The Levites

23 When David was old and full of years, he made his son Solomon^(A) king over Israel.^(B)

² He also gathered together all the leaders of Israel, as well as the priests and Levites. ³ The Levites thirty years old or more^(C) were counted,^(D) and the total number of men was thirty-eight thousand.^{(E) 4} David said, “Of these, twenty-four thousand are to be in charge^(F) of the work^(G) of the temple of the Lord and six thousand are to be officials and judges.^{(H) 5} Four thousand are to be gatekeepers and four thousand are to praise the Lord with the musical instruments^(I) I have provided for that purpose.”^(J)

⁶ David separated^(K) the Levites into divisions corresponding to the sons of Levi:^(L) Gershon, Kohath and Merari.

Gershonites

⁷ Belonging to the Gershonites:^(M)

Kohathites

¹² The sons of Kohath:^(N)

Merarites

²¹ The sons of Merari:^(Y)

²⁴ These were the descendants of Levi by their families—the heads of families as they were registered under their names and counted individually, that is, the workers twenty years old or more^(AB) who served in the temple of the Lord. ²⁵ For David had said, “Since the Lord, the God of Israel, has granted rest^(AC) to his people and has come to dwell in Jerusalem forever, ²⁶ the Levites no longer need to carry the tabernacle or any of the articles used in its service.”^{(AD) 27} According to the last instructions of David, the Levites were counted from those twenty years old or more.

²⁸ The duty of the Levites was to help Aaron’s descendants in the service of the temple of the Lord: to be in charge of the courtyards, the side rooms, the purification^(AE) of all sacred things and the performance of other duties at the house of God. ²⁹ They were in charge of the bread set out on the table,^(AF) the special flour for the grain offerings,^(AG) the thin loaves made without yeast, the baking and the mixing, and all measurements of quantity and size.^{(AH) 30} They were also to stand every morning to thank and praise the Lord. They were to do the same in the evening^{(AI) 31} and whenever burnt offerings were presented to the Lord on the Sabbaths, at the New Moon^(AJ) feasts and at the appointed festivals.^(AK) They were to serve before the Lord regularly in the proper number and in the way prescribed for them.

³² And so the Levites^(AL) carried out their responsibilities for the tent of meeting,^(AM) for the Holy Place and, under their relatives the descendants of Aaron, for the service of the temple of the Lord.^(AN)

Siege of Jerusalem Symbolized

4 “Now, son of man, take a block of clay, put it in front of you and draw the city of Jerusalem on it. ² Then lay siege to it: Erect siege works against it, build a ramp^(A) up to it, set up camps against it and put battering rams around it.^{(B) 3} Then take an iron pan,^(C) place it as an iron wall between you and the city and turn your face toward^(D) it. It will be under siege, and you shall besiege it. This will be a sign^(E) to the people of Israel.^(F)

⁴ “Then lie on your left side and put the sin of the people of Israel upon yourself.^[a] You are to bear their sin for the number of days you lie on your side. ⁵ I have assigned you the same number of days as the years of their sin. So for 390 days you will bear the sin of the people of Israel.

⁶ “After you have finished this, lie down again, this time on your right side, and bear the sin^(G) of the people of Judah. I have assigned you 40 days, a day for each year.^{(H) 7} Turn your face^(I) toward the siege of Jerusalem and with bared arm prophesy against her. ⁸ I will tie you up with ropes so that you cannot turn from one side to the other until you have finished the days of your siege.^(J)

⁹ “Take wheat and barley, beans and lentils, millet and spelt;^(K) put them in a storage jar and use them to make bread for yourself. You are to eat it during the 390 days you lie on your side. ¹⁰ Weigh out twenty shekels^[b](L) of food to eat each day and eat it at set times. ¹¹ Also measure out a sixth of a hin^[c] of water and drink it at set times.^{(M) 12} Eat the food as you would a loaf of barley bread; bake it in the sight of the people, using human excrement^(N) for fuel.” ¹³ The Lord said, “In this way the people of Israel will eat defiled food among the nations where I will drive them.”^(O)

¹⁴ Then I said, “Not so, Sovereign Lord!^(P) I have never defiled myself. From my youth until now I have never eaten anything found dead^(Q) or torn by wild animals. No impure meat has ever entered my mouth.^(R)”

¹⁵ “Very well,” he said, “I will let you bake your bread over cow dung instead of human excrement.”

¹⁶ He then said to me: “Son of man, I am about to cut off^(S) the food supply in Jerusalem. The people will eat rationed food in anxiety and drink rationed water in despair,^{(T) 17} for food and water will be scarce.^(U) They will be appalled at the sight of each other and will waste away because of^[d] their sin.^(V)

God’s Razor of Judgment

5 “Now, son of man, take a sharp sword and use it as a barber’s razor^(W) to shave^(X) your head and your beard.^(Y) Then take a set of scales and divide up the hair. ² When the days of your siege come to an end, burn^(Z) a third^(AA) of the hair inside the city. Take a third and strike it with the sword all around the city. And scatter a third to the wind.^(AB) For I will pursue them with drawn sword.^{(AC) 3} But take a few hairs and tuck them away in the folds of your garment.^{(AD) 4} Again, take a few of these and throw them into the fire^(AE) and burn them up. A fire will spread from there to all Israel.

⁵ “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: This is Jerusalem, which I have set in the center of the nations, with countries all around her.^{(AF) 6} Yet in her wickedness she has rebelled against my laws and decrees more than the nations and countries around her. She has rejected my laws and has not followed my decrees.^(AG)

⁷ “Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: You have been more unruly than the nations around you and have not followed my decrees or kept my laws. You have not even^[e] conformed to the standards of the nations around you.^(AH)

⁸ “Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself am against you, Jerusalem, and I will inflict punishment on you in the sight of the nations.^{(AI) 9} Because of all your detestable idols, I will do to you what I have never done before and will never do again.^{(AJ) 10} Therefore in your midst parents will eat their children, and children will eat their parents.^(AK) I will inflict punishment on you and will scatter all your survivors to the winds.^{(AL) 11} Therefore as surely as I live,^(AM) declares the Sovereign^(AN) Lord, because you have defiled my sanctuary^(AO) with all your vile images^(AP) and detestable practices,^(AQ) I myself will shave you; I will not look on you with pity or spare you.^{(AR) 12} A third of your people will die of the plague or perish by famine inside you; a third will fall by the sword outside your walls; and a third I will scatter to the winds^(AS) and pursue with drawn sword.^(AT)

¹³ “Then my anger will cease and my wrath^(AU) against them will subside, and I will be avenged.^(AV) And when I have spent my wrath on them, they will know that I the Lord have spoken in my zeal.^(AW)

¹⁴ “I will make you a ruin and a reproach among the nations around you, in the sight of all who pass by.^{(AX) 15} You will be a reproach^(AY) and a taunt, a warning^(AZ) and an object of horror to the nations around you when I inflict punishment on you in anger and in wrath and with stinging rebuke.^(BA) I the Lord have spoken.^{(BB) 16} When I shoot at you with my deadly and destructive arrows of famine, I will shoot to destroy you. I will bring more and more famine upon you and cut off your supply of food.^{(BC) 17} I will send famine and wild beasts^(BD) against you, and they will leave you childless. Plague and bloodshed^(BE) will sweep through you, and I will bring the sword against you. I the Lord have spoken.^(BF)”

Jesus Is Tested in the Wilderness^(A)

4 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit,^(B) left the Jordan^(C) and was led by the Spirit^(D) into the wilderness, ² where for forty days^(E) he was tempted^[a] by the devil.^(F) He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.

³ The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God,^(G) tell this stone to become bread.”

⁴ Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’^[b]”^(H)

⁵ The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world.^{(I) 6} And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me,^(J) and I can give it to anyone I want to. ⁷ If you worship me, it will all be yours.”

⁸ Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’^[c]”^(K)

⁹ The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here. ¹⁰ For it is written:

¹² Jesus answered, “It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’^[e]”^(M)

¹³ When the devil had finished all this tempting,^(N) he left him^(O) until an opportune time.

Jesus Rejected at Nazareth

¹⁴ Jesus returned to Galilee^(P) in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside.^{(Q) 15} He was teaching in their synagogues,^(R) and everyone praised him.

¹⁶ He went to Nazareth,^(S) where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue,^(T) as was his custom. He stood up to read,^{(U) 17} and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:

²⁰ Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down.^(Y) The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. ²¹ He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled^(Z) in your hearing.”

²² All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” they asked.^(AA)

²³ Jesus said to them, “Surely you will quote this proverb to me: ‘Physician, heal yourself!’ And you will tell me, ‘Do here in your hometown^(AB) what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.’”^(AC)

²⁴ “Truly I tell you,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown.^{(AD) 25} I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land.^{(AE) 26} Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon.^{(AF) 27} And there were many in Israel with leprosy^[g] in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.”^(AG)

²⁸ All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. ²⁹ They got up, drove him out of the town,^(AH) and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff. ³⁰ But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.^(AI)

Jesus Drives Out an Impure Spirit^(AJ)

³¹ Then he went down to Capernaum,^(AK) a town in Galilee, and on the Sabbath he taught the people. ³² They were amazed at his teaching,^(AL) because his words had authority.^(AM)

³³ In the synagogue there was a man possessed by a demon, an impure spirit. He cried out at the top of his voice, ³⁴ “Go away! What do you want with us,^(AN) Jesus of Nazareth?^(AO) Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are^(AP)—the Holy One of God!”^(AQ)

³⁵ “Be quiet!” Jesus said sternly.^(AR) “Come out of him!” Then the demon threw the man down before them all and came out without injuring him.

³⁶ All the people were amazed^(AS) and said to each other, “What words these are! With authority^(AT) and power he gives orders to impure spirits and they come out!” ³⁷ And the news about him spread throughout the surrounding area.^(AU)

Jesus Heals Many^(AV)(AW)

³⁸ Jesus left the synagogue and went to the home of Simon. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Jesus to help her. ³⁹ So he bent over her and rebuked^(AX) the fever, and it left her. She got up at once and began to wait on them.

⁴⁰ At sunset, the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness, and laying his hands on each one,^(AY) he healed them.^{(AZ) 41} Moreover, demons came out of many people, shouting, “You are the Son of God!”^(BA) But he rebuked^(BB) them and would not allow them to speak,^(BC) because they knew he was the Messiah.

⁴² At daybreak, Jesus went out to a solitary place. The people were looking for him and when they came to where he was, they tried to keep him from leaving them. ⁴³ But he said, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God^(BD) to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.” ⁴⁴ And he kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea.^(BE)