Meditate

30. Additional Tabernacle Furnishings

The Altar of Incense

30

You shall make an altar on which to offer incense; you shall make it of acacia wood.²It 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.³You 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.⁴And 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 with which to carry it.⁵You shall make the poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold.⁶You shall place it in front of the curtain that is above the ark of the covenant, in front of the mercy seat that is over the covenant, where I will meet with you.⁷Aaron shall offer fragrant incense on it; every morning when he dresses the lamps he shall offer it,⁸and when Aaron sets up the lamps in the evening, he shall offer it, a regular incense offering before the Lord throughout your generations.⁹You 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.¹⁰Once 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 sin offering. It is most holy to the Lord.

The Half Shekel for the Sanctuary

¹¹ The Lord spoke to Moses:¹²When 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.¹³This 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.¹⁴Each one who is registered, from twenty years old and upward, shall give the Lord’s offering.¹⁵The 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.¹⁶You 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.

The Bronze Basin

¹⁷ The Lord spoke to Moses:¹⁸You 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;¹⁹with the water Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet.²⁰When they go into the tent of meeting, or when they come near the altar to minister, to make an offering by fire to the Lord, they shall wash with water, so that they may not die.²¹They 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.

The Anointing Oil and Incense

²² The Lord spoke to Moses:²³Take 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,²⁴and five hundred of cassia—measured by the sanctuary shekel—and a hin of olive oil;²⁵and you shall make of these a sacred anointing oil blended as by the perfumer; it shall be a holy anointing oil.²⁶With it you shall anoint the tent of meeting and the ark of the covenant,²⁷and the table and all its utensils, and the lampstand and its utensils, and the altar of incense,²⁸and the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the basin with its stand;²⁹you shall consecrate them, so that they may be most holy; whatever touches them will become holy.³⁰You shall anoint Aaron and his sons, and consecrate them, in order that they may serve me as priests.³¹You shall say to the Israelites, “This shall be my holy anointing oil throughout your generations.³²It 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.³³Whoever compounds any like it or whoever puts any of it on an unqualified person shall be cut off from the people.”

³⁴ The Lord said to Moses: Take sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum, sweet spices with pure frankincense (an equal part of each),³⁵and make an incense blended as by the perfumer, seasoned with salt, pure and holy;³⁶and 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 for you most holy.³⁷When 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.³⁸Whoever makes any like it to use as perfume shall be cut off from the people.

1. Divisions in the Church

Salutation

 1

Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes,

² To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, together with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:

³ Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

⁴ I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus,⁵for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind—⁶just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you—⁷so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ.

86. Psalm 86

Psalm 86

Supplication for Help against Enemies

A Prayer of David.

1

Incline your ear, O Lord, and answer me,

for I am poor and needy.

2

Preserve my life, for I am devoted to you;

save your servant who trusts in you.

You are my God;³be gracious to me, O Lord,

for to you do I cry all day long.

4

Gladden the soul of your servant,

for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.

5

For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving,

abounding in steadfast love to all who call on you.

6

Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer;

listen to my cry of supplication.

7

In the day of my trouble I call on you,

for you will answer me.

8

There is none like you among the gods, O Lord,

nor are there any works like yours.

9

All the nations you have made shall come

and bow down before you, O Lord,

and shall glorify your name.

10

For you are great and do wondrous things;

you alone are God.

11

Teach me your way, O Lord,

that I may walk in your truth;

give me an undivided heart to revere your name.

12

I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart,

and I will glorify your name forever.

13

For great is your steadfast love toward me;

you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.

14

O God, the insolent rise up against me;

a band of ruffians seeks my life,

and they do not set you before them.

15

But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious,

slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.

16

Turn to me and be gracious to me;

give your strength to your servant;

save the child of your serving girl.

17

Show me a sign of your favor,

so that those who hate me may see it and be put to shame,

because you, Lord, have helped me and comforted me.