Aaron’s Staff Buds
1 1 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 h“Speak to the people of Israel, and get from them staffs, one for each fathers’ house, from all their chiefs according to their fathers’ houses, twelve staffs. Write each man’s name on his staff, 3 and write Aaron’s name on the staff of Levi. For there shall be one staff for the head of each fathers’ house. 4 Then you shall deposit them in the tent of meeting before the testimony, iwhere I meet with you. 5 And the staff of the man jwhom I choose shall sprout. Thus I will make to cease from me kthe grumblings of the people of Israel, which they grumble against you.” 6 Moses spoke to the people of Israel. And all their chiefs gave him staffs, one for each chief, according to their fathers’ houses, twelve staffs. And the staff of Aaron was among their staffs. 7 And Moses deposited the staffs before the Lord in lthe tent of the testimony.
8 On the next day Moses went into the tent of the testimony, and behold, the staff of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted and put forth buds and produced blossoms, and it bore ripe almonds. 9 Then Moses brought out all the staffs from before the Lord to all the people of Israel. And they looked, and each man took his staff. 10 And the Lord said to Moses, “Put back mthe staff of Aaron before the testimony, to be kept nas a sign for the rebels, othat you may make an end of their grumblings against me, lest they die.” 11 Thus did Moses; as the Lord commanded him, so he did.
12 And the people of Israel said to Moses, “Behold, we perish, we are undone, we are all undone. 13 pEveryone who comes near, who comes near to the tabernacle of the Lord, shall die. Are we all to perish?”
Duties of Priests and Levites
1 So the Lord said to Aaron, “You and your sons and your father’s house with you shall qbear iniquity connected with the sanctuary, rand you and your sons with you shall bear iniquity connected with your priesthood. 2 And with you bring your brothers also, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, that they may sjoin you and tminister to you while you and your sons with you are before the tent of the testimony. 3 They shall keep guard over you and uover the whole tent, vbut shall not come near to the vessels of the sanctuary or to the altar wlest they, and you, die. 4 They shall join you and keep guard over the tent of meeting for all the service of the tent, xand no outsider shall come near you. 5 And you shall ykeep guard over the sanctuary and over the altar, zthat there may never again be wrath on the people of Israel. 6 aAnd behold, I have taken your brothers the Levites from among the people of Israel. bThey are a gift to you, given to the Lord, to do the service of the tent of meeting. 7 And cyou and your sons with you shall guard your priesthood for all that concerns the altar and dthat is within the veil; and you shall serve. I give your priesthood as a gift,2 and eany outsider who comes near shall be put to death.”
8 Then the Lord spoke to Aaron, “Behold, fI have given you charge of the contributions made to me, all the consecrated things of the people of Israel. I have given them to you gas a portion and to your sons as a perpetual due. 9 This shall be yours of the most holy things, reserved from the fire: every offering of theirs, every grain offering of theirs and every hsin offering of theirs and every iguilt offering of theirs, which they render to me, shall be most holy to you and to your sons. 10 In a most holy place shall you eat it. Every male may eat it; it is holy to you. 11 This also is yours: the contribution of their gift, all the jwave offerings of the people of Israel. I have given them to kyou, and to your sons and daughters with you, as a perpetual due. lEveryone who is clean in your house may eat it. 12 mAll the best of the oil and all the best of the wine and of the grain, nthe firstfruits of what they give to the Lord, I give to you. 13 The first ripe fruits of all that is in their land, owhich they bring to the Lord, shall be yours. lEveryone who is clean in your house may eat it. 14 pEvery devoted thing in Israel shall be yours. 15 qEverything that opens the womb of all flesh, whether man or beast, which they offer to the Lord, shall be yours. Nevertheless, rthe firstborn of man you shall redeem, and the firstborn of unclean animals you shall redeem. 16 And their redemption price s(at a month old you shall redeem them) you shall fix at five shekels3 in silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, twhich is twenty gerahs. 17 uBut the firstborn of a cow, or the firstborn of a sheep, or the firstborn of a goat, you shall not redeem; they are holy. You shall sprinkle their blood on the altar and shall burn their fat as a food offering, with a pleasing aroma to the Lord. 18 But their flesh shall be yours, as vthe breast that is waved and as the right thigh are yours. 19 wAll the holy contributions that the people of Israel present to the Lord I give to you, and to your sons and daughters with you, as a perpetual due. xIt is a covenant of salt forever before the Lord for you and for your offspring with you.” 20 And the Lord said to Aaron, “You shall have no inheritance in their land, neither shall you have any portion among them. yI am your portion and your inheritance among the people of Israel.
21 z“To the Levites I have given every tithe in Israel for an inheritance, in return for their service that they do, their service in the tent of meeting, 22 aso that the people of Israel do not come near the tent of meeting, blest they bear sin and die. 23 But cthe Levites shall do the service of the tent of meeting, dand they shall bear their iniquity. It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations, and among the people of Israel they shall have no inheritance. 24 For the tithe of the people of Israel, which ethey present as a contribution to the Lord, I have given to the Levites for an inheritance. Therefore I have said of them that they shall have no inheritance famong the people of Israel.”
25 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 26 “Moreover, you shall speak and say to the Levites, ‘When you take from the people of Israel the tithe that I have given you from them for your inheritance, then you shall present a contribution from it to the Lord, ga tithe of the tithe. 27 hAnd your contribution shall be counted to you as though it were the grain of the threshing floor, and as the fullness of the winepress. 28 So you shall also present a contribution to the Lord from all your tithes, which you receive from the people of Israel. And from it you shall give the Lord’s contribution to Aaron the priest. 29 Out of all the gifts to you, you shall present every contribution due to the Lord; from each its best part is to be dedicated.’ 30 Therefore you shall say to them, ‘When you have offered from it the best of it, ithen the rest shall be counted to the Levites as produce of the threshing floor, and as produce of the winepress. 31 And you may eat it in any place, you and your households, for it is jyour reward in return for your service in the tent of meeting. 32 And you shall kbear no sin by reason of it, when you have contributed the best of it. But you shall not lprofane the holy things of the people of Israel, lest you die.’”
Forsake Me Not When My Strength Is Spent
1 iIn you, O Lord, do I take refuge;
let me never be put to shame!
2 In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me;
incline your ear to me, and save me!
3 Be to me a rock of jrefuge,
to which I may continually come;
you have kgiven the command to save me,
for you are my lrock and my fortress.
4 mRescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,
from the grasp of the unjust and cruel man.
5 For you, O Lord, are my nhope,
my trust, O Lord, from my youth.
6 Upon you I have leaned ofrom before my birth;
you are he who ptook me from my mother’s womb.
My praise is continually of you.
7 I have been as qa portent to many,
but you are my strong refuge.
8 My rmouth is filled with your praise,
and with your glory all the day.
9 sDo not cast me off in the time of old age;
forsake me not when my strength is spent.
10 For my enemies speak concerning me;
those who twatch for my life uconsult together
11 and say, “God has forsaken him;
pursue and seize him,
for there is none to deliver him.”
12 O God, be not vfar from me;
O my God, wmake haste to help me!
13 May my accusers be xput to shame and consumed;
ywith scorn and disgrace may they be covered
who zseek my hurt.
14 But I will ahope continually
and will bpraise you yet more and more.
15 My cmouth will tell of your righteous acts,
of your deeds of salvation all the day,
for dtheir number is past my knowledge.
16 With the mighty deeds of the Lord God I will come;
I will remind them of your righteousness, yours alone.
17 O God, from my youth you have taught me,
and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.
18 So even to eold age and gray hairs,
O God, fdo not forsake me,
until I proclaim your might to another generation,
your power to all those to come.
19 Your grighteousness, O God,
reaches the high heavens.
You who have done hgreat things,
O God, iwho is like you?
20 You who have jmade me see many troubles and calamities
will krevive me again;
from the depths of the earth
you will bring me up again.
21 You will increase my greatness
and comfort me again.
22 I will also praise you with lthe harp
for your faithfulness, O my God;
I will sing praises to you with the lyre,
O mHoly One of Israel.
23 My lips will shout for joy,
when I sing praises to you;
my soul also, which you have nredeemed.
24 And my otongue will talk of your righteous help all the day long,
for they have been pput to shame and disappointed
who sought to do me hurt.
Jesus Washes the Disciples’ Feet
1 Now nbefore othe Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that phis hour had come qto depart out of this world to the Father, rhaving loved shis own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 2 During supper, when tthe devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him, 3 Jesus, knowing uthat the Father had given all things into his hands, and that vhe had come from God and wwas going back to God, 4 rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, xtied it around his waist. 5 Then he ypoured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. 6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” 7 zJesus answered him, “What I am doing ayou do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” 8 bPeter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, c“If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” 9 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” 10 Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, dexcept for his feet,1 but is completely clean. And eyou2 are clean, fbut not every one of you.” 11 gFor he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”
12 When he had washed their feet and hput on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, i“Do you understand what I have done to you? 13 jYou call me kTeacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, lyou also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have given you an example, mthat you also should do just as I have done to you. 16 Truly, truly, I say to you, na servant3 is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 If you know these things, oblessed are you if you do them. 18 pI am not speaking of all of you; I know qwhom I have chosen. But rthe Scripture will be fulfilled,4 s‘He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.’ 19 tI am telling you this now, before it takes place, that when it does take place you may believe that I am he. 20 Truly, truly, I say to you, uwhoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.”
One of You Will Betray Me
21 After saying these things, vJesus was troubled in his spirit, and testified, w“Truly, truly, I say to you, xone of you will betray me.” 22 yThe disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he spoke. 23 zOne of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, was reclining at table aat Jesus’ side,5 24 so Simon Peter motioned to him to ask Jesus6 of whom he was speaking. 25 bSo that disciple, cleaning back against Jesus, said to him, “Lord, who is it?” 26 Jesus answered, d“It is he to whom I will give this morsel of bread ewhen I have dipped it.” So when he had dipped the morsel, fhe gave it to Judas, gthe son of Simon Iscariot. 27 Then after he had taken the morsel, hSatan entered into him. Jesus said to him, i“What you are going to do, do quickly.” 28 Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him. 29 Some thought that, jbecause Judas had the moneybag, Jesus was telling him, “Buy what we need kfor the feast,” or that he should lgive something to the poor. 30 So, after receiving the morsel of bread, he immediately went out. mAnd it was night.
A New Commandment
31 When he had gone out, Jesus said, n“Now is the Son of Man glorified, and oGod is glorified in him. 32 If God is glorified in him, pGod will also glorify him in himself, and qglorify him at once. 33 Little children, ryet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just sas I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’ 34 tA new commandment uI give to you, vthat you love one another: wjust as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 xBy this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Jesus Foretells Peter’s Denial
36 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?” yJesus answered him, “Where I am going zyou cannot follow me now, abut you will follow afterward.” 37 bPeter said to him, “Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” 38 Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, cthe rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times.
