The Ordination of the Priests

29 “Now this is what you shall do to them to consecrate them to serve me as priests. Take one young bull and two rams without blemish,^{(A) 2} and unleavened bread, unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers spread with oil. You shall make them of choice wheat flour.^{(B) 3} You shall put them in one basket and bring them in the basket and bring the bull and the two rams. ⁴ You shall bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the tent of meeting and wash them with water.^{(C) 5} Then you shall take the vestments and put on Aaron the tunic and the robe of the ephod and the ephod and the breastpiece and gird him with the decorated band of the ephod,^{(D) 6} and you shall set the turban on his head and put the holy diadem on the turban.^{(E) 7} You shall take the anointing oil and pour it on his head and anoint him.^{(F) 8} Then you shall bring his sons and put tunics on them,^{(G) 9} and you shall gird them, Aaron and his sons, with sashes and tie headdresses on them, and the priesthood shall be theirs by a perpetual ordinance. You shall then ordain Aaron and his sons.^(H)

¹⁰ “You shall bring the bull in front of the tent of meeting. Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the bull,^{(I) 11} and you shall slaughter the bull before the Lord, at the entrance of the tent of meeting, ¹² and shall take some of the blood of the bull and put it on the horns of the altar with your finger, and all the rest of the blood you shall pour out at the base of the altar.^{(J) 13} You shall take all the fat that covers the entrails and the appendage of the liver and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them and turn them into smoke on the altar.^{(K) 14} But the flesh of the bull and its skin and its dung you shall burn with fire outside the camp. It is a purification offering.^(L)

¹⁵ “Then you shall take one of the rams, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram,^{(M) 16} and you shall slaughter the ram and shall take its blood and dash it against all sides of the altar. ¹⁷ Then you shall cut the ram into its parts and wash its entrails and its legs and put them with its parts and its head ¹⁸ and turn the rest of the ram into smoke on the altar. It is a burnt offering to the Lord; it is a pleasing odor, an offering by fire^[a] to the Lord.^(N)

¹⁹ “You shall take the other ram, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram, ²⁰ and you shall slaughter the ram and take some of its blood and put it on the lobe of Aaron’s right ear and on the lobes of the right ears of his sons and on the thumbs of their right hands and on the big toes of their right feet and dash the rest of the blood against all sides of the altar. ²¹ Then you shall take some of the blood that is on the altar and some of the anointing oil and sprinkle it on Aaron and his vestments and on his sons and his sons’ vestments with him; then he and his vestments shall be holy, as well as his sons and his sons’ vestments with him.^(O)

²² “You shall also take the fat of the ram, the fatty tail, the fat that covers the entrails, the appendage of the liver, the two kidneys with the fat that is on them, and the right thigh (for it is a ram of ordination), ²³ and one loaf of bread, one cake of bread made with oil, and one wafer, out of the basket of unleavened bread that is before the Lord,^{(P) 24} and you shall place all these on the palms of Aaron and on the palms of his sons and raise them as an elevation offering before the Lord.^{(Q) 25} Then you shall take them from their hands and turn them into smoke on the altar on top of the burnt offering for a pleasing odor before the Lord. It is an offering by fire^[b] to the Lord.^(R)

²⁶ “You shall take the breast of the ram of Aaron’s ordination and raise it as an elevation offering before the Lord, and it shall be your portion.^{(S) 27} You shall consecrate the breast that was raised as an elevation offering and the thigh that was lifted up as an offering from the ram of ordination, from that which belonged to Aaron and his sons.^{(T) 28} These things shall be a perpetual ordinance for Aaron and his sons from the Israelites, for this is an offering, and it shall be an offering by the Israelites from their sacrifice of offerings of well-being, their offering to the Lord.^(U)

²⁹ “The sacred vestments of Aaron shall be passed on to his sons after him; they shall be anointed in them and ordained in them.^{(V) 30} The son who is priest in his place shall wear them seven days when he comes into the tent of meeting to minister in the holy place.^(W)

³¹ “You shall take the ram of ordination and boil its flesh in a holy place,^{(X) 32} and Aaron and his sons shall eat the flesh of the ram and the bread that is in the basket at the entrance of the tent of meeting.^{(Y) 33} They shall eat the food by which atonement is made, to ordain and consecrate them, but no one else shall eat of it, because it is holy.^{(Z) 34} If any of the flesh for the ordination or of the bread remains until the morning, then you shall burn the remainder with fire; it shall not be eaten, because it is holy.^(AA)

³⁵ “Thus you shall do to Aaron and to his sons, just as I have commanded you; through seven days you shall ordain them.^{(AB) 36} Also every day you shall offer a bull as a purification offering for atonement. Also you shall offer a sin offering for the altar, when you make atonement for it, and shall anoint it, to consecrate it.^{(AC) 37} Seven days you shall make atonement for the altar and consecrate it, and the altar shall be most holy; whatever touches the altar shall become holy.^(AD)

The Daily Offerings

³⁸ “Now this is what you shall offer on the altar: two lambs a year old regularly each day.^{(AE) 39} One lamb you shall offer in the morning, and the other lamb you shall offer in the evening, ⁴⁰ and with the first lamb one-tenth of a measure of choice flour mixed with one-fourth of a hin of beaten oil, and one-fourth of a hin of wine for a drink offering. ⁴¹ And the other lamb you shall offer in the evening and shall offer with it a grain offering and its drink offering, as in the morning, for a pleasing odor, an offering by fire^[c] to the Lord. ⁴² It shall be a regular burnt offering throughout your generations at the entrance of the tent of meeting before the Lord, where I will meet with you, to speak to you there.^{(AF) 43} I will meet with the Israelites there, and it shall be sanctified by my glory;^{(AG) 44} I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar; Aaron also and his sons I will consecrate to serve me as priests.^{(AH) 45} I will dwell among the Israelites, and I will be their God.^{(AI) 46} And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt that I might dwell among them; I am the Lord their God.^(AJ)

The Altar of Incense

30 “You shall make an altar on which to offer incense; you shall make it of acacia wood.^{(AK) 2} It shall be one cubit long and one cubit wide; it shall be square and shall be two cubits high; its horns shall be of one piece with it. ³ You shall overlay it with pure gold, its top and its sides all around and its horns, and you shall make for it a molding of gold all around. ⁴ And you shall make two golden rings for it; under its molding on two opposite sides of it you shall make them, and they shall hold the poles for carrying it. ⁵ You shall make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. ⁶ You shall place it in front of the curtain that is above the ark of the covenant, in front of the cover that is over the covenant, where I will meet with you.^{(AL) 7} Aaron shall offer fragrant incense on it; every morning when he dresses the lamps he shall offer it,^{(AM) 8} and when Aaron sets up the lamps in the evening, he shall offer it, a regular incense offering before the Lord throughout your generations. ⁹ You shall not offer unholy incense on it or a burnt offering or a grain offering, and you shall not pour a drink offering on it.^{(AN) 10} Once a year Aaron shall perform the rite of atonement on its horns. Throughout your generations he shall perform the atonement for it once a year with the blood of the atoning purification offering. It is most holy to the Lord.”^(AO)

The Half Shekel for the Sanctuary

¹¹ The Lord spoke to Moses, ¹² “When you take a census of the Israelites to register them, at registration all of them shall give a ransom for their lives to the Lord, so that no plague may come upon them for being registered.^{(AP) 13} This is what each one who is registered shall give: half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary (the shekel is twenty gerahs), half a shekel as an offering to the Lord.^{(AQ) 14} Each one who is registered, from twenty years old and up, shall give the Lord’s offering. ¹⁵ The rich shall not give more and the poor shall not give less than the half shekel, when you bring this offering to the Lord to make atonement for your lives.^{(AR) 16} You shall take the atonement money from the Israelites and shall designate it for the service of the tent of meeting; before the Lord it will be a reminder to the Israelites of the ransom given for your lives.”^(AS)

The Bronze Basin

¹⁷ The Lord spoke to Moses, ¹⁸ “You shall make a bronze basin with a bronze stand for washing. You shall put it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and you shall put water in it;^{(AT) 19} with the water^[d] Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet.^{(AU) 20} When they go into the tent of meeting or when they come near the altar to minister to make an offering by fire^[e] to the Lord, they shall wash with water, so that they may not die. ²¹ They shall wash their hands and their feet, so that they may not die: it shall be a perpetual ordinance for them, for him and for his descendants throughout their generations.”^(AV)

The Anointing Oil and Incense

²² The Lord spoke to Moses, ²³ “Take the finest spices: of liquid myrrh five hundred shekels, and of sweet-smelling cinnamon half as much, that is, two hundred fifty, and two hundred fifty of aromatic cane, ²⁴ and five hundred of cassia—measured by the sanctuary shekel—and a hin of olive oil, ²⁵ and you shall make of these a sacred anointing oil blended as by the perfumer; it shall be a holy anointing oil.^{(AW) 26} With it you shall anoint the tent of meeting and the ark of the covenant^{(AX) 27} and the table and all its utensils and the lampstand and its utensils and the altar of incense ²⁸ and the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils and the basin with its stand; ²⁹ you shall consecrate them, so that they may be most holy; whatever touches them will become holy.^{(AY) 30} You shall anoint Aaron and his sons and consecrate them to serve me as priests.^{(AZ) 31} You shall say to the Israelites: This shall be my holy anointing oil throughout your generations. ³² It shall not be used in any ordinary anointing of the body, and you shall make no other like it in composition; it is holy, and it shall be holy to you.^{(BA) 33} Whoever blends any like it or whoever puts any of it on an unqualified person shall be cut off from the people.”^(BB)

³⁴ The Lord said to Moses, “Take sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum, sweet spices with pure frankincense (an equal part of each), ³⁵ and make an incense blended as by the perfumer, seasoned with salt, pure and holy,^{(BC) 36} and you shall beat some of it into powder and put part of it before the covenant in the tent of meeting, where I shall meet with you; it shall be most holy for you.^{(BD) 37} When you make incense according to this composition, you shall not make it for yourselves; it shall be regarded by you as holy to the Lord. ³⁸ Whoever makes any like it to use as perfume shall be cut off from the people.”

The Authority of Jesus Questioned

²³ When he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching and said, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?”^{(A) 24} Jesus said to them, “I will also ask you one question; if you tell me the answer, then I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. ²⁵ Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?” And they argued with one another, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why, then, did you not believe him?’ ²⁶ But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’ we are afraid of the crowd, for all regard John as a prophet.”^{(B) 27} So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.

The Parable of the Two Sons

²⁸ “What do you think? A man had two sons; he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’^{(C) 29} He answered, ‘I will not,’ but later he changed his mind and went. ³⁰ The father^[a] went to the second and said the same, and he answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but he did not go. ³¹ Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you.^{(D) 32} For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him, and even after you saw it you did not change your minds and believe him.^(E)

The Parable of the Wicked Tenants

³³ “Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenants and went away.^{(F) 34} When the harvest time had come, he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce.^{(G) 35} But the tenants seized his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another.^{(H) 36} Again he sent other slaves, more than the first, and they treated them in the same way. ³⁷ Then he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ ³⁸ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.’^{(I) 39} So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. ⁴⁰ Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” ⁴¹ They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time.”^(J)

⁴² Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the scriptures:

⁴³ “Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces its fruits.^{(L) 44} The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.”^[c]

⁴⁵ When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them. ⁴⁶ They wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowds, because they regarded him as a prophet.^(M)