Thematic Bible: Priest

Aaron is to burn sweet incense on it morning by morning; when he attends to the lamps he is to burn incense. When Aaron sets up the lamps around sundown he is to burn incense on it; it is to be a regular incense offering before the Lord throughout your generations.

Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, and Pelaiah -- all of whom were Levites -- were teaching the people the law, as the people remained standing. Verse Concepts

Adaiah son of Jeroham, son of Pashhur, son of Malkijah; and Maasai son of Adiel, son of Jahzerah, son of Meshullam, son of Meshillemith, son of Immer.

and their colleagues who were carrying out work for the temple -- 822; and Adaiah son of Jeroham, the son of Pelaliah, the son of Amzi, the son of Zechariah, the son of Pashhur, the son of Malkijah, Verse Concepts

For here is the testimony about him: "You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek." Verse Concepts

lay his hand on its head, and slaughter it before the Meeting Tent, and the sons of Aaron must splash its blood against the altar's sides. Verse Concepts

and that priest must dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle some of the blood seven times before the Lord toward the front of the veil-canopy. Verse Concepts

Then the sons of Aaron must offer it up in smoke on the altar atop the burnt offering that is on the wood in the fire as a gift of a soothing aroma to the Lord. Verse Concepts

Then the priest must offer them up in smoke on the altar as a food gift for a soothing aroma -- all the fat belongs to the Lord. Verse Concepts

But there were not enough priests to skin all the animals, so their brothers, the Levites, helped them until the work was finished and the priests could consecrate themselves. (The Levites had been more conscientious about consecrating themselves than the priests.) Verse Concepts

They offer burnt sacrifices to the Lord every morning and every evening, along with fragrant incense. They arrange the Bread of the Presence on a ritually clean table and light the lamps on the gold lampstand every evening. Certainly we are observing the Lord our God's regulations, but you have rejected him. Verse Concepts

Then he must bring it to the sons of Aaron, the priests, and the priest must scoop out from there a handful of its choice wheat flour and some of its olive oil in addition to all of its frankincense, and the priest must offer its memorial portion up in smoke on the altar -- it is a gift of a soothing aroma to the Lord. Verse Concepts

regularly offering burnt sacrifices to the Lord on the altar for burnt sacrifice, morning and evening, according to what is prescribed in the law of the Lord which he charged Israel to observe. Verse Concepts

The priests and the Levites had purified themselves, every last one, and they all were ceremonially pure. They sacrificed the Passover lamb for all the exiles, for their colleagues the priests, and for themselves. Verse Concepts

He must lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it will be accepted for him to make atonement on his behalf. Then the one presenting the offering must slaughter the bull before the Lord, and the sons of Aaron, the priests, must present the blood and splash the blood against the sides of the altar which is at the entrance of the Meeting Tent. Next, the one presenting the offering must skin the burnt offering and cut it into parts, read more.
and the sons of Aaron, the priest, must put fire on the altar and arrange wood on the fire. Then the sons of Aaron, the priests, must arrange the parts with the head and the suet on the wood that is in the fire on the altar. Finally, the one presenting the offering must wash its entrails and its legs in water and the priest must offer all of it up in smoke on the altar -- it is a burnt offering, a gift of a soothing aroma to the Lord. "'If his offering is from the flock for a burnt offering -- from the sheep or the goats -- he must present a flawless male, and must slaughter it on the north side of the altar before the Lord, and the sons of Aaron, the priests, will splash its blood against the altar's sides. Next, the one presenting the offering must cut it into parts, with its head and its suet, and the priest must arrange them on the wood which is in the fire, on the altar. Then the one presenting the offering must wash the entrails and the legs in water, and the priest must present all of it and offer it up in smoke on the altar -- it is a burnt offering, a gift of a soothing aroma to the Lord. "'If his offering to the Lord is a burnt offering from the birds, he must present his offering from the turtledoves or from the young pigeons. The priest must present it at the altar, pinch off its head and offer the head up in smoke on the altar, and its blood must be drained out against the side of the altar. Then the priest must remove its entrails by cutting off its tail feathers, and throw them to the east side of the altar into the place of fatty ashes, and tear it open by its wings without dividing it into two parts. Finally, the priest must offer it up in smoke on the altar on the wood which is in the fire -- it is a burnt offering, a gift of a soothing aroma to the Lord.

Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Jesus into their hands. When they heard this, they were delighted and promised to give him money. So Judas began looking for an opportunity to betray him.

While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, arrived. With him was a large crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent by the chief priests and elders of the people. Verse Concepts

Then they arrested Jesus, led him away, and brought him into the high priest's house. But Peter was following at a distance. Verse Concepts

So the chief priests and the Pharisees called the council together and said, "What are we doing? For this man is performing many miraculous signs. Verse Concepts

Then one of the twelve, the one named Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, "What will you give me to betray him into your hands?" So they set out thirty silver coins for him.

Early in the morning, after forming a plan, the chief priests with the elders and the experts in the law and the whole Sanhedrin tied Jesus up, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate. Verse Concepts

Then the chief priests and the elders of the people met together in the palace of the high priest, who was named Caiaphas. They planned to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him. But they said, "Not during the feast, so that there won't be a riot among the people."

But one of those with Jesus grabbed his sword, drew it out, and struck the high priest's slave, cutting off his ear. Verse Concepts

Then one of them struck the high priest's slave, cutting off his right ear. Verse Concepts

Right away, while Jesus was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, arrived. With him came a crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent by the chief priests and experts in the law and elders. (Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, "The one I kiss is the man. Arrest him and lead him away under guard.") When Judas arrived, he went up to Jesus immediately and said, "Rabbi!" and kissed him. read more.
Then they took hold of him and arrested him. One of the bystanders drew his sword and struck the high priest's slave, cutting off his ear.

Seraiah son of Hilkiah, the son of Meshullam, the son of Zadok, the son of Meraioth, the son of Ahitub, supervisor in the temple of God, Verse Concepts

"Instruct the Israelites to give the Levites towns to live in from the inheritance the Israelites will possess. You must also give the Levites grazing land around the towns. Thus they will have towns in which to live, and their grazing lands will be for their cattle, for their possessions, and for all their animals. The grazing lands around the towns that you will give to the Levites must extend to a distance of 500 yards from the town wall. read more.
"You must measure from outside the wall of the town on the east 1,000 yards, and on the south side 1,000 yards, and on the west side 1,000 yards, and on the north side 1,000 yards, with the town in the middle. This territory must belong to them as grazing land for the towns. Now from these towns that you will give to the Levites you must select six towns of refuge to which a person who has killed someone may flee. And you must give them forty-two other towns. "So the total of the towns you will give the Levites is forty-eight. You must give these together with their grazing lands. The towns you will give must be from the possession of the Israelites. From the larger tribes you must give more; and from the smaller tribes fewer. Each must contribute some of its own towns to the Levites in proportion to the inheritance allocated to each.

As for the cities of the Levites, the houses in the cities which they possess, the Levites must have a perpetual right of redemption. Whatever someone among the Levites might redeem -- the sale of a house which is his property in a city -- must revert in the jubilee, because the houses of the cities of the Levites are their property in the midst of the Israelites. Moreover, the open field areas of their cities must not be sold, because that is their perpetual possession.

The tribal leaders of the Levites went before Eleazar the priest and Joshua son of Nun and the Israelite tribal leaders in Shiloh in the land of Canaan and said, "The Lord told Moses to assign us cities in which to live along with the grazing areas for our cattle." So the Israelites assigned these cities and their grazing areas to the Levites from their own holdings, as the Lord had instructed. read more.
The first lot belonged to the Kohathite clans. The Levites who were descendants of Aaron the priest were allotted thirteen cities from the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin.

So to the descendants of Aaron the priest they assigned Hebron (a city of refuge for one who committed manslaughter), Libnah, Jattir, Eshtemoa, Holon, Debir, read more.
Ain, Juttah, and Beth Shemesh, along with the grazing areas of each -- a total of nine cities taken from these two tribes. From the tribe of Benjamin they assigned Gibeon, Geba, Anathoth, and Almon, along with the grazing areas of each -- a total of four cities. The priests descended from Aaron received thirteen cities and their grazing areas.

The Levites received within the land owned by the Israelites forty-eight cities in all and their grazing areas. Each of these cities had grazing areas around it; they were alike in this regard.

The descendants of Aaron were also allotted as cities of refuge Hebron, Libnah and its pasturelands, Jattir, Eshtemoa and its pasturelands, Hilez and its pasturelands, Debir and its pasturelands, Ashan and its pasturelands, and Beth Shemesh and its pasturelands. read more.
Within the territory of the tribe of Benjamin they were allotted Geba and its pasturelands, Alemeth and its pasturelands, and Anathoth and its pasturelands. Their clans were allotted thirteen cities in all.

And the rest of the Israelites, with the priests and the Levites, were in all the cities of Judah, each on his own property. Verse Concepts

"'When you allot the land as an inheritance, you will offer an allotment to the Lord, a holy portion from the land; the length will be eight and a quarter miles and the width three and one-third miles. This entire area will be holy. Of this area a square 875 feet by 875 feet will be designated for the sanctuary, with 87? feet set aside for its open space round about. From this measured area you will measure a length of eight and a quarter miles and a width of three and one-third miles; in it will be the sanctuary, the most holy place. read more.
It will be a holy portion of the land; it will be for the priests, the ministers of the sanctuary who approach the Lord to minister to him. It will be a place for their houses and a holy place for the sanctuary. An area eight and a quarter miles in length and three and one-third miles in width will be for the Levites, who minister at the temple, as the place for the cities in which they will live. "'Alongside the portion set apart as the holy allotment, you will allot for the city an area one and two-thirds miles wide and eight and a quarter miles long; it will be for the whole house of Israel.

"Next to the border of Judah from the east side to the west will be the allotment you must set apart. It is to be eight and a quarter miles wide, and the same length as one of the tribal portions, from the east side to the west; the sanctuary will be in the middle of it. The allotment you set apart to the Lord will be eight and a quarter miles in length and three and one-third miles in width. These will be the allotments for the holy portion: for the priests, toward the north eight and a quarter miles in length, toward the west three and one-third miles in width, toward the east three and one-third miles in width, and toward the south eight and a quarter miles in length; the sanctuary of the Lord will be in the middle. read more.
This will be for the priests who are set apart from the descendants of Zadok who kept my charge and did not go astray when the people of Israel strayed off, like the Levites did. It will be their portion from the allotment of the land, a most holy place, next to the border of the Levites. "Alongside the border of the priests, the Levites will have an allotment eight and a quarter miles in length and three and one-third miles in width. The whole length will be eight and a quarter miles and the width three and one-third miles. They must not sell or exchange any of it; they must not transfer this choice portion of land, for it is set apart to the Lord. "The remainder, one and two-thirds miles in width and eight and a quarter miles in length, will be for common use by the city, for houses and for open space. The city will be in the middle of it; these will be its measurements: The north side will be one and one-half miles, the south side one and one-half miles, the east side one and one-half miles, and the west side one and one-half miles. The city will have open spaces: On the north there will be 437? feet, on the south 437? feet, on the east 437? feet, and on the west 437? feet. The remainder of the length alongside the holy allotment will be three and one-third miles to the east and three and one-third miles toward the west, and it will be beside the holy allotment. Its produce will be for food for the workers of the city. The workers of the city from all the tribes of Israel will cultivate it. The whole allotment will be eight and a quarter miles square, you must set apart the holy allotment with the possession of the city.

then the man must bring his wife to the priest, and he must bring the offering required for her, one tenth of an ephah of barley meal; he must not pour olive oil on it or put frankincense on it, because it is a grain offering of suspicion, a grain offering for remembering, for bringing iniquity to remembrance. Verse Concepts

Now the ones who had arrested Jesus led him to Caiaphas, the high priest, in whose house the experts in the law and the elders had gathered. Verse Concepts

Jesus said to him, "Friend, do what you are here to do." Then they came and took hold of Jesus and arrested him. Verse Concepts

When he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell backward from his chair beside the gate. He broke his neck and died, for he was old and heavy. He had judged Israel for forty years. Verse Concepts

If a matter is too difficult for you to judge -- bloodshed, legal claim, or assault -- matters of controversy in your villages -- you must leave there and go up to the place the Lord your God chooses. You will go to the Levitical priests and the judge in office in those days and seek a solution; they will render a verdict. You must then do as they have determined at that place the Lord chooses. Be careful to do just as you are taught. read more.
You must do what you are instructed, and the verdict they pronounce to you, without fail. Do not deviate right or left from what they tell you. The person who pays no attention to the priest currently serving the Lord your God there, or to the verdict -- that person must die, so that you may purge evil from Israel. Then all the people will hear and be afraid, and not be so presumptuous again.

Paul looked directly at the council and said, "Brothers, I have lived my life with a clear conscience before God to this day." At that the high priest Ananias ordered those standing near Paul to strike him on the mouth. Then Paul said to him, "God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall! Do you sit there judging me according to the law, and in violation of the law you order me to be struck?" read more.
Those standing near him said, "Do you dare insult God's high priest?" Paul replied, "I did not realize, brothers, that he was the high priest, for it is written, 'You must not speak evil about a ruler of your people.'"

Then the chief priests and the elders of the people met together in the palace of the high priest, who was named Caiaphas. Verse Concepts

When they heard this, they entered the temple courts at daybreak and began teaching. Now when the high priest and those who were with him arrived, they summoned the Sanhedrin -- that is, the whole high council of the Israelites -- and sent to the jail to have the apostles brought before them. But the officers who came for them did not find them in the prison, so they returned and reported, "We found the jail locked securely and the guards standing at the doors, but when we opened them, we found no one inside." read more.
Now when the commander of the temple guard and the chief priests heard this report, they were greatly puzzled concerning it, wondering what this could be. But someone came and reported to them, "Look! The men you put in prison are standing in the temple courts and teaching the people!" Then the commander of the temple guard went with the officers and brought the apostles without the use of force (for they were afraid of being stoned by the people). When they had brought them, they stood them before the council, and the high priest questioned them, saying, "We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name. Look, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man's blood on us!"

So the high priest stood up and said to him, "Have you no answer? What is this that they are testifying against you?" Verse Concepts

Do not let anyone accuse or contend against anyone else: for my case is against you priests! Verse Concepts

And from among the priests: the descendants of Hobaiah, the descendants of Hakkoz, and the descendants of Barzillai (who had taken a wife from the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite and was called by that name). Verse Concepts

Then the leaders of Judah and Benjamin, along with the priests and the Levites -- all those whose mind God had stirred -- got ready to go up in order to build the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem. Verse Concepts

Then I set apart twelve of the leading priests, together with Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their brothers, and I weighed out to them the silver, the gold, and the vessels intended for the temple of our God -- items that the king, his advisers, his officials, and all Israel who were present had contributed. I weighed out to them 650 talents of silver, silver vessels worth 100 talents, 100 talents of gold, read more.
20 gold bowls worth 1,000 darics, and two exquisite vessels of gleaming bronze, as valuable as gold. Then I said to them, "You are holy to the Lord, just as these vessels are holy. The silver and the gold are a voluntary offering to the Lord, the God of your fathers. Be careful with them and protect them, until you weigh them out before the leading priests and the Levites and the family leaders of Israel in Jerusalem, in the storerooms of the temple of the Lord." Then the priests and the Levites took charge of the silver, the gold, and the vessels that had been weighed out, to transport them to Jerusalem to the temple of our God.

In the second year after they had come to the temple of God in Jerusalem, in the second month, Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak initiated the work, along with the rest of their associates, the priests and the Levites, and all those who were coming to Jerusalem from the exile. They appointed the Levites who were at least twenty years old to take charge of the work on the Lord's temple. Verse Concepts

In the seventh year of King Artaxerxes, Ezra brought up to Jerusalem some of the Israelites and some of the priests, the Levites, the attendants, the gatekeepers, and the temple servants. Verse Concepts

The priests, the Levites, some of the people, the singers, the gatekeepers, and the temple servants lived in their towns, and all the rest of Israel lived in their towns. Verse Concepts

The priests: the descendants of Jedaiah (through the family of Jeshua): 973; the descendants of Immer: 1,052; the descendants of Pashhur: 1,247; read more.
the descendants of Harim: 1,017.

The priests: the descendants of Jedaiah (through the family of Jeshua), 973; the descendants of Immer, 1,052; the descendants of Pashhur, 1,247; read more.
the descendants of Harim, 1,017.

And from among the priests: the descendants of Hobaiah, the descendants of Hakkoz, and the descendants of Barzillai (who had married a woman from the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite and was called by that name). They searched for their records in the genealogical materials, but none were found. They were therefore excluded from the priesthood. The governor instructed them not to eat any of the sacred food until there was a priest who could consult the Urim and Thummim. read more.
The entire group numbered 42,360, not counting their 7,337 male and female servants. They also had 245 male and female singers. They had 736 horses, 245 mules, 435 camels, and 6,720 donkeys. Some of the family leaders contributed to the work. The governor contributed to the treasury 1,000 gold drachmas, 50 bowls, and 530 priestly garments. Some of the family leaders gave to the project treasury 20,000 gold drachmas and 2,200 silver minas. What the rest of the people gave amounted to 20,000 gold drachmas, 2,000 silver minas, and 67 priestly garments. When the seventh month arrived and the Israelites were settled in their cities,

On the sealed documents were the following names: Nehemiah the governor, son of Hacaliah, along with Zedekiah, Seraiah, Azariah, Jeremiah, Pashhur, Amariah, Malkijah, read more.
Hattush, Shebaniah, Malluch, Harim, Meremoth, Obadiah, Daniel, Ginnethon, Baruch, Meshullam, Abijah, Mijamin, Maaziah, Bilgai, and Shemaiah. These were the priests.

Then they led Jesus to the high priest, and all the chief priests and elders and experts in the law came together. And Peter had followed him from a distance, up to the high priest's courtyard. He was sitting with the guards and warming himself by the fire. The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death, but they did not find anything. read more.
Many gave false testimony against him, but their testimony did not agree. Some stood up and gave this false testimony against him: "We heard him say, 'I will destroy this temple made with hands and in three days build another not made with hands.'" Yet even on this point their testimony did not agree. Then the high priest stood up before them and asked Jesus, "Have you no answer? What is this that they are testifying against you?" But he was silent and did not answer. Again the high priest questioned him, "Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?" "I am," said Jesus, "and you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power and coming with the clouds of heaven." Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, "Why do we still need witnesses? You have heard the blasphemy! What is your verdict?" They all condemned him as deserving death. Then some began to spit on him, and to blindfold him, and to strike him with their fists, saying, "Prophesy!" The guards also took him and beat him.

When it was early in the morning, all the chief priests and the elders of the people plotted against Jesus to execute him. They tied him up, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate the governor.

Then Pilate called together the chief priests, the rulers, and the people, and said to them, "You brought me this man as one who was misleading the people. When I examined him before you, I did not find this man guilty of anything you accused him of doing. Neither did Herod, for he sent him back to us. Look, he has done nothing deserving death. read more.
I will therefore have him flogged and release him." [[EMPTY]] But they all shouted out together, "Take this man away! Release Barabbas for us!" (This was a man who had been thrown into prison for an insurrection started in the city, and for murder.) Pilate addressed them once again because he wanted to release Jesus. But they kept on shouting, "Crucify, crucify him!" A third time he said to them, "Why? What wrong has he done? I have found him guilty of no crime deserving death. I will therefore flog him and release him." But they were insistent, demanding with loud shouts that he be crucified. And their shouts prevailed. So Pilate decided that their demand should be granted.

Now the ones who had arrested Jesus led him to Caiaphas, the high priest, in whose house the experts in the law and the elders had gathered. But Peter was following him from a distance, all the way to the high priest's courtyard. After going in, he sat with the guards to see the outcome. The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were trying to find false testimony against Jesus so that they could put him to death. read more.
But they did not find anything, though many false witnesses came forward. Finally two came forward and declared, "This man said, 'I am able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days.'" So the high priest stood up and said to him, "Have you no answer? What is this that they are testifying against you?" But Jesus was silent. The high priest said to him, "I charge you under oath by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God." Jesus said to him, "You have said it yourself. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power and coming on the clouds of heaven." Then the high priest tore his clothes and declared, "He has blasphemed! Why do we still need witnesses? Now you have heard the blasphemy! What is your verdict?" They answered, "He is guilty and deserves death." Then they spat in his face and struck him with their fists. And some slapped him, saying, "Prophesy for us, you Christ! Who hit you?"

Then they arrested Jesus, led him away, and brought him into the high priest's house. But Peter was following at a distance. When they had made a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat down among them. Then a slave girl, seeing him as he sat in the firelight, stared at him and said, "This man was with him too!" read more.
But Peter denied it: "Woman, I don't know him!" Then a little later someone else saw him and said, "You are one of them too." But Peter said, "Man, I am not!" And after about an hour still another insisted, "Certainly this man was with him, because he too is a Galilean." But Peter said, "Man, I don't know what you're talking about!" At that moment, while he was still speaking, a rooster crowed. Then the Lord turned and looked straight at Peter, and Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said to him, "Before a rooster crows today, you will deny me three times." And he went outside and wept bitterly. Now the men who were holding Jesus under guard began to mock him and beat him. They blindfolded him and asked him repeatedly, "Prophesy! Who hit you?" They also said many other things against him, reviling him. When day came, the council of the elders of the people gathered together, both the chief priests and the experts in the law. Then they led Jesus away to their council and said, "If you are the Christ, tell us." But he said to them, "If I tell you, you will not believe, and if I ask you, you will not answer. But from now on the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God." So they all said, "Are you the Son of God, then?" He answered them, "You say that I am." Then they said, "Why do we need further testimony? We have heard it ourselves from his own lips!"

Simon Peter and another disciple followed them as they brought Jesus to Annas. (Now the other disciple was acquainted with the high priest, and he went with Jesus into the high priest's courtyard.) But Simon Peter was left standing outside by the door. So the other disciple who was acquainted with the high priest came out and spoke to the slave girl who watched the door, and brought Peter inside. The girl who was the doorkeeper said to Peter, "You're not one of this man's disciples too, are you?" He replied, "I am not." read more.
(Now the slaves and the guards were standing around a charcoal fire they had made, warming themselves because it was cold. Peter also was standing with them, warming himself.) While this was happening, the high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and about his teaching. Jesus replied, "I have spoken publicly to the world. I always taught in the synagogues and in the temple courts, where all the Jewish people assemble together. I have said nothing in secret. Why do you ask me? Ask those who heard what I said. They know what I said." When Jesus had said this, one of the high priest's officers who stood nearby struck him on the face and said, "Is that the way you answer the high priest?" Jesus replied, "If I have said something wrong, confirm what is wrong. But if I spoke correctly, why strike me?" Then Annas sent him, still tied up, to Caiaphas the high priest. Meanwhile Simon Peter was standing in the courtyard warming himself. They said to him, "You aren't one of his disciples too, are you?" Peter denied it: "I am not!" One of the high priest's slaves, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, said, "Did I not see you in the orchard with him?" Then Peter denied it again, and immediately a rooster crowed. Then they brought Jesus from Caiaphas to the Roman governor's residence. (Now it was very early morning.) They did not go into the governor's residence so they would not be ceremonially defiled, but could eat the Passover meal. So Pilate came outside to them and said, "What accusation do you bring against this man?" They replied, "If this man were not a criminal, we would not have handed him over to you." Pilate told them, "Take him yourselves and pass judgment on him according to your own law!" The Jewish leaders replied, "We cannot legally put anyone to death." (This happened to fulfill the word Jesus had spoken when he indicated what kind of death he was going to die.)

Therefore Levi has no allotment or inheritance among his brothers; the Lord is his inheritance just as the Lord your God told him. Verse Concepts

However, Moses did not assign land as an inheritance to the Levites; their inheritance is the sacrificial offerings made to the Lord God of Israel, as he instructed them. Verse Concepts

Now Moses had assigned land to the two-and-a-half tribes east of the Jordan, but he assigned no land to the Levites. Verse Concepts

But the Levites will not have an allotted portion among you, for their inheritance is to serve the Lord. Gad, Reuben, and the half-tribe of Manasseh have already received their allotted land east of the Jordan which Moses the Lord's servant assigned them." Verse Concepts

However, Moses did not assign land as an inheritance to the Levites; their inheritance is the Lord God of Israel, as he instructed them. Verse Concepts

The Levitical priests -- indeed, the entire tribe of Levi -- will have no allotment or inheritance with Israel; they may eat the burnt offerings of the Lord and of his inheritance. They will have no inheritance in the midst of their fellow Israelites; the Lord alone is their inheritance, just as he had told them.

The Lord spoke to Aaron, "You will have no inheritance in their land, nor will you have any portion of property among them -- I am your portion and your inheritance among the Israelites. Verse Concepts

As for the Levites in your villages, you must not ignore them, for they have no allotment or inheritance along with you. Verse Concepts

"'This will be their inheritance: I am their inheritance, and you must give them no property in Israel; I am their property. Verse Concepts

As his father David had decreed, Solomon appointed the divisions of the priests to do their assigned tasks, the Levitical orders to lead worship and help the priests with their daily tasks, and the divisions of the gatekeepers to serve at their assigned gates. This was what David the man of God had ordered. Verse Concepts

So I purified them of everything foreign, and I assigned specific duties to the priests and the Levites. Verse Concepts

The divisions of Aaron's descendants were as follows: The sons of Aaron: Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. Nadab and Abihu died before their father did; they had no sons. Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests. David, Zadok (a descendant of Eleazar), and Ahimelech (a descendant of Ithamar) divided them into groups to carry out their assigned responsibilities. read more.
The descendants of Eleazar had more leaders than the descendants of Ithamar, so they divided them up accordingly; the descendants of Eleazar had sixteen leaders, while the descendants of Ithamar had eight. They divided them by lots, for there were officials of the holy place and officials designated by God among the descendants of both Eleazar and Ithamar. The scribe Shemaiah son of Nethanel, a Levite, wrote down their names before the king, the officials, Zadok the priest, Ahimelech son of Abiathar, and the leaders of the priestly and Levite families. One family was drawn by lot from Eleazar, and then the next from Ithamar. The first lot went to Jehoiarib, the second to Jedaiah, the third to Harim, the fourth to Seorim, the fifth to Malkijah, the sixth to Mijamin, the seventh to Hakkoz, the eighth to Abijah, the ninth to Jeshua, the tenth to Shecaniah, the eleventh to Eliashib, the twelfth to Jakim, the thirteenth to Huppah, the fourteenth to Jeshebeab, the fifteenth to Bilgah, the sixteenth to Immer, the seventeenth to Hezir, the eighteenth to Happizzez, the nineteenth to Pethahiah, the twentieth to Jehezkel, the twenty-first to Jakin, the twenty-second to Gamul, the twenty-third to Delaiah, the twenty-fourth to Maaziah. This was the order in which they carried out their assigned responsibilities when they entered the Lord's temple, according to the regulations given them by their ancestor Aaron, just as the Lord God of Israel had instructed him.

The priests: the descendants of Jedaiah (through the family of Jeshua): 973; the descendants of Immer: 1,052; the descendants of Pashhur: 1,247; read more.
the descendants of Harim: 1,017.

He gave him the regulations for the divisions of priests and Levites, for all the assigned responsibilities within the Lord's temple, and for all the items used in the service of the Lord's temple. Verse Concepts

Here are the divisions of the priests and Levites who will perform all the service of God's temple. All the willing and skilled men are ready to assist you in all the work and perform their service. The officials and all the people are ready to follow your instructions." Verse Concepts

Hezekiah appointed the divisions of the priests and Levites to do their assigned tasks -- to offer burnt sacrifices and present offerings and to serve, give thanks, and offer praise in the gates of the Lord's sanctuary. Verse Concepts

Prepare yourselves by your families according to your divisions, as instructed by King David of Israel and his son Solomon. Stand in the sanctuary and, together with the Levites, represent the family divisions of your countrymen.

You are to set the Bread of the Presence on the table before me continually. Verse Concepts

for the loaves of presentation and for the regular grain offerings and regular burnt offerings, for the Sabbaths, for the new moons, for the appointed meetings, for the holy offerings, for the sin offerings to make atonement for Israel, and for all the work of the temple of our God. Verse Concepts

how he entered the house of God and they ate the sacred bread, which was against the law for him or his companions to eat, but only for the priests? Verse Concepts

For a tent was prepared, the outer one, which contained the lampstand, the table, and the presentation of the loaves; this is called the holy place. Verse Concepts

Look, I am ready to build a temple to honor the Lord my God and to dedicate it to him in order to burn fragrant incense before him, to set out the bread that is regularly displayed, and to offer burnt sacrifices each morning and evening, and on Sabbaths, new moon festivals, and at other times appointed by the Lord our God. This is something Israel must do on a permanent basis. Verse Concepts

They offer burnt sacrifices to the Lord every morning and every evening, along with fragrant incense. They arrange the Bread of the Presence on a ritually clean table and light the lamps on the gold lampstand every evening. Certainly we are observing the Lord our God's regulations, but you have rejected him. Verse Concepts

"You must take choice wheat flour and bake twelve loaves; there must be two tenths of an ephah of flour in each loaf, and you must set them in two rows, six in a row, on the ceremonially pure table before the Lord. You must put pure frankincense on each row, and it will become a memorial portion for the bread, a gift to the Lord. read more.
Each Sabbath day Aaron must arrange it before the Lord continually; this portion is from the Israelites as a perpetual covenant. It will belong to Aaron and his sons, and they must eat it in a holy place because it is most holy to him, a perpetual allotted portion from the gifts of the Lord."

during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. Verse Concepts

Zadok and all the Levites who were with him were carrying the ark of the covenant of God. When they positioned the ark of God, Abiathar offered sacrifices until all the people had finished leaving the city. Verse Concepts

So Moses sent them to the war, one thousand from every tribe, with Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest, who was in charge of the holy articles and the signal trumpets. Verse Concepts

The captain of the royal guard took Seraiah the chief priest and Zephaniah, the priest who was second in rank, and the three doorkeepers. Verse Concepts

Now the head of all the Levitical leaders was Eleazar son of Aaron the priest. He was appointed over those who were responsible for the sanctuary.

"The appointed responsibility of Eleazar son of Aaron the priest is for the oil for the light, and the spiced incense, and the daily grain offering, and the anointing oil; he also has the appointed responsibility over all the tabernacle with all that is in it, over the sanctuary and over all its furnishings." Verse Concepts

Phinehas son of Eleazar had been their leader in earlier times, and the Lord was with him.

Then the Levitical priests will approach (for the Lord your God has chosen them to serve him and to pronounce blessings in his name, and to decide every judicial verdict) Verse Concepts

If a matter is too difficult for you to judge -- bloodshed, legal claim, or assault -- matters of controversy in your villages -- you must leave there and go up to the place the Lord your God chooses. You will go to the Levitical priests and the judge in office in those days and seek a solution; they will render a verdict. You must then do as they have determined at that place the Lord chooses. Be careful to do just as you are taught. read more.
You must do what you are instructed, and the verdict they pronounce to you, without fail. Do not deviate right or left from what they tell you. The person who pays no attention to the priest currently serving the Lord your God there, or to the verdict -- that person must die, so that you may purge evil from Israel. Then all the people will hear and be afraid, and not be so presumptuous again.

In Jerusalem Jehoshaphat appointed some Levites, priests, and Israelite family leaders to judge on behalf of the Lord and to settle disputes among the residents of Jerusalem. Verse Concepts

Moreover, they will teach my people the difference between the holy and the common, and show them how to distinguish between the ceremonially unclean and the clean. "'In a controversy they will act as judges; they will judge according to my ordinances. They will keep my laws and my statutes regarding all my appointed festivals and will observe my Sabbaths.

and if jealous feelings come over him and he becomes suspicious of his wife, when she is defiled; or if jealous feelings come over him and he becomes suspicious of his wife, when she is not defiled -- then the man must bring his wife to the priest, and he must bring the offering required for her, one tenth of an ephah of barley meal; he must not pour olive oil on it or put frankincense on it, because it is a grain offering of suspicion, a grain offering for remembering, for bringing iniquity to remembrance. "'Then the priest will bring her near and have her stand before the Lord. read more.
The priest will then take holy water in a pottery jar, and take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle, and put it into the water. Then the priest will have the woman stand before the Lord, uncover the woman's head, and put the grain offering for remembering in her hands, which is the grain offering of suspicion. The priest will hold in his hand the bitter water that brings a curse. Then the priest will put the woman under oath and say to the her, "If no other man has had sexual relations with you, and if you have not gone astray and become defiled while under your husband's authority, may you be free from this bitter water that brings a curse. But if you have gone astray while under your husband's authority, and if you have defiled yourself and some man other than your husband has had sexual relations with you." Then the priest will put the woman under the oath of the curse and will say to the her, "The Lord make you an attested curse among your people, if the Lord makes your thigh fall away and your abdomen swell; and this water that causes the curse will go into your stomach, and make your abdomen swell and your thigh rot." Then the woman must say, "Amen, amen." "'Then the priest will write these curses on a scroll and then scrape them off into the bitter water. He will make the woman drink the bitter water that brings a curse, and the water that brings a curse will enter her to produce bitterness. The priest will take the grain offering of suspicion from the woman's hand, wave the grain offering before the Lord, and bring it to the altar. Then the priest will take a handful of the grain offering as its memorial portion, burn it on the altar, and afterward make the woman drink the water. When he has made her drink the water, then, if she has defiled herself and behaved unfaithfully toward her husband, the water that brings a curse will enter her to produce bitterness -- her abdomen will swell, her thigh will fall away, and the woman will become a curse among her people. But if the woman has not defiled herself, and is clean, then she will be free of ill effects and will be able to bear children. "'This is the law for cases of jealousy, when a wife, while under her husband's authority, goes astray and defiles herself, or when jealous feelings come over a man and he becomes suspicious of his wife; then he must have the woman stand before the Lord, and the priest will carry out all this law upon her. Then the man will be free from iniquity, but that woman will bear the consequences of her iniquity.'"

then both parties to the controversy must stand before the Lord, that is, before the priests and judges who will be in office in those days. Verse Concepts

Your priests did not ask, 'Where is the Lord?' Those responsible for teaching my law did not really know me. Your rulers rebelled against me. Your prophets prophesied in the name of the god Baal. They all worshiped idols that could not help them. Verse Concepts

For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge of sacred things, and people should seek instruction from him because he is the messenger of the Lord who rules over all. Verse Concepts

and to teach the Israelites all the statutes that the Lord has spoken to them through Moses." Verse Concepts

Be careful during an outbreak of leprosy to follow precisely all that the Levitical priests instruct you; as I have commanded them, so you should do. Verse Concepts

They will teach Jacob your ordinances and Israel your law; they will offer incense as a pleasant odor, and a whole offering on your altar. Verse Concepts

"The Levites will call out to every Israelite with a loud voice:

Then Moses wrote down this law and gave it to the Levitical priests, who carry the ark of the Lord's covenant, and to all Israel's elders. He commanded them: "At the end of seven years, at the appointed time of the cancellation of debts, at the Feast of Temporary Shelters, when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God in the place he chooses, you must read this law before them within their hearing. read more.
Gather the people -- men, women, and children, as well as the resident foreigners in your villages -- so they may hear and thus learn about and fear the Lord your God and carefully obey all the words of this law. Then their children, who have not known this law, will also hear about and learn to fear the Lord your God for as long as you live in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess."

but Jesus did so with a sworn affirmation by the one who said to him, "The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, 'You are a priest forever'" -- Verse Concepts

"Now this is what you are to do for them to consecrate them so that they may minister as my priests. Take a young bull and two rams without blemish; and bread made without yeast, and perforated cakes without yeast mixed with oil, and wafers without yeast spread with oil -- you are to make them using fine wheat flour. You are to put them in one basket and present them in the basket, along with the bull and the two rams. read more.
"You are to present Aaron and his sons at the entrance of the tent of meeting. You are to wash them with water and take the garments and clothe Aaron with the tunic, the robe of the ephod, the ephod, and the breastpiece; you are to fasten the ephod on him by using the skillfully woven waistband. You are to put the turban on his head and put the holy diadem on the turban. You are to take the anointing oil and pour it on his head and anoint him. You are to present his sons and clothe them with tunics and wrap the sashes around Aaron and his sons and put headbands on them, and so the ministry of priesthood will belong to them by a perpetual ordinance. Thus you are to consecrate Aaron and his sons.

"You are to take the second ram, and Aaron and his sons are to lay their hands on the ram's head, and you are to kill the ram and take some of its blood and put it on the tip of the right ear of Aaron, on the tip of the right ear of his sons, on the thumb of their right hand, and on the big toe of their right foot, and then splash the blood all around on the altar. You are to take some of the blood that is on the altar and some of the anointing oil and sprinkle it on Aaron, on his garments, on his sons, and on his sons' garments with him, so that he may be holy, he and his garments along with his sons and his sons' garments. read more.
"You are to take from the ram the fat, the fat tail, the fat that covers the entrails, the lobe of the liver, the two kidneys and the fat that is on them, and the right thigh -- for it is the ram for consecration -- and one round flat cake of bread, one perforated cake of oiled bread, and one wafer from the basket of bread made without yeast that is before the Lord. You are to put all these in Aaron's hands and in his sons' hands, and you are to wave them as a wave offering before the Lord. Then you are to take them from their hands and burn them on the altar for a burnt offering, for a soothing aroma before the Lord. It is an offering made by fire to the Lord. You are to take the breast of the ram of Aaron's consecration; you are to wave it as a wave offering before the Lord, and it is to be your share. You are to sanctify the breast of the wave offering and the thigh of the contribution, which were waved and lifted up as a contribution from the ram of consecration, from what belongs to Aaron and to his sons. It is to belong to Aaron and to his sons from the Israelites, by a perpetual ordinance, for it is a contribution. It is to be a contribution from the Israelites from their peace offerings, their contribution to the Lord. "The holy garments that belong to Aaron are to belong to his sons after him, so that they may be anointed in them and consecrated in them. The priest who succeeds him from his sons, when he first comes to the tent of meeting to minister in the Holy Place, is to wear them for seven days. "You are to take the ram of the consecration and cook its meat in a holy place. Aaron and his sons are to eat the meat of the ram and the bread that was in the basket at the entrance of the tent of meeting. They are to eat those things by which atonement was made to consecrate and to set them apart, but no one else may eat them, for they are holy. If any of the meat from the consecration offerings or any of the bread is left over until morning, then you are to burn up what is left over. It must not be eaten, because it is holy. "Thus you are to do for Aaron and for his sons, according to all that I have commanded you; you are to consecrate them for seven days.

"You are to bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the tent of meeting and wash them with water. Then you are to clothe Aaron with the holy garments and anoint him and sanctify him so that he may minister as my priest. You are to bring his sons and clothe them with tunics read more.
and anoint them just as you anointed their father, so that they may minister as my priests; their anointing will make them a priesthood that will continue throughout their generations." This is what Moses did, according to all the Lord had commanded him -- so he did.

"This is the offering of Aaron and his sons which they must present to the Lord on the day when he is anointed: a tenth of an ephah of choice wheat flour as a continual grain offering, half of it in the morning and half of it in the evening. It must be made with olive oil on a griddle and you must bring it well soaked, so you must present a grain offering of broken pieces as a soothing aroma to the Lord. The high priest who succeeds him from among his sons must do it. It is a perpetual statute; it must be offered up in smoke as a whole offering to the Lord. read more.
Every grain offering of a priest must be a whole offering; it must not be eaten."

So Moses brought Aaron and his sons forward and washed them with water. Then he put the tunic on Aaron, wrapped the sash around him, and clothed him with the robe. Next he put the ephod on him and placed on him the decorated band of the ephod, and fastened the ephod closely to him with the band. He then set the breastpiece on him and put the Urim and Thummim into the breastpiece. read more.
Finally, he set the turban on his head and attached the gold plate, the holy diadem, to the front of the turban just as the Lord had commanded Moses. Then Moses took the anointing oil and anointed the tabernacle and everything in it, and so consecrated them. Next he sprinkled some of it on the altar seven times and so anointed the altar, all its vessels, and the wash basin and its stand to consecrate them. He then poured some of the anointing oil on the head of Aaron and anointed him to consecrate him. Moses also brought forward Aaron's sons, clothed them with tunics, wrapped sashes around them, and wrapped headbands on them just as the Lord had commanded Moses. Then he brought near the sin offering bull and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the sin offering bull, and he slaughtered it. Moses then took the blood and put it all around on the horns of the altar with his finger and decontaminated the altar, and he poured out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar and so consecrated it to make atonement on it. Then he took all the fat on the entrails, the protruding lobe of the liver, and the two kidneys and their fat, and Moses offered it all up in smoke on the altar, but the rest of the bull -- its hide, its flesh, and its dung -- he completely burned up outside the camp just as the Lord had commanded Moses. Then he presented the burnt offering ram and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the ram, and he slaughtered it. Moses then splashed the blood against the altar's sides. Then he cut the ram into parts, and Moses offered the head, the parts, and the suet up in smoke, but the entrails and the legs he washed with water, and Moses offered the whole ram up in smoke on the altar -- it was a burnt offering for a soothing aroma, a gift to the Lord, just as the Lord had commanded Moses. Then he presented the second ram, the ram of ordination, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the ram and he slaughtered it. Moses then took some of its blood and put it on Aaron's right earlobe, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot. Next he brought Aaron's sons forward, and Moses put some of the blood on their right earlobes, on their right thumbs, and on the big toes of their right feet, and Moses splashed the rest of the blood against the altar's sides. Then he took the fat (the fatty tail, all the fat on the entrails, the protruding lobe of the liver, and the two kidneys and their fat) and the right thigh, and from the basket of unleavened bread that was before the Lord he took one unleavened loaf, one loaf of bread mixed with olive oil, and one wafer, and placed them on the fat parts and on the right thigh. He then put all of them on the palms of Aaron and his sons, who waved them as a wave offering before the Lord. Moses then took them from their palms and offered them up in smoke on the altar on top of the burnt offering -- they were an ordination offering for a soothing aroma; it was a gift to the Lord. Finally, Moses took the breast and waved it as a wave offering before the Lord from the ram of ordination. It was Moses' share just as the Lord had commanded Moses. Then Moses took some of the anointing oil and some of the blood which was on the altar and sprinkled it on Aaron and his garments, and on his sons and his sons' garments with him. So he consecrated Aaron, his garments, and his sons and his sons' garments with him. Then Moses said to Aaron and his sons, "Boil the meat at the entrance of the Meeting Tent, and there you are to eat it and the bread which is in the ordination offering basket, just as I have commanded, saying, 'Aaron and his sons are to eat it,' but the remainder of the meat and the bread you must burn with fire. And you must not go out from the entrance of the Meeting Tent for seven days, until the day when your days of ordination are completed, because you must be ordained over a seven-day period. What has been done on this day the Lord has commanded to be done to make atonement for you. You must reside at the entrance of the Meeting Tent day and night for seven days and keep the charge of the Lord so that you will not die, for this is what I have been commanded."

and the priest is to wave them -- the two lambs -- along with the bread of the first fruits, as a wave offering before the Lord; they will be holy to the Lord for the priest. Verse Concepts

"All the best of the olive oil and all the best of the wine and of the wheat, the first fruits of these things that they give to the Lord, I have given to you. And whatever first ripe fruit in their land they bring to the Lord will be yours; everyone who is ceremonially clean in your household may eat of it.

This shall be the priests' fair allotment from the people who offer sacrifices, whether bull or sheep -- they must give to the priest the shoulder, the jowls, and the stomach. You must give them the best of your grain, new wine, and olive oil, as well as the best of your wool when you shear your flocks. For the Lord your God has chosen them and their sons from all your tribes to stand and serve in his name permanently.

We also accept responsibility, as is written in the law, for bringing the firstborn of our sons and our cattle and the firstborn of our herds and of our flocks to the temple of our God, to the priests who are ministering in the temple of our God. Verse Concepts

It will belong to Aaron and his sons, and they must eat it in a holy place because it is most holy to him, a perpetual allotted portion from the gifts of the Lord." Verse Concepts

But you must not redeem the firstborn of a cow or a sheep or a goat; they are holy. You must splash their blood on the altar and burn their fat for an offering made by fire for a pleasing aroma to the Lord. And their meat will be yours, just as the breast and the right hip of the raised offering is yours.

Moses also brought forward Aaron's sons, clothed them with tunics, wrapped sashes around them, and wrapped headbands on them just as the Lord had commanded Moses. Verse Concepts

You must make holy garments for your brother Aaron, for glory and for beauty. You are to speak to all who are specially skilled, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, so that they may make Aaron's garments to set him apart to minister as my priest. Now these are the garments that they are to make: a breastpiece, an ephod, a robe, a fitted tunic, a turban, and a sash. They are to make holy garments for your brother Aaron and for his sons, that they may minister as my priests. read more.
The artisans are to use the gold, blue, purple, scarlet, and fine linen. "They are to make the ephod of gold, blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twisted linen, the work of an artistic designer. It is to have two shoulder pieces attached to two of its corners, so it can be joined together. The artistically woven waistband of the ephod that is on it is to be like it, of one piece with the ephod, of gold, blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twisted linen. "You are to take two onyx stones and engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel, six of their names on one stone, and the six remaining names on the second stone, according to the order of their birth. You are to engrave the two stones with the names of the sons of Israel with the work of an engraver in stone, like the engravings of a seal; you are to have them set in gold filigree settings. You are to put the two stones on the shoulders of the ephod, stones of memorial for the sons of Israel, and Aaron will bear their names before the Lord on his two shoulders for a memorial. You are to make filigree settings of gold and two braided chains of pure gold, like a cord, and attach the chains to the settings. "You are to make a breastpiece for use in making decisions, the work of an artistic designer; you are to make it in the same fashion as the ephod; you are to make it of gold, blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twisted linen. It is to be square when doubled, nine inches long and nine inches wide. You are to set in it a setting for stones, four rows of stones, a row with a ruby, a topaz, and a beryl -- the first row; and the second row, a turquoise, a sapphire, and an emerald; and the third row, a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst; and the fourth row, a chrysolite, an onyx, and a jasper. They are to be enclosed in gold in their filigree settings. The stones are to be for the names of the sons of Israel, twelve, according to the number of their names. Each name according to the twelve tribes is to be like the engravings of a seal. "You are to make for the breastpiece braided chains like cords of pure gold, and you are to make for the breastpiece two gold rings and attach the two rings to the upper two ends of the breastpiece. You are to attach the two gold chains to the two rings at the ends of the breastpiece; the other two ends of the two chains you will attach to the two settings and then attach them to the shoulder pieces of the ephod at the front of it. You are to make two rings of gold and put them on the other two ends of the breastpiece, on its edge that is on the inner side of the ephod. You are to make two more gold rings and attach them to the bottom of the two shoulder pieces on the front of the ephod, close to the juncture above the waistband of the ephod. They are to tie the breastpiece by its rings to the rings of the ephod by blue cord, so that it may be above the waistband of the ephod, and so that the breastpiece will not be loose from the ephod. Aaron will bear the names of the sons of Israel in the breastpiece of decision over his heart when he goes into the holy place, for a memorial before the Lord continually. "You are to put the Urim and the Thummim into the breastpiece of decision; and they are to be over Aaron's heart when he goes in before the Lord. Aaron is to bear the decisions of the Israelites over his heart before the Lord continually. "You are to make the robe of the ephod completely blue. There is to be an opening in its top in the center of it, with an edge all around the opening, the work of a weaver, like the opening of a collar, so that it cannot be torn. You are to make pomegranates of blue, purple, and scarlet all around its hem and bells of gold between them all around. The pattern is to be a gold bell and a pomegranate, a gold bell and a pomegranate, all around the hem of the robe. The robe is to be on Aaron as he ministers, and his sound will be heard when he enters the Holy Place before the Lord and when he leaves, so that he does not die. "You are to make a plate of pure gold and engrave on it the way a seal is engraved: "Holiness to the Lord." You are to attach to it a blue cord so that it will be on the turban; it is to be on the front of the turban, It will be on Aaron's forehead, and Aaron will bear the iniquity of the holy things, which the Israelites are to sanctify by all their holy gifts; it will always be on his forehead, for their acceptance before the Lord. You are to weave the tunic of fine linen and make the turban of fine linen, and make the sash the work of an embroiderer. "For Aaron's sons you are to make tunics, sashes, and headbands for glory and for beauty. "You are to clothe them -- your brother Aaron and his sons with him -- and anoint them and ordain them and set them apart as holy, so that they may minister as my priests. Make for them linen undergarments to cover their naked bodies; they must cover from the waist to the thighs. These must be on Aaron and his sons when they enter to the tent of meeting, or when they approach the altar to minister in the Holy Place, so that they bear no iniquity and die. It is to be a perpetual ordinance for him and for his descendants after him.

From the blue, purple, and scarlet yarn they made woven garments for serving in the sanctuary; they made holy garments that were for Aaron, just as the Lord had commanded Moses. He made the ephod of gold, blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twisted linen. They hammered the gold into thin sheets and cut it into narrow strips to weave them into the blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and into the fine linen, the work of an artistic designer. read more.
They made shoulder pieces for it, attached to two of its corners, so it could be joined together. The artistically woven waistband of the ephod that was on it was like it, of one piece with it, of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and fine twisted linen, just as the Lord had commanded Moses. They set the onyx stones in gold filigree settings, engraved as with the engravings of a seal with the names of the sons of Israel. He put them on the shoulder pieces of the ephod as stones of memorial for the Israelites, just as the Lord had commanded Moses. He made the breastpiece, the work of an artistic designer, in the same fashion as the ephod, of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet, and fine twisted linen. It was square -- they made the breastpiece doubled, nine inches long and nine inches wide when doubled. They set on it four rows of stones: a row with a ruby, a topaz, and a beryl -- the first row; and the second row, a turquoise, a sapphire, and an emerald; and the third row, a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst; and the fourth row, a chrysolite, an onyx, and a jasper. They were enclosed in gold filigree settings. The stones were for the names of the sons of Israel, twelve, corresponding to the number of their names. Each name corresponding to one of the twelve tribes was like the engravings of a seal. They made for the breastpiece braided chains like cords of pure gold, and they made two gold filigree settings and two gold rings, and they attached the two rings to the upper two ends of the breastpiece. They attached the two gold chains to the two rings at the ends of the breastpiece; the other two ends of the two chains they attached to the two settings, and they attached them to the shoulder pieces of the ephod at the front of it. They made two rings of gold and put them on the other two ends of the breastpiece on its edge, which is on the inner side of the ephod. They made two more gold rings and attached them to the bottom of the two shoulder pieces on the front of the ephod, close to the juncture above the waistband of the ephod. They tied the breastpiece by its rings to the rings of the ephod by blue cord, so that it was above the waistband of the ephod, so that the breastpiece would not be loose from the ephod, just as the Lord had commanded Moses. He made the robe of the ephod completely blue, the work of a weaver. There was an opening in the center of the robe, like the opening of a collar, with an edge all around the opening so that it could not be torn. They made pomegranates of blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and twisted linen around the hem of the robe. They made bells of pure gold and attached the bells between the pomegranates around the hem of the robe between the pomegranates. There was a bell and a pomegranate, a bell and a pomegranate, all around the hem of the robe, to be used in ministering, just as the Lord had commanded Moses. They made tunics of fine linen -- the work of a weaver, for Aaron and for his sons -- and the turban of fine linen, the headbands of fine linen, and the undergarments of fine twisted linen. The sash was of fine twisted linen and blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, the work of an embroiderer, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

Then the priest must put on his linen robe and must put linen leggings over his bare flesh, and he must take up the fatty ashes of the burnt offering that the fire consumed on the altar, and he must place them beside the altar. Then he must take off his clothes and put on other clothes, and he must bring the fatty ashes outside the camp to a ceremonially clean place,

"'When they enter the gates of the inner court, they must wear linen garments; they must not have any wool on them when they minister in the inner gates of the court and in the temple. Linen turbans will be on their heads and linen undergarments will be around their waists; they must not bind themselves with anything that causes sweat. When they go out to the outer court to the people, they must remove the garments they were ministering in, and place them in the holy chambers; they must put on other garments so that they will not transmit holiness to the people with their garments.

You have appointed them as a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth." Verse Concepts

Blessed and holy is the one who takes part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years. Verse Concepts

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may proclaim the virtues of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Verse Concepts

You will be called, 'the Lord's priests, servants of our God.' You will enjoy the wealth of nations and boast about the riches you receive from them. Verse Concepts

and you will be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words that you will speak to the Israelites." Verse Concepts

and has appointed us as a kingdom, as priests serving his God and Father -- to him be the glory and the power for ever and ever! Amen. Verse Concepts

and wrap the sashes around Aaron and his sons and put headbands on them, and so the ministry of priesthood will belong to them by a perpetual ordinance. Thus you are to consecrate Aaron and his sons. Verse Concepts

The sons of Amram: Aaron and Moses. Aaron and his descendants were chosen on a permanent basis to consecrate the most holy items, to offer sacrifices before the Lord, to serve him, and to praise his name. Verse Concepts

So you are to appoint Aaron and his sons, and they will be responsible for their priesthood; but the unauthorized person who comes near must be put to death." Verse Concepts

But you and your sons with you are responsible for your priestly duties, for everything at the altar and within the curtain. And you must serve. I give you the priesthood as a gift for service; but the unauthorized person who approaches must be put to death." Verse Concepts

"So I will set apart as holy the tent of meeting and the altar, and I will set apart as holy Aaron and his sons, that they may minister as priests to me. Verse Concepts

"And you, bring near to you your brother Aaron and his sons with him from among the Israelites, so that they may minister as my priests -- Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron's sons. You must make holy garments for your brother Aaron, for glory and for beauty. You are to speak to all who are specially skilled, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, so that they may make Aaron's garments to set him apart to minister as my priest. read more.
Now these are the garments that they are to make: a breastpiece, an ephod, a robe, a fitted tunic, a turban, and a sash. They are to make holy garments for your brother Aaron and for his sons, that they may minister as my priests.

Now when these things had been completed, the leaders approached me and said, "The people of Israel, the priests, and the Levites have not separated themselves from the local residents who practice detestable things similar to those of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. Indeed, they have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy race has become intermingled with the local residents. Worse still, the leaders and the officials have been at the forefront of all of this!"

I gave instructions that Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and a certain Levite named Pedaiah be put in charge of the storerooms, and that Hanan son of Zaccur, the son of Mattaniah, be their assistant, for they were regarded as trustworthy. It was then their responsibility to oversee the distribution to their colleagues. Verse Concepts

Now one of the sons of Joiada son of Eliashib the high priest was a son-in-law of Sanballat the Horonite. So I banished him from my sight. Please remember them, O my God, because they have defiled the priesthood, the covenant of the priesthood, and the Levites.

But prior to this time, Eliashib the priest, a relative of Tobiah, had been appointed over the storerooms of the temple of our God. He made for himself a large storeroom where previously they had been keeping the grain offering, the incense, and the vessels, along with the tithes of the grain, the new wine, and the olive oil as commanded for the Levites, the singers, the gate keepers, and the offering for the priests. During all this time I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of King Artaxerxes of Babylon, I had gone back to the king. After some time I had requested leave of the king, read more.
and I returned to Jerusalem. Then I discovered the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah by supplying him with a storeroom in the courts of the temple of God. I was very upset, and I threw all of Tobiah's household possessions out of the storeroom. Then I gave instructions that the storerooms should be purified, and I brought back the equipment of the temple of God, along with the grain offering and the incense.

It was determined that from the descendants of the priests, the following had taken foreign wives: from the descendants of Jeshua son of Jozadak, and his brothers: Maaseiah, Eliezer, Jarib, and Gedaliah. (They gave their word to send away their wives; their guilt offering was a ram from the flock for their guilt.) From the descendants of Immer: Hanani and Zebadiah. read more.
From the descendants of Harim: Maaseiah, Elijah, Shemaiah, Jehiel, and Uzziah. From the descendants of Pashhur: Elioenai, Maaseiah, Ishmael, Nethanel, Jozabad, and Elasah.

where Jesus our forerunner entered on our behalf, since he became a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek. Verse Concepts

Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (Now he was the priest of the Most High God.) Verse Concepts

as also in another place God says, "You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek." Verse Concepts

Now this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, met Abraham as he was returning from defeating the kings and blessed him. To him also Abraham apportioned a tithe of everything. His name first means king of righteousness, then king of Salem, that is, king of peace. Without father, without mother, without genealogy, he has neither beginning of days nor end of life but is like the son of God, and he remains a priest for all time. read more.
But see how great he must be, if Abraham the patriarch gave him a tithe of his plunder. And those of the sons of Levi who receive the priestly office have authorization according to the law to collect a tithe from the people, that is, from their fellow countrymen, although they too are descendants of Abraham. But Melchizedek who does not share their ancestry collected a tithe from Abraham and blessed the one who possessed the promise. Now without dispute the inferior is blessed by the superior, and in one case tithes are received by mortal men, while in the other by him who is affirmed to be alive. And it could be said that Levi himself, who receives tithes, paid a tithe through Abraham. For he was still in his ancestor Abraham's loins when Melchizedek met him. So if perfection had in fact been possible through the Levitical priesthood -- for on that basis the people received the law -- what further need would there have been for another priest to arise, said to be in the order of Melchizedek and not in Aaron's order? For when the priesthood changes, a change in the law must come as well. Yet the one these things are spoken about belongs to a different tribe, and no one from that tribe has ever officiated at the altar. For it is clear that our Lord is descended from Judah, yet Moses said nothing about priests in connection with that tribe. And this is even clearer if another priest arises in the likeness of Melchizedek, who has become a priest not by a legal regulation about physical descent but by the power of an indestructible life. For here is the testimony about him: "You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek." On the one hand a former command is set aside because it is weak and useless, for the law made nothing perfect. On the other hand a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God. And since this was not done without a sworn affirmation -- for the others have become priests without a sworn affirmation, but Jesus did so with a sworn affirmation by the one who said to him, "The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, 'You are a priest forever'" --

and he was designated by God as high priest in the order of Melchizedek. On this topic we have much to say and it is difficult to explain, since you have become sluggish in hearing.

Outside the veil-canopy of the congregation in the Meeting Tent Aaron must arrange it from evening until morning before the Lord continually. This is a perpetual statute throughout your generations. On the ceremonially pure lampstand he must arrange the lamps before the Lord continually.

"You are to command the Israelites that they bring to you pure oil of pressed olives for the light, so that the lamps will burn regularly. In the tent of meeting outside the curtain that is before the testimony, Aaron and his sons are to arrange it from evening to morning before the Lord. This is to be a lasting ordinance among the Israelites for generations to come.

When Aaron sets up the lamps around sundown he is to burn incense on it; it is to be a regular incense offering before the Lord throughout your generations. Verse Concepts

And Aaron did so; he set up the lamps to face toward the front of the lampstand, as the Lord commanded Moses.

Aaron is to make atonement on its horns once in the year with some of the blood of the sin offering for atonement; once in the year he is to make atonement on it throughout your generations. It is most holy to the Lord." Verse Concepts

But only the high priest enters once a year into the inner tent, and not without blood that he offers for himself and for the sins of the people committed in ignorance. Verse Concepts

and for this reason he is obligated to make sin offerings for himself as well as for the people. Verse Concepts

Indeed according to the law almost everything was purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. So it was necessary for the sketches of the things in heaven to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves required better sacrifices than these.

When they saw the chest was full of silver, the royal secretary and the high priest counted the silver that had been brought to the Lord's temple and bagged it up. Verse Concepts

"Go up to Hilkiah the high priest and have him melt down the silver that has been brought by the people to the Lord's temple and has been collected by the guards at the door. Verse Concepts

They went to Hilkiah the high priest and gave him the silver that had been brought to God's temple. The Levites who guarded the door had collected it from the people of Manasseh and Ephraim and from all who were left in Israel, as well as from all the people of Judah and Benjamin and the residents of Jerusalem. Verse Concepts

So the king summoned Jehoiada the chief priest, and said to him, "Why have you not made the Levites collect from Judah and Jerusalem the tax authorized by Moses the Lord's servant and by the assembly of Israel at the tent containing the tablets of the law?" (Wicked Athaliah and her sons had broken into God's temple and used all the holy items of the Lord's temple in their worship of the Baals.) The king ordered a chest to be made and placed outside the gate of the Lord's temple. read more.
An edict was sent throughout Judah and Jerusalem requiring the people to bring to the Lord the tax that Moses, God's servant, imposed on Israel in the wilderness. All the officials and all the people gladly brought their silver and threw it into the chest until it was full. Whenever the Levites brought the chest to the royal accountant and they saw there was a lot of silver, the royal scribe and the accountant of the high priest emptied the chest and then took it back to its place. They went through this routine every day and collected a large amount of silver. The king and Jehoiada gave it to the construction foremen assigned to the Lord's temple. They hired carpenters and craftsmen to repair the Lord's temple, as well as those skilled in working with iron and bronze to restore the Lord's temple. They worked hard and made the repairs. They followed the measurements specified for God's temple and restored it. When they were finished, they brought the rest of the silver to the king and Jehoiada. They used it to make items for the Lord's temple, including items used in the temple service and for burnt sacrifices, pans, and various other gold and silver items. Throughout Jehoiada's lifetime, burnt sacrifices were offered regularly in the Lord's temple.

So Moses sent them to the war, one thousand from every tribe, with Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest, who was in charge of the holy articles and the signal trumpets. Verse Concepts

Now look, God is with us as our leader. His priests are ready to blow the trumpets to signal the attack against you. You Israelites, don't fight against the Lord God of your ancestors, for you will not win!" Verse Concepts

"Make two trumpets of silver; you are to make them from a single hammered piece. You will use them for assembling the community and for directing the traveling of the camps. When they blow them both, all the community must come to you to the entrance of the tent of meeting. "But if they blow with one trumpet, then the leaders, the heads of the thousands of Israel, must come to you. read more.
When you blow an alarm, then the camps that are located on the east side must begin to travel. And when you blow an alarm the second time, then the camps that are located on the south side must begin to travel. An alarm must be sounded for their journeys. But when you assemble the community, you must blow, but you must not sound an alarm. The sons of Aaron, the priests, must blow the trumpets; and they will be to you for an eternal ordinance throughout your generations. If you go to war in your land against an adversary who opposes you, then you must sound an alarm with the trumpets, and you will be remembered before the Lord your God, and you will be saved from your enemies. "Also in the time when you rejoice, such as on your appointed festivals or at the beginnings of your months, you must blow with your trumpets over your burnt offerings and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings, so that they may become a memorial for you before your God: I am the Lord your God."

Her priests abuse my law and have desecrated my holy things. They do not distinguish between the holy and the profane, or recognize any distinction between the unclean and the clean. They ignore my Sabbaths and I am profaned in their midst. Verse Concepts

Moreover, the Lord says, "Both the prophets and priests are godless. I have even found them doing evil in my temple! So the paths they follow will be dark and slippery. They will stumble and fall headlong. For I will bring disaster on them. A day of reckoning is coming for them." The Lord affirms it!

Now by chance a priest was going down that road, but when he saw the injured man he passed by on the other side. Verse Concepts

Outside the veil-canopy of the congregation in the Meeting Tent Aaron must arrange it from evening until morning before the Lord continually. This is a perpetual statute throughout your generations. On the ceremonially pure lampstand he must arrange the lamps before the Lord continually.

"You are to command the Israelites that they bring to you pure oil of pressed olives for the light, so that the lamps will burn regularly. In the tent of meeting outside the curtain that is before the testimony, Aaron and his sons are to arrange it from evening to morning before the Lord. This is to be a lasting ordinance among the Israelites for generations to come.

They offer burnt sacrifices to the Lord every morning and every evening, along with fragrant incense. They arrange the Bread of the Presence on a ritually clean table and light the lamps on the gold lampstand every evening. Certainly we are observing the Lord our God's regulations, but you have rejected him. Verse Concepts

It was determined that from the descendants of the priests, the following had taken foreign wives: from the descendants of Jeshua son of Jozadak, and his brothers: Maaseiah, Eliezer, Jarib, and Gedaliah. (They gave their word to send away their wives; their guilt offering was a ram from the flock for their guilt.)

Now when these things had been completed, the leaders approached me and said, "The people of Israel, the priests, and the Levites have not separated themselves from the local residents who practice detestable things similar to those of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. Indeed, they have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy race has become intermingled with the local residents. Worse still, the leaders and the officials have been at the forefront of all of this!"

"Now the rest of the people -- the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the temple attendants, and all those who have separated themselves from the neighboring peoples because of the law of God, along with their wives, their sons, and their daughters, all of whom are able to understand -- Verse Concepts

So Ezra got up and made the leading priests and Levites and all Israel take an oath to carry out this plan. And they all took a solemn oath. Verse Concepts

Now the head of all the Levitical leaders was Eleazar son of Aaron the priest. He was appointed over those who were responsible for the sanctuary.

This is the service of the families of the Gershonites concerning the tent of meeting. Their responsibilities will be under the authority of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest. Verse Concepts

You are to assign the Levites to Aaron and his sons; they will be assigned exclusively to him out of all the Israelites.

Phinehas son of Eleazar had been their leader in earlier times, and the Lord was with him.

This is the service of the families of the Merarites, their entire service concerning the tent of meeting, under the authority of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest."

but in order that they will live and not die when they approach the most holy things, do this for them: Aaron and his sons will go in and appoint each man to his service and his responsibility. Verse Concepts

The sons of Amram: Aaron and Moses. Aaron and his descendants were chosen on a permanent basis to consecrate the most holy items, to offer sacrifices before the Lord, to serve him, and to praise his name. Verse Concepts

Aaron is to burn sweet incense on it morning by morning; when he attends to the lamps he is to burn incense. When Aaron sets up the lamps around sundown he is to burn incense on it; it is to be a regular incense offering before the Lord throughout your generations.

I chose your ancestor from all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to offer sacrifice on my altar, to burn incense, and to bear the ephod before me. I gave to your ancestor's house all the fire offerings made by the Israelites. Verse Concepts

"When a person commits a trespass and sins by straying unintentionally from the regulations about the Lord's holy things, then he must bring his penalty for guilt to the Lord, a flawless ram from the flock, convertible into silver shekels according to the standard of the sanctuary shekel, for a guilt offering. Verse Concepts

(The silver collected in conjunction with reparation offerings and sin offerings was not brought to the Lord's temple; it belonged to the priests.) Verse Concepts

Of all the most holy offerings reserved from the fire this will be yours: Every offering of theirs, whether from every grain offering or from every purification offering or from every reparation offering which they bring to me, will be most holy for you and for your sons. Verse Concepts

and must bring a flawless ram from the flock, convertible into silver shekels, for a guilt offering to the priest. So the priest will make atonement on his behalf for his error which he committed (although he himself had not known it) and he will be forgiven. Verse Concepts

Then the Levitical priests will approach (for the Lord your God has chosen them to serve him and to pronounce blessings in his name, and to decide every judicial verdict) Verse Concepts

The priests and Levites got up and pronounced blessings on the people. The Lord responded favorably to them as their prayers reached his holy dwelling place in heaven. Verse Concepts

The Lord spoke to Moses: "Tell Aaron and his sons, 'This is the way you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them: "The Lord bless you and protect you; read more.
The Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you; The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace."' So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them."

You must make holy garments for your brother Aaron, for glory and for beauty. You are to speak to all who are specially skilled, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, so that they may make Aaron's garments to set him apart to minister as my priest. Now these are the garments that they are to make: a breastpiece, an ephod, a robe, a fitted tunic, a turban, and a sash. They are to make holy garments for your brother Aaron and for his sons, that they may minister as my priests. read more.
The artisans are to use the gold, blue, purple, scarlet, and fine linen. "They are to make the ephod of gold, blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twisted linen, the work of an artistic designer. It is to have two shoulder pieces attached to two of its corners, so it can be joined together. The artistically woven waistband of the ephod that is on it is to be like it, of one piece with the ephod, of gold, blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twisted linen. "You are to take two onyx stones and engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel, six of their names on one stone, and the six remaining names on the second stone, according to the order of their birth. You are to engrave the two stones with the names of the sons of Israel with the work of an engraver in stone, like the engravings of a seal; you are to have them set in gold filigree settings. You are to put the two stones on the shoulders of the ephod, stones of memorial for the sons of Israel, and Aaron will bear their names before the Lord on his two shoulders for a memorial. You are to make filigree settings of gold and two braided chains of pure gold, like a cord, and attach the chains to the settings. "You are to make a breastpiece for use in making decisions, the work of an artistic designer; you are to make it in the same fashion as the ephod; you are to make it of gold, blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twisted linen. It is to be square when doubled, nine inches long and nine inches wide. You are to set in it a setting for stones, four rows of stones, a row with a ruby, a topaz, and a beryl -- the first row; and the second row, a turquoise, a sapphire, and an emerald; and the third row, a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst; and the fourth row, a chrysolite, an onyx, and a jasper. They are to be enclosed in gold in their filigree settings. The stones are to be for the names of the sons of Israel, twelve, according to the number of their names. Each name according to the twelve tribes is to be like the engravings of a seal. "You are to make for the breastpiece braided chains like cords of pure gold, and you are to make for the breastpiece two gold rings and attach the two rings to the upper two ends of the breastpiece. You are to attach the two gold chains to the two rings at the ends of the breastpiece; the other two ends of the two chains you will attach to the two settings and then attach them to the shoulder pieces of the ephod at the front of it. You are to make two rings of gold and put them on the other two ends of the breastpiece, on its edge that is on the inner side of the ephod. You are to make two more gold rings and attach them to the bottom of the two shoulder pieces on the front of the ephod, close to the juncture above the waistband of the ephod. They are to tie the breastpiece by its rings to the rings of the ephod by blue cord, so that it may be above the waistband of the ephod, and so that the breastpiece will not be loose from the ephod. Aaron will bear the names of the sons of Israel in the breastpiece of decision over his heart when he goes into the holy place, for a memorial before the Lord continually. "You are to put the Urim and the Thummim into the breastpiece of decision; and they are to be over Aaron's heart when he goes in before the Lord. Aaron is to bear the decisions of the Israelites over his heart before the Lord continually. "You are to make the robe of the ephod completely blue. There is to be an opening in its top in the center of it, with an edge all around the opening, the work of a weaver, like the opening of a collar, so that it cannot be torn. You are to make pomegranates of blue, purple, and scarlet all around its hem and bells of gold between them all around. The pattern is to be a gold bell and a pomegranate, a gold bell and a pomegranate, all around the hem of the robe. The robe is to be on Aaron as he ministers, and his sound will be heard when he enters the Holy Place before the Lord and when he leaves, so that he does not die. "You are to make a plate of pure gold and engrave on it the way a seal is engraved: "Holiness to the Lord." You are to attach to it a blue cord so that it will be on the turban; it is to be on the front of the turban, It will be on Aaron's forehead, and Aaron will bear the iniquity of the holy things, which the Israelites are to sanctify by all their holy gifts; it will always be on his forehead, for their acceptance before the Lord. You are to weave the tunic of fine linen and make the turban of fine linen, and make the sash the work of an embroiderer. "For Aaron's sons you are to make tunics, sashes, and headbands for glory and for beauty. "You are to clothe them -- your brother Aaron and his sons with him -- and anoint them and ordain them and set them apart as holy, so that they may minister as my priests. Make for them linen undergarments to cover their naked bodies; they must cover from the waist to the thighs. These must be on Aaron and his sons when they enter to the tent of meeting, or when they approach the altar to minister in the Holy Place, so that they bear no iniquity and die. It is to be a perpetual ordinance for him and for his descendants after him.

From the blue, purple, and scarlet yarn they made woven garments for serving in the sanctuary; they made holy garments that were for Aaron, just as the Lord had commanded Moses. He made the ephod of gold, blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twisted linen. They hammered the gold into thin sheets and cut it into narrow strips to weave them into the blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and into the fine linen, the work of an artistic designer. read more.
They made shoulder pieces for it, attached to two of its corners, so it could be joined together. The artistically woven waistband of the ephod that was on it was like it, of one piece with it, of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and fine twisted linen, just as the Lord had commanded Moses. They set the onyx stones in gold filigree settings, engraved as with the engravings of a seal with the names of the sons of Israel. He put them on the shoulder pieces of the ephod as stones of memorial for the Israelites, just as the Lord had commanded Moses. He made the breastpiece, the work of an artistic designer, in the same fashion as the ephod, of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet, and fine twisted linen. It was square -- they made the breastpiece doubled, nine inches long and nine inches wide when doubled. They set on it four rows of stones: a row with a ruby, a topaz, and a beryl -- the first row; and the second row, a turquoise, a sapphire, and an emerald; and the third row, a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst; and the fourth row, a chrysolite, an onyx, and a jasper. They were enclosed in gold filigree settings. The stones were for the names of the sons of Israel, twelve, corresponding to the number of their names. Each name corresponding to one of the twelve tribes was like the engravings of a seal. They made for the breastpiece braided chains like cords of pure gold, and they made two gold filigree settings and two gold rings, and they attached the two rings to the upper two ends of the breastpiece. They attached the two gold chains to the two rings at the ends of the breastpiece; the other two ends of the two chains they attached to the two settings, and they attached them to the shoulder pieces of the ephod at the front of it. They made two rings of gold and put them on the other two ends of the breastpiece on its edge, which is on the inner side of the ephod. They made two more gold rings and attached them to the bottom of the two shoulder pieces on the front of the ephod, close to the juncture above the waistband of the ephod. They tied the breastpiece by its rings to the rings of the ephod by blue cord, so that it was above the waistband of the ephod, so that the breastpiece would not be loose from the ephod, just as the Lord had commanded Moses. He made the robe of the ephod completely blue, the work of a weaver. There was an opening in the center of the robe, like the opening of a collar, with an edge all around the opening so that it could not be torn. They made pomegranates of blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and twisted linen around the hem of the robe. They made bells of pure gold and attached the bells between the pomegranates around the hem of the robe between the pomegranates. There was a bell and a pomegranate, a bell and a pomegranate, all around the hem of the robe, to be used in ministering, just as the Lord had commanded Moses. They made tunics of fine linen -- the work of a weaver, for Aaron and for his sons -- and the turban of fine linen, the headbands of fine linen, and the undergarments of fine twisted linen. The sash was of fine twisted linen and blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, the work of an embroiderer, just as the Lord had commanded Moses. They made a plate, the holy diadem, of pure gold and wrote on it an inscription, as on the engravings of a seal, "Holiness to the Lord." They attached to it a blue cord, to attach it to the turban above, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

Then he put the tunic on Aaron, wrapped the sash around him, and clothed him with the robe. Next he put the ephod on him and placed on him the decorated band of the ephod, and fastened the ephod closely to him with the band. He then set the breastpiece on him and put the Urim and Thummim into the breastpiece. Finally, he set the turban on his head and attached the gold plate, the holy diadem, to the front of the turban just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

But they all shouted out together, "Take this man away! Release Barabbas for us!" Verse Concepts

But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release Barabbas instead. Verse Concepts

But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus killed. Verse Concepts

They confronted King Uzziah and said to him, "It is not proper for you, Uzziah, to offer incense to the Lord. That is the responsibility of the priests, the descendants of Aaron, who are consecrated to offer incense. Leave the sanctuary, for you have disobeyed and the Lord God will not honor you!" Verse Concepts

So you are to appoint Aaron and his sons, and they will be responsible for their priesthood; but the unauthorized person who comes near must be put to death." Verse Concepts

But you and your sons with you are responsible for your priestly duties, for everything at the altar and within the curtain. And you must serve. I give you the priesthood as a gift for service; but the unauthorized person who approaches must be put to death." Verse Concepts

"You are to speak to the Levites, and you must tell them, 'When you receive from the Israelites the tithe that I have given you from them as your inheritance, then you are to offer up from it as a raised offering to the Lord a tenth of the tithe. And your raised offering will be credited to you as though it were grain from the threshing floor or as new wine from the winepress. Thus you are to offer up a raised offering to the Lord of all your tithes which you receive from the Israelites; and you must give the Lord's raised offering from it to Aaron the priest. read more.
From all your gifts you must offer up every raised offering due the Lord, from all the best of it, and the holiest part of it.' "Therefore you will say to them, 'When you offer up the best of it, then it will be credited to the Levites as the product of the threshing floor and as the product of the winepress. And you may eat it in any place, you and your household, because it is your wages for your service in the tent of meeting. And you will bear no sin concerning it when you offer up the best of it. And you must not profane the holy things of the Israelites, or else you will die.'"

The Lord spoke to Aaron, "See, I have given you the responsibility for my raised offerings; I have given all the holy things of the Israelites to you as your priestly portion and to your sons as a perpetual ordinance. Of all the most holy offerings reserved from the fire this will be yours: Every offering of theirs, whether from every grain offering or from every purification offering or from every reparation offering which they bring to me, will be most holy for you and for your sons. You are to eat it as a most holy offering; every male may eat it. It will be holy to you. read more.
"And this is yours: the raised offering of their gift, along with all the wave offerings of the Israelites. I have given them to you and to your sons and daughters with you as a perpetual ordinance. Everyone who is ceremonially clean in your household may eat of it. "All the best of the olive oil and all the best of the wine and of the wheat, the first fruits of these things that they give to the Lord, I have given to you. And whatever first ripe fruit in their land they bring to the Lord will be yours; everyone who is ceremonially clean in your household may eat of it. "Everything devoted in Israel will be yours. The firstborn of every womb which they present to the Lord, whether human or animal, will be yours. Nevertheless, the firstborn sons you must redeem, and the firstborn males of unclean animals you must redeem. And those that must be redeemed you are to redeem when they are a month old, according to your estimation, for five shekels of silver according to the sanctuary shekel (which is twenty gerahs). But you must not redeem the firstborn of a cow or a sheep or a goat; they are holy. You must splash their blood on the altar and burn their fat for an offering made by fire for a pleasing aroma to the Lord. And their meat will be yours, just as the breast and the right hip of the raised offering is yours.

A priest of Aaron's line will be with the Levites when the Levites collect the tithes, and the Levites will bring up a tenth of the tithes to the temple of our God, to the storerooms of the treasury. Verse Concepts

"Everything devoted in Israel will be yours. Verse Concepts

When it reverts in the jubilee, the field will be holy to the Lord like a permanently dedicated field; it will become the priest's property. Verse Concepts

Every offering of all the Israelites' holy things that they bring to the priest will be his. Every man's holy things will be his; whatever any man gives the priest will be his.'"

All the raised offerings of the holy things that the Israelites offer to the Lord, I have given to you, and to your sons and daughters with you, as a perpetual ordinance. It is a covenant of salt forever before the Lord for you and for your descendants with you." Verse Concepts

"And this is yours: the raised offering of their gift, along with all the wave offerings of the Israelites. I have given them to you and to your sons and daughters with you as a perpetual ordinance. Everyone who is ceremonially clean in your household may eat of it. Verse Concepts

but if a priest buys a person with his own money, that person may eat the holy offerings, and those born in the priest's own house may eat his food. If a priest's daughter marries a lay person, she may not eat the holy contribution offerings, but if a priest's daughter is a widow or divorced, and she has no children so that she returns to live in her father's house as in her youth, she may eat from her father's food, but no lay person may eat it.

But if the individual has no close relative to whom reparation can be made for the wrong, the reparation for the wrong must be paid to the Lord for the priest, in addition to the ram of atonement by which atonement is made for him. Verse Concepts

And whatever holy thing he violated he must restore and must add one fifth to it and give it to the priest. So the priest will make atonement on his behalf with the guilt offering ram and he will be forgiven." Verse Concepts

"'If a man eats a holy offering by mistake, he must add one fifth to it and give the holy offering to the priest. Verse Concepts

"Speak to the Israelites and tell them, 'When you enter the land that I am about to give to you and you gather in its harvest, then you must bring the sheaf of the first portion of your harvest to the priest, and he must wave the sheaf before the Lord to be accepted for your benefit -- on the day after the Sabbath the priest is to wave it.

You must go to the priest in office at that time and say to him, "I declare today to the Lord your God that I have come into the land that the Lord promised to our ancestors to give us." The priest will then take the basket from you and set it before the altar of the Lord your God.

and wrap the sashes around Aaron and his sons and put headbands on them, and so the ministry of priesthood will belong to them by a perpetual ordinance. Thus you are to consecrate Aaron and his sons. Verse Concepts

In the tent of meeting outside the curtain that is before the testimony, Aaron and his sons are to arrange it from evening to morning before the Lord. This is to be a lasting ordinance among the Israelites for generations to come. Verse Concepts

These must be on Aaron and his sons when they enter to the tent of meeting, or when they approach the altar to minister in the Holy Place, so that they bear no iniquity and die. It is to be a perpetual ordinance for him and for his descendants after him. Verse Concepts

Then he must bathe his body in water in a holy place, put on his clothes, and go out and make his burnt offering and the people's burnt offering. So he is to make atonement on behalf of himself and the people. Verse Concepts

Then Aaron is to present the sin offering bull which is for himself and is to make atonement on behalf of himself and his household. Verse Concepts

On the day he enters the sanctuary, into the inner court to serve in the sanctuary, he must offer his sin offering, declares the sovereign Lord. Verse Concepts

Then he must bathe his body in water in a holy place, put on his clothes, and go out and make his burnt offering and the people's burnt offering. So he is to make atonement on behalf of himself and the people. Verse Concepts

Then he put the large basin between the tent of meeting and the altar and put water in it for washing. Moses and Aaron and his sons would wash their hands and their feet from it. Whenever they entered the tent of meeting, and whenever they approached the altar, they would wash, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

They must not take a wife defiled by prostitution, nor are they to take a wife divorced from her husband, for the priest is holy to his God. You must sanctify him because he presents the food of your God. He must be holy to you because I, the Lord who sanctifies you all, am holy. If a daughter of a priest profanes herself by engaging in prostitution, she is profaning her father. She must be burned to death. read more.
"'The high priest -- who is greater than his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil is poured, who has been ordained to wear the priestly garments -- must neither dishevel the hair of his head nor tear his garments. He must not go where there is any dead person; he must not defile himself even for his father and his mother. He must not go out from the sanctuary and must not profane the sanctuary of his God, because the dedication of the anointing oil of his God is on him. I am the Lord. He must take a wife who is a virgin. He must not marry a widow, a divorced woman, or one profaned by prostitution; he may only take a virgin from his people as a wife. He must not profane his children among his people, for I am the Lord who sanctifies him.'"

They must not marry a widow or a divorcee, but they may marry a virgin from the house of Israel or a widow who is a priest's widow. Verse Concepts

Now the head of all the Levitical leaders was Eleazar son of Aaron the priest. He was appointed over those who were responsible for the sanctuary.

"'The high priest -- who is greater than his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil is poured, who has been ordained to wear the priestly garments -- must neither dishevel the hair of his head nor tear his garments. He must not go where there is any dead person; he must not defile himself even for his father and his mother. He must not go out from the sanctuary and must not profane the sanctuary of his God, because the dedication of the anointing oil of his God is on him. I am the Lord. read more.
He must take a wife who is a virgin. He must not marry a widow, a divorced woman, or one profaned by prostitution; he may only take a virgin from his people as a wife. He must not profane his children among his people, for I am the Lord who sanctifies him.'"

And for the redemption of the 273 firstborn males of the Israelites who exceed the number of the Levites, collect five shekels for each one individually; you are to collect this amount in the currency of the sanctuary shekel (this shekel is twenty gerahs). And give the money for the redemption of the excess number of them to Aaron and his sons." read more.
So Moses took the redemption money from those who were in excess of those redeemed by the Levites. From the firstborn males of the Israelites he collected the money, 1,365 shekels, according to the sanctuary shekel. Moses gave the redemption money to Aaron and his sons, according to the word of the Lord, as the Lord had commanded Moses.

The firstborn of every womb which they present to the Lord, whether human or animal, will be yours. Nevertheless, the firstborn sons you must redeem, and the firstborn males of unclean animals you must redeem. And those that must be redeemed you are to redeem when they are a month old, according to your estimation, for five shekels of silver according to the sanctuary shekel (which is twenty gerahs).

The Lord said to Aaron, "You and your sons and your tribe with you must bear the iniquity of the sanctuary, and you and your sons with you must bear the iniquity of your priesthood. Verse Concepts

But you and your sons with you are responsible for your priestly duties, for everything at the altar and within the curtain. And you must serve. I give you the priesthood as a gift for service; but the unauthorized person who approaches must be put to death." Verse Concepts

When it is time for the camp to journey, Aaron and his sons must come and take down the screening curtain and cover the ark of the testimony with it. Then they must put over it a covering of fine leather and spread over that a cloth entirely of blue, and then they must insert its poles. "On the table of the presence they must spread a blue cloth, and put on it the dishes, the pans, the bowls, and the pitchers for pouring, and the Bread of the Presence must be on it continually. read more.
They must spread over them a scarlet cloth, and cover the same with a covering of fine leather; and they must insert its poles. "They must take a blue cloth and cover the lampstand of the light, with its lamps, its wick-trimmers, its trays, and all its oil vessels, with which they service it. Then they must put it with all its utensils in a covering of fine leather, and put it on a carrying beam. "They must spread a blue cloth on the gold altar, and cover it with a covering of fine leather; and they must insert its poles. Then they must take all the utensils of the service, with which they serve in the sanctuary, put them in a blue cloth, cover them with a covering of fine leather, and put them on a carrying beam. Also, they must take away the ashes from the altar and spread a purple cloth over it. Then they must place on it all its implements with which they serve there -- the trays, the meat forks, the shovels, the basins, and all the utensils of the altar -- and they must spread on it a covering of fine leather, and then insert its poles. "When Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary and all the furnishings of the sanctuary, when the camp is ready to journey, then the Kohathites will come to carry them; but they must not touch any holy thing, or they will die. These are the responsibilities of the Kohathites with the tent of meeting.

You will be responsible for the care of the sanctuary and the care of the altar, so that there will be no more wrath on the Israelites. Verse Concepts

Annas the high priest was there, and Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and others who were members of the high priest's family. After making Peter and John stand in their midst, they began to inquire, "By what power or by what name did you do this?" Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, replied, "Rulers of the people and elders, read more.
if we are being examined today for a good deed done to a sick man -- by what means this man was healed -- let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, this man stands before you healthy. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, that has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among people by which we must be saved." When they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and discovered that they were uneducated and ordinary men, they were amazed and recognized these men had been with Jesus. And because they saw the man who had been healed standing with them, they had nothing to say against this. But when they had ordered them to go outside the council, they began to confer with one another, saying, "What should we do with these men? For it is plain to all who live in Jerusalem that a notable miraculous sign has come about through them, and we cannot deny it. But to keep this matter from spreading any further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name." And they called them in and ordered them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John replied, "Whether it is right before God to obey you rather than God, you decide, for it is impossible for us not to speak about what we have seen and heard." After threatening them further, they released them, for they could not find how to punish them on account of the people, because they were all praising God for what had happened.

Now the high priest rose up, and all those with him (that is, the religious party of the Sadducees), and they were filled with jealousy. They laid hands on the apostles and put them in a public jail. But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the prison, led them out, and said, read more.
"Go and stand in the temple courts and proclaim to the people all the words of this life." When they heard this, they entered the temple courts at daybreak and began teaching. Now when the high priest and those who were with him arrived, they summoned the Sanhedrin -- that is, the whole high council of the Israelites -- and sent to the jail to have the apostles brought before them. But the officers who came for them did not find them in the prison, so they returned and reported, "We found the jail locked securely and the guards standing at the doors, but when we opened them, we found no one inside." Now when the commander of the temple guard and the chief priests heard this report, they were greatly puzzled concerning it, wondering what this could be. But someone came and reported to them, "Look! The men you put in prison are standing in the temple courts and teaching the people!" Then the commander of the temple guard went with the officers and brought the apostles without the use of force (for they were afraid of being stoned by the people). When they had brought them, they stood them before the council, and the high priest questioned them, saying, "We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name. Look, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man's blood on us!" But Peter and the apostles replied, "We must obey God rather than people. The God of our forefathers raised up Jesus, whom you seized and killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him to his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses of these events, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him." Now when they heard this, they became furious and wanted to execute them. But a Pharisee whose name was Gamaliel, a teacher of the law who was respected by all the people, stood up in the council and ordered the men to be put outside for a short time. Then he said to the council, "Men of Israel, pay close attention to what you are about to do to these men. For some time ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and about four hundred men joined him. He was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and nothing came of it. After him Judas the Galilean arose in the days of the census, and incited people to follow him in revolt. He too was killed, and all who followed him were scattered. So in this case I say to you, stay away from these men and leave them alone, because if this plan or this undertaking originates with people, it will come to nothing, but if it is from God, you will not be able to stop them, or you may even be found fighting against God." He convinced them, and they summoned the apostles and had them beaten. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus and released them. So they left the council rejoicing because they had been considered worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of the name.

They must keep my charge so that they do not incur sin on account of it and therefore die because they profane it. I am the Lord who sanctifies them. Verse Concepts

"'They must be holy to their God, and they must not profane the name of their God, because they are the ones who present the Lord's gifts, the food of their God. Therefore they must be holy. They must not take a wife defiled by prostitution, nor are they to take a wife divorced from her husband, for the priest is holy to his God.

and so cause them to incur a penalty for guilt when they eat their holy offerings, for I am the Lord who sanctifies them.'" Verse Concepts

Everyone who remains in your house will come to bow before him for a little money and for a scrap of bread. Each will say, 'Assign me to a priestly task so I can eat a scrap of bread.'" Verse Concepts

but in order that they will live and not die when they approach the most holy things, do this for them: Aaron and his sons will go in and appoint each man to his service and his responsibility. Verse Concepts

Now after these things had happened, during the reign of King Artaxerxes of Persia, Ezra came up from Babylon. Ezra was the son of Seraiah, who was the son of Azariah, who was the son of Hilkiah, who was the son of Shallum, who was the son of Zadok, who was the son of Ahitub, who was the son of Amariah, who was the son of Azariah, who was the son of Meraioth, read more.
who was the son of Zerahiah, who was the son of Uzzi, who was the son of Bukki, who was the son of Abishua, who was the son of Phinehas, who was the son of Eleazar, who was the son of Aaron the chief priest. This Ezra is the one who came up from Babylon. He was a scribe who was skilled in the law of Moses which the Lord God of Israel had given. The king supplied him with everything he requested, for the hand of the Lord his God was on him.

Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priestly scribe, and the Levites who were imparting understanding to the people said to all of them, "This day is holy to the LORD your God. Do not mourn or weep." For all the people had been weeping when they heard the words of the law. Verse Concepts

The next day, because the commanding officer wanted to know the true reason Paul was being accused by the Jews, he released him and ordered the chief priests and the whole council to assemble. He then brought Paul down and had him stand before them. Verse Concepts

Paul looked directly at the council and said, "Brothers, I have lived my life with a clear conscience before God to this day." At that the high priest Ananias ordered those standing near Paul to strike him on the mouth. Then Paul said to him, "God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall! Do you sit there judging me according to the law, and in violation of the law you order me to be struck?" read more.
Those standing near him said, "Do you dare insult God's high priest?" Paul replied, "I did not realize, brothers, that he was the high priest, for it is written, 'You must not speak evil about a ruler of your people.'"

He built temples on the high places and appointed as priests people who were not Levites. Verse Concepts

After this happened, Jeroboam still did not change his evil ways; he continued to appoint common people as priests at the high places. Anyone who wanted the job he consecrated as a priest. Verse Concepts

When the priests enter, then they will not go out from the sanctuary to the outer court without taking off their garments in which they minister, for these are holy; they will put on other garments, then they will go near the places where the people are." Verse Concepts

When they go out to the outer court to the people, they must remove the garments they were ministering in, and place them in the holy chambers; they must put on other garments so that they will not transmit holiness to the people with their garments. Verse Concepts

And he will stand before Eleazar the priest, who will seek counsel for him before the Lord by the decision of the Urim. At his command they will go out, and at his command they will come in, he and all the Israelites with him, the whole community." Verse Concepts

The Lord replied to Moses, "Take Joshua son of Nun, a man in whom is such a spirit, and lay your hand on him; set him before Eleazar the priest and before the whole community, and commission him publicly.

Now Eli was very old when he heard about everything that his sons used to do to all the people of Israel and how they used to have sex with the women who were stationed at the entrance to the tent of meeting. Verse Concepts

The sons of Eli were wicked men. They did not recognize the Lord's authority. Now the priests would always treat the people in the following way: Whenever anyone was making a sacrifice, while the meat was boiling, the priest's attendant would come with a three-pronged fork in his hand. He would jab it into the basin, kettle, caldron, or pot, and everything that the fork brought up the priest would take for himself. This is what they used to do to all the Israelites when they came there to Shiloh. read more.
Even before they burned the fat, the priest's attendant would come and say to the person who was making the sacrifice, "Hand over some meat for the priest to roast! He won't take boiled meat from you, but only raw." If the individual said to him, "First let the fat be burned away, and then take for yourself whatever you wish," he would say, "No! Hand it over right now! If you don't, I will take it forcibly!" The sin of these young men was very great in the Lord's sight, for they treated the Lord's offering with contempt.

The Lord told Joshua, "Instruct the priests carrying the ark of the covenantal laws to come up from the Jordan." So Joshua instructed the priests, "Come up from the Jordan!" read more.
The priests carrying the ark of the covenant of the Lord came up from the middle of the Jordan, and as soon as they set foot on dry land, the water of the Jordan flowed again and returned to flood stage.

They incited the people, the elders, and the experts in the law; then they approached Stephen, seized him, and brought him before the council. They brought forward false witnesses who said, "This man does not stop saying things against this holy place and the law. For we have heard him saying that Jesus the Nazarene will destroy this place and change the customs that Moses handed down to us." read more.
All who were sitting in the council looked intently at Stephen and saw his face was like the face of an angel.

For every high priest is taken from among the people and appointed to represent them before God, to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins. Verse Concepts

For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. So this one too had to have something to offer. Verse Concepts

Jehoiada, the leader of Aaron's descendants, brought 3,700 men with him, along with Zadok, a young warrior, and twenty-two leaders from his family.

He said to me, "This chamber which faces south is for the priests who keep charge of the temple, and the chamber which faces north is for the priests who keep charge of the altar. These are the descendants of Zadok, from the descendants of Levi, who may approach the Lord to minister to him."

"'They must not come near a dead person or they will be defiled; however, for father, mother, son, daughter, brother or sister, they may defile themselves. After a priest has become ceremonially clean, they must count off a period of seven days for him.

"You and Eleazar the priest, and all the family leaders of the community, take the sum of the plunder that was captured, both people and animals. Divide the plunder into two parts, one for those who took part in the war -- who went out to battle -- and the other for all the community. "You must exact a tribute for the Lord from the fighting men who went out to battle: one life out of five hundred, from the people, the cattle, and from the donkeys and the sheep. read more.
You are to take it from their half-share and give it to Eleazar the priest for a raised offering to the Lord.

But you and your sons with you are responsible for your priestly duties, for everything at the altar and within the curtain. And you must serve. I give you the priesthood as a gift for service; but the unauthorized person who approaches must be put to death." Verse Concepts

"Bring with you your brothers, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, so that they may join with you and minister to you while you and your sons with you are before the tent of the testimony. Verse Concepts

You will be responsible for the care of the sanctuary and the care of the altar, so that there will be no more wrath on the Israelites. Verse Concepts

He brought in the priests and Levites and assembled them in the square on the east side. He said to them: "Listen to me, you Levites! Now consecrate yourselves, so you can consecrate the temple of the Lord God of your ancestors! Remove from the sanctuary what is ceremonially unclean! For our fathers were unfaithful; they did what is evil in the sight of the Lord our God and abandoned him! They turned away from the Lord's dwelling place and rejected him. read more.
They closed the doors of the temple porch and put out the lamps; they did not offer incense or burnt sacrifices in the sanctuary of the God of Israel. The Lord was angry at Judah and Jerusalem and made them an appalling object of horror at which people hiss out their scorn, as you can see with your own eyes. Look, our fathers died violently and our sons, daughters, and wives were carried off because of this. Now I intend to make a covenant with the Lord God of Israel, so that he may relent from his raging anger. My sons, do not be negligent now, for the Lord has chosen you to serve in his presence and offer sacrifices." The following Levites prepared to carry out the king's orders: From the Kohathites: Mahath son of Amasai and Joel son of Azariah; from the Merarites: Kish son of Abdi and Azariah son of Jehallelel; from the Gershonites: Joah son of Zimmah and Eden son of Joah; from the descendants of Elizaphan: Shimri and Jeiel; from the descendants of Asaph: Zechariah and Mattaniah; from the descendants of Heman: Jehiel and Shimei; from the descendants of Jeduthun: Shemaiah and Uzziel. They assembled their brothers and consecrated themselves. Then they went in to purify the Lord's temple, just as the king had ordered, in accordance with the word of the Lord. The priests then entered the Lord's temple to purify it; they brought out to the courtyard of the Lord's temple every ceremonially unclean thing they discovered inside. The Levites took them out to the Kidron Valley. On the first day of the first month they began consecrating; by the eighth day of the month they reached the porch of the Lord's temple. For eight more days they consecrated the Lord's temple. On the sixteenth day of the first month they were finished.

From the priests: Jedaiah; Jehoiarib; Jakin; Azariah son of Hilkiah, son of Meshullam, son of Zadok, son of Meraioth, son of Ahitub the leader in God's temple; Adaiah son of Jeroham, son of Pashhur, son of Malkijah; and Maasai son of Adiel, son of Jahzerah, son of Meshullam, son of Meshillemith, son of Immer. read more.
Their relatives, who were leaders of their families, numbered 1,760. They were capable men who were assigned to carry out the various tasks of service in God's temple.

"Tell Aaron, 'No man from your descendants throughout their generations who has a physical flaw is to approach to present the food of his God. Certainly no man who has a physical flaw is to approach: a blind man, or one who is lame, or one with a slit nose, or a limb too long, or a man who has had a broken leg or arm, read more.
or a hunchback, or a dwarf, or one with a spot in his eye, or a festering eruption, or a feverish rash, or a crushed testicle. No man from the descendants of Aaron the priest who has a physical flaw may step forward to present the Lord's gifts; he has a physical flaw, so he must not step forward to present the food of his God. He may eat both the most holy and the holy food of his God, but he must not go into the veil-canopy or step forward to the altar because he has a physical flaw. Thus he must not profane my holy places, for I am the Lord who sanctifies them.'"

Now while Zechariah was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty, he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to enter the holy place of the Lord and burn incense.

When his time of service was over, he went to his home. Verse Concepts

The Lord said to him, "Go, get down, and come up, and Aaron with you, but do not let the priests and the people force their way through to come up to the Lord, lest he break through against them." Verse Concepts

Let the priests also, who approach the Lord, sanctify themselves, lest the Lord break through against them." Verse Concepts

"Next to the border of Judah from the east side to the west will be the allotment you must set apart. It is to be eight and a quarter miles wide, and the same length as one of the tribal portions, from the east side to the west; the sanctuary will be in the middle of it. The allotment you set apart to the Lord will be eight and a quarter miles in length and three and one-third miles in width. These will be the allotments for the holy portion: for the priests, toward the north eight and a quarter miles in length, toward the west three and one-third miles in width, toward the east three and one-third miles in width, and toward the south eight and a quarter miles in length; the sanctuary of the Lord will be in the middle. read more.
This will be for the priests who are set apart from the descendants of Zadok who kept my charge and did not go astray when the people of Israel strayed off, like the Levites did. It will be their portion from the allotment of the land, a most holy place, next to the border of the Levites. "Alongside the border of the priests, the Levites will have an allotment eight and a quarter miles in length and three and one-third miles in width. The whole length will be eight and a quarter miles and the width three and one-third miles. They must not sell or exchange any of it; they must not transfer this choice portion of land, for it is set apart to the Lord.

He ordered the people living in Jerusalem to contribute the portion prescribed for the priests and Levites so they might be obedient to the law of the Lord. When the edict was issued, the Israelites freely contributed the initial portion of their grain, wine, olive oil, honey, and all the produce of their fields. They brought a tenth of everything, which added up to a huge amount. The Israelites and people of Judah who lived in the cities of Judah also contributed a tenth of their cattle and sheep, as well as a tenth of the holy items consecrated to the Lord their God. They brought them and placed them in many heaps. read more.
In the third month they began piling their contributions in heaps and finished in the seventh month. When Hezekiah and the officials came and saw the heaps, they praised the Lord and pronounced blessings on his people Israel. When Hezekiah asked the priests and Levites about the heaps, Azariah, the head priest from the family of Zadok, said to him, "Since the contributions began arriving in the Lord's temple, we have had plenty to eat and have a large quantity left over. For the Lord has blessed his people, and this large amount remains." Hezekiah ordered that storerooms be prepared in the Lord's temple. When this was done, they brought in the contributions, tithes, and consecrated items that had been offered. Konaniah, a Levite, was in charge of all this, assisted by his brother Shimei. Jehiel, Azaziah, Nahath, Asahel, Jerimoth, Jozabad, Eliel, Ismakiah, Mahath, and Benaiah worked under the supervision of Konaniah and his brother Shimei, as directed by King Hezekiah and Azariah, the supervisor of God's temple. Kore son of Imnah, a Levite and the guard on the east side, was in charge of the voluntary offerings made to God and disbursed the contributions made to the Lord and the consecrated items. In the cities of the priests, Eden, Miniamin, Jeshua, Shemaiah, Amariah, and Shecaniah faithfully assisted him in making disbursements to their fellow priests according to their divisions, regardless of age. They made disbursements to all the males three years old and up who were listed in the genealogical records -- to all who would enter the Lord's temple to serve on a daily basis and fulfill their duties as assigned to their divisions. They made disbursements to the priests listed in the genealogical records by their families, and to the Levites twenty years old and up, according to their duties as assigned to their divisions, and to all the infants, wives, sons, and daughters of the entire assembly listed in the genealogical records, for they faithfully consecrated themselves. As for the descendants of Aaron, the priests who lived in the outskirts of all their cities, men were assigned to disburse portions to every male among the priests and to every Levite listed in the genealogical records.

Then the Lord spoke to Moses: "You and Eleazar the priest, and all the family leaders of the community, take the sum of the plunder that was captured, both people and animals. Divide the plunder into two parts, one for those who took part in the war -- who went out to battle -- and the other for all the community. read more.
"You must exact a tribute for the Lord from the fighting men who went out to battle: one life out of five hundred, from the people, the cattle, and from the donkeys and the sheep. You are to take it from their half-share and give it to Eleazar the priest for a raised offering to the Lord.

and Aaron is to offer the Levites before the Lord as a wave offering from the Israelites, that they may do the work of the Lord. When the Levites lay their hands on the heads of the bulls, offer the one for a purification offering and the other for a whole burnt offering to the Lord, to make atonement for the Levites. You are to have the Levites stand before Aaron and his sons, and then offer them as a wave offering to the Lord. read more.
And so you are to separate the Levites from among the Israelites, and the Levites will be mine. "After this, the Levites will go in to do the work of the tent of meeting. So you must cleanse them and offer them like a wave offering. For they are entirely given to me from among the Israelites. I have taken them for myself instead of all who open the womb, the firstborn sons of all the Israelites. For all the firstborn males among the Israelites are mine, both humans and animals; when I destroyed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I set them apart for myself. So I have taken the Levites instead of all the firstborn sons among the Israelites. I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and his sons from among the Israelites, to do the work for the Israelites in the tent of meeting, and to make atonement for the Israelites, so there will be no plague among the Israelites when the Israelites come near the sanctuary." So Moses and Aaron and the entire community of the Israelites did this with the Levites. According to all that the Lord commanded Moses concerning the Levites, this is what the Israelites did with them. The Levites purified themselves and washed their clothing; then Aaron presented them like a wave offering before the Lord, and Aaron made atonement for them to purify them.

In the second year after they had come to the temple of God in Jerusalem, in the second month, Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak initiated the work, along with the rest of their associates, the priests and the Levites, and all those who were coming to Jerusalem from the exile. They appointed the Levites who were at least twenty years old to take charge of the work on the Lord's temple. So Jeshua appointed both his sons and his relatives, Kadmiel and his sons (the sons of Yehudah), to take charge of the workers in the temple of God, along with the sons of Henadad, their sons, and their relatives the Levites. When the builders established the Lord's temple, the priests, ceremonially attired and with their clarions, and the Levites (the sons of Asaph) with their cymbals, stood to praise the Lord according to the instructions left by King David of Israel. read more.
With antiphonal response they sang, praising and glorifying the Lord: "For he is good; his loyal love toward Israel is forever." All the people gave a loud shout as they praised the Lord when the temple of the Lord was established. Many of the priests, the Levites, and the leaders -- older people who had seen with their own eyes the former temple while it was still established -- were weeping loudly, and many others raised their voice in a joyous shout. People were unable to tell the difference between the sound of joyous shouting and the sound of the people's weeping, for the people were shouting so loudly that the sound was heard a long way off.

but the fire which is on the altar must be kept burning on it. It must not be extinguished. So the priest must kindle wood on it morning by morning, and he must arrange the burnt offering on it and offer the fat of the peace offering up in smoke on it. A continual fire must be kept burning on the altar. It must not be extinguished.

If he is too poor to pay the conversion value, he must stand the person before the priest and the priest will establish his conversion value; according to what the man who made the vow can afford, the priest will establish his conversion value. Verse Concepts

and the priest will establish its conversion value, whether good or bad. According to the assessed conversion value of the priest, thus it will be. Verse Concepts

"'If the high priest sins so that the people are guilty, on account of the sin he has committed he must present a flawless young bull to the Lord for a sin offering. He must bring the bull to the entrance of the Meeting Tent before the Lord, lay his hand on the head of the bull, and slaughter the bull before the Lord. Then that high priest must take some of the blood of the bull and bring it to the Meeting Tent. read more.
The priest must dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle some of it seven times before the Lord toward the front of the veil-canopy of the sanctuary. The priest must put some of the blood on the horns of the altar of fragrant incense that is before the Lord in the Meeting Tent, and all the rest of the bull's blood he must pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering that is at the entrance of the Meeting Tent. "'Then he must take up all the fat from the sin offering bull: the fat covering the entrails and all the fat surrounding the entrails, the two kidneys with the fat on their sinews, and the protruding lobe on the liver (which he is to remove along with the kidneys) -- just as it is taken from the ox of the peace offering sacrifice -- and the priest must offer them up in smoke on the altar of burnt offering. But the hide of the bull, all its flesh along with its head and its legs, its entrails, and its dung -- all the rest of the bull -- he must bring outside the camp to a ceremonially clean place, to the fatty ash pile, and he must burn it on a wood fire; it must be burned on the fatty ash pile.

The priests and Levites who lived throughout Israel supported him, no matter where they resided.

When the seventh month arrived and the Israelites were living in their towns, the people assembled in Jerusalem. Then Jeshua the son of Jozadak and his priestly colleagues and Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and his colleagues started to build the altar of the God of Israel so they could offer burnt offerings on it as required by the law of Moses the man of God. They established the altar on its foundations, even though they were in terror of the local peoples, and they offered burnt offerings on it to the Lord, both the morning and the evening offerings. read more.
They observed the Festival of Temporary Shelters as required and offered the proper number of daily burnt offerings according to the requirement for each day. Afterward they offered the continual burnt offerings and those for the new moons and those for all the holy assemblies of the Lord and all those that were being voluntarily offered to the Lord. From the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to the Lord. However, the Lord's temple was not at that time established. So they provided money for the masons and carpenters, and food, beverages, and olive oil for the people of Sidon and Tyre, so that they would bring cedar timber from Lebanon to the seaport at Joppa, in accord with the edict of King Cyrus of Persia.

All the leaders of the priests and people became more unfaithful and committed the same horrible sins practiced by the nations. They defiled the Lord's temple which he had consecrated in Jerusalem. Verse Concepts

"'They must not shave their heads nor let their hair grow long; they must only trim their heads. Verse Concepts

As you move forward for battle, the priest will approach and say to the soldiers, "Listen, Israel! Today you are moving forward to do battle with your enemies. Do not be fainthearted. Do not fear and tremble or be terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you to fight on your behalf against your enemies to give you victory."

When the army came back to the camp, the elders of Israel said, "Why did the Lord let us be defeated today by the Philistines? Let's take with us the ark of the covenant of the Lord from Shiloh. When it is with us, it will save us from the hand of our enemies. So the army sent to Shiloh, and they took from there the ark of the covenant of the Lord of hosts who sits between the cherubim. Now the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phineas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God. When the ark of the covenant of the Lord arrived at the camp, all Israel shouted so loudly that the ground shook.

Now this was John's testimony when the Jewish leaders sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?" Verse Concepts

He replied, "Yes, in peace. I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice." So he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. Verse Concepts

The prophet Jeremiah sent a letter to the exiles Nebuchadnezzar had carried off from Jerusalem to Babylon. It was addressed to the elders who were left among the exiles, to the priests, to the prophets, and to all the other people who were exiled in Babylon. Verse Concepts

Furthermore, be aware of the fact that you have no authority to impose tax, tribute, or toll on any of the priests, the Levites, the musicians, the doorkeepers, the temple servants, or the attendants at the temple of this God. Verse Concepts

When it reverts in the jubilee, the field will be holy to the Lord like a permanently dedicated field; it will become the priest's property. Verse Concepts

the priest will calculate for him the amount of its conversion value until the jubilee year, and he must pay the conversion value on that jubilee day as something that is holy to the Lord. Verse Concepts

"We -- the priests, the Levites, and the people -- have cast lots concerning the wood offerings, to bring them to the temple of our God according to our families at the designated times year by year to burn on the altar of the LORD our God, as is written in the law. Verse Concepts

A priest of Aaron's line will be with the Levites when the Levites collect the tithes, and the Levites will bring up a tenth of the tithes to the temple of our God, to the storerooms of the treasury. Verse Concepts

"'Thus you are to set the Israelites apart from their impurity so that they do not die in their impurity by defiling my tabernacle which is in their midst. Verse Concepts

Each Sabbath day Aaron must arrange it before the Lord continually; this portion is from the Israelites as a perpetual covenant. Verse Concepts

Paul replied, "I did not realize, brothers, that he was the high priest, for it is written, 'You must not speak evil about a ruler of your people.'" Verse Concepts

as both the high priest and the whole council of elders can testify about me. From them I also received letters to the brothers in Damascus, and I was on my way to make arrests there and bring the prisoners to Jerusalem to be punished. Verse Concepts

Now a priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came and began to draw water and fill the troughs in order to water their father's flock. Verse Concepts

So with these things prepared like this, the priests enter continually into the outer tent as they perform their duties. Verse Concepts

You and Aaron are to number all in Israel who can serve in the army, those who are twenty years old or older, by their divisions. Verse Concepts

Do not let your mouth cause you to sin, and do not tell the priest, "It was a mistake!" Why make God angry at you so that he would destroy the work of your hands?" Verse Concepts

Thematic Bible: Priest

Thematic Bible

Altar of incense » Priest » Burned » Incense » Every morning » Every evening

Jamin » Priest » expounded » The law » returned exciles

Jeroham » Priest » Father » of adaiah » lives in » Jerusalem

Jesus Christ » Names of » Priest

Priest » Duties of » To offer sacrifices

Priest » Miscellaneous facts concerning » Conspire to destroy jesus

Priest » Benefits of » Provided with cities and suburbs

Priest » The function he served was superior to that of other priests » Judicial

Priest » Miscellaneous facts concerning » Return from the captivity

Priest » Miscellaneous facts concerning » Put on trial and condemn jesus

Priest » Benefits of » No part of the land of canaan allowed to

Priest » The time of moses » Twenty-four divisions (shifts) of

Priest » Benefits of » The shewbread

Priest » The function he served was superior to that of other priests » A second priest, under the high priest

Priest » Duties of » To act as magistrates

Priest » Duties of » Teach the law

Priest » The time of moses » Consecration of

Priest » Benefits of » First fruits

Priest » The time of moses » Vestments of

Priest » Figurative

Priest » The time of moses

Priest » Miscellaneous facts concerning » Instances of » Of the captivity

Priest » Before moses » Melchizedek

Priest » The function he served was superior to that of other priests » To light the lamps of the tabernacle

Priest » The function he served was superior to that of other priests » On the day of atonement

Priest » The function he served was superior to that of other priests » To have charge of the treasury

Priest » Duties of » Sound the trumpet in summoning assemblies and in battle

Priest » Miscellaneous facts concerning » Corrupt

Priest » Duties of » Light the lamps in the tabernacle

Priest » Miscellaneous facts concerning » Polluted by marrying idolatrous wives

Priest » Duties of » Chiefs of levites

Priest » The function he served was superior to that of other priests » To burn incense

Priest » Benefits of » Trespass money and other trepass offerings

Priest » Duties of » Pronounce benedictions

Priest » The function he served was superior to that of other priests » Vestments of

Priest » Miscellaneous facts concerning » Incite the people to ask that barabbas be released and jesus be destroyed

Priest » The time of moses » Usurpations of office of

Priest » Benefits of » Tithes of the tithes

Priest » Benefits of » Things devoted

Priest » Benefits of » For the sustenance of their families

Priest » Benefits of » Fines

Priest » Duties of » To offer the firstfruits

Priest » The time of moses » Hereditary, descent of office

Priest » The time of moses » Atonement for

Priest » The time of moses » Ablutions of

Priest » The time of moses » Marriage of

Priest » The function he served was superior to that of other priests » The title appears after the institution of the office

Priest » Benefits of » Of the firstborn

Priest » Duties of » Responsible for the sanctuary

Priest » Miscellaneous facts concerning » Reprove and threaten peter and john

Priest » The time of moses » Is holy

Priest » The function he served was superior to that of other priests » To designate subordinate priests for duty

Priest » Duties of » To act as scribes

Priest » Miscellaneous facts concerning » Paul brought before

Priest » The time of moses » Priests who were not from the sons of levi were appointed by jeroboam

Priest » The time of moses » Don vestments in the temple area

Priest » The function he served was superior to that of other priests » Officiate at the choice of a ruler

Priest » Miscellaneous facts concerning » Instances of » Eli's sons

Priest » Duties of » Carry the ark of the covenant » Through the jordan river

Priest » Miscellaneous facts concerning » Put on trial, condemn, and stone stephen

Priest » The function he served was superior to that of other priests » To offer sacrifices

Priest » The time of moses » Armed and organized for war at the time of the disaffection toward saul

Priest » The time of moses » Chambers for, in the temple area

Priest » The time of moses » Defilement and purification of

Priest » The function he served was superior to that of other priests » Distribute the plunder of war

Priest » The function he served was superior to that of other priests » Duties of » Had charge of the sanctuary and altar

Priest » Miscellaneous facts concerning » Zeal of, in purging the temple

Priest » Miscellaneous facts concerning » Instances of » Zealous

Priest » The time of moses » Must be without blemish

Priest » The time of moses » Chosen by lot

Priest » Before moses » Priests in israel before the giving of the law

Priest » Benefits of » Portion of land allotted to, in redistribution in ezekiel's vision

Priest » Benefits of » Regulations by hezekiah concerning benefits to the priests

Priest » Benefits of » Part of the plunder of war, including captives

Priest » The function he served was superior to that of other priests » To officiate in consecrations of levites

Priest » Miscellaneous facts concerning » Supervise the building of the new temple

Priest » Duties of » Keep the sacred fire always burning

Priest » Duties of » Valuate things devoted