Leviticus 9 - 10, Acts 5 - 6, Psalm 78:40-72

Aaron Brings Offerings

9Now it happened ^aon the eighth day that Moses called Aaron and his sons and the elders of Israel; ²and he said to Aaron, “^aTake for yourself a calf, a bull, for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering, both without blemish, and bring them near before Yahweh. ³“Then to the sons of Israel you shall speak, saying, ‘Take a male goat for a sin offering, and a calf and a lamb, both one year old, without blemish, for a burnt offering, ⁴and an ox and a ram for peace offerings, to sacrifice before Yahweh, and a grain offering mixed with oil; for today ^aYahweh will appear to you.’” ⁵So they took what Moses had commanded to the front of the tent of meeting, and the whole congregation came near and stood before Yahweh. ⁶And Moses said, “This is the thing which Yahweh has commanded you to do, that ^athe glory of Yahweh may appear to you.” ⁷Moses then said to Aaron, “Come near to the altar and ^aoffer your sin offering and your burnt offering, that you may make atonement for yourself and for the people; then offer the offering ¹for the people, that you may make atonement for them, just as Yahweh has commanded.”

⁸^aSo Aaron came near to the altar and slaughtered the calf of the sin offering which was for himself. ⁹^aThen Aaron’s sons brought the blood near to him; and he dipped his finger in the blood and ^bput some on the horns of the altar and poured out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar. ¹⁰The fat and the kidneys and the ¹lobe of the liver of the sin offering he then offered up in smoke on the altar just as Yahweh had commanded Moses. ¹¹^aThe flesh and the skin, however, he burned with fire outside the camp.

¹²Then he slaughtered the burnt offering; and Aaron’s sons handed the blood to him, and he splashed it around on the altar. ¹³And they handed the burnt offering to him in ¹pieces, with the head, and he offered them up in smoke on the altar. ¹⁴He also washed the entrails and the legs and offered them up in smoke with the burnt offering on the altar.

¹⁵Then he brought near the people’s offering and took the ^agoat of the sin offering which was for the people and slaughtered it and offered it for sin, like the first. ¹⁶He also brought near the burnt offering and ¹offered it according to ^athe legal judgment. ¹⁷Next he brought near ^athe grain offering and filled his ¹hand with some of it and offered it up in smoke on the altar, ^bbesides the burnt offering of the morning.

¹⁸Then ^ahe slaughtered the ox and the ram, the sacrifice of peace offerings which was for the people; and Aaron’s sons handed the blood to him, and he splashed it around on the altar. ¹⁹As for the portions of fat from the ox and from the ram, the fat tail and the fat ^acovering and the kidneys and the ¹lobe of the liver, ²⁰they now placed the portions of fat on the breasts; and he offered ¹them up in smoke on the altar. ²¹But ^athe breasts and the right thigh Aaron waved as a wave offering before Yahweh, just as Moses had commanded.

²²Then Aaron lifted up his hands toward the people and ^ablessed them, and he stepped down after offering the sin offering and the burnt offering and the peace offerings. ²³And Moses and Aaron went into the tent of meeting. Then they came out and blessed the people. And ^athe glory of Yahweh appeared to all the people. ²⁴^aThen fire came out from before Yahweh and consumed the burnt offering and the portions of fat on the altar. And all the people saw it and shouted and fell on their faces.

Nadab and Abihu Offer Strange Fire

10Then ^aNadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective ^bfirepans and put fire in them. Then they placed incense on it and offered strange fire before Yahweh, which He had not commanded them. ²^aAnd fire came out from the presence of Yahweh and consumed them, and they died before Yahweh. ³Then Moses said to Aaron, “It is what Yahweh spoke, saying, ‘By those who ^acome near Me I ¹^,^bwill be treated as holy,And before all the people I will ^cbe glorified.’” So Aaron kept silent.

⁴Then Moses called to ^aMishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Aaron’s uncle Uzziel, and said to them, “Come near, carry your ¹relatives away from the front of the sanctuary to the outside of the camp.” ⁵So they came near and carried them still in their ^atunics to the outside of the camp, as Moses had said. ⁶Then Moses said to Aaron and to his sons Eleazar and Ithamar, “^aDo not ¹uncover your heads nor tear your clothes, so that you will not die and that He will not ^bbecome wrathful against all the congregation. But your ²relatives, the whole house of Israel, shall weep over the burning which Yahweh has ³brought about. ⁷“You shall not even go out from the doorway of the tent of meeting, lest you die; for ^athe anointing oil of Yahweh is upon you.” So they did according to the word of Moses.

⁸Yahweh then spoke to Aaron, saying, ⁹“^aDo not drink wine or strong drink, neither you nor your sons with you, when you come into the tent of meeting, so that you will not die—it is a perpetual statute throughout your generations— ¹⁰and ^aso as to separate between the holy and the profane, and between the unclean and the clean, ¹¹and ^aso as to instruct the sons of Israel in all the statutes which Yahweh has spoken to them through Moses.”

¹²Then Moses spoke to Aaron and to his remaining sons, ^aEleazar and Ithamar, “^bTake the remaining grain offering from the offerings to Yahweh by fire and eat it unleavened beside the altar, for it is most holy. ¹³“And you shall eat it in a holy place because it is a statute for you and a statute for your sons taken out of the offerings of Yahweh by fire; for thus I have been commanded. ¹⁴“^aThe breast of the wave offering, however, and the thigh of the ¹contribution offering you may eat in a clean place, you and your sons and your daughters with you; for they have been given as a statute for you and a statute for your sons taken out of the sacrifices of the peace offerings of the sons of Israel. ¹⁵“^aThe thigh contributed by ¹raising up and the breast offered by waving they shall bring along with the offerings by fire of the portions of fat, to wave as a wave offering before Yahweh; so it shall be a perpetual statute for you and your sons with you, just as Yahweh has commanded.”

¹⁶But Moses searched carefully for the ^agoat of the sin offering, and behold, it had been burned up! So he was angry with Aaron’s remaining sons Eleazar and Ithamar, saying, ¹⁷“Why ^adid you not eat the sin offering at the holy place? For it is most holy, and ¹He gave it to you to bear away ^bthe guilt of the congregation, to make atonement for them before Yahweh. ¹⁸“Behold, ^asince its blood had not been brought inside, into the sanctuary, you should certainly have ^beaten it in the sanctuary, just as I commanded.” ¹⁹But Aaron spoke to Moses, “Behold, this very day they ^abrought near their sin offering and their burnt offering before Yahweh. Then things like these happened to me. So if I had eaten a sin offering today, would it have been good in the sight of Yahweh?” ²⁰So Moses heard this, and it was good in his sight.

Ananias and Sapphira

5But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, ²and ^akept back some of the price for himself, with his wife’s ¹full knowledge. And bringing a portion of it, he ^blaid it at the apostles’ feet. ³But Peter said, “Ananias, why has ^aSatan filled your heart to lie ^bto the Holy Spirit and to ^ckeep back some of the price of the land? ⁴“While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not ¹under your authority? Why is it that you laid this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but ^ato God.” ⁵And as he heard these words, Ananias ^afell down and breathed his last; and ^bgreat fear came over all who heard. ⁶And the young men rose up and ^awrapped him up, and after carrying him out, they buried him.

⁷Now there was an interval of about three hours, and his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. ⁸And Peter responded to her, “Tell me whether you were paid ^athis much for the land?” And she said, “Yes, that much.” ⁹Then Peter said to her, “Why is it that you have agreed together to ^aput ^bthe Spirit of the ¹Lord to the test? Behold, the feet of those who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out as well.” ¹⁰And immediately she ^afell at his feet and breathed her last, and the young men came in and found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. ¹¹And ^agreat fear came over the whole church, and over all who heard these things.

¹²Now ¹at the hands of the apostles many ^asigns and wonders were happening among the people, and they were all with one accord in ^bSolomon’s Portico. ¹³But none of the rest dared to associate with them; however, ^athe people were holding them in high esteem. ¹⁴And more than ever ^abelievers in the Lord were ^badded to their number, multitudes of men and women, ¹⁵to such an extent that they even carried the sick out into the streets and laid them on cots and mats, so that when Peter came by ^aat least his shadow might fall on any one of them. ¹⁶Also the multitude from the cities in the vicinity of Jerusalem were coming together, bringing people who were sick ¹or afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all being healed.

The Apostles Jailed and Freed

¹⁷But the high priest rose up and those with him (that is ^athe sect of ^bthe Sadducees), and they were filled with jealousy. ¹⁸And they laid hands on the apostles and ^aput them in a public jail. ¹⁹But during the night ^aan angel of the ¹Lord opened the doors of the prison, and taking them out, he said, ²⁰“Go, stand and ¹speak to the people in the temple ²^,^athe whole message of this Life.” ²¹Upon hearing this, they entered into the temple ^aabout daybreak and began to teach. Now when ^bthe high priest and those with him came, they called ^cthe Sanhedrin together, even all the Council of the sons of Israel, and sent orders to the jailhouse for them to be brought. ²²But ^athe officers who came did not find them in the prison, and they returned and reported back, ²³saying, “We found the jailhouse locked quite securely and the guards standing at the doors, but we opened it and found no one inside.” ²⁴Now when ^athe captain of the temple guard and the chief priests heard these words, they were greatly perplexed about them as to what ¹would come of this. ²⁵But someone came and reported to them, “The men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people!” ²⁶Then ^athe captain went along with ^bthe officers and proceeded to bring them back without violence (for ^cthey were afraid of the people, that they might be stoned).

²⁷And when they had brought them, they stood them ¹before ^athe Sanhedrin. And the high priest questioned them, ²⁸saying, “We ^astrictly commanded you not to continue teaching in this name, and ¹yet, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and ^bintend to bring this man’s blood upon us.” ²⁹But Peter and the apostles answered and said, “^aWe must obey God rather than men. ³⁰“^aThe God of our fathers ^braised up Jesus, ¹whom you ^cput to death by hanging Him on a tree. ³¹“^aThis One God exalted ¹to His right hand as ²a ^bLeader and a ^cSavior, to grant ^drepentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. ³²“And we are ^awitnesses ¹of these things, and ^bso is the Holy Spirit, whom God gave to those who obey Him.”

Gamaliel’s Counsel

³³But when they heard this, they became ^afurious and intended to kill them. ³⁴But a Pharisee named ^aGamaliel, a ^bteacher of the Law, respected by all the people, stood up in ^cthe Sanhedrin and gave orders to put the men outside for a short time. ³⁵And he said to them, “Men of Israel, take care what you propose to do with these men. ³⁶“For some time ago Theudas rose up, ^aclaiming to be somebody, and a group of about four hundred men joined up with him. ¹But he was killed, and all who ²were following him were dispersed and came to nothing. ³⁷“After this man, Judas the Galilean rose up in the days of ^athe census and drew away people after him. He too perished, and all those who ¹were following him were scattered. ³⁸“So in the present case, I also say to you, stay away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or ¹action ^ais of men, it will be overthrown; ³⁹but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them; or you may even be found ^afighting against God.”

⁴⁰So they ¹followed his advice. And after calling the apostles in and ^abeating them, they commanded them not to ²speak in the name of Jesus, and then released them. ⁴¹So they went on their way from the presence of the ^aSanhedrin, ^brejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame ^cfor the Name. ⁴²^aAnd every day, in the temple and ¹from house to house, they did not cease teaching and ^bproclaiming the good news that Jesus is the ²Christ.

Selection of the Seven

6Now in those days, while the ^adisciples were ^bmultiplying in number, there was grumbling from the ¹^,^cHellenists against the ^dHebrews, because their ^ewidows were being overlooked in ^fthe daily serving of food. ²So the twelve summoned the ¹congregation of the disciples and said, “It is not pleasing to God for us to neglect the word of God in order to serve tables. ³“Therefore, ^abrothers, select from among you seven men of good reputation, ^bfull of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this need. ⁴“But we will ^adevote ourselves to prayer and to the service of the word.” ⁵And this word pleased the whole ¹congregation, and they chose ^aStephen, a man ^bfull of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and ^cPhilip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas, a ²^,^dproselyte from ^eAntioch. ⁶And these they stood before the apostles, and after ^apraying, they ^blaid their hands on them.

⁷^aAnd the word of God kept on spreading, and ^bthe number of the disciples continued to multiply greatly in Jerusalem, and a great ¹many of the priests were becoming obedient to ^cthe faith.

Stephen Accused of Blasphemy

⁸And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great ^awonders and ¹signs among the people. ⁹But some men from what was called the Synagogue of the Freedmen, including both ^aCyrenians and ^bAlexandrians, and some from ^cCilicia and ¹^,^dAsia, rose up and were arguing with Stephen. ¹⁰But they were unable to oppose the wisdom and the Spirit by whom he was speaking. ¹¹Then they secretly induced men to say, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.” ¹²And they stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes, and they ^acame up to him, dragged him away, and brought him to ^bthe Sanhedrin. ¹³And they put forward ^afalse witnesses who said, “This man never ceases speaking words against this ^bholy place and the Law; ¹⁴for we have heard him say that ^athis Jesus the Nazarene will destroy this place and alter ^bthe customs which Moses handed down to us.” ¹⁵And fixing their gaze on him, all who were sitting in the ^aSanhedrin saw his face like the face of an angel.

⁴⁰How often they ^arebelled against Him in the wildernessAnd ^bgrieved Him in the ^cwasteland!⁴¹Again and again they ¹^,^atested God,And pained the ^bHoly One of Israel.⁴²They ^adid not remember ^bHis ¹power,The day when He ^credeemed them from the adversary,⁴³When He performed His ^asigns in EgyptAnd His ^bmiracles in the field of Zoan,⁴⁴And ^aturned their rivers to blood,And their streams, they could not drink.⁴⁵He sent among them swarms of ^aflies which devoured them,And ^bfrogs which destroyed them.⁴⁶He gave also their crops to the ^agrasshopperAnd the fruit of their labor to the ^blocust.⁴⁷He killed their vines with ^ahailstonesAnd their sycamore trees with frost.⁴⁸He gave over their ^acattle also to the hailstonesAnd their herds to bolts of lightning.⁴⁹He ^asent upon them His burning anger,Fury and indignation and ¹distress,²A band of destroying angels.⁵⁰He leveled a path for His anger;He did not hold back their soul from death,But ^agave over their life to the plague,⁵¹So He ^astruck all the firstborn in Egypt,The ^bfirst of their vigor in the tents of ^cHam.⁵²But He ^aled forth His own people like sheepAnd guided them in the wilderness ^blike a flock;⁵³He led them ^asafely, so that they did not fear;But ^bthe sea covered their enemies.⁵⁴So ^aHe brought them to His holy ¹land,To this ²^,^bhill country ^cwhich His right hand had acquired.⁵⁵He also ^adrove out the nations before themAnd ^bapportioned them for an inheritance by measurement,And made the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents.⁵⁶Yet they ¹^,^atested and ^brebelled against the Most High GodAnd did not keep His testimonies,⁵⁷But turned back and ^aacted treacherously like their fathers;They ^bturned aside like a treacherous bow.⁵⁸For they ^aprovoked Him with their ^bhigh placesAnd ^caroused His jealousy with their ^dgraven images.⁵⁹God heard and ¹was filled with ^awrathAnd greatly ^brejected Israel;⁶⁰So that He ^aabandoned the ^bdwelling place at Shiloh,The tent ¹which He caused to dwell among men,⁶¹And gave up His ^astrength to captivityAnd His beauty ^binto the hand of the adversary.⁶²He also ^agave over His people to the sword,And ¹was filled with wrath at His inheritance.⁶³^aFire devoured ¹His choice men,And ²His ^bvirgins had no wedding songs.⁶⁴¹His ^apriests fell by the sword,And ²His ^bwidows could not weep.⁶⁵Then the Lord ^aawoke as if from sleep,As if He were a ^bwarrior ¹overcome by wine.⁶⁶He ^astruck His adversaries backward;He put on them an everlasting reproach.⁶⁷He also ^arejected the tent of Joseph,And did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,⁶⁸But chose the tribe of Judah,Mount ^aZion which He loved.⁶⁹And He ^abuilt His sanctuary like the heights,Like the earth which He has founded forever.⁷⁰He also ^achose David His servantAnd took him from the sheepfolds;⁷¹From ^afollowing the ¹^,^bnursing ewes He brought himTo ^cshepherd Jacob His people,And Israel ^dHis inheritance.⁷²So he shepherded them according to the ^aintegrity of his heart,And led them with his skillful hands.