Dedication of the Priests

29 “This is the ceremony you must follow when you consecrate Aaron and his sons to serve me as priests: Take a young bull and two rams with no defects. ² Then, using choice wheat flour and no yeast, make loaves of bread, thin cakes mixed with olive oil, and wafers spread with oil. ³ Place them all in a single basket, and present them at the entrance of the Tabernacle, along with the young bull and the two rams.

⁴ “Present Aaron and his sons at the entrance of the Tabernacle,^[a] and wash them with water. ⁵ Dress Aaron in his priestly garments—the tunic, the robe worn with the ephod, the ephod itself, and the chestpiece. Then wrap the decorative sash of the ephod around him. ⁶ Place the turban on his head, and fasten the sacred medallion to the turban. ⁷ Then anoint him by pouring the anointing oil over his head. ⁸ Next present his sons, and dress them in their tunics. ⁹ Wrap the sashes around the waists of Aaron and his sons, and put their special head coverings on them. Then the right to the priesthood will be theirs by law forever. In this way, you will ordain Aaron and his sons.

¹⁰ “Bring the young bull to the entrance of the Tabernacle, where Aaron and his sons will lay their hands on its head. ¹¹ Then slaughter the bull in the Lord’s presence at the entrance of the Tabernacle. ¹² Put some of its blood on the horns of the altar with your finger, and pour out the rest at the base of the altar. ¹³ Take all the fat around the internal organs, the long lobe of the liver, and the two kidneys and the fat around them, and burn it all on the altar. ¹⁴ Then take the rest of the bull, including its hide, meat, and dung, and burn it outside the camp as a sin offering.

¹⁵ “Next Aaron and his sons must lay their hands on the head of one of the rams. ¹⁶ Then slaughter the ram, and splatter its blood against all sides of the altar. ¹⁷ Cut the ram into pieces, and wash off the internal organs and the legs. Set them alongside the head and the other pieces of the body, ¹⁸ then burn the entire animal on the altar. This is a burnt offering to the Lord; it is a pleasing aroma, a special gift presented to the Lord.

¹⁹ “Now take the other ram, and have Aaron and his sons lay their hands on its head. ²⁰ Then slaughter it, and apply some of its blood to the right earlobes of Aaron and his sons. Also put it on the thumbs of their right hands and the big toes of their right feet. Splatter the rest of the blood against all sides of the altar. ²¹ Then take some of the blood from the altar and some of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it on Aaron and his sons and on their garments. In this way, they and their garments will be set apart as holy.

²² “Since this is the ram for the ordination of Aaron and his sons, take the fat of the ram, including the fat of the broad tail, the fat around the internal organs, the long lobe of the liver, and the two kidneys and the fat around them, along with the right thigh. ²³ Then take one round loaf of bread, one thin cake mixed with olive oil, and one wafer from the basket of bread without yeast that was placed in the Lord’s presence. ²⁴ Put all these in the hands of Aaron and his sons to be lifted up as a special offering to the Lord. ²⁵ Afterward take the various breads from their hands, and burn them on the altar along with the burnt offering. It is a pleasing aroma to the Lord, a special gift for him. ²⁶ Then take the breast of Aaron’s ordination ram, and lift it up in the Lord’s presence as a special offering to him. Then keep it as your own portion.

²⁷ “Set aside the portions of the ordination ram that belong to Aaron and his sons. This includes the breast and the thigh that were lifted up before the Lord as a special offering. ²⁸ In the future, whenever the people of Israel lift up a peace offering, a portion of it must be set aside for Aaron and his descendants. This is their permanent right, and it is a sacred offering from the Israelites to the Lord.

²⁹ “Aaron’s sacred garments must be preserved for his descendants who succeed him, and they will wear them when they are anointed and ordained. ³⁰ The descendant who succeeds him as high priest will wear these clothes for seven days as he ministers in the Tabernacle and the Holy Place.

³¹ “Take the ram used in the ordination ceremony, and boil its meat in a sacred place. ³² Then Aaron and his sons will eat this meat, along with the bread in the basket, at the Tabernacle entrance. ³³ They alone may eat the meat and bread used for their purification^[b] in the ordination ceremony. No one else may eat them, for these things are set apart and holy. ³⁴ If any of the ordination meat or bread remains until the morning, it must be burned. It may not be eaten, for it is holy.

³⁵ “This is how you will ordain Aaron and his sons to their offices, just as I have commanded you. The ordination ceremony will go on for seven days. ³⁶ Each day you must sacrifice a young bull as a sin offering to purify them, making them right with the Lord.^[c] Afterward, cleanse the altar by purifying it^[d]; make it holy by anointing it with oil. ³⁷ Purify the altar, and consecrate it every day for seven days. After that, the altar will be absolutely holy, and whatever touches it will become holy.

³⁸ “These are the sacrifices you are to offer regularly on the altar. Each day, offer two lambs that are a year old, ³⁹ one in the morning and the other in the evening. ⁴⁰ With one of them, offer two quarts of choice flour mixed with one quart of pure oil of pressed olives; also, offer one quart of wine^[e] as a liquid offering. ⁴¹ Offer the other lamb in the evening, along with the same offerings of flour and wine as in the morning. It will be a pleasing aroma, a special gift presented to the Lord.

⁴² “These burnt offerings are to be made each day from generation to generation. Offer them in the Lord’s presence at the Tabernacle entrance; there I will meet with you and speak with you. ⁴³ I will meet the people of Israel there, in the place made holy by my glorious presence. ⁴⁴ Yes, I will consecrate the Tabernacle and the altar, and I will consecrate Aaron and his sons to serve me as priests. ⁴⁵ Then I will live among the people of Israel and be their God, ⁴⁶ and they will know that I am the Lord their God. I am the one who brought them out of the land of Egypt so that I could live among them. I am the Lord their God.

Plans for the Incense Altar

30 “Then make another altar of acacia wood for burning incense. ² Make it 18 inches square and 36 inches high,^[f] with horns at the corners carved from the same piece of wood as the altar itself. ³ Overlay the top, sides, and horns of the altar with pure gold, and run a gold molding around the entire altar. ⁴ Make two gold rings, and attach them on opposite sides of the altar below the gold molding to hold the carrying poles. ⁵ Make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. ⁶ Place the incense altar just outside the inner curtain that shields the Ark of the Covenant,^[g] in front of the Ark’s cover—the place of atonement—that covers the tablets inscribed with the terms of the covenant.^[h] I will meet with you there.

⁷ “Every morning when Aaron maintains the lamps, he must burn fragrant incense on the altar. ⁸ And each evening when he lights the lamps, he must again burn incense in the Lord’s presence. This must be done from generation to generation. ⁹ Do not offer any unholy incense on this altar, or any burnt offerings, grain offerings, or liquid offerings.

¹⁰ “Once a year Aaron must purify^[i] the altar by smearing its horns with blood from the offering made to purify the people from their sin. This will be a regular, annual event from generation to generation, for this is the Lord’s most holy altar.”

Judas Agrees to Betray Jesus

¹⁴ Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve disciples, went to the leading priests ¹⁵ and asked, “How much will you pay me to betray Jesus to you?” And they gave him thirty pieces of silver. ¹⁶ From that time on, Judas began looking for an opportunity to betray Jesus.

The Last Supper

¹⁷ On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Where do you want us to prepare the Passover meal for you?”

¹⁸ “As you go into the city,” he told them, “you will see a certain man. Tell him, ‘The Teacher says: My time has come, and I will eat the Passover meal with my disciples at your house.’” ¹⁹ So the disciples did as Jesus told them and prepared the Passover meal there.

²⁰ When it was evening, Jesus sat down at the table^[a] with the Twelve. ²¹ While they were eating, he said, “I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me.”

²² Greatly distressed, each one asked in turn, “Am I the one, Lord?”

²³ He replied, “One of you who has just eaten from this bowl with me will betray me. ²⁴ For the Son of Man must die, as the Scriptures declared long ago. But how terrible it will be for the one who betrays him. It would be far better for that man if he had never been born!”

²⁵ Judas, the one who would betray him, also asked, “Rabbi, am I the one?”

And Jesus told him, “You have said it.”

²⁶ As they were eating, Jesus took some bread and blessed it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take this and eat it, for this is my body.”

²⁷ And he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. He gave it to them and said, “Each of you drink from it, ²⁸ for this is my blood, which confirms the covenant^[b] between God and his people. It is poured out as a sacrifice to forgive the sins of many. ²⁹ Mark my words—I will not drink wine again until the day I drink it new with you in my Father’s Kingdom.”

³⁰ Then they sang a hymn and went out to the Mount of Olives.

Jesus Predicts Peter’s Denial

³¹ On the way, Jesus told them, “Tonight all of you will desert me. For the Scriptures say,

³² But after I have been raised from the dead, I will go ahead of you to Galilee and meet you there.”

³³ Peter declared, “Even if everyone else deserts you, I will never desert you.”

³⁴ Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, Peter—this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny three times that you even know me.”

³⁵ “No!” Peter insisted. “Even if I have to die with you, I will never deny you!” And all the other disciples vowed the same.

Jesus Prays in Gethsemane

³⁶ Then Jesus went with them to the olive grove called Gethsemane, and he said, “Sit here while I go over there to pray.” ³⁷ He took Peter and Zebedee’s two sons, James and John, and he became anguished and distressed. ³⁸ He told them, “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”

³⁹ He went on a little farther and bowed with his face to the ground, praying, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”

⁴⁰ Then he returned to the disciples and found them asleep. He said to Peter, “Couldn’t you watch with me even one hour? ⁴¹ Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak!”

⁴² Then Jesus left them a second time and prayed, “My Father! If this cup cannot be taken away^[d] unless I drink it, your will be done.” ⁴³ When he returned to them again, he found them sleeping, for they couldn’t keep their eyes open.

⁴⁴ So he went to pray a third time, saying the same things again. ⁴⁵ Then he came to the disciples and said, “Go ahead and sleep. Have your rest. But look—the time has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. ⁴⁶ Up, let’s be going. Look, my betrayer is here!”