Thematic Bible: Priest


Thematic Bible



And on this altar sweet spices are to be burned by Aaron every morning when he sees to the lights. And every evening, when he puts the lights up in their places, the spices are to be burned, a sweet-smelling smoke going up before the Lord from generation to generation for ever.


And Jeshua and Bani and Sherebiah and Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, and the Levites made the law clear to the people: and the people kept in their places.


And Adaiah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Pashhur, the son of Malchijah, and Maasai, the son of Adiel, the son of Jahzerah, the son of Meshullam, the son of Meshillemith, the son of Immer;

And their brothers who did the work of the house, eight hundred and twenty-two; and Adaiah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Pelaliah, the son of Amzi, the son of Zechariah, the son of Pashhur, the son of Malchijah,


For it has been witnessed of him, You are a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.


And let him put his hand on the head of it and put it to death before the Tent of meeting; and the sons of Aaron are to put some of its blood on and round the altar.

And put his finger in the blood, shaking drops of the blood seven times before the Lord in front of the veil.

That it may be burned by Aaron's sons on the altar, on the burned offering which is on the wood on the fire: it is an offering made by fire of a sweet smell to the Lord.

That it may be burned by the priest on the altar; it is the food of the offering made by fire for a sweet smell: all the fat is the Lord's.

There were not enough priests for the work of cutting up all the burned offerings; so their brothers the Levites gave them help till the work was done and the priests had made themselves holy: for the Levites were more upright in heart to make themselves holy than the priests.

By whom burned offerings and perfumes are sent up in smoke before the Lord every morning and every evening; and they put out the holy bread on its table and the gold support for the lights with its lights burning every evening; for we keep the orders given to us by the Lord our God, but you have gone away from him.

And let him take it to Aaron's sons, the priests; and having taken in his hand some of the meal and of the oil, with all the perfume, let him give it to the priest to be burned on the altar, as a sign, an offering made by fire, for a sweet smell to the Lord.

To give burned offerings to the Lord on the altar of burned offerings morning and evening, every day, as it is ordered in the law of the Lord which he gave to Israel;

For the priests and the Levites had made themselves clean together; they were all clean: and they put the Passover lamb to death for all those who had come back, and for their brothers the priests and for themselves.

And he is to put his hand on the head of the burned offering and it will be taken for him, to take away his sin. And the ox is to be put to death before the Lord: then Aaron's sons, the priests, are to take the blood and put some of it on and round the altar which is at the door of the Tent of meeting. And the burned offering is to be skinned and cut up into its parts. read more.
And Aaron's sons, the priests, are to put fire on the altar and put the wood in order on the fire: And Aaron's sons, the priests, are to put the parts, the head and the fat, in order on the wood which is on the fire on the altar: But its inside parts and its legs are to be washed with water, and it will all be burned on the altar by the priest for a burned offering, an offering made by fire, for a sweet smell to the Lord. And if his offering is of the flock, a burned offering of sheep or goats, let him give a male without a mark. And he is to put it to death on the north side of the altar before the Lord: and Aaron's sons, the priests, are to put some of the blood on and round the altar. And the offering is to be cut into its parts, with its head and its fat; and the priest is to put them in order on the wood which is on the fire on the altar: But the inside parts and the legs are to be washed with water; and the priest will make an offering of all of it, burning it on the altar: it is a burned offering, an offering made by fire, for a sweet smell to the Lord. And if his offering to the Lord is a burned offering of birds, then he is to make his offering of doves or of young pigeons. And the priest is to take it to the altar, and after its head has been twisted off, it is to be burned on the altar, and its blood drained out on the side of the altar: And he is to take away its stomach, with its feathers, and put it down by the east side of the altar, where the burned waste is put: And let it be broken open at the wings, but not cut in two; and let it be burned on the altar by the priest on the wood which is on the fire; it is a burned offering; an offering made by fire for a sweet smell to the Lord.

And part of the meal of the offering and part of the oil and all the perfume is to be burned for a sign by the priest: it is an offering made by fire to the Lord.

That it may be burned by the priest on the altar; it is the food of the offering made by fire to the Lord.

And the chief priest is to take some of its blood and take it to the Tent of meeting; And the priest is to put his finger in the blood, shaking drops of it before the Lord seven times, in front of the veil of the holy place. And the priest is to put some of the blood on the horns of the altar on which perfume is burned before the Lord in the Tent of meeting, draining out all the rest of the blood of the ox at the base of the altar of burned offering which is at the door of the Tent of meeting. read more.
And he is to take away all the fat of the ox of the sin-offering; the fat covering the inside parts and all the fat of the inside parts, And the two kidneys, with the fat on them, which is by the top part of the legs, and the fat joining the liver and the kidneys, he is to take away, As it is taken from the ox of the peace-offering; and it is to be burned by the priest on the altar of burned offerings. And the skin of the ox and all its flesh, with its head and its legs and its inside parts and its waste, All the ox, he is to take away outside the circle of the tents into a clean place where the burned waste is put, and there it is to be burned on wood with fire.

And the priest is to take some of the blood of the offering with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burned offering, draining out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar of burned offering. And all the fat of it is to be burned on the altar like the fat of the peace-offering; and the priest will take away his sin and he will have forgiveness.

And the priest is to take some of the blood with his finger, and put it on the horns of the altar of burned offering, and all the rest of its blood is to be drained out at the base of the altar. And let all its fat be taken away, as the fat is taken away from the peace-offerings, and let it be burned on the altar by the priest for a sweet smell to the Lord; and the priest will take away his sin and he will have forgiveness. And if he gives a lamb as his sin-offering, let it be a female without any mark; read more.
And he is to put his hand on the head of the offering and put it to death for a sin-offering in the place where they put to death the burned offering. And the priest is to take some of the blood of the offering with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burned offering, and all the rest of the blood is to be drained out at the base of the altar; And let him take away all its fat, as the fat is taken away from the lamb of the peace-offerings; and let it be burned by the priest on the altar among the offerings made by fire to the Lord: and the priest will take away his sin and he will have forgiveness.

And they put the Passover lambs to death, the blood being drained out by the priests when it was given to them, and the Levites did the skinning. And they took away the burned offerings, so that they might give them to be offered to the Lord for the divisions of the families of the people, as it is recorded in the book of Moses. And they did the same with the oxen. And the Passover lamb was cooked over the fire, as it says in the law; and the holy offerings were cooked in pots and basins and vessels, and taken quickly to all the people. read more.
And after that, they made ready for themselves and for the priests; for the priests, the sons of Aaron, were offering the burned offerings and the fat till night; so the Levites made ready what was needed for themselves and for the priests, the sons of Aaron.

And every priest takes his place at the altar day by day, doing what is necessary, and making again and again the same offerings which are never able to take away sins.


And Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went away to the chief priests, so that he might give him up to them. And hearing what he said, they were glad, and gave him their word to make him a payment of money. And he took thought how he might best give him up to them.

And while he was still talking, Judas, one of the twelve, came, and with him a band armed with swords and sticks, from the chief priests and those in authority over the people.

And they made him a prisoner and took him away to the house of the high priest. But Peter went after them at a distance.

Then the high priests and the Pharisees had a meeting and said, What are we doing? This man is doing a number of signs.

Then one of the twelve, who was named Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, What will you give me, if I give him up to you? And the price was fixed at thirty bits of silver.

And the first thing in the morning the chief priests, with those in authority and the scribes and all the Sanhedrin, had a meeting, and put cords round Jesus, and took him away, and gave him up to Pilate.

Then the chief priests and the rulers of the people came together in the house of the high priest, who was named Caiaphas. And they made designs together to take Jesus by some trick, and put him to death. But they said, Not while the feast is going on, for fear of trouble among the people.

And one of those who were with Jesus put out his hand, and took out his sword and gave the servant of the high priest a blow, cutting off his ear.

And one of them gave a blow to the servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear.

And straight away, while he was still talking, Judas, one of the twelve, came, and with him a great band with swords and sticks, from the chief priests and the scribes and those in authority. Now he who had been false to him had given them a sign, saying, The one to whom I give a kiss, that is he; take him, and get him away safely. And when he had come, he went straight to him and said, Master; and gave him a kiss. read more.
And they put their hands on him, and took him. But a certain one of those who were near took out his sword, and gave the servant of the high priest a blow, cutting off his ear.

And they took Jesus away to the high priest; and there came together with him all the chief priests and those in authority and the scribes. And Peter had come after him at a distance, even into the house of the high priest; and he was seated with the captains, warming himself in the light of the fire. Now the chief priests and all the Sanhedrin were looking for witness against Jesus so that they might put him to death; and they were unable to get any. read more.
For a number gave false witness against him and their witness was not in agreement. Then some got up and gave false witness against him, saying, He said in our hearing, I will put an end to this Temple which is made with hands, and in three days I will make another without hands. And even so their witness was not in agreement. And the high priest got up in the middle of them, and said to Jesus, Do you say nothing in answer? what is it which these say against you? But he kept quiet and said nothing. Again the high priest questioning him said, Are you the Christ, the son of the Holy One? And Jesus said, I am: and you will see the Son of man seated at the right hand of power, and coming with the clouds of heaven. And the high priest, violently parting his robes, said, What more need have we of witnesses? His words against God have come to your ears: what is your opinion? And they all said it was right for him to be put to death. And some put shame on him and, covering his face, gave him blows and said to him, Now say what is to come: and the captains took him and gave him blows with their hands. And while Peter was down in the open square of the building, one of the servant-girls of the high priest came;

And the chief priests and the scribes were looking for a chance to put him to death, but they went in fear of the people. And Satan came into Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve. And he went away and had a discussion with the chief priests and the rulers, about how he might give him up to them. read more.
And they were glad, and undertook to give him money. And he made an agreement with them to give him up to them, if he got a chance, when the people were not present.

And when it was day, the rulers of the people came together, with the chief priests and the scribes, and they took him before their Sanhedrin, saying, If you are the Christ, say so. But he said, If I say so you will not have belief; And if I put a question to you, you will not give an answer. read more.
But in the future the Son of man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God. And they all said, Are you then the Son of God? and he said, You say that I am. And they said, What more need have we of witness? we have the very words of his mouth.

And they all went and took him before Pilate. And they made statements against him, saying, This man has to our knowledge been teaching our nation to do wrong, and not to make payment of taxes to Caesar, even saying that he himself is Christ, a king.

Then they gave a loud cry, Away with him! away with him! to the cross! Pilate said to them, Am I to put your King to death on the cross? The chief priests said in answer, We have no king but Caesar. So then he gave him up to them to be put to death on the cross. And they took Jesus away;



Seraiah, the son of Hilkiah, the son of Meshullam, the son of Zadok, the son of Meraioth, the son of Ahitub, the ruler of the house of God,

Give orders to the children of Israel to give to the Levites, from the heritage which is theirs, towns for themselves, with land on the outskirts of the towns. These towns are to be their living-places, with land round them for their cattle and their food and all their beasts, Stretching from the wall of the towns a distance of a thousand cubits all round. read more.
The measure of this space of land is to be two thousand cubits outside the town on the east, and two thousand cubits on the south and on the west and on the north, the town being in the middle. This space will be the outskirts of their towns. And the towns which you give the Levites are to be the six safe places to which the taker of life may go in flight; and in addition you are to give them forty-two towns. Forty-eight towns are to be given to the Levites, all with land round them. And these towns are to be given out of the heritage of the children of Israel, taking the greater number from those who have much, and a smaller number from those who have little: everyone, in the measure of his heritage, is to give of his property to the Levites.

But the houses in the towns of the Levites may be got back by the Levites at any time. And if a Levite does not give money to get back his property, his house in the town which was exchanged for money will come back to him in the year of Jubilee. For the houses of the towns of the Levites are their property among the children of Israel. But the land on the outskirts of their towns may not be exchanged for money, for it is their property for ever.

Then the heads of the families of the Levites came to Eleazar the priest and Joshua, the son of Nun, and to the heads of families of the tribes of the children of Israel; And said to them in Shiloh in the land of Canaan, The Lord gave orders by Moses that we were to have towns for living in, with their grass-lands for our cattle. And the children of Israel out of their heritage gave to the Levites these towns with their grass-lands, by the order of the Lord. read more.
And the heritage came out for the families of the Kohathites: the children of Aaron the priest, who were of the Levites, were given thirteen towns from the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin.

And to the children of Aaron the priest they gave Hebron with its grass-lands, the town where the taker of life might be safe, and Libnah with its grass-lands; And Jattir with its grass-lands, and Eshtemoa with its grass-lands; And Holon with its grass-lands, and Debir with its grass-lands; read more.
And Ain, and Juttah, and Beth-shemesh, with their grass-lands; nine towns from those two tribes. And from the tribe of Benjamin they gave Gibeon and Geba with their grass-lands; Anathoth and Almon with their grass-lands, four towns. Thirteen towns with their grass-lands were given to the children of Aaron, the priests.

All the towns of the Levites, among the heritage of the children of Israel, were forty-eight towns with their grass-lands. Every one of these towns had grass-lands round it.

And to the sons of Aaron they gave Hebron, the town to which men might go in flight and be safe, and Libnah with its outskirts, and Jattir, and Eshtemoa with its outskirts, And Hilen with its outskirts, Debir with its outskirts, And Ashan with its outskirts, and Beth-shemesh with its outskirts; read more.
And from the tribe of Benjamin: Geba with its outskirts, and Alemeth with its outskirts, and Anathoth with its outskirts. All their towns among their families were thirteen towns.

And the rest of Israel, of the priests, the Levites, were in all the towns of Judah, every one in his heritage.

And when you are making a distribution of the land, by the decision of the Lord, for your heritage, you are to make an offering to the Lord of a part of the land as holy: it is to be twenty-five thousand long and twenty thousand wide: all the land inside these limits is to be holy. Of this, a square five hundred long and five hundred wide is to be for the holy place, with a space of fifty cubits all round it. And of this measure, let a space be measured, twenty-five thousand long and ten thousand wide: in it there will be the holy place, even the most holy. read more.
This holy part of the land is to be for the priests, the servants of the holy place, who come near to the Lord to do his work; it is to be a place for their houses and for grass-land and for cattle. A space of land twenty-five thousand long and ten thousand wide is to be for the Levites, the servants of the house, a property for themselves, for towns for their living-places. And as the property for the town you are to have a part five thousand wide and twenty-five thousand long, by the side of the offering of the holy part of the land: this is to be for all the children of Israel.

And on the limit of Judah, from the east side to the west side, will be the offering which you are to make, twenty-five thousand wide, and as long as one of the parts, from the east side to the west side: and the holy place will be in the middle of it. The offering you will give to the Lord is to be twenty-five thousand long and twenty-five thousand wide. And for these, that is the priests, the holy offering is to be twenty-five thousand long to the north, ten thousand wide to the west, ten thousand wide to the east and twenty-five thousand long to the south; and the holy place of the Lord will be in the middle of it. read more.
For the priests who have been made holy, those of the sons of Zadok who kept the orders I gave them, who did not go out of the right way when the children of Israel went from the way, as the Levites did, Even for them will be the offering from the offering of the land, a thing most holy, on the limit of the land given to the Levites. And the Levites are to have a part of the land equal to the limit of the priests', twenty-five thousand long and ten thousand wide, all of it together to be twenty-five thousand long and twenty thousand wide. And they are not to let any of it go for a price, or give it in exchange; and the part of the land given to the Lord is not to go into other hands: for it is holy to the Lord. And the other five thousand, measured from side to side, in front of the twenty-five thousand, is to be for common use, for the town, for living in and for a free space: and the town will be in the middle of it. And these will be its measures: the north side, four thousand five hundred, and the south side, four thousand five hundred, and on the east side, four thousand five hundred, and on the west side, four thousand five hundred. And the town will have a free space on the north of two hundred and fifty, on the south of two hundred and fifty, on the east of two hundred and fifty, and on the west of two hundred and fifty. And the rest, in measure as long as the holy offering, will be ten thousand to the east and ten thousand to the west: and its produce will be for food for the workers of the town. It will be farmed by workers of the town from all the tribes of Israel. The size of the offering all together is to be twenty-five thousand by twenty-five thousand: you are to make the holy offering a square, together with the property of the town.


Then let him take her to the priest, offering for her the tenth part of an ephah of barley meal, without oil or perfume; for it is a meal offering of a bitter spirit, a meal offering keeping wrongdoing in mind.

And those who had made Jesus prisoner took him away to the house of Caiaphas, the high priest, where the scribes and those in authority over the people had come together.

And Jesus said to him, Friend, do that for which you have come. Then they came and put hands on Jesus, and took him.

And at these words about the ark of God, Eli, falling back off his seat by the side of the doorway into the town, came down on the earth so that his neck was broken and death overtook him, for he was an old man and of great weight. He had been judging Israel for forty years.

If you are not able to give a decision as to who is responsible for a death, or who is right in a cause, or who gave the first blow in a fight, and there is a division of opinion about it in your town: then go to the place marked out by the Lord your God; And come before the priests, the Levites, or before him who is judge at the time: and they will go into the question and give you a decision: And you are to be guided by the decision they give in the place named by the Lord, and do whatever they say: read more.
Acting in agreement with their teaching and the decision they give: not turning to one side or the other from the word they have given you. And any man who, in his pride, will not give ear to the priest whose place is there before the Lord your God, or to the judge, is to be put to death: you are to put away the evil from Israel. And all the people, hearing of it, will be full of fear and put away their pride.

And Paul, looking fixedly at the Sanhedrin, said, My brothers, my life has been upright before God till this day. And the high priest, Ananias, gave orders to those who were near him to give him a blow on the mouth. Then Paul said to him, God will give blows to you, you whitewashed wall: are you here to be my judge by law, and by your orders am I given blows against the law? read more.
And those who were near said, Do you say such words against God's high priest And Paul said, Brother, I had no idea that he was the high priest: for it has been said, You may not say evil about the ruler of your people.

Then the chief priests and the rulers of the people came together in the house of the high priest, who was named Caiaphas.

And hearing this, they went into the Temple at dawn, and were teaching. But the high priest and those who were with him got together the Sanhedrin and the representatives of the children of Israel, and sent to the prison to get them. But the men who were sent saw that they were not in the prison, and came back with the news, Saying, The doors of the prison were safely shut, and the keepers were at the doors, but when they were open, there was nobody inside. read more.
Now, at these words, the captain of the Temple and the chief priests were greatly troubled about what might be the end of this business. And someone came and said to them, The men, whom you put in prison, are in the Temple teaching the people. Then the captain and some of the police went and took them, but not violently, for fear that they might be stoned by the people. And they took them into the Sanhedrin, and the high priest said to them, We gave you very clear orders not to give teaching in this name: and now Jerusalem is full of your teaching, and you are attempting to make us responsible for this man's death.

And the high priest got up and said to him, Have you no answer? what is it which these say against you?

Let no man go to law or make protests, for your people are like those who go to law with a priest.


And of the children of the priests: the children of Habaiah, the children of Hakkoz, the children of Barzillai, who was married to one of the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite, and took their name.

Then the heads of families of Judah and Benjamin, with the priests and the Levites, got ready, even all those whose spirits were moved by God to go up and take in hand the building of the Lord's house in Jerusalem.

So I put on one side twelve of the chiefs of the priests, Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their brothers with them, And gave to them by weight the silver and the gold and the vessels, all the offering for the house of our God which the king and his wise men and his captains and all Israel there present had given: Measuring into their hands six hundred and fifty talents of silver, and silver vessels, a hundred talents' weight, and a hundred talents of gold, read more.
And twenty gold basins, of a thousand darics, and two vessels of the best bright brass, equal in value to gold. And I said to them, You are holy to the Lord and the vessels are holy: and the silver and the gold are an offering freely given to the Lord, the God of your fathers. Take care of them and keep them, till you put them on the scales before the chiefs of the priests and the Levites and the chiefs of the families of Israel, in Jerusalem, in the rooms of the house of the Lord. So the priests and the Levites took the weight of silver and gold and the vessels, to take them to Jerusalem into the house of our God.

Now in the second year of their coming into the house of God in Jerusalem, in the second month, the work was taken in hand by Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua, the son of Jozadak, and the rest of their brothers the priests and the Levites, and all those who had come from the land where they were prisoners to Jerusalem: and they made the Levites, of twenty years old and over, responsible for overseeing the work of the house of the Lord.

And some of the children of Israel went up, with some of the priests and the Levites and the music-makers and the door-keepers and the Nethinim, to Jerusalem, in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king.

So the priests and the Levites and the people and the music-makers and the door-keepers and the Nethinim, took up their places in their towns; even all Israel in their towns.

The priests: the children of Jedaiah, of the house of Jeshua, nine hundred and seventy-three. The children of Immer, a thousand and fifty-two. The children of Pashhur, a thousand, two hundred and forty-seven. read more.
The children of Harim, a thousand and seventeen.

The priests: the children of Jedaiah, of the family of Jeshua, nine hundred and seventy-three. The children of Immer, a thousand and fifty-two. The children of Pashhur, a thousand, two hundred and forty-seven. read more.
The children of Harim, a thousand and seventeen.

And of the priests: the children of Hobaiah, the children of Hakkoz, the children of Barzillai, who was married to one of the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite, and took their name. They made search for their record among the lists of families, but their names were nowhere to be seen, so they were looked on as unclean and no longer priests. And the Tirshatha said that they were not to have the most holy things for their food, till a priest came to give decision by the Urim and Thummim. read more.
The number of all the people together was forty-two thousand, three hundred and sixty; As well as their men-servants and their women-servants, of whom there were seven thousand, three hundred and thirty-seven; and they had two hundred and forty-five men and women to make music. They had seven hundred and thirty-six horses, two hundred and forty-five transport beasts; Four hundred and thirty-five camels, six thousand, seven hundred and twenty asses. And some of the heads of families gave money for the work. The Tirshatha gave into the store a thousand darics of gold, fifty basins, five hundred and thirty priests' robes. And some of the heads of families gave into the store for the work twenty thousand darics of gold, and two thousand, two hundred pounds of silver. And that which the rest of the people gave was twenty thousand darics of gold, and two thousand pounds of silver, and sixty-seven priests' robes. So the priests and the Levites and the door-keepers and the music-makers and some of the people and the Nethinim, and all Israel, were living in their towns.

Now those who put down their names were Nehemiah the Tirshatha, the son of Hacaliah, and Zedekiah, Seraiah, Azariah, Jeremiah, Pashhur, Amariah, Malchijah, read more.
Hattush, Shebaniah, Malluch, Harim, Meremoth, Obadiah, Daniel, Ginnethon, Baruch, Meshullam, Abijah, Mijamin, Maaziah, Bilgai, Shemaiah; these were the priests.

Now these are the priests and the Levites who went up with Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua: Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra, Amariah, Malluch, Hattush, Shecaniah, Rehum, Meremoth, read more.
Iddo, Ginnethoi, Abijah, Mijamin, Maadiah, Bilgah, Shemaiah, and Joiarib, Jedaiah, Sallu, Amok, Hilkiah, Jedaiah. These were the chiefs of the priests and of their brothers in the days of Jeshua.


And they took Jesus away to the high priest; and there came together with him all the chief priests and those in authority and the scribes. And Peter had come after him at a distance, even into the house of the high priest; and he was seated with the captains, warming himself in the light of the fire. Now the chief priests and all the Sanhedrin were looking for witness against Jesus so that they might put him to death; and they were unable to get any. read more.
For a number gave false witness against him and their witness was not in agreement. Then some got up and gave false witness against him, saying, He said in our hearing, I will put an end to this Temple which is made with hands, and in three days I will make another without hands. And even so their witness was not in agreement. And the high priest got up in the middle of them, and said to Jesus, Do you say nothing in answer? what is it which these say against you? But he kept quiet and said nothing. Again the high priest questioning him said, Are you the Christ, the son of the Holy One? And Jesus said, I am: and you will see the Son of man seated at the right hand of power, and coming with the clouds of heaven. And the high priest, violently parting his robes, said, What more need have we of witnesses? His words against God have come to your ears: what is your opinion? And they all said it was right for him to be put to death. And some put shame on him and, covering his face, gave him blows and said to him, Now say what is to come: and the captains took him and gave him blows with their hands.

Now when it was morning, all the chief priests and those in authority took thought together with the purpose of putting Jesus to death. And they put cords on him and took him away, and gave him up to Pilate, the ruler.

And Pilate sent for the chief priests and the rulers and the people, and said to them, You say that this man has been teaching the people evil things: now I, after going into the question before you, see nothing wrong in this man in connection with the things which you have said against him And Herod is of the same opinion, for he has sent him back to us; for, you see, he has done nothing for which I might put him to death. read more.
And so I will give him punishment and let him go. no translation But with loud voices they said all together, Put this man to death, and make Barabbas free. Now this man was in prison because of an attack against the government in the town, in which there had been loss of life And Pilate again said to them that it was his desire to let Jesus go free. But crying out they said, To the cross with him And he said to them a third time, Why, what evil has he done? I see no reason for putting him to death: I will give him punishment and let him go. But they went on crying out loudly, Let him be put to death on the cross. And they had their way. And Pilate gave his decision for their desire to be put into effect.

And those who had made Jesus prisoner took him away to the house of Caiaphas, the high priest, where the scribes and those in authority over the people had come together. But Peter went after him at a distance, to the house of the high priest, and went in and took his seat with the servants, to see the end. Now the chief priests and all the Sanhedrin were looking for false witness against Jesus, so that they might put him to death; read more.
And they were not able to get it, though a number of false witnesses came. But later there came two who said, This man said, I am able to give the Temple of God to destruction, and to put it up again in three days. And the high priest got up and said to him, Have you no answer? what is it which these say against you? But Jesus said not a word. And the high priest said to him, I put you on oath, by the living God, that you will say to us if you are the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus says to him, You say so: but I say to you, From now you will see the Son of man seated at the right hand of power, and coming on the clouds of heaven. Then the high priest, violently parting his robes, said, He has said evil against God: what more need have we of witnesses? for now his words against God have come to your ears: What is your opinion? They made answer and said, It is right for him to be put to death. Then they put shame on him, and were cruel to him: and some gave him blows, saying, Be a prophet, O Christ, and say who gave you a blow!

And they made him a prisoner and took him away to the house of the high priest. But Peter went after them at a distance. And a fire was lighted in the middle of the open square, and they were seated together, and Peter was among them. And a certain woman-servant, seeing him in the light of the fire, and looking at him with attention, said, This man was with him. read more.
But he said, Woman, it is not true; I have no knowledge of him. And after a little time, another saw him and said, You are one of them; and he said, Man, I am not. And after about an hour, another man said, with decision, Certainly this man was with him, for he is a Galilaean. And Peter said, Man, I have no knowledge of these things of which you are talking. And straight away, while he was saying these words, there came the cry of a cock. And the Lord, turning, gave Peter a look. And the words of the Lord came to Peter's mind, how he had said, This night, before the hour of the cock's cry, you will be false to me three times. And he went out, weeping bitterly. And the men in whose hands Jesus was, made sport of him and gave him blows. And, covering his eyes, they said to him, Are you prophet enough to say who gave you that blow? And they said a number of other evil things against him. And when it was day, the rulers of the people came together, with the chief priests and the scribes, and they took him before their Sanhedrin, saying, If you are the Christ, say so. But he said, If I say so you will not have belief; And if I put a question to you, you will not give an answer. But in the future the Son of man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God. And they all said, Are you then the Son of God? and he said, You say that I am. And they said, What more need have we of witness? we have the very words of his mouth.

And Simon Peter went after Jesus with another disciple. Now that disciple was a friend of the high priest and he went in with Jesus into the house of the high priest; But Peter was kept outside at the door. Then this other disciple, who was a friend of the high priest, came out and had a word with the girl who kept the door, and took Peter in. Then the girl who was the door-keeper said to Peter, Are you not one of this man's disciples? In answer he said, I am not. read more.
Now the servants and the police had made a fire of coals because it was cold; they were warming themselves in front of it and Peter was there with them, warming himself. Then the high priest put questions to Jesus about his disciples and his teaching. Jesus made answer, I said things openly to the world at all times; I have given my teaching in the Synagogues and in the Temple to which all the Jews come; and I have said nothing secretly. Why are you questioning me? put questions to my hearers about what I have said to them: they have knowledge of what I said. When he said this, one of the police by his side gave him a blow with his open hand, saying, Do you give such an answer to the high priest? Jesus said in answer, If I have said anything evil, give witness to the evil: but if I said what is true, why do you give me blows? Then Annas sent him chained to Caiaphas, the high priest. But Simon Peter was still there warming himself by the fire. They said to him, Are you not one of his disciples? He said, No, I am not. One of the servants of the high priest, a relation of him whose ear had been cut off by Peter, said, Did I not see you with him in the garden? Then again Peter said, No. And straight away a cock gave its cry. So they took Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the Praetorium. It was early. They themselves did not go into the Praetorium, so that they might not become unclean, but might take the Passover. So Pilate came out to them and put the question: What have you to say against this man? They said to him in answer, If the man was not a wrongdoer we would not have given him up to you. Then Pilate said to them, Take him yourselves and let him be judged by your law. But the Jews said to him, We have no right to put any man to death. (That the word of Jesus might come true, pointing to the sort of death he would have.)


For this reason Levi has no part or heritage for himself among his brothers: the Lord is his heritage, as the Lord your God said to him.)

Only to the tribe of Levi he gave no heritage; the offerings of the Lord, the God of Israel, made by fire are his heritage, as he said to him.

For Moses had given their heritage to the two tribes and the half-tribe on the other side of Jordan, but to the Levites he gave no heritage among them.

For the Levites have no part among you; to be the Lord's priests is their heritage; and Gad and Reuben and the half-tribe of Manasseh have had their heritage on the east side of Jordan, given to them by Moses, the servant of the Lord.

But to the tribe of Levi Moses gave no heritage: the Lord, the God of Israel, is their heritage, as he said to them.

The priests, the Levites, that is, all the tribe of Levi, will have no part or heritage with Israel: their food and their heritage will be the offerings of the Lord made by fire. And they will have no heritage among their countrymen: the Lord is their heritage, as he has said to them.

And the Lord said to Aaron, You will have no heritage in their land, or any part among them; I am your part and your heritage among the children of Israel.

And give a thought to the Levite who is living among you, for he has no part or heritage in the land.

And they are to have no heritage; I am their heritage: you are to give them no property in Israel; I am their property.


And he gave the divisions of the priests their places for their work, as ordered by his father David, and to the Levites he gave their work of praise and waiting on the priests, to do what was needed day by day; and he gave the door-keepers their places in turn at every door; for so David, the man of God, had given orders.

So I made them clean from all strange people, and had regular watches fixed for the priests and for the Levites, everyone in his work;

Now the divisions into which the sons of Aaron were grouped were these: the sons of Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. But Nadab and Abihu came to their end before their father, and had no children; so Eleazar and Ithamar did the work of priests. And David, with Zadok of the sons of Eleazar, and Ahimelech of the sons of Ithamar, made distribution of them into their positions for their work. read more.
And there were more chiefs among the sons of Eleazar than among the sons of Ithamar; and this is how they were grouped: of the sons of Eleazar there were sixteen, all heads of families; and of the sons of Ithamar, heads of families, there were eight. So they were put into groups, by the Lord's decision, one with another; for there were rulers of the holy place and rulers of the house of God among the sons of Eleazar and the sons of Ithamar. And Shemaiah, the son of Nethanel the scribe, who was a Levite, put down their names in writing, the king being present with the rulers, and Zadok the priest, and Ahimelech, the son of Abiathar, and the heads of families of the priests and the Levites; one family being taken for Eleazar and then one for Ithamar, and so on. Now the first name to come out was that of Jehoiarib; the second Jedaiah, The third Harim, the fourth Seorim, The fifth Malchijah, the sixth Mijamin, The seventh Hakkoz, the eighth Abijah, The ninth Jeshua, the tenth Shecaniah, The eleventh Eliashib, the twelfth Jakim, The thirteenth Huppah, the fourteenth Jeshebeab, The fifteenth Bilgah, the sixteenth Immer, The seventeenth Hezir, the eighteenth Happizzez, The nineteenth Pethahiah, the twentieth Jehezkel, The twenty-first Jachin, the twenty-second Gamul, The twenty-third Delaiah, the twenty-fourth Maaziah. So they were put into their different groups, to take their places in the house of the Lord, in agreement with the rules made by Aaron their father, as the Lord, the God of Israel, had given him orders.

The priests: the children of Jedaiah, of the house of Jeshua, nine hundred and seventy-three. The children of Immer, a thousand and fifty-two. The children of Pashhur, a thousand, two hundred and forty-seven. read more.
The children of Harim, a thousand and seventeen.

And for the divisions of the priests and Levites, and for all the work in connection with the worship of the house of the Lord, and all the vessels used in the house of the Lord;

And see, there are the divisions of the priests and Levites for all the work of the house of God; and every trained and expert workman will be ready to do for you whatever is needed; and the captains and the people will be under your orders in everything.

Then Hezekiah put in order the divisions of the priests and Levites, every man in his division, in relation to his work, for the burned offerings and peace-offerings, and for the ordering of worship and for giving praise at the doors of the Lord's house.

And make yourselves ready in your divisions, by your families, as it is ordered in the writings of David, king of Israel, and of Solomon his son; And take your positions in the holy place, grouped in the families of your brothers, the children of the people, and for every division let there be a part of a family of the Levites.


And on the table at all times you are to keep my holy bread.

For the holy bread, and for the regular meal offering and the regular burned offering on the Sabbaths and at the new moon and the fixed feasts, and for the sin-offerings to take away the sin of Israel, and for all the work of the house of our God.

How he went into the house of God and took for food the holy bread which it was not right for him or for those who were with him to take, but only for the priests?

For the first Tent was made ready, having in it the vessels for the lights and the table and the ordering of the bread; and this is named the holy place.

See! I am building a house for the name of the Lord my God, to be made holy to him, where perfumes of sweet spices will be burned before him, and the holy bread will be placed at all times, and burned offerings will be offered morning and evening, on the Sabbaths and at the new moons, and on the regular feasts of the Lord our God. This is a law for ever to Israel.

By whom burned offerings and perfumes are sent up in smoke before the Lord every morning and every evening; and they put out the holy bread on its table and the gold support for the lights with its lights burning every evening; for we keep the orders given to us by the Lord our God, but you have gone away from him.

And take the best meal and make twelve cakes of it, a fifth part of an ephah in every cake. And put them in two lines, six in a line, on the holy table before the Lord. And on the lines of cakes put clean sweet-smelling spices, for a sign on the bread, an offering made by fire to the Lord. read more.
Every Sabbath day regularly, the priest is to put it in order before the Lord: it is offered for the children of Israel, an agreement made for ever. And it will be for Aaron and his sons; they are to take it for food in a holy place: it is the most holy of all the offerings made by fire to the Lord, a rule for ever.


When Annas and Caiaphas were high priests, the word of the Lord came to John, the son of Zacharias, in the waste land.

Then Zadok came, and Abiathar, and with them the ark of God's agreement: and they put down the ark of God, till all the people from the town had gone by.

And Moses sent them out to war, a thousand from every tribe, and with them Phinehas, the son of Eleazar the priest, taking in his hands the vessels of the holy place and the horns for sounding the note of war.

And the captain of the armed men took Seraiah, the chief priest, and Zephaniah, the second priest, and the three door-keepers;

Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, will be head over all the Levites and overseer of those responsible for the care of the holy place.

And Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, is to be responsible for the oil for the light, and the sweet perfumes for burning, and the regular meal offering, and the holy oil; the House and the holy place and everything in it will be in his care.

In the past Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, had been ruler over them; may the Lord be with him!


Then the priests, the sons of Levi, are to come near; for they have been marked out by the Lord your God to be his servants and to give blessings in the name of the Lord; and by their decision every argument and every blow is to be judged:

If you are not able to give a decision as to who is responsible for a death, or who is right in a cause, or who gave the first blow in a fight, and there is a division of opinion about it in your town: then go to the place marked out by the Lord your God; And come before the priests, the Levites, or before him who is judge at the time: and they will go into the question and give you a decision: And you are to be guided by the decision they give in the place named by the Lord, and do whatever they say: read more.
Acting in agreement with their teaching and the decision they give: not turning to one side or the other from the word they have given you. And any man who, in his pride, will not give ear to the priest whose place is there before the Lord your God, or to the judge, is to be put to death: you are to put away the evil from Israel. And all the people, hearing of it, will be full of fear and put away their pride.

Then in Jerusalem he gave authority to certain of the Levites and the priests and the heads of families of Israel to give decisions for the Lord, and in the causes of those living in Jerusalem.

And they are to make clear to my people the division between what is holy and what is common, and to give them the knowledge of what is clean and what is unclean. In any cause, they are to be in the position of judges, judging in harmony with my decisions: they are to keep my laws and my rules in all my fixed feasts; and they are to keep my Sabbaths holy.

If the spirit of doubt comes into her husband's heart, and he has doubts of his wife, with good cause; or if he has doubts of her without cause: Then let him take her to the priest, offering for her the tenth part of an ephah of barley meal, without oil or perfume; for it is a meal offering of a bitter spirit, a meal offering keeping wrongdoing in mind. And the priest will make her come near and put her before the Lord; read more.
And the priest will take holy water in a pot and put in it dust from the floor of the House; And he will make the woman come before the Lord with her hair loose, and will put the meal offering, the offering of a bitter spirit, in her hands; and the priest will take in his hand the bitter water causing the curse; And he will make her take an oath, and say to her, If no man has been your lover and you have not been with another in place of your husband, you are free from this bitter water causing the curse; But if you have been with another in place of your husband and have made yourself unclean with a lover: Then the priest will put the oath of the curse on the woman, and say to her, May the Lord make you a curse and an oath among your people, sending on you wasting of the legs and disease of the stomach; And this water of the curse will go into your body, causing disease of your stomach and wasting of your legs: and the woman will say, So be it. And the priest will put these curses in a book, washing out the writing with the bitter water; And he will give to the woman the bitter water for drink; and the bitter water causing the curse will go into her. And the priest will take from her hand the meal offering of doubt, waving it before the Lord, and will take it to the altar; And he will take some of it in his hand, burning it on the altar as a sign, and then he will give the woman the bitter water. And it will be that if the woman has become unclean, sinning against her husband, when she has taken the bitter water it will go into her body, causing disease of the stomach and wasting of the legs, and she will be a curse among her people. But if she is clean she will be free and will have offspring. This is the law for testing a wife who goes with another in place of her husband and becomes unclean; Or for a husband who, in a bitter spirit, has doubts in his heart about his wife; let him take her to the priest, who will put in force this law. Then the man will be free from all wrong, and the woman's sin will be on her.

Then the two men, between whom the argument has taken place, are to come before the Lord, before the priests and judges who are then in power;


The priests did not say, Where is the Lord? and those who were expert in the law had no knowledge of me: and the rulers did evil against me, and the prophets became prophets of the Baal, going after things without value.

For it is right for the priest's lips to keep knowledge, and for men to be waiting for the law from his mouth: for he is the servant sent from the Lord of armies.

Teaching the children of Israel all the laws which the Lord has given them by the hand of Moses.

In connection with the leper's disease, take care to keep and do every detail of the teaching of the priests, the Levites: as I gave them orders, so you are to do.

They will be the teachers of your decisions to Jacob and of your law to Israel: the burning of perfumes before you will be their right, and the ordering of burned offerings on your altar.

Then the Levites are to say in a loud voice to all the men of Israel,

Then Moses put all this law in writing, and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who take up the ark of the Lord's agreement, and to all the responsible men of Israel. And Moses said to them, At the end of every seven years, at the time fixed for the ending of debts, at the feast of tents, When all Israel has come before the Lord your God in the place named by him, let a reading be given of this law in the hearing of all Israel. read more.
Make all the people come together, men and women and children, and anyone from another country who is with you, so that hearing they may become wise in the fear of the Lord your God, and take care to do all the words of this law; And so that your children, to whom it is new, may give ear and be trained in the fear of the Lord your God, while you are living in the land which you are going over Jordan to take for your heritage.


(For those were made priests without an oath, but this one was made a priest with an oath by him who says of him, The Lord gave his oath, which he will not take back, that you are a priest for ever);

This is what you are to do to make them holy, to do the work of priests to me: Take one young ox and two male sheep, without any mark on them, And unleavened bread, and unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and thin unleavened cakes on which oil has been put, made of the best bread-meal; Put these in a basket and take them, with the ox and the two sheep. read more.
And let Aaron and his sons come to the door of the Tent of meeting, and there let them be washed with water. Take the robes, and put the coat and the dress and the ephod and the priest's bag on Aaron; put the band of needlework round him, And let the head-dress be placed on his head and the holy crown on the head-dress. Then take the oil and put it on his head. And take his sons and put their robes on them; And put the linen bands round Aaron and his sons, and the head-dresses on them, to make them priests by my order for ever: so you are to make Aaron and his sons holy to me.

Then take the other sheep; and after Aaron and his sons have put their hands on its head, You are to put the sheep to death, and take some of its blood and put it on the point of Aaron's right ear, and of the right ears of his sons, and on the thumbs of their right hands and the great toes of their right feet, dropping the rest of the blood on the sides of the altar. Then take some of the blood on the altar, and the oil, and put it on Aaron and his robes and on his sons and on their robes, so that he and his robes and his sons and their robes may be made holy. read more.
Then take the fat of the sheep, the fat tail, the fat covering the insides, and the fat joining the liver and the two kidneys with the fat round them, and the right leg; for by the offering of this sheep they are to be marked out as priests: And take one bit of bread and one cake of oiled bread and one thin cake out of the basket of unleavened bread which is before the Lord: And put them all on the hands of Aaron and of his sons, to be waved for a wave offering before the Lord. Then take them from their hands, and let them be burned on the burned offering on the altar, a sweet smell before the Lord, an offering made by fire to the Lord. Then take the breast of Aaron's sheep, waving it before the Lord; and it is to be your part of the offering. So you are to make holy the breast of the sheep which is waved and the leg which is lifted up on high, that is, of the sheep which is offered for Aaron and his sons; And it will be their part as a right for ever from the children of Israel, it is a special offering from the children of Israel, made from their peace-offerings, a special offering lifted up to the Lord. And Aaron's holy robes will be used by his sons after him; they will put them on when they are made priests. For seven days the son who becomes priest in his place will put them on when he comes into the Tent of meeting to do the work of the holy place. Then take the sheep of the wave offering and let its flesh be cooked in water in a holy place. And let Aaron and his sons make a meal of it, with the bread in the basket, at the door of the Tent of meeting. All those things which were used as offerings to take away sin, and to make them holy to be priests, they may have for food: but no one who is not a priest may have them, for they are holy food. And if any of the flesh of the offering or of the bread is over till the morning, let it be burned with fire; it is not to be used for food, for it is holy. All these things you are to do to Aaron and his sons as I have given you orders: for seven days the work of making them priests is to go on.

Then let Aaron and his sons come to the door of the Tent of meeting; and after washing them with water, You are to put on Aaron the holy robes; and you are to put oil on him, and make him holy, so that he may be my priest. And take his sons with him and put coats on them; read more.
And put oil on them as you did on their father, so that they may be my priests: the putting on of oil will make them priests for ever, from generation to generation. And Moses did this; as the Lord gave him orders, so he did.

This is the offering which Aaron and his sons are to make to the Lord on the day when he is made a priest: the tenth part of an ephah of the best meal for a meal offering for ever; half of it in the morning and half in the evening. Let it be made with oil on a flat plate; when it is well mixed and cooked, let it be broken and taken in as a meal offering, for a sweet smell to the Lord. And the same offering is to be given by that one of his sons who takes his place as priest; by an order for ever, all of it is to be burned before the Lord. read more.
Every meal offering offered for the priest is to be completely burned: nothing of it is to be taken for food.

Then Moses took Aaron and his sons; and after washing them with water, He put the coat on him, making it tight with its band, and then the robe, and over it the ephod, with its band of needlework to keep it in place. And he put the priest's bag on him, and in the bag he put the Urim and Thummim. read more.
And on his head he put the head-dress, and in front of the head-dress the plate of gold, the holy crown, as the Lord gave orders to Moses. And Moses took the holy oil and put it on the House and on all the things in it, to make them holy. Seven times he put oil on the altar and on all its vessels, and on the washing-basin and its base, to make them holy. And some of the oil he put on Aaron's head, to make him holy. Then he took Aaron's sons, clothing them with the coats, and putting the bands round them, and the head-dresses on their heads, as the Lord had given him orders. And he took the ox of the sin-offering: and Aaron and his sons put their hands on the head of the ox, And he put it to death; and Moses took the blood and put it on the horns of the altar and round it with his finger, and made the altar clean, draining out the blood at the base of the altar; so he made it holy, taking away what was unclean. And he took all the fat on the inside parts, and the fat on the liver, and the two kidneys with their fat, to be burned on the altar; But the ox, with its skin and its flesh and its waste, was burned with fire outside the tent-circle, as the Lord gave orders to Moses. And he put the male sheep of the burned offering before the Lord, and Aaron and his sons put their hands on its head, And he put it to death; and Moses put some of the blood on and round the altar. And when the sheep had been cut into parts, the head and the parts and the fat were burned by Moses. And the inside parts and the legs were washed with water and all the sheep was burned by Moses on the altar; it was a burned offering for a sweet smell: it was an offering made by fire to the Lord, as the Lord gave orders to Moses. And he put the other sheep before the Lord, the sheep with which they were made priests; and Aaron and his sons put their hands on the head of the sheep, And he put it to death; and Moses took some of the blood and put it on the point of Aaron's right ear and on the thumb of his right hand and on the great toe of his right foot. Then he took Aaron's sons, and Moses put some of the blood on the point of their right ears and on the thumbs of their right hands and on the great toes of their right feet: and Moses put the blood on and round the altar. And he took the fat, and the fat tail, and the fat on the inside parts, and the fat on the liver, and the two kidneys with their fat, and the right leg; And out of the basket of unleavened bread which was before the Lord he took one unleavened cake, and one cake of bread with oil on it, and one thin cake, and put them on the fat and on the right leg: And he put them all on the hands of Aaron and on the hands of his sons, waving them for a wave offering before the Lord. And Moses took them from their hands, and they were burned on the altar on the burned offering, as a priest's offering for a sweet smell, an offering made by fire to the Lord. And Moses took the breast, waving it for a wave offering before the Lord; it was Moses' part of the sheep of the priest's offering, as the Lord gave orders to Moses. And Moses took some of the holy oil and of the blood which was on the altar and put it on Aaron and on his robes, and on his sons and on his sons' robes; and made Aaron holy, and his robes and his sons and his sons' robes with him. And Moses said to Aaron and to his sons, The flesh is to be cooked in water at the door of the Tent of meeting, and there you are to take it as food, together with the bread in the basket, as I have given orders, saying, It is the food of Aaron and his sons. And that which is over of the flesh and of the bread is to be burned with fire. And you are not to go out from the door of the Tent of meeting for seven days, till the days for making you priest are ended; for this will be the work of seven days. What has been done this day, has been ordered by the Lord to take away your sin. And you are to keep watch for the Lord at the door of the Tent of meeting day and night for seven days, so that death may not come to you: for so he has given me orders.


And these will be waved by the priest, with the bread of the first-fruits, for a wave offering to the Lord, with the two lambs: they will be holy to the Lord for the priest.

All the best of the oil and the wine and the grain, the first-fruits of them which they give to the Lord, to you have I given them. The earliest produce from their land which they take to the Lord is to be yours; everyone in your house who is clean may have it for his food.

And this is to be the priests' right: those who make an offering of a sheep or an ox are to give to the priest the top part of the leg and the two sides of the head and the stomach. And in addition you are to give him the first of your grain and wine and oil, and the first wool cut from your sheep. For he, and his sons after him for ever, have been marked out by the Lord your God from all your tribes, to do the work of priests in the name of the Lord.

As well as the first of our sons and of our cattle, as it is recorded in the law, and the first lambs of our herds and of our flocks, which are to be taken to the house of our God, to the priests who are servants in the house of our God:

And it will be for Aaron and his sons; they are to take it for food in a holy place: it is the most holy of all the offerings made by fire to the Lord, a rule for ever.

But no such payment may be made for the first birth of an ox or a sheep or a goat; these are holy: their blood is to be dropped on the altar, and their fat burned for an offering made by fire, a sweet smell to the Lord. Their flesh is to be yours; like the breast of the wave offering and the right leg, it is to be yours.


Then he took Aaron's sons, clothing them with the coats, and putting the bands round them, and the head-dresses on their heads, as the Lord had given him orders.

And make holy robes for Aaron your brother, so that he may be clothed with glory and honour. Give orders to all the wise-hearted workmen, whom I have made full of the spirit of wisdom, to make robes for Aaron, so that he may be made holy as my priest. This is what they are to make: a priest's bag, an ephod, and a robe, and a coat of coloured needlework, a head-dress, and a linen band; they are to make holy robes for Aaron your brother and for his sons, so that they may do the work of priests for me. read more.
They are to take the gold and blue and purple and red and the best linen, And make the ephod of gold and blue and purple and red and the best linen, the work of a designer. It is to have two bands stitched to it at the top of the arms, joining it together. And the beautifully worked band, which goes on it, is to be of the same work and the same material, of gold and blue and purple and red and twisted linen-work. You are to take two beryl stones, on which the names of the children of Israel are to be cut: Six names on the one stone and six on the other, in the order of their birth. With the work of a jeweller, like the cutting of a stamp, the names of the children of Israel are to be cut on them, and they are to be fixed in twisted frames of gold. And the two stones are to be placed on the ephod, over the arm-holes, to be stones of memory for the children of Israel: Aaron will have their names on his arms when he goes in before the Lord, to keep the Lord in mind of them. And you are to make twisted frames of gold; And two chains of the best gold, twisted like cords; and have the chains fixed on to the frames. And make a priest's bag for giving decisions, designed like the ephod, made of gold and blue and purple and red and the best linen. It is to be square, folded in two, a hand-stretch long and a hand-stretch wide. And on it you are to put four lines of jewels; the first line is to be a cornelian, a chrysolite, and an emerald; The second, a ruby, a sapphire, and an onyx; The third, a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst; The fourth, a topaz, a beryl, and a jasper; they are to be fixed in twisted frames of gold. The jewels are to be twelve in number, for the names of the children of Israel; every jewel having the name of one of the twelve tribes cut on it as on a stamp. And you are to make two chains of gold, twisted like cords, to be fixed to the priest's bag. And put two gold rings on the two ends of the bag. Put the two gold chains on the two rings at the ends of the bag; Joining the other ends of the chains to the gold frames and putting them on the front of the ephod, at the top of the arms. Then make two gold rings and put them on the lower ends of the bag, at the edge of it on the inner side nearest to the ephod. And make two more gold rings and put them on the front of the ephod at the top of the arms, at the join, over the worked band: So that the rings on the bag may be fixed to the rings of the ephod by a blue cord and on to the band of the ephod, so that the bag may not come loose from the ephod. And so Aaron will have the names of the children of Israel on the priest's bag over his heart whenever he goes into the holy place, to keep the memory of them before the Lord. And in the bag you are to put the Urim and Thummim, so that they may be on Aaron's heart whenever he goes in before the Lord; and Aaron may have the power of making decisions for the children of Israel before the Lord at all times. The robe which goes with the ephod is to be made all of blue; With a hole at the top, in the middle of it; the hole is to be edged with a band to make it strong like the hole in the coat of a fighting-man, so that it may not be broken open. And round the skirts of it put fruits in blue and purple and red, with bells of gold between; A gold bell and a fruit in turn all round the skirts of the robe. Aaron is to put it on for his holy work; and the sound of it will be clear, when he goes into the holy place before the Lord, and when he comes out, keeping him safe from death. You are to make a plate of the best gold, cutting on it, as on a stamp, these words: HOLY TO THE LORD. Put a blue cord on it and put it on the front of the twisted head-dress: And it will be over Aaron's brow, so that Aaron will be responsible for any error in all the holy offerings made by the children of Israel; it will be on his brow at all times, so that their offerings may be pleasing to the Lord. The coat is to be made of the best linen, worked in squares; and you are to make a head-dress of linen, and a linen band worked in needlework. And for Aaron's sons you are to make coats, and bands, and head-dresses, so that they may be clothed with glory and honour. These you are to put on Aaron, your brother, and on his sons, putting oil on them, separating them and making them holy, to do the work of priests to me. And you are to make them linen trousers, covering their bodies from the middle to the knee; Aaron and his sons are to put these on whenever they go into the Tent of meeting or come near the altar, when they are doing the work of the holy place, so that they may be free from any sin causing death: this is to be an order for him and his seed after him for ever.

And from the needlework of blue and purple and red they made the robes used for the work of the holy place, and the holy robes for Aaron, as the Lord had given orders to Moses. The ephod he made of gold and blue and purple and red and the best linen; Hammering the gold into thin plates and cutting it into wires to be worked into the blue and the purple and the red and the linen by the designer. read more.
And they made two bands for joining its edges together at the top of the arms. And the beautifully worked band which went on it was of the same design and the same material, worked in gold and blue and purple and red and twisted linen-work, as the Lord gave orders to Moses. Then they made the beryl stones, fixed in twisted frames of gold and cut like the cutting of a stamp, with the names of the children of Israel. These he put on the ephod, over the arm-holes, to be stones of memory for the children of Israel, as the Lord had said to Moses. The priest's bag was designed like the ephod, of the best linen worked with gold and blue and purple and red. It was square and folded in two, as long and as wide as the stretch of a man's hand; And on it they put four lines of stones: in the first line was a carnelian, a chrysolite, and an emerald; In the second, a ruby, a sapphire, and an onyx; In the third, a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst; In the fourth, a topaz, a beryl, and a jasper; they were fixed in twisted frames of gold. There were twelve stones for the twelve tribes of Israel; on every one the name of one of the tribes of Israel was cut, like the cutting of a stamp. And on the bag they put gold chains, twisted like cords. And they made two gold frames and two gold rings, the rings being fixed to the ends of the priest's bag; And they put the two twisted chains on the two rings at the ends of the priest's bag; And the other two ends of the chains were joined to the two frames and fixed to the front of the ephod over the arm-holes. And they made two rings of gold and put them on the two lower ends of the bag, on the inner side nearest to the ephod. And two other gold rings were put on the front of the ephod, over the arm-holes, at the join, and over the worked band. And the rings on the bag were fixed to the rings of the ephod by a blue cord, keeping it in place over the band, so that the bag might not get loose, as the Lord gave orders to Moses. The robe which went with the ephod was made all of blue; With a hole at the top in the middle, like the hole in the coat of a fighting-man, edged with a band to make it strong. The skirts of the robe were worked all round with fruits in blue and purple and red made of twisted linen. And between the fruits all round the skirt they put gold bells, as the Lord gave orders to Moses. All round the skirt of the robe were bells and fruits in turn. The coats for Aaron and his sons they made of the best linen; And the twisted head-dress for Aaron, and beautiful head-dresses of linen, and linen trousers, And a linen band worked with a design of blue and purple and red, as the Lord had said to Moses.

And the priest is to put on his linen robes and his linen trousers, and take up what is over of the offering after it has been burned on the altar, and put it by the side of the altar. Then having taken off his linen robes and put on other clothing, he is to take it away into a clean place, outside the tent-circle.

And when they come in by the doorways of the inner square, they are to be clothed in linen robes; there is to be no wool on them while they are doing my work in the doorway of the inner square and inside the house. They are to have linen head-dresses on their heads and linen trousers on their legs, and they are to have nothing round them to make their skin wet with heat. And when they go out into the outer square to the people, they are to take off the robes in which they do the work of priests, and put them away in the holy rooms, and put on other clothing, so that the people may not be made holy by their robes.





But you will be named the priests of the Lord, the servants of our God: you will have the wealth of the nations for your food, and you will be clothed with their glory.




And put the linen bands round Aaron and his sons, and the head-dresses on them, to make them priests by my order for ever: so you are to make Aaron and his sons holy to me.

The sons of Amram: Aaron and Moses; and Aaron was made separate and holy, he and his sons for ever, for the care of the most holy things and the burning of offerings before the Lord, to do his work and give blessings in his name for ever.


And you and your sons with you are to be responsible as priests for the altar and everything on it, and everything inside the veil; you are to do the work of priests; I have given you your position as priests; and any other man who comes near will be put to death.

I will make holy the Tent of meeting and the altar: and Aaron and his sons I will make holy, to be my priests

Now let Aaron your brother, and his sons with him, come near from among the children of Israel, so that they may be my priests, even Aaron, and Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar, his sons. And make holy robes for Aaron your brother, so that he may be clothed with glory and honour. Give orders to all the wise-hearted workmen, whom I have made full of the spirit of wisdom, to make robes for Aaron, so that he may be made holy as my priest. read more.
This is what they are to make: a priest's bag, an ephod, and a robe, and a coat of coloured needlework, a head-dress, and a linen band; they are to make holy robes for Aaron your brother and for his sons, so that they may do the work of priests for me.


Now after these things were done, the captains came to me and said, The people of Israel and the priests and Levites have not kept themselves separate from the people of the lands, but have taken part in the disgusting ways of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. For they have taken their daughters for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy seed has been mixed with the peoples of the lands; and in fact the captains and rulers have been the first to do this evil.

And I made controllers over the store-houses, Shelemiah the priest and Zadok the scribe, and of the Levites, Pedaiah: and with them was Hanan, the son of Zaccur the son of Mattaniah: they were taken to be true men and their business was the distribution of these things to their brothers.

And one of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib, the chief priest, was son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite: so I sent him away from me. Keep them in mind, O my God, because they have put shame on the priests' name and on the agreement of the priests and the Levites.

Now before this, Eliashib the priest, who had been placed over the rooms of the house of our God, being a friend of Tobiah, Had made ready for him a great room, where at one time they kept the meal offerings, the perfume, and the vessels and the tenths of the grain and wine and oil which were given by order to the Levites and the music-makers and the door-keepers, and the lifted offerings for the priests. But all this time I was not at Jerusalem: for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes, king of Babylon, I went to the king; and after some days, I got the king to let me go, read more.
And I came to Jerusalem; and it was clear to me what evil Eliashib had done for Tobiah, in making ready for him a room in the buildings of the house of God. And it was evil in my eyes: so I had all Tobiah's things put out of the room. Then I gave orders, and they made the rooms clean: and I put back in them the vessels of the house of God, with the meal offerings and the perfume.

And among the sons of the priests who were married to strange women were these: of the sons of Jeshua, the son of Jozadak and his brothers, Maaseiah and Eliezer and Jarib and Gedaliah. And they gave their word that they would put away their wives; and for their sin, they gave an offering of a male sheep of the flock. And of the sons of Immer, Hanani and Zebadiah. read more.
And of the sons of Harim, Maaseiah and Elijah and Shemaiah and Jehiel and Uzziah. And of the sons of Pashhur, Elioenai, Maaseiah, Ishmael, Nethanel, Jozabad, and Elasah.





For this Melchizedek, the king of Salem, a priest of the Most High God, who gave Abraham his blessing, meeting him when he came back after putting the kings to death, And to whom Abraham gave a tenth part of everything which he had, being first named King of righteousness, and then in addition, King of Salem, that is to say, King of peace; Being without father or mother, or family, having no birth or end to his life, being made like the Son of God, is a priest for ever. read more.
Now see how great this man was, to whom our father Abraham gave a tenth part of what he had got in the fight. And it is true that by the law, those of the sons of Levi who have the position of priests may take a tenth part of the people's goods; that is to say, they take it from their brothers though these are the sons of Abraham. But this man, who was not of their family, took the tenth from Abraham, and gave a blessing to him to whom God had given his undertaking. But there is no doubt that the less gets his blessing from the greater. Now at the present time, men over whom death has power take the tenth; but then it was taken by one of whom it is witnessed that he is living. And we may say that in Abraham, even Levi, who has a right to take the tenth part, gave it; Because he was still in his father's body when Melchizedek came to him. Now if it was possible for things to be made complete through the priests of the house of Levi (for the law was given to the people in connection with them), what need was there for another priest who was of the order of Melchizedek and not of the order of Aaron? Because if the priests are changed, it is necessary to make a change in the law. For he of whom these things are said comes of another tribe, of which no man has ever made offerings at the altar. Because it is clear that our Lord comes out of Judah, and Moses said nothing about priests from that tribe. And this is even more clear if a second priest has come up who is like Melchizedek, That is to say, not made by a law based on the flesh, but by the power of a life without end: For it has been witnessed of him, You are a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek. So the law which went before is put on one side, because it was feeble and without profit. (Because the law made nothing complete), and in its place there is a better hope, through which we come near to God. And as this is not without the taking of an oath (For those were made priests without an oath, but this one was made a priest with an oath by him who says of him, The Lord gave his oath, which he will not take back, that you are a priest for ever);

Being named by God a high priest of the order of Melchizedek. Of whom we have much to say which it is hard to make clear, because you are slow of hearing.


Outside the veil of the ark in the Tent of meeting; let Aaron see that it is burning from evening till morning at all times before the Lord: it is a rule for ever through all your generations. Let Aaron put the lights in order on the support before the Lord at all times.

Give orders to the children of Israel to give you clear olive oil for the lights, so that a light may be burning there at all times. Let Aaron and his sons put this in order, evening and morning, before the Lord, inside the Tent of meeting, outside the veil which is before the ark; this is to be an order for ever, from generation to generation, to be kept by the children of Israel.

And every evening, when he puts the lights up in their places, the spices are to be burned, a sweet-smelling smoke going up before the Lord from generation to generation for ever.

And Aaron did so; he put the lights in their places so that they gave light in front of the support, as the Lord gave orders to Moses.


And once every year Aaron is to make its horns clean: with the blood of the sin-offering he is to make it clean once every year from generation to generation: it is most holy to the Lord.


And being feeble, he has to make sin-offerings for himself as well as for the people.

And by the law almost all things are made clean with blood, and without blood there is no forgiveness. For this cause it was necessary to make the copies of the things in heaven clean with these offerings; but the things themselves are made clean with better offerings than these.


And when they saw that there was much money in the chest, the king's scribe and the high priest came and put it in bags, noting the amount of all the money there was in the house of the Lord.

Go up to Hilkiah, the chief priest, and let him give out the money which is taken into the house of the Lord, which the keepers of the door have got together from the people;

And they came to Hilkiah, the chief priest, and gave him all the money which had been taken into the house of God, which the Levites, the keepers of the door, had got from Manasseh and Ephraim and those of Israel who had not been taken away as prisoners, and from all Judah and Benjamin and the people of Jerusalem.

Then the king sent for Jehoiada, the chief priest, and said to him, Why have you not given the Levites orders that the tax fixed by Moses, the servant of the Lord, and by the meeting of Israel, for the Tent of witness, is to be got in from Judah and Jerusalem and handed over? For the house of the Lord had been broken up by Athaliah, that evil woman, and her sons; and all its holy things they had given to the Baals. So at the king's order they made a chest and put it outside the doorway of the house of the Lord. read more.
And an order was sent out through all Judah and Jerusalem that payment was to be made to the Lord of the tax which Moses, the servant of God, had put on Israel in the waste land. And all the chiefs and all the people came gladly and put their money into the chest, till they had all given. So when the chest was taken to the king's servants by the Levites, and they saw that there was much money in it, the king's scribe and the chief priest's servant took the money out, and put the chest back in its place. They did this day by day, and got together a great amount of money. Then the king and Jehoiada gave it to those who were responsible for getting the work done on the Lord's house, and with it they got wall-builders and woodworkers and metal-workers to put the house of the Lord in good order again. So the workmen did their work, making good what was damaged and building up the house of God till it was strong and beautiful again. And when the work was done, they took the rest of the money to the king and Jehoiada, and it was used for making the vessels for the house of the Lord, all the vessels needed for the offerings, the spoons and the vessels of gold and silver. And as long as Jehoiada was living, the regular burned offerings were offered in the house of the Lord.


And Moses sent them out to war, a thousand from every tribe, and with them Phinehas, the son of Eleazar the priest, taking in his hands the vessels of the holy place and the horns for sounding the note of war.

And now God is with us at our head, and his priests with their loud horns sounding against you. O children of Israel, do not make war on the Lord, the God of your fathers, for it will not go well for you.

Make two silver horns of hammered work, to be used for getting the people together and to give the sign for the moving of the tents. When they are sounded, all the people are to come together to you at the door of the Tent of meeting. If only one of them is sounded, then the chiefs, the heads of the thousands of Israel, are to come to you. read more.
When a loud note is sounded, the tents placed on the east side are to go forward. At the sound of a second loud note, the tents on the south side are to go forward: the loud note will be the sign to go forward. But when all the people are to come together, the horn is to be sounded but not loudly. The horns are to be sounded by the sons of Aaron, the priests; this is to be a law for you for ever, from generation to generation. And if you go to war in your land against any who do you wrong, then let the loud note of the horn be sounded; and the Lord your God will keep you in mind and give you salvation from those who are against you. And on days of joy and on your regular feasts and on the first day of every month, let the horns be sounded over your burned offerings and your peace-offerings; and they will put the Lord in mind of you: I am the Lord your God.


Her priests have been acting violently against my law; they have made my holy things unclean: they have made no division between what is holy and what is common, and they have not made it clear that the unclean is different from the clean, and their eyes have been shut to my Sabbaths, and I am not honoured among them.

For the prophet as well as the priest is unclean; even in my house I have seen their evil-doing, says the Lord. For this cause their steps will be slipping on their way: they will be forced on into the dark and have a fall there: for I will send evil on them in the year of their punishment, says the Lord.

And by chance a certain priest was going down that way: and when he saw him, he went by on the other side.


Outside the veil of the ark in the Tent of meeting; let Aaron see that it is burning from evening till morning at all times before the Lord: it is a rule for ever through all your generations. Let Aaron put the lights in order on the support before the Lord at all times.

Give orders to the children of Israel to give you clear olive oil for the lights, so that a light may be burning there at all times. Let Aaron and his sons put this in order, evening and morning, before the Lord, inside the Tent of meeting, outside the veil which is before the ark; this is to be an order for ever, from generation to generation, to be kept by the children of Israel.

By whom burned offerings and perfumes are sent up in smoke before the Lord every morning and every evening; and they put out the holy bread on its table and the gold support for the lights with its lights burning every evening; for we keep the orders given to us by the Lord our God, but you have gone away from him.


And among the sons of the priests who were married to strange women were these: of the sons of Jeshua, the son of Jozadak and his brothers, Maaseiah and Eliezer and Jarib and Gedaliah. And they gave their word that they would put away their wives; and for their sin, they gave an offering of a male sheep of the flock.

Now after these things were done, the captains came to me and said, The people of Israel and the priests and Levites have not kept themselves separate from the people of the lands, but have taken part in the disgusting ways of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. For they have taken their daughters for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy seed has been mixed with the peoples of the lands; and in fact the captains and rulers have been the first to do this evil.

And the rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the door-keepers, the music-makers, the Nethinim, and all those who had made themselves separate from the peoples of the lands, to keep the law of God, their wives, their sons, and their daughters, everyone who had knowledge and wisdom;

Then Ezra got up, and made the chiefs of the priests and the Levites and all Israel take an oath that they would do this. So they took an oath.


Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, will be head over all the Levites and overseer of those responsible for the care of the holy place.

This is the work of the family of the Gershonites in the Tent of meeting, and they will be under the direction of Ithamar, the son of Aaron the priest.

Give the Levites to Aaron and his sons; so that they may be his without question from among the children of Israel.

In the past Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, had been ruler over them; may the Lord be with him!

This is the work which the sons of Merari are to do in connection with the Tent of meeting, under the direction of Ithamar, the son of Aaron the priest.

But do this to them, so that life and not death may be theirs when they come near the most holy things; let Aaron and his sons go in and give to every one his work and that which he is to take up;


The sons of Amram: Aaron and Moses; and Aaron was made separate and holy, he and his sons for ever, for the care of the most holy things and the burning of offerings before the Lord, to do his work and give blessings in his name for ever.

And on this altar sweet spices are to be burned by Aaron every morning when he sees to the lights. And every evening, when he puts the lights up in their places, the spices are to be burned, a sweet-smelling smoke going up before the Lord from generation to generation for ever.

Did I take him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest and to go up to my altar to make the smoke of the offerings go up and to take up the ephod? Did I give to your father's family all the offerings made by fire by the children of Israel?


If anyone is untrue, sinning in error in connection with the holy things of the Lord, let him take his offering to the Lord, a male sheep from the flock, without any mark, of the value fixed by you in silver by shekels, by the scale of the holy place.

The money of the offerings for error and the sin-offerings was not taken into the house of the Lord; it was the priests'.

This is to be yours of the most holy things, out of the fire offerings; every offering of theirs, every meal offering and sin-offering, and every offering which they make on account of error, is to be most holy for you and your sons.

Let him come to the priest with a sheep, a male without any mark out of the flock, of the value fixed by you, as an offering for his error; and the priest will take away the sin which he did in error, and he will have forgiveness.


Then the priests, the sons of Levi, are to come near; for they have been marked out by the Lord your God to be his servants and to give blessings in the name of the Lord; and by their decision every argument and every blow is to be judged:

Then the priests and the Levites gave the people a blessing: and the voice of their prayer went up to the holy place of God in heaven.

And the Lord said to Moses, Say to Aaron and his sons, These are the words of blessing which are to be used by you in blessing the children of Israel; say to them, May the Lord send his blessing on you and keep you: read more.
May the light of the Lord's face be shining on you in grace: May the Lord's approval be resting on you and may he give you peace. So they will put my name on the children of Israel, and I will give them my blessing.


And make holy robes for Aaron your brother, so that he may be clothed with glory and honour. Give orders to all the wise-hearted workmen, whom I have made full of the spirit of wisdom, to make robes for Aaron, so that he may be made holy as my priest. This is what they are to make: a priest's bag, an ephod, and a robe, and a coat of coloured needlework, a head-dress, and a linen band; they are to make holy robes for Aaron your brother and for his sons, so that they may do the work of priests for me. read more.
They are to take the gold and blue and purple and red and the best linen, And make the ephod of gold and blue and purple and red and the best linen, the work of a designer. It is to have two bands stitched to it at the top of the arms, joining it together. And the beautifully worked band, which goes on it, is to be of the same work and the same material, of gold and blue and purple and red and twisted linen-work. You are to take two beryl stones, on which the names of the children of Israel are to be cut: Six names on the one stone and six on the other, in the order of their birth. With the work of a jeweller, like the cutting of a stamp, the names of the children of Israel are to be cut on them, and they are to be fixed in twisted frames of gold. And the two stones are to be placed on the ephod, over the arm-holes, to be stones of memory for the children of Israel: Aaron will have their names on his arms when he goes in before the Lord, to keep the Lord in mind of them. And you are to make twisted frames of gold; And two chains of the best gold, twisted like cords; and have the chains fixed on to the frames. And make a priest's bag for giving decisions, designed like the ephod, made of gold and blue and purple and red and the best linen. It is to be square, folded in two, a hand-stretch long and a hand-stretch wide. And on it you are to put four lines of jewels; the first line is to be a cornelian, a chrysolite, and an emerald; The second, a ruby, a sapphire, and an onyx; The third, a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst; The fourth, a topaz, a beryl, and a jasper; they are to be fixed in twisted frames of gold. The jewels are to be twelve in number, for the names of the children of Israel; every jewel having the name of one of the twelve tribes cut on it as on a stamp. And you are to make two chains of gold, twisted like cords, to be fixed to the priest's bag. And put two gold rings on the two ends of the bag. Put the two gold chains on the two rings at the ends of the bag; Joining the other ends of the chains to the gold frames and putting them on the front of the ephod, at the top of the arms. Then make two gold rings and put them on the lower ends of the bag, at the edge of it on the inner side nearest to the ephod. And make two more gold rings and put them on the front of the ephod at the top of the arms, at the join, over the worked band: So that the rings on the bag may be fixed to the rings of the ephod by a blue cord and on to the band of the ephod, so that the bag may not come loose from the ephod. And so Aaron will have the names of the children of Israel on the priest's bag over his heart whenever he goes into the holy place, to keep the memory of them before the Lord. And in the bag you are to put the Urim and Thummim, so that they may be on Aaron's heart whenever he goes in before the Lord; and Aaron may have the power of making decisions for the children of Israel before the Lord at all times. The robe which goes with the ephod is to be made all of blue; With a hole at the top, in the middle of it; the hole is to be edged with a band to make it strong like the hole in the coat of a fighting-man, so that it may not be broken open. And round the skirts of it put fruits in blue and purple and red, with bells of gold between; A gold bell and a fruit in turn all round the skirts of the robe. Aaron is to put it on for his holy work; and the sound of it will be clear, when he goes into the holy place before the Lord, and when he comes out, keeping him safe from death. You are to make a plate of the best gold, cutting on it, as on a stamp, these words: HOLY TO THE LORD. Put a blue cord on it and put it on the front of the twisted head-dress: And it will be over Aaron's brow, so that Aaron will be responsible for any error in all the holy offerings made by the children of Israel; it will be on his brow at all times, so that their offerings may be pleasing to the Lord. The coat is to be made of the best linen, worked in squares; and you are to make a head-dress of linen, and a linen band worked in needlework. And for Aaron's sons you are to make coats, and bands, and head-dresses, so that they may be clothed with glory and honour. These you are to put on Aaron, your brother, and on his sons, putting oil on them, separating them and making them holy, to do the work of priests to me. And you are to make them linen trousers, covering their bodies from the middle to the knee; Aaron and his sons are to put these on whenever they go into the Tent of meeting or come near the altar, when they are doing the work of the holy place, so that they may be free from any sin causing death: this is to be an order for him and his seed after him for ever.

And from the needlework of blue and purple and red they made the robes used for the work of the holy place, and the holy robes for Aaron, as the Lord had given orders to Moses. The ephod he made of gold and blue and purple and red and the best linen; Hammering the gold into thin plates and cutting it into wires to be worked into the blue and the purple and the red and the linen by the designer. read more.
And they made two bands for joining its edges together at the top of the arms. And the beautifully worked band which went on it was of the same design and the same material, worked in gold and blue and purple and red and twisted linen-work, as the Lord gave orders to Moses. Then they made the beryl stones, fixed in twisted frames of gold and cut like the cutting of a stamp, with the names of the children of Israel. These he put on the ephod, over the arm-holes, to be stones of memory for the children of Israel, as the Lord had said to Moses. The priest's bag was designed like the ephod, of the best linen worked with gold and blue and purple and red. It was square and folded in two, as long and as wide as the stretch of a man's hand; And on it they put four lines of stones: in the first line was a carnelian, a chrysolite, and an emerald; In the second, a ruby, a sapphire, and an onyx; In the third, a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst; In the fourth, a topaz, a beryl, and a jasper; they were fixed in twisted frames of gold. There were twelve stones for the twelve tribes of Israel; on every one the name of one of the tribes of Israel was cut, like the cutting of a stamp. And on the bag they put gold chains, twisted like cords. And they made two gold frames and two gold rings, the rings being fixed to the ends of the priest's bag; And they put the two twisted chains on the two rings at the ends of the priest's bag; And the other two ends of the chains were joined to the two frames and fixed to the front of the ephod over the arm-holes. And they made two rings of gold and put them on the two lower ends of the bag, on the inner side nearest to the ephod. And two other gold rings were put on the front of the ephod, over the arm-holes, at the join, and over the worked band. And the rings on the bag were fixed to the rings of the ephod by a blue cord, keeping it in place over the band, so that the bag might not get loose, as the Lord gave orders to Moses. The robe which went with the ephod was made all of blue; With a hole at the top in the middle, like the hole in the coat of a fighting-man, edged with a band to make it strong. The skirts of the robe were worked all round with fruits in blue and purple and red made of twisted linen. And between the fruits all round the skirt they put gold bells, as the Lord gave orders to Moses. All round the skirt of the robe were bells and fruits in turn. The coats for Aaron and his sons they made of the best linen; And the twisted head-dress for Aaron, and beautiful head-dresses of linen, and linen trousers, And a linen band worked with a design of blue and purple and red, as the Lord had said to Moses. The plate for the holy crown was made of the best gold, and on it were cut these words, HOLY TO THE LORD. It was fixed to the head-dress by a blue cord, as the Lord had given orders to Moses.

He put the coat on him, making it tight with its band, and then the robe, and over it the ephod, with its band of needlework to keep it in place. And he put the priest's bag on him, and in the bag he put the Urim and Thummim. And on his head he put the head-dress, and in front of the head-dress the plate of gold, the holy crown, as the Lord gave orders to Moses.


But with loud voices they said all together, Put this man to death, and make Barabbas free.

But the people were moved by the chief priests to make him let Barabbas go free.

Now the chief priests and those in authority got the people to make request for Barabbas, and for Jesus to be put to death.


And they made protests to Uzziah the king, and said to him, The burning of perfumes, Uzziah, is not your business but that of the priests, the sons of Aaron, who have been made holy for this work: go out of the holy place, for you have done wrong, and it will not be to your honour before God.


And you and your sons with you are to be responsible as priests for the altar and everything on it, and everything inside the veil; you are to do the work of priests; I have given you your position as priests; and any other man who comes near will be put to death.


Say to the Levites, When you take from the children of Israel the tenth which I have given to you from them as your heritage, a tenth part of that tenth is to be offered as an offering lifted up before the Lord. And this lifted offering is to be put to your credit as if it was grain from the grain-floor and wine from the vines. So you are to make an offering lifted up to the Lord from all the tenths which you get from the children of Israel, giving out of it the Lord's lifted offering to Aaron the priest. read more.
From everything given to you, let the best of it, the holy part of it, be offered as a lifted offering to the Lord. Say to them, then, When the best of it is lifted up on high, it is to be put to the account of the Levites as the increase of the grain-floor and of the place where the grapes are crushed. It is to be your food, for you and your families in every place: it is your reward for your work in the Tent of meeting. And no sin will be yours on account of it, when the best of it has been lifted up on high; you are not to make a wrong use of the holy things of the children of Israel, so that death may not overtake you.

And the Lord said to Aaron, See, I have given into your care my lifted offerings; even all the holy things of the children of Israel I have given to you and to your sons as your right for ever, because you have been marked with the holy oil. This is to be yours of the most holy things, out of the fire offerings; every offering of theirs, every meal offering and sin-offering, and every offering which they make on account of error, is to be most holy for you and your sons. As most holy things they are to be your food: let every male have them for food; it is to be holy to you. read more.
And this is yours: the lifted offering which they give and all the wave offerings of the children of Israel I have given to you and to your sons and to your daughters as your right for ever: everyone in your house who is clean may have them for food. All the best of the oil and the wine and the grain, the first-fruits of them which they give to the Lord, to you have I given them. The earliest produce from their land which they take to the Lord is to be yours; everyone in your house who is clean may have it for his food. Everything given by oath to the Lord in Israel is to be yours. The first birth of every living thing which is offered to the Lord, of man or beast, is to be yours; but for the first sons of man payment is to be made, and for the first young of unclean beasts. Payment is to be made for these when they are a month old, at the value fixed by you, a price of five shekels by the scale of the holy place, that is, twenty gerahs to the shekel. But no such payment may be made for the first birth of an ox or a sheep or a goat; these are holy: their blood is to be dropped on the altar, and their fat burned for an offering made by fire, a sweet smell to the Lord. Their flesh is to be yours; like the breast of the wave offering and the right leg, it is to be yours.

And the priest, the son of Aaron, is to be with the Levites, when the Levites take the tenths: and the Levites are to take a tenth of the tenths into the house of our God, to the rooms, into the store-house;


Everything given by oath to the Lord in Israel is to be yours.

But the field, when it becomes free at the year of Jubilee, will be holy to the Lord, as a field given under oath: it will be the property of the priest.

And every offering lifted up of all the holy things which the children of Israel give to the priest, will be his. And every man's holy things will be his: whatever a man gives to the priest will be his.


All the lifted offerings of the holy things which the children of Israel give to the Lord, I have given to you and to your sons and to your daughters as a right for ever. This is an agreement made with salt before the Lord, to you and to your seed for ever.

And this is yours: the lifted offering which they give and all the wave offerings of the children of Israel I have given to you and to your sons and to your daughters as your right for ever: everyone in your house who is clean may have them for food.

But any person for whom the priest has given money, to make him his, may take of it with him; and those who come to birth in his house may take of his bread. And if the daughter of a priest is married to an outside person she may not take of the holy things which are lifted up as offerings. But if a priest's daughter is a widow, or parted from her husband, and has no child, and has come back to her father's house as when she was a girl, she may take of her father's bread; but no outside person may do so.


But if the man has no relation to whom the payment may be made, then the payment for sin made to the Lord will be the priest's, in addition to the sheep offered to take away his sin.

And he is to make payment to the priest for what he has done wrong in relation to the holy thing, together with a fifth part of its value in addition; and the priest will take away his sin by the sheep of his offering, and he will have forgiveness.

And if a man takes the holy food in error, he will have to give the holy thing back to the priest, with the addition of a fifth part.


Say to the children of Israel, When you have come to the land which I will give you, and have got in the grain from its fields, take some of the first-fruits of the grain to the priest; And let the grain be waved before the Lord, so that you may be pleasing to him; on the day after the Sabbath let it be waved by the priest.

And you are to come to him who is priest at that time, and say to him, I give witness today before the Lord your God, that I have come into the land which the Lord made an oath to our fathers to give us. Then the priest will take the basket from your hand and put it down in front of the altar of the Lord your God.


And put the linen bands round Aaron and his sons, and the head-dresses on them, to make them priests by my order for ever: so you are to make Aaron and his sons holy to me.

Let Aaron and his sons put this in order, evening and morning, before the Lord, inside the Tent of meeting, outside the veil which is before the ark; this is to be an order for ever, from generation to generation, to be kept by the children of Israel.

Aaron and his sons are to put these on whenever they go into the Tent of meeting or come near the altar, when they are doing the work of the holy place, so that they may be free from any sin causing death: this is to be an order for him and his seed after him for ever.


And after bathing his body in water in a holy place, he is to put on his clothing and come out and give his burned offering and the burned offering of the people, to take away his sin and the sin of the people.

And Aaron is to give the ox of the sin-offering for himself, to make himself and his house free from sin.

And on the day when he goes into the inner square, to do the work of the holy place, he is to make his sin-offering, says the Lord.


And after bathing his body in water in a holy place, he is to put on his clothing and come out and give his burned offering and the burned offering of the people, to take away his sin and the sin of the people.

And between the altar and the Tent of meeting he put the vessel with water in it for washing. In it the hands and feet of Moses and Aaron and his sons were washed, Whenever they went into the Tent of meeting, and when they came near the altar, as the Lord had given orders to Moses.


They may not take as wife a loose or common woman, or one who has been put away by her husband: for the priest is holy to his God. And he is to be holy in your eyes, for by him the bread of your God is offered; he is to be holy in your eyes, for I the Lord, who make you holy, am holy. And if the daughter of a priest makes herself common and by her loose behaviour puts shame on her father, let her be burned with fire. read more.
And he who is the chief priest among his brothers, on whose head the holy oil has been put, who is marked out to put on the holy robes, may not let his hair go loose or have his clothing out of order as a sign of sorrow. He may not go near any dead body or make himself unclean for his father or his mother; He may not go out of the holy place or make the holy place of his God common; for the crown of the holy oil of his God is on him: I am the Lord. And let him take as his wife one who has not had relations with a man. A widow, or one whose husband has put her away, or a common woman of loose behaviour, may not be the wife of a priest; but let him take a virgin from among his people. And he may not make his seed unclean among his people, for I the Lord have made him holy.

And they are not to take as wives any widow or woman whose husband has put her away: but they may take virgins of the seed of Israel, or a widow who is the widow of a priest.


Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, will be head over all the Levites and overseer of those responsible for the care of the holy place.

And he who is the chief priest among his brothers, on whose head the holy oil has been put, who is marked out to put on the holy robes, may not let his hair go loose or have his clothing out of order as a sign of sorrow. He may not go near any dead body or make himself unclean for his father or his mother; He may not go out of the holy place or make the holy place of his God common; for the crown of the holy oil of his God is on him: I am the Lord. read more.
And let him take as his wife one who has not had relations with a man. A widow, or one whose husband has put her away, or a common woman of loose behaviour, may not be the wife of a priest; but let him take a virgin from among his people. And he may not make his seed unclean among his people, for I the Lord have made him holy.


And the price you have to give for the two hundred and seventy-three first sons of the children of Israel which are in addition to the number of the Levites, Will be five shekels for every one, by the scale of the holy place (the shekel is twenty gerahs); And this money, the price of those over the number of the Levites, is to be given to Aaron and his sons. read more.
So Moses took the money, the price of those whose place had not been taken by the Levites; From the first sons of Israel he took it, a thousand, three hundred and sixty-five shekels, by the scale of the holy place; And he gave the money to Aaron and his sons, as the Lord had said.

The first birth of every living thing which is offered to the Lord, of man or beast, is to be yours; but for the first sons of man payment is to be made, and for the first young of unclean beasts. Payment is to be made for these when they are a month old, at the value fixed by you, a price of five shekels by the scale of the holy place, that is, twenty gerahs to the shekel.


And the Lord said to Aaron, You and your sons and your father's family are to be responsible for all wrongdoing in relation to the holy place: and you and your sons are to be responsible for the errors which come about in your work as priests.

And you and your sons with you are to be responsible as priests for the altar and everything on it, and everything inside the veil; you are to do the work of priests; I have given you your position as priests; and any other man who comes near will be put to death.

When all the people go forward, Aaron is to go in with his sons, and take down the veil of the curtain, covering the ark of witness with it; And putting over it the leather cover and over that a blue cloth; and putting its rods in place. And on the table of the holy bread they are to put a blue cloth, and on it all the vessels, the spoons and the basins and the cups; and the holy bread with them; read more.
And over them they are to put a red cloth, covering it with a leather cover, and putting its rods in their places. And they are to take a blue cloth, covering with it the light-support with its lights and its instruments and its trays and all the oil vessels which are used for it: All these they are to put in a leather cover, and put it on the frame. On the gold altar they are to put a blue cloth, covering it with a leather cover; and they are to put its rods in their places. All the vessels which are used in the holy place they are to put in a blue cloth, covering them with a leather cover, and put them on the frame. And they are to take away the burned waste from the altar, and put a purple cloth on it; Placing on the cloth all its vessels, the fire-baskets, the meat-hooks, the spades, and the basins; all the vessels of the altar; they are to put a leather cover over all these, and put its rods in their places. And after the holy place and all its vessels have been covered up by Aaron and his sons, when the tents of the people go forward, the sons of Kohath are to come and take it up; but the holy things may not be touched by them for fear of death.

You are to be responsible for the holy place and the altar, so that wrath may never again come on the children of Israel.


And Annas, the high priest, was there, and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all the relations of the high priest. Then sending for Peter and John, they said, By what power and in whose name have you done this? Then Peter, being full of the Holy Spirit, said to them, O you rulers of the people and men of authority, read more.
If we are questioned today about a good work done to a man who was ill, as to how he has been made well, Take note, all of you, and all the people of Israel, that in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you put to death on the cross, whom God gave back from the dead, even through him is this man now before you completely well. He is the stone which you builders had no use for, but which has been made the chief stone of the building. And in no other is there salvation: for there is no other name under heaven, given among men, through which we may have salvation. Now when they saw that Peter and John were without fear, though they were men of no education or learning, they were greatly surprised; and they took note of them that they had been with Jesus. And, seeing that the man who had been made well was there with them, they were not able to say anything against it. But when they had given them orders to go out of the Sanhedrin, they had a discussion among themselves, Saying, What are we to do with these men? for certainly it is clear to all who are living in Jerusalem that a most important sign has been done by them, and it is not possible to say that it is not so. But so that it may not go farther among the people, let us put them in fear of punishment if they say anything in future in this name. And they sent for them, and gave them orders not to make statements or give teaching in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John in answer said to them, It is for you to say if it is right in the eyes of God to give attention to you more than to God: For it is not possible for us to keep from saying what we have seen and have knowledge of. And when they had said more sharp words to them, they let them go, not seeing what punishment they might give them, because of the people; for all men were giving praise to God for what had taken place.

But the high priest and those who were with him (the Sadducees) were full of envy, And they took the Apostles and put them in the common prison. But in the night an angel of the Lord, opening the doors of the prison, took them out and said, read more.
Go, take your place in the Temple and give the people all the teaching about this Life. And hearing this, they went into the Temple at dawn, and were teaching. But the high priest and those who were with him got together the Sanhedrin and the representatives of the children of Israel, and sent to the prison to get them. But the men who were sent saw that they were not in the prison, and came back with the news, Saying, The doors of the prison were safely shut, and the keepers were at the doors, but when they were open, there was nobody inside. Now, at these words, the captain of the Temple and the chief priests were greatly troubled about what might be the end of this business. And someone came and said to them, The men, whom you put in prison, are in the Temple teaching the people. Then the captain and some of the police went and took them, but not violently, for fear that they might be stoned by the people. And they took them into the Sanhedrin, and the high priest said to them, We gave you very clear orders not to give teaching in this name: and now Jerusalem is full of your teaching, and you are attempting to make us responsible for this man's death. But Peter and the Apostles, answering, said, We have to do the orders of God, not of man. The God of our fathers gave Jesus back to life, whom you had put to death, hanging him on a tree. Him God has put on high at his right hand, as a Ruler and a Saviour, to give to Israel a change of heart and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who keep his laws. But when these words came to their ears, they were cut to the heart, and had a mind to put them to death. But one of the Sanhedrin, a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a man of learning in the law, of whom all the people had a high opinion, got up and made a suggestion for the men to be put outside for a little time. And he said to them, Men of Israel, take care what you do about these men. For before this there was Theudas, who said he was someone important, to whom about four hundred men gave their support: he was put to death, and his band was broken up and came to nothing. After this man, there was Judas of Galilee, at the time of the numbering, and some of the people went after him: he was put to death, and all his supporters were put to flight. And now I say to you, Do nothing to these men, but let them be: for if this teaching or this work is of men, it will come to nothing: But if it is of God, you will not be able to overcome them, and you are in danger of fighting against God. And he seemed to them to be right: and they sent for the Apostles, and, after having them whipped and giving them orders to give no teaching in the name of Jesus, they let them go. So they went away from the Sanhedrin, happy to undergo shame for the Name.


So then, let them keep what I have put into their care, for fear that sin may come on them because of it, so causing their death because they have made it common: I am the Lord, who make them holy.

Let them be holy to their God and not make the name of their God common; for the fire offerings of the Lord and the bread of their God are offered by them, and they are to be holy. They may not take as wife a loose or common woman, or one who has been put away by her husband: for the priest is holy to his God.

So causing sin to come on them when they take their holy things for food: I am the Lord who make them holy.


Then it will be that the rest of your family, anyone who has not been cut off, will go down on his knees to him for a bit of silver or a bit of bread, and say, Be pleased to put me into one of the priest's places so that I may have a little food.

But do this to them, so that life and not death may be theirs when they come near the most holy things; let Aaron and his sons go in and give to every one his work and that which he is to take up;


Now after these things, when Artaxerxes was king of Persia, Ezra, the son of Seraiah, the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah, The son of Shallum, the son of Zadok, the son of Ahitub, The son of Amariah, the son of Azariah, the son of Meraioth, read more.
The son of Zerahiah, the son of Uzzi, the son of Bukki, The son of Abishua, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the chief priest: This Ezra went up from Babylon; and he was a scribe, expert in the law of Moses which the Lord, the God of Israel, had given: and the king, moved by the Lord his God, gave him whatever he made request for.

And Nehemiah, who was the Tirshatha, and Ezra, the priest and scribe, and the Levites who were the teachers of the people, said to all the people, This day is holy to the Lord your God; let there be no sorrow or weeping; for all the people were weeping on hearing the words of the law.


But on the day after, desiring to have certain knowledge of what the Jews had to say against him, he made him free, and gave orders for the chief priests and all the Sanhedrin to come together, and he took Paul and put him before them.

And Paul, looking fixedly at the Sanhedrin, said, My brothers, my life has been upright before God till this day. And the high priest, Ananias, gave orders to those who were near him to give him a blow on the mouth. Then Paul said to him, God will give blows to you, you whitewashed wall: are you here to be my judge by law, and by your orders am I given blows against the law? read more.
And those who were near said, Do you say such words against God's high priest And Paul said, Brother, I had no idea that he was the high priest: for it has been said, You may not say evil about the ruler of your people.


And he made places for worship at the high places, and made priests, who were not Levites, from among all the people.

After this Jeroboam, not turning back from his evil ways, still made priests for his altars from among all the people; he made a priest of anyone desiring it, so that there might be priests of the high places.


When the priests go in, they may not go out of the holy place into the outer square, and there they are to put the robes in which they do the work of the Lord's house, for they are holy: and they have to put on other clothing before they come near that which has to do with the people.

And when they go out into the outer square to the people, they are to take off the robes in which they do the work of priests, and put them away in the holy rooms, and put on other clothing, so that the people may not be made holy by their robes.


He will take his place before Eleazar the priest, so that he may get directions from the Lord for him, with the Urim: at his word they will go out, and at his word they will come in, he and all the children of Israel.

And the Lord said to Moses, Take Joshua, the son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and put your hand on him; And take him before Eleazar the priest and all the meeting of the people, and give him his orders before their eyes.


Now Eli was very old; and he had news from time to time of what his sons were doing to all Israel.

Now the sons of Eli were evil and good-for-nothing men, having no knowledge of the Lord. And the priests' way with the people was this: when any man made an offering, the priest's servant came while the flesh was being cooked, having in his hand a meat-hook with three teeth; This he put into the pot, and everything which came up on the hook the priest took for himself. This they did in Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there. read more.
And more than this, before the fat was burned, the priest's servant would come and say to the man who was making the offering, Give me some of the flesh to be cooked for the priest; he has no taste for meat cooked in water, but would have you give it uncooked. And if the man said to him, First let the fat be burned, then take as much as you will; then the servant would say, No, you are to give it to me now, or I will take it by force. And the sin of these young men was very great before the Lord; for they gave no honour to the Lord's offerings.


Then the Lord said to Joshua, Give orders to the priests who take up the ark of witness, to come up out of Jordan. So Joshua gave orders to the priests, saying, Come up now out of Jordan. read more.
And when the priests who took up the ark of the Lord's agreement came up out of Jordan and their feet came out on to dry land, the waters of Jordan went back to their place, overflowing its edges as before.


And the people, with the rulers and the scribes, were moved against him, and they came and took him before the Sanhedrin, And they got false witnesses who said, This man is for ever saying things against this holy place and against the law: For he has said in our hearing that this Jesus of Nazareth will put this place to destruction and make changes in the rules which were handed down to us by Moses. read more.
And all those who were in the Sanhedrin, looking at him, saw that his face was like the face of an angel.


Every high priest who is taken from among men is given his position to take care of the interests of men in those things which have to do with God, so that he may make offerings for sins.

Now every high priest is given authority to take to God the things which are given and to make offerings; so that it is necessary for this man, like them, to have something for an offering.


And Jehoiada, chief of the family of Aaron, and with him three thousand, seven hundred men; And Zadok, a young man, great and strong in war, with twenty-two captains from his father's people.


And he said to me, This room, facing south, is for the priests who have the care of the house. And the room facing north is for the priests who have the care of the altar: these are the sons of Zadok, who, from among the sons of Levi, come near to the Lord to do the work of his house.


They are not to come near any dead person so as to become unclean: but for a father or mother or son or daughter or brother or for a sister who has no husband, they may make themselves unclean. And after he has been made clean, seven days are to be numbered for him.


Get an account of everything which was taken in the war, of man and of beast, you and Eleazar the priest and the heads of families of the people: And let division be made of it into two parts, one for the men of war who went out to the fight, and one for all the people: And from the men of war who went out let there be offered to the Lord one out of every five hundred, from the persons, and from the oxen and asses and sheep: read more.
Take this from their part and give it to Eleazar the priest as an offering to be lifted up to the Lord.


And you and your sons with you are to be responsible as priests for the altar and everything on it, and everything inside the veil; you are to do the work of priests; I have given you your position as priests; and any other man who comes near will be put to death.

Let your brothers, the family of Levi, come near with you, so that they may be joined with you and be your servants: but you and your sons with you are to go in before the ark of witness.

You are to be responsible for the holy place and the altar, so that wrath may never again come on the children of Israel.


And he sent for the priests and the Levites, and got them together in the wide place on the east side, And said to them, Give ear to me, O Levites: now make yourselves holy, and make holy the house of the Lord, the God of your fathers, and take away everything unclean from the holy place. For our fathers have done evil, sinning in the eyes of the Lord our God, and have given him up, turning away their faces from the house of the Lord, and turning their backs on him. read more.
The doors of his house have been shut and the lights put out; no perfumes have been burned or offerings made to the God of Israel in his holy place. And so the wrath of the Lord has come on Judah and Jerusalem, and he has given them up to be a cause of fear and wonder and shame, as your eyes have seen. For see, our fathers have been put to death with the sword, and our sons and daughters and wives have been taken away prisoners because of this. Now it is my purpose to make an agreement with the Lord, the God of Israel, so that the heat of his wrath may be turned away from us. My sons, take care now: for you have been marked out by the Lord to come before him and to be his servants, burning offerings to him. Then the Levites took their places; Mahath, the son of Amasai, and Joel, the son of Azariah, among the Kohathites; and of the sons of Merari, Kish, the son of Abdi, and Azariah, the son of Jehallelel; and of the Gershonites, Joah, the son of Zimmah, and Eden, the son of Joah; And of the sons of Elizaphan, Shimri and Jeuel; and of the sons of Asaph, Zechariah and Mattaniah; And of the sons of Heman, Jehuel and Shimei; and of the sons of Jeduthun, Shemaiah and Uzziel. And they got their brothers together and made themselves holy, and went in, as the king had said by the word of the Lord, to make the house of the Lord clean. And the priests went into the inner part of the house of the Lord to make it clean, and everything unclean which was to be seen in the Temple of the Lord they took out into the outer square of the Lord's house, and the Levites got it together and took it away to the stream Kidron. On the first day of the first month the work of making the house holy was started, and on the eighth day they came to the covered way of the Lord; in eight days they made the Lord's house holy, and on the sixteenth day of the first month the work was done.


And of the priests: Jedaiah and Jehoiarib and Jachin And Azariah, the son of Hilkiah, the son of Meshullam, the son of Zadok, the son of Meraioth, the son of Ahitub, the ruler of the house of God; And Adaiah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Pashhur, the son of Malchijah, and Maasai, the son of Adiel, the son of Jahzerah, the son of Meshullam, the son of Meshillemith, the son of Immer; read more.
And their brothers, heads of their families, a thousand and seven hundred and sixty: able men, doing the work of the house of God.


Say to Aaron, If a man of your family, in any generation, is damaged in body, let him not come near to make the offering of the bread of his God. For any man whose body is damaged may not come near: one who is blind, or has not the use of his legs, or one who has a broken nose or any unnatural growth, Or a man with broken feet or hands, read more.
Or one whose back is bent, or one who is unnaturally small, or one who has a damaged eye, or whose skin is diseased, or whose sex parts are damaged; No man of the offspring of Aaron whose body is damaged in any way may come near to give the fire offerings of the Lord: he is damaged, he may not come near to make the offerings. He may take of the bread of God, the holy and the most holy; But he may not go inside the veil or come near the altar, because he is damaged; and he may not make my holy places common; for I the Lord have made them holy.


Now it came about that in his turn he was acting as priest before God, And as was the way of the priests, he had to go into the Temple to see to the burning of perfumes.

And when the days of his work in the Temple were ended, he went back to his house.


And the Lord said to him, Go down, and you and Aaron may come up; but let not the priests and the people make their way through to the Lord, or he will come on them suddenly.

And let the priests who come near to the Lord make themselves holy, for fear that the Lord may come on them suddenly.


And on the limit of Judah, from the east side to the west side, will be the offering which you are to make, twenty-five thousand wide, and as long as one of the parts, from the east side to the west side: and the holy place will be in the middle of it. The offering you will give to the Lord is to be twenty-five thousand long and twenty-five thousand wide. And for these, that is the priests, the holy offering is to be twenty-five thousand long to the north, ten thousand wide to the west, ten thousand wide to the east and twenty-five thousand long to the south; and the holy place of the Lord will be in the middle of it. read more.
For the priests who have been made holy, those of the sons of Zadok who kept the orders I gave them, who did not go out of the right way when the children of Israel went from the way, as the Levites did, Even for them will be the offering from the offering of the land, a thing most holy, on the limit of the land given to the Levites. And the Levites are to have a part of the land equal to the limit of the priests', twenty-five thousand long and ten thousand wide, all of it together to be twenty-five thousand long and twenty thousand wide. And they are not to let any of it go for a price, or give it in exchange; and the part of the land given to the Lord is not to go into other hands: for it is holy to the Lord.


In addition, he gave orders to the people of Jerusalem to give to the priests and Levites that part which was theirs by right, so that they might be strong in keeping the law of the Lord. And when the order was made public, straight away the children of Israel gave, in great amounts, the first-fruits of their grain and wine and oil and honey, and of the produce of their fields; and they took in a tenth part of everything, a great store. And the children of Israel and Judah, who were living in the towns of Judah came with the tenth part of their oxen and sheep, and a tenth of all the holy things which were to be given to the Lord their God, and put them in great masses. read more.
The first store of things was put down in the third month, and in the seventh month the masses were complete. And when Hezekiah and the rulers came and saw all the store of goods, they gave praise to the Lord and to his people Israel. Then Hezekiah put questions to the priests and Levites about the store of goods. And Azariah, the chief priest, of the family of Zadok, said in answer, From the time when the people first came with their offerings into the house of the Lord, we have had food enough, and more than enough: for the blessing of the Lord is on his people; and there is this great store which has not been used. Then Hezekiah said that store-rooms were to be made ready in the house of the Lord; and this was done. And in them they put all the offerings and the tenths and the holy things, keeping nothing back, and over them was Conaniah the Levite, with Shimei his brother second to him. And Jehiel and Azaziah and Nahath and Asahel and Jerimoth and Jozabad and Eliel and Ismachiah and Mahath and Benaiah were overseers, under the directions of Conaniah and Shimei his brother, by the order of Hezekiah the king and Azariah, the ruler of the house of God. And Kore, the son of Imnah the Levite, the keeper of the east door, had control of the offerings freely given to God, and the distribution of the offerings of the Lord and the most holy things. And under him were Eden and Miniamin and Jeshua and Shemaiah and Amariah and Shecaniah, in the towns of the priests, who were made responsible for giving it to all their brothers, by divisions, to small and great: As well as to all the males, of three years old and over, listed by their families, who went into the house of the Lord to do what was needed day by day, for their special work with their divisions. And the families of the priests were listed by their fathers' names, but the Levites, of twenty years old and over, were listed in relation to their work in their divisions; And in the lists were all their little ones and their wives and their sons and daughters, through all the people: they made themselves holy in the positions which they were given. And as for the sons of Aaron, the priests, living in the country on the outskirts of their towns, every different town there were men, marked out by name, to give their part of the goods to all the males among the priests, and to all who were listed among the Levites.


And the Lord said to Moses, Get an account of everything which was taken in the war, of man and of beast, you and Eleazar the priest and the heads of families of the people: And let division be made of it into two parts, one for the men of war who went out to the fight, and one for all the people: read more.
And from the men of war who went out let there be offered to the Lord one out of every five hundred, from the persons, and from the oxen and asses and sheep: Take this from their part and give it to Eleazar the priest as an offering to be lifted up to the Lord.


And Aaron is to give the Levites to the Lord as a wave offering from the children of Israel, so that they may do the Lord's work. And the Levites are to put their hands on the heads of the oxen, and one of the oxen is to be offered for a sin-offering and the other for a burned offering to the Lord to take away the sin of the Levites. Then the Levites are to be put before Aaron and his sons, to be offered as a wave offering to the Lord. read more.
So you are to make the Levites separate from the children of Israel, and the Levites will be mine. After that, the Levites will go in to do whatever has to be done in the Tent of meeting; you are to make them clean and give them as a wave offering. For they have been given to me from among the children of Israel; in place of every mother's first son, the first to come to birth in Israel, I have taken them for myself. For every mother's first son among the children of Israel is mine, the first male birth of man or beast: on the day when I sent death on all the first sons in the land of Egypt, I made them mine. And in place of the first sons among the children of Israel, I have taken the Levites. And I have given them to Aaron and to his sons, from among the children of Israel, to undertake for them all the work of the Tent of meeting, and to take away sin from the children of Israel so that no evil may come on them when they come near the holy place. All these things Moses and Aaron and the children of Israel did to the Levites; as the Lord gave orders to Moses about the Levites, so the children of Israel did. And the Levites were made clean from sin, and their clothing was washed, and Aaron gave them for a wave offering before the Lord; and Aaron took away their sin and made them clean.


Now in the second year of their coming into the house of God in Jerusalem, in the second month, the work was taken in hand by Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua, the son of Jozadak, and the rest of their brothers the priests and the Levites, and all those who had come from the land where they were prisoners to Jerusalem: and they made the Levites, of twenty years old and over, responsible for overseeing the work of the house of the Lord. Then Jeshua with his sons and his brothers, Kadmiel with his sons, the sons of Hodaviah, together took up the work of overseeing the workmen in the house of God: the sons of Henadad with their sons and their brothers, the Levites. And when the builders put in position the base of the Temple of the Lord, the priests, dressed in their robes, took their places with horns, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with brass instruments, to give praise to the Lord in the way ordered by David, king of Israel. read more.
And they gave praise to the Lord, answering one another in their songs and saying, For he is good, for his mercy to Israel is eternal. And all the people gave a great cry of joy, when they gave praise to the Lord, because the base of the Lord's house was put in place. But a number of the priests and Levites and the heads of families, old men who had seen the first house, when the base of this house was put down before their eyes, were overcome with weeping; and a number were crying out with joy: So that in the ears of the people the cry of joy was mixed with the sound of weeping; for the cries of the people were loud and came to the ears of those who were a long way off.


The fire on the altar is to be kept burning; it is never to go out; every morning the priest is to put wood on it, placing the burned offering in order on it, and there the fat of the peace-offering is to be burned. Let the fire be kept burning on the altar at all times; it is never to go out.


But if he is poorer than the value which you have put on him, then let him be taken to the priest, and the priest will put a value on him, such as it is possible for him to give.

And let the priest put a value on it, if it is good or bad; whatever value the priest puts on it, so will it be.


If the chief priest by doing wrong becomes a cause of sin to the people, then let him give to the Lord for the sin which he has done, an ox, without any mark, for a sin-offering. And he is to take the ox to the door of the Tent of meeting before the Lord; and put his hand on its head and put it to death before the Lord. And the chief priest is to take some of its blood and take it to the Tent of meeting; read more.
And the priest is to put his finger in the blood, shaking drops of it before the Lord seven times, in front of the veil of the holy place. And the priest is to put some of the blood on the horns of the altar on which perfume is burned before the Lord in the Tent of meeting, draining out all the rest of the blood of the ox at the base of the altar of burned offering which is at the door of the Tent of meeting. And he is to take away all the fat of the ox of the sin-offering; the fat covering the inside parts and all the fat of the inside parts, And the two kidneys, with the fat on them, which is by the top part of the legs, and the fat joining the liver and the kidneys, he is to take away, As it is taken from the ox of the peace-offering; and it is to be burned by the priest on the altar of burned offerings. And the skin of the ox and all its flesh, with its head and its legs and its inside parts and its waste, All the ox, he is to take away outside the circle of the tents into a clean place where the burned waste is put, and there it is to be burned on wood with fire.


And the priests and Levites who were in all Israel came together to him from every part of their country.


And when the seventh month came, and the children of Israel were in the towns, the people came together like one man to Jerusalem. Then Jeshua, the son of Jozadak, and his brothers the priests, and Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, with his brothers, got up and made the altar of the God of Israel for burned offerings as is recorded in the law of Moses, the man of God. They put the altar on its base; for fear was on them because of the people of the countries: and they made burned offerings on it to the Lord, even burned offerings morning and evening. read more.
And they kept the feast of tents, as it is recorded, making the regular burned offerings every day by number, as it is ordered; for every day what was needed. And after that, the regular burned offering and the offerings for the new moons and all the fixed feasts of the Lord which had been made holy, and the offering of everyone who freely gave his offering to the Lord. From the first day of the seventh month they made a start with the burned offerings, but the base of the Temple of the Lord had still not been put in its place. And they gave money to the stoneworkers and woodworkers; and meat and drink and oil to the people of Zidon and of Tyre, for the transport of cedar-trees from Lebanon to the sea, to Joppa, as Cyrus, king of Persia, had given them authority to do.


And more than this, all the great men of Judah and the priests and the people made their sin great, turning to all the disgusting ways of the nations; and they made unclean the house of the Lord which he had made holy in Jerusalem.


They are not to have all the hair cut off their heads, and they are not to let their hair get long, but they are to have the ends of their hair cut.


And when you are on the point of attacking, let the priest come forward and say to the people, Give ear, O Israel: today you are going forward to the fight; let your heart be strong; do not let uncontrolled fear overcome you because of those who are against you; For the Lord your God goes with you, fighting for you to give you salvation from those who are against you.


And when the people came back to their tents, the responsible men of Israel said, Why has the Lord let the Philistines overcome us today? Let us get the ark of the Lord's agreement here from Shiloh, so that it may be with us and give us salvation from the hands of those who are against us. So the people sent to Shiloh and got the ark of the agreement of the Lord of armies whose resting-place is between the winged ones; and Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were there with the ark of God's agreement. And when the ark of the Lord's agreement came into the tent-circle, all Israel gave a great cry, so that the earth was sounding with it.


And this is the witness of John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to him with the question, Who are you?


And he said, In peace: I have come to make an offering to the Lord: make yourselves clean and come with me to make the offering. And he made Jesse and his sons clean, and sent for them to be present at the offering.


Now these are the words of the letter which Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the responsible men among those who had been taken away, and to the priests and the prophets and to all the rest of the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken away prisoners from Jerusalem to Babylon;


In addition, we make it clear to you, that it will be against the law to put any tax or payment in goods or forced payment on any of the priests or Levites, the music-makers, door-keepers, Nethinim, or any servants of this house of God.


But the field, when it becomes free at the year of Jubilee, will be holy to the Lord, as a field given under oath: it will be the property of the priest.


Then the value fixed by you up to the year of Jubilee will be worked out for him by the priest, and in that day he will give the amount of your value as holy to the Lord.


And we, the priests and the Levites and the people, made selection, by the decision of the Lord, of those who were to take the wood offering into the house of God, by families at the regular times, year by year, to be burned on the altar of the Lord our God, as it is recorded in the law;


And the priest, the son of Aaron, is to be with the Levites, when the Levites take the tenths: and the Levites are to take a tenth of the tenths into the house of our God, to the rooms, into the store-house;


In this way may the children of Israel be made free from all sorts of unclean conditions, so that death may not overtake them when they are unclean and when they make unclean my holy place which is among them.


Every Sabbath day regularly, the priest is to put it in order before the Lord: it is offered for the children of Israel, an agreement made for ever.


And Paul said, Brother, I had no idea that he was the high priest: for it has been said, You may not say evil about the ruler of your people.


Of which the high priest will be a witness, and all the rulers, from whom I had letters to the brothers; and I went into Damascus, to take those who were there as prisoners to Jerusalem for punishment.


Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters: and they came to get water for their father's flock.


Now while these things were in existence, the priests went into the first Tent at all times, for prayer and the making of offerings.


All those of twenty years old and over, who are able to go to war in Israel, are to be numbered by you and Aaron.


Let not your mouth make your flesh do evil. And say not before the angel, It was an error. So that God may not be angry with your words and put an end to the work of your hands.


Basic English, produced by Mr C. K. Ogden of the Orthological Institute - public domain