Day 132 of 365

¹The Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

²"Speak to the children of Israel, and take of them rods, one for each fathers' house, of all their princes according to their fathers' houses, twelve rods: write every man's name on his rod.

³You shall write Aaron's name on the rod of Levi; for there shall be one rod for each head of their fathers' houses.

⁴You shall lay them up in the Tent of Meeting before the testimony, where I meet with you.

⁵It shall happen, that the rod of the man whom I shall choose shall bud: and I will make to cease from me the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against you."

⁶Moses spoke to the children of Israel; and all their princes gave him rods, for each prince one, according to their fathers' houses, even twelve rods: and the rod of Aaron was among their rods.

⁷Moses laid up the rods before the Lord in the tent of the testimony.

⁸It happened on the next day, that Moses went into the tent of the testimony; and behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi was budded, and put forth buds, and produced blossoms, and bore ripe almonds.

⁹Moses brought out all the rods from before the Lord to all the children of Israel: and they looked, and took every man his rod.

¹⁰The Lord said to Moses, "Put back the rod of Aaron before the testimony, to be kept for a token against the children of rebellion; that you may make an end of their murmurings against me, that they not die."

¹¹Moses did so. As the Lord commanded him, so he did.

¹²The children of Israel spoke to Moses, saying, "Behold, we perish! We are undone! We are all undone!

¹³Everyone who comes near, who comes near to the tabernacle of the Lord, dies! Will we all perish?"

¹The Lord said to Aaron, "You and your sons and your fathers' house with you shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary; and you and your sons with you shall bear the iniquity of your priesthood.

²Your brothers also, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, bring 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.

³They shall keep your commands, and the duty of all the 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.

⁴They shall be joined to you, and keep the responsibility of the Tent of Meeting, for all the service of the Tent: and a stranger shall not come near to you.

⁵"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.

⁶I, behold, I have taken your brothers the Levites from among the children of Israel: to you they are a gift, given to the Lord, to do the service of the Tent of Meeting.

⁷You and your sons with you shall keep your priesthood for everything of the altar, and for that within the veil; and you shall serve: I give you the priesthood as a service of gift: and the stranger who comes near shall be put to death."

⁸The Lord spoke to Aaron, "I, behold, I have given you the command of my wave offerings, even all the holy things of the children of Israel; to you have I given them by reason of the anointing, and to your sons, as a portion forever.

⁹This 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.

¹⁰You shall eat of it like the most holy things. Every male shall eat of it. It shall be holy to you.

¹¹"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.

¹²"All the best of the oil, and all the best of the vintage, and of the grain, the first fruits of them which they give to the Lord, to you have I given them.

¹³The 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.

¹⁴"Everything devoted in Israel shall be yours.

¹⁵Everything 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.

¹⁶You shall redeem those who are to be redeemed of them from a month old, according to your estimation, for five shekels of money, after the shekel of the sanctuary (the same is twenty gerahs).

¹⁷"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.

¹⁸Their flesh shall be yours, as the wave offering breast and as the right thigh, it shall be yours.

¹⁹All the wave offerings of the holy things, which the children of Israel offer to the Lord, have I 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 seed with you."

²⁰The Lord said to Aaron, "You shall have no inheritance in their land, neither shall you have any portion among them. I am your portion and your inheritance among the children of Israel.

²¹"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.

²²Henceforth the children of Israel shall not come near the Tent of Meeting, lest they bear sin, and die.

²³But the Levites shall do the service of the Tent of Meeting, and they shall bear their iniquity: it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations; and among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance.

²⁴For the tithe of the children of Israel, which they offer as a wave offering to the Lord, I have given to the Levites for an inheritance: therefore I have said to them, 'Among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance.'"

²⁵The Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

²⁶"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.

²⁷Your wave offering shall be reckoned to you, as though it were the grain of the threshing floor, and as the fullness of the winepress.

²⁸Thus 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.

²⁹Out of all your gifts you shall offer every wave offering of the Lord, of all its best, even the holy part of it out of it.'

³⁰"Therefore you shall tell them, 'When you heave its best from it, then it shall be reckoned to the Levites as the increase of the threshing floor, and as the increase of the winepress.

³¹You shall eat it in every place, you and your households: for it is your reward in return for your service in the Tent of Meeting.

³²You shall bear no sin by reason of it, when you have heaved from it its best: and you shall not profane the holy things of the children of Israel, that you not die.'"

¹The Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,

²"This is the statute of the law which the Lord has commanded: Speak to the children of Israel, that they bring you a red heifer without spot, in which is no blemish, and which was never yoked.

³You shall give her to Eleazar the priest, and he shall bring her forth outside of the camp, and one shall kill her before his face:

⁴and Eleazar the priest shall take of her blood with his finger, and sprinkle her blood toward the front of the Tent of Meeting seven times.

⁵One shall burn the heifer in his sight; her skin, and her flesh, and her blood, with her dung, shall he burn:

⁶and the priest shall take cedar wood, and hyssop, and scarlet, and cast it into the midst of the burning of the heifer.

⁷Then 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.

⁸He who burns her shall wash his clothes in water, and bathe his flesh in water, and shall be unclean until the evening.

⁹"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 a water for impurity: it is a sin offering.

¹⁰He who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the evening: and it shall be to the children of Israel, and to the stranger who lives as a foreigner among them, for a statute forever.

¹¹"He who touches the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days:

¹²the same shall purify himself with water on the third day, and on the seventh day he shall be clean: but if he doesn't purify himself the third day, then the seventh day he shall not be clean.

¹³Whoever touches a dead person, the body of a man who has died, and doesn't purify himself, defiles the tabernacle of the Lord; 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.

¹⁴"This is the law when a man dies in a tent: everyone who comes into the tent, and everyone who is in the tent, shall be unclean seven days.

¹⁵Every open vessel, which has no covering bound on it, is unclean.

¹⁶"Whoever in the open field touches one who is slain with a sword, or a dead body, or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days.

¹⁷"For the unclean they shall take of the ashes of the burning of the sin offering; and running water shall be put thereto in a vessel:

¹⁸and a clean person shall take hyssop, and dip it in the water, and sprinkle it on the tent, and on all the vessels, and on the persons who were there, and on him who touched the bone, or the slain, or the dead, or the grave:

¹⁹and the clean person shall sprinkle on the unclean on the third day, and on the seventh day: and on the seventh day he shall purify him; and he shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and shall be clean at evening.

²⁰But the man who shall be unclean, and shall not purify himself, that soul shall be cut off from the midst of the assembly, because he has defiled the sanctuary of the Lord: the water for impurity has not been sprinkled on him; he is unclean.

²¹It shall be a perpetual statute to them: and he who sprinkles the water for impurity shall wash his clothes, and he who touches the water for impurity shall be unclean until evening.

²²"Whatever the unclean person touches shall be unclean; and the soul that touches it shall be unclean until evening."

¹Lord, remember David and all his affliction,

²how he swore to the Lord, and vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob:

³"Surely I will not come into the structure of my house, nor go up into my bed;

⁴I will not give sleep to my eyes, or slumber to my eyelids;

⁵until I find out a place for the Lord, a dwelling for the Mighty One of Jacob."

⁶Behold, we heard of it in Ephrathah. We found it in the field of Jaar:

⁷"We will go into his dwelling place. We will worship at his footstool.

⁸Arise, Lord, into your resting place; you, and the ark of your strength.

⁹Let your priest be clothed with righteousness. Let your holy ones shout for joy!"

¹⁰For your servant David's sake, do not turn away the face of your anointed one.

¹¹The Lord has sworn to David in truth. He will not turn from it: "I will set the fruit of your body on your throne.

¹²If your children will keep my covenant, my testimony that I will teach them, their children also will sit on your throne forevermore."

¹³For the Lord has chosen Zion. He has desired it for his habitation.

¹⁴"This is my resting place forever. Here I will live, for I have desired it.

¹⁵I will abundantly bless her provision. I will satisfy her poor with bread.

¹⁶Her priests I will also clothe with salvation. Her holy ones will shout aloud for joy.

¹⁷There I will make the horn of David to bud. I have ordained a lamp for my anointed.

¹⁸I will clothe his enemies with shame, but on himself, his crown will be resplendent."

¹Doesn't wisdom cry out? Doesn't understanding raise her voice?

²On the top of high places by the way, where the paths meet, she stands.

³Beside the gates, at the entry of the city, at the entry doors, she cries aloud:

⁴"To you men, I call! I send my voice to the sons of mankind.

⁵You simple, understand prudence. You fools, be of an understanding heart.

⁶Hear, for I will speak excellent things. The opening of my lips is for right things.

⁷For my mouth speaks truth. Wickedness is an abomination to my lips.

⁸All the words of my mouth are in righteousness. There is nothing crooked or perverse in them.

⁹They are all plain to him who understands, right to those who find knowledge.

¹⁰Receive my instruction rather than silver; knowledge rather than choice gold.

¹¹For wisdom is better than rubies. All the things that may be desired can't be compared to it.

¹²"I, wisdom, have made prudence my dwelling. Find out knowledge and discretion.

¹³The fear of the Lord is to hate evil. I hate pride, arrogance, the evil way, and the perverse mouth.

¹⁴Counsel and sound knowledge are mine. I have understanding and power.

¹⁵By me kings reign, and princes decree justice.

¹⁶By me princes rule; nobles, and all the righteous rulers of the earth.

¹⁷I love those who love me. Those who seek me diligently will find me.

¹⁸With me are riches, honor, enduring wealth, and prosperity.

¹⁹My fruit is better than gold, yes, than fine gold; my yield than choice silver.

²⁰I walk in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of justice;

²¹That I may give wealth to those who love me. I fill their treasuries.

²²"The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his work, before his deeds of old.

²³I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, before the earth existed.

²⁴When there were no depths, I was brought forth, when there were no springs abounding with water.

²⁵Before the mountains were settled in place, before the hills, I was brought forth;

²⁶while as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the beginning of the dust of the world.

²⁷When he established the heavens, I was there; when he set a circle on the surface of the deep,

²⁸when he established the clouds above, when the springs of the deep became strong,

²⁹when he gave to the sea its boundary, that the waters should not violate his commandment, when he marked out the foundations of the earth;

³⁰then I was the craftsman by his side. I was a delight day by day, always rejoicing before him,

³¹Rejoicing in his whole world. My delight was with the sons of men.

³²"Now therefore, my sons, listen to me, for blessed are those who keep my ways.

³³Hear instruction, and be wise. Do not refuse it.

³⁴Blessed is the man who hears me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at my door posts.

³⁵For whoever finds me, finds life, and will obtain favor from the Lord.

³⁶But he who sins against me wrongs his own soul. All those who hate me love death."