Friday in Season after Pentecost

1Verse 1. At the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the LORD. 2Verse 2. This is what the LORD said to me: “Make for yourself a yoke out of leather straps and put it on your neck. 3Verse 3. Send word to the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Sidon through the envoys who have come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah. 4Verse 4. Give them a message from the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, to relay to their masters: 5Verse 5. By My great power and outstretched arm, I made the earth and the men and beasts on the face of it, and I give it to whom I please. 6Verse 6. So now I have placed all these lands under the authority of My servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. I have even made the beasts of the field subject to him. 7Verse 7. All nations will serve him and his son and grandson, until the time of his own land comes; then many nations and great kings will enslave him. 8Verse 8. As for the nation or kingdom that does not serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and does not place its neck under his yoke, I will punish that nation by sword and famine and plague, declares the LORD, until I have destroyed it by his hand. 9Verse 9. But as for you, do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your interpreters of dreams, your mediums, or your sorcerers who declare, ‘You will not serve the king of Babylon.’ 10Verse 10. For they prophesy to you a lie that will serve to remove you from your land; I will banish you and you will perish. 11Verse 11. But the nation that will put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will leave in its own land, to cultivate it and reside in it, declares the LORD.” 12Verse 12. And to Zedekiah king of Judah I spoke the same message: “Put your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon; serve him and his people, and live! 13Verse 13. Why should you and your people die by sword and famine and plague, as the LORD has decreed against any nation that does not serve the king of Babylon? 14Verse 14. Do not listen to the words of the prophets who say, ‘You must not serve the king of Babylon,’ for they are prophesying to you a lie. 15Verse 15. For I have not sent them, declares the LORD, and yet they are prophesying falsely in My name; therefore I will banish you, and you will perish— you and the prophets who prophesy to you.” 16Verse 16. Then I said to the priests and to all this people, “This is what the LORD says: Do not listen to the words of your prophets who prophesy to you, saying, ‘Look, very soon now the articles from the house of the LORD will be brought back from Babylon.’ They are prophesying to you a lie. 17Verse 17. Do not listen to them. Serve the king of Babylon and live! Why should this city become a ruin? 18Verse 18. If they are indeed prophets and the word of the LORD is with them, let them now plead with the LORD of Hosts that the articles remaining in the house of the LORD, in the palace of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem, not be taken to Babylon. 19Verse 19. For this is what the LORD of Hosts says about the pillars, the sea, the bases, and the rest of the articles that remain in this city, 20Verse 20. which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take when he carried Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim king of Judah into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon, along with all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem. 21Verse 21. Yes, this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says about the articles that remain in the house of the LORD, in the palace of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem: 22Verse 22. ‘They will be carried to Babylon and will remain there until the day I attend to them again,’ declares the LORD. ‘Then I will bring them back and restore them to this place.’”

34Verse 34. So Moses, Aaron, and the leaders of the congregation numbered the Kohathites by their clans and families, 35Verse 35. everyone from thirty to fifty years old who came to serve in the work at the Tent of Meeting. 36Verse 36. And those numbered by their clans totaled 2,750. 37Verse 37. These were counted from the Kohathite clans, everyone who could serve at the Tent of Meeting. Moses and Aaron numbered them according to the command of the LORD through Moses. 38Verse 38. Then the Gershonites were numbered by their clans and families, 39Verse 39. everyone from thirty to fifty years old who came to serve in the work at the Tent of Meeting. 40Verse 40. And those numbered by their clans and families totaled 2,630. 41Verse 41. These were counted from the Gershonite clans who served at the Tent of Meeting, whom Moses and Aaron counted at the LORD’s command. 42Verse 42. And the Merarites were numbered by their clans and families, 43Verse 43. everyone from thirty to fifty years old who came to serve in the work at the Tent of Meeting. 44Verse 44. The men registered by their clans numbered 3,200. 45Verse 45. These were counted from the Merarite clans, whom Moses and Aaron numbered at the LORD’s command through Moses. 46Verse 46. So Moses, Aaron, and the leaders of Israel numbered by their clans and families all the Levites 47Verse 47. from thirty to fifty years old who came to do the work of serving and carrying the Tent of Meeting. 48Verse 48. And the number of men was 8,580. 49Verse 49. At the LORD’s command through Moses they were numbered, and each one was assigned his work and burden, as the LORD had commanded Moses. 1Verse 1. Then the LORD said to Moses, 2Verse 2. “Command the Israelites to send away from the camp anyone with a skin disease, anyone who has a bodily discharge, and anyone who is defiled by a dead body. 3Verse 3. You must send away male and female alike; send them outside the camp so they will not defile their camp, where I dwell among them.” 4Verse 4. So the Israelites did this, sending such people outside the camp. They did just as the LORD had instructed Moses.