Meditate

29. Consecration of the Priests

The Ordination of the Priests

29

Now this is what you shall do to them to consecrate them, so that they may serve me as priests. Take one young bull and two rams without blemish,²and unleavened bread, unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers spread with oil. You shall make them of choice wheat flour.³You shall put them in one basket and bring them in the basket, and bring the bull and the two rams.⁴You shall bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the tent of meeting, and wash them with water.⁵Then 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;⁶and you shall set the turban on his head, and put the holy diadem on the turban.⁷You shall take the anointing oil, and pour it on his head and anoint him.⁸Then you shall bring his sons, and put tunics on them,⁹and you shall gird them 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.

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,¹¹and you shall slaughter the bull before the Lord, at the entrance of the tent of meeting,¹²and 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.¹³You 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.¹⁴But the flesh of the bull, and its skin, and its dung, you shall burn with fire outside the camp; it is a sin offering.

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

¹⁹ You shall take the other ram; and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram,²⁰and 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.²¹Then 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.

²² You shall also take the fat of the ram, the fat 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),²³and 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;²⁴and 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.²⁵Then you shall take them from their hands, and turn them into smoke on the altar on top of the burnt offering of pleasing odor before the Lord; it is an offering by fire to the Lord.

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.²⁷You shall consecrate the breast that was raised as an elevation offering and the thigh that was raised as an elevation offering from the ram of ordination, from that which belonged to Aaron and his sons.²⁸These 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.

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.³⁰The 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.

³¹ You shall take the ram of ordination, and boil its flesh in a holy place;³²and 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.³³They themselves shall eat the food by which atonement is made, to ordain and consecrate them, but no one else shall eat of them, because they are holy.³⁴If 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.

³⁵ Thus you shall do to Aaron and to his sons, just as I have commanded you; through seven days you shall ordain them.³⁶Also every day you shall offer a bull as a sin 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.³⁷Seven 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.

The Daily Offerings

³⁸ Now this is what you shall offer on the altar: two lambs a year old regularly each day.³⁹One lamb you shall offer in the morning, and the other lamb you shall offer in the evening;⁴⁰and 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.⁴¹And 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 to the Lord.⁴²It 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.⁴³I will meet with the Israelites there, and it shall be sanctified by my glory;⁴⁴I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar; Aaron also and his sons I will consecrate, to serve me as priests.⁴⁵I will dwell among the Israelites, and I will be their God.⁴⁶And 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.

16. Personal Greetings

²¹ Timothy, my co-worker, greets you; so do Lucius and Jason and Sosipater, my relatives.

²² I Tertius, the writer of this letter, greet you in the Lord.

²³ Gaius, who is host to me and to the whole church, greets you. Erastus, the city treasurer, and our brother Quartus, greet you.

Final Doxology

²⁵ Now to God who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages²⁶but is now disclosed, and through the prophetic writings is made known to all the Gentiles, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith—²⁷to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever! Amen.

85. Psalm 85

Psalm 85

Prayer for the Restoration of God’s Favor

To the leader. Of the Korahites. A Psalm.

1

Lord, you were favorable to your land;

you restored the fortunes of Jacob.

2

You forgave the iniquity of your people;

you pardoned all their sin.Selah

3

You withdrew all your wrath;

you turned from your hot anger.

4

Restore us again, O God of our salvation,

and put away your indignation toward us.

5

Will you be angry with us forever?

Will you prolong your anger to all generations?

6

Will you not revive us again,

so that your people may rejoice in you?

7

Show us your steadfast love, O Lord,

and grant us your salvation.

8

Let me hear what God the Lord will speak,

for he will speak peace to his people,

to his faithful, to those who turn to him in their hearts.

9

Surely his salvation is at hand for those who fear him,

that his glory may dwell in our land.

10

Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet;

righteousness and peace will kiss each other.

11

Faithfulness will spring up from the ground,

and righteousness will look down from the sky.

12

The Lord will give what is good,

and our land will yield its increase.

13

Righteousness will go before him,

and will make a path for his steps.