Arrangement of the Camps

1Now the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, 2“The sons of Israel shall camp, each by his own standard, with the banners of their fathers’ households; they shall camp around the tent of meeting at a distance. 3Now those who camp on the east side toward the sunrise shall be of the standard of the camp of Judah, by their armies, and the leader of the sons of Judah: Nahshon the son of Amminadab, 4and his army, even their numbered men, 74,600. 5Those who camp next to him shall be the tribe of Issachar, and the leader of the sons of Issachar: Nethanel the son of Zuar, 6and his army, even their numbered men, 54,400. 7Then comes the tribe of Zebulun, and the leader of the sons of Zebulun: Eliab the son of Helon, 8and his army, even his numbered men, 57,400. 9The total of the numbered men of the camp of Judah: 186,400, by their armies. They shall set out first.

10“On the south side shall be the standard of the camp of Reuben by their armies, and the leader of the sons of Reuben: Elizur the son of Shedeur, 11and his army, even their numbered men, 46,500. 12Those who camp next to him shall be the tribe of Simeon, and the leader of the sons of Simeon: Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai, 13and his army, even their numbered men, 59,300. 14Then comes the tribe of Gad, and the leader of the sons of Gad: Eliasaph the son of Deuel, 15and his army, even their numbered men, 45,650. 16The total of the numbered men of the camp of Reuben: 151,450 by their armies. And they shall set out second.

17“Then the tent of meeting shall set out with the camp of the Levites in the midst of the camps; just as they camp, so they shall set out, every man in his place by their standards.

18“On the west side shall be the standard of the camp of Ephraim by their armies, and the leader of the sons of Ephraim shall be Elishama the son of Ammihud, 19and his army, even their numbered men, 40,500. 20Next to him shall be the tribe of Manasseh, and the leader of the sons of Manasseh: Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur, 21and his army, even their numbered men, 32,200. 22Then comes the tribe of Benjamin, and the leader of the sons of Benjamin: Abidan the son of Gideoni, 23and his army, even their numbered men, 35,400. 24The total of the numbered men of the camp of Ephraim: 108,100, by their armies. And they shall set out third.

25“On the north side shall be the standard of the camp of Dan by their armies, and the leader of the sons of Dan: Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai, 26and his army, even their numbered men, 62,700. 27Those who camp next to him shall be the tribe of Asher, and the leader of the sons of Asher: Pagiel the son of Ochran, 28and his army, even their numbered men, 41,500. 29Then comes the tribe of Naphtali, and the leader of the sons of Naphtali: Ahira the son of Enan, 30and his army, even their numbered men, 53,400. 31The total of the numbered men of the camp of Dan was 157,600. They shall set out last by their standards.”

32These are the numbered men of the sons of Israel by their fathers’ households; the total of the numbered men of the camps by their armies, 603,550. 33The Levites, however, were not numbered among the sons of Israel, just as the Lord had commanded Moses. 34Thus the sons of Israel did; according to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so they camped by their standards, and so they set out, every one by his family according to his father’s household.

Levites to Be Priesthood

1Now these are the records of the generations of Aaron and Moses at the time when the Lord spoke with Moses on Mount Sinai. 2These 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 anointed priests, whom he ordained to serve as priests. 4But Nadab and Abihu died before the Lord when they offered strange fire before the Lord in the wilderness of Sinai; and they had no children. So Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests in the lifetime of their father Aaron.

5Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 6“Bring the tribe of Levi near and set them before Aaron the priest, that they may serve him. 7They shall perform the duties for him and for the whole congregation before the tent of meeting, to do the service of the tabernacle. 8They shall also keep all the furnishings of the tent of meeting, along with the duties of the sons of Israel, to do the service of the tabernacle. 9You shall thus give the Levites to Aaron and to his sons; they are wholly given to him from among the sons of Israel. 10So you shall appoint Aaron and his sons that they may keep their priesthood, but the layman who comes near shall be put to death.”

11Again the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 12“Now, behold, I have taken the Levites from among the sons of Israel instead of every firstborn, the first issue of the womb among the sons of Israel. So the Levites shall be Mine. 13For all 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 the Lord.”

14Then the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, saying, 15“Number the sons of Levi by their fathers’ households, by their families; every male from a month old and upward you shall number.” 16So Moses numbered them according to the word of the Lord, just as he had been commanded. 17These then are the sons of Levi by their names: Gershon and Kohath and Merari. 18These are the names of the sons 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.

Duties of the Priests

25Now the duties of the sons of Gershon in the tent of meeting involved the tabernacle and the tent, its covering, and the screen for the doorway of the tent of meeting, 26and the hangings of the court, and the screen for the doorway of the court which is around the tabernacle and the altar, and its cords, according to all the service concerning 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, performing the duties 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 Elizaphan the son of Uzziel. 31Now their duties involved the ark, the table, the lampstand, the altars, and the utensils of the sanctuary with which they minister, and the screen, and all the service concerning them; 32and Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest was the chief of the leaders of Levi, and had the oversight of those who perform the duties of the sanctuary.

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

38Now those who were to camp before the tabernacle eastward, before the tent of meeting toward the sunrise, are Moses and Aaron and his sons, performing the duties of the sanctuary for the obligation of the sons of Israel; but the layman coming near was to be put to death. 39All the numbered men of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron numbered at the command of the Lord by their families, every male from a month old and upward, were 22,000.

Firstborn Redeemed

40Then the Lord said to Moses, “Number every firstborn male of the sons of Israel from a month old and upward, and make a list of their names. 41You shall take the Levites for Me, I am the Lord, 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 the Lord had commanded him; 43and all the firstborn males by the number of names from a month old and upward, for their numbered men were 22,273.

44Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 45“Take 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 the Lord. 46For the ransom of the 273 of the firstborn of the sons of Israel who are in excess beyond the Levites, 47you shall take five shekels apiece, per head; you shall take them in terms of the shekel of the sanctuary (the shekel is twenty gerahs), 48and give the money, the ransom of those who are in excess among them, to Aaron and to his sons.” 49So Moses took the ransom money from those who were in excess, beyond those ransomed 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 ransom money to Aaron and to his sons, at the command of the Lord, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

Jesus’ Authority Questioned

27They *came again to Jerusalem. And as He was walking in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders *came to Him, 28and began saying to Him, “By what authority are You doing these things, or who gave You this authority to do these things?” 29And Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question, and you answer Me, and then I will tell you by what authority I do these things. 30Was the baptism of John from heaven, or from men? Answer Me.” 31They began reasoning among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ 32But shall we say, ‘From men’?”—they were afraid of the people, for everyone considered John to have been a real prophet. 33Answering Jesus, they *said, “We do not know.” And Jesus *said to them, “Nor will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

Parable of the Vine-growers

1And He began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard and put a wall around it, and dug a vat under the wine press and built a tower, and rented it out to vine-growers and went on a journey. 2At the harvest time he sent a slave to the vine-growers, in order to receive some of the produce of the vineyard from the vine-growers. 3They took him, and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 4Again he sent them another slave, and they wounded him in the head, and treated him shamefully. 5And he sent another, and that one they killed; and so with many others, beating some and killing others. 6He had one more to send, a beloved son; he sent him last of all to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 7But those vine-growers said to one another, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours!’ 8They took him, and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard. 9What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the vine-growers, and will give the vineyard to others. 10Have you not even read this Scripture:

‘The stone which the builders rejected,

This became the chief corner stone;

11This came about from the Lord,

And it is marvelous in our eyes’?”

12And they were seeking to seize Him, and yet they feared the people, for they understood that He spoke the parable against them. And so they left Him and went away.

Jesus Answers the Pharisees, Sadducees and Scribes

13Then they *sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Him in order to trap Him in a statement. 14They *came and *said to Him, “Teacher, we know that You are truthful and defer to no one; for You are not partial to any, but teach the way of God in truth. Is it lawful to pay a poll-tax to Caesar, or not? 15Shall we pay or shall we not pay?” But He, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, “Why are you testing Me? Bring Me a denarius to look at.” 16They brought one. And He *said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” And they said to Him, “Caesar’s.” 17And Jesus said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they were amazed at Him.

PSALM 47

God the King of the Earth.

For the choir director. A Psalm of the sons of Korah.

1O clap your hands, all peoples;

Shout to God with the voice of joy.

2For the Lord Most High is to be feared,

A great King over all the earth.

3He subdues peoples under us

And nations under our feet.

4He chooses our inheritance for us,

The glory of Jacob whom He loves. Selah.

5God has ascended with a shout,

The Lord, with the sound of a trumpet.

6Sing praises to God, sing praises;

Sing praises to our King, sing praises.

7For God is the King of all the earth;

Sing praises with a skillful psalm.

8God reigns over the nations,

God sits on His holy throne.

9The princes of the people have assembled themselves as the people of the God of Abraham,

For the shields of the earth belong to God;

He is highly exalted.

24What the wicked fears will come upon him,

But the desire of the righteous will be granted.

25When the whirlwind passes, the wicked is no more,

But the righteous has an everlasting foundation.