Numbers 8

• 1. The LORD said to Moses,
• 2. "Speak to Aaron and say to him, 'When you set up the seven lamps, they are to light the area in front of the lampstand.'"
• 3. Aaron did so; he set up the lamps so that they faced forward on the lampstand, just as the LORD commanded Moses.
• 4. This is how the lampstand was made: It was made of hammered gold-from its base to its blossoms. The lampstand was made exactly like the pattern the LORD had shown Moses.
• 5. The LORD said to Moses:
• 6. "Take the Levites from among the other Israelites and make them ceremonially clean.
• 7. To purify them, do this: Sprinkle the water of cleansing on them; then have them shave their whole bodies and wash their clothes, and so purify themselves.
• 8. Have them take a young bull with its grain offering of fine flour mixed with oil; then you are to take a second young bull for a sin offering.
• 9. Bring the Levites to the front of the Tent of Meeting and assemble the whole Israelite community.
• 10. You are to bring the Levites before the LORD, and the Israelites are to lay their hands on them.
• 11. Aaron is to present the Levites before the LORD as a wave offering from the Israelites, so that they may be ready to do the work of the LORD.
• 12. "After the Levites lay their hands on the heads of the bulls, use the one for a sin offering to the LORD and the other for a burnt offering, to make atonement for the Levites.
• 13. Have the Levites stand in front of Aaron and his sons and then present them as a wave offering to the LORD.
• 14. In this way you are to set the Levites apart from the other Israelites, and the Levites will be mine.
• 15. "After you have purified the Levites and presented them as a wave offering, they are to come to do their work at the Tent of Meeting.
• 16. They are the Israelites who are to be given wholly to me. I have taken them as my own in place of the firstborn, the first male offspring from every Israelite woman.
• 17. Every firstborn male in Israel, whether man or animal, is mine. When I struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, I set them apart for myself.
• 18. And I have taken the Levites in place of all the firstborn sons in Israel.
• 19. Of all the Israelites, I have given the Levites as gifts to Aaron and his sons to do the work at the Tent of Meeting on behalf of the Israelites and to make atonement for them so that no plague will strike the Israelites when they go near the sanctuary."
• 20. Moses, Aaron and the whole Israelite community did with the Levites just as the LORD commanded Moses.
• 21. The Levites purified themselves and washed their clothes. Then Aaron presented them as a wave offering before the LORD and made atonement for them to purify them.
• 22. After that, the Levites came to do their work at the Tent of Meeting under the supervision of Aaron and his sons. They did with the Levites just as the LORD commanded Moses.
• 23. The LORD said to Moses,
• 24. "This applies to the Levites: Men twenty-five years old or more shall come to take part in the work at the Tent of Meeting,
• 25. but at the age of fifty, they must retire from their regular service and work no longer.
• 26. They may assist their brothers in performing their duties at the Tent of Meeting, but they themselves must not do the work. This, then, is how you are to assign the responsibilities of the Levites."

Psalms 44

• 1. We have heard with our ears, O God; our fathers have told us what you did in their days, in days long ago.
• 2. With your hand you drove out the nations and planted our fathers; you crushed the peoples and made our fathers flourish.
• 3. It was not by their sword that they won the land, nor did their arm bring them victory; it was your right hand, your arm, and the light of your face, for you loved them.
• 4. You are my King and my God, who decrees victories for Jacob.
• 5. Through you we push back our enemies; through your name we trample our foes.
• 6. I do not trust in my bow, my sword does not bring me victory;
• 7. but you give us victory over our enemies, you put our adversaries to shame.
• 8. In God we make our boast all day long, and we will praise your name forever. Selah
• 9. But now you have rejected and humbled us; you no longer go out with our armies.
• 10. You made us retreat before the enemy, and our adversaries have plundered us.
• 11. You gave us up to be devoured like sheep and have scattered us among the nations.
• 12. You sold your people for a pittance, gaining nothing from their sale.
• 13. You have made us a reproach to our neighbors, the scorn and derision of those around us.
• 14. You have made us a byword among the nations; the peoples shake their heads at us.
• 15. My disgrace is before me all day long, and my face is covered with shame
• 16. at the taunts of those who reproach and revile me, because of the enemy, who is bent on revenge.
• 17. All this happened to us, though we had not forgotten you or been false to your covenant.
• 18. Our hearts had not turned back; our feet had not strayed from your path.
• 19. But you crushed us and made us a haunt for jackals and covered us over with deep darkness.
• 20. If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a foreign god,
• 21. would not God have discovered it, since he knows the secrets of the heart?
• 22. Yet for your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.
• 23. Awake, O Lord! Why do you sleep? Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever.
• 24. Why do you hide your face and forget our misery and oppression?
• 25. We are brought down to the dust; our bodies cling to the ground.
• 26. Rise up and help us; redeem us because of your unfailing love.

Song of Songs 6

• 1. Where has your lover gone, most beautiful of women? Which way did your lover turn, that we may look for him with you?
• 2. My lover has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to browse in the gardens and to gather lilies.
• 3. I am my lover's and my lover is mine; he browses among the lilies.
• 4. You are beautiful, my darling, as Tirzah, lovely as Jerusalem, majestic as troops with banners.
• 5. Turn your eyes from me; they overwhelm me. Your hair is like a flock of goats descending from Gilead.
• 6. Your teeth are like a flock of sheep coming up from the washing. Each has its twin, not one of them is alone.
• 7. Your temples behind your veil are like the halves of a pomegranate.
• 8. Sixty queens there may be, and eighty concubines, and virgins beyond number;
• 9. but my dove, my perfect one, is unique, the only daughter of her mother, the favorite of the one who bore her. The maidens saw her and called her blessed; the queens and concubines praised her.
• 10. Who is this that appears like the dawn, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, majestic as the stars in procession?
• 11. I went down to the grove of nut trees to look at the new growth in the valley, to see if the vines had budded or the pomegranates were in bloom.
• 12. Before I realized it, my desire set me among the royal chariots of my people.
• 13. Come back, come back, O Shulammite; come back, come back, that we may gaze on you! Why would you gaze on the Shulammite as on the dance of Mahanaim?

New International Version

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