Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, “Command the Israelites that they should bring pure olive oil from beaten olives for the light to present a lamp continually. Aaron shall arrange for it outside the curtain of the testimony in the tent of assembly from evening until morning before Yahweh continually; it shall be a lasting statute throughout your generations. On the pure golden lampstand he shall arrange for the lamps before Yahweh continually.

“And you shall take finely milled flour, and you shall bake with it twelve ring-shaped bread cakes: each one shall be two-tenths of an ephah. And you shall place them in two rows, six to the row, on the pure gold table before Yahweh. And you shall put pure frankincense on each row so that it shall be for the bread as a memorial offering, an offering made by fire for Yahweh. On every Sabbath he shall arrange it in rows before Yahweh continually; they are from the Israelites as an everlasting covenant. And it shall be for Aaron and for his sons, and they shall eat it in a holy place, because it is a most holy thing for him from Yahweh’s offerings made by fire—a lasting rule.”

And an Israelite woman’s son, and he was an Egyptian man’s son, went out in the midst of the Israelites; and the Israelite woman’s son and an Israelite man fought in the camp. Then the Israelite woman’s son blasphemed the name, and he cursed, so they brought him to Moses—and the name of his mother was Shelomith the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan. Then they put him in custody so that the matter might be made clear to them in accordance with the mouth of Yahweh.

Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, “Bring the curser outside the camp, and all the hearers shall place their hands on his head, and the whole community shall stone him. And you shall speak to the Israelites, saying, ‘Any man when he curses his God shall bear his sin. And he who blasphemes Yahweh’s name certainly shall be put to death; the whole community certainly shall stone him. As the alien, so the native shall be put to death at blaspheming his name.

“‘And when a man kills any human being, he certainly shall be put to death. And he who kills a domestic animal must repay for it life in place of life. And when a man causes a physical defect in his fellow citizen according to what he has done, so it shall be done to him: fracture in place of fracture, eye in place of eye, tooth in place of tooth—according to the physical defect he causes to the person, likewise it shall be caused to him. And a killer of a domestic animal must repay for it, and a killer of a human shall be put to death. You must have one norm; as for the alien, so it must be for the native, because I am Yahweh your God.'”

Thus Moses spoke to the Israelites, and they brought the curser outside the camp, and they stoned him with stones, and the Israelites did just as Yahweh had commanded Moses.

Then Yahweh spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying, “Speak to the Israelites, and say to them, ‘When you come into the land that I am about to give to you, then the land shall observe a Sabbath for Yahweh. Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard, and you shall gather its yield. But in the seventh year it shall be a Sabbath of complete rest for the land—a Sabbath for Yahweh; you must not sow your field, and you must not prune your vineyard. You must not reap your harvest’s aftergrowth, and you must not harvest the grapes of your unpruned vines—it shall be a year of complete rest for the land. And a Sabbath of the land shall be for food for you: for you and for your slave and for your slave woman and for your hired worker and for your temporary residents who are dwelling as aliens with you; and all its yield shall be for your domestic animal and for the wild animal, which are in your land to eat.

“‘And you shall count for yourself seven Sabbaths of years, seven times seven years, and they shall be for you time periods of years: forty-nine years. And you shall cause a loud horn blast to be heard on the seventh month on the tenth of the month; on the Day of Atonement you shall cause a ram’s horn to be heard in all your land. And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and you shall proclaim a release in the land for all its inhabitants. It is a Jubilee; it shall be for you, and you shall return. You must return—everyone to his property and everyone to his clan. You shall have the fiftieth year as a Jubilee; you must not reap its aftergrowth, and you must not harvest its unpruned vines. Because it is a Jubilee, it shall be holy to you. You must eat its produce from the field.

“‘In this Year of Jubilee each of you shall return to his property. And when you sell something to your fellow citizen or you buy from your neighbor’s hand, you must not oppress one another. You must buy from your fellow citizen according to the number of years after the Jubilee; he must sell to you according to the number of years of yield. You must increase its price according to a greater number of years, but you must decrease its price according to a lesser number of years, because he is selling its yields to you. And you must not oppress one another, but you shall revere your God, because I am Yahweh, your God.

“‘And you shall do my statutes, and you must keep my regulations, and you shall do them, so that you shall live securely on the land. And the land shall give its fruit, and you shall eat your fill, and you shall live securely on it. And if you should say, “What shall we eat in the seventh year, if we do not sow and we do not gather its yield?” then I will command my blessing for you in the sixth year, so that it will make the yield for three years. And you will sow in the eighth year, and you shall eat from the old yield; until the ninth year, until the coming of its yield, you shall eat the old yield.

“‘But the land must not be sold in perpetuity, because the land is mine, because you are aliens and temporary residents with me. And in all your property’s land you must provide redemption for the land.

“‘When your brother becomes poor and he sells part of his property, then his nearest redeemer shall come, and he shall redeem the thing sold by his brother. But if a man does not have a redeemer, then he prospers and he finds enough for his redemption, then he shall calculate the years of its selling, and he shall refund the balance to the man to whom he sold it, and he shall return to his property. But if his hand does not find enough to refund to him, then what he has sold shall be in the buyer’s hand until the Year of Jubilee; and it shall go out of the buyer’s hand in the Jubilee, and he shall return to his property.

“‘And if a man sells a residential house in a walled city, then it shall be his redemption until completing a year after his selling; its redemption shall last a year. But if it is not redeemed before a full year has passed, then the house that is in the walled city shall belong to the buyer in perpetuity throughout his generations; it shall not go out of the buyer’s hand in the Jubilee. However, village houses that have no surrounding wall shall be considered open country; there is redemption for it, and in the Jubilee it shall go out of the buyer’s hand.

“‘As for the cities of the Levites, that is, the houses in their property’s cities, it shall be a lasting redemption for the Levites. And whatever anyone redeems from the Levites then must go out of the buyer’s hand in the Jubilee, including a house’s selling in his city’s property, because the houses in the cities of the Levites are their property in the midst of the Israelites. But a field of their cities’ pastureland must not be sold, because it is their property for all time.

“‘And if your countryman becomes poor and if he becomes dependent on you, then you shall support him like an alien and like a temporary resident, and he shall live with you. You must not take interest or usury from him, but you shall revere your God, and your countryman shall live with you. You must not give your money to him with interest or give your food for profit. I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out from the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan, to be as God for you.

“‘And if your countryman who is with you becomes poor, and he is sold to you, you shall not treat him as a slave. He shall be with you like a hired worker, like a temporary resident; he shall work with you until the Year of Jubilee. And he and his sons with him shall go out from you, and he shall return to his clan, and to the property of his ancestors he shall return. Because they are my servants whom I brought out from the land of Egypt, they shall not be sold as a slave. You shall not rule over him with ruthlessness, but you shall revere your God.

“‘As for your slave and your slave woman who are yours, from the nations that are all around you, from them you may buy a slave or a slave woman. And you may buy also from the children of the temporary residents who are dwelling with you as aliens and from their clan who are with you, who have children in your land; indeed, they may be as property for you. And you may pass them on as an inheritance to your sons after you to take possession of as property for all time—you may let them work. But as for your countrymen, the Israelites, you shall not rule with ruthlessness over one another.

“‘And if the alien or the temporary resident who are with you prosper, but your countryman who is with him becomes poor and he is sold to an alien, a temporary resident who is with you, or to a descendant of an alien’s clan, after he is sold redemption shall be for him; one of his brothers may redeem him, or his uncle or his uncle’s son may redeem him, or one of his close relatives from his clan may redeem him; or if he prospers, he may redeem himself. And he shall calculate with his buyer from the year of his selling himself until the Jubilee; and the value of his selling shall be according to the number of years—it shall be with him like a hired worker’s days. If there are still many years, in keeping with them he shall restore his redemption in proportion to his purchase price. And if there are a few years left until the Year of Jubilee, then he shall calculate for himself; he shall restore his redemption according to the number of his years. He shall be with him as a yearly hired worker; he shall not rule over him with ruthlessness in your sight. And if he is not redeemed by any of these ways, then he and his sons with him shall go out in the Year of Jubilee. Indeed, the Israelites are servants for me; they are my servants whom I brought out from the land of Egypt. I am Yahweh your God.'”

For the music director; on the Gittith. Of Asaph.

Shout out to God our strength;

shout joyfully to the God of Jacob.

Lift up a song and strike the tambourine,

the pleasant lyre, together with the harp.

Blow the horn at new moon,

at full moon, for our feast day,

because it is a statute for Israel,

an ordinance of the God of Jacob.

He made it a statute in Joseph

when he went out against the land of Egypt,

where I heard a language I did not know.

“I removed his shoulder from a burden.

His hands were freed from the basket.

In this trouble you called, and I rescued you.

Within the secret place of thunder I answered you;

I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah

Hear, O my people, and I will admonish you;

O Israel, if you would but listen to me.

There shall be no strange god among you,

and you shall not bow down to a foreign god.

I am Yahweh your God,

who brought you up from the land of Egypt.

Open wide your mouth and I will fill it.

But my people did not listen to my voice,

and Israel did not yield to me.

So I let them go in the stubbornness of their heart;

they walked in their counsels.

Oh that my people would listen to me;

that Israel would walk in my ways.

I would subdue their enemies quickly,

and turn my hand against their adversaries.

Those who hate Yahweh would cringe before him,

and their fate would be forever.

But he would feed him from the choicest wheat,

and I would satisfy you with honey from a rock.”

Now the first covenant had regulations for worship and the earthly sanctuary. For a tent was prepared, the first one, in which were the lampstand and the table and the presentation of the loaves, which is called the holy place. And after the second curtain was a tent called the holy of holies, containing the golden incense altar and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which were a golden jar containing the manna and the rod of Aaron that budded and the tablets of the covenant. And above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat, about which it is not now possible to speak in detail.

Now these things having been prepared in this way, the priests enter into the first tent continually as they accomplish their service, but only the high priest enters into the second tent once a year, not without blood, which he offers on behalf of himself and the sins of the people committed in ignorance. The Holy Spirit was making this clear, that the way into the holy place was not yet revealed, while the first tent was still in existence, which was a symbol for the present time, in which both the gifts and sacrifices which were offered were not able to perfect the worshiper with respect to the conscience, concerning instead only food and drink and different washings, regulations of outward things imposed until the time of setting things right.

But Christ has arrived as a high priest of the good things to come. Through the greater and more perfect tent not made by hands, that is, not of this creation, and not by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, he entered once for all into the most holy place, obtaining eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a young cow sprinkled on those who are defiled sanctify them for the ritual purity of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse our consciences from dead works to serve the living God?

And because of this, he is the mediator of a new covenant, in order that, because a death has taken place for the redemption of transgressions committed during the first covenant, those who are the called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. For where there is a will, it is a necessity for the death of the one who made the will to be established. For a will is in force concerning those who are dead, since it is never in force when the one who made the will is alive. Therefore not even the first covenant was ratified without blood. For when every commandment had been spoken by Moses to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves with water and scarlet wool and hyssop and sprinkled both the scroll itself and all the people, saying,

“This is the blood of the covenant that God has commanded for you.”

And likewise he sprinkled both the tabernacle and all the utensils of service with the blood. Indeed, nearly everything is purified with blood according to the law, and apart from the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

Therefore it was necessary for the sketches of the things in heaven to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves to be purified with better sacrifices than these. For Christ did not enter into a sanctuary made by hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf, and not in order that he can offer himself many times, as the high priest enters into the sanctuary year by year with blood not his own, since it would have been necessary for him to suffer many times from the foundation of the world, but now he has appeared once at the end of the ages for the removal of sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is destined for people to die once, and after this, judgment, thus also Christ, having been offered once in order to bear the sins of many, will appear for the second time without reference to sin to those who eagerly await him for salvation.

Until next time, keep meditating on the word of God.

Scripture quotations are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.