“‘They must be holy to their God, and they must not profane ¹  the name of their God, because they are the ones who present the Lord’s gifts, ²  the food of their God. Therefore they must be holy. ³ 

“Tell Aaron and his sons that they must deal respectfully with the holy offerings ¹  of the Israelites, which they consecrate to me, so that they do not profane my holy name. ²  I am the Lord.

“‘Any tithe ¹  of the land, from the grain of the land or from the fruit of the trees, belongs to the Lord; it is holy to the Lord.

And take ¹  the Levites for me – I am the Lord – instead of all the firstborn males among the Israelites, and the livestock of the Levites instead of all the firstborn of the livestock of the Israelites.”

“Speak to the Israelites, and tell them, ‘When either a man or a woman ¹  takes a special vow, ²  to take a vow ³  as a Nazirite, ⁴  to separate ⁵  himself to the Lord,

Thus you are to offer up a raised offering to the Lord of all your tithes which you receive from the Israelites; and you must give the Lord’s raised offering from it to Aaron the priest.

“Therefore you will say to them, ¹  ‘When you offer up ²  the best of it, then it will be credited to the Levites as the product of the threshing floor and as the product of the winepress.

Instead, this is what you must do to them: You must tear down their altars, shatter their sacred pillars, ¹  cut down their sacred Asherah poles, ²  and burn up their idols.

You must tear down their altars, shatter their sacred pillars, ¹  burn up their sacred Asherah poles, ²  and cut down the images of their gods; you must eliminate their very memory from that place.

you must by all means ¹  slaughter the inhabitants of that city with the sword; annihilate ²  with the sword everyone in it, as well as the livestock.

for both of you ¹  rebelled against me among the Israelites at the waters of Meribah Kadesh in the desert of Zin when you did not show me proper respect ²  among the Israelites.

with the harvest of the earth and its fullness and the pleasure of him who resided in the burning bush. ¹  May blessing rest on Joseph’s head, and on the top of the head of the one set apart ²  from his brothers.

The city and all that is in it must be set apart for the Lord, ¹  except for Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house, because she hid the spies ²  we sent.

Israel has sinned; they have violated my covenantal commandment! ¹  They have taken some of the riches; ²  they have stolen them and deceitfully put them among their own possessions. ³ 

The one caught with the riches ¹  must be burned up ²  along with all who belong to him, because he violated the Lord’s covenant and did such a disgraceful thing in Israel.’”

When Achan son of Zerah disobeyed the command about the city’s riches, the entire Israelite community was judged, ¹  though only one man had sinned. He most certainly died for his sin!’” ² 

If that happens even the bravest soldier – one who is lion-hearted – will virtually melt away. For all Israel knows that your father is a warrior and that those who are with him are brave.

While Elisha was watching, he was crying out, “My father, my father! The chariot and horsemen of Israel!” ¹  Then he could no longer see him. He grabbed his clothes and tore them in two.

When the king heard what the woman said, he tore his clothes. As he was passing by on the wall, the people could see he was wearing sackcloth under his clothes. ¹ 

No one must enter the Lord’s temple except the priests and Levites who are on duty. They may enter because they are ceremonially pure. All the others should carry out their assigned service to the Lord.