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Kohath's clan
4 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 2 ‘Write a list of the people in Kohath's clan in their families. That list must be separate from the list of the other Levites. 3 Record the men who can work in the Tent of Meeting. Record them if they are between 30 and 50 years old.
4 These men must take care of everything that is most holy in the Tent of Meeting. 5 When the people are ready to move, Aaron and his sons must go into the Tent of Meeting. They must take down the curtain that is in front of the Covenant Box. They must cover the Covenant Box with the curtain. 6 Then they must cover the curtain with good leather. On the top of that, they must put a blue cloth. Then, they must put the poles through the rings, so that they can carry the Covenant Box.
7 They must put a blue cloth over the table for the special bread. The bread must remain on the table. They must put on the cloth the plates, bowls and dishes. They must also put on it the jars for the wine that they offer to me. 8 Then they must cover all those things with a red cloth. On the top of the red cloth, they must put good leather. Then they must fix the poles to the table, so that they can carry it.
9 They must cover the lampstand and its tools with a blue cloth. They must also cover the jars for the oil with the blue cloth. 10 Then they must cover all this with good leather. They must carry it on a board.
11 They must cover the gold altar with a blue cloth. They must cover the blue cloth with good leather. Then they must fix the poles to the altar, so that they can carry it. 12 They must cover all the tools from God's Holy Tent with a blue cloth. They must cover the blue cloth with good leather. They must carry all this on a board.
13 They must remove the ashes from the bronze altar. They must cover the bronze altar with a purple cloth. 14 They must put all the tools on top of it. That includes the plates for the fire, the forks for the meat, the spades and the bowls. They must cover all that with good leather. Then they must put the poles through the rings on the altar, so that they can carry it.
15 When the camp is ready to move, the men from Kohath's clan must be ready to carry all those things. But they must wait until Aaron and his sons have covered God's Holy Tent and all its holy things. The men from Kohath's clan must not touch the holy things. They will die if they touch the holy things. These are the jobs of Kohath's clan. They must carry the things from the Tent of Meeting when the Israelites travel.
16 Eleazar, who is the son of Aaron the priest, must keep the oil for the light. He must keep the incense and the grain offering. He must keep the special oil. The special oil is a mark on everything that God chooses. Eleazar must take care of the whole Tent of Meeting. He must work with God's Holy Tent and with everything in it.’
17 Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 18 ‘You must not cause the end of Kohath's clan from among the Levites. 19 Do not let the men in that clan die. That will happen if they come near to the most holy things. You must do this: Aaron and his sons must go into the Tent of Meeting. They will tell each man the work that he must do. And they must tell each man the things that he must carry. 20 But the men from Kohath's clan must not look at anything that is holy, even for a moment. If they do look at those things, they will die.’
Gershon's clan
21 Then the Lord said to Moses, 22 ‘Also write a list of the people in Gershon's clan in their families. 23 Record the men who can work in the Tent of Meeting. Record them if they are between 30 and 50 years old.
24 The work of the men in Gershon's clan is to carry everything. 25 The men from that clan must carry the curtains of God's Tent. And they must carry the Tent of Meeting with the thing that covers it. And they must carry the good leather that covers all that. And they must carry the curtain for the place where people go into the Tent of Meeting. 26 They must carry the curtains of the yard that is round God's Tent. Also, they must carry the curtain and ropes for the place where people go into the yard. That is the yard that is round God's Tent and the altar. The men from Gershon's clan must carry all the tools that belong with those curtains. They must do everything that all those things need. 27 The men in Gershon's clan must do everything that Aaron and his sons ask them to do. Aaron and his sons must tell them the things that they should carry. And they must tell them everything that they should do. 28 That is the work for the Tent of Meeting that the descendants of Gershon must do. Ithamar, the son of Aaron the priest, will tell them the things that they must do.’
Merari's clan
29 Also God said to Moses, ‘Write a list of the people in Merari's clan in their families. 30 Record the men who can work in the Tent of Meeting. Record them if they are between 30 and 50 years old. 31 This is the work of the men in Merari's clan. They must carry the wood parts that hold the Tent of Meeting, and its poles. They must carry its pillars and its bases. 32 And they must carry the pillars, bases, pegs and ropes for the yard that is round God's Tent. And the men in Merari's clan must keep all the tools that belong with those things safe. Each man in Merari's clan must take care of something. Tell each man which things he must carry. 33 That is the work of the descendants of Merari in the Tent of Meeting. Ithamar, the son of Aaron the priest, will tell them the things that they must do.’
The numbers in the Levite clans
34 So Moses, Aaron and the people's leaders recorded the names of Kohath's descendants in their clans and in their families. 35 They recorded the men who could work in the Tent of Meeting. They recorded them if they were between 30 and 50 years old. 36 They recorded them in clans. There were 2,750 men. 37 Moses and Aaron recorded the descendants of Kohath who worked at the Tent of Meeting. The Lord had told Moses that they must do that.
38 Moses and Aaron also recorded the names of Gershon's descendants in their clans and in their families. 39 They recorded the men who could work in the Tent of Meeting. They recorded them if they were between 30 and 50 years old. 40 They recorded them in clans and families. There were 2,630 men. 41 Moses and Aaron recorded the descendants of Gershon who worked at the Tent of Meeting. The Lord had told Moses that they must do that.
42 Moses and Aaron also recorded the names of Merari's descendants in their clans and in their families. 43 They counted all the men who worked in the Tent of Meeting. They counted them if they were between 30 and 50 years old. 44 They recorded them in clans. There were 3,200 men. 45 Moses and Aaron recorded the descendants of Merari who worked at the Tent of Meeting. The Lord had told Moses that they must do that.
46 Moses, Aaron and the people's leaders recorded the names of the Levites in their clans and in their families. 47 They counted all the men who worked in the Tent of Meeting. And they counted all the men who carried any of its things. They counted them if they were between 30 and 50 years old. 48 There were 8,580 Levites in the list. 49 They told each man the things that he must do. Or they told him what he must carry. Moses recorded all their names. The Lord had told him that he must do that.
Unclean people
5 The Lord said to Moses, 2 ‘Speak to the Israelites. They must send any person with a disease of the skin away from the camp. Or somebody may have a disease that causes pus to come out of his body. Any person like that is not clean. Anyone who has touched a dead person is also not clean. Send those people out of the camp too. 3 Do this with both men and women. Send them out of the camp. They must not make the camp unclean, because that is where I live among the people.’
4 The Israelites did what the Lord had said to Moses. They sent those people outside the camp.
What to pay when you do a wrong thing
5 The Lord said to Moses, 6 ‘Tell these rules to the Israelites: A person might do a wrong thing against another person. If they do, then they have turned against the Lord. 7 That person must agree that they have sinned. They must pay the right amount to the other person. They must also pay them one fifth extra. 8 But the other person may have died. If they have no relative who can accept the money, the money must go to the Lord. The person who did a wrong thing must give the money and a male sheep to the priest. The sheep is a special gift to the Lord to make everything right. Then I will forgive that person. 9 All the special gifts from the Israelites to God are for the priest. 10 The priest will keep all the special gifts.’
Husbands and wives
11 The Lord said to Moses:
12 ‘Speak to the Israelites. Tell them to follow these rules. A woman may do wrong things against her husband. 13 She might have had sex with another man. The husband might not know about this. His wife might have kept it secret. Nobody came in while it was happening. So there is nobody to say that it happened. 14 But the man may think that it happened. He will be angry. But she may not have made herself unclean in that way. 15 The man must take his wife to the priest. He must bring one kilogram of barley flour with him. This is a grain offering to discover if his wife really did do those things. So he must not put oil or incense on the grain offering. That is an offering because the man does not trust his wife.
16 Then the priest will bring the woman to stand in front of the Lord. 17 He must pour some holy water into a bowl that someone has made from clay.[a] He must take some dust from the floor of God's Tent. And he must put the dust into the water. 18 Then the priest must bring the woman in front of the Lord. The priest must make the woman's hair free. He must put into her hands the grain offering. That is the offering because the man does not trust his wife. The priest must hold the bowl that contains the bitter water. The bitter water brings a curse. 19 Then the woman must agree to the strong promise that the priest tells her to say.
The priest must say to her, “This water brings a curse. If no other man has had sex with you, it will not hurt you. 20 But if another man has had sex with you, 21 may the Lord bring the curse on you. The bitter water will cause your female parts to become smaller. Your stomach will become very big. 22 That will happen when you drink the bitter water.”
The woman must say, “That should happen. I agree!”
23 The priest must write the curses on special paper. Then he must wash the words off the paper into the bitter water. 24 He must tell the woman that she must drink the bitter water. This water that brings a curse will go into her body. It may cause her to be very ill. 25 But first, the priest must take the grain offering from her hands. That is the offering because the man does not trust his wife. The priest must lift it up in front of the Lord. Then he must bring it to the altar. 26 He must burn a small part of it as a sacrifice. After that, the woman must drink the bitter water. 27 If the woman has had sex with another man, the water will cause her to have very bad pain. Her female parts will become smaller. Her stomach will become very big. And people will curse her. 28 But, if she did not do those wrong things, the water will not hurt her. She will be able to have babies.
29-30 Perhaps a man is jealous because his wife has had sex with another man. Or he may only think that his wife has had sex with another man. This is what the law says that the priest must do: The man must bring her in front of the Lord. 31 If the woman did not do those wrong things, you must not punish her husband. But if the woman did do those wrong things, you must punish her.’
The Sadducees ask Jesus a question
18 Also, some Sadducees came to Jesus. Sadducees do not believe that anyone becomes alive again after they die.[a] They wanted to ask Jesus a question.
19 ‘Teacher,’ they said to him, ‘Moses wrote these things for us in the Bible: If a man dies without children, his brother must marry the man's wife. Then their children will be called the children of the brother who died. 20 But once there were seven brothers. The oldest brother married a woman. But he died before they had any children. 21 So the second brother married her. He also died without children. Then the third brother married this woman. 22 And the same thing happened to all seven brothers. They all died but they had no children. After all this, the woman also died. 23 You teach that at some time dead people will become alive again. On that day, whose wife will that woman be? She had married all seven of those brothers.’
24 Jesus said to the Sadducees, ‘You are very wrong. This is because you do not know the Bible. And you do not know how powerful God is. 25 All people who have died will become alive again one day. But then men and women will not marry. They will not have husbands or wives. Instead, they will be like the angels in heaven. 26 But God does make dead people alive again! You have read what Moses wrote about the bush in the wilderness. There, God said to Moses, “I am the God of Abraham. I am the God of Isaac. And I am the God of Jacob.”[b] 27 God is not the God of people who are dead. He is the God of people who are alive. So you see, you are very wrong.’
Jesus teaches people about the most important rule
28 One of the teachers of God's Law came near to the group of people. He heard Jesus speaking with the leaders. The teacher knew that Jesus had answered them well. So then the teacher asked Jesus, ‘Which rule is the most important among God's Laws?’
29 Jesus replied, ‘This rule is the most important rule: “Listen, Israel's people! The Lord alone is our God. There is no other Lord. 30 Love the Lord, your God completely. Love him with all your mind and with all your strength. Love him in everything that you think and you do.”[c] 31 The second most important rule is this: “You should love other people as much as you love yourself.” No other rules are as important as these two.’
32 The teacher of God's Law said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, you have answered well. You are right to say that the Lord is the only God. And there is no other God except him. 33 We must love him completely, with all our mind and with all our strength. We must also love other people as much as we love ourselves. This is more important than all the gifts or animals that we could offer to God.’
34 Jesus heard that the man had answered well. So Jesus said to him, ‘You are almost ready for God to rule in your life.’ After that, everybody was afraid to ask Jesus any more questions.
Jesus teaches the people about the Messiah
35 Jesus was teaching people in the yard at the temple. He said, ‘The teachers of God's Law say that the Messiah is King David's son.[d] What do you think about that? 36 The Holy Spirit helped David himself to say:[e]
“The Lord God said to my Lord:
Sit at my right side until I win against your enemies.
The you will be able to put your feet on them.”[f]
37 In these words, David himself calls the Messiah his Lord. So can you really say that the Messiah is David's son?’[g]
The large crowd liked to listen to the things that Jesus was saying. It made them happy.
This is a psalm that the sons of Korah wrote.
Zion is God's city
48 The Lord is great.
He deserves that people praise him
in the city of our God,
on his holy mountain.
2 That place is high up and it is beautiful.
It brings joy to the whole world.
Mount Zion is the city of the great King.
It is where the true God lives.[a]
3 God is there in its strong places
and he keeps the city safe.
4 Look! There are kings of other nations
who join together to attack our city.
5 But when they come near and they see it,
they are very surprised.
It frightens them so much
that they quickly run away!
6 They cannot stop themselves shaking,
like a woman who is giving birth to a baby!
7 You push them away,
like an east wind that destroys great ships.
8 We had heard about the great things that God has done.
Now we have seen them for ourselves,
here in the city of the Lord Almighty,
the city of our God.
It is God who keeps the city safe for ever!
Selah.
9 When we are in your temple, God,
we think about your faithful love.
10 You are famous all over the world,
so that people praise you as you deserve.
You are powerful
and you rule with justice.
11 Because you judge people in a right way,
Mount Zion and all the towns of Judah will be happy.
12 Walk all round Zion and look at it.
Count the towers.
13 Look at its strong buildings and its strong walls.
Then you will be able to describe it to your children.[b]
14 Yes, this is our God, who is with us for ever!
He will always be our guide.
26 Do not send a lazy person with a message.
He will bring you pain, like the taste of bitter wine,
or like smoke in your eyes.
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