The Lord said to Moses: “Say to the priests, the sons of Aaron – say to them, ‘For a dead person ¹  no priest ²  is to defile himself among his people, ³ 

“‘These are the appointed times of the Lord that you must proclaim as holy assemblies to present a gift to the Lord – burnt offering, grain offering, sacrifice, and drink offerings, ¹  each day according to its regulation, ² 

but if only a few years remain ¹  until the jubilee, he must calculate for himself in keeping with the remaining years and refund it for his redemption.

I will grant peace in the land so that ¹  you will lie down to sleep without anyone terrifying you. ²  I will remove harmful animals ³  from the land, and no sword of war ⁴  will pass through your land.

then the one who presents his offering to the Lord must bring ¹  a grain offering of one-tenth of an ephah of finely ground flour mixed with one fourth of a hin of olive oil. ² 

“Speak to the Israelites, and receive from them a staff from each tribe, ¹  one from every tribal leader, ²  twelve staffs; you must write each man’s name on his staff.

So Moses spoke to the Israelites, and each of their leaders gave him a staff, one for each leader, ¹  according to their tribes ²  – twelve staffs; the staff of Aaron was among their staffs.

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.

And every daughter who possesses an inheritance from any of the tribes of the Israelites must become the wife of a man from any family in her father’s tribe, so that every Israelite ¹  may retain the inheritance of his fathers.

Commission ¹  Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him, because he will lead these people over and will enable them to inherit the land you will see.”

“See now that I, indeed I, am he!” says the Lord, ¹  “and there is no other god besides me. I kill and give life, I smash and I heal, and none can resist ²  my power.

But be careful when you are setting apart the riches for the Lord. If you take any of it, you will make the Israelite camp subject to annihilation and cause a disaster. ¹ 

Joshua conquered ¹  the whole land, just as the Lord had promised Moses, ²  and he assigned Israel their tribal portions. ³  Then the land was free of war.

If we have built ¹  an altar for ourselves to turn back from following the Lord by making ²  burnt sacrifices and grain offerings on it, or by offering ³  tokens of peace ⁴  on it, the Lord himself will punish us. ⁵ 

They said to one another, ¹  “Who did this?” ²  They investigated the matter thoroughly ³  and concluded ⁴  that Gideon son of Joash had done it.

But the olive tree said to them, ‘I am not going to stop producing my oil, which is used to honor gods and men, just to sway above the other trees!’ ¹ 

She made him go to sleep on her lap ¹  and then called a man in to shave off ²  the seven braids of his hair. ³  She made him vulnerable ⁴  and his strength left him.

Now the temple ¹  was filled with men and women, and all the rulers of the Philistines were there. There were three thousand men and women on the roof watching Samson entertain.

This man left the town of Bethlehem in Judah to find another place to live. He came to the Ephraimite hill country and made his way to Micah’s house. ¹ 

They got up early the next morning and after worshiping the Lord, they returned to their home at Ramah. Elkanah had marital relations with ¹  his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered ²  her.