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17 The Lord told Moses 18 to speak to the Israelites and tell them this:
When you come to the land to which I am bringing you 19 and when you eat from the food of the land, you are to present an elevated offering to the Lord. 20 From the first of your dough you are to present a round[a] loaf as an elevated offering. You are to lift it up just like an elevated offering from the threshing floor. 21 For your generations to come, you will give to the Lord an elevated offering from the first of your dough.
Offerings for Unintentional Sins
22 When you err unintentionally and do not carry out all these commands, which the Lord has spoken to Moses— 23 everything that the Lord has commanded you through Moses, from the day that the Lord first gave these commands and onward, for your generations to come— 24 if it was done unintentionally, and the community was not aware of it, the entire community shall offer one young bull as a whole burnt offering, as a pleasing aroma to the Lord, with its grain offering and its drink offering, according to the ordinance, and one male goat as a sin offering. 25 The priest will make atonement for the entire Israelite community, and they will be forgiven, because it was an unintentional error. They are to bring their offering, a gift made by fire to the Lord, and their sin offering before the Lord for their unintentional error. 26 The entire Israelite community and the aliens who reside among them will be forgiven, for all the people were involved in this error unintentionally.
27 If one person errs unintentionally, he must present a year-old female goat for a sin offering. 28 The priest will make atonement for the person who erred unintentionally, since by that unintentional error he sinned against the Lord. When the priest makes atonement for him, he will be forgiven. 29 You shall have a single law for anyone who commits an error unintentionally, whether a native-born Israelite or an alien who resides among you.
30 But a person who does anything defiantly,[b] whether he is native-born or an alien, is blaspheming the Lord. That person must be cut off from among his people. 31 Because he has despised the Lord’s word and has broken his commands, that person will be completely cut off. His guilt shall remain on him.
The Sabbath-Breaker Put to Death
32 While the Israelites were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering wood on the Sabbath day. 33 The people who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses, Aaron, and the entire community. 34 They put him in custody, because it had not been made clear what should be done with him.
35 The Lord said to Moses, “The man must certainly be put to death. The entire community is to stone him outside of the camp.” 36 The entire community brought him outside of the camp and stoned him to death, just as the Lord commanded Moses.
Tassels on Garments
37 The Lord told Moses 38 to speak to the Israelites and tell them this:
Throughout their generations to come, they are to make tassels on the corners of their garments. They are to put a blue cord on the tassels on each corner. 39 These tassels are to be there for you so that when you see them, you will remember all of the Lord’s commands, and you will carry them out. Then you will not prostitute yourselves by chasing after your own heart and your own eyes. 40 This way you will remember and carry out all of my commands and be holy to your God. 41 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from the land of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord your God.
Korah, Dathan, and Abiram
16 Now Korah, who was the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, joined with Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and with On, the son of Peleth. These three were descendants of Reuben. They gathered 2 two hundred fifty well-known Israelites, tribal chiefs of the community, appointed representatives who served on the council, and they rose up against Moses. 3 They assembled together against Moses and Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! For the entire community is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them! Why do you lift yourselves up above the Lord’s assembly?”
4 When Moses heard this, he fell facedown. 5 He said to Korah and to all his followers, “In the morning the Lord will reveal which of you are his and which of you are holy, and he will have that person come near to him. The man he chooses, he will have that man come near to him. 6 Do this, Korah, you and all your followers. Take censers, 7 put fire in them, and place incense on them in the presence of the Lord tomorrow. The man whom the Lord chooses will be set aside as holy. You have gone too far, you Levites!”
8 Moses said to Korah, “Listen, you Levites! 9 Isn’t it enough for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the Israelite community and brought you near to himself to do the work of the Lord’s Dwelling and to stand before the congregation to minister to them, 10 and that he has brought you near, along with all your fellow Levites who are with you? Do you seek the priesthood also? 11 Therefore you and all your followers have gathered together against the Lord! As for Aaron, who is he that you should grumble against him?”
12 Moses sent to summon Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, but they said, “We will not come! 13 Isn’t it enough that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to have us die in the wilderness? Must you also make yourself a ruler over us? 14 Besides this, you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey. You have not given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you gouge out the eyes of these men? We will not come up.”
15 Moses was very angry and said to the Lord, “Do not pay attention to their offering. I have not taken a single donkey from them, nor have I wronged any one of them.”
16 Moses said to Korah, “Tomorrow, you and all your followers are to appear before the Lord—you and they, and Aaron. 17 Every one of them is to take his censer and put incense on it, and each man will present his censer before the Lord, two hundred fifty censers. You and Aaron also, each one of you, will present his censer.”
18 They each took their own censers, put fire in them, placed incense on them, and stood at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting with Moses and Aaron. 19 Korah assembled the entire community opposite Moses and Aaron at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. The glory of the Lord appeared to the entire assembly. 20 The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, 21 “Separate yourselves from this assembly so that I may put an end to them instantly!”
22 But Moses and Aaron fell facedown and said, “O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, when one man sins, will you be angry against the entire community?”
23 The Lord spoke to Moses: 24 “Tell the assembly, ‘Move away from the dwelling of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram!’” 25 So Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram. The elders of Israel followed him. 26 He told the assembly, “Move back from the tents of these wicked men. Do not touch anything that belongs to them, or you will be swept away because of all their sins!” 27 So from every side, they moved away from the dwelling of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the entrance to their tents with their wives, children, and little ones.
28 Moses said, “This is how you will know that the Lord has sent me to do all these things and that all this was not just my idea.[c] 29 If these men die a death like everyone else and if they suffer the same fate that everyone does, then the Lord has not sent me. 30 But if the Lord creates something unheard of and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with everything that belongs to them, and they go down alive into the grave,[d] you will know that these men have treated the Lord with contempt.”
31 As soon as he finished speaking all these words, the ground beneath them split open. 32 The earth opened its mouth and swallowed up everyone who was with Korah, along with their households and all their possessions. 33 So they and everything that belonged to them went down alive into the grave. The earth closed up over them, and they disappeared from the midst of the assembly. 34 Hearing their screams, all the Israelites who were around them fled, because they said, “The earth will swallow us up too!” 35 Fire went out from the Lord and consumed the two hundred fifty men who offered the incense.
36 The Lord spoke to Moses:[e] 37 “Tell Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest to remove the censers from the burning debris and scatter the fire far away, for the censers are holy. 38 Make the censers belonging to those who sinned at the cost of their own lives into hammered sheets for plating the altar, because they presented them before the Lord, and the censers are holy. They will serve as a sign to the Israelites.”
39 Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers, which had been presented by those who had been burned up by fire. They hammered them into plating for the altar 40 as a reminder to the Israelites that no unauthorized person, who is not from the descendants of Aaron, should come near to burn incense before the Lord and become like Korah and his followers. Eleazar the priest did just as the Lord said to him through Moses.
Jesus’ Trial in Pilate’s Court
15 As soon as it was morning, the chief priests, along with the elders, the experts in the law, and the whole Sanhedrin, reached a decision. They bound Jesus, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate. 2 Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?”
He answered him, “It is as you say.”
3 The chief priests accused him of many things. 4 Pilate questioned him again, “Are you not going to answer anything? See how many charges they are bringing against you!”
5 But Jesus still did not answer anything, so Pilate was amazed.
Barabbas or Jesus?
6 At each Festival, Pilate used to release to the people one prisoner whom they requested. 7 There was one named Barabbas, who was imprisoned with the rebels and had committed murder in the rebellion. 8 The crowd came up and began to ask Pilate to do for them what he usually did.
9 Pilate replied, “Do you want me to release the King of the Jews to you?” 10 In fact, he knew that it was because of envy that the chief priests had handed him over.
11 But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release Barabbas to them instead.
12 Again, Pilate replied to them, “Then what do you want me to do with the man you call the King of the Jews?”
13 “Crucify him!” they shouted back.
14 But Pilate said to them, “Why? What has he done wrong?”
But they shouted even louder, “Crucify him!”
15 Since he wanted to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. After he had Jesus flogged, he handed him over to be crucified.
Soldiers Mock Jesus
16 The soldiers led him away inside the palace, which is the Praetorium, and called together the whole cohort[a] of soldiers. 17 They put a purple robe on him, twisted together a crown of thorns, and put it on him. 18 The soldiers began to salute him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” 19 They kept hitting him on the head with a reed and spitting on him. They also kneeled down to pay homage to him.
The Crucifixion
20 When they had mocked him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothing on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.
21 A certain man, Simon of Cyrene (the father of Alexander and Rufus), was passing by on his way in from the country. They forced him to carry Jesus’ cross. 22 They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha, which means, “The place of a skull.” 23 They tried to give him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. 24 They crucified him. And they divided his garments, casting lots for them to decide what each of them would take.
25 Now it was the third hour[b] when they crucified him. 26 The superscription stating the charge against him read, “The King of the Jews.” 27 They also crucified two criminals with him, one on his right and one on his left.[c]
29 Those who passed by ridiculed him, shaking their heads and saying, “Ha! You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, 30 save yourself! Come down from the cross!”
31 In the same way, the chief priests along with the experts in the law mocked him among themselves. “He saved others,” they said. “He cannot save himself. 32 Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross so that we may see and believe!”
Those who were crucified with him also insulted him.
Jesus’ Death
33 When it was the sixth hour,[d] darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour.[e] 34 At the ninth hour Jesus shouted with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”[f]
35 When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “Listen, he’s calling Elijah!”
36 Someone ran, filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a stick, and gave it to him to drink. They said, “Leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to take him down.”
37 Jesus cried out with a loud voice and breathed his last. 38 The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. 39 When the centurion who stood facing him saw how he cried out and breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”
40 There were also women watching from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. 41 When he was in Galilee, they followed him and served him. Many other women also came up with him to Jerusalem.
Jesus’ Burial
42 It was already evening, and since it was Preparation Day (that is, the day before the Sabbath), 43 Joseph from Arimathea, a prominent member of the Council, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, boldly went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. 44 Pilate was surprised that he was already dead. He summoned the centurion and asked him if Jesus had been dead for a long time. 45 When he learned from the centurion that it was so, he granted the body to Joseph. 46 Joseph bought a linen cloth, took him down, and wrapped him in the linen cloth. He laid him in a tomb that had been cut out of rock, and he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. 47 Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses were watching where the body was laid.
Psalm 54
Ruthless Men Seek My Life
Heading
For the choir director. With stringed instruments.
A maskil by David. When the Ziphites went and said to Saul, “Isn’t David hiding himself with us?”[a]
The Plea
1 God, save me by your name.
By your power judge me justly.
2 God, hear my prayer.
Turn your ear to the words of my mouth.
The Problem
3 For strangers have risen up against me.
Ruthless men seek my life. Interlude
They pay no attention to God.
The Solution
4 Indeed, God is my helper.
The Lord is the one who preserves my life.
5 Let evil return on those who oppress me.
In your faithfulness destroy them.
The Outcome
6 I will sacrifice willingly to you.
I will praise your name, O Lord, because it is good.
7 Surely, from all my distress he has delivered me.
My eyes have looked down on my enemies.
5 The righteousness of honest people makes their way smooth,
but because of his wickedness a wicked person falls.
6 The righteousness of upright people rescues them,
but treacherous people are trapped by their own desire.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.