Exodus 29–30
1 Now this is the thing that you shall do to them to consecrate them, to minister as priests to Me: Take one young bull and two rams without blemish, 2 and unleavened bread, and unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil—you shall make them of wheat flour. 3 You shall put them into one basket and bring them in the basket with the bull and the two rams. 4 Then you shall bring Aaron and his sons to the door of the tent of meeting and wash them with water. 5 You shall take the garments and clothe Aaron with the tunic and the robe of the ephod and the ephod and the breastplate, and gird him with the skillfully woven band of the ephod. 6 And you shall put the turban on his head and put the holy crown on the turban. 7 Then shall you take the anointing oil and pour it on his head and anoint him. 8 You shall bring his sons and put tunics on them. 9 You shall gird them with sashes, Aaron and his sons, and put the headbands on them, and the priest’s office shall be theirs for a perpetual statute.
Thus you shall consecrate Aaron and his sons.
10 Then you shall bring a bull before the tent of meeting, and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands on the head of the bull. 11 You shall kill the bull before the Lord by the door of the tent of meeting. 12 You shall take of the blood of the bull, and put it on the horns of the altar with your finger, and pour all the blood beside the bottom of the altar. 13 You shall take all the fat that covers the entrails, and the lobe that is above the liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, and burn them on the altar. 14 But the flesh of the bull, its skin, and its dung, you shall burn with fire outside the camp. It is a sin offering.
15 You shall also take one ram, and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands on the head of the ram. 16 You shall slay the ram, and you shall take its blood and sprinkle it around on the altar. 17 Then you shall cut the ram in pieces, and wash its entrails and its legs, and put them with its pieces and its head. 18 You shall burn the whole ram on the altar. It is a burnt offering to the Lord. It is a soothing aroma, an offering made by fire to the Lord.
19 Then you shall take the other ram, and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands on the head of the ram. 20 You shall kill the ram and take some of its blood and put it on the tip of the right ear of Aaron, and on the tip of the right ear of his sons, and on the thumb of their right hand, and on the great toe of their right foot, and sprinkle the blood around on the altar. 21 You shall take some of the blood that is on the altar and some of the anointing oil and sprinkle it on Aaron and on his garments, and on his sons, and on the garments of his sons with him. So he and his garments shall be consecrated, along with his sons and his sons’ garments with him.
22 Also you shall take the fat and the rump of the ram, and the fat that covers the entrails and the lobe above the liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them and the right shoulder (for it is a ram of consecration), 23 and one loaf of bread, and one cake of oiled bread, and one wafer out of the basket of the unleavened bread that is before the Lord. 24 And you shall put all of these in the hands of Aaron and in the hands of his sons, and shall wave them for a wave offering before the Lord. 25 Then you shall take them from their hands and burn them on the altar for a burnt offering, for a soothing aroma before the Lord. It is an offering made by fire to the Lord. 26 You shall take the breast of Aaron’s ram of consecration, and wave it as a wave offering before the Lord, and it shall be your portion.
27 You shall consecrate the breast of the wave offering that is waved and the thigh of the priest’s portion that is contributed from the ram of the consecration, from that which was for Aaron and from that which was for his sons. 28 It shall be for Aaron and his sons by a statute forever, for it is a contribution. It shall be a contribution from the children of Israel from their peace offerings, their contributions to the Lord.
29 The holy garments belonging to Aaron are to belong to his sons after him, so that they may be anointed in them and be consecrated in them. 30 The son that is priest in his stead shall put them on seven days when he comes into the tent of meeting to minister in the holy place.
31 You shall take the ram of the consecration and boil its flesh in a holy place. 32 Aaron and his sons shall eat the flesh of the ram and the bread that is in the basket by the door of the tent of meeting. 33 They shall eat those things by which the atonement was made in order to consecrate and sanctify them, but no one else shall eat them, because they are holy. 34 If any of the flesh from the consecrations or from the bread remain until the morning, then you shall burn the remainder with fire. It shall not be eaten, because it is holy.
35 Thus shall you do to Aaron and his sons according to all that I have commanded you. You shall consecrate them for seven days. 36 Every day you must offer a bull as a sin offering for atonement, and you must cleanse the altar when you make atonement for it. You must anoint it to consecrate it. 37 For seven days you must make atonement for the altar and consecrate it, and then the altar will be most holy, and whatever touches the altar will be holy.
38 Now this is what you are to offer on the altar: two one-year-old lambs every day, continually. 39 The one lamb you must offer in the morning, and the other lamb you must offer at sundown. 40 And with the first lamb will be a tenth of an ephah of flour mingled with the fourth part of a hin of beaten oil, and the fourth part of a hin of wine for a drink offering. 41 The other lamb you must offer at sundown and must offer with it the same grain offering and the same drink offering as in the morning, for a soothing aroma, an offering made by fire to the Lord.
42 This will be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the door of the tent of meeting before the Lord, where I will meet with you, to speak to you there. 43 I will meet there with the children of Israel, and it will be consecrated by My glory.
44 I will sanctify the tent of meeting and the altar. I will also sanctify both Aaron and his sons to minister as priests to Me. 45 I will dwell among the children of Israel and will be their God. 46 Then they will know that I am the Lord their God who brought them out of the land of Egypt, so that I may dwell among them. I am the Lord their God.
Chapter 30
1 Also, you must make an altar for burning incense. You must make it of acacia wood. 2 It must be a cubit in length, and its width a cubit. It will be square. Its height will be two cubits; the horns shall be of one piece with it. 3 You must overlay it with pure gold, its top, its sides all around, and its horns; and you must make a molding of gold all around it. 4 You must make two golden rings for it under its molding. You must make them on its two sides, on opposite sides of it, and they will be holders for the poles with which to carry it. 5 Then you must make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. 6 You must put it before the veil that is by the ark of the testimony, in front of the mercy seat that is over the testimony, where I will meet with you.
7 Aaron must burn sweet incense on it. Every morning, when he trims the lamps, he must burn incense. 8 When Aaron lights the lamps at sundown, he must burn incense on it. It is to be a perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your generations. 9 You must offer no strange incense on it, nor burnt sacrifice, nor grain offering, and you must not pour out a drink offering on it. 10 Aaron must make atonement on its horns once a year with the blood of the sin offering of atonement. Once a year he must make atonement on it throughout your generations. It is most holy to the Lord.
11 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 12 When you take the census of the children of Israel according to their number, then each man is to pay a ransom for his life to the Lord when you count them, so that there be no plague among them when you number them. 13 This is what everyone who is counted must give: half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary (a shekel is twenty gerahs). The half shekel will be the offering to the Lord. 14 Everyone who is counted, from twenty years old and above, must give an offering to the Lord. 15 The rich must not give more and the poor must not give less than half a shekel when they give the offering to the Lord, to make atonement for your lives. 16 You must take the atonement money of the children of Israel and give it for the service of the tent of meeting, so that it may be a memorial to the children of Israel before the Lord, to make atonement for your lives.
17 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 18 You must also make a basin of bronze, with its base also of bronze, for washing, and you must put it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and you must put water in it. 19 For Aaron and his sons must wash their hands and their feet from it. 20 When they go into the tent of meeting, or when they come near the altar to minister by burning incense as an offering made by fire to the Lord, they must wash with water so that they will not die. 21 So they must wash their hands and their feet, so that they will not die. And it will be a perpetual statute for them, even to him and to his seed throughout their generations.
22 Moreover the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 23 Take for yourself choice spices: five hundred shekels of pure myrrh, half as much sweet-smelling cinnamon (two hundred and fifty shekels), two hundred and fifty shekels of sweet-smelling cane, 24 five hundred shekels of cassia, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, and a hin of olive oil. 25 And you must make with it a holy anointing oil, a perfumed compound, the work of a perfumer. It will be a holy anointing oil. 26 And you must anoint the tent of meeting with it, along with the ark of the testimony, 27 and the table and all its utensils, and the lampstand and its utensils, and the altar of incense, 28 and the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the basin and its stand. 29 You must consecrate them, so that they may be most holy. Whatever touches them must be holy.
30 You must anoint Aaron and his sons and consecrate them, so that they may minister as priests to Me. 31 You must speak to the children of Israel, saying, “This will be a holy anointing oil to Me throughout your generations. 32 It must not be poured out on anyone’s body, nor shall you make any other like it in composition. It is holy, and it will be holy to you. 33 Whoever makes anything like it or whoever puts any of it on a layman will be cut off from his people.”
34 Then the Lord said to Moses: Take for yourself sweet spices, stacte and onycha and galbanum, sweet spices with pure frankincense of equal amounts. 35 You shall make of these an incense, a compound expertly blended, mingled with salt, pure and holy. 36 You must beat some of it very fine and put part of it before the testimony in the tent of meeting where I will meet with you. It will be most holy to you. 37 As for the perfume which you will make, you may not make it for yourselves using the same recipe. It must be holy for the Lord to you. 38 Whoever makes anything like it in order to use it as perfume must be cut off from his people.
Matthew 21:23–46
23 When He entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to Him as He was teaching, and said, “By what authority are You doing these things? And who gave You this authority?”
24 Jesus answered them, “I also will ask you one question. If you tell Me, I likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things. 25 Where did the baptism of John come from? From heaven or from men?”
They reasoned among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say to us, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ 26 But if we say, ‘From men,’ we are afraid of the people, for all hold John as a prophet.”
27 So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.”
Then He said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.
28 “What do you think? A man had two sons. He came to the first and said, ‘Son, go work today in my vineyard.’
29 “He answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he repented and went.
30 “Then he came to the second, and said likewise. He answered, ‘I will go, sir,’ but did not go.
31 “Which of the two did the will of his father?”
They said, “The first.”
Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you, the tax collectors and prostitutes enter the kingdom of God before you. 32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him. But the tax collectors and prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward repent and believe him.
33 “Listen to another parable: There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and built a wall around it. He dug a winepress in it and built a tower. Then he rented it to vinedressers and went into a distant country. 34 When the season of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers to receive his fruit.
35 “The vinedressers took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. 36 Again, he sent other servants, more than the first. And they did likewise to them. 37 Last of all, he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’
38 “But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’ 39 So they caught him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.
40 “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vinedressers?”
41 They said, “He will severely destroy those wicked men and rent his vineyard to other vinedressers who will give him the fruits in their seasons.”
42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:
‘The stone which the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone.
This is the Lord’s doing,
and it is marvelous in our eyes’?
43 “Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing its fruits. 44 Whoever falls on this stone will be broken to pieces. But on whomever it falls, it will crush him.”
45 When the chief priests and Pharisees heard His parables, they perceived that He was speaking of them. 46 But as they tried to arrest Him, they feared the crowds, because they held Him as a prophet.