Worship in the Bible: True Worship in Spirit and Truth

God blessed the seventh day, and made it holy, because he rested in it from all his work of creation which he had done.

As time passed, Cain brought an offering to the LORD from the fruit of the ground.

Abel also brought some of the firstborn of his flock and of its fat. The LORD respected Abel and his offering,

but he didn’t respect Cain and his offering. Cain was very angry, and the expression on his face fell.

A son was also born to Seth, and he named him Enosh. At that time men began to call on the LORD’s name.

Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean animal, and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.

He said, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem. Let Canaan be his servant.

The LORD appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your offspring.” He built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him.

He left from there to go to the mountain on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the LORD and called on the LORD’s name.

to the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first. There Abram called on the LORD’s name.

Abram moved his tent, and came and lived by the oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and built an altar there to the LORD.

Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High.

He blessed him, and said, “Blessed be Abram of God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth.

Blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” Abram gave him a tenth of all.

Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have lifted up my hand to the LORD, God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth,

He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.”

He brought him all these, and divided them in the middle, and laid each half opposite the other; but he didn’t divide the birds.

It came to pass that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold, a smoking furnace and a flaming torch passed between these pieces.

She called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, “You are a God who sees,” for she said, “Have I even stayed alive after seeing him?”

Abram fell on his face. God talked with him, saying,

Then Abraham fell on his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, “Will a child be born to him who is one hundred years old? Will Sarah, who is ninety years old, give birth?”

When he finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham.

The LORD appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day.

He lifted up his eyes and looked, and saw that three men stood near him. When he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself to the earth,

and said, “My lord, if now I have found favour in your sight, please don’t go away from your servant.

He took butter, milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them. He stood by them under the tree, and they ate.

The men turned from there, and went towards Sodom, but Abraham stood yet before the LORD.

The two angels came to Sodom at evening. Lot sat in the gate of Sodom. Lot saw them, and rose up to meet them. He bowed himself with his face to the earth,

Abraham went up early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the LORD.

Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there he called on the name of the LORD, the Everlasting God.

Abraham rose early in the morning, and saddled his donkey; and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son. He split the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went to the place of which God had told him.

Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go over there. We will worship, and come back to you.”

Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. He took in his hand the fire and the knife. They both went together.

Isaac spoke to Abraham his father, and said, “My father?” He said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Here is the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”

Abraham said, “God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they both went together.

They came to the place which God had told him of. Abraham built the altar there, and laid the wood in order, bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar, on the wood.

Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and saw that behind him was a ram caught in the thicket by his horns. Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering instead of his son.

Abraham called the name of that place “The LORD Will Provide”. As it is said to this day, “On the LORD’s mountain, it will be provided.”

Abraham bowed himself down before the people of the land.

The man bowed his head, and worshipped the LORD.

I bowed my head, and worshipped the LORD, and blessed the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me in the right way to take my master’s brother’s daughter for his son.

When Abraham’s servant heard their words, he bowed himself down to the earth to the LORD.

He built an altar there, and called on the LORD’s name, and pitched his tent there. There Isaac’s servants dug a well.

‘Bring me venison, and make me savoury food, that I may eat, and bless you before the LORD before my death.’

He dreamt and saw a stairway set upon the earth, and its top reached to heaven. Behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.

Jacob awakened out of his sleep, and he said, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I didn’t know it.”

He was afraid, and said, “How awesome this place is! This is none other than God’s house, and this is the gate of heaven.”

Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put under his head, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil on its top.

He called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city was Luz at the first.

so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, and the LORD will be my God,

then this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, will be God’s house. Of all that you will give me I will surely give a tenth to you.”

Why did you flee secretly, and deceive me, and didn’t tell me, that I might have sent you away with mirth and with songs, with tambourine and with harp;

Now, you want to be gone, because you greatly longed for your father’s house, but why have you stolen my gods?”

Now Rachel had taken the teraphim, put them in the camel’s saddle, and sat on them. Laban felt around all the tent, but didn’t find them.

Jacob took a stone, and set it up for a pillar.

Jacob offered a sacrifice in the mountain, and called his relatives to eat bread. They ate bread, and stayed all night in the mountain.

When he saw them, Jacob said, “This is God’s army.” He called the name of that place Mahanaim.

Jacob called the name of the place Peniel; for he said, “I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.”

Jacob said, “Please, no, if I have now found favour in your sight, then receive my present at my hand, because I have seen your face, as one sees the face of God, and you were pleased with me.

He erected an altar there, and called it El Elohe Israel.

God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel, and live there. Make there an altar to God, who appeared to you when you fled from the face of Esau your brother.”

Then Jacob said to his household, and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods that are amongst you, purify yourselves, and change your garments.

Let’s arise, and go up to Bethel. I will make there an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me on the way which I went.”

They gave to Jacob all the foreign gods which were in their hands, and the rings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem.

He built an altar there, and called the place El Beth El; because there God was revealed to him, when he fled from the face of his brother.

God went up from him in the place where he spoke with him.

Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he spoke with him, a pillar of stone. He poured out a drink offering on it, and poured oil on it.

Jacob called the name of the place where God spoke with him “Bethel”.

Joseph was the governor over the land. It was he who sold to all the people of the land. Joseph’s brothers came, and bowed themselves down to him with their faces to the earth.

When Joseph came home, they brought him the present which was in their hand into the house, and bowed themselves down to the earth before him.

They said, “Your servant, our father, is well. He is still alive.” They bowed down humbly.

Judah and his brothers came to Joseph’s house, and he was still there. They fell on the ground before him.

Israel travelled with all that he had, and came to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices to the God of his father, Isaac.

God spoke to Israel in the visions of the night, and said, “Jacob, Jacob!” He said, “Here I am.”

Joseph brought in Jacob, his father, and set him before Pharaoh; and Jacob blessed Pharaoh.

Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from the presence of Pharaoh.

Israel said, “Swear to me,” and he swore to him. Then Israel bowed himself on the bed’s head.

Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessed me,

Joseph brought them out from between his knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the earth.

He blessed them that day, saying, “Israel will bless in you, saying, ‘God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh’” He set Ephraim before Manasseh.

Now Moses was keeping the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the back of the wilderness, and came to God’s mountain, to Horeb.

The LORD’s angel appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the middle of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush burnt with fire, and the bush was not consumed.

When the LORD saw that he came over to see, God called to him out of the middle of the bush, and said, “Moses! Moses!” He said, “Here I am.”

He said, “Don’t come close. Take off your sandals, for the place you are standing on is holy ground.”

Moreover he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Moses hid his face because he was afraid to look at God.

He said, “Certainly I will be with you. This will be the token to you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”

They will listen to your voice. You shall come, you and the elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt, and you shall tell him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Now please let us go three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD, our God.’

The people believed, and when they heard that the LORD had visited the children of Israel, and that he had seen their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshipped.

Afterward Moses and Aaron came, and said to Pharaoh, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says, ‘Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.’”

They said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go three days’ journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice to the LORD, our God, lest he fall on us with pestilence, or with the sword.”

You shall require from them the number of the bricks which they made before. You shall not diminish anything of it, for they are idle. Therefore they cry, saying, ‘Let’s go and sacrifice to our God.’

But Pharaoh said, “You are idle! You are idle! Therefore you say, ‘Let’s go and sacrifice to the LORD.’

God spoke to Moses, and said to him, “I am the LORD.

You shall tell him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to you, saying, “Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness. Behold, until now you haven’t listened.”

The LORD spoke to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh, and tell him, ‘This is what the LORD says, “Let my people go, that they may serve me.

Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, “Entreat the LORD, that he take away the frogs from me and from my people; and I will let the people go, that they may sacrifice to the LORD.”

The LORD said to Moses, “Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh; behold, he comes out to the water; and tell him, ‘This is what the LORD says, “Let my people go, that they may serve me.

Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron, and said, “Go, sacrifice to your God in the land!”

Moses said, “It isn’t appropriate to do so; for we shall sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians to the LORD our God. Behold, if we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, won’t they stone us?

We will go three days’ journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice to the LORD our God, as he shall command us.”

Pharaoh said, “I will let you go, that you may sacrifice to the LORD your God in the wilderness, only you shall not go very far away. Pray for me.”

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh, and tell him, ‘This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: “Let my people go, that they may serve me.

The LORD said to Moses, “Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh, and tell him, ‘This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: “Let my people go, that they may serve me.

Moses said to him, “As soon as I have gone out of the city, I will spread out my hands to the LORD. The thunders shall cease, and there will not be any more hail; that you may know that the earth is the LORD’s.

Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh, and spread out his hands to the LORD; and the thunders and hail ceased, and the rain was not poured on the earth.

Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh, and said to him, “This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, that they may serve me.

Pharaoh’s servants said to him, “How long will this man be a snare to us? Let the men go, that they may serve the LORD, their God. Don’t you yet know that Egypt is destroyed?”

Moses and Aaron were brought again to Pharaoh, and he said to them, “Go, serve the LORD your God; but who are those who will go?”

Moses said, “We will go with our young and with our old. We will go with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our herds; for we must hold a feast to the LORD.”

Not so! Go now you who are men, and serve the LORD; for that is what you desire!” Then they were driven out from Pharaoh’s presence.

Pharaoh called to Moses, and said, “Go, serve the LORD. Only let your flocks and your herds stay behind. Let your little ones also go with you.”

Moses said, “You must also give into our hand sacrifices and burnt offerings, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.

Our livestock also shall go with us. Not a hoof shall be left behind, for of it we must take to serve the LORD our God; and we don’t know with what we must serve the LORD, until we come there.”

“This month shall be to you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you.

Your lamb shall be without defect, a male a year old. You shall take it from the sheep or from the goats.

You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month; and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at evening.

They shall take some of the blood, and put it on the two door posts and on the lintel, on the houses in which they shall eat it.

They shall eat the meat in that night, roasted with fire, with unleavened bread. They shall eat it with bitter herbs.

Don’t eat it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roasted with fire; with its head, its legs and its inner parts.

You shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; but that which remains of it until the morning you shall burn with fire.

This is how you shall eat it: with your belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD’s Passover.

This day shall be a memorial for you. You shall keep it as a feast to the LORD. You shall keep it as a feast throughout your generations by an ordinance forever.

In the first day there shall be to you a holy convocation, and in the seventh day a holy convocation; no kind of work shall be done in them, except that which every man must eat, only that may be done by you.

You shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this same day I have brought your armies out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations by an ordinance forever.

In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty first day of the month at evening.

You shall eat nothing leavened. In all your habitations you shall eat unleavened bread.’”

Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said to them, “Draw out, and take lambs according to your families, and kill the Passover.

You shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two door posts with the blood that is in the basin. None of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning.

that you shall say, ‘It is the sacrifice of the LORD’s Passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians, and spared our houses.’” The people bowed their heads and worshipped.

He called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, “Rise up, get out from amongst my people, both you and the children of Israel; and go, serve the LORD, as you have said!

It is a night to be much observed to the LORD for bringing them out from the land of Egypt. This is that night of the LORD, to be much observed by all the children of Israel throughout their generations.

but every man’s servant who is bought for money, when you have circumcised him, then shall he eat of it.

A foreigner and a hired servant shall not eat of it.

It must be eaten in one house. You shall not carry any of the meat outside of the house. Do not break any of its bones.

All the congregation of Israel shall keep it.

When a stranger lives as a foreigner with you, and would like to keep the Passover to the LORD, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it. He shall be as one who is born in the land; but no uncircumcised person shall eat of it.

“Sanctify to me all the firstborn, whatever opens the womb amongst the children of Israel, both of man and of animal. It is mine.”

It shall be, when the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Amorite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite, which he swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, that you shall keep this service in this month.

Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and in the seventh day shall be a feast to the LORD.

Unleavened bread shall be eaten throughout the seven days; and no leavened bread shall be seen with you. No yeast shall be seen with you, within all your borders.

You shall therefore keep this ordinance in its season from year to year.

that you shall set apart to the LORD all that opens the womb, and every firstborn that comes from an animal which you have. The males shall be the LORD’s.

When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the LORD killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man, and the firstborn of livestock. Therefore I sacrifice to the LORD all that opens the womb, being males; but all the firstborn of my sons I redeem.’

It shall be for a sign on your hand, and for symbols between your eyes; for by strength of hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt.”

Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to the LORD, and said, “I will sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously. He has thrown the horse and his rider into the sea.

The LORD is my strength and song. He has become my salvation. This is my God, and I will praise him; my father’s God, and I will exalt him.

Who is like you, LORD, amongst the gods? Who is like you, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?

You will bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of your inheritance, the place, LORD, which you have made for yourself to dwell in: the sanctuary, Lord, which your hands have established.

The LORD will reign forever and ever.”

Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand; and all the women went out after her with tambourines and with dances.

Miriam answered them, “Sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously. He has thrown the horse and his rider into the sea.”

Moses said to Aaron, “Tell all the congregation of the children of Israel, ‘Come close to the LORD, for he has heard your murmurings.’”

As Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the children of Israel, they looked towards the wilderness, and behold, the LORD’s glory appeared in the cloud.

He said to them, “This is that which the LORD has spoken, ‘Tomorrow is a solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the LORD. Bake that which you want to bake, and boil that which you want to boil; and all that remains over lay up for yourselves to be kept until the morning.’”

Moses said, “Eat that today, for today is a Sabbath to the LORD. Today you shall not find it in the field.

Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day is the Sabbath. In it there shall be none.”

Behold, because the LORD has given you the Sabbath, therefore he gives you on the sixth day the bread of two days. Everyone stay in his place. Let no one go out of his place on the seventh day.”

So the people rested on the seventh day.

Moses said to Aaron, “Take a pot, and put an omer-full of manna in it, and lay it up before the LORD, to be kept throughout your generations.”

As the LORD commanded Moses, so Aaron laid it up before the Testimony, to be kept.

Moses built an altar, and called its name “The LORD our Banner”.

Now I know that the LORD is greater than all gods because of the way that they treated people arrogantly.”

Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God. Aaron came with all the elders of Israel, to eat bread with Moses’ father-in-law before God.

Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him out of the mountain, saying, “This is what you shall tell the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel:

and be ready for the third day; for on the third day the LORD will come down in the sight of all the people on Mount Sinai.

Moses went down from the mountain to the people, and sanctified the people; and they washed their clothes.

He said to the people, “Be ready by the third day. Don’t have sexual relations with a woman.”

On the third day, when it was morning, there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud on the mountain, and the sound of an exceedingly loud trumpet; and all the people who were in the camp trembled.

Moses led the people out of the camp to meet God; and they stood at the lower part of the mountain.

All of Mount Sinai smoked, because the LORD descended on it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly.

When the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by a voice.

The LORD came down on Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain. The LORD called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.

Let the priests also, who come near to the LORD, sanctify themselves, lest the LORD break out on them.”

Moses said to the LORD, “The people can’t come up to Mount Sinai, for you warned us, saying, ‘Set bounds around the mountain, and sanctify it.’”

“You shall have no other gods before me.

“You shall not make for yourselves an idol, nor any image of anything that is in the heavens above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:

you shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them, for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and on the fourth generation of those who hate me,

“You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who misuses his name.

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. You shall not do any work in it, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your livestock, nor your stranger who is within your gates;

for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day, and made it holy.

All the people perceived the thunderings, the lightnings, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking. When the people saw it, they trembled, and stayed at a distance.

You shall most certainly not make gods of silver or gods of gold for yourselves to be alongside me.

You shall make an altar of earth for me, and shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your cattle. In every place where I record my name I will come to you and I will bless you.

If you make me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of cut stones; for if you lift up your tool on it, you have polluted it.

You shall not go up by steps to my altar, that your nakedness may not be exposed to it.’

“He who sacrifices to any god, except to the LORD only, shall be utterly destroyed.

“You shall not blaspheme God, nor curse a ruler of your people.

“You shall not delay to offer from your harvest and from the outflow of your presses. “You shall give the firstborn of your sons to me.

You shall do likewise with your cattle and with your sheep. It shall be with its mother seven days, then on the eighth day you shall give it to me.

“Be careful to do all things that I have said to you; and don’t invoke the name of other gods or even let them be heard out of your mouth.

“You shall observe a feast to me three times a year.

You shall observe the feast of unleavened bread. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month Abib (for in it you came out of Egypt), and no one shall appear before me empty.

And the feast of harvest, the first fruits of your labours, which you sow in the field; and the feast of ingathering, at the end of the year, when you gather in your labours out of the field.

Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord GOD.

“You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread. The fat of my feast shall not remain all night until the morning.

You shall bring the first of the first fruits of your ground into the house of the LORD your God. “You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.

You shall not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor follow their practices, but you shall utterly overthrow them and demolish their pillars.

You shall serve the LORD your God, and he will bless your bread and your water, and I will take sickness away from amongst you.

He said to Moses, “Come up to the LORD, you, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and worship from a distance.

Moses alone shall come near to the LORD, but they shall not come near. The people shall not go up with him.”

Moses wrote all the LORD’s words, then rose up early in the morning and built an altar at the base of the mountain, with twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel.

He sent young men of the children of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of cattle to the LORD.

Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar.

Then Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up.

They saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was like a paved work of sapphire stone, like the skies for clearness.

He didn’t lay his hand on the nobles of the children of Israel. They saw God, and ate and drank.

Moses rose up with Joshua, his servant, and Moses went up onto God’s Mountain.

Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain.

The LORD’s glory settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. The seventh day he called to Moses out of the middle of the cloud.

The appearance of the LORD’s glory was like devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the children of Israel.

Moses entered into the middle of the cloud, and went up on the mountain; and Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

“Speak to the children of Israel, that they take an offering for me. From everyone whose heart makes him willing you shall take my offering.

This is the offering which you shall take from them: gold, silver, bronze,

blue, purple, scarlet, fine linen, goats’ hair,

rams’ skins dyed red, sea cow hides, acacia wood,

oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil and for the sweet incense,

onyx stones, and stones to be set for the ephod and for the breastplate.

Let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell amongst them.

According to all that I show you, the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all of its furniture, even so you shall make it.

“They shall make an ark of acacia wood. Its length shall be two and a half cubits, its width a cubit and a half, and a cubit and a half its height.

You shall overlay it with pure gold. You shall overlay it inside and outside, and you shall make a gold moulding around it.

You shall cast four rings of gold for it, and put them in its four feet. Two rings shall be on the one side of it, and two rings on the other side of it.

You shall make poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold.

You shall put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark to carry the ark.

You shall make two cherubim of hammered gold. You shall make them at the two ends of the mercy seat.

The cherubim shall spread out their wings upward, covering the mercy seat with their wings, with their faces towards one another. The faces of the cherubim shall be towards the mercy seat.

There I will meet with you, and I will tell you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the covenant, all that I command you for the children of Israel.

“You shall make a table of acacia wood. Its length shall be two cubits, and its width a cubit, and its height one and a half cubits.

You shall overlay it with pure gold, and make a gold moulding around it.

You shall make a rim of a hand width around it. You shall make a golden moulding on its rim around it.

You shall make four rings of gold for it, and put the rings in the four corners that are on its four feet.

The rings shall be close to the rim, for places for the poles to carry the table.

You shall make the poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold, that the table may be carried with them.

You shall make its dishes, its spoons, its ladles, and its bowls with which to pour out offerings. You shall make them of pure gold.

You shall set bread of the presence on the table before me always.

“You shall make a lamp stand of pure gold. The lamp stand shall be made of hammered work. Its base, its shaft, its cups, its buds, and its flowers shall be of one piece with it.

There shall be six branches going out of its sides: three branches of the lamp stand out of its one side, and three branches of the lamp stand out of its other side;

three cups made like almond blossoms in one branch, a bud and a flower; and three cups made like almond blossoms in the other branch, a bud and a flower, so for the six branches going out of the lamp stand;

and in the lamp stand four cups made like almond blossoms, its buds and its flowers;

and a bud under two branches of one piece with it, and a bud under two branches of one piece with it, and a bud under two branches of one piece with it, for the six branches going out of the lamp stand.

Their buds and their branches shall be of one piece with it, all of it one beaten work of pure gold.

You shall make its lamps seven, and they shall light its lamps to give light to the space in front of it.

Its snuffers and its snuff dishes shall be of pure gold.

It shall be made of a talent of pure gold, with all these accessories.

See that you make them after their pattern, which has been shown to you on the mountain.

“Moreover you shall make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, with cherubim. You shall make them with the work of a skilful workman.

The length of each curtain shall be twenty-eight cubits, and the width of each curtain four cubits: all the curtains shall have one measure.

Five curtains shall be coupled together to one another, and the other five curtains shall be coupled to one another.

You shall make loops of blue on the edge of the one curtain from the edge in the coupling, and you shall do likewise on the edge of the curtain that is outermost in the second coupling.

You shall make fifty loops in the one curtain, and you shall make fifty loops in the edge of the curtain that is in the second coupling. The loops shall be opposite one another.

You shall make fifty clasps of gold, and couple the curtains to one another with the clasps. The tabernacle shall be a unit.

“You shall make curtains of goats’ hair for a covering over the tabernacle. You shall make eleven curtains.

The length of each curtain shall be thirty cubits, and the width of each curtain four cubits: the eleven curtains shall have one measure.

You shall couple five curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves, and shall double over the sixth curtain in the forefront of the tent.

You shall make fifty loops on the edge of the one curtain that is outermost in the coupling, and fifty loops on the edge of the curtain which is outermost in the second coupling.

You shall make fifty clasps of bronze, and put the clasps into the loops, and couple the tent together, that it may be one.

The overhanging part that remains of the curtains of the tent—the half curtain that remains—shall hang over the back of the tabernacle.

The cubit on the one side and the cubit on the other side, of that which remains in the length of the curtains of the tent, shall hang over the sides of the tabernacle on this side and on that side, to cover it.

You shall make a covering for the tent of rams’ skins dyed red, and a covering of sea cow hides above.

“You shall make the boards for the tabernacle of acacia wood, standing upright.

Ten cubits shall be the length of a board, and one and a half cubits the width of each board.

There shall be two tenons in each board, joined to one another: thus you shall make for all the boards of the tabernacle.

You shall make twenty boards for the tabernacle, for the south side southward.

You shall make forty sockets of silver under the twenty boards; two sockets under one board for its two tenons, and two sockets under another board for its two tenons.

For the second side of the tabernacle, on the north side, twenty boards,

and their forty sockets of silver; two sockets under one board, and two sockets under another board.

For the far side of the tabernacle westward you shall make six boards.

You shall make two boards for the corners of the tabernacle in the far side.

They shall be double beneath, and in the same way they shall be whole to its top to one ring: thus shall it be for them both; they shall be for the two corners.

There shall be eight boards, and their sockets of silver, sixteen sockets; two sockets under one board, and two sockets under another board.

“You shall make bars of acacia wood: five for the boards of the one side of the tabernacle,

and five bars for the boards of the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the boards of the side of the tabernacle, for the far side westward.

The middle bar in the middle of the boards shall pass through from end to end.

You shall overlay the boards with gold, and make their rings of gold for places for the bars. You shall overlay the bars with gold.

You shall set up the tabernacle according to the way that it was shown to you on the mountain.

“You shall make a veil of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, with cherubim. It shall be the work of a skilful workman.

You shall hang it on four pillars of acacia overlaid with gold; their hooks shall be of gold, on four sockets of silver.

You shall hang up the veil under the clasps, and shall bring the ark of the covenant in there within the veil. The veil shall separate the holy place from the most holy for you.

You shall put the mercy seat on the ark of the covenant in the most holy place.

You shall set the table outside the veil, and the lamp stand opposite the table on the side of the tabernacle towards the south. You shall put the table on the north side.

“You shall make a screen for the door of the Tent, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, the work of the embroiderer.

You shall make for the screen five pillars of acacia, and overlay them with gold. Their hooks shall be of gold. You shall cast five sockets of bronze for them.

“You shall make the altar of acacia wood, five cubits long, and five cubits wide. The altar shall be square. Its height shall be three cubits.

You shall make its horns on its four corners. Its horns shall be of one piece with it. You shall overlay it with bronze.

You shall make its pots to take away its ashes; and its shovels, its basins, its meat hooks, and its fire pans. You shall make all its vessels of bronze.

You shall make a grating for it of network of bronze. On the net you shall make four bronze rings in its four corners.

You shall put it under the ledge around the altar beneath, that the net may reach halfway up the altar.

You shall make poles for the altar, poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with bronze.

Its poles shall be put into the rings, and the poles shall be on the two sides of the altar when carrying it.

You shall make it hollow with planks. They shall make it as it has been shown you on the mountain.

“You shall make the court of the tabernacle: for the south side southward there shall be hangings for the court of fine twined linen one hundred cubits long for one side.

Its pillars shall be twenty, and their sockets twenty, of bronze. The hooks of the pillars and their fillets shall be of silver.

Likewise for the length of the north side, there shall be hangings one hundred cubits long, and its pillars twenty, and their sockets twenty, of bronze; the hooks of the pillars, and their fillets, of silver.

For the width of the court on the west side shall be hangings of fifty cubits; their pillars ten, and their sockets ten.

The width of the court on the east side eastward shall be fifty cubits.

The hangings for the one side of the gate shall be fifteen cubits; their pillars three, and their sockets three.

For the other side shall be hangings of fifteen cubits; their pillars three, and their sockets three.

For the gate of the court shall be a screen of twenty cubits, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, the work of the embroiderer; their pillars four, and their sockets four.

All the pillars of the court around shall be filleted with silver; their hooks of silver, and their sockets of bronze.

The length of the court shall be one hundred cubits, and the width fifty throughout, and the height five cubits, of fine twined linen, and their sockets of bronze.

All the instruments of the tabernacle in all its service, and all its pins, and all the pins of the court, shall be of bronze.

“You shall command the children of Israel, that they bring to you pure olive oil beaten for the light, to cause a lamp to burn continually.

In the Tent of Meeting, outside the veil which is before the covenant, Aaron and his sons shall keep it in order from evening to morning before the LORD: it shall be a statute forever throughout their generations on the behalf of the children of Israel.

“Bring Aaron your brother, and his sons with him, near to you from amongst the children of Israel, that he may minister to me in the priest’s office: Aaron, with Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar, Aaron’s sons.

You shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, for glory and for beauty.

You shall speak to all who are wise-hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they make Aaron’s garments to sanctify him, that he may minister to me in the priest’s office.

These are the garments which they shall make: a breastplate, an ephod, a robe, a fitted tunic, a turban, and a sash. They shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother and his sons, that he may minister to me in the priest’s office.

They shall use the gold, and the blue, and the purple, and the scarlet, and the fine linen.

“They shall make the ephod of gold, blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen, the work of the skilful workman.

The skilfully woven band, which is on it, shall be like its work and of the same piece; of gold, blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen.

You shall take two onyx stones, and engrave on them the names of the children of Israel.

Six of their names on the one stone, and the names of the six that remain on the other stone, in the order of their birth.

With the work of an engraver in stone, like the engravings of a signet, you shall engrave the two stones, according to the names of the children of Israel. You shall make them to be enclosed in settings of gold.

You shall put the two stones on the shoulder straps of the ephod, to be stones of memorial for the children of Israel. Aaron shall bear their names before the LORD on his two shoulders for a memorial.

You shall make settings of gold,

and two chains of pure gold; you shall make them like cords of braided work. You shall put the braided chains on the settings.

“You shall make a breastplate of judgement, the work of the skilful workman; like the work of the ephod you shall make it; of gold, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, you shall make it.

It shall be square and folded double; a span shall be its length, and a span its width.

You shall set in it settings of stones, four rows of stones: a row of ruby, topaz, and beryl shall be 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 shall be enclosed in gold in their settings.

The stones shall be according to the names of the children of Israel, twelve, according to their names; like the engravings of a signet, everyone according to his name, they shall be for the twelve tribes.

You shall make on the breastplate chains like cords, of braided work of pure gold.

You shall make on the breastplate two rings of gold, and shall put the two rings on the two ends of the breastplate.

You shall put the two braided chains of gold in the two rings at the ends of the breastplate.

The other two ends of the two braided chains you shall put on the two settings, and put them on the shoulder straps of the ephod in its forepart.

You shall make two rings of gold, and you shall put them on the two ends of the breastplate, on its edge, which is towards the side of the ephod inward.

You shall make two rings of gold, and shall put them on the two shoulder straps of the ephod underneath, in its forepart, close by its coupling, above the skilfully woven band of the ephod.

They shall bind the breastplate by its rings to the rings of the ephod with a lace of blue, that it may be on the skilfully woven band of the ephod, and that the breastplate may not swing out from the ephod.

Aaron shall bear the names of the children of Israel in the breastplate of judgement on his heart, when he goes in to the holy place, for a memorial before the LORD continually.

You shall put in the breastplate of judgement the Urim and the Thummim; and they shall be on Aaron’s heart, when he goes in before the LORD. Aaron shall bear the judgement of the children of Israel on his heart before the LORD continually.

“You shall make the robe of the ephod all of blue.

It shall have a hole for the head in the middle of it. It shall have a binding of woven work around its hole, as it were the hole of a coat of mail, that it not be torn.

On its hem you shall make pomegranates of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, all around its hem; with bells of gold between and around them:

a golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, around the hem of the robe.

It shall be on Aaron to minister: and its sound shall be heard when he goes in to the holy place before the LORD, and when he comes out, that he not die.

“You shall make a plate of pure gold, and engrave on it, like the engravings of a signet, ‘HOLY TO THE LORD.’

You shall put it on a lace of blue, and it shall be on the sash. It shall be on the front of the sash.

It shall be on Aaron’s forehead, and Aaron shall bear the iniquity of the holy things, which the children of Israel shall make holy in all their holy gifts; and it shall be always on his forehead, that they may be accepted before the LORD.

You shall weave the tunic with fine linen. You shall make a turban of fine linen. You shall make a sash, the work of the embroiderer.

“You shall make tunics for Aaron’s sons. You shall make sashes for them. You shall make headbands for them, for glory and for beauty.

You shall put them on Aaron your brother, and on his sons with him, and shall anoint them, and consecrate them, and sanctify them, that they may minister to me in the priest’s office.

You shall make them linen pants to cover their naked flesh. They shall reach from the waist even to the thighs.

They shall be on Aaron and on his sons, when they go in to the Tent of Meeting, or when they come near to the altar to minister in the holy place, that they don’t bear iniquity, and die. This shall be a statute forever to him and to his offspring after him.

“This is the thing that you shall do to them to make them holy, to minister to me in the priest’s office: take one young bull and two rams without defect,

unleavened bread, unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil. You shall make them of fine wheat flour.

You shall put them into one basket, and bring them in the basket, with the bull and the two rams.

You shall bring Aaron and his sons to the door of the Tent of Meeting, and shall wash them with water.

You shall take the garments, and put on Aaron the tunic, the robe of the ephod, the ephod, and the breastplate, and clothe him with the skilfully woven band of the ephod.

You shall set the turban on his head, and put the holy crown on the turban.

Then you shall take the anointing oil, and pour it on his head, and anoint him.

You shall bring his sons, and put tunics on them.

You shall clothe them with belts, Aaron and his sons, and bind headbands on them. They shall have the priesthood by a perpetual statute. You shall consecrate Aaron and his sons.

“You shall bring the bull before the Tent of Meeting; and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the bull.

You shall kill the bull before the LORD at the door of the Tent of Meeting.

You shall take of the blood of the bull, and put it on the horns of the altar with your finger; and you shall pour out all the blood at the base of the altar.

You shall take all the fat that covers the innards, the cover of the liver, the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, and burn them on the altar.

But the meat of the bull, and its skin, and its dung, you shall burn with fire outside of the camp. It is a sin offering.

“You shall also take the one ram, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram.

You shall kill the ram, and you shall take its blood, and sprinkle it around on the altar.

You shall cut the ram into its pieces, and wash its innards, and its legs, and put them with its pieces, and with its head.

You shall burn the whole ram on the altar: it is a burnt offering to the LORD; it is a pleasant aroma, an offering made by fire to the LORD.

“You shall take the other ram, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram.

Then you shall kill the ram, and take some of its blood, and put it on the tip of the right ear of Aaron, and on the tip of the right ear of his sons, and on the thumb of their right hand, and on the big toe of their right foot; and sprinkle the blood around on the altar.

You shall take of the blood that is on the altar, and of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it on Aaron, and on his garments, and on his sons, and on the garments of his sons with him: and he shall be made holy, and his garments, and his sons, and his sons’ garments with him.

Also you shall take some of the ram’s fat, the fat tail, the fat that covers the innards, the cover of the liver, the two kidneys, the fat that is on them, and the right thigh (for it is a ram of consecration),

and one loaf of bread, one cake of oiled bread, and one wafer out of the basket of unleavened bread that is before the LORD.

You shall put all of this in Aaron’s hands, and in his sons’ hands, and shall wave them for a wave offering before the LORD.

You shall take them from their hands, and burn them on the altar on the burnt offering, for a pleasant aroma before the LORD: it is an offering made by fire to the LORD.

“You shall take the breast of Aaron’s ram of consecration, and wave it for a wave offering before the LORD. It shall be your portion.

You shall sanctify the breast of the wave offering and the thigh of the wave offering, which is waved, and which is raised up, of the ram of consecration, even of that which is for Aaron, and of that which is for his sons.

It shall be for Aaron and his sons as their portion forever from the children of Israel; for it is a wave offering. It shall be a wave offering from the children of Israel of the sacrifices of their peace offerings, even their wave offering to the LORD.

Seven days shall the son who is priest in his place put them on, when he comes into the Tent of Meeting to minister in the holy place.

“You shall take the ram of consecration and boil its meat in a holy place.

Aaron and his sons shall eat the meat of the ram, and the bread that is in the basket, at the door of the Tent of Meeting.

They shall eat those things with which atonement was made, to consecrate and sanctify them; but a stranger shall not eat of it, because they are holy.

If anything of the meat of the consecration, or of the bread, remains to the morning, then you shall burn the remainder with fire. It shall not be eaten, because it is holy.

“You shall do so to Aaron and to his sons, according to all that I have commanded you. You shall consecrate them seven days.

Every day you shall offer the bull of sin offering for atonement. You shall cleanse the altar when you make atonement for it. You shall anoint it, to sanctify it.

Seven days you shall make atonement for the altar, and sanctify it; and the altar shall be most holy. Whatever touches the altar shall be holy.

“Now this is that which you shall offer on the altar: two lambs a year old day by day continually.

The one lamb you shall offer in the morning; and the other lamb you shall offer at evening;

and with the one lamb a tenth part of an ephah of fine flour mixed with the fourth part of a hin of beaten oil, and the fourth part of a hin of wine for a drink offering.

The other lamb you shall offer at evening, and shall do to it according to the meal offering of the morning and according to its drink offering, for a pleasant aroma, an offering made by fire to the LORD.

It shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the door of the Tent of Meeting before the LORD, where I will meet with you, to speak there to you.

There I will meet with the children of Israel; and the place shall be sanctified by my glory.

I will sanctify the Tent of Meeting and the altar. I will also sanctify Aaron and his sons to minister to me in the priest’s office.

“You shall make an altar to burn incense on. You shall make it of acacia wood.

Its length shall be a cubit, and its width a cubit. It shall be square, and its height shall be two cubits. Its horns shall be of one piece with it.

You shall overlay it with pure gold, its top, its sides around it, and its horns; and you shall make a gold moulding around it.

You shall make two golden rings for it under its moulding; on its two ribs, on its two sides you shall make them; and they shall be for places for poles with which to bear it.

You shall make the poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold.

You shall put it before the veil that is by the ark of the covenant, before the mercy seat that is over the covenant, where I will meet with you.

Aaron shall burn incense of sweet spices on it every morning. When he tends the lamps, he shall burn it.

When Aaron lights the lamps at evening, he shall burn it, a perpetual incense before the LORD throughout your generations.

You shall offer no strange incense on it, nor burnt offering, nor meal offering; and you shall pour no drink offering on it.

Aaron shall make atonement on its horns once in the year; with the blood of the sin offering of atonement once in the year he shall make atonement for it throughout your generations. It is most holy to the LORD.”

They shall give this, everyone who passes over to those who are counted, half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary (the shekel is twenty gerahs); half a shekel for an offering to the LORD.

Everyone who passes over to those who are counted, from twenty years old and upward, shall give the offering to the LORD.

The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less, than the half shekel, when they give the offering of the LORD, to make atonement for your souls.

You shall take the atonement money from the children of Israel, and shall appoint it for the service of the Tent of Meeting; that it may be a memorial for the children of Israel before the LORD, to make atonement for your souls.”

“You shall also make a basin of bronze, and its base of bronze, in which to wash. You shall put it between the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and you shall put water in it.

Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet in it.

When they go into the Tent of Meeting, they shall wash with water, that they not die; or when they come near to the altar to minister, to burn an offering made by fire to the LORD.

“Also take fine spices: of liquid myrrh, five hundred shekels; and of fragrant cinnamon half as much, even two hundred and fifty; and of fragrant cane, two hundred and fifty;

and of cassia five hundred, according to the shekel of the sanctuary; and a hin of olive oil.

You shall make it into a holy anointing oil, a perfume compounded after the art of the perfumer: it shall be a holy anointing oil.

You shall use it to anoint the Tent of Meeting, the ark of the covenant,

the table and all its articles, the lamp stand and its accessories, the altar of incense,

the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the basin with its base.

You shall sanctify them, that they may be most holy. Whatever touches them shall be holy.

You shall anoint Aaron and his sons, and sanctify them, that they may minister to me in the priest’s office.

You shall speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘This shall be a holy anointing oil to me throughout your generations.

It shall not be poured on man’s flesh, and do not make any like it, according to its composition. It is holy. It shall be holy to you.

The LORD said to Moses, “Take to yourself sweet spices, gum resin, onycha, and galbanum: sweet spices with pure frankincense. There shall be an equal weight of each.

You shall make incense of it, a perfume after the art of the perfumer, seasoned with salt, pure and holy.

You shall beat some of it very small, and put some of it before the covenant in the Tent of Meeting, where I will meet with you. It shall be to you most holy.

You shall not make this incense, according to its composition, for yourselves: it shall be to you holy for the LORD.

the Tent of Meeting, the ark of the covenant, the mercy seat that is on it, all the furniture of the Tent,

the table and its vessels, the pure lamp stand with all its vessels, the altar of incense,

the altar of burnt offering with all its vessels, the basin and its base,

the finely worked garments—the holy garments for Aaron the priest, the garments of his sons to minister in the priest’s office—

the anointing oil, and the incense of sweet spices for the holy place: according to all that I have commanded you they shall do.”

“Speak also to the children of Israel, saying, ‘Most certainly you shall keep my Sabbaths; for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you.

You shall keep the Sabbath therefore, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from amongst his people.

Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall surely be put to death.

Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant.

It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.’”

He received what they handed him, fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made it a moulded calf. Then they said, “These are your gods, Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.”

When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made a proclamation, and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the LORD.”

They rose up early on the next day, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.

They have turned away quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a moulded calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed to it, and said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.’”

Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, far away from the camp, and he called it “The Tent of Meeting.” Everyone who sought the LORD went out to the Tent of Meeting, which was outside the camp.

When Moses went out to the Tent, all the people rose up, and stood, everyone at their tent door, and watched Moses, until he had gone into the Tent.

When Moses entered into the Tent, the pillar of cloud descended, stood at the door of the Tent, and the LORD spoke with Moses.

All the people saw the pillar of cloud stand at the door of the Tent, and all the people rose up and worshipped, everyone at their tent door.

Moses said, “Please show me your glory.”

Be ready by the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to me on the top of the mountain.

No one shall come up with you or be seen anywhere on the mountain. Do not let the flocks or herds graze in front of that mountain.”

The LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the LORD’s name.

Moses hurried and bowed his head towards the earth, and worshipped.

but you shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and you shall cut down their Asherah poles;

for you shall worship no other god; for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.

“You shall make no cast idols for yourselves.

“You shall keep the feast of unleavened bread. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month Abib; for in the month Abib you came out of Egypt.

“All that opens the womb is mine; and all your livestock that is male, the firstborn of cow and sheep.

You shall redeem the firstborn of a donkey with a lamb. If you will not redeem it, then you shall break its neck. You shall redeem all the firstborn of your sons. No one shall appear before me empty.

“Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest: in ploughing time and in harvest you shall rest.

“You shall observe the feast of weeks with the first fruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of harvest at the year’s end.

Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord GOD, the God of Israel.

For I will drive out nations before you and enlarge your borders; neither shall any man desire your land when you go up to appear before the LORD, your God, three times in the year.

“You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread. The sacrifice of the feast of the Passover shall not be left to the morning.

“You shall bring the first of the first fruits of your ground to the house of the LORD your God. “You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.”

He was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread, nor drank water. He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.

When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant in Moses’ hand, when he came down from the mountain, Moses didn’t know that the skin of his face shone by reason of his speaking with him.

When Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come near him.

When Moses was done speaking with them, he put a veil on his face.

The children of Israel saw Moses’ face, that the skin of Moses’ face shone; so Moses put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with him.

‘Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be a holy day for you, a Sabbath of solemn rest to the LORD: whoever does any work in it shall be put to death.

You shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations on the Sabbath day.’”

‘Take from amongst you an offering to the LORD. Whoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it as the LORD’s offering: gold, silver, bronze,

blue, purple, scarlet, fine linen, goats’ hair,

rams’ skins dyed red, sea cow hides, acacia wood,

oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil and for the sweet incense,

onyx stones, and stones to be set for the ephod and for the breastplate.

“‘Let every wise-hearted man amongst you come, and make all that the LORD has commanded:

the tabernacle, its outer covering, its roof, its clasps, its boards, its bars, its pillars, and its sockets;

the ark, and its poles, the mercy seat, the veil of the screen;

the table with its poles and all its vessels, and the show bread;

the lamp stand also for the light, with its vessels, its lamps, and the oil for the light;

and the altar of incense with its poles, the anointing oil, the sweet incense, the screen for the door, at the door of the tabernacle;

the altar of burnt offering, with its grating of bronze, its poles, and all its vessels, the basin and its base;

the hangings of the court, its pillars, their sockets, and the screen for the gate of the court;

the pins of the tabernacle, the pins of the court, and their cords;

the finely worked garments for ministering in the holy place—the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons—to minister in the priest’s office.’”

They came, everyone whose heart stirred him up, and everyone whom his spirit made willing, and brought the LORD’s offering for the work of the Tent of Meeting, and for all of its service, and for the holy garments.

They came, both men and women, as many as were willing-hearted, and brought brooches, earrings, signet rings, and armlets, all jewels of gold; even every man who offered an offering of gold to the LORD.

Everyone with whom was found blue, purple, scarlet, fine linen, goats’ hair, rams’ skins dyed red, and sea cow hides, brought them.

Everyone who offered an offering of silver and bronze brought the LORD’s offering; and everyone with whom was found acacia wood for any work of the service, brought it.

All the women who were wise-hearted spun with their hands, and brought that which they had spun: the blue, the purple, the scarlet, and the fine linen.

All the women whose heart stirred them up in wisdom spun the goats’ hair.

The rulers brought the onyx stones and the stones to be set for the ephod and for the breastplate;

with the spice and the oil for the light, for the anointing oil, and for the sweet incense.

The children of Israel brought a free will offering to the LORD; every man and woman whose heart made them willing to bring for all the work, which the LORD had commanded to be made by Moses.

“Bezalel and Oholiab shall work with every wise-hearted man, in whom the LORD has put wisdom and understanding to know how to do all the work for the service of the sanctuary, according to all that the LORD has commanded.”

They received from Moses all the offering which the children of Israel had brought for the work of the service of the sanctuary, with which to make it. They kept bringing free will offerings to him every morning.

All the wise men, who performed all the work of the sanctuary, each came from his work which he did.

They spoke to Moses, saying, “The people have brought much more than enough for the service of the work which the LORD commanded to make.”

Moses gave a commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, “Let neither man nor woman make anything else for the offering for the sanctuary.” So the people were restrained from bringing.

For the stuff they had was sufficient to do all the work, and too much.

All the wise-hearted men amongst those who did the work made the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twined linen, blue, purple, and scarlet. They made them with cherubim, the work of a skilful workman.

The length of each curtain was twenty-eight cubits, and the width of each curtain four cubits. All the curtains had one measure.

He coupled five curtains to one another, and the other five curtains he coupled to one another.

He made loops of blue on the edge of the one curtain from the edge in the coupling. Likewise he made in the edge of the curtain that was outermost in the second coupling.

He made fifty loops in the one curtain, and he made fifty loops in the edge of the curtain that was in the second coupling. The loops were opposite to one another.

He made fifty clasps of gold, and coupled the curtains to one another with the clasps: so the tabernacle was a unit.

He made curtains of goats’ hair for a covering over the tabernacle. He made them eleven curtains.

The length of each curtain was thirty cubits, and four cubits the width of each curtain. The eleven curtains had one measure.

He coupled five curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves.

He made fifty loops on the edge of the curtain that was outermost in the coupling, and he made fifty loops on the edge of the curtain which was outermost in the second coupling.

He made fifty clasps of bronze to couple the tent together, that it might be a unit.

He made a covering for the tent of rams’ skins dyed red, and a covering of sea cow hides above.

He made the boards for the tabernacle of acacia wood, standing up.

Ten cubits was the length of a board, and a cubit and a half the width of each board.

Each board had two tenons, joined to one another. He made all the boards of the tabernacle this way.

He made the boards for the tabernacle, twenty boards for the south side southward.

He made forty sockets of silver under the twenty boards: two sockets under one board for its two tenons, and two sockets under another board for its two tenons.

For the second side of the tabernacle, on the north side, he made twenty boards

and their forty sockets of silver: two sockets under one board, and two sockets under another board.

For the far part of the tabernacle westward he made six boards.

He made two boards for the corners of the tabernacle in the far part.

They were double beneath, and in the same way they were all the way to its top to one ring. He did this to both of them in the two corners.

There were eight boards and their sockets of silver, sixteen sockets—under every board two sockets.

He made bars of acacia wood: five for the boards of the one side of the tabernacle,

and five bars for the boards of the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the boards of the tabernacle for the hinder part westward.

He made the middle bar to pass through in the middle of the boards from the one end to the other.

He overlaid the boards with gold, and made their rings of gold as places for the bars, and overlaid the bars with gold.

He made the veil of blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen, with cherubim. He made it the work of a skilful workman.

He made four pillars of acacia for it, and overlaid them with gold. Their hooks were of gold. He cast four sockets of silver for them.

He made a screen for the door of the tent, of blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen, the work of an embroiderer;

and the five pillars of it with their hooks. He overlaid their capitals and their fillets with gold, and their five sockets were of bronze.

Bezalel made the ark of acacia wood. Its length was two and a half cubits, and its width a cubit and a half, and a cubit and a half its height.

He overlaid it with pure gold inside and outside, and made a moulding of gold for it around it.

He cast four rings of gold for it in its four feet—two rings on its one side, and two rings on its other side.

He made poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold.

He put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark, to bear the ark.

He made a mercy seat of pure gold. Its length was two and a half cubits, and a cubit and a half its width.

He made two cherubim of gold. He made them of beaten work, at the two ends of the mercy seat:

one cherub at the one end, and one cherub at the other end. He made the cherubim of one piece with the mercy seat at its two ends.

The cherubim spread out their wings above, covering the mercy seat with their wings, with their faces towards one another. The faces of the cherubim were towards the mercy seat.

He made the table of acacia wood. Its length was two cubits, and its width was a cubit, and its height was a cubit and a half.

He overlaid it with pure gold, and made a gold moulding around it.

He made a border of a hand’s width around it, and made a golden moulding on its border around it.

He cast four rings of gold for it, and put the rings in the four corners that were on its four feet.

The rings were close by the border, the places for the poles to carry the table.

He made the poles of acacia wood, and overlaid them with gold, to carry the table.

He made the vessels which were on the table, its dishes, its spoons, its bowls, and its pitchers with which to pour out, of pure gold.

He made the lamp stand of pure gold. He made the lamp stand of beaten work. Its base, its shaft, its cups, its buds, and its flowers were of one piece with it.

There were six branches going out of its sides: three branches of the lamp stand out of its one side, and three branches of the lamp stand out of its other side:

three cups made like almond blossoms in one branch, a bud and a flower, and three cups made like almond blossoms in the other branch, a bud and a flower; so for the six branches going out of the lamp stand.

In the lamp stand were four cups made like almond blossoms, its buds and its flowers;

and a bud under two branches of one piece with it, and a bud under two branches of one piece with it, and a bud under two branches of one piece with it, for the six branches going out of it.

Their buds and their branches were of one piece with it. The whole thing was one beaten work of pure gold.

He made its seven lamps, and its snuffers, and its snuff dishes, of pure gold.

He made it of a talent of pure gold, with all its vessels.

He made the altar of incense of acacia wood. It was square: its length was a cubit, and its width a cubit. Its height was two cubits. Its horns were of one piece with it.

He overlaid it with pure gold: its top, its sides around it, and its horns. He made a gold moulding around it.

He made two golden rings for it under its moulding crown, on its two ribs, on its two sides, for places for poles with which to carry it.

He made the poles of acacia wood, and overlaid them with gold.

He made the holy anointing oil and the pure incense of sweet spices, after the art of the perfumer.

He made the altar of burnt offering of acacia wood. It was square. Its length was five cubits, its width was five cubits, and its height was three cubits.

He made its horns on its four corners. Its horns were of one piece with it, and he overlaid it with bronze.

He made all the vessels of the altar: the pots, the shovels, the basins, the forks, and the fire pans. He made all its vessels of bronze.

He made for the altar a grating of a network of bronze, under the ledge around it beneath, reaching halfway up.

He cast four rings for the four corners of bronze grating, to be places for the poles.

He made the poles of acacia wood, and overlaid them with bronze.

He put the poles into the rings on the sides of the altar, with which to carry it. He made it hollow with planks.

He made the basin of bronze, and its base of bronze, out of the mirrors of the ministering women who ministered at the door of the Tent of Meeting.

He made the court: for the south side southward the hangings of the court were of fine twined linen, one hundred cubits;

their pillars were twenty, and their sockets twenty, of bronze; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets were of silver.

For the north side one hundred cubits, their pillars twenty, and their sockets twenty, of bronze; the hooks of the pillars, and their fillets, of silver.

For the west side were hangings of fifty cubits, their pillars ten, and their sockets ten; the hooks of the pillars, and their fillets, of silver.

For the east side eastward fifty cubits,

the hangings for the one side were fifteen cubits; their pillars three, and their sockets three;

and so for the other side: on this hand and that hand by the gate of the court were hangings of fifteen cubits; their pillars three, and their sockets three.

All the hangings around the court were of fine twined linen.

The sockets for the pillars were of bronze. The hooks of the pillars and their fillets were of silver. Their capitals were overlaid with silver. All the pillars of the court had silver bands.

The screen for the gate of the court was the work of the embroiderer, of blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen. Twenty cubits was the length, and the height along the width was five cubits, like the hangings of the court.

Their pillars were four, and their sockets four, of bronze; their hooks of silver, and the overlaying of their capitals, and their fillets, of silver.

All the pins of the tabernacle, and around the court, were of bronze.

These are the amounts of materials used for the tabernacle, even the Tabernacle of the Testimony, as they were counted, according to the commandment of Moses, for the service of the Levites, by the hand of Ithamar, the son of Aaron the priest.

Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made all that the LORD commanded Moses.

With him was Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, an engraver, and a skilful workman, and an embroiderer in blue, in purple, in scarlet, and in fine linen.

All the gold that was used for the work in all the work of the sanctuary, even the gold of the offering, was twenty-nine talents and seven hundred and thirty shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary.

The silver of those who were counted of the congregation was one hundred talents and one thousand and seven hundred and seventy-five shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary:

a beka a head, that is, half a shekel, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, for everyone who passed over to those who were counted, from twenty years old and upward, for six hundred and three thousand and five hundred and fifty men.

The one hundred talents of silver were for casting the sockets of the sanctuary and the sockets of the veil: one hundred sockets for the one hundred talents, one talent per socket.

From the one thousand and seven hundred and seventy-five shekels he made hooks for the pillars, overlaid their capitals, and made fillets for them.

The bronze of the offering was seventy talents and two thousand and four hundred shekels.

With this he made the sockets to the door of the Tent of Meeting, the bronze altar, the bronze grating for it, all the vessels of the altar,

the sockets around the court, the sockets of the gate of the court, all the pins of the tabernacle, and all the pins around the court.

Of the blue, purple, and scarlet, they made finely worked garments for ministering in the holy place, and made the holy garments for Aaron, as the LORD commanded Moses.

He made the ephod of gold, blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen.

They beat the gold into thin plates, and cut it into wires, to work it in with the blue, the purple, the scarlet, and the fine linen, the work of the skilful workman.

They made shoulder straps for it, joined together. It was joined together at the two ends.

The skilfully woven band that was on it, with which to fasten it on, was of the same piece, like its work: of gold, of blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen, as the LORD commanded Moses.

They worked the onyx stones, enclosed in settings of gold, engraved with the engravings of a signet, according to the names of the children of Israel.

He put them on the shoulder straps of the ephod, to be stones of memorial for the children of Israel, as the LORD commanded Moses.

He made the breastplate, the work of a skilful workman, like the work of the ephod: of gold, of blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen.

It was square. They made the breastplate double. Its length was a span, and its width a span, being double.

They set in it four rows of stones. A row of ruby, topaz, and beryl was 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 settings.

The stones were according to the names of the children of Israel, twelve, according to their names; like the engravings of a signet, everyone according to his name, for the twelve tribes.

They made on the breastplate chains like cords, of braided work of pure gold.

They made two settings of gold, and two gold rings, and put the two rings on the two ends of the breastplate.

They put the two braided chains of gold in the two rings at the ends of the breastplate.

The other two ends of the two braided chains they put on the two settings, and put them on the shoulder straps of the ephod, in its front.

They made two rings of gold, and put them on the two ends of the breastplate, on its edge, which was towards the side of the ephod inward.

They made two more rings of gold, and put them on the two shoulder straps of the ephod underneath, in its front, close by its coupling, above the skilfully woven band of the ephod.

They bound the breastplate by its rings to the rings of the ephod with a lace of blue, that it might be on the skilfully woven band of the ephod, and that the breastplate might not come loose from the ephod, as the LORD commanded Moses.

He made the robe of the ephod of woven work, all of blue.

The opening of the robe in the middle of it was like the opening of a coat of mail, with a binding around its opening, that it should not be torn.

They made on the skirts of the robe pomegranates of blue, purple, scarlet, and twined linen.

They made bells of pure gold, and put the bells between the pomegranates around the skirts of the robe, between the pomegranates;

a bell and a pomegranate, a bell and a pomegranate, around the skirts of the robe, to minister in, as the LORD commanded Moses.

They made the tunics of fine linen of woven work for Aaron and for his sons,

the turban of fine linen, the linen headbands of fine linen, the linen trousers of fine twined linen,

the sash of fine twined linen, blue, purple, and scarlet, the work of the embroiderer, as the LORD commanded Moses.

They made the plate of the holy crown of pure gold, and wrote on it an inscription, like the engravings of a signet: “HOLY TO THE LORD”.

They tied to it a lace of blue, to fasten it on the turban above, as the LORD commanded Moses.

Thus all the work of the tabernacle of the Tent of Meeting was finished. The children of Israel did according to all that the LORD commanded Moses; so they did.

They brought the tabernacle to Moses: the tent, with all its furniture, its clasps, its boards, its bars, its pillars, its sockets,

the covering of rams’ skins dyed red, the covering of sea cow hides, the veil of the screen,

the ark of the covenant with its poles, the mercy seat,

the table, all its vessels, the show bread,

the pure lamp stand, its lamps, even the lamps to be set in order, all its vessels, the oil for the light,

the golden altar, the anointing oil, the sweet incense, the screen for the door of the Tent,

the bronze altar, its grating of bronze, its poles, all of its vessels, the basin and its base,

the hangings of the court, its pillars, its sockets, the screen for the gate of the court, its cords, its pins, and all the instruments of the service of the tabernacle, for the Tent of Meeting,

the finely worked garments for ministering in the holy place, the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons, to minister in the priest’s office.

“On the first day of the first month you shall raise up the tabernacle of the Tent of Meeting.

You shall put the ark of the covenant in it, and you shall screen the ark with the veil.

You shall bring in the table, and set in order the things that are on it. You shall bring in the lamp stand, and light its lamps.

You shall set the golden altar for incense before the ark of the covenant, and put the screen of the door to the tabernacle.

“You shall set the altar of burnt offering before the door of the tabernacle of the Tent of Meeting.

You shall set the basin between the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and shall put water therein.

You shall set up the court around it, and hang up the screen of the gate of the court.

“You shall take the anointing oil, and anoint the tabernacle and all that is in it, and shall make it holy, and all its furniture, and it will be holy.

You shall anoint the altar of burnt offering, with all its vessels, and sanctify the altar, and the altar will be most holy.

You shall anoint the basin and its base, and sanctify it.

“You shall bring Aaron and his sons to the door of the Tent of Meeting, and shall wash them with water.

You shall put on Aaron the holy garments; and you shall anoint him, and sanctify him, that he may minister to me in the priest’s office.

You shall bring his sons, and put tunics on them.

You shall anoint them, as you anointed their father, that they may minister to me in the priest’s office. Their anointing shall be to them for an everlasting priesthood throughout their generations.”

In the first month in the second year, on the first day of the month, the tabernacle was raised up.

Moses raised up the tabernacle, and laid its sockets, and set up its boards, and put in its bars, and raised up its pillars.

He spread the covering over the tent, and put the roof of the tabernacle above on it, as the LORD commanded Moses.

He took and put the covenant into the ark, and set the poles on the ark, and put the mercy seat above on the ark.

He brought the ark into the tabernacle, and set up the veil of the screen, and screened the ark of the covenant, as the LORD commanded Moses.

He put the table in the Tent of Meeting, on the north side of the tabernacle, outside of the veil.

He set the bread in order on it before the LORD, as the LORD commanded Moses.

He put the lamp stand in the Tent of Meeting, opposite the table, on the south side of the tabernacle.

He lit the lamps before the LORD, as the LORD commanded Moses.

He put the golden altar in the Tent of Meeting before the veil;

and he burnt incense of sweet spices on it, as the LORD commanded Moses.

He put up the screen of the door to the tabernacle.

He set the altar of burnt offering at the door of the tabernacle of the Tent of Meeting, and offered on it the burnt offering and the meal offering, as the LORD commanded Moses.

He set the basin between the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and put water therein, with which to wash.

Moses, Aaron, and his sons washed their hands and their feet there.

When they went into the Tent of Meeting, and when they came near to the altar, they washed, as the LORD commanded Moses.

He raised up the court around the tabernacle and the altar, and set up the screen of the gate of the court. So Moses finished the work.

Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the LORD’s glory filled the tabernacle.

Moses wasn’t able to enter into the Tent of Meeting, because the cloud stayed on it, and the LORD’s glory filled the tabernacle.

The LORD called to Moses, and spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting, saying,

“Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘When anyone of you offers an offering to the LORD, you shall offer your offering of the livestock, from the herd and from the flock.

“‘If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he shall offer a male without defect. He shall offer it at the door of the Tent of Meeting, that he may be accepted before the LORD.

He shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him.

He shall kill the bull before the LORD. Aaron’s sons, the priests, shall present the blood and sprinkle the blood around on the altar that is at the door of the Tent of Meeting.

He shall skin the burnt offering and cut it into pieces.

The sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire on the altar, and lay wood in order on the fire;

and Aaron’s sons, the priests, shall lay the pieces, the head, and the fat in order on the wood that is on the fire which is on the altar;

but he shall wash its innards and its legs with water. The priest shall burn all of it on the altar, for a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, of a pleasant aroma to the LORD.

“‘If his offering is from the flock, from the sheep or from the goats, for a burnt offering, he shall offer a male without defect.

He shall kill it on the north side of the altar before the LORD. Aaron’s sons, the priests, shall sprinkle its blood around on the altar.

He shall cut it into its pieces, with its head and its fat. The priest shall lay them in order on the wood that is on the fire which is on the altar,

but the innards and the legs he shall wash with water. The priest shall offer the whole, and burn it on the altar. It is a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, of a pleasant aroma to the LORD.

“‘If his offering to the LORD is a burnt offering of birds, then he shall offer his offering from turtledoves or of young pigeons.

The priest shall bring it to the altar, and wring off its head, and burn it on the altar; and its blood shall be drained out on the side of the altar;

and he shall take away its crop and its feathers, and cast it beside the altar on the east part, in the place of the ashes.

He shall tear it by its wings, but shall not divide it apart. The priest shall burn it on the altar, on the wood that is on the fire. It is a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, of a pleasant aroma to the LORD.

“‘When anyone offers an offering of a meal offering to the LORD, his offering shall be of fine flour. He shall pour oil on it, and put frankincense on it.

He shall bring it to Aaron’s sons, the priests. He shall take his handful of its fine flour, and of its oil, with all its frankincense, and the priest shall burn its memorial on the altar, an offering made by fire, of a pleasant aroma to the LORD.

That which is left of the meal offering shall be Aaron’s and his sons’. It is a most holy part of the offerings of the LORD made by fire.

“‘When you offer an offering of a meal offering baked in the oven, it shall be unleavened cakes of fine flour mixed with oil, or unleavened wafers anointed with oil.

If your offering is a meal offering made on a griddle, it shall be of unleavened fine flour, mixed with oil.

You shall cut it in pieces, and pour oil on it. It is a meal offering.

If your offering is a meal offering of the pan, it shall be made of fine flour with oil.

You shall bring the meal offering that is made of these things to the LORD. It shall be presented to the priest, and he shall bring it to the altar.

The priest shall take from the meal offering its memorial, and shall burn it on the altar, an offering made by fire, of a pleasant aroma to the LORD.

That which is left of the meal offering shall be Aaron’s and his sons’. It is a most holy part of the offerings of the LORD made by fire.

“‘No meal offering which you shall offer to the LORD shall be made with yeast; for you shall burn no yeast, nor any honey, as an offering made by fire to the LORD.

As an offering of first fruits you shall offer them to the LORD, but they shall not rise up as a pleasant aroma on the altar.

Every offering of your meal offering you shall season with salt. You shall not allow the salt of the covenant of your God to be lacking from your meal offering. With all your offerings you shall offer salt.

“‘If you offer a meal offering of first fruits to the LORD, you shall offer for the meal offering of your first fruits fresh heads of grain parched with fire and crushed.

You shall put oil on it and lay frankincense on it. It is a meal offering.

The priest shall burn as its memorial part of its crushed grain and part of its oil, along with all its frankincense. It is an offering made by fire to the LORD.

“‘If his offering is a sacrifice of peace offerings, if he offers it from the herd, whether male or female, he shall offer it without defect before the LORD.

He shall lay his hand on the head of his offering, and kill it at the door of the Tent of Meeting. Aaron’s sons, the priests, shall sprinkle the blood around on the altar.

He shall offer of the sacrifice of peace offerings an offering made by fire to the LORD. The fat that covers the innards, and all the fat that is on the innards,

and the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, which is by the loins, and the cover on the liver, with the kidneys, he shall take away.

Aaron’s sons shall burn it on the altar on the burnt offering, which is on the wood that is on the fire: it is an offering made by fire, of a pleasant aroma to the LORD.

“‘If his offering for a sacrifice of peace offerings to the LORD is from the flock, either male or female, he shall offer it without defect.

If he offers a lamb for his offering, then he shall offer it before the LORD;

and he shall lay his hand on the head of his offering, and kill it before the Tent of Meeting. Aaron’s sons shall sprinkle its blood around on the altar.

He shall offer from the sacrifice of peace offerings an offering made by fire to the LORD; its fat, the entire tail fat, he shall take away close to the backbone; and the fat that covers the entrails, and all the fat that is on the entrails,

and the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, which is by the loins, and the cover on the liver, with the kidneys, he shall take away.

The priest shall burn it on the altar: it is the food of the offering made by fire to the LORD.

“‘If his offering is a goat, then he shall offer it before the LORD.

He shall lay his hand on its head, and kill it before the Tent of Meeting; and the sons of Aaron shall sprinkle its blood around on the altar.

He shall offer from it as his offering, an offering made by fire to the LORD; the fat that covers the innards, and all the fat that is on the innards,

and the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, which is by the loins, and the cover on the liver, with the kidneys, he shall take away.

The priest shall burn them on the altar: it is the food of the offering made by fire, for a pleasant aroma; all the fat is the LORD’s.

if the anointed priest sins so as to bring guilt on the people, then let him offer for his sin which he has sinned a young bull without defect to the LORD for a sin offering.

He shall bring the bull to the door of the Tent of Meeting before the LORD; and he shall lay his hand on the head of the bull, and kill the bull before the LORD.

The anointed priest shall take some of the blood of the bull, and bring it to the Tent of Meeting.

The priest shall dip his finger in the blood, and sprinkle some of the blood seven times before the LORD, before the veil of the sanctuary.

The priest shall put some of the blood on the horns of the altar of sweet incense before the LORD, which is in the Tent of Meeting; and he shall pour out the rest of the blood of the bull at the base of the altar of burnt offering, which is at the door of the Tent of Meeting.

He shall take all the fat of the bull of the sin offering from it: the fat that covers the innards, and all the fat that is on the innards,

and the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, which is by the loins, and the cover on the liver, with the kidneys, he shall remove,

as it is removed from the bull of the sacrifice of peace offerings. The priest shall burn them on the altar of burnt offering.

He shall carry the bull’s skin, all its meat, with its head, and with its legs, its innards, and its dung

—all the rest of the bull—outside of the camp to a clean place where the ashes are poured out, and burn it on wood with fire. It shall be burnt where the ashes are poured out.

when the sin in which they have sinned is known, then the assembly shall offer a young bull for a sin offering, and bring it before the Tent of Meeting.

The elders of the congregation shall lay their hands on the head of the bull before the LORD; and the bull shall be killed before the LORD.

The anointed priest shall bring some of the blood of the bull to the Tent of Meeting.

The priest shall dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle it seven times before the LORD, before the veil.

He shall put some of the blood on the horns of the altar which is before the LORD, that is in the Tent of Meeting; and the rest of the blood he shall pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering, which is at the door of the Tent of Meeting.

All its fat he shall take from it, and burn it on the altar.

He shall do this with the bull; as he did with the bull of the sin offering, so he shall do with this; and the priest shall make atonement for them, and they shall be forgiven.

He shall carry the bull outside the camp, and burn it as he burnt the first bull. It is the sin offering for the assembly.

if his sin in which he has sinned is made known to him, he shall bring as his offering a goat, a male without defect.

He shall lay his hand on the head of the goat, and kill it in the place where they kill the burnt offering before the LORD. It is a sin offering.

The priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger, and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering. He shall pour out the rest of its blood at the base of the altar of burnt offering.

All its fat he shall burn on the altar, like the fat of the sacrifice of peace offerings; and the priest shall make atonement for him concerning his sin, and he will be forgiven.

if his sin which he has sinned is made known to him, then he shall bring for his offering a goat, a female without defect, for his sin which he has sinned.

He shall lay his hand on the head of the sin offering, and kill the sin offering in the place of burnt offering.

The priest shall take some of its blood with his finger, and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering; and the rest of its blood he shall pour out at the base of the altar.

All its fat he shall take away, like the fat is taken away from the sacrifice of peace offerings; and the priest shall burn it on the altar for a pleasant aroma to the LORD; and the priest shall make atonement for him, and he will be forgiven.

“‘If he brings a lamb as his offering for a sin offering, he shall bring a female without defect.

He shall lay his hand on the head of the sin offering, and kill it for a sin offering in the place where they kill the burnt offering.

The priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger, and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering; and all the rest of its blood he shall pour out at the base of the altar.

He shall remove all its fat, like the fat of the lamb is removed from the sacrifice of peace offerings. The priest shall burn them on the altar, on the offerings of the LORD made by fire. The priest shall make atonement for him concerning his sin that he has sinned, and he will be forgiven.

and he shall bring his trespass offering to the LORD for his sin which he has sinned: a female from the flock, a lamb or a goat, for a sin offering; and the priest shall make atonement for him concerning his sin.

“‘If he can’t afford a lamb, then he shall bring his trespass offering for that in which he has sinned, two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, to the LORD; one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering.

He shall bring them to the priest, who shall first offer the one which is for the sin offering. He shall wring off its head from its neck, but shall not sever it completely.

He shall sprinkle some of the blood of the sin offering on the side of the altar; and the rest of the blood shall be drained out at the base of the altar. It is a sin offering.

He shall bring it to the priest, and the priest shall take his handful of it as the memorial portion, and burn it on the altar, on the offerings of the LORD made by fire. It is a sin offering.

“If anyone commits a trespass, and sins unwittingly regarding the LORD’s holy things, then he shall bring his trespass offering to the LORD: a ram without defect from the flock, according to your estimation in silver by shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, for a trespass offering.

He shall bring his trespass offering to the LORD: a ram without defect from the flock, according to your estimation, for a trespass offering, to the priest.

“Command Aaron and his sons, saying, ‘This is the law of the burnt offering: the burnt offering shall be on the hearth on the altar all night until the morning; and the fire of the altar shall be kept burning on it.

The priest shall put on his linen garment, and he shall put on his linen trousers upon his body; and he shall remove the ashes from where the fire has consumed the burnt offering on the altar, and he shall put them beside the altar.

He shall take off his garments, and put on other garments, and carry the ashes outside the camp to a clean place.

The fire on the altar shall be kept burning on it, it shall not go out; and the priest shall burn wood on it every morning. He shall lay the burnt offering in order upon it, and shall burn on it the fat of the peace offerings.

Fire shall be kept burning on the altar continually; it shall not go out.

“‘This is the law of the meal offering: the sons of Aaron shall offer it before the LORD, before the altar.

He shall take from there his handful of the fine flour of the meal offering, and of its oil, and all the frankincense which is on the meal offering, and shall burn it on the altar for a pleasant aroma, as its memorial portion, to the LORD.

That which is left of it Aaron and his sons shall eat. It shall be eaten without yeast in a holy place. They shall eat it in the court of the Tent of Meeting.

It shall not be baked with yeast. I have given it as their portion of my offerings made by fire. It is most holy, as are the sin offering and the trespass offering.

Every male amongst the children of Aaron shall eat of it, as their portion forever throughout your generations, from the offerings of the LORD made by fire. Whoever touches them shall be holy.’”

“This is the offering of Aaron and of his sons, which they shall offer to the LORD in the day when he is anointed: one tenth of an ephah of fine flour for a meal offering perpetually, half of it in the morning, and half of it in the evening.

It shall be made with oil in a griddle. When it is soaked, you shall bring it in. You shall offer the meal offering in baked pieces for a pleasant aroma to the LORD.

The anointed priest that will be in his place from amongst his sons shall offer it. By a statute forever, it shall be wholly burnt to the LORD.

Every meal offering of a priest shall be wholly burnt. It shall not be eaten.”

“Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying, ‘This is the law of the sin offering: in the place where the burnt offering is killed, the sin offering shall be killed before the LORD. It is most holy.

The priest who offers it for sin shall eat it. It shall be eaten in a holy place, in the court of the Tent of Meeting.

Whatever shall touch its flesh shall be holy. When there is any of its blood sprinkled on a garment, you shall wash that on which it was sprinkled in a holy place.

But the earthen vessel in which it is boiled shall be broken; and if it is boiled in a bronze vessel, it shall be scoured, and rinsed in water.

Every male amongst the priests shall eat of it. It is most holy.

No sin offering, of which any of the blood is brought into the Tent of Meeting to make atonement in the Holy Place, shall be eaten. It shall be burnt with fire.

“‘This is the law of the trespass offering: It is most holy.

In the place where they kill the burnt offering, he shall kill the trespass offering; and its blood he shall sprinkle around on the altar.

He shall offer all of its fat: the fat tail, and the fat that covers the innards,

and he shall take away the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, which is by the loins, and the cover on the liver, with the kidneys;

and the priest shall burn them on the altar for an offering made by fire to the LORD: it is a trespass offering.

Every male amongst the priests may eat of it. It shall be eaten in a holy place. It is most holy.

“‘As is the sin offering, so is the trespass offering; there is one law for them. The priest who makes atonement with them shall have it.

The priest who offers any man’s burnt offering shall have for himself the skin of the burnt offering which he has offered.

Every meal offering that is baked in the oven, and all that is prepared in the pan and on the griddle, shall be the priest’s who offers it.

Every meal offering, mixed with oil or dry, belongs to all the sons of Aaron, one as well as another.

“‘This is the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings, which one shall offer to the LORD:

If he offers it for a thanksgiving, then he shall offer with the sacrifice of thanksgiving unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil, and cakes mixed with oil.

He shall offer his offering with the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving with cakes of leavened bread.

Of it he shall offer one out of each offering for a heave offering to the LORD. It shall be the priest’s who sprinkles the blood of the peace offerings.

“‘But if the sacrifice of his offering is a vow, or a free will offering, it shall be eaten on the day that he offers his sacrifice. On the next day what remains of it shall be eaten,

but what remains of the meat of the sacrifice on the third day shall be burnt with fire.

“‘The meat that touches any unclean thing shall not be eaten. It shall be burnt with fire. As for the meat, everyone who is clean may eat it;

When anyone touches any unclean thing, the uncleanness of man, or an unclean animal, or any unclean abomination, and eats some of the meat of the sacrifice of peace offerings which belong to the LORD, that soul shall be cut off from his people.’”

For whoever eats the fat of the animal which men offer as an offering made by fire to the LORD, even the soul who eats it shall be cut off from his people.

“Speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘He who offers the sacrifice of his peace offerings to the LORD shall bring his offering to the LORD out of the sacrifice of his peace offerings.

With his own hands he shall bring the offerings of the LORD made by fire. He shall bring the fat with the breast, that the breast may be waved for a wave offering before the LORD.

The priest shall burn the fat on the altar, but the breast shall be Aaron’s and his sons’.

The right thigh you shall give to the priest for a heave offering out of the sacrifices of your peace offerings.

He amongst the sons of Aaron who offers the blood of the peace offerings, and the fat, shall have the right thigh for a portion.

For the waved breast and the heaved thigh I have taken from the children of Israel out of the sacrifices of their peace offerings, and have given them to Aaron the priest and to his sons as their portion forever from the children of Israel.’”

This is the consecrated portion of Aaron, and the consecrated portion of his sons, out of the offerings of the LORD made by fire, in the day when he presented them to minister to the LORD in the priest’s office;

This is the law of the burnt offering, the meal offering, the sin offering, the trespass offering, the consecration, and the sacrifice of peace offerings

which the LORD commanded Moses in Mount Sinai in the day that he commanded the children of Israel to offer their offerings to the LORD, in the wilderness of Sinai.

“Take Aaron and his sons with him, and the garments, and the anointing oil, and the bull of the sin offering, and the two rams, and the basket of unleavened bread;

and assemble all the congregation at the door of the Tent of Meeting.”

Moses did as the LORD commanded him; and the congregation was assembled at the door of the Tent of Meeting.

Moses said to the congregation, “This is the thing which the LORD has commanded to be done.”

Moses brought Aaron and his sons, and washed them with water.

He put the tunic on him, tied the sash on him, clothed him with the robe, put the ephod on him, and he tied the skilfully woven band of the ephod on him and fastened it to him with it.

He placed the breastplate on him. He put the Urim and Thummim in the breastplate.

He set the turban on his head. He set the golden plate, the holy crown, on the front of the turban, as the LORD commanded Moses.

Moses took the anointing oil, and anointed the tabernacle and all that was in it, and sanctified them.

He sprinkled it on the altar seven times, and anointed the altar and all its vessels, and the basin and its base, to sanctify them.

He poured some of the anointing oil on Aaron’s head, and anointed him, to sanctify him.

Moses brought Aaron’s sons, and clothed them with tunics, and tied sashes on them, and put headbands on them, as the LORD commanded Moses.

He brought the bull of the sin offering, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the bull of the sin offering.

He killed it; and Moses took the blood, and put it around on the horns of the altar with his finger, and purified the altar, and poured out the blood at the base of the altar, and sanctified it, to make atonement for it.

He took all the fat that was on the innards, and the cover of the liver, and the two kidneys, and their fat; and Moses burnt it on the altar.

But the bull, and its skin, and its meat, and its dung, he burnt with fire outside the camp, as the LORD commanded Moses.

He presented the ram of the burnt offering. Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the ram.

He killed it; and Moses sprinkled the blood around on the altar.

He cut the ram into its pieces; and Moses burnt the head, and the pieces, and the fat.

He washed the innards and the legs with water; and Moses burnt the whole ram on the altar. It was a burnt offering for a pleasant aroma. It was an offering made by fire to the LORD, as the LORD commanded Moses.

He presented the other ram, the ram of consecration. Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the ram.

He killed it; and Moses took some of its blood, and put it on the tip of Aaron’s right ear, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the great toe of his right foot.

He brought Aaron’s sons; and Moses put some of the blood on the tip of their right ear, and on the thumb of their right hand, and on the great toe of their right foot; and Moses sprinkled the blood around on the altar.

He took the fat, the fat tail, all the fat that was on the innards, the cover of the liver, the two kidneys and their fat, and the right thigh;

and out of the basket of unleavened bread that was before the LORD, he took one unleavened cake, one cake of oiled bread, and one wafer, and placed them on the fat and on the right thigh.

He put all these in Aaron’s hands and in his sons’ hands, and waved them for a wave offering before the LORD.

Moses took them from their hands, and burnt them on the altar on the burnt offering. They were a consecration offering for a pleasant aroma. It was an offering made by fire to the LORD.

Moses took the breast, and waved it for a wave offering before the LORD. It was Moses’ portion of the ram of consecration, as the LORD commanded Moses.

Moses took some of the anointing oil, and some of the blood which was on the altar, and sprinkled it on Aaron, on his garments, and on his sons, and on his sons’ garments with him, and sanctified Aaron, his garments, and his sons, and his sons’ garments with him.

Moses said to Aaron and to his sons, “Boil the meat at the door of the Tent of Meeting, and there eat it and the bread that is in the basket of consecration, as I commanded, saying, ‘Aaron and his sons shall eat it.’

What remains of the meat and of the bread you shall burn with fire.

You shall not go out from the door of the Tent of Meeting for seven days, until the days of your consecration are fulfilled: for he shall consecrate you seven days.

What has been done today, so the LORD has commanded to do, to make atonement for you.

You shall stay at the door of the Tent of Meeting day and night seven days, and keep the LORD’s command, that you don’t die: for so I am commanded.”

Aaron and his sons did all the things which the LORD commanded by Moses.

On the eighth day, Moses called Aaron and his sons, and the elders of Israel;

and he said to Aaron, “Take a calf from the herd for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering, without defect, and offer them before the LORD.

You shall speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘Take a male goat for a sin offering; and a calf and a lamb, both a year old, without defect, for a burnt offering;

and a bull and a ram for peace offerings, to sacrifice before the LORD; and a meal offering mixed with oil: for today the LORD appears to you.’”

They brought what Moses commanded before the Tent of Meeting. All the congregation came near and stood before the LORD.

Moses said, “This is the thing which the LORD commanded that you should do; and the LORD’s glory shall appear to you.”

Moses said to Aaron, “Draw near to the altar, and offer your sin offering, and your burnt offering, and make atonement for yourself, and for the people; and offer the offering of the people, and make atonement for them, as the LORD commanded.”

So Aaron came near to the altar, and killed the calf of the sin offering, which was for himself.

The sons of Aaron presented the blood to him; and he dipped his finger in the blood, and put it on the horns of the altar, and poured out the blood at the base of the altar;

but the fat, and the kidneys, and the cover from the liver of the sin offering, he burnt upon the altar, as the LORD commanded Moses.

The meat and the skin he burnt with fire outside the camp.

He killed the burnt offering; and Aaron’s sons delivered the blood to him, and he sprinkled it around on the altar.

They delivered the burnt offering to him, piece by piece, and the head. He burnt them upon the altar.

He washed the innards and the legs, and burnt them on the burnt offering on the altar.

He presented the people’s offering, and took the goat of the sin offering which was for the people, and killed it, and offered it for sin, like the first.

He presented the burnt offering, and offered it according to the ordinance.

He presented the meal offering, and filled his hand from there, and burnt it upon the altar, in addition to the burnt offering of the morning.

He also killed the bull and the ram, the sacrifice of peace offerings, which was for the people. Aaron’s sons delivered to him the blood, which he sprinkled around on the altar;

and the fat of the bull and of the ram, the fat tail, and that which covers the innards, and the kidneys, and the cover of the liver;

and they put the fat upon the breasts, and he burnt the fat on the altar.

Aaron waved the breasts and the right thigh for a wave offering before the LORD, as Moses commanded.

Aaron lifted up his hands towards the people, and blessed them; and he came down from offering the sin offering, and the burnt offering, and the peace offerings.

Moses and Aaron went into the Tent of Meeting, and came out, and blessed the people; and the LORD’s glory appeared to all the people.

Fire came out from before the LORD, and consumed the burnt offering and the fat upon the altar. When all the people saw it, they shouted, and fell on their faces.

Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer, and put fire in it, and laid incense on it, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he had not commanded them.

Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the LORD spoke of, saying, ‘I will show myself holy to those who come near me, and before all the people I will be glorified.’” Aaron held his peace.

Moses said to Aaron, and to Eleazar and to Ithamar, his sons, “Don’t let the hair of your heads go loose, and don’t tear your clothes, so that you don’t die, and so that he will not be angry with all the congregation; but let your brothers, the whole house of Israel, bewail the burning which the LORD has kindled.

You shall not go out from the door of the Tent of Meeting, lest you die; for the anointing oil of the LORD is on you.” They did according to the word of Moses.

“You and your sons are not to drink wine or strong drink whenever you go into the Tent of Meeting, or you will die. This shall be a statute forever throughout your generations.

Moses spoke to Aaron, and to Eleazar and to Ithamar, his sons who were left, “Take the meal offering that remains of the offerings of the LORD made by fire, and eat it without yeast beside the altar; for it is most holy;

and you shall eat it in a holy place, because it is your portion, and your sons’ portion, of the offerings of the LORD made by fire; for so I am commanded.

The waved breast and the heaved thigh you shall eat in a clean place, you, and your sons, and your daughters with you: for they are given as your portion, and your sons’ portion, out of the sacrifices of the peace offerings of the children of Israel.

They shall bring the heaved thigh and the waved breast with the offerings made by fire of the fat, to wave it for a wave offering before the LORD. It shall be yours, and your sons’ with you, as a portion forever, as the LORD has commanded.”

“Why haven’t you eaten the sin offering in the place of the sanctuary, since it is most holy, and he has given it to you to bear the iniquity of the congregation, to make atonement for them before the LORD?

Behold, its blood was not brought into the inner part of the sanctuary. You certainly should have eaten it in the sanctuary, as I commanded.”

Aaron spoke to Moses, “Behold, today they have offered their sin offering and their burnt offering before the LORD; and such things as these have happened to me. If I had eaten the sin offering today, would it have been pleasing in the LORD’s sight?”

For I am the LORD your God. Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be holy; for I am holy. You shall not defile yourselves with any kind of creeping thing that moves on the earth.

For I am the LORD who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.

She shall continue in the blood of purification thirty-three days. She shall not touch any holy thing, nor come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purifying are completed.

“‘When the days of her purification are completed for a son or for a daughter, she shall bring to the priest at the door of the Tent of Meeting, a year old lamb for a burnt offering, and a young pigeon or a turtledove, for a sin offering.

He shall offer it before the LORD, and make atonement for her; then she shall be cleansed from the fountain of her blood. “‘This is the law for her who bears, whether a male or a female.

If she cannot afford a lamb, then she shall take two turtledoves or two young pigeons: the one for a burnt offering, and the other for a sin offering. The priest shall make atonement for her, and she shall be clean.’”

then the priest shall command them to take for him who is to be cleansed two living clean birds, cedar wood, scarlet, and hyssop.

The priest shall command them to kill one of the birds in an earthen vessel over running water.

As for the living bird, he shall take it, the cedar wood, the scarlet, and the hyssop, and shall dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water.

He shall sprinkle on him who is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times, and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the living bird go into the open field.

“On the eighth day he shall take two male lambs without defect, one ewe lamb a year old without defect, three tenths of an ephah of fine flour for a meal offering, mixed with oil, and one log of oil.

The priest who cleanses him shall set the man who is to be cleansed, and those things, before the LORD, at the door of the Tent of Meeting.

“The priest shall take one of the male lambs, and offer him for a trespass offering, with the log of oil, and wave them for a wave offering before the LORD.

He shall kill the male lamb in the place where they kill the sin offering and the burnt offering, in the place of the sanctuary; for as the sin offering is the priest’s, so is the trespass offering. It is most holy.

The priest shall take some of the blood of the trespass offering, and the priest shall put it on the tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot.

The priest shall take some of the log of oil, and pour it into the palm of his own left hand.

The priest shall dip his right finger in the oil that is in his left hand, and shall sprinkle some of the oil with his finger seven times before the LORD.

The priest shall put some of the rest of the oil that is in his hand on the tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot, upon the blood of the trespass offering.

The rest of the oil that is in the priest’s hand he shall put on the head of him who is to be cleansed, and the priest shall make atonement for him before the LORD.

“The priest shall offer the sin offering, and make atonement for him who is to be cleansed because of his uncleanness. Afterward he shall kill the burnt offering;

then the priest shall offer the burnt offering and the meal offering on the altar. The priest shall make atonement for him, and he shall be clean.

“If he is poor, and can’t afford so much, then he shall take one male lamb for a trespass offering to be waved, to make atonement for him, and one tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil for a meal offering, and a log of oil;

and two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, such as he is able to afford; and the one shall be a sin offering, and the other a burnt offering.

“On the eighth day he shall bring them for his cleansing to the priest, to the door of the Tent of Meeting, before the LORD.

The priest shall take the lamb of the trespass offering, and the log of oil, and the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before the LORD.

He shall kill the lamb of the trespass offering. The priest shall take some of the blood of the trespass offering and put it on the tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot.

The priest shall pour some of the oil into the palm of his own left hand;

and the priest shall sprinkle with his right finger some of the oil that is in his left hand seven times before the LORD.

Then the priest shall put some of the oil that is in his hand on the tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot, on the place of the blood of the trespass offering.

He shall offer one of the turtledoves, or of the young pigeons, which ever he is able to afford,

of the kind he is able to afford, the one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering, with the meal offering. The priest shall make atonement for him who is to be cleansed before the LORD.”

To cleanse the house he shall take two birds, cedar wood, scarlet, and hyssop.

He shall kill one of the birds in an earthen vessel over running water.

He shall take the cedar wood, the hyssop, the scarlet, and the living bird, and dip them in the blood of the slain bird, and in the running water, and sprinkle the house seven times.

He shall cleanse the house with the blood of the bird, and with the running water, with the living bird, with the cedar wood, with the hyssop, and with the scarlet;

but he shall let the living bird go out of the city into the open field. So shall he make atonement for the house; and it shall be clean.”

“‘On the eighth day he shall take two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, and come before the LORD to the door of the Tent of Meeting, and give them to the priest.

The priest shall offer them, the one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering. The priest shall make atonement for him before the LORD for his discharge.

On the eighth day she shall take two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, and bring them to the priest, to the door of the Tent of Meeting.

The priest shall offer the one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering; and the priest shall make atonement for her before the LORD for the uncleanness of her discharge.

“‘Thus you shall separate the children of Israel from their uncleanness, so they will not die in their uncleanness when they defile my tabernacle that is amongst them.’”

“Aaron shall come into the sanctuary with a young bull for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering.

He shall put on the holy linen tunic. He shall have the linen trousers on his body, and shall put on the linen sash, and he shall be clothed with the linen turban. They are the holy garments. He shall bathe his body in water, and put them on.

He shall take from the congregation of the children of Israel two male goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering.

“Aaron shall offer the bull of the sin offering, which is for himself, and make atonement for himself and for his house.

He shall take the two goats, and set them before the LORD at the door of the Tent of Meeting.

Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats: one lot for the LORD, and the other lot for the scapegoat.

Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot fell for the LORD, and offer him for a sin offering.

But the goat on which the lot fell for the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make atonement for him, to send him away as the scapegoat into the wilderness.

“Aaron shall present the bull of the sin offering, which is for himself, and shall make atonement for himself and for his house, and shall kill the bull of the sin offering which is for himself.

He shall take a censer full of coals of fire from off the altar before the LORD, and two handfuls of sweet incense beaten small, and bring it within the veil.

He shall put the incense on the fire before the LORD, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is on the covenant, so that he will not die.

He shall take some of the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it with his finger on the mercy seat on the east; and before the mercy seat he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times.

“Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering that is for the people, and bring his blood within the veil, and do with his blood as he did with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it on the mercy seat and before the mercy seat.

He shall make atonement for the Holy Place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions, even all their sins; and so he shall do for the Tent of Meeting that dwells with them in the middle of their uncleanness.

No one shall be in the Tent of Meeting when he enters to make atonement in the Holy Place, until he comes out, and has made atonement for himself and for his household, and for all the assembly of Israel.

“He shall go out to the altar that is before the LORD and make atonement for it, and shall take some of the bull’s blood, and some of the goat’s blood, and put it around on the horns of the altar.

He shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it, and make it holy from the uncleanness of the children of Israel.

“When he has finished atoning for the Holy Place, the Tent of Meeting, and the altar, he shall present the live goat.

“Aaron shall come into the Tent of Meeting, and shall take off the linen garments which he put on when he went into the Holy Place, and shall leave them there.

Then he shall bathe himself in water in a holy place, put on his garments, and come out and offer his burnt offering and the burnt offering of the people, and make atonement for himself and for the people.

The fat of the sin offering he shall burn on the altar.

“He who lets the goat go as the scapegoat shall wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp.

The bull for the sin offering, and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the Holy Place, shall be carried outside the camp; and they shall burn their skins, their flesh, and their dung with fire.

He who burns them shall wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp.

“It shall be a statute to you forever: in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict your souls, and shall do no kind of work, whether native-born or a stranger who lives as a foreigner amongst you;

It is a Sabbath of solemn rest to you, and you shall afflict your souls. It is a statute forever.

The priest, who is anointed and who is consecrated to be priest in his father’s place, shall make the atonement, and shall put on the linen garments, even the holy garments.

Then he shall make atonement for the Holy Sanctuary; and he shall make atonement for the Tent of Meeting and for the altar; and he shall make atonement for the priests and for all the people of the assembly.

Whatever man there is of the house of Israel who kills a bull, or lamb, or goat in the camp, or who kills it outside the camp,

and hasn’t brought it to the door of the Tent of Meeting to offer it as an offering to the LORD before the LORD’s tabernacle: blood shall be imputed to that man. He has shed blood. That man shall be cut off from amongst his people.

This is to the end that the children of Israel may bring their sacrifices, which they sacrifice in the open field, that they may bring them to the LORD, to the door of the Tent of Meeting, to the priest, and sacrifice them for sacrifices of peace offerings to the LORD.

The priest shall sprinkle the blood on the LORD’s altar at the door of the Tent of Meeting, and burn the fat for a pleasant aroma to the LORD.

They shall no more sacrifice their sacrifices to the goat idols, after which they play the prostitute. This shall be a statute forever to them throughout their generations.’

“You shall say to them, ‘Any man there is of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who live as foreigners amongst them, who offers a burnt offering or sacrifice,

and doesn’t bring it to the door of the Tent of Meeting to sacrifice it to the LORD, that man shall be cut off from his people.

“‘Whatever man there is of the children of Israel, or of the strangers who live as foreigners amongst them, who takes in hunting any animal or bird that may be eaten, he shall pour out its blood, and cover it with dust.

“Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, ‘I am the LORD your God.

“‘You shall not give any of your children as a sacrifice to Molech. You shall not profane the name of your God. I am the LORD.

“‘Each one of you shall respect his mother and his father. You shall keep my Sabbaths. I am the LORD your God.

“‘Don’t turn to idols, nor make molten gods for yourselves. I am the LORD your God.

“‘When you offer a sacrifice of peace offerings to the LORD, you shall offer it so that you may be accepted.

It shall be eaten the same day you offer it, and on the next day. If anything remains until the third day, it shall be burnt with fire.

If it is eaten at all on the third day, it is an abomination. It will not be accepted;

“‘You shall not swear by my name falsely, and profane the name of your God. I am the LORD.

He shall bring his trespass offering to the LORD, to the door of the Tent of Meeting, even a ram for a trespass offering.

But in the fourth year all its fruit shall be holy, for giving praise to the LORD.

“‘You shall keep my Sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary; I am the LORD.

I also will set my face against that person, and will cut him off from amongst his people, because he has given of his offspring to Molech, to defile my sanctuary, and to profane my holy name.

“‘Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be holy; for I am the LORD your God.

“‘They shall not shave their heads or shave off the corners of their beards or make any cuttings in their flesh.

They shall be holy to their God, and not profane the name of their God, for they offer the offerings of the LORD made by fire, the bread of their God. Therefore they shall be holy.

Therefore you shall sanctify him, for he offers the bread of your God. He shall be holy to you, for I the LORD, who sanctify you, am holy.

“‘He who is the high priest amongst his brothers, upon whose head the anointing oil is poured, and who is consecrated to put on the garments, shall not let the hair of his head hang loose, or tear his clothes.

He must not go in to any dead body, or defile himself for his father or for his mother.

He shall not go out of the sanctuary, nor profane the sanctuary of his God; for the crown of the anointing oil of his God is upon him. I am the LORD.

He shall not profane his offspring amongst his people, for I am the LORD who sanctifies him.’”

“Say to Aaron, ‘None of your offspring throughout their generations who has a defect may approach to offer the bread of his God.

For whatever man he is that has a defect, he shall not draw near: a blind man, or a lame, or he who has a flat nose, or any deformity,

or a man who has an injured foot, or an injured hand,

or hunchbacked, or a dwarf, or one who has a defect in his eye, or an itching disease, or scabs, or who has damaged testicles.

No man of the offspring of Aaron the priest who has a defect shall come near to offer the offerings of the LORD made by fire. Since he has a defect, he shall not come near to offer the bread of his God.

He shall eat the bread of his God, both of the most holy, and of the holy.

He shall not come near to the veil, nor come near to the altar, because he has a defect; that he may not profane my sanctuaries, for I am the LORD who sanctifies them.’”

“Tell Aaron and his sons to separate themselves from the holy things of the children of Israel, which they make holy to me, and that they not profane my holy name. I am the LORD.

“Tell them, ‘If anyone of all your offspring throughout your generations approaches the holy things which the children of Israel make holy to the LORD, having his uncleanness on him, that soul shall be cut off from before me. I am the LORD.

“‘Whoever of the offspring of Aaron is a leper or has a discharge shall not eat of the holy things until he is clean. Whoever touches anything that is unclean by the dead, or a man who has a seminal emission,

or whoever touches any creeping thing by which he may be made unclean, or a man from whom he may become unclean, whatever uncleanness he has—

the person that touches any such shall be unclean until the evening, and shall not eat of the holy things unless he bathes his body in water.

When the sun is down, he shall be clean; and afterward he shall eat of the holy things, because it is his bread.

He shall not eat that which dies of itself or is torn by animals, defiling himself by it. I am the LORD.

“‘They shall therefore follow my commandment, lest they bear sin for it and die in it, if they profane it. I am the LORD who sanctifies them.

“‘No stranger shall eat of the holy thing: a foreigner living with the priests, or a hired servant, shall not eat of the holy thing.

The priests shall not profane the holy things of the children of Israel, which they offer to the LORD,

and so cause them to bear the iniquity that brings guilt when they eat their holy things; for I am the LORD who sanctifies them.’”

“Speak to Aaron, and to his sons, and to all the children of Israel, and say to them, ‘Whoever is of the house of Israel, or of the foreigners in Israel, who offers his offering, whether it is any of their vows or any of their free will offerings, which they offer to the LORD for a burnt offering:

that you may be accepted, you shall offer a male without defect, of the bulls, of the sheep, or of the goats.

But you shall not offer whatever has a defect, for it shall not be acceptable for you.

Whoever offers a sacrifice of peace offerings to the LORD to accomplish a vow, or for a free will offering of the herd or of the flock, it shall be perfect to be accepted. It shall have no defect.

You shall not offer what is blind, is injured, is maimed, has a wart, is festering, or has a running sore to the LORD, nor make an offering by fire of them on the altar to the LORD.

Either a bull or a lamb that has any deformity or lacking in his parts, that you may offer for a free will offering; but for a vow it shall not be accepted.

You must not offer to the LORD that which has its testicles bruised, crushed, broken, or cut. You must not do this in your land.

You must not offer any of these as the bread of your God from the hand of a foreigner, because their corruption is in them. There is a defect in them. They shall not be accepted for you.’”

“When a bull, a sheep, or a goat is born, it shall remain seven days with its mother. From the eighth day on it shall be accepted for the offering of an offering made by fire to the LORD.

“When you sacrifice a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the LORD, you shall sacrifice it so that you may be accepted.

You shall not profane my holy name, but I will be made holy amongst the children of Israel. I am the LORD who makes you holy,

“Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘The set feasts of the LORD, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my set feasts.

“‘Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation; you shall do no kind of work. It is a Sabbath to the LORD in all your dwellings.

“‘These are the set feasts of the LORD, even holy convocations, which you shall proclaim in their appointed season.

In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month in the evening, is the LORD’s Passover.

On the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread to the LORD. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread.

In the first day you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no regular work.

But you shall offer an offering made by fire to the LORD seven days. In the seventh day is a holy convocation. You shall do no regular work.’”

He shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you. On the next day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it.

On the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a male lamb without defect a year old for a burnt offering to the LORD.

The meal offering with it shall be two tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, an offering made by fire to the LORD for a pleasant aroma; and the drink offering with it shall be of wine, the fourth part of a hin.

You must not eat bread, or roasted grain, or fresh grain, until this same day, until you have brought the offering of your God. This is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.

“‘You shall count from the next day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering: seven Sabbaths shall be completed.

The next day after the seventh Sabbath you shall count fifty days; and you shall offer a new meal offering to the LORD.

You shall bring out of your habitations two loaves of bread for a wave offering made of two tenths of an ephah of fine flour. They shall be baked with yeast, for first fruits to the LORD.

You shall present with the bread seven lambs without defect a year old, one young bull, and two rams. They shall be a burnt offering to the LORD, with their meal offering and their drink offerings, even an offering made by fire, of a sweet aroma to the LORD.

You shall offer one male goat for a sin offering, and two male lambs a year old for a sacrifice of peace offerings.

The priest shall wave them with the bread of the first fruits for a wave offering before the LORD, with the two lambs. They shall be holy to the LORD for the priest.

You shall make proclamation on the same day that there shall be a holy convocation to you. You shall do no regular work. This is a statute forever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.

“Speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, there shall be a solemn rest for you, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation.

You shall do no regular work. You shall offer an offering made by fire to the LORD.’”

“However on the tenth day of this seventh month is the day of atonement. It shall be a holy convocation to you. You shall afflict yourselves and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the LORD.

You shall do no kind of work in that same day, for it is a day of atonement, to make atonement for you before the LORD your God.

It shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for you, and you shall deny yourselves. In the ninth day of the month at evening, from evening to evening, you shall keep your Sabbath.”

“Speak to the children of Israel, and say, ‘On the fifteenth day of this seventh month is the feast of booths for seven days to the LORD.

On the first day shall be a holy convocation. You shall do no regular work.

Seven days you shall offer an offering made by fire to the LORD. On the eighth day shall be a holy convocation to you. You shall offer an offering made by fire to the LORD. It is a solemn assembly; you shall do no regular work.

“‘These are the appointed feasts of the LORD which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire to the LORD, a burnt offering, a meal offering, a sacrifice, and drink offerings, each on its own day—

in addition to the Sabbaths of the LORD, and in addition to your gifts, and in addition to all your vows, and in addition to all your free will offerings, which you give to the LORD.

“‘So on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruits of the land, you shall keep the feast of the LORD seven days. On the first day shall be a solemn rest, and on the eighth day shall be a solemn rest.

You shall take on the first day the fruit of majestic trees, branches of palm trees, and boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God seven days.

You shall keep it as a feast to the LORD seven days in the year. It is a statute forever throughout your generations. You shall keep it in the seventh month.

So Moses declared to the children of Israel the appointed feasts of the LORD.

“Command the children of Israel, that they bring to you pure olive oil beaten for the light, to cause a lamp to burn continually.

Outside of the veil of the Testimony, in the Tent of Meeting, Aaron shall keep it in order from evening to morning before the LORD continually. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations.

He shall keep in order the lamps on the pure gold lamp stand before the LORD continually.

“You shall take fine flour, and bake twelve cakes of it: two tenths of an ephah shall be in one cake.

You shall set them in two rows, six on a row, on the pure gold table before the LORD.

You shall put pure frankincense on each row, that it may be to the bread for a memorial, even an offering made by fire to the LORD.

Every Sabbath day he shall set it in order before the LORD continually. It is an everlasting covenant on the behalf of the children of Israel.

It shall be for Aaron and his sons. They shall eat it in a holy place; for it is most holy to him of the offerings of the LORD made by fire by a perpetual statute.”

“Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘When you come into the land which I give you, then the land shall keep a Sabbath to the LORD.

but in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a Sabbath to the LORD. You shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard.

Then you shall sound the loud trumpet on the tenth day of the seventh month. On the Day of Atonement you shall sound the trumpet throughout all your land.

For it is a jubilee; it shall be holy to you. You shall eat of its increase out of the field.

“‘You shall make for yourselves no idols, and you shall not raise up a carved image or a pillar, and you shall not place any figured stone in your land, to bow down to it; for I am the LORD your God.

“‘You shall keep my Sabbaths, and have reverence for my sanctuary. I am the LORD.

I will destroy your high places, and cut down your incense altars, and cast your dead bodies upon the bodies of your idols; and my soul will abhor you.

I will lay your cities waste, and will bring your sanctuaries to desolation. I will not take delight in the sweet fragrance of your offerings.

“Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, ‘When a man consecrates a person to the LORD in a vow, according to your valuation,

your valuation of a male from twenty years old to sixty years old shall be fifty shekels of silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary.

If she is a female, then your valuation shall be thirty shekels.

If the person is from five years old to twenty years old, then your valuation shall be for a male twenty shekels, and for a female ten shekels.

If the person is from a month old to five years old, then your valuation shall be for a male five shekels of silver, and for a female your valuation shall be three shekels of silver.

If the person is from sixty years old and upward; if he is a male, then your valuation shall be fifteen shekels, and for a female ten shekels.

But if he is poorer than your valuation, then he shall be set before the priest, and the priest shall assign a value to him. The priest shall assign a value according to his ability to pay.

“‘If it is an animal of which men offer an offering to the LORD, all that any man gives of such to the LORD becomes holy.

He shall not alter it, nor exchange it, a good for a bad, or a bad for a good. If he shall at all exchange animal for animal, then both it and that for which it is exchanged shall be holy.

If it is any unclean animal, of which they do not offer as an offering to the LORD, then he shall set the animal before the priest;

“‘When a man dedicates his house to be holy to the LORD, then the priest shall evaluate it, whether it is good or bad. As the priest evaluates it, so it shall stand.

“‘If a man dedicates to the LORD part of the field of his possession, then your valuation shall be according to the seed for it. The sowing of a homer of barley shall be valued at fifty shekels of silver.

If he dedicates his field from the Year of Jubilee, according to your valuation it shall stand.

but the field, when it goes out in the Jubilee, shall be holy to the LORD, as a devoted field. It shall be owned by the priests.

“‘If he dedicates a field to the LORD which he has bought, which is not of the field of his possession,

then the priest shall reckon to him the worth of your valuation up to the Year of Jubilee; and he shall give your valuation on that day, as a holy thing to the LORD.

“‘However the firstborn amongst animals, which belongs to the LORD as a firstborn, no man may dedicate, whether an ox or a sheep. It is the LORD’s.

“‘Notwithstanding, no devoted thing that a man devotes to the LORD of all that he has, whether of man or animal, or of the field of his possession, shall be sold or redeemed. Everything that is permanently devoted is most holy to the LORD.

“‘All the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the trees, is the LORD’s. It is holy to the LORD.

All the tithe of the herds or the flocks, whatever passes under the rod, the tenth shall be holy to the LORD.

He shall not examine whether it is good or bad, neither shall he exchange it. If he exchanges it at all, then both it and that for which it is exchanged shall be holy. It shall not be redeemed.’”

but appoint the Levites over the Tabernacle of the Testimony, and over all its furnishings, and over all that belongs to it. They shall carry the tabernacle and all its furnishings; and they shall take care of it, and shall encamp around it.

When the tabernacle is to move, the Levites shall take it down; and when the tabernacle is to be set up, the Levites shall set it up. The stranger who comes near shall be put to death.

But the Levites shall encamp around the Tabernacle of the Testimony, that there may be no wrath on the congregation of the children of Israel. The Levites shall be responsible for the Tabernacle of the Testimony.”

“The children of Israel shall encamp every man by his own standard, with the banners of their fathers’ houses. They shall encamp around the Tent of Meeting at a distance from it.

“Then the Tent of Meeting shall set out, with the camp of the Levites in the middle of the camps. As they encamp, so shall they set out, every man in his place, by their standards.

These are the names of the sons of Aaron, the priests who were anointed, whom he consecrated to minister in the priest’s office.

Nadab and Abihu died before the LORD when they offered strange fire before the LORD in the wilderness of Sinai, and they had no children. Eleazar and Ithamar ministered in the priest’s office in the presence of Aaron their father.

“Bring the tribe of Levi near, and set them before Aaron the priest, that they may minister to him.

They shall keep his requirements, and the requirements of the whole congregation before the Tent of Meeting, to do the service of the tabernacle.

They shall keep all the furnishings of the Tent of Meeting, and the obligations of the children of Israel, to do the service of the tabernacle.

You shall give the Levites to Aaron and to his sons. They are wholly given to him on the behalf of the children of Israel.

The families of the Gershonites shall encamp behind the tabernacle westward.

The duty of the sons of Gershon in the Tent of Meeting shall be the tabernacle, the tent, its covering, the screen for the door of the Tent of Meeting,

the hangings of the court, the screen for the door of the court which is by the tabernacle and around the altar, and its cords for all of its service.

According to the number of all the males from a month old and upward, there were eight thousand and six hundred keeping the requirements of the sanctuary.

The families of the sons of Kohath shall encamp on the south side of the tabernacle.

The prince of the fathers’ house of the families of the Kohathites shall be Elizaphan the son of Uzziel.

Their duty shall be the ark, the table, the lamp stand, the altars, the vessels of the sanctuary with which they minister, the screen, and all its service.

Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest shall be prince of the princes of the Levites, with the oversight of those who keep the requirements of the sanctuary.

Of Merari was the family of the Mahlites and the family of the Mushites. These are the families of Merari.

Those who were counted of them, according to the number of all the males from a month old and upward, were six thousand and two hundred.

The prince of the fathers’ house of the families of Merari was Zuriel the son of Abihail. They shall encamp on the north side of the tabernacle.

The appointed duty of the sons of Merari shall be the tabernacle’s boards, its bars, its pillars, its sockets, all its instruments, all its service,

the pillars of the court around it, their sockets, their pins, and their cords.

Those who encamp before the tabernacle eastward, in front of the Tent of Meeting towards the sunrise, shall be Moses, with Aaron and his sons, keeping the requirements of the sanctuary for the duty of the children of Israel. The outsider who comes near shall be put to death.

All who were counted of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron counted at the commandment of the LORD, by their families, all the males from a month old and upward, were twenty-two thousand.

you shall take five shekels apiece for each one; according to the shekel of the sanctuary you shall take them (the shekel is twenty gerahs);

from thirty years old and upward even until fifty years old, all who enter into the service to do the work in the Tent of Meeting.

“This is the service of the sons of Kohath in the Tent of Meeting, regarding the most holy things.

When the camp moves forward, Aaron shall go in with his sons; and they shall take down the veil of the screen, cover the ark of the Testimony with it,

put a covering of sealskin on it, spread a blue cloth over it, and put in its poles.

“On the table of show bread they shall spread a blue cloth, and put on it the dishes, the spoons, the bowls, and the cups with which to pour out; and the continual bread shall be on it.

They shall spread on them a scarlet cloth, and cover it with a covering of sealskin, and shall put in its poles.

“They shall take a blue cloth and cover the lamp stand of the light, its lamps, its snuffers, its snuff dishes, and all its oil vessels, with which they minister to it.

They shall put it and all its vessels within a covering of sealskin, and shall put it on the frame.

“On the golden altar they shall spread a blue cloth, and cover it with a covering of sealskin, and shall put in its poles.

“They shall take all the vessels of ministry with which they minister in the sanctuary, and put them in a blue cloth, cover them with a covering of sealskin, and shall put them on the frame.

“They shall take away the ashes from the altar, and spread a purple cloth on it.

They shall put on it all its vessels with which they minister about it, the fire pans, the meat hooks, the shovels, and the basins—all the vessels of the altar; and they shall spread on it a covering of sealskin, and put in its poles.

“The duty of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest shall be the oil for the light, the sweet incense, the continual meal offering, and the anointing oil, the requirements of all the tabernacle, and of all that is in it, the sanctuary, and its furnishings.”

you shall count them from thirty years old and upward until fifty years old: all who enter in to wait on the service, to do the work in the Tent of Meeting.

“This is the service of the families of the Gershonites, in serving and in bearing burdens:

they shall carry the curtains of the tabernacle and the Tent of Meeting, its covering, the covering of sealskin that is on it, the screen for the door of the Tent of Meeting,

the hangings of the court, the screen for the door of the gate of the court which is by the tabernacle and around the altar, their cords, and all the instruments of their service, and whatever shall be done with them. They shall serve in there.

At the commandment of Aaron and his sons shall be all the service of the sons of the Gershonites, in all their burden and in all their service; and you shall appoint their duty to them in all their responsibilities.

This is the service of the families of the sons of the Gershonites in the Tent of Meeting. Their duty shall be under the hand of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.

you shall count them from thirty years old and upward even to fifty years old—everyone who enters on the service, to do the work of the Tent of Meeting.

This is the duty of their burden, according to all their service in the Tent of Meeting: the tabernacle’s boards, its bars, its pillars, its sockets,

the pillars of the court around it, their sockets, their pins, their cords, with all their instruments, and with all their service. You shall appoint the instruments of the duty of their burden to them by name.

This is the service of the families of the sons of Merari, according to all their service in the Tent of Meeting, under the hand of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.”

from thirty years old and upward even to fifty years old, everyone who entered into the service for work in the Tent of Meeting.

These are those who were counted of the families of the Kohathites, all who served in the Tent of Meeting, whom Moses and Aaron counted according to the commandment of the LORD by Moses.

Those who were counted of the sons of Gershon, by their families, and by their fathers’ houses,

from thirty years old and upward even to fifty years old—everyone who entered into the service for work in the Tent of Meeting,

even those who were counted of them, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, were two thousand and six hundred and thirty.

These are those who were counted of the families of the sons of Gershon, all who served in the Tent of Meeting, whom Moses and Aaron counted according to the commandment of the LORD.

Those who were counted of the families of the sons of Merari, by their families, by their fathers’ houses,

from thirty years old and upward even to fifty years old—everyone who entered into the service for work in the Tent of Meeting,

even those who were counted of them by their families, were three thousand and two hundred.

These are those who were counted of the families of the sons of Merari, whom Moses and Aaron counted according to the commandment of the LORD by Moses.

All those who were counted of the Levites whom Moses and Aaron and the princes of Israel counted, by their families and by their fathers’ houses,

from thirty years old and upward even to fifty years old, everyone who entered in to do the work of service and the work of bearing burdens in the Tent of Meeting,

You shall put both male and female outside of the camp so that they don’t defile their camp, in the midst of which I dwell.”

Every heave offering of all the holy things of the children of Israel, which they present to the priest, shall be his.

Every man’s holy things shall be his; whatever any man gives the priest, it shall be his.’”

then the man shall bring his wife to the priest, and shall bring her offering for her: one tenth of an ephah of barley meal. He shall pour no oil on it, nor put frankincense on it, for it is a meal offering of jealousy, a meal offering of memorial, bringing iniquity to memory.

The priest shall bring her near, and set her before the LORD.

The priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel; and the priest shall take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle and put it into the water.

The priest shall set the woman before the LORD, and let the hair of the woman’s head go loose, and put the meal offering of memorial in her hands, which is the meal offering of jealousy. The priest shall have in his hand the water of bitterness that brings a curse.

then the priest shall cause the woman to swear with the oath of cursing, and the priest shall tell the woman, “May The LORD make you a curse and an oath amongst your people, when the LORD allows your thigh to fall away, and your body to swell;

“‘The priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall wipe them into the water of bitterness.

He shall make the woman drink the water of bitterness that causes the curse; and the water that causes the curse shall enter into her and become bitter.

The priest shall take the meal offering of jealousy out of the woman’s hand, and shall wave the meal offering before the LORD, and bring it to the altar.

The priest shall take a handful of the meal offering, as its memorial portion, and burn it on the altar, and afterward shall make the woman drink the water.

or when the spirit of jealousy comes on a man, and he is jealous of his wife; then he shall set the woman before the LORD, and the priest shall execute on her all this law.

“Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them: ‘When either man or woman shall make a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to separate himself to the LORD,

he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink. He shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of fermented drink, neither shall he drink any juice of grapes, nor eat fresh grapes or dried.

All the days of his separation he shall eat nothing that is made of the grapevine, from the seeds even to the skins.

“‘All the days of his vow of separation no razor shall come on his head, until the days are fulfilled in which he separates himself to the LORD. He shall be holy. He shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow long.

“‘All the days that he separates himself to the LORD he shall not go near a dead body.

All the days of his separation he is holy to the LORD.

On the eighth day he shall bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons to the priest, to the door of the Tent of Meeting.

The priest shall offer one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering, and make atonement for him, because he sinned by reason of the dead, and shall make his head holy that same day.

He shall separate to the LORD the days of his separation, and shall bring a male lamb a year old for a trespass offering; but the former days shall be void, because his separation was defiled.

“‘This is the law of the Nazirite: when the days of his separation are fulfilled, he shall be brought to the door of the Tent of Meeting,

and he shall offer his offering to the LORD: one male lamb a year old without defect for a burnt offering, one ewe lamb a year old without defect for a sin offering, one ram without defect for peace offerings,

a basket of unleavened bread, cakes of fine flour mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil with their meal offering and their drink offerings.

The priest shall present them before the LORD, and shall offer his sin offering and his burnt offering.

He shall offer the ram for a sacrifice of peace offerings to the LORD, with the basket of unleavened bread. The priest shall offer also its meal offering and its drink offering.

The Nazirite shall shave the head of his separation at the door of the Tent of Meeting, take the hair of the head of his separation, and put it on the fire which is under the sacrifice of peace offerings.

The priest shall take the boiled shoulder of the ram, one unleavened cake out of the basket, and one unleavened wafer, and shall put them on the hands of the Nazirite after he has shaved the head of his separation;

and the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before the LORD. They are holy for the priest, together with the breast that is waved and the thigh that is offered. After that the Nazirite may drink wine.

On the day that Moses had finished setting up the tabernacle, and had anointed it and sanctified it with all its furniture, and the altar with all its vessels, and had anointed and sanctified them;

the princes of Israel, the heads of their fathers’ houses, gave offerings. These were the princes of the tribes. These are they who were over those who were counted;

and they brought their offering before the LORD, six covered wagons and twelve oxen; a wagon for every two of the princes, and for each one an ox. They presented them before the tabernacle.

“Accept these from them, that they may be used in doing the service of the Tent of Meeting; and you shall give them to the Levites, to every man according to his service.”

Moses took the wagons and the oxen, and gave them to the Levites.

He gave two wagons and four oxen to the sons of Gershon, according to their service.

He gave four wagons and eight oxen to the sons of Merari, according to their service, under the direction of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.

But to the sons of Kohath he gave none, because the service of the sanctuary belonged to them; they carried it on their shoulders.

The princes gave offerings for the dedication of the altar in the day that it was anointed. The princes gave their offerings before the altar.

The LORD said to Moses, “They shall offer their offering, each prince on his day, for the dedication of the altar.”

He who offered his offering the first day was Nahshon the son of Amminadab, of the tribe of Judah,

and his offering was: one silver platter, the weight of which was one hundred and thirty shekels, one silver bowl of seventy shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a meal offering;

one golden ladle of ten shekels, full of incense;

one young bull, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering;

one male goat for a sin offering;

and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two head of cattle, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Nahshon the son of Amminadab.

On the second day Nethanel the son of Zuar, prince of Issachar, gave his offering.

He offered for his offering: one silver platter, the weight of which was one hundred and thirty shekels, one silver bowl of seventy shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a meal offering;

one golden ladle of ten shekels, full of incense;

one young bull, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering;

one male goat for a sin offering;

and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two head of cattle, five rams, five male goats, five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Nethanel the son of Zuar.

On the third day Eliab the son of Helon, prince of the children of Zebulun,

gave his offering: one silver platter, the weight of which was a hundred and thirty shekels, one silver bowl of seventy shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a meal offering;

one golden ladle of ten shekels, full of incense;

one young bull, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering;

one male goat for a sin offering;

and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two head of cattle, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Eliab the son of Helon.

On the fourth day Elizur the son of Shedeur, prince of the children of Reuben,

gave his offering: one silver platter, the weight of which was one hundred and thirty shekels, one silver bowl of seventy shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a meal offering;

one golden ladle of ten shekels, full of incense;

one young bull, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering;

one male goat for a sin offering;

and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two head of cattle, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Elizur the son of Shedeur.

On the fifth day Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai, prince of the children of Simeon,

gave his offering: one silver platter, the weight of which was one hundred and thirty shekels, one silver bowl of seventy shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a meal offering;

one golden ladle of ten shekels, full of incense;

one young bull, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering;

one male goat for a sin offering;

and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two head of cattle, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old: this was the offering of Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai.

On the sixth day, Eliasaph the son of Deuel, prince of the children of Gad,

gave his offering: one silver platter, the weight of which was one hundred and thirty shekels, one silver bowl of seventy shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a meal offering;

one golden ladle of ten shekels, full of incense;

one young bull, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering;

one male goat for a sin offering;

and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two head of cattle, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Eliasaph the son of Deuel.

On the seventh day Elishama the son of Ammihud, prince of the children of Ephraim,

gave his offering: one silver platter, the weight of which was one hundred and thirty shekels, one silver bowl of seventy shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a meal offering;

one golden ladle of ten shekels, full of incense;

one young bull, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering;

one male goat for a sin offering;

and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two head of cattle, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Elishama the son of Ammihud.

On the eighth day Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur, prince of the children of Manasseh,

gave his offering: one silver platter, the weight of which was one hundred and thirty shekels, one silver bowl of seventy shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a meal offering;

one golden ladle of ten shekels, full of incense;

one young bull, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering;

one male goat for a sin offering;

and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two head of cattle, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur.

On the ninth day Abidan the son of Gideoni, prince of the children of Benjamin,

gave his offering: one silver platter, the weight of which was one hundred and thirty shekels, one silver bowl of seventy shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a meal offering;

one golden ladle of ten shekels, full of incense;

one young bull, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering;

one male goat for a sin offering;

and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two head of cattle, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Abidan the son of Gideoni.

On the tenth day Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai, prince of the children of Dan,

gave his offering: one silver platter, the weight of which was one hundred and thirty shekels, one silver bowl of seventy shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a meal offering;

one golden ladle of ten shekels, full of incense;

one young bull, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering;

one male goat for a sin offering;

and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two head of cattle, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai.

On the eleventh day Pagiel the son of Ochran, prince of the children of Asher,

gave his offering: one silver platter, the weight of which was one hundred and thirty shekels, one silver bowl of seventy shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a meal offering;

one golden ladle of ten shekels, full of incense;

one young bull, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering;

one male goat for a sin offering;

and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two head of cattle, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Pagiel the son of Ochran.

On the twelfth day Ahira the son of Enan, prince of the children of Naphtali,

gave his offering: one silver platter, the weight of which was one hundred and thirty shekels, one silver bowl of seventy shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a meal offering;

one golden ladle of ten shekels, full of incense;

one young bull, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering;

one male goat for a sin offering;

and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two head of cattle, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Ahira the son of Enan.

This was the dedication offering of the altar, on the day when it was anointed, by the princes of Israel: twelve silver platters, twelve silver bowls, twelve golden ladles;

each silver platter weighing one hundred and thirty shekels, and each bowl seventy; all the silver of the vessels two thousand and four hundred shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary;

the twelve golden ladles, full of incense, weighing ten shekels apiece, according to the shekel of the sanctuary; all the gold of the ladles weighed one hundred and twenty shekels;

all the cattle for the burnt offering twelve bulls, the rams twelve, the male lambs a year old twelve, and their meal offering; and twelve male goats for a sin offering;

and all the cattle for the sacrifice of peace offerings: twenty-four bulls, sixty rams, sixty male goats, and sixty male lambs a year old. This was the dedication offering of the altar, after it was anointed.

When Moses went into the Tent of Meeting to speak with the LORD, he heard his voice speaking to him from above the mercy seat that was on the ark of the Testimony, from between the two cherubim; and he spoke to him.

“Speak to Aaron, and tell him, ‘When you light the lamps, the seven lamps shall give light in front of the lamp stand.’”

Aaron did so. He lit its lamps to light the area in front of the lamp stand, as the LORD commanded Moses.

This was the workmanship of the lamp stand, beaten work of gold. From its base to its flowers, it was beaten work. He made the lamp stand according to the pattern which the LORD had shown Moses.

“Take the Levites from amongst the children of Israel, and cleanse them.

You shall do this to them to cleanse them: sprinkle the water of cleansing on them, let them shave their whole bodies with a razor, let them wash their clothes, and cleanse themselves.

Then let them take a young bull and its meal offering, fine flour mixed with oil; and another young bull you shall take for a sin offering.

You shall present the Levites before the Tent of Meeting. You shall assemble the whole congregation of the children of Israel.

You shall present the Levites before the LORD. The children of Israel shall lay their hands on the Levites,

and Aaron shall offer the Levites before the LORD for a wave offering on the behalf of the children of Israel, that it may be theirs to do the service of the LORD.

“The Levites shall lay their hands on the heads of the bulls, and you shall offer the one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering to the LORD, to make atonement for the Levites.

You shall set the Levites before Aaron and before his sons, and offer them as a wave offering to the LORD.

“After that, the Levites shall go in to do the service of the Tent of Meeting. You shall cleanse them, and offer them as a wave offering.

I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and to his sons from amongst the children of Israel, to do the service of the children of Israel in the Tent of Meeting, and to make atonement for the children of Israel, so that there will be no plague amongst the children of Israel when the children of Israel come near to the sanctuary.”

The Levites purified themselves from sin, and they washed their clothes; and Aaron offered them for a wave offering before the LORD and Aaron made atonement for them to cleanse them.

After that, the Levites went in to do their service in the Tent of Meeting before Aaron and before his sons: as the LORD had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so they did to them.

“This is what is assigned to the Levites: from twenty-five years old and upward they shall go in to wait on the service in the work of the Tent of Meeting;

but shall assist their brothers in the Tent of Meeting, to perform the duty, and shall perform no service. This is how you shall have the Levites do their duties.”

“Let the children of Israel keep the Passover in its appointed season.

On the fourteenth day of this month, at evening, you shall keep it in its appointed season. You shall keep it according to all its statutes and according to all its ordinances.”

Moses told the children of Israel that they should keep the Passover.

They kept the Passover in the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, in the wilderness of Sinai. According to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so the children of Israel did.

There were certain men who were unclean because of the dead body of a man, so that they could not keep the Passover on that day, and they came before Moses and Aaron on that day.

Those men said to him, “We are unclean because of the dead body of a man. Why are we kept back, that we may not offer the offering of the LORD in its appointed season amongst the children of Israel?”

“Say to the children of Israel, ‘If any man of you or of your generations is unclean by reason of a dead body, or is on a journey far away, he shall still keep the Passover to the LORD.

In the second month, on the fourteenth day at evening they shall keep it; they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.

They shall leave none of it until the morning, nor break a bone of it. According to all the statute of the Passover they shall keep it.

But the man who is clean, and is not on a journey, and fails to keep the Passover, that soul shall be cut off from his people. Because he didn’t offer the offering of the LORD in its appointed season, that man shall bear his sin.

“‘If a foreigner lives amongst you and desires to keep the Passover to the LORD, then he shall do so according to the statute of the Passover, and according to its ordinance. You shall have one statute, both for the foreigner and for him who is born in the land.’”

On the day that the tabernacle was raised up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, even the Tent of the Testimony. At evening it was over the tabernacle, as it were the appearance of fire, until morning.

The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

When they blow them, all the congregation shall gather themselves to you at the door of the Tent of Meeting.

But when the assembly is to be gathered together, you shall blow, but you shall not sound an alarm.

“The sons of Aaron, the priests, shall blow the trumpets. This shall be to you for a statute forever throughout your generations.

“Also in the day of your gladness, and in your set feasts, and in the beginnings of your months, you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings, and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; and they shall be to you for a memorial before your God. I am the LORD your God.”

The tabernacle was taken down; and the sons of Gershon and the sons of Merari, who bore the tabernacle, went forward.

The Kohathites set forward, bearing the sanctuary. The others set up the tabernacle before they arrived.

When it rested, he said, “Return, LORD, to the ten thousands of the thousands of Israel.”

The LORD spoke suddenly to Moses, to Aaron, and to Miriam, “You three come out to the Tent of Meeting!” The three of them came out.

The LORD came down in a pillar of cloud, and stood at the door of the Tent, and called Aaron and Miriam; and they both came forward.

He said, “Now hear my words. If there is a prophet amongst you, I, the LORD, will make myself known to him in a vision. I will speak with him in a dream.

Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel.

But all the congregation threatened to stone them with stones. The LORD’s glory appeared in the Tent of Meeting to all the children of Israel.

but in very deed—as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the LORD’s glory—

and will make an offering by fire to the LORD—a burnt offering, or a sacrifice, to accomplish a vow, or as a free will offering, or in your set feasts, to make a pleasant aroma to the LORD, of the herd, or of the flock—

then he who offers his offering shall offer to the LORD a meal offering of one tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with one fourth of a hin of oil.

You shall prepare wine for the drink offering, one fourth of a hin, with the burnt offering or for the sacrifice, for each lamb.

“‘For a ram, you shall prepare for a meal offering two tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with the third part of a hin of oil;

and for the drink offering you shall offer the third part of a hin of wine, of a pleasant aroma to the LORD.

When you prepare a bull for a burnt offering or for a sacrifice, to accomplish a vow, or for peace offerings to the LORD,

then he shall offer with the bull a meal offering of three tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with half a hin of oil;

and you shall offer for the drink offering half a hin of wine, for an offering made by fire, of a pleasant aroma to the LORD.

Thus it shall be done for each bull, for each ram, for each of the male lambs, or of the young goats.

According to the number that you shall prepare, so you shall do to everyone according to their number.

“‘All who are native-born shall do these things in this way, in offering an offering made by fire, of a pleasant aroma to the LORD.

If a stranger lives as a foreigner with you, or whoever may be amongst you throughout your generations, and will offer an offering made by fire, of a pleasant aroma to the LORD, as you do, so he shall do.

then it shall be that when you eat of the bread of the land, you shall offer up a wave offering to the LORD.

Of the first of your dough you shall offer up a cake for a wave offering. As the wave offering of the threshing floor, so you shall heave it.

Of the first of your dough, you shall give to the LORD a wave offering throughout your generations.

then it shall be, if it was done unwittingly, without the knowledge of the congregation, that all the congregation shall offer one young bull for a burnt offering, for a pleasant aroma to the LORD, with its meal offering and its drink offering, according to the ordinance, and one male goat for a sin offering.

The priest shall make atonement for all the congregation of the children of Israel, and they shall be forgiven; for it was an error, and they have brought their offering, an offering made by fire to the LORD, and their sin offering before the LORD, for their error.

When Moses heard it, he fell on his face.

Do this: have Korah and all his company take censers,

put fire in them, and put incense on them before the LORD tomorrow. It shall be that the man whom the LORD chooses, he shall be holy. You have gone too far, you sons of Levi!”

Is it a small thing to you that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself, to do the service of the LORD’s tabernacle, and to stand before the congregation to minister to them;

and that he has brought you near, and all your brothers the sons of Levi with you? Do you seek the priesthood also?

Moses said to Korah, “You and all your company go before the LORD, you, and they, and Aaron, tomorrow.

Each man take his censer and put incense on it, and each man bring before the LORD his censer, two hundred and fifty censers; you also, and Aaron, each with his censer.”

They each took his censer, and put fire in it, and laid incense on it, and stood at the door of the Tent of Meeting with Moses and Aaron.

Korah assembled all the congregation opposite them to the door of the Tent of Meeting. The LORD’s glory appeared to all the congregation.

They fell on their faces, and said, “God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and will you be angry with all the congregation?”

Fire came out from the LORD, and devoured the two hundred and fifty men who offered the incense.

“Speak to Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest, that he take up the censers out of the burning, and scatter the fire away from the camp; for they are holy,

even the censers of those who sinned against their own lives. Let them be beaten into plates for a covering of the altar, for they offered them before the LORD. Therefore they are holy. They shall be a sign to the children of Israel.”

Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers which those who were burnt had offered; and they beat them out for a covering of the altar,

to be a memorial to the children of Israel, to the end that no stranger who isn’t of the offspring of Aaron, would come near to burn incense before the LORD, that he not be as Korah and as his company; as the LORD spoke to him by Moses.

When the congregation was assembled against Moses and against Aaron, they looked towards the Tent of Meeting. Behold, the cloud covered it, and the LORD’s glory appeared.

Moses and Aaron came to the front of the Tent of Meeting.

“Get away from amongst this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment!” They fell on their faces.

You shall lay them up in the Tent of Meeting before the covenant, where I meet with you.

Moses laid up the rods before the LORD in the Tent of the Testimony.

Bring your brothers also, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, near with you, that they may be joined to you, and minister to you; but you and your sons with you shall be before the Tent of the Testimony.

They shall keep your commands and the duty of the whole Tent; only they shall not come near to the vessels of the sanctuary and to the altar, that they not die, neither they nor you.

They shall be joined to you and keep the responsibility of the Tent of Meeting, for all the service of the Tent. A stranger shall not come near to you.

“You shall perform the duty of the sanctuary and the duty of the altar, that there be no more wrath on the children of Israel.

Behold, I myself have taken your brothers the Levites from amongst the children of Israel. They are a gift to you, dedicated to the LORD, to do the service of the Tent of Meeting.

You and your sons with you shall keep your priesthood for everything of the altar, and for that within the veil. You shall serve. I give you the service of the priesthood as a gift. The stranger who comes near shall be put to death.”

The LORD spoke to Aaron, “Behold, I myself have given you the command of my wave offerings, even all the holy things of the children of Israel. I have given them to you by reason of the anointing, and to your sons, as a portion forever.

This shall be yours of the most holy things from the fire: every offering of theirs, even every meal offering of theirs, and every sin offering of theirs, and every trespass offering of theirs, which they shall render to me, shall be most holy for you and for your sons.

You shall eat of it like the most holy things. Every male shall eat of it. It shall be holy to you.

“This is yours, too: the wave offering of their gift, even all the wave offerings of the children of Israel. I have given them to you, and to your sons and to your daughters with you, as a portion forever. Everyone who is clean in your house shall eat of it.

“I have given to you all the best of the oil, all the best of the vintage, and of the grain, the first fruits of them which they give to the LORD.

The first-ripe fruits of all that is in their land, which they bring to the LORD, shall be yours. Everyone who is clean in your house shall eat of it.

Everything that opens the womb, of all flesh which they offer to the LORD, both of man and animal, shall be yours. Nevertheless, you shall surely redeem the firstborn of man, and you shall redeem the firstborn of unclean animals.

You shall redeem those who are to be redeemed of them from a month old, according to your estimation, for five shekels of money, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, which weighs twenty gerahs.

“But you shall not redeem the firstborn of a cow, or the firstborn of a sheep, or the firstborn of a goat. They are holy. You shall sprinkle their blood on the altar, and shall burn their fat for an offering made by fire, for a pleasant aroma to the LORD.

Their meat shall be yours, as the wave offering breast and as the right thigh, it shall be yours.

All the wave offerings of the holy things which the children of Israel offer to the LORD, I have given you and your sons and your daughters with you, as a portion forever. It is a covenant of salt forever before the LORD to you and to your offspring with you.”

“To the children of Levi, behold, I have given all the tithe in Israel for an inheritance, in return for their service which they serve, even the service of the Tent of Meeting.

Henceforth the children of Israel shall not come near the Tent of Meeting, lest they bear sin, and die.

“Moreover you shall speak to the Levites, and tell them, ‘When you take of the children of Israel the tithe which I have given you from them for your inheritance, then you shall offer up a wave offering of it for the LORD, a tithe of the tithe.

Your wave offering shall be credited to you, as though it were the grain of the threshing floor, and as the fullness of the wine press.

Thus you also shall offer a wave offering to the LORD of all your tithes, which you receive of the children of Israel; and of it you shall give the LORD’s wave offering to Aaron the priest.

Out of all your gifts, you shall offer every wave offering to the LORD, of all its best parts, even the holy part of it.’

You shall bear no sin by reason of it, when you have heaved from it its best. You shall not profane the holy things of the children of Israel, that you not die.’”

“This is the statute of the law which the LORD has commanded. Tell the children of Israel to bring you a red heifer without spot, in which is no defect, and which was never yoked.

You shall give her to Eleazar the priest, and he shall bring her outside of the camp, and one shall kill her before his face.

Eleazar the priest shall take some of her blood with his finger, and sprinkle her blood towards the front of the Tent of Meeting seven times.

One shall burn the heifer in his sight; her skin, and her meat, and her blood, with her dung, shall he burn.

The priest shall take cedar wood, hyssop, and scarlet, and cast it into the middle of the burning of the heifer.

Then the priest shall wash his clothes, and he shall bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp, and the priest shall be unclean until the evening.

He who burns her shall wash his clothes in water, and bathe his flesh in water, and shall be unclean until the evening.

“A man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and lay them up outside of the camp in a clean place; and it shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel for use in water for cleansing impurity. It is a sin offering.

He who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the evening. It shall be to the children of Israel, and to the stranger who lives as a foreigner amongst them, for a statute forever.

Whoever touches a dead person, the body of a man who has died, and doesn’t purify himself, defiles the LORD’s tabernacle; and that soul shall be cut off from Israel; because the water for impurity was not sprinkled on him, he shall be unclean. His uncleanness is yet on him.

But the man who shall be unclean, and shall not purify himself, that soul shall be cut off from amongst the assembly, because he has defiled the sanctuary of the LORD. The water for impurity has not been sprinkled on him. He is unclean.

Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the door of the Tent of Meeting, and fell on their faces. The LORD’s glory appeared to them.

These are the waters of Meribah; because the children of Israel strove with the LORD, and he was sanctified in them.

Then Israel sang this song: “Spring up, well! Sing to it,

Then the LORD opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the LORD’s angel standing in the way, with his sword drawn in his hand; and he bowed his head, and fell on his face.

Balak sacrificed cattle and sheep, and sent to Balaam, and to the princes who were with him.

In the morning, Balak took Balaam, and brought him up into the high places of Baal; and he saw from there part of the people.

Balaam said to Balak, “Build here seven altars for me, and prepare here seven bulls and seven rams for me.”

Balak did as Balaam had spoken; and Balak and Balaam offered on every altar a bull and a ram.

Balaam said to Balak, “Stand by your burnt offering, and I will go. Perhaps the LORD will come to meet me. Whatever he shows me I will tell you.” He went to a bare height.

God met Balaam, and he said to him, “I have prepared the seven altars, and I have offered up a bull and a ram on every altar.”

He returned to him, and behold, he was standing by his burnt offering, he, and all the princes of Moab.

He took him into the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars, and offered up a bull and a ram on every altar.

He said to Balak, “Stand here by your burnt offering, while I meet God over there.”

He came to him, and behold, he was standing by his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab with him. Balak said to him, “What has the LORD spoken?”

Balaam said to Balak, “Build seven altars for me here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me here.”

Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered up a bull and a ram on every altar.

he says, who hears the words of God, who sees the vision of the Almighty, falling down, and having his eyes open:

he says, who hears the words of God, knows the knowledge of the Most High, and who sees the vision of the Almighty, falling down, and having his eyes open:

for they called the people to the sacrifices of their gods. The people ate and bowed down to their gods.

Israel joined himself to Baal Peor, and the LORD’s anger burnt against Israel.

Nadab and Abihu died when they offered strange fire before the LORD.

Set him before Eleazar the priest, and before all the congregation; and commission him in their sight.

He shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall enquire for him by the judgement of the Urim before the LORD. At his word they shall go out, and at his word they shall come in, both he and all the children of Israel with him, even all the congregation.”

“Command the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘See that you present my offering, my food for my offerings made by fire, as a pleasant aroma to me, in their due season.’

You shall tell them, ‘This is the offering made by fire which you shall offer to the LORD: male lambs a year old without defect, two day by day, for a continual burnt offering.

You shall offer the one lamb in the morning, and you shall offer the other lamb at evening,

with one tenth of an ephah of fine flour for a meal offering, mixed with the fourth part of a hin of beaten oil.

It is a continual burnt offering which was ordained in Mount Sinai for a pleasant aroma, an offering made by fire to the LORD.

Its drink offering shall be the fourth part of a hin for each lamb. You shall pour out a drink offering of strong drink to the LORD in the holy place.

The other lamb you shall offer at evening. As the meal offering of the morning, and as its drink offering, you shall offer it, an offering made by fire, for a pleasant aroma to the LORD.

“‘On the Sabbath day, you shall offer two male lambs a year old without defect, and two tenths of an ephah of fine flour for a meal offering mixed with oil, and its drink offering:

this is the burnt offering of every Sabbath, in addition to the continual burnt offering and its drink offering.

“‘In the beginnings of your months, you shall offer a burnt offering to the LORD: two young bulls, one ram, seven male lambs a year old without defect,

and three tenths of an ephah of fine flour for a meal offering mixed with oil, for each bull; and two tenth parts of fine flour for a meal offering mixed with oil, for the one ram;

and one tenth part of fine flour mixed with oil for a meal offering to every lamb, as a burnt offering of a pleasant aroma, an offering made by fire to the LORD.

Their drink offerings shall be half a hin of wine for a bull, the third part of a hin for the ram, and the fourth part of a hin for a lamb. This is the burnt offering of every month throughout the months of the year.

Also, one male goat for a sin offering to the LORD shall be offered in addition to the continual burnt offering and its drink offering.

“‘In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, is the LORD’s Passover.

On the fifteenth day of this month shall be a feast. Unleavened bread shall be eaten for seven days.

In the first day shall be a holy convocation. You shall do no regular work,

but you shall offer an offering made by fire, a burnt offering to the LORD: two young bulls, one ram, and seven male lambs a year old. They shall be without defect,

with their meal offering, fine flour mixed with oil. You shall offer three tenths for a bull, and two tenths for the ram.

You shall offer one tenth for every lamb of the seven lambs;

and one male goat for a sin offering, to make atonement for you.

You shall offer these in addition to the burnt offering of the morning, which is for a continual burnt offering.

In this way you shall offer daily, for seven days, the food of the offering made by fire, of a pleasant aroma to the LORD. It shall be offered in addition to the continual burnt offering and its drink offering.

On the seventh day you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no regular work.

“‘Also in the day of the first fruits, when you offer a new meal offering to the LORD in your feast of weeks, you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no regular work;

but you shall offer a burnt offering for a pleasant aroma to the LORD: two young bulls, one ram, seven male lambs a year old;

and their meal offering, fine flour mixed with oil, three tenths for each bull, two tenths for the one ram,

one tenth for every lamb of the seven lambs;

and one male goat, to make atonement for you.

Besides the continual burnt offering and its meal offering, you shall offer them and their drink offerings. See that they are without defect.

“‘In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a holy convocation; you shall do no regular work. It is a day of blowing of trumpets to you.

You shall offer a burnt offering for a pleasant aroma to the LORD: one young bull, one ram, seven male lambs a year old without defect;

and their meal offering, fine flour mixed with oil: three tenths for the bull, two tenths for the ram,

and one tenth for every lamb of the seven lambs;

and one male goat for a sin offering, to make atonement for you;

in addition to the burnt offering of the new moon with its meal offering, and the continual burnt offering with its meal offering, and their drink offerings, according to their ordinance, for a pleasant aroma, an offering made by fire to the LORD.

“‘On the tenth day of this seventh month you shall have a holy convocation. You shall afflict your souls. You shall do no kind of work;

but you shall offer a burnt offering to the LORD for a pleasant aroma: one young bull, one ram, seven male lambs a year old, all without defect;

and their meal offering, fine flour mixed with oil: three tenths for the bull, two tenths for the one ram,

one tenth for every lamb of the seven lambs;

one male goat for a sin offering, in addition to the sin offering of atonement, and the continual burnt offering, and its meal offering, and their drink offerings.

“‘On the fifteenth day of the seventh month you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no regular work. You shall keep a feast to the LORD seven days.

You shall offer a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, of a pleasant aroma to the LORD: thirteen young bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old, all without defect;

and their meal offering, fine flour mixed with oil: three tenths for every bull of the thirteen bulls, two tenths for each ram of the two rams,

and one tenth for every lamb of the fourteen lambs;

and one male goat for a sin offering, in addition to the continual burnt offering, its meal offering, and its drink offering.

“‘On the second day you shall offer twelve young bulls, two rams, and fourteen male lambs a year old without defect;

and their meal offering and their drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, according to their number, after the ordinance;

and one male goat for a sin offering, in addition to the continual burnt offering, with its meal offering and their drink offerings.

“‘On the third day: eleven bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old without defect;

and their meal offering and their drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, according to their number, after the ordinance;

and one male goat for a sin offering, in addition to the continual burnt offering, and its meal offering, and its drink offering.

“‘On the fourth day ten bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old without defect;

their meal offering and their drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, according to their number, after the ordinance;

and one male goat for a sin offering; in addition to the continual burnt offering, its meal offering, and its drink offering.

“‘On the fifth day: nine bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old without defect;

and their meal offering and their drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, according to their number, after the ordinance,

and one male goat for a sin offering, in addition to the continual burnt offering, and its meal offering, and its drink offering.

“‘On the sixth day: eight bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old without defect;

and their meal offering and their drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, according to their number, after the ordinance,

and one male goat for a sin offering; in addition to the continual burnt offering, its meal offering, and the drink offerings of it.

“‘On the seventh day: seven bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old without defect;

and their meal offering and their drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, according to their number, after the ordinance,

and one male goat for a sin offering; in addition to the continual burnt offering, its meal offering, and its drink offering.

“‘On the eighth day you shall have a solemn assembly. You shall do no regular work;

but you shall offer a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, a pleasant aroma to the LORD: one bull, one ram, seven male lambs a year old without defect;

their meal offering and their drink offerings for the bull, for the ram, and for the lambs, shall be according to their number, after the ordinance,

and one male goat for a sin offering, in addition to the continual burnt offering, with its meal offering, and its drink offering.

“‘You shall offer these to the LORD in your set feasts—in addition to your vows and your free will offerings—for your burnt offerings, your meal offerings, your drink offerings, and your peace offerings.’”

When a man vows a vow to the LORD, or swears an oath to bind his soul with a bond, he shall not break his word. He shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.

“Also, when a woman vows a vow to the LORD and binds herself by a pledge, being in her father’s house, in her youth,

and her father hears her vow and her pledge with which she has bound her soul, and her father says nothing to her, then all her vows shall stand, and every pledge with which she has bound her soul shall stand.

“If she has a husband, while her vows are on her, or the rash utterance of her lips with which she has bound her soul,

and her husband hears it, and says nothing to her in the day that he hears it; then her vows shall stand, and her pledges with which she has bound her soul shall stand.

“But the vow of a widow, or of her who is divorced, everything with which she has bound her soul shall stand against her.

“If she vowed in her husband’s house or bound her soul by a bond with an oath,

and her husband heard it, and held his peace at her and didn’t disallow her, then all her vows shall stand, and every pledge with which she bound her soul shall stand.

Moses sent them, one thousand of every tribe, to the war with Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, to the war, with the vessels of the sanctuary and the trumpets for the alarm in his hand.

Levy a tribute to the LORD of the men of war who went out to battle: one soul of five hundred; of the persons, of the cattle, of the donkeys, and of the flocks.

Take it from their half, and give it to Eleazar the priest, for the LORD’s wave offering.

Of the children of Israel’s half, you shall take one drawn out of every fifty, of the persons, of the cattle, of the donkeys, and of the flocks, of all the livestock, and give them to the Levites, who perform the duty of the LORD’s tabernacle.”

and the LORD’s tribute of the sheep was six hundred and seventy-five.

The cattle were thirty-six thousand, of which the LORD’s tribute was seventy-two.

The donkeys were thirty thousand and five hundred, of which the LORD’s tribute was sixty-one.

The persons were sixteen thousand, of whom the LORD’s tribute was thirty-two persons.

Moses gave the tribute, which was the LORD’s wave offering, to Eleazar the priest, as the LORD commanded Moses.

even of the children of Israel’s half, Moses took one drawn out of every fifty, both of man and of animal, and gave them to the Levites, who performed the duty of the LORD’s tabernacle, as the LORD commanded Moses.

We have brought the LORD’s offering, what every man found: gold ornaments, armlets, bracelets, signet rings, earrings, and necklaces, to make atonement for our souls before the LORD.”

Moses and Eleazar the priest took their gold, even all worked jewels.

All the gold of the wave offering that they offered up to the LORD, of the captains of thousands, and of the captains of hundreds, was sixteen thousand and seven hundred and fifty shekels.

Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold of the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and brought it into the Tent of Meeting for a memorial for the children of Israel before the LORD.

then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, destroy all their stone idols, destroy all their molten images, and demolish all their high places.

“Lord GOD, you have begun to show your servant your greatness, and your strong hand. For what god is there in heaven or in earth that can do works like yours, and mighty acts like yours?

the day that you stood before the LORD your God in Horeb, when the LORD said to me, “Assemble the people to me, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children.”

You came near and stood under the mountain. The mountain burnt with fire to the heart of the sky, with darkness, cloud, and thick darkness.

The LORD spoke to you out of the middle of the fire: you heard the voice of words, but you saw no form; you only heard a voice.

Be very careful, for you saw no kind of form on the day that the LORD spoke to you in Horeb out of the middle of the fire,

lest you corrupt yourselves, and make yourself a carved image in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female,

the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the sky,

the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth;

and lest you lift up your eyes to the sky, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, even all the army of the sky, you are drawn away and worship them, and serve them, which the LORD your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole sky.

Be careful, lest you forget the covenant of the LORD your God, which he made with you, and make yourselves a carved image in the form of anything which the LORD your God has forbidden you.

For the LORD your God is a devouring fire, a jealous God.

When you father children and children’s children, and you have been long in the land, and then corrupt yourselves, and make a carved image in the form of anything, and do that which is evil in the LORD your God’s sight to provoke him to anger,

There you will serve gods, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.

For ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and from the one end of the sky to the other, whether there has been anything as great as this thing is, or has been heard like it?

Did a people ever hear the voice of God speaking out of the middle of the fire, as you have heard, and live?

It was shown to you so that you might know that the LORD is God. There is no one else besides him.

Out of heaven he made you to hear his voice, that he might instruct you. On earth he made you to see his great fire; and you heard his words out of the middle of the fire.

Know therefore today, and take it to heart, that the LORD himself is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath. There is no one else.

“You shall have no other gods before me.

“You shall not make a carved image for yourself—any likeness of what is in heaven above, or what is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

You shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them, for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and on the third and on the fourth generation of those who hate me

“You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who misuses his name.

“Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you.

and you said, “Behold, the LORD our God has shown us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the middle of the fire. We have seen today that God does speak with man, and he lives.

Hear, Israel: the LORD is our God. The LORD is one.

You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might.

You shall bind them for a sign on your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes.

You shall write them on the door posts of your house and on your gates.

You shall fear the LORD your God; and you shall serve him, and shall swear by his name.

You shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the peoples who are around you,

for the LORD your God amongst you is a jealous God, lest the anger of the LORD your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth.

You shall diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God, and his testimonies, and his statutes, which he has commanded you.

For that would turn away your sons from following me, that they may serve other gods. So the LORD’s anger would be kindled against you, and he would destroy you quickly.

But you shall deal with them like this: you shall break down their altars, dash their pillars in pieces, cut down their Asherah poles, and burn their engraved images with fire.

You shall burn the engraved images of their gods with fire. You shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them, nor take it for yourself, lest you be snared in it; for it is an abomination to the LORD your God.

You shall not bring an abomination into your house and become a devoted thing like it. You shall utterly detest it. You shall utterly abhor it; for it is a devoted thing.

It shall be, if you shall forget the LORD your God, and walk after other gods, and serve them and worship them, I testify against you today that you shall surely perish.

When I had gone up onto the mountain to receive the stone tablets, even the tablets of the covenant which the LORD made with you, then I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water.

The LORD delivered to me the two stone tablets written with God’s finger. On them were all the words which the LORD spoke with you on the mountain out of the middle of the fire in the day of the assembly.

The LORD said to me, “Arise, get down quickly from here; for your people whom you have brought out of Egypt have corrupted themselves. They have quickly turned away from the way which I commanded them. They have made a molten image for themselves!”

He wrote on the tablets, according to the first writing, the ten commandments, which the LORD spoke to you on the mountain out of the middle of the fire in the day of the assembly; and the LORD gave them to me.

(The children of Israel travelled from Beeroth Bene Jaakan to Moserah. There Aaron died, and there he was buried; and Eleazar his son ministered in the priest’s office in his place.

At that time the LORD set apart the tribe of Levi to bear the ark of the LORD’s covenant, to stand before the LORD to minister to him, and to bless in his name, to this day.

Now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, and to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul,

Behold, to the LORD your God belongs heaven, the heaven of heavens, and the earth, with all that is therein.

For the LORD your God, he is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, the mighty, and the awesome, who doesn’t respect persons or take bribes.

You shall fear the LORD your God. You shall serve him. You shall cling to him, and you shall swear by his name.

He is your praise, and he is your God, who has done for you these great and awesome things which your eyes have seen.

It shall happen, if you shall listen diligently to my commandments which I command you today, to love the LORD your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul,

Be careful, lest your heart be deceived, and you turn away to serve other gods and worship them;

You shall surely destroy all the places in which the nations that you shall dispossess served their gods: on the high mountains, and on the hills, and under every green tree.

You shall break down their altars, dash their pillars in pieces, and burn their Asherah poles with fire. You shall cut down the engraved images of their gods. You shall destroy their name out of that place.

You shall not do so to the LORD your God.

But to the place which the LORD your God shall choose out of all your tribes, to put his name there, you shall seek his habitation, and you shall come there.

You shall bring your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the wave offering of your hand, your vows, your free will offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock there.

There you shall eat before the LORD your God, and you shall rejoice in all that you put your hand to, you and your households, in which the LORD your God has blessed you.

then it shall happen that to the place which the LORD your God shall choose, to cause his name to dwell there, there you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the wave offering of your hand, and all your choice vows which you vow to the LORD.

You shall rejoice before the LORD your God—you, and your sons, your daughters, your male servants, your female servants, and the Levite who is within your gates, because he has no portion nor inheritance with you.

Be careful that you don’t offer your burnt offerings in every place that you see;

but in the place which the LORD chooses in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I command you.

Only you shall not eat the blood. You shall pour it out on the earth like water.

You may not eat within your gates the tithe of your grain, or of your new wine, or of your oil, or the firstborn of your herd or of your flock, nor any of your vows which you vow, nor your free will offerings, nor the wave offering of your hand;

but you shall eat them before the LORD your God in the place which the LORD your God shall choose: you, your son, your daughter, your male servant, your female servant, and the Levite who is within your gates. You shall rejoice before the LORD your God in all that you put your hand to.

If the place which the LORD your God shall choose to put his name is too far from you, then you shall kill of your herd and of your flock, which the LORD has given you, as I have commanded you; and you may eat within your gates, after all the desire of your soul.

Only your holy things which you have, and your vows, you shall take and go to the place which the LORD shall choose.

You shall offer your burnt offerings, the meat and the blood, on the LORD your God’s altar. The blood of your sacrifices shall be poured out on the LORD your God’s altar, and you shall eat the meat.

You shall not do so to the LORD your God; for every abomination to the LORD, which he hates, they have done to their gods; for they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods.

Whatever thing I command you, that you shall observe to do. You shall not add to it, nor take away from it.

and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, “Let’s go after other gods” (which you have not known) “and let’s serve them,”

You shall walk after the LORD your God, fear him, keep his commandments, and obey his voice. You shall serve him, and cling to him.

If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son, or your daughter, or the wife of your bosom, or your friend who is as your own soul, entices you secretly, saying, “Let’s go and serve other gods”—which you have not known, you, nor your fathers;

of the gods of the peoples who are around you, near to you, or far off from you, from the one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth—

You shall gather all its plunder into the middle of its street, and shall burn with fire the city, with all of its plunder, to the LORD your God. It shall be a heap forever. It shall not be built again.

You are the children of the LORD your God. You shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead.

You shall eat before the LORD your God, in the place which he chooses to cause his name to dwell, the tithe of your grain, of your new wine, and of your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock; that you may learn to fear the LORD your God always.

then you shall turn it into money, bind up the money in your hand, and shall go to the place which the LORD your God shall choose.

You shall trade the money for whatever your soul desires: for cattle, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatever your soul asks of you. You shall eat there before the LORD your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your household.

You shall dedicate all the firstborn males that are born of your herd and of your flock to the LORD your God. You shall do no work with the firstborn of your herd, nor shear the firstborn of your flock.

You shall eat it before the LORD your God year by year in the place which the LORD shall choose, you and your household.

If it has any defect—is lame or blind, or has any defect whatever, you shall not sacrifice it to the LORD your God.

Observe the month of Abib, and keep the Passover to the LORD your God; for in the month of Abib the LORD your God brought you out of Egypt by night.

You shall sacrifice the Passover to the LORD your God, of the flock and the herd, in the place which the LORD shall choose to cause his name to dwell there.

You shall eat no leavened bread with it. You shall eat unleavened bread with it seven days, even the bread of affliction (for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste) that you may remember the day when you came out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life.

No yeast shall be seen with you in all your borders seven days; neither shall any of the meat, which you sacrifice the first day at evening, remain all night until the morning.

You may not sacrifice the Passover within any of your gates which the LORD your God gives you;

but at the place which the LORD your God shall choose to cause his name to dwell in, there you shall sacrifice the Passover at evening, at the going down of the sun, at the season that you came out of Egypt.

You shall roast and eat it in the place which the LORD your God chooses. In the morning you shall return to your tents.

Six days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the seventh day shall be a solemn assembly to the LORD your God. You shall do no work.

You shall count for yourselves seven weeks. From the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain you shall begin to count seven weeks.

You shall keep the feast of weeks to the LORD your God with a tribute of a free will offering of your hand, which you shall give according to how the LORD your God blesses you.

You shall rejoice before the LORD your God: you, your son, your daughter, your male servant, your female servant, the Levite who is within your gates, the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow who are amongst you, in the place which the LORD your God shall choose to cause his name to dwell there.

You shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt. You shall observe and do these statutes.

You shall keep the feast of booths seven days, after you have gathered in from your threshing floor and from your wine press.

You shall rejoice in your feast, you, your son, your daughter, your male servant, your female servant, the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow who are within your gates.

You shall keep a feast to the LORD your God seven days in the place which the LORD chooses, because the LORD your God will bless you in all your increase and in all the work of your hands, and you shall be altogether joyful.

Three times in a year all of your males shall appear before the LORD your God in the place which he chooses: in the feast of unleavened bread, in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of booths. They shall not appear before the LORD empty.

Every man shall give as he is able, according to the LORD your God’s blessing which he has given you.

You shall not plant for yourselves an Asherah of any kind of tree beside the LORD your God’s altar, which you shall make for yourselves.

Neither shall you set yourself up a sacred stone which the LORD your God hates.

You shall not sacrifice to the LORD your God an ox or a sheep in which is a defect or anything evil; for that is an abomination to the LORD your God.

and has gone and served other gods and worshipped them, or the sun, or the moon, or any of the stars of the sky, which I have not commanded,

The priests and the Levites—all the tribe of Levi—shall have no portion nor inheritance with Israel. They shall eat the offerings of the LORD made by fire and his portion.

This shall be the priests’ due from the people, from those who offer a sacrifice, whether it be ox or sheep, that they shall give to the priest: the shoulder, the two cheeks, and the inner parts.

For the LORD your God has chosen him out of all your tribes to stand to minister in the LORD’s name, him and his sons forever.

If a Levite comes from any of your gates out of all Israel where he lives, and comes with all the desire of his soul to the place which the LORD shall choose,

then he shall minister in the name of the LORD his God, as all his brothers the Levites do, who stand there before the LORD.

This is according to all that you desired of the LORD your God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, “Let me not hear again the LORD my God’s voice, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I not die.”

But the prophet who speaks a word presumptuously in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.”

The priests the sons of Levi shall come near, for them the LORD your God has chosen to minister to him, and to bless in the LORD’s name; and according to their word shall every controversy and every assault be decided.

You shall make yourselves fringes on the four corners of your cloak with which you cover yourself.

He who is emasculated by crushing or cutting shall not enter into the LORD’s assembly.

A person born of a forbidden union shall not enter into the LORD’s assembly; even to the tenth generation shall no one of his enter into the LORD’s assembly.

An Ammonite or a Moabite shall not enter into the LORD’s assembly; even to the tenth generation shall no one belonging to them enter into the LORD’s assembly forever,

The children of the third generation who are born to them may enter into the LORD’s assembly.

You shall not bring the hire of a prostitute, or the wages of a male prostitute, into the house of the LORD your God for any vow; for both of these are an abomination to the LORD your God.

You shall observe and do that which has gone out of your lips. Whatever you have vowed to the LORD your God as a free will offering, which you have promised with your mouth, you must do.

that you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you shall bring in from your land that the LORD your God gives you. You shall put it in a basket, and shall go to the place which the LORD your God shall choose to cause his name to dwell there.

You shall come to the priest who shall be in those days, and tell him, “I profess today to the LORD your God, that I have come to the land which the LORD swore to our fathers to give us.”

The priest shall take the basket out of your hand, and set it down before the LORD your God’s altar.

Now, behold, I have brought the first of the fruit of the ground, which you, the LORD, have given me.” You shall set it down before the LORD your God, and worship before the LORD your God.

I have not eaten of it in my mourning, neither have I removed any of it while I was unclean, nor given of it for the dead. I have listened to the LORD my God’s voice. I have done according to all that you have commanded me.

Today the LORD your God commands you to do these statutes and ordinances. You shall therefore keep and do them with all your heart and with all your soul.

You have declared today that the LORD is your God, and that you would walk in his ways, keep his statutes, his commandments, and his ordinances, and listen to his voice.

There you shall build an altar to the LORD your God, an altar of stones. You shall not use any iron tool on them.

You shall build the LORD your God’s altar of uncut stones. You shall offer burnt offerings on it to the LORD your God.

You shall sacrifice peace offerings, and shall eat there. You shall rejoice before the LORD your God.

‘Cursed is the man who makes an engraved or molten image, an abomination to the LORD, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and sets it up in secret.’ All the people shall answer and say, ‘Amen.’

and shall not turn away from any of the words which I command you today, to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.

The LORD will bring you, and your king whom you will set over yourselves, to a nation that you have not known, you nor your fathers. There you will serve other gods of wood and stone.

Because you didn’t serve the LORD your God with joyfulness and with gladness of heart, by reason of the abundance of all things;

If you will not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and fearful name, THE LORD your God,

The LORD will scatter you amongst all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth. There you will serve other gods which you have not known, you nor your fathers, even wood and stone.

All of you stand today in the presence of the LORD your God: your heads, your tribes, your elders, and your officers, even all the men of Israel,

and you have seen their abominations and their idols of wood, stone, silver, and gold, which were amongst them);

and went and served other gods and worshipped them, gods that they didn’t know and that he had not given to them.

But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away and worship other gods, and serve them,

Moses wrote this law and delivered it to the priests the sons of Levi, who bore the ark of the LORD’s covenant, and to all the elders of Israel.

Moses commanded them, saying, “At the end of every seven years, in the set time of the year of release, in the feast of booths,

when all Israel has come to appear before the LORD your God in the place which he will choose, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing.

The LORD said to Moses, “Behold, your days approach that you must die. Call Joshua, and present yourselves in the Tent of Meeting, that I may commission him.” Moses and Joshua went, and presented themselves in the Tent of Meeting.

The LORD appeared in the Tent in a pillar of cloud, and the pillar of cloud stood over the Tent’s door.

So Moses wrote this song the same day, and taught it to the children of Israel.

Moses spoke in the ears of all the assembly of Israel the words of this song, until they were finished.

Give ear, you heavens, and I will speak. Let the earth hear the words of my mouth.

For I will proclaim the LORD’s name. Ascribe greatness to our God!

They sacrificed to demons, not God, to gods that they didn’t know, to new gods that came up recently, which your fathers didn’t dread.

which ate the fat of their sacrifices, and drank the wine of their drink offering? Let them rise up and help you! Let them be your protection.

He said, “The LORD came from Sinai, and rose from Seir to them. He shone from Mount Paran. He came from the ten thousands of holy ones. At his right hand was a fiery law for them.

Yes, he loves the people. All his saints are in your hand. They sat down at your feet. Each receives your words.

He was king in Jeshurun, when the heads of the people were gathered, all the tribes of Israel together.

They shall teach Jacob your ordinances, and Israel your law. They shall put incense before you, and whole burnt offering on your altar.

They will call the peoples to the mountain. There they will offer sacrifices of righteousness, for they will draw out the abundance of the seas, the hidden treasures of the sand.”

“There is no one like God, Jeshurun, who rides on the heavens for your help, in his excellency on the skies.

As soon as we had heard it, our hearts melted, and there wasn’t any more spirit in any man, because of you: for the LORD your God, he is God in heaven above, and on earth beneath.

and they commanded the people, saying, “When you see the ark of the LORD your God’s covenant, and the Levitical priests bearing it, then leave your place and follow it.

Joshua said to the people, “Sanctify yourselves; for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders amongst you.”

Joshua said to the children of Israel, “Come here, and hear the words of the LORD your God.”

that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD’s hand is mighty, and that you may fear the LORD your God forever.’”

The children of Israel encamped in Gilgal. They kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month at evening in the plains of Jericho.

He said, “No; but I have come now as commander of the LORD’s army.” Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and worshipped, and asked him, “What does my lord say to his servant?”

The prince of the LORD’s army said to Joshua, “Take off your sandals, for the place on which you stand is holy.” Joshua did so.

Seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark. On the seventh day, you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets.

It shall be that when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; then the city wall will fall down flat, and the people shall go up, every man straight in front of him.”

Joshua the son of Nun called the priests, and said to them, “Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the LORD’s ark.”

They said to the people, “Advance! March around the city, and let the armed men pass on before the LORD’s ark.”

It was so, that when Joshua had spoken to the people, the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the LORD advanced and blew the trumpets, and the ark of the LORD’s covenant followed them.

The armed men went before the priests who blew the trumpets, and the ark went after them. The trumpets sounded as they went.

So he caused the LORD’s ark to go around the city, circling it once. Then they came into the camp, and stayed in the camp.

Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the LORD’s ark.

The seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the LORD’s ark went on continually, and blew the trumpets. The armed men went in front of them. The rear guard came after the LORD’s ark. The trumpets sounded as they went.

But all the silver, gold, and vessels of bronze and iron are holy to the LORD. They shall come into the LORD’s treasury.”

They burnt the city with fire, and all that was in it. Only they put the silver, the gold, and the vessels of bronze and of iron into the treasury of the LORD’s house.

Joshua tore his clothes, and fell to the earth on his face before the LORD’s ark until the evening, he and the elders of Israel; and they put dust on their heads.

Joshua said to Achan, “My son, please give glory to the LORD, the God of Israel, and make confession to him. Tell me now what you have done! Don’t hide it from me!”

They took them from the middle of the tent, and brought them to Joshua and to all the children of Israel. They laid them down before the LORD.

Then Joshua built an altar to the LORD, the God of Israel, on Mount Ebal,

as Moses the servant of the LORD commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses: an altar of uncut stones, on which no one had lifted up any iron. They offered burnt offerings on it to the LORD and sacrificed peace offerings.

All Israel, with their elders, officers, and judges, stood on both sides of the ark before the Levitical priests, who carried the ark of the LORD’s covenant, the foreigner as well as the native; half of them in front of Mount Gerizim, and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded at the first, that they should bless the people of Israel.

Now therefore you are cursed, and some of you will never fail to be slaves, both wood cutters and drawers of water for the house of my God.”

That day Joshua made them wood cutters and drawers of water for the congregation and for the LORD’s altar to this day, in the place which he should choose.

Only he gave no inheritance to the tribe of Levi. The offerings of the LORD, the God of Israel, made by fire are his inheritance, as he spoke to him.

The whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled themselves together at Shiloh, and set up the Tent of Meeting there. The land was subdued before them.

These are the inheritances, which Eleazar the priest, Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of the fathers’ houses of the tribes of the children of Israel, distributed for inheritance by lot in Shiloh before the LORD, at the door of the Tent of Meeting. So they finished dividing the land.

and they were for the children of Aaron, of the families of the Kohathites, who were of the children of Levi; for theirs was the first lot.

To the children of Aaron the priest they gave Hebron with its pasture lands, the city of refuge for the man slayer, Libnah with its pasture lands,

All the cities of the children of Aaron, the priests, were thirteen cities with their pasture lands.

Only take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law which Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to keep his commandments, to hold fast to him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.”

When they came to the region near the Jordan, that is in the land of Canaan, the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh built an altar there by the Jordan, a great altar to look at.

The children of Israel heard this, “Behold, the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh have built an altar along the border of the land of Canaan, in the region around the Jordan, on the side that belongs to the children of Israel.”

“The whole congregation of the LORD says, ‘What trespass is this that you have committed against the God of Israel, to turn away today from following the LORD, in that you have built yourselves an altar, to rebel today against the LORD?

However, if the land of your possession is unclean, then pass over to the land of the possession of the LORD, in which the LORD’s tabernacle dwells, and take possession amongst us; but don’t rebel against the LORD, nor rebel against us, in building an altar other than the LORD our God’s altar.

“The Mighty One, God, the LORD, the Mighty One, God, the LORD, he knows; and Israel shall know: if it was in rebellion, or if in trespass against the LORD (don’t save us today),

that we have built us an altar to turn away from following the LORD; or if to offer burnt offering or meal offering, or if to offer sacrifices of peace offerings, let the LORD himself require it.

“If we have not out of concern done this, and for a reason, saying, ‘In time to come your children might speak to our children, saying, “What have you to do with the LORD, the God of Israel?

For the LORD has made the Jordan a border between us and you, you children of Reuben and children of Gad. You have no portion in the LORD.”’ So your children might make our children cease from fearing the LORD.

“Therefore we said, ‘Let’s now prepare to build ourselves an altar, not for burnt offering, nor for sacrifice;

but it will be a witness between us and you, and between our generations after us, that we may perform the service of the LORD before him with our burnt offerings, with our sacrifices, and with our peace offerings;’ that your children may not tell our children in time to come, ‘You have no portion in the LORD.’

“Therefore we said, ‘It shall be, when they tell us or our generations this in time to come, that we shall say, “Behold the pattern of the LORD’s altar, which our fathers made, not for burnt offering, nor for sacrifice; but it is a witness between us and you.”’

“Far be it from us that we should rebel against the LORD, and turn away today from following the LORD, to build an altar for burnt offering, for meal offering, or for sacrifice, besides the LORD our God’s altar that is before his tabernacle!”

The children of Reuben and the children of Gad named the altar “A Witness Between Us that the LORD is God.”

that you not come amongst these nations, these that remain amongst you; neither make mention of the name of their gods, nor cause to swear by them, neither serve them, nor bow down yourselves to them;

when you disobey the covenant of the LORD your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods, and bow down yourselves to them. Then the LORD’s anger will be kindled against you, and you will perish quickly from off the good land which he has given to you.”

Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and called for the elders of Israel, for their heads, for their judges, and for their officers; and they presented themselves before God.

Joshua said to all the people, “The LORD, the God of Israel, says, ‘Your fathers lived of old time beyond the River, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nahor. They served other gods.

“Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth. Put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River, in Egypt; and serve the LORD.

If it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose today whom you will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”

The people answered, “Far be it from us that we should forsake the LORD, to serve other gods;

for it is the LORD our God who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and who did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way in which we went, and amongst all the peoples through the middle of whom we passed.

The LORD drove out from before us all the peoples, even the Amorites who lived in the land. Therefore we also will serve the LORD; for he is our God.”

Joshua said to the people, “You can’t serve the LORD, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God. He will not forgive your disobedience nor your sins.

If you forsake the LORD, and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you evil, and consume you, after he has done you good.”

The people said to Joshua, “No, but we will serve the LORD.”

Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the LORD yourselves, to serve him.” They said, “We are witnesses.”

“Now therefore put away the foreign gods which are amongst you, and incline your heart to the LORD, the God of Israel.”

The people said to Joshua, “We will serve the LORD our God, and we will listen to his voice.”

Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God; and he took a great stone, and set it up there under the oak that was by the sanctuary of the LORD.

Israel served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, and had known all the work of the LORD, that he had worked for Israel.

You shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land. You shall break down their altars.’ But you have not listened to my voice. Why have you done this?

They called the name of that place Bochim, and they sacrificed there to the LORD.

The people served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work of the LORD that he had worked for Israel.

Yet they didn’t listen to their judges; for they prostituted themselves to other gods, and bowed themselves down to them. They quickly turned away from the way in which their fathers walked, obeying the LORD’s commandments. They didn’t do so.

But when the judge was dead, they turned back, and dealt more corruptly than their fathers in following other gods to serve them and to bow down to them. They didn’t cease what they were doing, or give up their stubborn ways.

Then Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam sang on that day, saying,

“Hear, you kings! Give ear, you princes! I, even I, will sing to the LORD. I will sing praise to the LORD, the God of Israel.

“Speak, you who ride on white donkeys, you who sit on rich carpets, and you who walk by the way.

Please don’t go away until I come to you, and bring out my present, and lay it before you.” He said, “I will wait until you come back.”

Gideon went in and prepared a young goat and unleavened cakes of an ephah of meal. He put the meat in a basket and he put the broth in a pot, and brought it out to him under the oak, and presented it.

The angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened cakes, and lay them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” He did so.

Then the LORD’s angel stretched out the end of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes; and fire went up out of the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes. Then the LORD’s angel departed out of his sight.

Gideon saw that he was the LORD’s angel; and Gideon said, “Alas, Lord GOD! Because I have seen the LORD’s angel face to face!”

Then Gideon built an altar there to the LORD, and called it “The LORD is Peace.” To this day it is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

Then build an altar to the LORD your God on the top of this stronghold, in an orderly way, and take the second bull, and offer a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah which you shall cut down.”

When the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was broken down, and the Asherah was cut down that was by it, and the second bull was offered on the altar that was built.

It was so, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, that he worshipped. Then he returned into the camp of Israel and said, “Arise, for the LORD has delivered the army of Midian into your hand!”

Gideon made an ephod out of it, and put it in Ophrah, his city. Then all Israel played the prostitute with it there; and it became a snare to Gideon and to his house.

As soon as Gideon was dead, the children of Israel turned again and played the prostitute following the Baals, and made Baal Berith their god.

They gave him seventy pieces of silver out of the house of Baal Berith, with which Abimelech hired vain and reckless fellows who followed him.

“But the olive tree said to them, ‘Should I stop producing my oil, with which they honour God and man by me, and go to wave back and forth over the trees?’

They went out into the field, harvested their vineyards, trod the grapes, celebrated, and went into the house of their god and ate and drank, and cursed Abimelech.

The children of Israel again did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, and served the Baals, the Ashtaroth, the gods of Syria, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines. They abandoned the LORD, and didn’t serve him.

Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and chief over them. Jephthah spoke all his words before the LORD in Mizpah.

then it shall be, that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, it shall be the LORD’s, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.”

Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, “A man of God came to me, and his face was like the face of the angel of God, very awesome. I didn’t ask him where he was from, neither did he tell me his name;

Manoah said to the LORD’s angel, “Please stay with us, that we may make a young goat ready for you.”

The LORD’s angel said to Manoah, “Though you detain me, I won’t eat your bread. If you will prepare a burnt offering, you must offer it to the LORD.” For Manoah didn’t know that he was the LORD’s angel.

Manoah said to the LORD’s angel, “What is your name, that when your words happen, we may honour you?”

So Manoah took the young goat with the meal offering, and offered it on the rock to the LORD. Then the angel did an amazing thing as Manoah and his wife watched.

For when the flame went up towards the sky from off the altar, the LORD’s angel ascended in the flame of the altar. Manoah and his wife watched; and they fell on their faces to the ground.

The lords of the Philistines gathered together to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god, and to rejoice; for they said, “Our god has delivered Samson our enemy into our hand.”

When the people saw him, they praised their god; for they said, “Our god has delivered our enemy and the destroyer of our country, who has slain many of us, into our hand.”

Now the house was full of men and women; and all the lords of the Philistines were there; and there were on the roof about three thousand men and women, who saw while Samson performed.

He restored the eleven hundred pieces of silver to his mother, then his mother said, “I most certainly dedicate the silver to the LORD from my hand for my son, to make a carved image and a molten image. Now therefore I will restore it to you.”

The man Micah had a house of gods, and he made an ephod, and teraphim, and consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest.

Micah said to him, “Dwell with me, and be to me a father and a priest, and I will give you ten pieces of silver per year, a suit of clothing, and your food.” So the Levite went in.

Micah consecrated the Levite, and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of Micah.

Then Micah said, “Now I know that the LORD will do good to me, since I have a Levite as my priest.”

He said to them, “Thus and thus has Micah dealt with me, and he has hired me, and I have become his priest.”

The five men who went to spy out the land went up, and came in there, and took the engraved image, the ephod, the teraphim, and the molten image; and the priest stood by the entrance of the gate with the six hundred men armed with weapons of war.

When these went into Micah’s house, and took the engraved image, the ephod, the teraphim, and the molten image, the priest said to them, “What are you doing?”

They said to him, “Hold your peace, put your hand on your mouth, and go with us. Be a father and a priest to us. Is it better for you to be priest to the house of one man, or to be priest to a tribe and a family in Israel?”

The priest’s heart was glad, and he took the ephod, the teraphim, and the engraved image, and went with the people.

He said, “You have taken away my gods which I made, and the priest, and have gone away! What more do I have? How can you ask me, ‘What ails you?’”

The children of Dan set up for themselves the engraved image; and Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Moses, and his sons were priests to the tribe of the Danites until the day of the captivity of the land.

So they set up for themselves Micah’s engraved image which he made, and it remained all the time that God’s house was in Shiloh.

He said to him, “We are passing from Bethlehem Judah to the farther side of the hill country of Ephraim. I am from there, and I went to Bethlehem Judah. I am going to the LORD’s house; and there is no one who has taken me into his house.

Then all the children of Israel went out, and the congregation was assembled as one man, from Dan even to Beersheba, with the land of Gilead, to the LORD at Mizpah.

The chiefs of all the people, even of all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand footmen who drew sword.

The children of Israel arose, went up to Bethel, and asked counsel of God. They asked, “Who shall go up for us first to battle against the children of Benjamin?” The LORD said, “Judah first.”

The children of Israel went up and wept before the LORD until evening; and they asked of the LORD, saying, “Shall I again draw near to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother?” The LORD said, “Go up against him.”

Then all the children of Israel and all the people went up, and came to Bethel, and wept, and sat there before the LORD, and fasted that day until evening; then they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD.

The children of Israel asked the LORD (for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days,

The people came to Bethel and sat there until evening before God, and lifted up their voices, and wept severely.

On the next day, the people rose early and built an altar there, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings.

They said, “What one is there of the tribes of Israel who didn’t come up to the LORD to Mizpah?” Behold, no one came from Jabesh Gilead to the camp to the assembly.

They said, “Behold, there is a feast of the LORD from year to year in Shiloh, which is on the north of Bethel, on the east side of the highway that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah.”

Behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said to the reapers, “May The LORD be with you.” They answered him, “May The LORD bless you.”

Then she fell on her face and bowed herself to the ground, and said to him, “Why have I found favour in your sight, that you should take knowledge of me, since I am a foreigner?”

This man went up out of his city from year to year to worship and to sacrifice to the LORD of Armies in Shiloh. The two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, priests to the LORD, were there.

When the day came that Elkanah sacrificed, he gave portions to Peninnah his wife and to all her sons and her daughters;

So year by year, when she went up to the LORD’s house, her rival provoked her. Therefore she wept, and didn’t eat.

So Hannah rose up after they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh. Now Eli the priest was sitting on his seat by the doorpost of the LORD’s temple.

As she continued praying before the LORD, Eli saw her mouth.

Now Hannah spoke in her heart. Only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli thought she was drunk.

They rose up in the morning early and worshipped the LORD, then returned and came to their house to Ramah. Then Elkanah knew Hannah his wife; and the LORD remembered her.

The man Elkanah, and all his house, went up to offer to the LORD the yearly sacrifice and his vow.

But Hannah didn’t go up, for she said to her husband, “Not until the child is weaned; then I will bring him, that he may appear before the LORD, and stay there forever.”

When she had weaned him, she took him up with her, with three bulls, and one ephah of meal, and a container of wine, and brought him to the LORD’s house in Shiloh. The child was young.

They killed the bull, and brought the child to Eli.

She said, “Oh, my lord, as your soul lives, my lord, I am the woman who stood by you here, praying to the LORD.

Therefore I have also given him to the LORD. As long as he lives he is given to the LORD.” He worshipped the LORD there.

There is no one as holy as the LORD, for there is no one besides you, nor is there any rock like our God.

Elkanah went to Ramah to his house. The child served the LORD before Eli the priest.

The custom of the priests with the people was that when anyone offered a sacrifice, the priest’s servant came while the meat was boiling, with a fork of three teeth in his hand;

and he stabbed it into the pan, or kettle, or cauldron, or pot. The priest took all that the fork brought up for himself. They did this to all the Israelites who came there to Shiloh.

Yes, before they burnt the fat, the priest’s servant came, and said to the man who sacrificed, “Give meat to roast for the priest; for he will not accept boiled meat from you, but raw.”

The sin of the young men was very great before the LORD; for the men despised the LORD’s offering.

But Samuel ministered before the LORD, being a child, clothed with a linen ephod.

Moreover his mother made him a little robe, and brought it to him from year to year when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice.

Didn’t I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before me? Didn’t I give to the house of your father all the offerings of the children of Israel made by fire?

Why do you kick at my sacrifice and at my offering, which I have commanded in my habitation, and honour your sons above me, to make yourselves fat with the best of all the offerings of Israel my people?’

It will happen that everyone who is left in your house will come and bow down to him for a piece of silver and a loaf of bread, and will say, “Please put me into one of the priests’ offices, that I may eat a morsel of bread.”’”

The child Samuel ministered to the LORD before Eli. The LORD’s word was rare in those days. There were not many visions, then.

and God’s lamp hadn’t yet gone out, and Samuel had laid down in the LORD’s temple where God’s ark was,

Samuel lay until the morning, and opened the doors of the LORD’s house. Samuel was afraid to show Eli the vision.

The LORD appeared again in Shiloh; for the LORD revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the LORD’s word.

So the people sent to Shiloh, and they brought from there the ark of the covenant of the LORD of Armies, who sits above the cherubim; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.

The Philistines took God’s ark, and brought it into the house of Dagon and set it by Dagon.

When the people of Ashdod arose early on the next day, behold, Dagon had fallen on his face to the ground before the LORD’s ark. They took Dagon and set him in his place again.

When they arose early on the following morning, behold, Dagon had fallen on his face to the ground before the LORD’s ark; and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off on the threshold. Only Dagon’s torso was intact.

Therefore neither the priests of Dagon nor any who come into Dagon’s house step on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day.

When the men of Ashdod saw that it was so, they said, “The ark of the God of Israel shall not stay with us, for his hand is severe on us and on Dagon our god.”

The Philistines called for the priests and the diviners, saying, “What shall we do with the LORD’s ark? Show us how we should send it to its place.”

Therefore you shall make images of your tumours and images of your mice that mar the land; and you shall give glory to the God of Israel. Perhaps he will release his hand from you, from your gods, and from your land.

and take the LORD’s ark and lay it on the cart. Put the jewels of gold, which you return him for a trespass offering, in a box by its side; and send it away, that it may go.

They put the LORD’s ark on the cart, and the box with the golden mice and the images of their tumours.

The cart came into the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh, and stood there, where there was a great stone. Then they split the wood of the cart and offered up the cows for a burnt offering to the LORD.

The Levites took down the LORD’s ark and the box that was with it, in which the jewels of gold were, and put them on the great stone; and the men of Beth Shemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrificed sacrifices the same day to the LORD.

These are the golden tumours which the Philistines returned for a trespass offering to the LORD: for Ashdod one, for Gaza one, for Ashkelon one, for Gath one, for Ekron one;

and the golden mice, according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords, both of fortified cities and of country villages, even to the great stone on which they set down the LORD’s ark. That stone remains to this day in the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh.

The men of Beth Shemesh said, “Who is able to stand before the LORD, this holy God? To whom shall he go up from us?”

The men of Kiriath Jearim came and took the LORD’s ark, and brought it into Abinadab’s house on the hill, and consecrated Eleazar his son to keep the LORD’s ark.

From the day that the ark stayed in Kiriath Jearim, the time was long—for it was twenty years; and all the house of Israel lamented after the LORD.

Then the children of Israel removed the Baals and the Ashtaroth, and served the LORD only.

Samuel said, “Gather all Israel to Mizpah, and I will pray to the LORD for you.”

They gathered together to Mizpah, and drew water, and poured it out before the LORD, and fasted on that day, and said there, “We have sinned against the LORD.” Samuel judged the children of Israel in Mizpah.

Samuel took a suckling lamb, and offered it for a whole burnt offering to the LORD. Samuel cried to the LORD for Israel, and the LORD answered him.

His return was to Ramah, for his house was there, and he judged Israel there; and he built an altar to the LORD there.

According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, in that they have forsaken me and served other gods, so they also do to you.

(In earlier times in Israel, when a man went to enquire of God, he said, “Come! Let’s go to the seer;” for he who is now called a prophet was before called a seer.)

They answered them and said, “He is. Behold, he is before you. Hurry now, for he has come today into the city; for the people have a sacrifice today in the high place.

As soon as you have come into the city, you will immediately find him before he goes up to the high place to eat; for the people will not eat until he comes, because he blesses the sacrifice. Afterwards those who are invited eat. Now therefore go up; for at this time you will find him.”

They went up to the city. As they came within the city, behold, Samuel came out towards them to go up to the high place.

“Then you will go on forward from there, and you will come to the oak of Tabor. Three men will meet you there going up to God to Bethel: one carrying three young goats, and another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a container of wine.

“After that you will come to the hill of God, where the garrison of the Philistines is; and it will happen, when you have come there to the city, that you will meet a band of prophets coming down from the high place with a lute, a tambourine, a pipe, and a harp before them; and they will be prophesying.

“Go down ahead of me to Gilgal; and behold, I will come down to you to offer burnt offerings and to sacrifice sacrifices of peace offerings. Wait seven days, until I come to you and show you what you are to do.”

When he had finished prophesying, he came to the high place.

Samuel called the people together to the LORD to Mizpah;

Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see him whom the LORD has chosen, that there is no one like him amongst all the people?” All the people shouted and said, “Long live the king!”

Then Samuel told the people the regulations of the kingdom, and wrote it in a book and laid it up before the LORD. Samuel sent all the people away, every man to his house.

All the people went to Gilgal; and there they made Saul king before the LORD in Gilgal. There they offered sacrifices of peace offerings before the LORD; and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly.

“Now therefore stand still and see this great thing, which the LORD will do before your eyes.

So Samuel called to the LORD, and the LORD sent thunder and rain that day. Then all the people greatly feared the LORD and Samuel.

Saul said, “Bring the burnt offering to me here, and the peace offerings.” He offered the burnt offering.

It came to pass that as soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came; and Saul went out to meet him, that he might greet him.

therefore I said, ‘Now the Philistines will come down on me to Gilgal, and I haven’t entreated the favour of the LORD.’ I forced myself therefore, and offered the burnt offering.”

including Ahijah the son of Ahitub, Ichabod’s brother, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli the priest of the LORD in Shiloh, wearing an ephod. The people didn’t know that Jonathan was gone.

Saul said to Ahijah, “Bring God’s ark here.” For God’s ark was with the children of Israel at that time.

Saul built an altar to the LORD. This was the first altar that he built to the LORD.

Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites; for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the cattle, to sacrifice to the LORD your God. We have utterly destroyed the rest.”

But the people took of the plunder, sheep and cattle, the best of the devoted things, to sacrifice to the LORD your God in Gilgal.”

Samuel said, “Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the LORD’s voice? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.

Now therefore, please pardon my sin, and turn again with me, that I may worship the LORD.”

Then he said, “I have sinned; yet please honour me now before the elders of my people and before Israel, and come back with me, that I may worship the LORD your God.”

So Samuel went back with Saul; and Saul worshipped the LORD.

Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me.” The LORD said, “Take a heifer with you, and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the LORD.’

Call Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do. You shall anoint to me him whom I name to you.”

He said, “Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the LORD. Sanctify yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice.” He sanctified Jesse and his sons, and called them to the sacrifice.

As they came, when David returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul with tambourines, with joy, and with instruments of music.

The women sang to one another as they played, and said, “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.”

An evil spirit from the LORD was on Saul as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand; and David was playing music with his hand.

Saul sent messengers to seize David; and when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as head over them, God’s Spirit came on Saul’s messengers, and they also prophesied.

When Saul was told, he sent other messengers, and they also prophesied. Saul sent messengers again the third time, and they also prophesied.

He went there to Naioth in Ramah. Then God’s Spirit came on him also, and he went on, and prophesied, until he came to Naioth in Ramah.

He also stripped off his clothes. He also prophesied before Samuel and lay down naked all that day and all that night. Therefore they say, “Is Saul also amongst the prophets?”

If your father misses me at all, then say, ‘David earnestly asked leave of me that he might run to Bethlehem, his city; for it is the yearly sacrifice there for all the family.’

He said, ‘Please let me go, for our family has a sacrifice in the city. My brother has commanded me to be there. Now, if I have found favour in your eyes, please let me go away and see my brothers.’ Therefore he has not come to the king’s table.”

The priest answered David, and said, “I have no common bread, but there is holy bread; if only the young men have kept themselves from women.”

David answered the priest, and said to him, “Truly, women have been kept from us as usual these three days. When I came out, the vessels of the young men were holy, though it was only a common journey. How much more then today shall their vessels be holy?”

So the priest gave him holy bread; for there was no bread there but the show bread that was taken from before the LORD, to be replaced with hot bread in the day when it was taken away.

Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before the LORD; and his name was Doeg the Edomite, the best of the herdsmen who belonged to Saul.

When Abiathar the son of Ahimelech fled to David to Keilah, he came down with an ephod in his hand.

She arose and bowed herself with her face to the earth, and said, “Behold, your servant is a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.”

He said to her, “What does he look like?” She said, “An old man comes up. He is covered with a robe.” Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he bowed with his face to the ground, and showed respect.

David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, “Please bring the ephod here to me.” Abiathar brought the ephod to David.

They took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh, and fasted seven days.

on the third day, behold, a man came out of the camp from Saul, with his clothes torn and earth on his head. When he came to David, he fell to the earth and showed respect.

So all the elders of Israel came to the king to Hebron, and King David made a covenant with them in Hebron before the LORD; and they anointed David king over Israel.

David arose and went with all the people who were with him from Baale Judah, to bring up from there God’s ark, which is called by the Name, even the name of the LORD of Armies who sits above the cherubim.

They set God’s ark on a new cart, and brought it out of Abinadab’s house that was on the hill; and Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drove the new cart.

They brought it out of Abinadab’s house which was in the hill, with God’s ark; and Ahio went before the ark.

David and all the house of Israel played before the LORD with all kinds of instruments made of cypress wood, with harps, with stringed instruments, with tambourines, with castanets, and with cymbals.

When those who bore the LORD’s ark had gone six paces, he sacrificed an ox and a fattened calf.

David danced before the LORD with all his might; and David was clothed in a linen ephod.

So David and all the house of Israel brought up the LORD’s ark with shouting and with the sound of the trumpet.

As the LORD’s ark came into David’s city, Michal the daughter of Saul looked out through the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD; and she despised him in her heart.

They brought in the LORD’s ark, and set it in its place in the middle of the tent that David had pitched for it; and David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD.

When David had finished offering the burnt offering and the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD of Armies.

David said to Michal, “It was before the LORD, who chose me above your father, and above all his house, to appoint me prince over the people of the LORD, over Israel. Therefore I will celebrate before the LORD.

I will be yet more undignified than this, and will be worthless in my own sight. But the maids of whom you have spoken will honour me.”

the king said to Nathan the prophet, “See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but God’s ark dwells within curtains.”

“Go and tell my servant David, ‘The LORD says, “Should you build me a house for me to dwell in?

He will build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

Then David the king went in and sat before the LORD; and he said, “Who am I, Lord GOD, and what is my house, that you have brought me this far?

This was yet a small thing in your eyes, Lord GOD, but you have spoken also of your servant’s house for a great while to come; and this amongst men, Lord GOD!

Therefore you are great, LORD God. For there is no one like you, neither is there any God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears.

Let your name be magnified forever, saying, ‘The LORD of Armies is God over Israel; and the house of your servant David will be established before you.’

King David also dedicated these to the LORD, with the silver and gold that he dedicated of all the nations which he subdued—

Zadok the son of Ahitub and Ahimelech the son of Abiathar were priests, Seraiah was scribe,

Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came to David, fell on his face, and showed respect. David said, “Mephibosheth?” He answered, “Behold, your servant!”

Then David arose from the earth, and washed and anointed himself, and changed his clothing; and he came into the LORD’s house, and worshipped. Then he came to his own house; and when he requested, they set bread before him and he ate.

When the woman of Tekoa spoke to the king, she fell on her face to the ground, showed respect, and said, “Help, O king!”

Joab fell to the ground on his face, showed respect, and blessed the king. Joab said, “Today your servant knows that I have found favour in your sight, my lord, O king, in that the king has performed the request of his servant.”

At the end of forty years, Absalom said to the king, “Please let me go and pay my vow, which I have vowed to the LORD, in Hebron.

For your servant vowed a vow while I stayed at Geshur in Syria, saying, ‘If the LORD shall indeed bring me again to Jerusalem, then I will serve the LORD.’”

Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David’s counsellor, from his city, even from Giloh, while he was offering the sacrifices. The conspiracy was strong, for the people increased continually with Absalom.

Behold, Zadok also came, and all the Levites with him, bearing the ark of the covenant of God; and they set down God’s ark; and Abiathar went up until all the people finished passing out of the city.

When David had come to the top, where God was worshipped, behold, Hushai the Archite came to meet him with his tunic torn and earth on his head.

The counsel of Ahithophel, which he gave in those days, was as if a man enquired at the inner sanctuary of God. All the counsel of Ahithophel was like this both with David and with Absalom.

Ahimaaz called, and said to the king, “All is well.” He bowed himself before the king with his face to the earth, and said, “Blessed is the LORD your God, who has delivered up the men who lifted up their hand against my lord the king!”

Sheva was scribe, Zadok and Abiathar were priests,

The LORD thundered from heaven. The Most High uttered his voice.

The LORD lives! Blessed be my rock! Exalted be God, the rock of my salvation,

Therefore I will give thanks to you, LORD, amongst the nations, and will sing praises to your name.

The three mighty men broke through the army of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem that was by the gate and took it and brought it to David; but he would not drink of it, but poured it out to the LORD.

Gad came that day to David and said to him, “Go up, build an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.”

Araunah looked out, and saw the king and his servants coming on towards him. Then Araunah went out and bowed himself before the king with his face to the ground.

Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?” David said, “To buy your threshing floor, to build an altar to the LORD, that the plague may be stopped from afflicting the people.”

Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take and offer up what seems good to him. Behold, the cattle for the burnt offering, and the threshing sledges and the yokes of the oxen for the wood.

All this, O king, does Araunah give to the king.” Araunah said to the king, “May the LORD your God accept you.”

The king said to Araunah, “No, but I will most certainly buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God which cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.

David built an altar to the LORD there, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the LORD was entreated for the land, and the plague was removed from Israel.

Adonijah killed sheep, cattle, and fatlings by the stone of Zoheleth, which is beside En Rogel; and he called all his brothers, the king’s sons, and all the men of Judah, the king’s servants;

Bathsheba bowed and showed respect to the king. The king said, “What would you like?”

They told the king, saying, “Behold, Nathan the prophet!” When he had come in before the king, he bowed himself before the king with his face to the ground.

For he has gone down today, and has slain cattle, fatlings, and sheep in abundance, and has called all the king’s sons, the captains of the army, and Abiathar the priest. Behold, they are eating and drinking before him, and saying, ‘Long live King Adonijah!’

Then Bathsheba bowed with her face to the earth and showed respect to the king, and said, “Let my lord King David live forever!”

Let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him there king over Israel. Blow the trumpet, and say, ‘Long live King Solomon!’

Benaiah the son of Jehoiada answered the king, and said, “Amen. May the LORD, the God of my lord the king, say so.

Zadok the priest took the horn of oil from the Tent, and anointed Solomon. They blew the trumpet; and all the people said, “Long live King Solomon!”

All the people came up after him, and the people piped with pipes, and rejoiced with great joy, so that the earth shook with their sound.

The king has sent with him Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and the Cherethites and the Pelethites; and they have caused him to ride on the king’s mule.

Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet have anointed him king in Gihon. They have come up from there rejoicing, so that the city rang again. This is the noise that you have heard.

Moreover the king’s servants came to bless our lord King David, saying, ‘May your God make the name of Solomon better than your name, and make his throne greater than your throne;’ and the king bowed himself on the bed.

Also thus said the king, ‘Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who has given one to sit on my throne today, my eyes even seeing it.’”

Adonijah was afraid because of Solomon; and he arose, and went, and hung onto the horns of the altar.

This news came to Joab; for Joab had followed Adonijah, although he didn’t follow Absalom. Joab fled to the LORD’s Tent, and held onto the horns of the altar.

Benaiah came to the LORD’s Tent, and said to him, “The king says, ‘Come out!’” He said, “No; but I will die here.” Benaiah brought the king word again, saying, “This is what Joab said, and this is how he answered me.”

The king put Benaiah the son of Jehoiada in his place over the army; and the king put Zadok the priest in the place of Abiathar.

However, the people sacrificed in the high places, because there was not yet a house built for the LORD’s name.

Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of David his father, except that he sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places.

The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place. Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar.

Solomon awoke; and behold, it was a dream. Then he came to Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the LORD’s covenant, and offered up burnt offerings, offered peace offerings, and made a feast for all his servants.

These were the princes whom he had: Azariah the son of Zadok, the priest;

Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the army; Zadok and Abiathar were priests;

Behold, I intend to build a house for the name of the LORD my God, as the LORD spoke to David my father, saying, ‘Your son, whom I will set on your throne in your place shall build the house for my name.’

In the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel had come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month Ziv, which is the second month, he began to build the LORD’s house.

The house which King Solomon built for the LORD had a length of sixty cubits, and its width twenty, and its height thirty cubits.

The porch in front of the temple of the house had a length of twenty cubits, which was along the width of the house. Ten cubits was its width in front of the house.

He made windows of fixed lattice work for the house.

Against the wall of the house, he built floors all around, against the walls of the house all around, both of the temple and of the inner sanctuary; and he made side rooms all around.

The lowest floor was five cubits wide, and the middle was six cubits wide, and the third was seven cubits wide; for on the outside he made offsets in the wall of the house all around, that the beams should not be inserted into the walls of the house.

The house, when it was under construction, was built of stone prepared at the quarry; and no hammer or axe or any tool of iron was heard in the house while it was under construction.

The door for the middle side rooms was in the right side of the house. They went up by winding stairs into the middle floor, and out of the middle into the third.

So he built the house and finished it; and he covered the house with beams and planks of cedar.

He built the floors all along the house, each five cubits high; and they rested on the house with timbers of cedar.

He built twenty cubits of the back part of the house with boards of cedar from the floor to the ceiling. He built this within, for an inner sanctuary, even for the most holy place.

In front of the temple sanctuary was forty cubits long.

There was cedar on the house within, carved with buds and open flowers. All was cedar. No stone was visible.

He prepared an inner sanctuary in the middle of the house within, to set the ark of the LORD’s covenant there.

Within the inner sanctuary was twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in width, and twenty cubits in its height. He overlaid it with pure gold. He covered the altar with cedar.

So Solomon overlaid the house within with pure gold. He drew chains of gold across before the inner sanctuary, and he overlaid it with gold.

He overlaid the whole house with gold, until all the house was finished. He also overlaid the whole altar that belonged to the inner sanctuary with gold.

In the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim of olive wood, each ten cubits high.

Five cubits was the length of one wing of the cherub, and five cubits was the length of the other wing of the cherub. From the tip of one wing to the tip of the other was ten cubits.

The other cherub was ten cubits. Both the cherubim were of one measure and one form.

One cherub was ten cubits high, and so was the other cherub.

He set the cherubim within the inner house. The wings of the cherubim were stretched out, so that the wing of the one touched the one wall and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall; and their wings touched one another in the middle of the house.

He overlaid the cherubim with gold.

He carved all the walls of the house around with carved figures of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, inside and outside.

He overlaid the floor of the house with gold, inside and outside.

For the entrance of the inner sanctuary, he made doors of olive wood. The lintel and door posts were a fifth part of the wall.

So he made two doors of olive wood; and he carved on them carvings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, and overlaid them with gold. He spread the gold on the cherubim and on the palm trees.

He also made the entrance of the temple door posts of olive wood, out of a fourth part of the wall,

and two doors of cypress wood. The two leaves of the one door were folding, and the two leaves of the other door were folding.

He carved cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers; and he overlaid them with gold fitted on the engraved work.

He built the inner court with three courses of cut stone and a course of cedar beams.

The foundation of the LORD’s house was laid in the fourth year, in the month Ziv.

In the eleventh year, in the month Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was finished throughout all its parts and according to all its specifications. So he spent seven years building it.

The great court around had three courses of cut stone with a course of cedar beams, like the inner court of the LORD’s house and the porch of the house.

He made two capitals of molten bronze to set on the tops of the pillars. The height of the one capital was five cubits, and the height of the other capital was five cubits.

There were nets of checker work and wreaths of chain work for the capitals which were on the top of the pillars: seven for the one capital, and seven for the other capital.

So he made the pillars; and there were two rows of pomegranates around the one network, to cover the capitals that were on the top of the pillars; and he did so for the other capital.

The capitals that were on the top of the pillars in the porch were of lily work, four cubits.

There were capitals above also on the two pillars, close by the belly which was beside the network. There were two hundred pomegranates in rows around the other capital.

He set up the pillars at the porch of the temple. He set up the right pillar and called its name Jachin; and he set up the left pillar and called its name Boaz.

On the tops of the pillars was lily work. So the work of the pillars was finished.

He made the molten sea ten cubits from brim to brim, round in shape. Its height was five cubits; and a line of thirty cubits encircled it.

Under its brim around there were buds which encircled it for ten cubits, encircling the sea. The buds were in two rows, cast when it was cast.

It stood on twelve oxen, three looking towards the north, and three looking towards the west, and three looking towards the south, and three looking towards the east; and the sea was set on them above, and all their hindquarters were inward.

and on the panels that were between the ledges were lions, oxen, and cherubim; and on the ledges there was a pedestal above; and beneath the lions and oxen were wreaths of hanging work.

On the plates of its supports and on its panels, he engraved cherubim, lions, and palm trees, each in its space, with wreaths all around.

He made the ten bases in this way: all of them had one casting, one measure, and one form.

He made ten basins of bronze. One basin contained forty baths. Every basin measured four cubits. One basin was on every one of the ten bases.

He set the bases, five on the right side of the house and five on the left side of the house. He set the sea on the right side of the house eastward and towards the south.

Hiram made the pots, the shovels, and the basins. So Hiram finished doing all the work that he worked for King Solomon in the LORD’s house:

the two pillars; the two bowls of the capitals that were on the top of the pillars; the two networks to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the top of the pillars;

the four hundred pomegranates for the two networks; two rows of pomegranates for each network, to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the pillars;

the ten bases; the ten basins on the bases;

the one sea; the twelve oxen under the sea;

the pots; the shovels; and the basins. All of these vessels, which Hiram made for King Solomon in the LORD’s house, were of burnished bronze.

Solomon made all the vessels that were in the LORD’s house: the golden altar and the table that the show bread was on, of gold;

and the lamp stands, five on the right side and five on the left, in front of the inner sanctuary, of pure gold; and the flowers, the lamps, and the tongs, of gold;

the cups, the snuffers, the basins, the spoons, and the fire pans, of pure gold; and the hinges, both for the doors of the inner house, the most holy place, and for the doors of the house, of the temple, of gold.

Thus all the work that King Solomon did in the LORD’s house was finished. Solomon brought in the things which David his father had dedicated—the silver, the gold, and the vessels—and put them in the treasuries of the LORD’s house.

Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel with all the heads of the tribes, the princes of the fathers’ households of the children of Israel, to King Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the LORD’s covenant out of David’s city, which is Zion.

All the men of Israel assembled themselves to King Solomon at the feast in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month.

All the elders of Israel came, and the priests picked up the ark.

They brought up the LORD’s ark, the Tent of Meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the Tent. The priests and the Levites brought these up.

King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, who were assembled to him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing sheep and cattle that could not be counted or numbered for multitude.

The priests brought in the ark of the LORD’s covenant to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the house, to the most holy place, even under the cherubim’s wings.

For the cherubim spread their wings out over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered the ark and its poles above.

The poles were so long that the ends of the poles were seen from the holy place before the inner sanctuary, but they were not seen outside. They are there to this day.

It came to pass, when the priests had come out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the LORD’s house,

so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud; for the LORD’s glory filled the LORD’s house.

Then Solomon said, “The LORD has said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.

I have surely built you a house of habitation, a place for you to dwell in forever.”

The king turned his face around and blessed all the assembly of Israel; and all the assembly of Israel stood.

“Now it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel.

The LORD has established his word that he spoke; for I have risen up in the place of David my father, and I sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised, and have built the house for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel.

There I have set a place for the ark, in which is the LORD’s covenant, which he made with our fathers when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.”

Solomon stood before the LORD’s altar in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands towards heaven;

and he said, “LORD, the God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven above, or on earth beneath; who keeps covenant and loving kindness with your servants who walk before you with all their heart;

But will God in very deed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens can’t contain you; how much less this house that I have built!

Yet have respect for the prayer of your servant and for his supplication, LORD my God, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which your servant prays before you today;

that your eyes may be open towards this house night and day, even towards the place of which you have said, ‘My name shall be there;’ to listen to the prayer which your servant prays towards this place.

“If a man sins against his neighbour, and an oath is laid on him to cause him to swear, and he comes and swears before your altar in this house,

whatever prayer and supplication is made by any man, or by all your people Israel, who shall each know the plague of his own heart, and spread out his hands towards this house,

that they may fear you all the days that they live in the land which you gave to our fathers.

“Moreover, concerning the foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, when he comes out of a far country for your name’s sake

(for they shall hear of your great name and of your mighty hand and of your outstretched arm), when he comes and prays towards this house,

hear in heaven, your dwelling place, and do according to all that the foreigner calls to you for; that all the peoples of the earth may know your name, to fear you, as do your people Israel, and that they may know that this house which I have built is called by your name.

“If your people go out to battle against their enemy, by whatever way you shall send them, and they pray to the LORD towards the city which you have chosen, and towards the house which I have built for your name,

It was so, that when Solomon had finished praying all this prayer and supplication to the LORD, he arose from before the LORD’s altar, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread out towards heaven.

He stood and blessed all the assembly of Israel with a loud voice, saying,

that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD himself is God. There is no one else.

The king, and all Israel with him, offered sacrifice before the LORD.

Solomon offered for the sacrifice of peace offerings, which he offered to the LORD, twenty two thousand head of cattle and one hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the children of Israel dedicated the LORD’s house.

The same day the king made the middle of the court holy that was before the LORD’s house; for there he offered the burnt offering, the meal offering, and the fat of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar that was before the LORD was too little to receive the burnt offering, the meal offering, and the fat of the peace offerings.

So Solomon held the feast at that time, and all Israel with him, a great assembly, from the entrance of Hamath to the brook of Egypt, before the LORD our God, seven days and seven more days, even fourteen days.

When Solomon had finished the building of the LORD’s house, the king’s house, and all Solomon’s desire which he was pleased to do,

The LORD said to him, “I have heard your prayer and your supplication that you have made before me. I have made this house holy, which you have built, to put my name there forever; and my eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually.

But if you turn away from following me, you or your children, and not keep my commandments and my statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them,

then I will cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and I will cast this house, which I have made holy for my name, out of my sight; and Israel will be a proverb and a byword amongst all peoples.

Though this house is so high, yet everyone who passes by it will be astonished and hiss; and they will say, ‘Why has the LORD done this to this land and to this house?’

and they will answer, ‘Because they abandoned the LORD their God, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and embraced other gods, and worshipped them, and served them. Therefore the LORD has brought all this evil on them.’”

At the end of twenty years, in which Solomon had built the two houses, the LORD’s house and the king’s house

This is the reason of the forced labour which King Solomon conscripted: to build the LORD’s house, his own house, Millo, Jerusalem’s wall, Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer.

Solomon offered burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar which he built to the LORD three times per year, burning incense with them on the altar that was before the LORD. So he finished the house.

the food of his table, the sitting of his servants, the attendance of his officials, their clothing, his cup bearers, and his ascent by which he went up to the LORD’s house, there was no more spirit in her.

The king made of the almug trees pillars for the LORD’s house and for the king’s house, harps also and stringed instruments for the singers; no such almug trees came or were seen to this day.

For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.

Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, on the mountain that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the children of Ammon.

So he did for all his foreign wives, who burnt incense and sacrificed to their gods.

because they have forsaken me, and have worshipped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of Moab, and Milcom the god of the children of Ammon. They have not walked in my ways, to do that which is right in my eyes, and to keep my statutes and my ordinances, as David his father did.

I will give one tribe to his son, that David my servant may have a lamp always before me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen for myself to put my name there.

If this people goes up to offer sacrifices in the LORD’s house at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn again to their lord, even to Rehoboam king of Judah; and they will kill me, and return to Rehoboam king of Judah.”

So the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold; and he said to them, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Look and behold your gods, Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt!”

He set the one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan.

This thing became a sin, for the people went even as far as Dan to worship before the one there.

He made houses of high places, and made priests from amongst all the people, who were not of the sons of Levi.

Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like the feast that is in Judah, and he went up to the altar. He did so in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he had made, and he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places that he had made.

He went up to the altar which he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day in the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised of his own heart; and he ordained a feast for the children of Israel, and went up to the altar to burn incense.

Behold, a man of God came out of Judah by the LORD’s word to Bethel; and Jeroboam was standing by the altar to burn incense.

He cried against the altar by the LORD’s word, and said, “Altar! Altar! the LORD says: ‘Behold, a son will be born to David’s house, Josiah by name. On you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and they will burn men’s bones on you.’”

He gave a sign the same day, saying, “This is the sign which the LORD has spoken: Behold, the altar will be split apart, and the ashes that are on it will be poured out.”

The altar was also split apart, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the LORD’s word.

but have done evil above all who were before you, and have gone and made for yourself other gods, molten images, to provoke me to anger, and have cast me behind your back,

For they also built for themselves high places, sacred pillars, and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree.

It was so, that as often as the king went into the LORD’s house, the guard bore them, and brought them back into the guard room.

He brought into the LORD’s house the things that his father had dedicated, and the things that he himself had dedicated: silver, gold, and utensils.

As if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, he took as wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal and worshipped him.

He raised up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria.

Ahab made the Asherah; and Ahab did more yet to provoke the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him.

As Obadiah was on the way, behold, Elijah met him. He recognised him, and fell on his face, and said, “Is it you, my lord Elijah?”

You call on the name of your god, and I will call on the LORD’s name. The God who answers by fire, let him be God.” All the people answered, “What you say is good.”

They took the bull which was given them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, “Baal, hear us!” But there was no voice, and nobody answered. They leapt about the altar which was made.

They cried aloud, and cut themselves in their way with knives and lances until the blood gushed out on them.

When midday was past, they prophesied until the time of the evening offering; but there was no voice, no answer, and nobody paid attention.

Elijah said to all the people, “Come near to me!”; and all the people came near to him. He repaired the LORD’s altar that had been thrown down.

Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the LORD’s word came, saying, “Israel shall be your name.”

With the stones he built an altar in the LORD’s name. He made a trench around the altar large enough to contain two seahs of seed.

He put the wood in order, and cut the bull in pieces and laid it on the wood. He said, “Fill four jars with water, and pour it on the burnt offering and on the wood.”

He said, “Do it a second time;” and they did it the second time. He said, “Do it a third time;” and they did it the third time.

The water ran around the altar; and he also filled the trench with water.

At the time of the evening offering, Elijah the prophet came near and said, “LORD, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word.

Hear me, LORD, hear me, that this people may know that you, LORD, are God, and that you have turned their heart back again.”

Then the LORD’s fire fell and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, and the dust; and it licked up the water that was in the trench.

When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces. They said, “The LORD, he is God! the LORD, he is God!”

So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he bowed himself down on the earth, and put his face between his knees.

He said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the LORD.” Behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake.

When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle, went out, and stood in the entrance of the cave. Behold, a voice came to him, and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

Yet I reserved seven thousand in Israel, all the knees of which have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth which has not kissed him.”

He did very abominably in following idols, according to all that the Amorites did, whom the LORD cast out before the children of Israel.

Now the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah were sitting each on his throne, arrayed in their robes, in an open place at the entrance of the gate of Samaria; and all the prophets were prophesying before them.

Micaiah said, “Therefore hear the LORD’s word. I saw the LORD sitting on his throne, and all the army of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left.

He walked in all the way of Asa his father. He didn’t turn away from it, doing that which was right in the LORD’s eyes. However, the high places were not taken away. The people still sacrificed and burnt incense on the high places.

He served Baal and worshipped him, and provoked the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger in all the ways that his father had done so.

Ahaziah fell down through the lattice in his upper room that was in Samaria, and was sick. So he sent messengers, and said to them, “Go, enquire of Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron, whether I will recover of this sickness.”

But the LORD’s angel said to Elijah the Tishbite, “Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and tell them, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you go to enquire of Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron?

They said to him, “A man came up to meet us, and said to us, ‘Go, return to the king who sent you, and tell him, “The LORD says, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you send to enquire of Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore you will not come down from the bed where you have gone up, but you will surely die.’”’”

When the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho facing him saw him, they said, “The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.” They came to meet him, and bowed themselves to the ground before him.

Elisha said, “As the LORD of Armies lives, before whom I stand, surely, were it not that I respect the presence of Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would not look towards you, nor see you.

But now bring me a musician.” When the musician played, the LORD’s hand came on him.

In the morning, about the time of offering the sacrifice, behold, water came by the way of Edom, and the country was filled with water.

He said, “Why would you want to go to him today? It is not a new moon or a Sabbath.” She said, “It’s all right.”

Then she went in, fell at his feet, and bowed herself to the ground; then she picked up her son, and went out.

But Naaman was angry, and went away and said, “Behold, I thought, ‘He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place, and heal the leper.’

He returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and came, and stood before him; and he said, “See now, I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel. Now therefore, please take a gift from your servant.”

Naaman said, “If not, then, please let two mules’ load of earth be given to your servant; for your servant will from now on offer neither burnt offering nor sacrifice to other gods, but to the LORD.

In this thing may the LORD pardon your servant: when my master goes into the house of Rimmon to worship there, and he leans on my hand, and I bow myself in the house of Rimmon. When I bow myself in the house of Rimmon, may the LORD pardon your servant in this thing.”

He said, “Come with me, and see my zeal for the LORD.” So they made him ride in his chariot.

Jehu gathered all the people together, and said to them, “Ahab served Baal a little, but Jehu will serve him much.

Now therefore call to me all the prophets of Baal, all of his worshippers, and all of his priests. Let no one be absent, for I have a great sacrifice to Baal. Whoever is absent, he shall not live.” But Jehu did deceptively, intending to destroy the worshippers of Baal.

Jehu said, “Sanctify a solemn assembly for Baal!” So they proclaimed it.

Jehu sent through all Israel; and all the worshippers of Baal came, so that there was not a man left that didn’t come. They came into the house of Baal; and the house of Baal was filled from one end to another.

He said to him who kept the wardrobe, “Bring out robes for all the worshippers of Baal!” So he brought robes out to them.

Jehu went with Jehonadab the son of Rechab into the house of Baal. Then he said to the worshippers of Baal, “Search, and see that none of the servants of the LORD are here with you, but only the worshippers of Baal.”

So they went in to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings. Now Jehu had appointed for himself eighty men outside, and said, “If any of the men whom I bring into your hands escape, he who lets him go, his life shall be for the life of him.”

As soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, Jehu said to the guard and to the captains, “Go in and kill them! Let no one escape.” So they struck them with the edge of the sword. The guard and the captains threw the bodies out, and went to the inner shrine of the house of Baal.

They brought out the pillars that were in the house of Baal and burnt them.

They broke down the pillar of Baal, and broke down the house of Baal, and made it a latrine, to this day.

However, Jehu didn’t depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin—the golden calves that were in Bethel and that were in Dan.

But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the LORD, the God of Israel, with all his heart. He didn’t depart from the sins of Jeroboam, with which he made Israel to sin.

He commanded them, saying, “This is what you must do: a third of you, who come in on the Sabbath, shall be keepers of the watch of the king’s house;

The two companies of you, even all who go out on the Sabbath, shall keep the watch of the LORD’s house around the king.

The guard stood, every man with his weapons in his hand, from the right side of the house to the left side of the house, along by the altar and the house, around the king.

When Athaliah heard the noise of the guard and of the people, she came to the people into the LORD’s house;

and she looked, and behold, the king stood by the pillar, as the tradition was, with the captains and the trumpets by the king; and all the people of the land rejoiced, and blew trumpets. Then Athaliah tore her clothes and cried, “Treason! Treason!”

Jehoiada the priest commanded the captains of hundreds who were set over the army, and said to them, “Bring her out between the ranks. Kill anyone who follows her with the sword.” For the priest said, “Don’t let her be slain in the LORD’s house.”

All the people of the land went to the house of Baal, and broke it down. They broke his altars and his images in pieces thoroughly, and killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. The priest appointed officers over the LORD’s house.

He took the captains over hundreds, and the Carites, and the guard, and all the people of the land; and they brought down the king from the LORD’s house, and came by the way of the gate of the guard to the king’s house. He sat on the throne of the kings.

However, the high places were not taken away. The people still sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places.

Jehoash said to the priests, “All the money of the holy things that is brought into the LORD’s house, in current money, the money of the people for whom each man is evaluated, and all the money that it comes into any man’s heart to bring into the LORD’s house,

But Jehoiada the priest took a chest and bored a hole in its lid, and set it beside the altar, on the right side as one comes into the LORD’s house; and the priests who kept the threshold put all the money that was brought into the LORD’s house into it.

When they saw that there was much money in the chest, the king’s scribe and the high priest came up, and they put it in bags and counted the money that was found in the LORD’s house.

They gave the money that was weighed out into the hands of those who did the work, who had the oversight of the LORD’s house; and they paid it out to the carpenters and the builders who worked on the LORD’s house,

and to the masons and the stone cutters, and for buying timber and cut stone to repair the damage to the LORD’s house, and for all that was laid out for the house to repair it.

But there were not made for the LORD’s house cups of silver, snuffers, basins, trumpets, any vessels of gold or vessels of silver, of the money that was brought into the LORD’s house;

for they gave that to those who did the work, and repaired the LORD’s house with it.

The money for the trespass offerings and the money for the sin offerings was not brought into the LORD’s house. It was the priests’.

Jehoash king of Judah took all the holy things that Jehoshaphat and Jehoram and Ahaziah, his fathers, kings of Judah, had dedicated, and his own holy things, and all the gold that was found in the treasures of the LORD’s house, and of the king’s house, and sent it to Hazael king of Syria; and he went away from Jerusalem.

However the high places were not taken away. The people still sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places.

However, the high places were not taken away. The people still sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places.

However the high places were not taken away. The people still sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places. He built the upper gate of the LORD’s house.

He sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree.

Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the LORD’s house, and in the treasures of the king’s house, and sent it for a present to the king of Assyria.

King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath Pileser king of Assyria, and saw the altar that was at Damascus; and King Ahaz sent to Urijah the priest a drawing of the altar and plans to build it.

Urijah the priest built an altar. According to all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus, so Urijah the priest made it for the coming of King Ahaz from Damascus.

When the king had come from Damascus, the king saw the altar; and the king came near to the altar, and offered on it.

He burnt his burnt offering and his meal offering, poured his drink offering, and sprinkled the blood of his peace offerings on the altar.

The bronze altar, which was before the LORD, he brought from the front of the house, from between his altar and the LORD’s house, and put it on the north side of his altar.

King Ahaz commanded Urijah the priest, saying, “On the great altar burn the morning burnt offering, the evening meal offering, the king’s burnt offering and his meal offering, with the burnt offering of all the people of the land, their meal offering, and their drink offerings; and sprinkle on it all the blood of the burnt offering, and all the blood of the sacrifice; but the bronze altar will be for me to enquire by.”

Urijah the priest did so, according to all that King Ahaz commanded.

King Ahaz cut off the panels of the bases, and removed the basin from off them, and took down the sea from off the bronze oxen that were under it, and put it on a pavement of stone.

He removed the covered way for the Sabbath that they had built in the house, and the king’s outer entrance to the LORD’s house, because of the king of Assyria.

The children of Israel secretly did things that were not right against the LORD their God; and they built high places for themselves in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fortified city;

and they set up for themselves pillars and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree;

and there they burnt incense in all the high places, as the nations whom the LORD carried away before them did; and they did wicked things to provoke the LORD to anger;

and they served idols, of which the LORD had said to them, “You shall not do this thing.”

They abandoned all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made molten images for themselves, even two calves, and made an Asherah, and worshipped all the army of the sky, and served Baal.

Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, “Carry there one of the priests whom you brought from there; and let him go and dwell there, and let him teach them the law of the god of the land.”

So one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and lived in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear the LORD.

However every nation made gods of their own, and put them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities in which they lived.

The men of Babylon made Succoth Benoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima,

and the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sepharvites burnt their children in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.

So they feared the LORD, and also made from amongst themselves priests of the high places for themselves, who sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places.

They feared the LORD, and also served their own gods, after the ways of the nations from amongst whom they had been carried away.

with whom the LORD had made a covenant and commanded them, saying, “You shall not fear other gods, nor bow yourselves to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them;

but you shall fear the LORD, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power and with an outstretched arm, and you shall bow yourselves to him, and you shall sacrifice to him.

The statutes and the ordinances, and the law and the commandment which he wrote for you, you shall observe to do forever more. You shall not fear other gods.

You shall not forget the covenant that I have made with you. You shall not fear other gods.

But you shall fear the LORD your God, and he will deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies.”

So these nations feared the LORD, and also served their engraved images. Their children did likewise, and so did their children’s children. They do as their fathers did to this day.

He removed the high places, broke the pillars, and cut down the Asherah. He also broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, because in those days the children of Israel burnt incense to it; and he called it Nehushtan.

At that time, Hezekiah cut off the gold from the doors of the LORD’s temple, and from the pillars which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria.

But if you tell me, ‘We trust in the LORD our God,’ isn’t that he whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and has said to Judah and to Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem’?

When King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the LORD’s house.

Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it. Then Hezekiah went up to the LORD’s house, and spread it before the LORD.

Hezekiah prayed before the LORD, and said, “LORD, the God of Israel, who are enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, even you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.

Incline your ear, LORD, and hear. Open your eyes, LORD, and see. Hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to defy the living God.

and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. Therefore they have destroyed them.

Now therefore, LORD our God, save us, I beg you, out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, LORD, are God alone.”

As he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. Esar Haddon his son reigned in his place.

Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “What will be the sign that the LORD will heal me, and that I will go up to the LORD’s house the third day?”

For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and he raised up altars for Baal, and made an Asherah, as Ahab king of Israel did, and worshipped all the army of the sky, and served them.

He built altars in the LORD’s house, of which the LORD said, “I will put my name in Jerusalem.”

He built altars for all the army of the sky in the two courts of the LORD’s house.

He set the engraved image of Asherah that he had made in the house of which the LORD said to David and to Solomon his son, “In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever;

He walked in all the ways that his father walked in, and served the idols that his father served, and worshipped them;

In the eighteenth year of King Josiah, the king sent Shaphan, the son of Azaliah the son of Meshullam, the scribe, to the LORD’s house, saying,

“Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may count the money which is brought into the LORD’s house, which the keepers of the threshold have gathered of the people.

Let them deliver it into the hand of the workers who have the oversight of the LORD’s house; and let them give it to the workers who are in the LORD’s house, to repair the damage to the house,

to the carpenters, and to the builders, and to the masons, and for buying timber and cut stone to repair the house.

Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe, “I have found the book of the law in the LORD’s house.” Hilkiah delivered the book to Shaphan, and he read it.

Shaphan the scribe came to the king, and brought the king word again, and said, “Your servants have emptied out the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hands of the workmen who have the oversight of the LORD’s house.”

The king went up to the LORD’s house, and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him—with the priests, the prophets, and all the people, both small and great; and he read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the LORD’s house.

The king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the LORD to walk after the LORD and to keep his commandments, his testimonies, and his statutes with all his heart and all his soul, to confirm the words of this covenant that were written in this book; and all the people agreed to the covenant.

The king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the threshold, to bring out of the LORD’s temple all the vessels that were made for Baal, for the Asherah, and for all the army of the sky; and he burnt them outside of Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron, and carried their ashes to Bethel.

He got rid of the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah and in the places around Jerusalem; those also who burnt incense to Baal, to the sun, to the moon, to the planets, and to all the army of the sky.

He brought out the Asherah from the LORD’s house, outside of Jerusalem, to the brook Kidron, and burnt it at the brook Kidron, and beat it to dust, and cast its dust on the graves of the common people.

He broke down the houses of the male shrine prostitutes that were in the LORD’s house, where the women wove hangings for the Asherah.

He brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burnt incense, from Geba to Beersheba; and he broke down the high places of the gates that were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on a man’s left hand at the gate of the city.

Nevertheless the priests of the high places didn’t come up to the LORD’s altar in Jerusalem, but they ate unleavened bread amongst their brothers.

He defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech.

He took away the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun, at the entrance of the LORD’s house, by the room of Nathan Melech the officer who was in the court; and he burnt the chariots of the sun with fire.

The king broke down the altars that were on the roof of the upper room of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the LORD’s house, and beat them down from there, and cast their dust into the brook Kidron.

The king defiled the high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mountain of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon.

He broke in pieces the pillars, cut down the Asherah poles, and filled their places with men’s bones.

The king commanded all the people, saying, “Keep the Passover to the LORD your God, as it is written in this book of the covenant.”

Surely there was not kept such a Passover from the days of the judges who judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, nor of the kings of Judah;

but in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, this Passover was kept to the LORD in Jerusalem.

He carried out from there all the treasures of the LORD’s house and the treasures of the king’s house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the LORD’s temple, as the LORD had said.

The two pillars, the one sea, and the bases, which Solomon had made for the LORD’s house, the bronze of all these vessels was not weighed.

The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits, and a capital of bronze was on it. The height of the capital was three cubits, with network and pomegranates on the capital around it, all of bronze; and the second pillar with its network was like these.

Johanan became the father of Azariah, who executed the priest’s office in the house that Solomon built in Jerusalem.

These are they whom David set over the service of song in the LORD’s house after the ark came to rest there.

They ministered with song before the tabernacle of the Tent of Meeting until Solomon had built the LORD’s house in Jerusalem. They performed the duties of their office according to their order.

These are those who served, and their sons. Of the sons of the Kohathites: Heman the singer, the son of Joel, the son of Samuel,

Their brothers the Levites were appointed for all the service of the tabernacle of God’s house.

But Aaron and his sons offered on the altar of burnt offering, and on the altar of incense, for all the work of the most holy place, and to make atonement for Israel, according to all that Moses the servant of God had commanded.

Now the first inhabitants who lived in their possessions in their cities were Israel, the priests, the Levites, and the temple servants.

Of the priests: Jedaiah, Jehoiarib, Jachin,

and Azariah the son of Hilkiah, the son of Meshullam, the son of Zadok, the son of Meraioth, the son of Ahitub, the ruler of God’s house;

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

and their brothers, heads of their fathers’ houses, one thousand and seven hundred and sixty; they were very able men for the work of the service of God’s house.

Of the Levites: Shemaiah the son of Hasshub, the son of Azrikam, the son of Hashabiah, of the sons of Merari;

and Bakbakkar, Heresh, Galal, and Mattaniah the son of Mica, the son of Zichri, the son of Asaph,

and Obadiah the son of Shemaiah, the son of Galal, the son of Jeduthun; and Berechiah the son of Asa, the son of Elkanah, who lived in the villages of the Netophathites.

The gatekeepers: Shallum, Akkub, Talmon, Ahiman, and their brothers (Shallum was the chief),

who previously served in the king’s gate eastward. They were the gatekeepers for the camp of the children of Levi.

Shallum was the son of Kore, the son of Ebiasaph, the son of Korah, and his brothers, of his father’s house, the Korahites, were over the work of the service, keepers of the thresholds of the tent. Their fathers had been over the LORD’s camp, keepers of the entry.

Zechariah the son of Meshelemiah was gatekeeper of the door of the Tent of Meeting.

So they and their children had the oversight of the gates of the LORD’s house, even the house of the tent, as guards.

On the four sides were the gatekeepers, towards the east, west, north, and south.

for the four chief gatekeepers, who were Levites, were in an office of trust, and were over the rooms and over the treasuries in God’s house.

They stayed around God’s house, because that was their duty; and it was their duty to open it morning by morning.

Certain of them were in charge of the vessels of service, for these were brought in by count, and these were taken out by count.

Some of them also were appointed over the furniture, and over all the vessels of the sanctuary, over the fine flour, the wine, the oil, the frankincense, and the spices.

Some of the sons of the priests prepared the mixing of the spices.

Mattithiah, one of the Levites, who was the firstborn of Shallum the Korahite, had the office of trust over the things that were baked in pans.

Some of their brothers, of the sons of the Kohathites, were over the show bread, to prepare it every Sabbath.

These are the singers, heads of fathers’ households of the Levites, who lived in the rooms and were free from other service, for they were employed in their work day and night.

They stripped him and took his head and his armour, then sent into the land of the Philistines all around to carry the news to their idols and to the people.

They put his armour in the house of their gods, and fastened his head in the house of Dagon.

all the valiant men arose and took away the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons, and brought them to Jabesh, and buried their bones under the oak in Jabesh, and fasted seven days.

and said, “My God forbid me, that I should do this! Shall I drink the blood of these men who have put their lives in jeopardy?” For they risked their lives to bring it. Therefore he would not drink it. The three mighty men did these things.

David said to all the assembly of Israel, “If it seems good to you, and if it is of the LORD our God, let’s send word everywhere to our brothers who are left in all the land of Israel, with whom the priests and Levites are in their cities that have pasture lands, that they may gather themselves to us.

Also, let’s bring the ark of our God back to us again, for we didn’t seek it in the days of Saul.”

So David assembled all Israel together, from the Shihor River of Egypt even to the entrance of Hamath, to bring God’s ark from Kiriath Jearim.

David went up with all Israel to Baalah, that is, to Kiriath Jearim, which belonged to Judah, to bring up from there God the LORD’s ark that sits above the cherubim, that is called by the Name.

They carried God’s ark on a new cart, and brought it out of Abinadab’s house; and Uzza and Ahio drove the cart.

David and all Israel played before God with all their might, even with songs, with harps, with stringed instruments, with tambourines, with cymbals, and with trumpets.

When they came to Chidon’s threshing floor, Uzza put out his hand to hold the ark, for the oxen stumbled.

David made himself houses in David’s city; and he prepared a place for God’s ark, and pitched a tent for it.

Then David said, “No one ought to carry God’s ark but the Levites. For the LORD has chosen them to carry God’s ark, and to minister to him forever.”

David assembled all Israel at Jerusalem, to bring up the LORD’s ark to its place, which he had prepared for it.

David gathered together the sons of Aaron and the Levites:

of the sons of Kohath, Uriel the chief, and his brothers one hundred and twenty;

of the sons of Merari, Asaiah the chief, and his brothers two hundred and twenty;

of the sons of Gershom, Joel the chief, and his brothers one hundred and thirty;

of the sons of Elizaphan, Shemaiah the chief, and his brothers two hundred;

David called for Zadok and Abiathar the priests, and for the Levites: for Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel, and Amminadab,

and said to them, “You are the heads of the fathers’ households of the Levites. Sanctify yourselves, both you and your brothers, that you may bring the ark of the LORD, the God of Israel, up to the place that I have prepared for it.

So the priests and the Levites sanctified themselves to bring up the ark of the LORD, the God of Israel.

The children of the Levites bore God’s ark on their shoulders with its poles, as Moses commanded according to the LORD’s word.

David spoke to the chief of the Levites to appoint their brothers as singers with instruments of music, stringed instruments, harps, and cymbals, sounding aloud and lifting up their voices with joy.

So the Levites appointed Heman the son of Joel; and of his brothers, Asaph the son of Berechiah; and of the sons of Merari their brothers, Ethan the son of Kushaiah;

and with them their brothers of the second rank: Zechariah, Ben, Jaaziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-Edom, and Jeiel, the doorkeepers.

So the singers, Heman, Asaph, and Ethan, were given cymbals of bronze to sound aloud;

and Zechariah, Aziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Maaseiah, and Benaiah, with stringed instruments set to Alamoth;

and Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-Edom, Jeiel, and Azaziah, with harps tuned to the eight-stringed lyre, to lead.

Chenaniah, chief of the Levites, was over the singing. He taught the singers, because he was skilful.

Berechiah and Elkanah were doorkeepers for the ark.

Shebaniah, Joshaphat, Nethanel, Amasai, Zechariah, Benaiah, and Eliezer, the priests, blew the trumpets before God’s ark; and Obed-Edom and Jehiah were doorkeepers for the ark.

So David, the elders of Israel, and the captains over thousands went to bring the ark of the LORD’s covenant up out of the house of Obed-Edom with joy.

When God helped the Levites who bore the ark of the LORD’s covenant, they sacrificed seven bulls and seven rams.

David was clothed with a robe of fine linen, as were all the Levites who bore the ark, the singers, and Chenaniah the choir master with the singers; and David had an ephod of linen on him.

Thus all Israel brought the ark of the LORD’s covenant up with shouting, with sound of the cornet, with trumpets, and with cymbals, sounding aloud with stringed instruments and harps.

As the ark of the LORD’s covenant came to David’s city, Michal the daughter of Saul looked out at the window, and saw king David dancing and playing; and she despised him in her heart.

They brought in God’s ark, and set it in the middle of the tent that David had pitched for it; and they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before God.

When David had finished offering the burnt offering and the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the LORD’s name.

He appointed some of the Levites to minister before the LORD’s ark, and to commemorate, to thank, and to praise the LORD, the God of Israel:

Asaph the chief, and second to him Zechariah, then Jeiel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Mattithiah, Eliab, Benaiah, Obed-Edom, and Jeiel, with stringed instruments and with harps; and Asaph with cymbals, sounding aloud;

with Benaiah and Jahaziel the priests with trumpets continually, before the ark of the covenant of God.

Then on that day David first ordained giving of thanks to the LORD by the hand of Asaph and his brothers.

Oh give thanks to the LORD. Call on his name. Make what he has done known amongst the peoples.

Sing to him. Sing praises to him. Tell of all his marvellous works.

Glory in his holy name. Let the heart of those who seek the LORD rejoice.

Seek the LORD and his strength. Seek his face forever more.

Remember his marvellous works that he has done, his wonders, and the judgements of his mouth,

He is the LORD our God. His judgements are in all the earth.

Sing to the LORD, all the earth! Display his salvation from day to day.

Declare his glory amongst the nations, and his marvellous works amongst all the peoples.

For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised. He also is to be feared above all gods.

For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but the LORD made the heavens.

Honour and majesty are before him. Strength and gladness are in his place.

Ascribe to the LORD, you families of the peoples, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength!

Ascribe to the LORD the glory due to his name. Bring an offering, and come before him. Worship the LORD in holy array.

Tremble before him, all the earth. The world also is established that it can’t be moved.

Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice! Let them say amongst the nations, “The LORD reigns!”

Let the sea roar, and its fullness! Let the field exult, and all that is in it!

Then the trees of the forest will sing for joy before the LORD, for he comes to judge the earth.

Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting even to everlasting. All the people said, “Amen,” and praised the LORD.

So he left Asaph and his brothers there before the ark of the LORD’s covenant, to minister before the ark continually, as every day’s work required;

and Obed-Edom with their sixty-eight relatives; Obed-Edom also the son of Jeduthun and Hosah to be doorkeepers;

and Zadok the priest and his brothers the priests, before the LORD’s tabernacle in the high place that was at Gibeon,

to offer burnt offerings to the LORD on the altar of burnt offering continually morning and evening, even according to all that is written in the LORD’s law, which he commanded to Israel;

and with them Heman and Jeduthun and the rest who were chosen, who were mentioned by name, to give thanks to the LORD, because his loving kindness endures forever;

and with them Heman and Jeduthun with trumpets and cymbals for those that should sound aloud, and with instruments for the songs of God, and the sons of Jeduthun to be at the gate.

When David was living in his house, David said to Nathan the prophet, “Behold, I live in a cedar house, but the ark of the LORD’s covenant is in a tent.”

He will build me a house, and I will establish his throne forever.

Then David the king went in and sat before the LORD; and he said, “Who am I, LORD God, and what is my house, that you have brought me this far?

LORD, for your servant’s sake, and according to your own heart, you have done all this greatness, to make known all these great things.

LORD, there is no one like you, neither is there any God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears.

Let your name be established and magnified forever, saying, ‘The LORD of Armies is the God of Israel, even a God to Israel. The house of David your servant is established before you.’

King David also dedicated these to the LORD, with the silver and the gold that he carried away from all the nations: from Edom, from Moab, from the children of Ammon, from the Philistines, and from Amalek.

Zadok the son of Ahitub and Abimelech the son of Abiathar were priests; Shavsha was scribe;

David lifted up his eyes, and saw the LORD’s angel standing between earth and the sky, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell on their faces.

Then the LORD’s angel commanded Gad to tell David that David should go up and raise an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

As David came to Ornan, Ornan looked and saw David, and went out of the threshing floor, and bowed himself to David with his face to the ground.

Then David said to Ornan, “Sell me the place of this threshing floor, that I may build an altar to the LORD on it. You shall sell it to me for the full price, that the plague may be stopped from afflicting the people.”

Ornan said to David, “Take it for yourself, and let my lord the king do that which is good in his eyes. Behold, I give the oxen for burnt offerings, and the threshing instruments for wood, and the wheat for the meal offering. I give it all.”

King David said to Ornan, “No, but I will most certainly buy it for the full price. For I will not take that which is yours for the LORD, nor offer a burnt offering that costs me nothing.”

So David gave to Ornan six hundred shekels of gold by weight for the place.

David built an altar to the LORD there, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and called on the LORD; and he answered him from the sky by fire on the altar of burnt offering.

At that time, when David saw that the LORD had answered him in the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, then he sacrificed there.

For the LORD’s tabernacle, which Moses made in the wilderness, and the altar of burnt offering, were at that time in the high place at Gibeon.

Then David said, “This is the house of the LORD God, and this is the altar of burnt offering for Israel.”

David gave orders to gather together the foreigners who were in the land of Israel; and he set masons to cut dressed stones to build God’s house.

David prepared iron in abundance for the nails for the doors of the gates and for the couplings, and bronze in abundance without weight,

and cedar trees without number, for the Sidonians and the people of Tyre brought cedar trees in abundance to David.

David said, “Solomon my son is young and tender, and the house that is to be built for the LORD must be exceedingly magnificent, of fame and of glory throughout all countries. I will therefore make preparation for it.” So David prepared abundantly before his death.

Then he called for Solomon his son, and commanded him to build a house for the LORD, the God of Israel.

David said to Solomon his son, “As for me, it was in my heart to build a house to the name of the LORD my God.

He shall build a house for my name; and he will be my son, and I will be his father; and I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever.’

Now, my son, may the LORD be with you and prosper you, and build the house of the LORD your God, as he has spoken concerning you.

Now, behold, in my affliction I have prepared for the LORD’s house one hundred thousand talents of gold, one million talents of silver, and bronze and iron without weight; for it is in abundance. I have also prepared timber and stone; and you may add to them.

There are also workmen with you in abundance—cutters and workers of stone and timber, and all kinds of men who are skilful in every kind of work;

Now set your heart and your soul to follow the LORD your God. Arise therefore, and build the sanctuary of the LORD God, to bring the ark of the LORD’s covenant and the holy vessels of God into the house that is to be built for the LORD’s name.”

He gathered together all the princes of Israel, with the priests and the Levites.

The Levites were counted from thirty years old and upward; and their number by their polls, man by man, was thirty-eight thousand.

David said, “Of these, twenty-four thousand were to oversee the work of the LORD’s house, six thousand were officers and judges,

four thousand were doorkeepers, and four thousand praised the LORD with the instruments which I made for giving praise.”

David divided them into divisions according to the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

The sons of Amram: Aaron and Moses; and Aaron was separated that he should sanctify the most holy things, he and his sons forever, to burn incense before the LORD, to minister to him, and to bless in his name forever.

These were the sons of Levi after their fathers’ houses, even the heads of the fathers’ houses of those who were counted individually, in the number of names by their polls, who did the work for the service of the LORD’s house, from twenty years old and upward.

Also the Levites will no longer need to carry the tabernacle and all its vessels for its service.”

For their duty was to wait on the sons of Aaron for the service of the LORD’s house—in the courts, in the rooms, and in the purifying of all holy things, even the work of the service of God’s house;

for the show bread also, and for the fine flour for a meal offering, whether of unleavened wafers, or of that which is baked in the pan, or of that which is soaked, and for all measurements of quantity and size;

and to stand every morning to thank and praise the LORD, and likewise in the evening;

and to offer all burnt offerings to the LORD on the Sabbaths, on the new moons, and on the set feasts, in number according to the ordinance concerning them, continually before the LORD;

and that they should keep the duty of the Tent of Meeting, the duty of the holy place, and the duty of the sons of Aaron their brothers for the service of the LORD’s house.

But Nadab and Abihu died before their father, and had no children; therefore Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests.

David, with Zadok of the sons of Eleazar and Ahimelech of the sons of Ithamar, divided them according to their ordering in their service.

Thus they were divided impartially by drawing lots; for there were princes of the sanctuary and princes of God, both of the sons of Eleazar, and of the sons of Ithamar.

Shemaiah the son of Nethanel the scribe, who was of the Levites, wrote them in the presence of the king, the princes, Zadok the priest, Ahimelech the son of Abiathar, and the heads of the fathers’ households of the priests and of the Levites; one fathers’ house being taken for Eleazar, and one taken for Ithamar.

Now the first lot came out to Jehoiarib, the second to Jedaiah,

the third to Harim, the fourth to Seorim,

the fifth to Malchijah, 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 Jachin, the twenty-second to Gamul,

the twenty-third to Delaiah, and the twenty-fourth to Maaziah.

This was their ordering in their service, to come into the LORD’s house according to the ordinance given to them by Aaron their father, as the LORD, the God of Israel, had commanded him.

Of the rest of the sons of Levi: of the sons of Amram, Shubael; of the sons of Shubael, Jehdeiah.

Of Rehabiah: of the sons of Rehabiah, Isshiah the chief.

Of the Izharites, Shelomoth; of the sons of Shelomoth, Jahath.

The sons of Hebron: Jeriah, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, and Jekameam the fourth.

The sons of Uzziel: Micah; of the sons of Micah, Shamir.

Moreover, David and the captains of the army set apart for the service certain of the sons of Asaph, of Heman, and of Jeduthun, who were to prophesy with harps, with stringed instruments, and with cymbals. The number of those who did the work according to their service was:

of the sons of Asaph: Zaccur, Joseph, Nethaniah, and Asharelah. The sons of Asaph were under the hand of Asaph, who prophesied at the order of the king.

Of Jeduthun, the sons of Jeduthun: Gedaliah, Zeri, Jeshaiah, Shimei, Hashabiah, and Mattithiah, six, under the hands of their father Jeduthun, who prophesied in giving thanks and praising the LORD with the harp.

All these were the sons of Heman the king’s seer in the words of God, to lift up the horn. God gave to Heman fourteen sons and three daughters.

All these were under the hands of their father for song in the LORD’s house, with cymbals, stringed instruments, and harps, for the service of God’s house: Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman being under the order of the king.

The number of them, with their brothers who were instructed in singing to the LORD, even all who were skilful, was two hundred and eighty-eight.

the seventh to Jesharelah, his sons and his brothers, twelve;

the eighth to Jeshaiah, his sons and his brothers, twelve;

the ninth to Mattaniah, his sons and his brothers, twelve;

the tenth to Shimei, his sons and his brothers, twelve;

the eleventh to Azarel, his sons and his brothers, twelve;

the twelfth to Hashabiah, his sons and his brothers, twelve;

for the thirteenth, Shubael, his sons and his brothers, twelve;

for the fourteenth, Mattithiah, his sons and his brothers, twelve;

for the fifteenth to Jeremoth, his sons and his brothers, twelve;

for the sixteenth to Hananiah, his sons and his brothers, twelve;

for the seventeenth to Joshbekashah, his sons and his brothers, twelve;

for the eighteenth to Hanani, his sons and his brothers, twelve;

for the nineteenth to Mallothi, his sons and his brothers, twelve;

for the twentieth to Eliathah, his sons and his brothers, twelve;

for the twenty-first to Hothir, his sons and his brothers, twelve;

for the twenty-second to Giddalti, his sons and his brothers, twelve;

for the twenty-third to Mahazioth, his sons and his brothers, twelve;

for the twenty-fourth to Romamti-Ezer, his sons and his brothers, twelve.

For the divisions of the doorkeepers: of the Korahites, Meshelemiah the son of Kore, of the sons of Asaph.

All these were of the sons of Obed-Edom with their sons and their brothers, able men in strength for the service: sixty-two of Obed-Edom.

Of these were the divisions of the doorkeepers, even of the chief men, having offices like their brothers, to minister in the LORD’s house.

Eastward were six Levites, northward four a day, southward four a day, and for the storehouse two and two.

For Parbar westward, four at the causeway, and two at Parbar.

These were the divisions of the doorkeepers; of the sons of the Korahites, and of the sons of Merari.

Of the Levites, Ahijah was over the treasures of God’s house and over the treasures of the dedicated things.

The sons of Ladan, the sons of the Gershonites belonging to Ladan, the heads of the fathers’ households belonging to Ladan the Gershonite: Jehieli.

The sons of Jehieli: Zetham, and Joel his brother, over the treasures of the LORD’s house.

This Shelomoth and his brothers were over all the treasuries of the dedicated things, which David the king, and the heads of the fathers’ households, the captains over thousands and hundreds, and the captains of the army, had dedicated.

They dedicated some of the plunder won in battles to repair the LORD’s house.

All that Samuel the seer, Saul the son of Kish, Abner the son of Ner, and Joab the son of Zeruiah had dedicated, whoever had dedicated anything, it was under the hand of Shelomoth and of his brothers.

Of the Hebronites, Hashabiah and his brothers, one thousand and seven hundred men of valour, had the oversight of Israel beyond the Jordan westward, for all the business of the LORD and for the service of the king.

Then David the king stood up on his feet and said, “Hear me, my brothers and my people! As for me, it was in my heart to build a house of rest for the ark of the LORD’s covenant, and for the footstool of our God; and I had prepared for the building.

Take heed now, for the LORD has chosen you to build a house for the sanctuary. Be strong, and do it.”

Then David gave to Solomon his son the plans for the porch of the temple, for its houses, for its treasuries, for its upper rooms, for its inner rooms, for the place of the mercy seat;

and the plans of all that he had by the Spirit, for the courts of the LORD’s house, for all the surrounding rooms, for the treasuries of God’s house, and for the treasuries of the dedicated things;

also for the divisions of the priests and the Levites, for all the work of the service of the LORD’s house, and for all the vessels of service in the LORD’s house—

of gold by weight for the gold for all vessels of every kind of service, for all the vessels of silver by weight, for all vessels of every kind of service;

by weight also for the lamp stands of gold, and for its lamps, of gold, by weight for every lamp stand and for its lamps; and for the lamp stands of silver, by weight for every lamp stand and for its lamps, according to the use of every lamp stand;

and the gold by weight for the tables of show bread, for every table; and silver for the tables of silver;

and the forks, the basins, and the cups, of pure gold; and for the golden bowls by weight for every bowl; and for the silver bowls by weight for every bowl;

and for the altar of incense, refined gold by weight; and gold for the plans for the chariot, and the cherubim that spread out and cover the ark of the LORD’s covenant.

Behold, there are the divisions of the priests and the Levites for all the service of God’s house. Every willing man who has skill for any kind of service shall be with you in all kinds of work. Also the captains and all the people will be entirely at your command.”

David the king said to all the assembly, “Solomon my son, whom alone God has chosen, is yet young and tender, and the work is great; for the palace is not for man, but for the LORD God.

Now I have prepared with all my might for the house of my God the gold for the things of gold, the silver for the things of silver, the bronze for the things of bronze, iron for the things of iron, and wood for the things of wood, also onyx stones, stones to be set, stones for inlaid work of various colours, all kinds of precious stones, and marble stones in abundance.

In addition, because I have set my affection on the house of my God, since I have a treasure of my own of gold and silver, I give it to the house of my God, over and above all that I have prepared for the holy house:

even three thousand talents of gold, of the gold of Ophir, and seven thousand talents of refined silver, with which to overlay the walls of the houses;

of gold for the things of gold, and of silver for the things of silver, and for all kinds of work to be made by the hands of artisans. Who then offers willingly to consecrate himself today to the LORD?”

and they gave for the service of God’s house of gold five thousand talents and ten thousand darics, of silver ten thousand talents, of bronze eighteen thousand talents, and of iron one hundred thousand talents.

People with whom precious stones were found gave them to the treasure of the LORD’s house, under the hand of Jehiel the Gershonite.

Then the people rejoiced, because they offered willingly, because with a perfect heart they offered willingly to the LORD; and David the king also rejoiced with great joy.

Therefore David blessed the LORD before all the assembly; and David said, “You are blessed, LORD, the God of Israel our father, forever and ever.

Yours, LORD, is the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty! For all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, LORD, and you are exalted as head above all.

Both riches and honour come from you, and you rule over all! In your hand is power and might! It is in your hand to make great, and to give strength to all!

Now therefore, our God, we thank you and praise your glorious name.

But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly as this? For all things come from you, and we have given you of your own.

For we are strangers before you and foreigners, as all our fathers were. Our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is no remaining.

LORD our God, all this store that we have prepared to build you a house for your holy name comes from your hand, and is all your own.

Then David said to all the assembly, “Now bless the LORD your God!” All the assembly blessed the LORD, the God of their fathers, and bowed down their heads and prostrated themselves before the LORD and the king.

They sacrificed sacrifices to the LORD and offered burnt offerings to the LORD on the next day after that day, even one thousand bulls, one thousand rams, and one thousand lambs, with their drink offerings and sacrifices in abundance for all Israel,

and ate and drank before the LORD on that day with great gladness. They made Solomon the son of David king the second time, and anointed him before the LORD to be prince, and Zadok to be priest.

Then Solomon, and all the assembly with him, went to the high place that was at Gibeon; for God’s Tent of Meeting was there, which the LORD’s servant Moses had made in the wilderness.

But David had brought God’s ark up from Kiriath Jearim to the place that David had prepared for it; for he had pitched a tent for it at Jerusalem.

Moreover the bronze altar that Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, had made was there before the LORD’s tabernacle; and Solomon and the assembly were seeking counsel there.

Solomon went up there to the bronze altar before the LORD, which was at the Tent of Meeting, and offered one thousand burnt offerings on it.

So Solomon came from the high place that was at Gibeon, from before the Tent of Meeting, to Jerusalem; and he reigned over Israel.

Now Solomon decided to build a house for the LORD’s name, and a house for his kingdom.

Behold, I am about to build a house for the name of the LORD my God, to dedicate it to him, to burn before him incense of sweet spices, for the continual show bread, and for the burnt offerings morning and evening, on the Sabbaths, on the new moons, and on the set feasts of the LORD our God. This is an ordinance forever to Israel.

“The house which I am building will be great, for our God is greater than all gods.

But who is able to build him a house, since heaven and the heaven of heavens can’t contain him? Who am I then, that I should build him a house, except just to burn incense before him?

even to prepare me timber in abundance; for the house which I am about to build will be great and wonderful.

Then Solomon began to build the LORD’s house at Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the LORD appeared to David his father, which he prepared in the place that David had appointed, on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

He began to build in the second day of the second month, in the fourth year of his reign.

Now these are the foundations which Solomon laid for the building of God’s house: the length by cubits after the first measure was sixty cubits, and the width twenty cubits.

The porch that was in front, its length, across the width of the house, was twenty cubits, and the height one hundred and twenty; and he overlaid it within with pure gold.

He made the larger room with a ceiling of cypress wood, which he overlaid with fine gold, and ornamented it with palm trees and chains.

He decorated the house with precious stones for beauty. The gold was gold from Parvaim.

He also overlaid the house, the beams, the thresholds, its walls, and its doors with gold, and engraved cherubim on the walls.

He made the most holy place. Its length, according to the width of the house, was twenty cubits, and its width twenty cubits; and he overlaid it with fine gold, amounting to six hundred talents.

The weight of the nails was fifty shekels of gold. He overlaid the upper rooms with gold.

In the most holy place he made two cherubim by carving, and they overlaid them with gold.

The wings of the cherubim were twenty cubits long: the wing of the one was five cubits, reaching to the wall of the house; and the other wing was five cubits, reaching to the wing of the other cherub.

The wing of the other cherub was five cubits, reaching to the wall of the house; and the other wing was five cubits, joining to the wing of the other cherub.

The wings of these cherubim spread themselves out twenty cubits. They stood on their feet, and their faces were towards the house.

He made the veil of blue, purple, crimson, and fine linen, and ornamented it with cherubim.

Also he made before the house two pillars thirty-five cubits high, and the capital that was on the top of each of them was five cubits.

He made chains in the inner sanctuary, and put them on the tops of the pillars; and he made one hundred pomegranates, and put them on the chains.

He set up the pillars before the temple, one on the right hand and the other on the left; and called the name of that on the right hand Jachin, and the name of that on the left Boaz.

Then he made an altar of bronze, twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and ten cubits high.

Also he made the molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim. It was round, five cubits high, and thirty cubits in circumference.

Under it was the likeness of oxen, which encircled it, for ten cubits, encircling the sea. The oxen were in two rows, cast when it was cast.

It stood on twelve oxen, three looking towards the north, three looking towards the west, three looking towards the south, and three looking towards the east; and the sea was set on them above, and all their hindquarters were inward.

It was a handbreadth thick. Its brim was made like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily. It received and held three thousand baths.

He also made ten basins, and put five on the right hand and five on the left, to wash in them. The things that belonged to the burnt offering were washed in them, but the sea was for the priests to wash in.

He made the ten lamp stands of gold according to the ordinance concerning them; and he set them in the temple, five on the right hand and five on the left.

He made also ten tables, and placed them in the temple, five on the right side and five on the left. He made one hundred basins of gold.

Furthermore he made the court of the priests, the great court, and doors for the court, and overlaid their doors with bronze.

He set the sea on the right side of the house eastward, towards the south.

Huram made the pots, the shovels, and the basins. So Huram finished doing the work that he did for King Solomon in God’s house:

the two pillars, the bowls, the two capitals which were on the top of the pillars, the two networks to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the top of the pillars,

and the four hundred pomegranates for the two networks—two rows of pomegranates for each network, to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the pillars.

He also made the bases, and he made the basins on the bases—

one sea, and the twelve oxen under it.

Huram-abi also made the pots, the shovels, the forks, and all its vessels for King Solomon, for the LORD’s house, of bright bronze.

The king cast them in the plain of the Jordan, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zeredah.

Thus Solomon made all these vessels in great abundance, so that the weight of the bronze could not be determined.

Solomon made all the vessels that were in God’s house: the golden altar, the tables with the show bread on them,

and the lamp stands with their lamps to burn according to the ordinance before the inner sanctuary, of pure gold;

and the flowers, the lamps, and the tongs of gold that was purest gold;

and the snuffers, the basins, the spoons, and the fire pans of pure gold. As for the entry of the house, its inner doors for the most holy place and the doors of the main hall of the temple were of gold.

Thus all the work that Solomon did for the LORD’s house was finished. Solomon brought in the things that David his father had dedicated, even the silver, the gold, and all the vessels, and put them in the treasuries of God’s house.

Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the princes of the fathers’ households of the children of Israel, to Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the LORD’s covenant out of David’s city, which is Zion.

So all the men of Israel assembled themselves to the king at the feast, which was in the seventh month.

All the elders of Israel came. The Levites took up the ark.

They brought up the ark, the Tent of Meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the Tent. The Levitical priests brought these up.

King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel who were assembled to him were before the ark, sacrificing sheep and cattle that could not be counted or numbered for multitude.

The priests brought in the ark of the LORD’s covenant to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the house, to the most holy place, even under the wings of the cherubim.

For the cherubim spread out their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered the ark and its poles above.

The poles were so long that the ends of the poles were seen from the ark in front of the inner sanctuary, but they were not seen outside; and it is there to this day.

When the priests had come out of the holy place (for all the priests who were present had sanctified themselves, and didn’t keep their divisions;

also the Levites who were the singers, all of them, even Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, and their sons and their brothers, arrayed in fine linen, with cymbals and stringed instruments and harps, stood at the east end of the altar, and with them one hundred and twenty priests sounding with trumpets);

when the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the LORD; and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and praised the LORD, saying, “For he is good, for his loving kindness endures forever!” then the house was filled with a cloud, even the LORD’s house,

so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud; for the LORD’s glory filled God’s house.

But I have built you a house and home, a place for you to dwell in forever.”

The king turned his face, and blessed all the assembly of Israel; and all the assembly of Israel stood.

Now it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel.

“The LORD has performed his word that he spoke; for I have risen up in the place of David my father, and sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised, and have built the house for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel.

There I have set the ark, in which is the LORD’s covenant, which he made with the children of Israel.”

He stood before the LORD’s altar in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands

(for Solomon had made a bronze platform, five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high, and had set it in the middle of the court; and he stood on it, and knelt down on his knees before all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands towards heaven).

Then he said, “LORD, the God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven or on earth—you who keep covenant and loving kindness with your servants who walk before you with all their heart;

“But will God indeed dwell with men on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens can’t contain you; how much less this house which I have built!

Yet have respect for the prayer of your servant and to his supplication, LORD my God, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which your servant prays before you;

that your eyes may be open towards this house day and night, even towards the place where you have said that you would put your name, to listen to the prayer which your servant will pray towards this place.

“If a man sins against his neighbour, and an oath is laid on him to cause him to swear, and he comes and swears before your altar in this house,

“If your people Israel are struck down before the enemy because they have sinned against you, and they turn again and confess your name, and pray and make supplication before you in this house,

whatever prayer and supplication is made by any man, or by all your people Israel, who will each know his own plague and his own sorrow, and shall spread out his hands towards this house,

“Moreover, concerning the foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, when he comes from a far country for your great name’s sake and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm, when they come and pray towards this house,

then hear from heaven, even from your dwelling place, and do according to all that the foreigner calls to you for; that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your people Israel, and that they may know that this house which I have built is called by your name.

“If your people go out to battle against their enemies, by whatever way you send them, and they pray to you towards this city which you have chosen, and the house which I have built for your name;

Now when Solomon had finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the LORD’s glory filled the house.

The priests could not enter into the LORD’s house, because the LORD’s glory filled the LORD’s house.

All the children of Israel looked on, when the fire came down, and the LORD’s glory was on the house. They bowed themselves with their faces to the ground on the pavement, worshipped, and gave thanks to the LORD, saying, “For he is good, for his loving kindness endures forever!”

Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices before the LORD.

King Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty-two thousand head of cattle and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the people dedicated God’s house.

The priests stood, according to their positions; the Levites also with instruments of music of the LORD, which David the king had made to give thanks to the LORD, when David praised by their ministry, saying “For his loving kindness endures forever.” The priests sounded trumpets before them; and all Israel stood.

Moreover Solomon made the middle of the court that was before the LORD’s house holy; for there he offered the burnt offerings and the fat of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar which Solomon had made was not able to receive the burnt offering, the meal offering, and the fat.

So Solomon held the feast at that time for seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great assembly, from the entrance of Hamath to the brook of Egypt.

On the eighth day, they held a solemn assembly; for they kept the dedication of the altar seven days, and the feast seven days.

Then the LORD appeared to Solomon by night, and said to him, “I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place for myself for a house of sacrifice.

For now I have chosen and made this house holy, that my name may be there forever; and my eyes and my heart will be there perpetually.

But if you turn away and forsake my statutes and my commandments which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them,

then I will pluck them up by the roots out of my land which I have given them; and this house, which I have made holy for my name, I will cast out of my sight, and I will make it a proverb and a byword amongst all peoples.

They shall answer, ‘Because they abandoned the LORD, the God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and took other gods, worshipped them, and served them. Therefore he has brought all this evil on them.’”

At the end of twenty years, in which Solomon had built the LORD’s house and his own house,

Solomon brought up Pharaoh’s daughter out of David’s city to the house that he had built for her; for he said, “My wife shall not dwell in the house of David king of Israel, because the places where the LORD’s ark has come are holy.”

Then Solomon offered burnt offerings to the LORD on the LORD’s altar which he had built before the porch,

even as the duty of every day required, offering according to the commandment of Moses on the Sabbaths, on the new moons, and on the set feasts, three times per year, during the feast of unleavened bread, during the feast of weeks, and during the feast of booths.

He appointed, according to the ordinance of David his father, the divisions of the priests to their service, and the Levites to their offices, to praise and to minister before the priests, as the duty of every day required, the doorkeepers also by their divisions at every gate, for David the man of God had so commanded.

Now all the work of Solomon was accomplished from the day of the foundation of the LORD’s house until it was finished. So the LORD’s house was completed.

the food of his table, the seating of his servants, the attendance of his ministers, their clothing, his cup bearers and their clothing, and his ascent by which he went up to the LORD’s house, there was no more spirit in her.

The king used algum tree wood to make terraces for the LORD’s house and for the king’s house, and harps and stringed instruments for the singers. There were none like these seen before in the land of Judah.

The priests and the Levites who were in all Israel stood with him out of all their territory.

For the Levites left their pasture lands and their possessions, and came to Judah and Jerusalem; for Jeroboam and his sons cast them off, that they should not execute the priest’s office to the LORD.

He himself appointed priests for the high places, for the male goat and calf idols which he had made.

After them, out of all the tribes of Israel, those who set their hearts to seek the LORD, the God of Israel, came to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the LORD, the God of their fathers.

As often as the king entered into the LORD’s house, the guard came and bore them, then brought them back into the guard room.

“Now you intend to withstand the kingdom of the LORD in the hand of the sons of David. You are a great multitude, and the golden calves which Jeroboam made you for gods are with you.

Haven’t you driven out the priests of the LORD, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and made priests for yourselves according to the ways of the peoples of other lands? Whoever comes to consecrate himself with a young bull and seven rams may be a priest of those who are no gods.

“But as for us, the LORD is our God, and we have not forsaken him. We have priests serving the LORD, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites in their work.

They burn to the LORD every morning and every evening burnt offerings and sweet incense. They also set the show bread in order on the pure table, and care for the gold lamp stand with its lamps, to burn every evening; for we keep the instruction of the LORD our God, but you have forsaken him.

Behold, God is with us at our head, and his priests with the trumpets of alarm to sound an alarm against you. Children of Israel, don’t fight against the LORD, the God of your fathers; for you will not prosper.”

When Judah looked back, behold, the battle was before and behind them; and they cried to the LORD, and the priests sounded with the trumpets.

for he took away the foreign altars and the high places, broke down the pillars, cut down the Asherah poles,

and commanded Judah to seek the LORD, the God of their fathers, and to obey his law and command.

Also he took away out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the sun images; and the kingdom was quiet before him.

When Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and put away the abominations out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities which he had taken from the hill country of Ephraim; and he renewed the LORD’s altar that was before the LORD’s porch.

He gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and those who lived with them out of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon; for they came to him out of Israel in abundance when they saw that the LORD his God was with him.

They sacrificed to the LORD in that day, of the plunder which they had brought, seven hundred head of cattle and seven thousand sheep.

They entered into the covenant to seek the LORD, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul;

They swore to the LORD with a loud voice, with shouting, with trumpets, and with cornets.

He brought the things that his father had dedicated and that he himself had dedicated, silver, gold, and vessels into God’s house.

They buried him in his own tomb, which he had dug out for himself in David’s city, and laid him in the bed which was filled with sweet odours and various kinds of spices prepared by the perfumers’ art; and they made a very great fire for him.

The LORD was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the first ways of his father David, and didn’t seek the Baals,

but sought the God of his father, and walked in his commandments, and not in the ways of Israel.

His heart was lifted up in the ways of the LORD. Furthermore, he took away the high places and the Asherah poles out of Judah.

Now the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah each sat on his throne, arrayed in their robes, and they were sitting in an open place at the entrance of the gate of Samaria; and all the prophets were prophesying before them.

Micaiah said, “Therefore hear the LORD’s word: I saw the LORD sitting on his throne, and all the army of heaven standing on his right hand and on his left.

Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the LORD’s house, before the new court;

and he said, “LORD, the God of our fathers, aren’t you God in heaven? Aren’t you ruler over all the kingdoms of the nations? Power and might are in your hand, so that no one is able to withstand you.

They lived in it, and have built you a sanctuary in it for your name, saying,

All Judah stood before the LORD, with their little ones, their wives, and their children.

Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground; and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before the LORD, worshipping the LORD.

The Levites, of the children of the Kohathites and of the children of the Korahites, stood up to praise the LORD, the God of Israel, with an exceedingly loud voice.

When he had taken counsel with the people, he appointed those who were to sing to the LORD and give praise in holy array as they go out before the army, and say, “Give thanks to the LORD, for his loving kindness endures forever.”

On the fourth day, they assembled themselves in Beracah Valley, for there they blessed the LORD. Therefore the name of that place was called “Beracah Valley” to this day.

They came to Jerusalem with stringed instruments, harps, and trumpets to the LORD’s house.

However the high places were not taken away, and the people had still not set their hearts on the God of their fathers.

Moreover he made high places in the mountains of Judah, and made the inhabitants of Jerusalem play the prostitute, and led Judah astray.

All the assembly made a covenant with the king in God’s house. Jehoiada said to them, “Behold, the king’s son must reign, as the LORD has spoken concerning the sons of David.

This is the thing that you must do: a third part of you, who come in on the Sabbath, of the priests and of the Levites, shall be gatekeepers of the thresholds.

A third part shall be at the king’s house; and a third part at the gate of the foundation. All the people will be in the courts of the LORD’s house.

But let no one come into the LORD’s house except the priests and those who minister of the Levites. They shall come in, for they are holy, but all the people shall follow the LORD’s instructions.

So the Levites and all Judah did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded. They each took his men, those who were to come in on the Sabbath, with those who were to go out on the Sabbath, for Jehoiada the priest didn’t dismiss the shift.

Jehoiada the priest delivered to the captains of hundreds the spears, bucklers, and shields that had been king David’s, which were in God’s house.

He set all the people, every man with his weapon in his hand, from the right side of the house to the left side of the house, near the altar and the house, around the king.

Then they brought out the king’s son, put the crown on him, gave him the covenant, and made him king. Jehoiada and his sons anointed him, and they said, “Long live the king!”

When Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and praising the king, she came to the people into the LORD’s house.

Then she looked, and behold, the king stood by his pillar at the entrance, with the captains and the trumpeters by the king. All the people of the land rejoiced and blew trumpets. The singers also played musical instruments, and led the singing of praise. Then Athaliah tore her clothes, and said, “Treason! treason!”

Jehoiada the priest brought out the captains of hundreds who were set over the army, and said to them, “Bring her out between the ranks; and whoever follows her, let him be slain with the sword.” For the priest said, “Don’t kill her in the LORD’s house.”

All the people went to the house of Baal, broke it down, broke his altars and his images in pieces, and killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars.

Jehoiada appointed the officers of the LORD’s house under the hand of the Levitical priests, whom David had distributed in the LORD’s house, to offer the burnt offerings of the LORD, as it is written in the law of Moses, with rejoicing and with singing, as David had ordered.

He set the gatekeepers at the gates of the LORD’s house, that no one who was unclean in anything should enter in.

After this, Joash intended to restore the LORD’s house.

He gathered together the priests and the Levites, and said to them, “Go out to the cities of Judah, and gather money to repair the house of your God from all Israel from year to year. See that you expedite this matter.” However the Levites didn’t do it right away.

The king called for Jehoiada the chief, and said to him, “Why haven’t you required of the Levites to bring in the tax of Moses the servant of the LORD, and of the assembly of Israel, out of Judah and out of Jerusalem, for the Tent of the Testimony?”

For the sons of Athaliah, that wicked woman, had broken up God’s house; and they also gave all the dedicated things of the LORD’s house to the Baals.

So the king commanded, and they made a chest, and set it outside at the gate of the LORD’s house.

They made a proclamation through Judah and Jerusalem, to bring in for the LORD the tax that Moses the servant of God laid on Israel in the wilderness.

All the princes and all the people rejoiced, and brought in, and cast into the chest, until they had filled it.

Whenever the chest was brought to the king’s officers by the hand of the Levites, and when they saw that there was much money, the king’s scribe and the chief priest’s officer came and emptied the chest, and took it, and carried it to its place again. Thus they did day by day, and gathered money in abundance.

The king and Jehoiada gave it to those who did the work of the service of the LORD’s house. They hired masons and carpenters to restore the LORD’s house, and also those who worked iron and bronze to repair the LORD’s house.

So the workmen worked, and the work of repairing went forward in their hands. They set up God’s house as it was designed, and strengthened it.

When they had finished, they brought the rest of the money before the king and Jehoiada, from which were made vessels for the LORD’s house, even vessels with which to minister and to offer, including spoons and vessels of gold and silver. They offered burnt offerings in the LORD’s house continually all the days of Jehoiada.

They buried him in David’s city amongst the kings, because he had done good in Israel, and towards God and his house.

They abandoned the house of the LORD, the God of their fathers, and served the Asherah poles and the idols, so wrath came on Judah and Jerusalem for this their guiltiness.

Now after Amaziah had come from the slaughter of the Edomites, he brought the gods of the children of Seir, and set them up to be his gods, and bowed down himself before them and burnt incense to them.

They resisted Uzziah the king, and said to him, “It isn’t for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the LORD, but for the priests the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense. Go out of the sanctuary, for you have trespassed. It will not be for your honour from the LORD God.”

Then Uzziah was angry. He had a censer in his hand to burn incense, and while he was angry with the priests, the leprosy broke out on his forehead before the priests in the LORD’s house, beside the altar of incense.

He did that which was right in the LORD’s eyes, according to all that his father Uzziah had done. However he didn’t enter into the LORD’s temple. The people still acted corruptly.

He built the upper gate of the LORD’s house, and he built much on the wall of Ophel.

but he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and also made molten images for the Baals.

Moreover he burnt incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and burnt his children in the fire, according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD cast out before the children of Israel.

He sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree.

For he sacrificed to the gods of Damascus which had defeated him. He said, “Because the gods of the kings of Syria helped them, I will sacrifice to them, that they may help me.” But they were the ruin of him and of all Israel.

Ahaz gathered together the vessels of God’s house, cut the vessels of God’s house in pieces, and shut up the doors of the LORD’s house; and he made himself altars in every corner of Jerusalem.

In every city of Judah he made high places to burn incense to other gods, and provoked the LORD, the God of his fathers, to anger.

In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the LORD’s house and repaired them.

He brought in the priests and the Levites and gathered them together into the wide place on the east,

and said to them, “Listen to me, you Levites! Now sanctify yourselves, and sanctify the house of the LORD, the God of your fathers, and carry the filthiness out of the holy place.

Also they have shut up the doors of the porch, and put out the lamps, and have not burnt incense nor offered burnt offerings in the holy place to the God of Israel.

My sons, don’t be negligent now; for the LORD has chosen you to stand before him, to minister to him, and that you should be his ministers and burn incense.”

Then the Levites arose: Mahath, the son of Amasai, and Joel the son of Azariah, of the sons of the Kohathites; and of the sons of Merari, Kish the son of Abdi, and Azariah the son of Jehallelel; and of the Gershonites, Joah the son of Zimmah, and Eden the son of Joah;

and of the sons of Elizaphan, Shimri and Jeuel; and of the sons of Asaph, Zechariah and Mattaniah;

and of the sons of Heman, Jehuel and Shimei; and of the sons of Jeduthun, Shemaiah and Uzziel.

They gathered their brothers, sanctified themselves, and went in, according to the commandment of the king by the LORD’s words, to cleanse the LORD’s house.

The priests went into the inner part of the LORD’s house to cleanse it, and brought out all the uncleanness that they found in the LORD’s temple into the court of the LORD’s house. The Levites took it from there to carry it out to the brook Kidron.

Now they began on the first day of the first month to sanctify, and on the eighth day of the month they came to the LORD’s porch. They sanctified the LORD’s house in eight days, and on the sixteenth day of the first month they finished.

Then they went in to Hezekiah the king within the palace and said, “We have cleansed all the LORD’s house, including the altar of burnt offering with all its vessels, and the table of show bread with all its vessels.

Moreover, we have prepared and sanctified all the vessels which King Ahaz threw away in his reign when he was unfaithful. Behold, they are before the LORD’s altar.”

Then Hezekiah the king arose early, gathered the princes of the city, and went up to the LORD’s house.

They brought seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs, and seven male goats, for a sin offering for the kingdom, for the sanctuary, and for Judah. He commanded the priests the sons of Aaron to offer them on the LORD’s altar.

So they killed the bulls, and the priests received the blood and sprinkled it on the altar. They killed the rams and sprinkled the blood on the altar. They also killed the lambs and sprinkled the blood on the altar.

They brought near the male goats for the sin offering before the king and the assembly; and they laid their hands on them.

Then the priests killed them, and they made a sin offering with their blood on the altar, to make atonement for all Israel; for the king commanded that the burnt offering and the sin offering should be made for all Israel.

He set the Levites in the LORD’s house with cymbals, with stringed instruments, and with harps, according to the commandment of David, of Gad the king’s seer, and Nathan the prophet; for the commandment was from the LORD by his prophets.

The Levites stood with David’s instruments, and the priests with the trumpets.

Hezekiah commanded them to offer the burnt offering on the altar. When the burnt offering began, the LORD’s song also began, along with the trumpets and instruments of David king of Israel.

All the assembly worshipped, the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded. All this continued until the burnt offering was finished.

When they had finished offering, the king and all who were present with him bowed themselves and worshipped.

Moreover Hezekiah the king and the princes commanded the Levites to sing praises to the LORD with the words of David, and of Asaph the seer. They sang praises with gladness, and they bowed their heads and worshipped.

Then Hezekiah answered, “Now you have consecrated yourselves to the LORD. Come near and bring sacrifices and thank offerings into the LORD’s house.” The assembly brought in sacrifices and thank offerings, and as many as were of a willing heart brought burnt offerings.

The number of the burnt offerings which the assembly brought was seventy bulls, one hundred rams, and two hundred lambs. All these were for a burnt offering to the LORD.

The consecrated things were six hundred head of cattle and three thousand sheep.

Also the burnt offerings were in abundance, with the fat of the peace offerings and with the drink offerings for every burnt offering. So the service of the LORD’s house was set in order.

Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the LORD’s house at Jerusalem, to keep the Passover to the LORD, the God of Israel.

For the king had taken counsel with his princes and all the assembly in Jerusalem to keep the Passover in the second month.

For they could not keep it at that time, because the priests had not sanctified themselves in sufficient number, and the people had not gathered themselves together to Jerusalem.

So they established a decree to make proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beersheba even to Dan, that they should come to keep the Passover to the LORD, the God of Israel, at Jerusalem, for they had not kept it in great numbers in the way it is written.

Now don’t be stiff-necked, as your fathers were, but yield yourselves to the LORD, and enter into his sanctuary, which he has sanctified forever, and serve the LORD your God, that his fierce anger may turn away from you.

Many people assembled at Jerusalem to keep the feast of unleavened bread in the second month, a very great assembly.

They arose and took away the altars that were in Jerusalem, and they took away all the altars for incense and threw them into the brook Kidron.

Then they killed the Passover on the fourteenth day of the second month. The priests and the Levites were ashamed, and sanctified themselves, and brought burnt offerings into the LORD’s house.

They stood in their place after their order, according to the law of Moses the man of God. The priests sprinkled the blood which they received of the hand of the Levites.

For there were many in the assembly who had not sanctified themselves; therefore the Levites were in charge of killing the Passovers for everyone who was not clean, to sanctify them to the LORD.

The children of Israel who were present at Jerusalem kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with great gladness. The Levites and the priests praised the LORD day by day, singing with loud instruments to the LORD.

Hezekiah spoke encouragingly to all the Levites who had good understanding in the service of the LORD. So they ate throughout the feast for the seven days, offering sacrifices of peace offerings and making confession to the LORD, the God of their fathers.

The whole assembly took counsel to keep another seven days, and they kept another seven days with gladness.

For Hezekiah king of Judah gave to the assembly for offerings one thousand bulls and seven thousand sheep; and the princes gave to the assembly a thousand bulls and ten thousand sheep; and a great number of priests sanctified themselves.

All the assembly of Judah, with the priests and the Levites, and all the assembly who came out of Israel, and the foreigners who came out of the land of Israel and who lived in Judah, rejoiced.

So there was great joy in Jerusalem; for since the time of Solomon the son of David king of Israel there was nothing like this in Jerusalem.

Then the Levitical priests arose and blessed the people. Their voice was heard, and their prayer came up to his holy habitation, even to heaven.

Hezekiah appointed the divisions of the priests and the Levites after their divisions, every man according to his service, both the priests and the Levites, for burnt offerings and for peace offerings, to minister, to give thanks, and to praise in the gates of the LORD’s camp.

He also appointed the king’s portion of his possessions for the burnt offerings: for the morning and evening burnt offerings, and the burnt offerings for the Sabbaths, for the new moons, and for the set feasts, as it is written in the LORD’s law.

Moreover he commanded the people who lived in Jerusalem to give the portion of the priests and the Levites, that they might give themselves to the LORD’s law.

The children of Israel and Judah, who lived in the cities of Judah, also brought in the tithe of cattle and sheep, and the tithe of dedicated things which were consecrated to the LORD their God, and laid them in heaps.

When Hezekiah and the princes came and saw the heaps, they blessed the LORD and his people Israel.

Then Hezekiah commanded them to prepare rooms in the LORD’s house, and they prepared them.

They brought in the offerings, the tithes, and the dedicated things faithfully. Conaniah the Levite was ruler over them, and Shimei his brother was second.

Kore the son of Imnah the Levite, the gatekeeper at the east gate, was over the free will offerings of God, to distribute the LORD’s offerings and the most holy things.

in addition to those who were listed by genealogy of males, from three years old and upward, even everyone who entered into the LORD’s house, as the duty of every day required, for their service in their offices according to their divisions;

and those who were listed by genealogy of the priests by their fathers’ houses, and the Levites from twenty years old and upward, in their offices by their divisions;

and those who were listed by genealogy of all their little ones, their wives, their sons, and their daughters, through all the congregation; for in their office of trust they sanctified themselves in holiness.