. 36 You shall beat some of it very small, and put part of it before the testimony in the tent of meeting twhere I shall meet with you. uIt shall be most holy for you. 37 And the incense that you shall make vaccording to its composition, you shall not make for yourselves. It shall be for you holy to the Lord. 38 wWhoever makes any like it to use as perfume shall be cut off from his people.


Matthew 21:23–46

The Authority of Jesus Challenged

23 zAnd when he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him aas he was teaching, and said, bBy what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority? 24 Jesus answered them, I also will ask you one question, and if you tell me the answer, then I also will tell you by what authority I do these things. 25 The baptism of John, cfrom where did it come? dFrom heaven or from man? And they discussed it among themselves, saying, If we say, From heaven, he will say to us, eWhy then did you not believe him? 26 But if we say, From man, fwe are afraid of the crowd, for they all hold that John was ga prophet. 27 So they answered Jesus, We do not know. And he said to them, Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.

The Parable of the Two Sons

28 hWhat do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, Son, go and work in ithe vineyard today. 29 And he answered, I will not, but afterward he jchanged his mind and went. 30 And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, I go, sir, but did not go. 31 Which of the two did the will of his father? They said, The first. Jesus said to them, Truly, I say to you, kthe tax collectors and lthe prostitutes go into mthe kingdom of God before you. 32 For John came to you nin the way of righteousness, and oyou did not believe him, but pthe tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward jchange your minds and believe him.

The Parable of the Tenants

33 qHear another parable. There was a master of a house who planted ra vineyard sand put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower and tleased it to tenants, and uwent into another country. 34 When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants1 to the tenants tto get his fruit. 35 vAnd the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and wstoned another. 36 xAgain he sent other servants, more than the first. And they did the same to them. 37 Finally he sent his son to them, saying, They will respect my son. 38 But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, yThis is the heir. Come, zlet us kill him and have his inheritance. 39 And they took him and athrew him out of the vineyard and killed him. 40 bWhen therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants? 41 They said to him, cHe will put those wretches to a miserable death and dlet out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.

42 Jesus said to them, eHave you never read in the Scriptures:

fThe stone that the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone;2

this was the Lord’s doing,

and it is marvelous in our eyes?

43 Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God gwill be taken away from you and given to a people hproducing its fruits. 44 And ithe one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and jwhen it falls on anyone, it will crush him.3

45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them. 46 And lalthough they were seeking to arrest him, mthey feared the crowds, because they held him to be na prophet.