¹And the Lᴏʀᴅ said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them: ‘None shall defile himself for the dead among his people, ²except for his relatives who are nearest to him: his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, and his brother; ³also his virgin sister who is near to him, who has had no husband, for her he may defile himself. ⁴Otherwise he shall not defile himself, being a chief man among his people, to profane himself. ⁵‘They shall not make any bald place on their heads, nor shall they shave the edges of their beards nor make any cuttings in their flesh. ⁶They shall be holy to their God and not profane the name of their God, for they offer the offerings of the Lᴏʀᴅ made by fire, and the bread of their God; therefore they shall be holy. ⁷They shall not take a wife who is a harlot or a defiled woman, nor shall they take a woman divorced from her husband; for the priest is holy to his God. ⁸Therefore you shall consecrate him, for he offers the bread of your God. He shall be holy to you, for I the Lᴏʀᴅ, who sanctify you, am holy. ⁹The daughter of any priest, if she profanes herself by playing the harlot, she profanes her father. She shall be burned with fire. ¹⁰‘He who is the high priest among his brethren, on whose head the anointing oil was poured and who is consecrated to wear the garments, shall not uncover his head nor tear his clothes; ¹¹nor shall he go near any dead body, nor defile himself for his father or his mother; ¹²nor shall he go out of the sanctuary, nor profane the sanctuary of his God; for the consecration of the anointing oil of his God is upon him: I am the Lᴏʀᴅ. ¹³And he shall take a wife in her virginity. ¹⁴A widow or a divorced woman or a defiled woman or a harlot—these he shall not marry; but he shall take a virgin of his own people as wife. ¹⁵Nor shall he profane his posterity among his people, for I the Lᴏʀᴅ sanctify him.’ ” ¹⁶And the Lᴏʀᴅ spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁷“Speak to Aaron, saying: ‘No man of your descendants in succeeding generations, who has any defect, may approach to offer the bread of his God. ¹⁸For any man who has a defect shall not approach: a man blind or lame, who has a marred face or any limb too long, ¹⁹a man who has a broken foot or broken hand, ²⁰or is a hunchback or a dwarf, or a man who has a defect in his eye, or eczema or scab, or is a eunuch. ²¹No man of the descendants of Aaron the priest, who has a defect, shall come near to offer the offerings made by fire to the Lᴏʀᴅ. He has a defect; he shall not come near to offer the bread of his God. ²²He may eat the bread of his God, both the most holy and the holy; ²³only he shall not go near the veil or approach the altar, because he has a defect, lest he profane My sanctuaries; for I the Lᴏʀᴅ sanctify them.’ ” ²⁴And Moses told it to Aaron and his sons, and to all the children of Israel.

¹A Psalm of David. Vindicate me, O Lᴏʀᴅ, For I have walked in my integrity. I have also trusted in the Lᴏʀᴅ; I shall not slip. ²Examine me, O Lᴏʀᴅ, and prove me; Try my mind and my heart. ³For Your lovingkindness is before my eyes, And I have walked in Your truth. ⁴I have not sat with idolatrous mortals, Nor will I go in with hypocrites. ⁵I have hated the assembly of evildoers, And will not sit with the wicked. ⁶I will wash my hands in innocence; So I will go about Your altar, O Lᴏʀᴅ, ⁷That I may proclaim with the voice of thanksgiving, And tell of all Your wondrous works. ⁸Lord, I have loved the habitation of Your house, And the place where Your glory dwells. ⁹Do not gather my soul with sinners, Nor my life with bloodthirsty men, ¹⁰In whose hands is a sinister scheme, And whose right hand is full of bribes. ¹¹But as for me, I will walk in my integrity; Redeem me and be merciful to me. ¹²My foot stands in an even place; In the congregations I will bless the Lᴏʀᴅ.

¹A Psalm of David. The Lᴏʀᴅ is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The Lᴏʀᴅ is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid? ²When the wicked came against me To eat up my flesh, My enemies and foes, They stumbled and fell. ³Though an army may encamp against me, My heart shall not fear; Though war should rise against me, In this I will be confident. ⁴One thing I have desired of the Lᴏʀᴅ, That will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lᴏʀᴅ All the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the Lᴏʀᴅ, And to inquire in His temple. ⁵For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion; In the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me; He shall set me high upon a rock. ⁶And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me; Therefore I will offer sacrifices of joy in His tabernacle; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the Lᴏʀᴅ. ⁷Hear, O Lᴏʀᴅ, when I cry with my voice! Have mercy also upon me, and answer me. ⁸When You said, “Seek My face,” My heart said to You, “Your face, Lord, I will seek.” ⁹Do not hide Your face from me; Do not turn Your servant away in anger; You have been my help; Do not leave me nor forsake me, O God of my salvation. ¹⁰When my father and my mother forsake me, Then the Lᴏʀᴅ will take care of me. ¹¹Teach me Your way, O Lᴏʀᴅ, And lead me in a smooth path, because of my enemies. ¹²Do not deliver me to the will of my adversaries; For false witnesses have risen against me, And such as breathe out violence. ¹³I would have lost heart, unless I had believed That I would see the goodness of the Lᴏʀᴅ In the land of the living. ¹⁴Wait on the Lᴏʀᴅ; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the Lᴏʀᴅ!

¹Then I returned and considered all the oppression that is done under the sun: And look! The tears of the oppressed, But they have no comforter— On the side of their oppressors there is power, But they have no comforter. ²Therefore I praised the dead who were already dead, More than the living who are still alive. ³Yet, better than both is he who has never existed, Who has not seen the evil work that is done under the sun. ⁴Again, I saw that for all toil and every skillful work a man is envied by his neighbor. This also is vanity and grasping for the wind. ⁵The fool folds his hands And consumes his own flesh. ⁶Better a handful with quietness Than both hands full, together with toil and grasping for the wind. ⁷Then I returned, and I saw vanity under the sun: ⁸There is one alone, without companion: He has neither son nor brother. Yet there is no end to all his labors, Nor is his eye satisfied with riches. But he never asks, “For whom do I toil and deprive myself of good?” This also is vanity and a grave misfortune. ⁹Two are better than one, Because they have a good reward for their labor. ¹⁰For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, For he has no one to help him up. ¹¹Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; But how can one be warm alone? ¹²Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken. ¹³Better a poor and wise youth Than an old and foolish king who will be admonished no more. ¹⁴For he comes out of prison to be king, Although he was born poor in his kingdom. ¹⁵I saw all the living who walk under the sun; They were with the second youth who stands in his place. ¹⁶There was no end of all the people over whom he was made king; Yet those who come afterward will not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity and grasping for the wind.

¹Let as many bondservants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honor, so that the name of God and His doctrine may not be blasphemed. ²And those who have believing masters, let them not despise them because they are brethren, but rather serve them because those who are benefited are believers and beloved. Teach and exhort these things. ³If anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which accords with godliness, ⁴he is proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words, from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions, ⁵useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. From such withdraw yourself. ⁶Now godliness with contentment is great gain. ⁷For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. ⁸And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. ⁹But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. ¹⁰For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. ¹¹But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness. ¹²Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. ¹³I urge you in the sight of God who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus who witnessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate, ¹⁴that you keep this commandment without spot, blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ’s appearing, ¹⁵which He will manifest in His own time, He who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, ¹⁶who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen. ¹⁷Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. ¹⁸Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, ¹⁹storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life. ²⁰O Timothy! Guard what was committed to your trust, avoiding the profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge— ²¹by professing it some have strayed concerning the faith. Grace be with you. Amen.