Consecration of the Priests

1 “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, 2 ^cand unleavened bread, unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers smeared with oil. You shall make them of fine wheat flour. 3 You shall put them in one basket and bring them in the basket, and bring the bull and the two rams. 4 You shall bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the tent of meeting and ^dwash them with water. 5 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. 6 ^gAnd you shall set the turban on his head and put the holy crown on the turban. 7 You shall take ^hthe anointing oil and pour it on his head and anoint him. 8 Then you ⁱshall bring his sons and put coats on them, 9 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 ^w“You 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.

How Long, O Lord?

A Psalm of ^yAsaph.

David’s Wives Are Captured

1 Now when David and his men came to ^uZiklag on the third day, ^vthe Amalekites had ^wmade a raid against the Negeb and against Ziklag. They had overcome Ziklag and burned it with fire 2 and taken captive the women and all¹ who were in it, both small and great. They killed no one, but carried them off and went their way. 3 And when David and his men came to the city, they found it burned with fire, and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive. 4 Then David and the people who were with him raised their voices and wept until they had no more strength to weep. 5 David’s ^xtwo wives also had been taken captive, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel. 6 And David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke ^yof stoning him, because all the people were bitter in soul,² each for his sons and daughters. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.

7 ^zAnd David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, “Bring me the ephod.” So Abiathar brought the ephod to David. 8 ^aAnd David inquired of the Lord, “Shall I pursue after this ^bband? Shall I overtake them?” He answered him, “Pursue, for you shall surely overtake ^cand shall surely rescue.” 9 So David set out, and ^dthe six hundred men who were with him, and they came to the brook Besor, where those who were left behind stayed. 10 But David pursued, he and four hundred men. ^eTwo hundred stayed behind, who were too exhausted to cross the brook Besor.

11 They found an Egyptian in the open country and brought him to David. And they gave him bread and he ate. They gave him water to drink, 12 and they gave him a piece of a cake of figs and two clusters of raisins. And when he had eaten, ^fhis spirit revived, for he had not eaten bread or drunk water for three days and three nights. 13 And David said to him, “To whom do you belong? And where are you from?” He said, “I am a young man of Egypt, servant to an Amalekite, and my master left me behind because I fell sick three days ago. 14 ^gWe had made a raid against the Negeb of ^hthe Cherethites and against that which belongs to Judah and against the Negeb of Caleb, and we burned Ziklag with fire.” 15 And David said to him, “Will you take me down to this band?” And he said, “Swear to me by God that you will not kill me or deliver me into the hands of my master, and I will take you down to this ⁱband.”

David Defeats the Amalekites

16 And when he had taken him down, behold, they were spread abroad over all the land, eating and drinking and dancing, because of all the great spoil they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah. 17 And David struck them down from twilight until the evening of the next day, and not a man of them escaped, except four hundred young men, who mounted camels and fled. 18 ^jDavid recovered all that the Amalekites had taken, and David rescued his two wives. 19 Nothing was missing, whether small or great, sons or daughters, spoil or anything that had been taken. ^jDavid brought back all. 20 David also captured all the flocks and herds, and the people drove the livestock before him,³ and said, “This is David’s spoil.”

21 Then David came to ^kthe two hundred men who had been too exhausted to follow David, and who had been left ^kat the brook Besor. And they went out to meet David and to meet the people who were with him. And when David came near to the people he greeted them. 22 Then all the wicked and worthless fellows among the men who had gone with David said, “Because they did not go with us, we will not give them any of the spoil that we have recovered, except that each man may lead away his wife and children, and depart.” 23 But David said, “You shall not do so, my brothers, with what the Lord has given us. He has preserved us and given into our hand the band that came against us. 24 Who would listen to you in this matter? ^lFor as his share is who goes down into the battle, so shall his share be who stays by the baggage. They shall share alike.” 25 And he made it a statute and a rule for Israel from that day forward to this day.

26 When David came to Ziklag, he sent part of the spoil to his friends, the elders of Judah, saying, “Here is a present for you from the spoil of the enemies of the Lord.” 27 It was for those in ^mBethel, in Ramoth of the Negeb, in ⁿJattir, 28 in ^oAroer, in Siphmoth, in ^pEshtemoa, 29 in Racal, in the cities of ^qthe Jerahmeelites, in the cities of ^rthe Kenites, 30 in ^sHormah, in Bor-ashan, in Athach, 31 in ^tHebron, for all the places where David and his men had roamed.

The Ruined Loincloth

1 Thus says the Lord to me, “Go and buy a linen loincloth and ^qput it around your waist, and do not dip it in water.” 2 So I bought a loincloth according to the word of the Lord, and put it around my waist. 3 And the word of the Lord came to me a second time, 4 “Take the loincloth that you have bought, which is around your waist, and arise, ^rgo to the Euphrates and hide it there in ^sa cleft of the rock.” 5 So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the Lord commanded me. 6 And after many days the Lord said to me, “Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take from there ^qthe loincloth that I commanded you to hide there.” 7 Then I went to the Euphrates, and dug, and I took ^qthe loincloth from the place where I had hidden it. And behold, the loincloth was ^tspoiled; it was ^ugood for nothing.

8 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 9 “Thus says the Lord: ^vEven so will I spoil the pride of Judah and the great ^wpride of Jerusalem. 10 This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, ^xwho stubbornly follow their own heart and have gone after other gods to serve them and worship them, shall be like this loincloth, which is ^ugood for nothing. 11 For as the loincloth clings to the waist of a man, so I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me, declares the Lord, ^ythat they might be for me a people, ^za name, a praise, and a glory, but they would not listen.

The Jars Filled with Wine

12 “You shall speak to them this word: ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, “Every jar shall be filled with wine.”’ And they will say to you, ‘Do we not indeed know that ^aevery jar will be filled with wine?’ 13 Then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord: ^bBehold, I will fill with drunkenness all the inhabitants of this land: ^cthe kings who sit on David’s throne, ^dthe priests, the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 14 And I will ^edash them one against another, fathers and sons together, declares the Lord. I will not pity or spare or have compassion, that I should not destroy them.’”

Exile Threatened

The Death of Lazarus

1 Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of ^lMary and her sister Martha. 2 ^mIt was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. 3 So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, ⁿhe whom you love is ill.” 4 But when Jesus heard it he said, ^o“This illness does not lead to death. It is for ^pthe glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

5 Now ^qJesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So, when he heard that Lazarus¹ was ill, ^rhe stayed two days longer in the place where he was. 7 Then after this he said to the disciples, ^s“Let us go to Judea again.” 8 The disciples said to him, ^t“Rabbi, ^uthe Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?” 9 Jesus answered, ^v“Are there not twelve hours in the day? ^wIf anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. 10 But ^xif anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not ^xin him.” 11 After saying these things, he said to them, “Our friend Lazarus ^yhas fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.” 12 The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.” 13 Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep. 14 Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died, 15 and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” 16 ^zSo Thomas, called the Twin,² said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, ^athat we may die with him.”