Numbers 17 - 18, Romans 4, Psalm 97 — Legacy Standard Bible

Aaron’s Rod Buds

17¹Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ²“Speak to the sons of Israel, and get from them a rod for each father’s household: twelve rods from all their leaders according to their fathers’ households. You shall write each name on his rod, ³and write Aaron’s name on the rod of Levi; for there is one rod for the head of each of their fathers’ households. ⁴“You shall then deposit them in the tent of meeting in front of ^athe testimony, where I meet with you. ⁵“And it will come about that the rod of ^athe man whom I choose will sprout. Thus I will rid Myself of the grumblings of the sons of Israel, who are grumbling against you.” ⁶Moses therefore spoke to the sons of Israel, and all their leaders gave him a rod apiece, for each leader according to their fathers’ households, twelve rods, with the rod of Aaron among their rods. ⁷So Moses deposited the rods before Yahweh in ^athe tent of the testimony.

⁸Now it happened on the next day Moses went into the tent of the testimony; and behold, ^athe rod of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted and put forth buds and produced flowers, and it bore ripe almonds. ⁹Moses then brought out all the rods from the presence of Yahweh to all the sons of Israel; and they looked, and each man took his rod. ¹⁰But Yahweh said to Moses, “Put back the rod of Aaron ^abefore the testimony ¹to be kept as a sign against the ²^,^brebels, that you may put an end to their grumblings against Me, so that they will not die.” ¹¹Thus Moses did; just as Yahweh had commanded him, so he did.

¹²Then the sons of Israel spoke to Moses, saying, “^aBehold, we are breathing our last breath, we are perishing, we are all perishing! ¹³“^aEveryone who comes near, who comes near to the tabernacle of Yahweh, must die. Are we to breathe our utter last?”

Responsibilities of the Levites

18So Yahweh said to Aaron, “You and your sons and your father’s household with you shall ^abear the guilt ¹in connection with the sanctuary, and you and your sons with you shall bear the guilt ²in connection with your priesthood. ²“But bring near with you also your brothers, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, that they may be ^ajoined with you and minister to you, while you and your sons with you are before the tent of the testimony. ³“And they shall thus keep your responsibility and the responsibility of all the tent, but ^athey shall not come near to the furnishings of the sanctuary and ^bthe altar, so that neither they nor you will die. ⁴“And they shall be joined with you and keep the responsibility of the tent of meeting, for all the service of the tent; but ¹an outsider may not come near you. ⁵“So you shall keep the ^aresponsibility of the sanctuary and the responsibility of the altar, ^bso that there will no longer be wrath on the sons of Israel. ⁶“And behold, I Myself ^ahave taken your brothers the Levites from among the sons of Israel; they are ^ba gift to you, given to Yahweh, to perform the service for the tent of meeting. ⁷“But you and your sons with you shall ^akeep your priesthood in everything that concerns the altar and inside the veil, and you are to perform service. I am giving you the priesthood as ^ba ¹bestowed service, but ^cthe ²outsider who comes near shall be put to death.”

The Priests’ Portion

⁸Then Yahweh spoke to Aaron, “Now behold, I Myself have given you the responsibility of My ¹^,^acontributions, even all the holy gifts of the sons of Israel I have given them to you as a portion and to your sons as a perpetual statute. ⁹“This shall be yours from the most holy gifts reserved from the fire; every offering of theirs, even ^aevery grain offering and every ^bsin offering and every guilt offering, which they shall render to Me, shall be most holy for you and for your sons. ¹⁰“As the most holy gifts you shall eat it; every male shall eat it. It shall be holy to you. ¹¹“This also is yours, ^athe contribution from their gift, even all the wave offerings of the sons of Israel; I have ^bgiven them to you and to your sons and daughters with you as a perpetual statute. Everyone of your household who is clean may eat it. ¹²“^aAll the ¹best of the fresh oil and all the ²best of the fresh wine and of the grain, the first fruits of those which they give to Yahweh, I give them to you. ¹³“^aThe first ripe fruits of all that is in their land, which they bring to Yahweh, shall be yours; everyone of your household who is clean may eat it. ¹⁴“^aEvery devoted thing in Israel shall be yours. ¹⁵“¹^,^aEvery first issue of the womb of all flesh, whether man or animal, which they bring near to Yahweh, shall be yours; nevertheless the firstborn of man you shall surely redeem, and the firstborn of unclean animals you shall redeem. ¹⁶“Now as to their redemption price, from a month old you shall redeem them, by your valuation, five ¹shekels in silver, according to the ²shekel of the sanctuary, which is twenty gerahs. ¹⁷“But ^athe firstborn of an ox or the firstborn of a sheep or the firstborn of a goat, you shall not redeem; they are holy. ^bYou shall splash their blood on the altar and shall offer up their fat in smoke as an offering by fire, for a soothing aroma to Yahweh. ¹⁸“And their ¹meat shall be yours; it shall be yours like the ^abreast of a wave offering and like the right thigh. ¹⁹“^aAll the contributions of the holy gifts, which the sons of Israel raise up to Yahweh, I have given to you and your sons and your daughters with you, as a perpetual statute. It is ^ban everlasting covenant of salt before Yahweh to you and your seed with you.” ²⁰Then Yahweh said to Aaron, “^aYou shall have no inheritance in their land nor own any portion among them; ^bI am your portion and your inheritance among the sons of Israel.

²¹“Now to the sons of Levi, behold, I have given all the ^atithe in Israel for an inheritance, in return for their service which they perform, the service of the tent of meeting. ²²“^aAnd the sons of Israel shall not come near the tent of meeting again, or they will bear sin and die. ²³“Only the Levites shall perform the service of the tent of meeting, and they shall ^abear their iniquity; it shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations, and among the sons of Israel ^bthey shall have no inheritance. ²⁴“For the tithe of the sons of Israel, which they raise up as a contribution offering to Yahweh, I have given to the Levites for an inheritance; therefore I have said concerning them, ‘^aThey shall have no inheritance among the sons of Israel.’”

²⁵Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁶“Moreover, you shall speak to the Levites and say to them, ‘When you take from the sons of Israel ^athe tithe which I have given you from them for your inheritance, then you shall raise up a contribution offering from it to Yahweh, a ^btithe of the tithe. ²⁷‘And your contribution offering shall be reckoned to you as the grain from the threshing floor or the full produce from the wine vat. ²⁸‘So you shall also raise up a contribution offering to Yahweh from all your tithes, which you receive from the sons of Israel; and from it you shall give the contribution offering of Yahweh to Aaron the priest. ²⁹‘Out of all your gifts you shall raise up every contribution offering due to Yahweh, from all the ¹best of them, ²the sacred part from them.’ ³⁰“And you shall say to them, ‘When you have raised up from it the best of it, then the rest shall be accounted to the Levites as the product of the threshing floor and as the product of the wine vat. ³¹‘And you may eat it anywhere, you and your households, for it is your compensation in return for your service in the tent of meeting. ³²‘And you will bear no sin by reason of it when you have raised up the ¹best of it. But you shall not ^aprofane the sacred gifts of the sons of Israel, so that you will not die.’”

Abraham and David’s Faith Counted as Righteousness

4What then shall we say that Abraham, ¹our forefather ^aaccording to the flesh, has found? ²For if Abraham was justified ¹by works, he has something to boast about—but ^anot ²before God! ³For what does the Scripture say? “^aAbraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” ⁴Now to the one who ^aworks, his wage is not counted according to grace, but according to what is due. ⁵But to the one who does not work, but ^abelieves upon Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, ⁶just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:

⁷“^aBlessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven,And whose sins have been covered.⁸“^aBlessed is the man whose sin the ¹Lord will not ^btake into account.”

⁹Therefore, is this blessing on ¹^,^athe circumcised, or on ²the uncircumcised also? For ^bwe say, “^cFaith was counted to Abraham as righteousness.” ¹⁰How then was it counted? While he was ¹circumcised, or ²uncircumcised? Not while ³circumcised, but while ⁴uncircumcised; ¹¹and he ^areceived the sign of circumcision, ^ba seal of the righteousness of the faith which ¹he had while uncircumcised, so that he might be ^cthe father of ^dall who believe without being circumcised, that righteousness might be counted to them, ¹²and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also follow in the steps of the faith of our father Abraham which ¹he had while uncircumcised.

¹³For ^athe promise to Abraham or to his seed ^bthat he would be heir of the world was not ¹through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith. ¹⁴For ^aif those who are ¹of the Law are heirs, faith has been made empty and the promise has been abolished; ¹⁵for ^athe Law brings about wrath, but ^bwhere there is no law, there also is no trespass.

¹⁶For this reason it is ¹by faith, in order that it may be according to ^agrace, so that the promise will be guaranteed to ^ball the seed, not only to ²those who are of the Law, but also to ³^,^cthose who are of the faith of Abraham, who is ^dthe father of us all— ¹⁷as it is written, “^aA father of many nations have I made you”—in the presence of Him whom he believed, even God, ^bwho gives life to the dead and ¹^,^ccalls into being ^dthat which does not exist. ¹⁸In hope against hope he believed, so that he might become ^aa father of many nations according to that which had been spoken, “^bSo shall your seed be.” ¹⁹And without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now ^aas good as dead since ^bhe was about a hundred years old, and ^cthe deadness of Sarah’s womb; ²⁰yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, ^agiving glory to God, ²¹and ^abeing fully assured that ^bwhat God had promised, He was able also to do. ²²Therefore ^ait was also counted to him as righteousness. ²³Now ^anot for his sake only was it written that it was counted to him, ²⁴but for our sake also, to whom it will be counted, as those ^awho believe upon Him who ^braised Jesus our Lord from the dead, ²⁵He who was ^adelivered over on account of our transgressions, and was ^braised on account of our justification.

Remember His Holy Name

97^aYahweh ¹reigns, let the ^bearth rejoice;Let the many ^ccoastlands be glad.²^aClouds and thick darkness are all around Him;^bRighteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne.³^aFire goes before HimAnd ^bburns up His adversaries all around.⁴His ^alightnings light up the world;The earth sees and ^btrembles.⁵The mountains ^amelt like wax at the presence of Yahweh,At the presence of the ^bLord of all the earth.⁶The ^aheavens declare His righteousness,And ^ball the peoples see His glory.⁷Let all those be ashamed who serve ^agraven images,Who boast of ^bidols;¹^,^cWorship Him, all you ²gods!⁸Zion ¹heard this and ^awas glad,And the daughters of Judah have rejoicedBecause of Your judgments, O Yahweh.⁹For You are Yahweh ^aMost High over all the earth;You are exalted far ^babove all ¹gods.¹⁰^aHate evil, you who love Yahweh,Who ^bkeeps the souls of His holy ones;He ^cdelivers them from the hand of the wicked.¹¹^aLight is sown for the righteousAnd ^bgladness for the upright in heart.¹²Be ^aglad in Yahweh, you righteous ones,And ^bgive thanks for the remembrance of ¹His holy name.