The Priestly Ministry Begins

9 It came to pass on the ^(A)eighth day that Moses called Aaron and his sons and the elders of Israel. ² And he said to Aaron, “Take for yourself a young ^(B)bull as a sin offering and a ram as a burnt offering, without blemish, and offer them before the Lord. ³ And to the children of Israel you shall speak, saying, ^(C)‘Take a kid of the goats as a sin offering, and a calf and a lamb, both of the first year, without blemish, as a burnt offering, ⁴ also a bull and a ram as peace offerings, to sacrifice before the Lord, and ^(D)a grain offering mixed with oil; for ^(E)today the Lord will appear to you.’ ”

⁵ So they brought what Moses commanded before the tabernacle of meeting. And all the congregation drew near and stood ^[a]before the Lord. ⁶ Then Moses said, “This is the thing which the Lord commanded you to do, and the glory of the Lord will appear to you.” ⁷ And Moses said to Aaron, “Go to the altar, ^(F)offer your sin offering and your burnt offering, and make atonement for yourself and for the people. ^(G)Offer the offering of the people, and make atonement for them, as the Lord commanded.”

⁸ Aaron therefore went to the altar and killed the calf of the sin offering, which was for himself. ⁹ Then the sons of Aaron brought the blood to him. And he dipped his finger in the blood, put it on the horns of the altar, and poured the blood at the base of the altar. ^10 (H)But the fat, the kidneys, and the fatty lobe from the liver of the sin offering he burned on the altar, as the Lord had commanded Moses. ^11 (I)The flesh and the hide he burned with fire outside the camp.

¹² And he killed the burnt offering; and Aaron’s sons presented to him the blood, ^(J)which he sprinkled all around on the altar. ^13 (K)Then they presented the burnt offering to him, with its pieces and head, and he burned them on the altar. ^14 (L)And he washed the entrails and the legs, and burned them with the burnt offering on the altar.

^15 (M)Then he brought the people’s offering, and took the goat, which was the sin offering for the people, and killed it and offered it for sin, like the first one. ¹⁶ And he brought the burnt offering and offered it ^(N)according to the ^[b]prescribed manner. ¹⁷ Then he brought the grain offering, took a handful of it, and burned it on the altar, ^(O)besides the burnt sacrifice of the morning.

¹⁸ He also killed the bull and the ram as ^(P)sacrifices of peace offerings, which were for the people. And Aaron’s sons presented to him the blood, which he sprinkled all around on the altar, ¹⁹ and the fat from the bull and the ram—the fatty tail, what covers the entrails and the kidneys, and the fatty lobe attached to the liver; ²⁰ and they put the fat on the breasts. ^(Q)Then he burned the fat on the altar; ²¹ but the breasts and the right thigh Aaron waved ^(R)as a wave offering before the Lord, as Moses had commanded.

²² Then Aaron lifted his hand toward the people, ^(S)blessed them, and came down from offering the sin offering, the burnt offering, and peace offerings. ²³ And Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle of meeting, and came out and blessed the people. Then the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people, ²⁴ and ^(T)fire came out from before the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the fat on the altar. When all the people saw it, they ^(U)shouted and fell on their ^(V)faces.

The Profane Fire of Nadab and Abihu

10 Then ^(W)Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, ^(X)each took his censer and put fire in it, put incense on it, and offered ^(Y)profane fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them. ² So ^(Z)fire went out from the Lord and devoured them, and they died before the Lord. ³ And Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord spoke, saying:

So Aaron held his peace.

⁴ Then Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Uzziel the uncle of Aaron, and said to them, “Come near, ^(AB)carry your brethren from ^[c]before the sanctuary out of the camp.” ⁵ So they went near and carried them by their tunics out of the camp, as Moses had said.

⁶ And Moses said to Aaron, and to Eleazar and Ithamar, his sons, “Do not ^[d]uncover your heads nor tear your clothes, lest you die, and ^(AC)wrath come upon all the people. But let your brethren, the whole house of Israel, ^[e]bewail the burning which the Lord has kindled. ^7 (AD)You shall not go out from the door of the tabernacle of meeting, lest you die, ^(AE)for the anointing oil of the Lord is upon you.” And they did according to the word of Moses.

Conduct Prescribed for Priests

⁸ Then the Lord spoke to Aaron, saying: ^9 (AF)“Do not drink wine or intoxicating drink, you, nor your sons with you, when you go into the tabernacle of meeting, lest you die. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations, ¹⁰ that you may ^(AG)distinguish between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean, ^11 (AH)and that you may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the Lord has spoken to them by the hand of Moses.”

¹² And Moses spoke to Aaron, and to Eleazar and Ithamar, his sons who were left: ^(AI)“Take the grain offering that remains of the offerings made by fire to the Lord, and eat it without leaven beside the altar; ^(AJ)for it is most holy. ¹³ You shall eat it in a ^(AK)holy place, because it is your ^[f]due and your sons’ due, of the sacrifices made by fire to the Lord; for ^(AL)so I have been commanded. ^14 (AM)The breast of the wave offering and the thigh of the heave offering you shall eat in a clean place, you, your sons, and your ^(AN)daughters with you; for they are your due and your sons’ ^(AO)due, which are given from the sacrifices of peace offerings of the children of Israel. ^15 (AP)The thigh of the heave offering and the breast of the wave offering they shall bring with the offerings of fat made by fire, to offer as a wave offering before the Lord. And it shall be yours and your sons’ with you, by a statute forever, as the Lord has commanded.”

¹⁶ Then Moses made careful inquiry about ^(AQ)the goat of the sin offering, and there it was—burned up. And he was angry with Eleazar and Ithamar, the sons of Aaron who were left, saying, ^17 (AR)“Why have you not eaten the sin offering in a holy place, since it is most holy, and God has given it to you to bear ^(AS)the guilt of the congregation, to make atonement for them before the Lord? ¹⁸ See! ^(AT)Its blood was not brought inside ^[g]the holy place; indeed you should have eaten it in a holy place, ^(AU)as I commanded.”

¹⁹ And Aaron said to Moses, “Look, ^(AV)this day they have offered their sin offering and their burnt offering before the Lord, and such things have befallen me! If I had eaten the sin offering today, ^(AW)would it have been accepted in the sight of the Lord?” ²⁰ So when Moses heard that, he was content.

Foods Permitted and Forbidden^(AX)

11 Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying to them, ² “Speak to the children of Israel, saying, ^(AY)‘These are the animals which you may eat among all the animals that are on the earth: ³ Among the animals, whatever divides the hoof, having cloven hooves and chewing the cud—that you may eat. ⁴ Nevertheless these you shall ^(AZ)not eat among those that chew the cud or those that have cloven hooves: the camel, because it chews the cud but does not have cloven hooves, is ^[h]unclean to you; ⁵ the ^[i]rock hyrax, because it chews the cud but does not have cloven hooves, is ^[j]unclean to you; ⁶ the hare, because it chews the cud but does not have cloven hooves, is unclean to you; ⁷ and the swine, though it divides the hoof, having cloven hooves, yet does not chew the cud, ^(BA)is unclean to you. ⁸ Their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall not touch. ^(BB)They are unclean to you.

^9 (BC)‘These you may eat of all that are in the water: whatever in the water has fins and scales, whether in the seas or in the rivers—that you may eat. ¹⁰ But all in the seas or in the rivers that do not have fins and scales, all that move in the water or any living thing which is in the water, they are ^[k]an ^(BD)abomination to you. ¹¹ They shall be an abomination to you; you shall not eat their flesh, but you shall regard their carcasses as an abomination. ¹² Whatever in the water does not have fins or scales—that shall be an abomination to you.

^13 (BE)‘And these you shall regard as an abomination among the birds; they shall not be eaten, they are an abomination: the eagle, the vulture, the buzzard, ¹⁴ the kite, and the falcon after its kind; ¹⁵ every raven after its kind, ¹⁶ the ostrich, the short-eared owl, the sea gull, and the hawk after its kind; ¹⁷ the little owl, the fisher owl, and the screech owl; ¹⁸ the white owl, the jackdaw, and the carrion vulture; ¹⁹ the stork, the heron after its kind, the hoopoe, and the bat.

²⁰ ‘All flying insects that creep on all fours shall be an abomination to you. ²¹ Yet these you may eat of every flying insect that creeps on all fours: those which have jointed legs above their feet with which to leap on the earth. ²² These you may eat: ^(BF)the locust after its kind, the destroying locust after its kind, the cricket after its kind, and the grasshopper after its kind. ²³ But all other flying insects which have four feet shall be an abomination to you.

Unclean Animals

²⁴ ‘By these you shall become ^[l]unclean; whoever touches the carcass of any of them shall be unclean until evening; ²⁵ whoever carries part of the carcass of any of them ^(BG)shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening: ²⁶ The carcass of any animal which divides the foot, but is not cloven-hoofed or does not chew the cud, is unclean to you. Everyone who touches it shall be unclean. ²⁷ And whatever goes on its paws, among all kinds of animals that go on all fours, those are unclean to you. Whoever touches any such carcass shall be unclean until evening. ²⁸ Whoever carries any such carcass shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening. It is unclean to you.

²⁹ ‘These also shall be unclean to you among the creeping things that creep on the earth: the mole, ^(BH)the mouse, and the large lizard after its kind; ³⁰ the gecko, the monitor lizard, the sand reptile, the sand lizard, and the chameleon. ³¹ These are unclean to you among all that creep. Whoever ^(BI)touches them when they are dead shall be unclean until evening. ³² Anything on which any of them falls, when they are dead shall be ^[m]unclean, whether it is any item of wood or clothing or skin or sack, whatever item it is, in which any work is done, ^(BJ)it must be put in water. And it shall be unclean until evening; then it shall be clean. ³³ Any ^(BK)earthen vessel into which any of them falls ^(BL)you shall break; and whatever is in it shall be unclean: ³⁴ in such a vessel, any edible food upon which water falls becomes unclean, and any drink that may be drunk from it becomes unclean. ³⁵ And everything on which a part of any such carcass falls shall be unclean; whether it is an oven or cooking stove, it shall be broken down; for they are unclean, and shall be unclean to you. ³⁶ Nevertheless a spring or a cistern, in which there is plenty of water, shall be clean, but whatever touches any such carcass becomes unclean. ³⁷ And if a part of any such carcass falls on any planting seed which is to be sown, it remains clean. ³⁸ But if water is put on the seed, and if a part of any such carcass falls on it, it becomes ^[n]unclean to you.

³⁹ ‘And if any animal which you may eat dies, he who touches its carcass shall be ^(BM)unclean until evening. ^40 (BN)He who eats of its carcass shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening. He also who carries its carcass shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening.

⁴¹ ‘And every creeping thing that creeps on the earth shall be ^[o]an abomination. It shall not be eaten. ⁴² Whatever crawls on its belly, whatever goes on all fours, or whatever has many feet among all creeping things that creep on the earth—these you shall not eat, for they are an abomination. ^43 (BO)You shall not make ^[p]yourselves ^[q]abominable with any creeping thing that creeps; nor shall you make yourselves unclean with them, lest you be defiled by them. ⁴⁴ For I am the Lord your ^(BP)God. You shall therefore consecrate yourselves, and ^(BQ)you shall be holy; for I am holy. Neither shall you defile yourselves with any creeping thing that creeps on the earth. ^45 (BR)For I am the Lord who brings you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God. ^(BS)You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.

⁴⁶ ‘This is the law ^[r]of the animals and the birds and every living creature that moves in the waters, and of every creature that creeps on the earth, ^47 (BT)to distinguish between the unclean and the clean, and between the animal that may be eaten and the animal that may not be eaten.’ ”

¹⁸ Then Jonathan said to David, ^(A)“Tomorrow is the New Moon; and you will be missed, because your seat will be empty. ¹⁹ And when you have stayed three days, go down quickly and come to ^(B)the place where you hid on the day of the deed; and remain by the stone Ezel. ²⁰ Then I will shoot three arrows to the side, as though I shot at a target; ²¹ and there I will send a lad, saying, ‘Go, find the arrows.’ If I expressly say to the lad, ‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you; get them and come’—then, ^(C)as the Lord lives, there is safety for you and no harm. ²² But if I say thus to the young man, ‘Look, the arrows are beyond you’—go your way, for the Lord has sent you away. ²³ And as for ^(D)the matter which you and I have spoken of, indeed the Lord be between you and me forever.”

²⁴ Then David hid in the field. And when the New Moon had come, the king sat down to eat the feast. ²⁵ Now the king sat on his seat, as at other times, on a seat by the wall. And ^[a]Jonathan arose, and Abner sat by Saul’s side, but David’s place was empty. ²⁶ Nevertheless Saul did not say anything that day, for he thought, “Something has happened to him; he is unclean, surely he is ^(E)unclean.” ²⁷ And it happened the next day, the second day of the month, that David’s place was empty. And Saul said to Jonathan his son, “Why has the son of Jesse not come to eat, either yesterday or today?”

²⁸ So Jonathan ^(F)answered Saul, “David earnestly asked permission of me to go to Bethlehem. ²⁹ And he said, ‘Please let me go, for our family has a sacrifice in the city, and my brother has commanded me to be there. And now, if I have found favor in your eyes, please let me get away and see my brothers.’ Therefore he has not come to the king’s table.”

³⁰ Then Saul’s anger was aroused against Jonathan, and he said to him, “You son of a perverse, rebellious woman! Do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of your mother’s nakedness? ³¹ For as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, you shall not be established, nor your kingdom. Now therefore, send and bring him to me, for he ^[b]shall surely die.”

³² And Jonathan answered Saul his father, and said to him, ^(G)“Why should he be killed? What has he done?” ³³ Then Saul ^(H)cast a spear at him to ^[c]kill him, ^(I)by which Jonathan knew that it was determined by his father to kill David.

³⁴ So Jonathan arose from the table in fierce anger, and ate no food the second day of the month, for he was grieved for David, because his father had treated him shamefully.

³⁵ And so it was, in the morning, that Jonathan went out into the field at the time appointed with David, and a little lad was with him. ³⁶ Then he said to his lad, “Now run, find the arrows which I shoot.” As the lad ran, he shot an arrow beyond him. ³⁷ When the lad had come to the place where the arrow was which Jonathan had shot, Jonathan cried out after the lad and said, “Is not the arrow beyond you?” ³⁸ And Jonathan cried out after the lad, “Make haste, hurry, do not delay!” So Jonathan’s lad gathered up the arrows and came back to his master. ³⁹ But the lad did not know anything. Only Jonathan and David knew of the matter. ⁴⁰ Then Jonathan gave his ^[d]weapons to his lad, and said to him, “Go, carry them to the city.”

⁴¹ As soon as the lad had gone, David arose from a place toward the south, fell on his face to the ground, and bowed down three times. And they kissed one another; and they wept together, but David more so. ⁴² Then Jonathan said to David, ^(J)“Go in peace, since we have both sworn in the name of the Lord, saying, ‘May the Lord be between you and me, and between your descendants and my descendants, forever.’ ” So he arose and departed, and Jonathan went into the city.

The Ark Brought to Jerusalem^(A)

6 Again David gathered all the choice men of Israel, thirty thousand. ² And ^(B)David arose and went with all the people who were with him from ^[a]Baale Judah to bring up from there the ark of God, whose name is called ^[b]by the Name, the Lord of Hosts, ^(C)who dwells between the cherubim. ³ So they set the ark of God on a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on ^(D)the hill; and Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drove the new ^[c]cart. ⁴ And they brought it out of ^(E)the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill, accompanying the ark of God; and Ahio went before the ark. ⁵ Then David and all the house of Israel ^(F)played music before the Lord on all kinds of instruments of fir wood, on harps, on stringed instruments, on tambourines, on sistrums, and on cymbals.

⁶ And when they came to ^(G)Nachon’s threshing floor, Uzzah put out his ^(H)hand to the ark of God and ^[d]took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. ⁷ Then the anger of the Lord was aroused against Uzzah, and God struck him there for his ^[e]error; and he died there by the ark of God. ⁸ And David became angry because of the Lord’s outbreak against Uzzah; and he called the name of the place ^[f]Perez Uzzah to this day.

^9 (I)David was afraid of the Lord that day; and he said, “How can the ark of the Lord come to me?” ¹⁰ So David would not move the ark of the Lord with him into the ^(J)City of David; but David took it aside into the house of Obed-Edom the ^(K)Gittite. ^11 (L)The ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite three months. And the Lord ^(M)blessed Obed-Edom and all his household.

¹² Now it was told King David, saying, “The Lord has blessed the house of Obed-Edom and all that belongs to him, because of the ark of God.” ^(N)So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with gladness. ¹³ And so it was, when ^(O)those bearing the ark of the Lord had gone six paces, that he sacrificed ^(P)oxen and fatted sheep. ¹⁴ Then David ^(Q)danced^[g] before the Lord with all his might; and David was wearing ^(R)a linen ephod. ^15 (S)So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting and with the sound of the trumpet.

¹⁶ Now as the ark of the Lord came into the City of David, ^(T)Michal, Saul’s daughter, looked through a window and saw King David leaping and whirling before the Lord; and she despised him in her heart. ¹⁷ So ^(U)they brought the ark of the Lord, and set it in ^(V)its place in the midst of the tabernacle that David had erected for it. Then David ^(W)offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord. ¹⁸ And when David had finished offering burnt offerings and peace offerings, ^(X)he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of hosts. ^19 (Y)Then he distributed among all the people, among the whole multitude of Israel, both the women and the men, to everyone a loaf of bread, a piece of meat, and a cake of raisins. So all the people departed, everyone to his house.

^20 (Z)Then David returned to bless his household. And Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David, and said, “How glorious was the king of Israel today, ^(AA)uncovering himself today in the eyes of the maids of his servants, as one of the ^(AB)base fellows ^[h]shamelessly uncovers himself!”

²¹ So David said to Michal, “It was before the Lord, ^(AC)who chose me instead of your father and all his house, to appoint me ruler over the ^(AD)people of the Lord, over Israel. Therefore I will play music before the Lord. ²² And I will be even more undignified than this, and will be humble in my own sight. But as for the maidservants of whom you have spoken, by them I will be held in honor.”

²³ Therefore Michal the daughter of Saul had no children ^(AE)to the day of her death.

God’s Covenant with David^(AF)

7 Now it came to pass ^(AG)when the king was dwelling in his house, and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies all around, ² that the king said to Nathan the prophet, “See now, I dwell in ^(AH)a house of cedar, ^(AI)but the ark of God dwells inside tent ^(AJ)curtains.”

³ Then Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that is in your ^(AK)heart, for the Lord is with you.”

⁴ But it happened that night that the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying, ⁵ “Go and tell My servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord: ^(AL)“Would you build a house for Me to dwell in? ⁶ For I have not dwelt in a house ^(AM)since the time that I brought the children of Israel up from Egypt, even to this day, but have moved about in ^(AN)a tent and in a tabernacle. ⁷ Wherever I have ^(AO)moved about with all the children of Israel, have I ever spoken a word to anyone from the tribes of Israel, whom I commanded ^(AP)to shepherd My people Israel, saying, ‘Why have you not built Me a house of cedar?’ ” ’ ⁸ Now therefore, thus shall you say to My servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: ^(AQ)“I took you from the sheepfold, from following the sheep, to be ruler over My people, over Israel. ⁹ And ^(AR)I have been with you wherever you have gone, ^(AS)and have ^[i]cut off all your enemies from before you, and have made you a great name, like the name of the great men who are on the earth. ¹⁰ Moreover I will appoint a place for My people Israel, and will ^(AT)plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own and move no more; ^(AU)nor shall the sons of wickedness oppress them anymore, as previously, ^11 (AV)since the time that I commanded judges to be over My people Israel, and have caused you to rest from all your enemies. Also the Lord ^[j]tells you ^(AW)that He will make you a ^[k]house.

^12 (AX)“When your days are fulfilled and you ^(AY)rest with your fathers, ^(AZ)I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. ^13 (BA)He shall build a house for My name, and I will ^(BB)establish the throne of his kingdom forever. ^14 (BC)I will be his Father, and he shall be ^(BD)My son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the ^[l]blows of the sons of men. ¹⁵ But My mercy shall not depart from him, ^(BE)as I took it from Saul, whom I removed from before you. ¹⁶ And ^(BF)your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before ^[m]you. Your throne shall be established forever.” ’ ”

¹⁷ According to all these words and according to all this vision, so Nathan spoke to David.