Numbers 3 - 4, Acts 22 - 23, Psalm 89:30-52

Priests and Levites

3^aNow these are the generations of Aaron and Moses at the time when Yahweh spoke with Moses on Mount Sinai. ²^aThese then are the names of the sons of Aaron: Nadab the firstborn, and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. ³These are the names of the sons of Aaron, the ^aanointed priests, whom he ¹ordained to minister as priests. ⁴^aBut Nadab and Abihu died before Yahweh when they offered strange fire before Yahweh in the wilderness of Sinai; and they had no children. So Eleazar and Ithamar ministered as priests ¹in the lifetime of their father Aaron.

⁵Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ⁶“^aBring the tribe of Levi near and have them stand before Aaron the priest, that they may minister to him. ⁷“And they shall keep his responsibility and the responsibility for the whole congregation before the tent of meeting, to perform the ^aservice of the tabernacle. ⁸“They shall also keep all the furnishings of the tent of meeting, along with the responsibility of the sons of Israel, to perform the service of the ¹tabernacle. ⁹“You shall thus ^agive the Levites to Aaron and to his sons; they are wholly given to him from among the sons of Israel. ¹⁰“So you shall appoint Aaron and his sons that ^athey may keep their priesthood, but ^bthe ¹outsider who comes near shall be put to death.”

¹¹Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ¹²“Now, behold, I ^ahave taken the Levites from among the sons of Israel instead of every ^bfirstborn, the first offspring of the womb among the sons of Israel. So the Levites shall be Mine. ¹³“For ^aall the firstborn are Mine; on the day that I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I sanctified to Myself all the firstborn in Israel, from man to beast. They shall be Mine; I am Yahweh.”

¹⁴Then Yahweh spoke to Moses ^ain the wilderness of Sinai, saying, ¹⁵“¹^,^aNumber the sons of Levi by their fathers’ households, by their families; every male from a month old and upward you shall ²number.” ¹⁶So Moses numbered them according to the ¹word of Yahweh, just as he had been commanded. ¹⁷^aThese then are the sons of Levi by their names: Gershon and Kohath and Merari.

¹⁸And these are the names of the ^asons of Gershon by their families: Libni and Shimei; ¹⁹and the sons of Kohath by their families: Amram and Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel; ²⁰and the sons of Merari by their families: Mahli and Mushi. These are the families of the Levites according to their fathers’ households.

²¹Of Gershon was the family of the Libnites and the family of the Shimeites; these were the families of the Gershonites. ²²Their numbered men, in the numbering of every male from a month old and upward, even their numbered men were 7,500. ²³The families of the Gershonites were to camp behind the tabernacle westward, ²⁴and the leader of the fathers’ households of the Gershonites was Eliasaph the son of Lael.

Responsibilities of the Priests

²⁵Now ^athe responsibility of the sons of Gershon in the tent of meeting involved the tabernacle and ^bthe tent, its covering, and ^cthe screen for the doorway of the tent of meeting, ²⁶and ^athe hangings of the court, and ^bthe screen for the doorway of the court which is around the tabernacle and the altar, and its cords, according to all the service ¹concerning them.

²⁷Of Kohath was the family of the Amramites and the family of the Izharites and the family of the Hebronites and the family of the Uzzielites; these were the families of the Kohathites. ²⁸In the numbering of every male from a month old and upward, there were 8,600, keeping the responsibility of the sanctuary. ²⁹The families of the sons of Kohath were to camp on the southward side of the tabernacle, ³⁰and the leader of the fathers’ households of the Kohathite families was ¹Elizaphan the son of Uzziel. ³¹Now ^atheir responsibility involved ^bthe ark, ^cthe table, ^dthe lampstand, ^ethe altars, and the utensils of the sanctuary with which they minister, and the screen, and all the service ¹concerning them; ³²and Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest was the chief of the leaders of Levi and had the oversight of those who keep the responsibility of the sanctuary.

³³Of Merari was the family of the Mahlites and the family of the Mushites; these were the families of Merari. ³⁴And their numbered men, in the numbering of every male from a month old and upward, were 6,200. ³⁵And the leader of the fathers’ households of the families of Merari was Zuriel the son of Abihail. They were to ^acamp on the northward side of the tabernacle. ³⁶Now the appointed responsibility of the sons of Merari involved the boards of the tabernacle, its bars, its pillars, its bases, all its equipment, and the service concerning them, ³⁷and the pillars around the court with their bases and their pegs and their cords.

³⁸Now those who were to ^acamp before the tabernacle eastward, before the tent of meeting toward the sunrise, are Moses and Aaron and his sons, keeping the responsibility of the sanctuary for the responsibility of the sons of Israel; but ^bthe ¹outsider coming near was to be put to death. ³⁹All the numbered men of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron numbered at the ¹command of Yahweh by their families, every male from a month old and upward, were ^a22,000.

Redemption of the Firstborn

⁴⁰Then Yahweh said to Moses, “^aNumber every firstborn male of the sons of Israel from a month old and upward, and ¹make a list of their names. ⁴¹“And you ^ashall take the Levites for Me, I am Yahweh, instead of all the firstborn among the sons of Israel, and the cattle of the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the cattle of the sons of Israel.” ⁴²So Moses numbered all the firstborn among the sons of Israel, just as Yahweh had commanded him; ⁴³and all the firstborn males by the number of names from a month old and upward, for their numbered men were ^a22,273.

⁴⁴Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ⁴⁵“^aTake the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the sons of Israel and the cattle of the Levites. And the Levites shall be Mine; I am Yahweh. ⁴⁶“^aFor the redemption price of the 273 of the firstborn of the sons of Israel who are in excess beyond the Levites, ⁴⁷you shall take ^afive ¹shekels apiece, per head; you shall take them in ^bterms of the shekel of the sanctuary (^cthe shekel is twenty ²gerahs), ⁴⁸and give the money, the redemption price of those who are in excess among them, to Aaron and to his sons.” ⁴⁹So Moses took the money of the redemption price from those who were in excess, beyond those redeemed by the Levites; ⁵⁰from the firstborn of the sons of Israel he took the money in terms of the shekel of the sanctuary, 1,365. ⁵¹Then Moses gave the money of the redemption price to Aaron and to his sons, at the ¹command of Yahweh, just as Yahweh had commanded Moses.

Duties of the Kohathites

4Then Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, ²“Take ¹a census of the ²descendants of Kohath from among the sons of Levi, by their families, by their fathers’ households, ³from ^athirty years and upward, even to fifty years old, all who enter the duty of doing the work in the tent of meeting. ⁴“This is the service of the sons of Kohath in the tent of meeting, concerning the most holy things.

⁵“And when the camp sets out, Aaron and his sons shall go in and they shall take down ^athe veil of the screen and cover the ^bark of the testimony with it; ⁶and they shall put a ^acovering of porpoise skin on it and shall spread over it a cloth of pure ¹blue and shall insert its poles. ⁷“Over the table of the bread of the Presence they shall also spread a cloth of ¹blue and put on it the dishes and the pans and the offering bowls and the jars for the drink offering, and ^athe continual bread shall be on it. ⁸“And they shall spread over them a cloth of scarlet material and cover the same with a covering of porpoise skin, and they shall insert its poles. ⁹“Then they shall take a ¹blue cloth and cover the ^alampstand for the light, ^balong with its lamps and its tongs, and its ²trays and all its oil vessels, by which they minister in connection to it; ¹⁰and they shall put it and all its utensils in a covering of porpoise skin and shall put it on the carrying bars. ¹¹“And over the golden altar they shall spread a ¹blue cloth and cover it with a covering of porpoise skin and shall insert its poles; ¹²and they shall take all the utensils of ministry, with which they minister in the sanctuary, and put them in a ¹blue cloth and cover them with a covering of porpoise skin and put them on the carrying bars. ¹³“Then they shall take away the ¹ashes from the ^aaltar and spread a purple cloth over it. ¹⁴“They shall also put on it all its utensils by which they minister in connection with it: the firepans, the flesh hooks and shovels and the bowls, all the utensils of the altar; and they shall spread a cover of porpoise skin over it and insert its poles. ¹⁵“When Aaron and his sons have finished covering the holy objects and all the furnishings of the sanctuary, when the camp is to set out, after that the sons of Kohath shall come to carry them, so that they will not touch the holy objects ^aand die. These are the ¹things in the tent of meeting which the sons of Kohath are to carry.

¹⁶“And the assignment of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest is ^athe oil for the light and the ^bfragrant incense and ^cthe continual grain offering and ^dthe anointing oil—the assignment of all the ¹tabernacle and of all that is in it, with the sanctuary and its furnishings.”

¹⁷Then Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, ¹⁸“Do not let the tribe of the families of the Kohathites be cut off from among the Levites. ¹⁹“But do this to them that they may live and ^anot die when they approach the most holy objects: Aaron and his sons shall go in and set each of them to his service and to his load; ²⁰but ^athey shall not go in to see the holy objects even for a moment, or they will die.”

Duties of the Gershonites

²¹Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ²²“Take ¹a census of the sons of Gershon ²also, by their fathers’ households, by their families; ²³from ^athirty years and upward to fifty years old, you shall ¹number them; all who enter to perform the duty of performing the service in the tent of meeting. ²⁴“This is the service of the families of the Gershonites, in serving and in carrying: ²⁵they shall carry ^athe curtains of the tabernacle and the tent of meeting with its covering and ^bthe covering of porpoise skin that is on top of it, and the screen for the doorway of the tent of meeting, ²⁶and ^athe hangings of the court, and the screen for the doorway of the gate of the court which is around the tabernacle and the altar, and their cords and all the equipment for their service; and all that is to be done, ¹they shall perform. ²⁷“All the service of the sons of the Gershonites, in all their loads and in all their service, shall be performed at the ¹command of Aaron and his sons; and you shall assign to them as a responsibility all their loads. ²⁸“This is the service of the families of the sons of the Gershonites in the tent of meeting, and their responsibilities shall be ¹under the direction of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.

Duties of the Merarites

²⁹“As for the sons of Merari, you shall number them by their families, by their fathers’ households; ³⁰from ^athirty years and upward even to fifty years old, you shall number them, everyone who enters the duty of performing the service of the tent of meeting. ³¹“Now this is the responsibility of their loads, for all their service in the tent of meeting: the boards of the tabernacle and its bars and its pillars and its bases, ³²and the pillars around the court and their bases and their pegs and their cords, with all their equipment and with all their service; and you shall assign each man by name the items of the responsibility of ¹his load. ³³“This is the service of the families of the sons of Merari, according to all their service in the tent of meeting, ¹under the direction of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.”

³⁴So Moses and Aaron and the leaders of the congregation numbered the sons of the Kohathites by their families and by their fathers’ households, ³⁵from ^athirty years and upward even to fifty years old, everyone who entered the duty of service in the tent of meeting. ³⁶Their numbered men by their families were 2,750. ³⁷These are the numbered men of the Kohathite families, everyone who was serving in the tent of meeting, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the ¹commandment of Yahweh by the hand of Moses.

³⁸The numbered men of the sons of Gershon by their families and by their fathers’ households, ³⁹from thirty years and upward even to fifty years old, everyone who entered the duty of service in the tent of meeting, ⁴⁰their numbered men by their families, by their fathers’ households, were 2,630. ⁴¹These are the numbered men of the families of the sons of Gershon, everyone who was serving in the tent of meeting, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the ¹commandment of Yahweh.

⁴²The numbered men of the families of the sons of Merari by their families, by their fathers’ households, ⁴³from ^athirty years and upward even to fifty years old, everyone who entered the duty of service in the tent of meeting, ⁴⁴their numbered men by their families were 3,200. ⁴⁵These are the numbered men of the families of the sons of Merari, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the ¹commandment of Yahweh by the hand of Moses.

⁴⁶All the numbered men of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron and the leaders of Israel numbered, by their families and by their fathers’ households, ⁴⁷from thirty years and upward even to fifty years old, everyone who could enter to perform the work of service and the service of carrying in the tent of meeting, ⁴⁸their numbered men were ^a8,580. ⁴⁹According to the ¹word of Yahweh by the hand of Moses, they ^awere numbered, everyone by his serving or carrying; thus these were his numbered men, just as Yahweh had commanded Moses.

22“^aMen, brothers, and fathers, hear my defense which I now offer to you.”

²And when they heard that he was addressing them in the ^aHebrew language, they became even quieter; and he *said,

³“^aI am ^ba Jew, born in ^cTarsus of ^dCilicia, but having been brought up in this city, having been instructed at the feet of ^eGamaliel according to the ^fstrictness of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God just as you all are today, ⁴^aI persecuted this ^bWay to the death, binding and delivering both men and women into prisons, ⁵as also ^athe high priest and all ^bthe Council of the elders ¹can testify. From them I also ^creceived letters to ^dthe brothers, and started off for ^eDamascus in order to bring even those who were there to Jerusalem ²as prisoners to be punished.

⁶“^aBut it happened that as I was on my way, approaching Damascus about noontime, a very bright light suddenly flashed from heaven all around me, ⁷and I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’ ⁸“And I answered, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said to me, ‘I am ^aJesus the Nazarene, whom you are persecuting.’ ⁹“And those who were with me ^abeheld the light, to be sure, but ^bdid not ¹understand the voice of the One who was speaking to me. ¹⁰“And I said, ‘^aWhat should I do, Lord?’ And the Lord said to me, ‘Rise up and go on into Damascus, and there you will be told of all that has been determined for you to do.’ ¹¹“But since I ^acould not see because of the glory of that light, being led by the hand by those who were with me, I came into Damascus.

¹²“Now a certain ^aAnanias, a man who was devout by the standard of the Law, and ^bwell spoken of by all the Jews who lived there, ¹³came to me, and standing near, said to me, ‘^aBrother Saul, regain your sight!’ And ¹^,^bat that very hour I regained my sight and saw him. ¹⁴“And he said, ‘^aThe God of our fathers has ^bappointed you to know His will and to ^csee the ^dRighteous One and to hear a ¹voice from His mouth. ¹⁵‘For you will be ^aa witness for Him to all men of ^bwhat you have seen and heard. ¹⁶‘Now why do you delay? ^aRise up and be baptized, and ^bwash away your sins, ^ccalling on His name.’

¹⁷“Now it happened when I ^areturned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, that I ^bfell into a trance, ¹⁸and I saw Him saying to me, ‘^aHurry and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your witness about Me.’ ¹⁹“And I said, ‘Lord, they themselves understand that in one synagogue after another ^aI used to imprison and ^bbeat those who believed in You. ²⁰‘And ^awhen the blood of Your witness Stephen was being shed, I also was standing by approving, and guarding the garments of those who were slaying him.’ ²¹“And He said to me, ‘Go! For I will send you far away ^ato the Gentiles.’”

Paul, a Citizen of Rome

²²And they were listening to him up to this statement, and then they raised their voices and said, “^aAway with such a fellow from the earth, for ^bhe should not be allowed to live!” ²³And as they were crying out and ^athrowing off their garments and ^btossing dust into the air, ²⁴the ¹commander ordered him to be brought into ^athe barracks, stating that he should be ^bexamined by flogging so that he might find out the reason why they were shouting against him that way. ²⁵But when they stretched him out ¹with leather straps, Paul said to the centurion who was standing by, “Is it ²lawful for you to flog ^aa man who is a Roman and uncondemned?” ²⁶And when the centurion heard this, he went to the commander and reported to him, saying, “What are you about to do? For this man is a Roman.” ²⁷And the commander came and said to him, “Tell me, are you a Roman?” And he said, “Yes.” ²⁸And the commander answered, “I acquired this citizenship with a large sum of money.” And Paul said, “But I have been born a citizen.” ²⁹Therefore those who were about to ^aexamine him immediately withdrew from him; and the commander also ^bwas afraid when he learned that he was a Roman, and because he had ^cbound him.

Paul Before the Sanhedrin

³⁰But on the next day, ^awishing to know for certain why he had been accused by the Jews, he ^breleased him and ordered the chief priests and all ^cthe Sanhedrin to come together, and brought Paul down and set him before them.

23Now Paul, looking intently at ^athe Sanhedrin, said, “^bBrothers, ^cI have ¹lived my life in all good conscience before God up to this day.” ²And the high priest ^aAnanias commanded those standing beside him ^bto strike him on the mouth. ³Then Paul said to him, “God is going to strike you, ^ayou whitewashed wall! Do you ^bsit to try me according to the Law, and in violation of the Law order me to be struck?” ⁴But those standing nearby said, “Do you revile the high priest of God?” ⁵And Paul said, “I was not aware, brothers, that he was high priest; for it is written, ‘^aYou shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.’”

⁶But knowing that one group were ^aSadducees and the other Pharisees, Paul began crying out in ^bthe Sanhedrin, “^cBrothers, ^dI am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees; I am on trial for ^ethe hope and resurrection of the dead!” ⁷As he said this, there was dissension between the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. ⁸For ^athe Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor an angel, nor a spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all. ⁹And there occurred a great outcry; and some of ^athe scribes of the Pharisaic party stood up and began to argue heatedly, saying, “^bWe find nothing wrong with this man. ^cSuppose a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?” ¹⁰And as a great dissension was developing, because the ¹commander was afraid Paul would be torn to pieces by them, he ordered the troops to go down and take him away from them by force, and bring him into ^athe barracks.

¹¹But on ^athat very night, the Lord stood at his side and said, “^bTake courage; for ^cas you have ^dsolemnly borne witness to My cause at Jerusalem, so you must bear witness at Rome also.”

A Plot to Kill Paul

¹²Now when it was day, ^athe Jews formed a ¹conspiracy and ^bbound themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul. ¹³And there were more than forty who formed this scheme. ¹⁴They came to the chief priests and the elders and said, “We have ^abound ourselves under a curse to taste nothing until we have killed Paul. ¹⁵“So now you, along with ^athe Sanhedrin, notify the commander to bring him down to you, as though you were going to determine his case more carefully; and we for our part are ready to slay him before he comes near.”

¹⁶But when the son of Paul’s sister heard of their ambush, ¹he came and entered ^athe barracks and reported it to Paul. ¹⁷And Paul called one of the centurions to him and said, “Lead this young man to the commander, for he has something to report to him.” ¹⁸So he took him and led him to the ¹commander and *said, “Paul ^athe prisoner called me to him and asked me to lead this young man to you since he has something to tell you.” ¹⁹And the ¹commander took him by the hand and stepping aside, began to inquire of him privately, “What is it that you have to report to me?” ²⁰And he said, “^aThe Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down tomorrow to ^bthe Sanhedrin, as though they were going to inquire somewhat more carefully about him. ²¹“So do not be persuaded by them, for more than forty of them—who have ^abound themselves under a curse not to eat or drink until they slay him—are ^blying in wait for him and now they are ready and waiting for the promise from you.” ²²So the commander let the young man go, instructing him, “Tell no one that you have notified me of these things.”

Paul Is Brought to Caesarea

²³And when he called to him two of the centurions, he said, “Make ready two hundred soldiers, ¹seventy horsemen, and two hundred ²spearmen to proceed to ^aCaesarea by the ³third hour of the night, ²⁴and provide mounts to put Paul on and bring him safely to ^aFelix the governor.” ²⁵And he wrote a letter having this form:

²⁶“Claudius Lysias, to the ^amost excellent governor Felix, ^bgreetings.

²⁷“When this man was arrested by the Jews and was about to be slain by them, ^aI came up to them with the troops and rescued him, ^bhaving learned that he was a Roman. ²⁸“And ^awanting to ascertain the charge for which they were accusing him, I ^bbrought him down to their ^cSanhedrin; ²⁹and I found him to be accused over ^aquestions about their Law, but ¹under ^bno accusation deserving death or ²imprisonment.

³⁰“And when I was ^ainformed that there would be ^ba plot against the man, I sent him to you at once, also instructing ^chis accusers to speak against him before you.”

³¹So the soldiers, according to their orders, took Paul and brought him by night to Antipatris. ³²But the next day, leaving ^athe horsemen to go on with him, they returned to ^bthe barracks. ³³When these had come to ^aCaesarea and delivered the letter to ^bthe governor, they also presented Paul to him. ³⁴And when he had read it, he asked from what ^aprovince he was, and when he learned that ^bhe was from Cilicia, ³⁵he said, “I will give you a hearing after your ^aaccusers arrive also,” giving orders for him to be ^bkept in Herod’s ¹Praetorium.

³⁰“If his sons ^aforsake My lawAnd do not walk in My judgments,³¹If they profane My statutesAnd do not keep My commandments,³²Then I will punish their transgression with the ^arodAnd their iniquity with striking.³³“But I will not break off ^aMy lovingkindness from him,Nor deal falsely in My faithfulness.³⁴“My ^acovenant I will not profane,Nor will I ^balter what comes forth from My lips.³⁵“¹Once I have ^asworn by My holiness;I will not lie to David.³⁶“His ^aseed shall endure foreverAnd his ^bthrone ^cas the sun before Me.³⁷“It shall be established forever ^alike the moon,And the ^bwitness in the sky is faithful.” ¹ Selah.³⁸But You have ^acast off and ^brejected,You have been full of wrath ¹against Your ^canointed.³⁹You have ^aspurned the covenant of Your ¹slave;You have ^bprofaned ^chis crown to the ground.⁴⁰You have ^abroken down all his walls;You have ^bbeset his strongholds with ruin.⁴¹^aAll who pass along the way plunder him;He has become a ^breproach to his neighbors.⁴²You have ^aexalted the right hand of his adversaries;You have ^bmade all his enemies be glad.⁴³You also turn back the edge of his swordAnd have ^anot made him arise in battle.⁴⁴You have made his ¹^,^asplendor to ceaseAnd cast his throne to the ground.⁴⁵You have ^ashortened the days of his youth;You have ^bwrapped him up with shame. Selah.⁴⁶^aHow long, O Yahweh?Will You hide Yourself forever?Will Your ^bwrath burn like fire?⁴⁷^aRemember ¹what my span of life is;For what ^bvanity ²You have created all the sons of men!⁴⁸What man can live and not ^asee death?Can he ^bprovide his soul escape from the ¹power of Sheol? Selah.⁴⁹Where are Your former lovingkindnesses, O Lord,Which You ^aswore to David in Your faithfulness?⁵⁰Remember, O Lord, the ^areproach of Your ¹slaves;²How I bear in my bosom the reproach of all the many peoples,⁵¹With which ^aYour enemies have reproached, O Yahweh,With which they have reproached the footsteps of ^bYour anointed.⁵²^aBlessed be Yahweh forever!Amen and Amen.