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Psalm 81

1  Sing merrily to God our strength, ♦︎
   shout for joy to the God of Jacob.
2  Take up the song and sound the timbrel, ♦︎
   the tuneful lyre with the harp.
3  Blow the trumpet at the new moon, ♦︎
   as at the full moon, upon our solemn feast day.
4  For this is a statute for Israel, ♦︎
   a law of the God of Jacob,
5  The charge he laid on the people of Joseph, ♦︎
   when they came out of the land of Egypt.
6  I heard a voice I did not know, that said: ♦︎
   ‘I eased their shoulder from the burden;
      their hands were set free from bearing the load.
7  ‘You called upon me in trouble and I delivered you; ♦︎
   I answered you from the secret place of thunder
      and proved you at the waters of Meribah.
8  ‘Hear, O my people, and I will admonish you: ♦︎
   O Israel, if you would but listen to me!
9  ‘There shall be no strange god among you; ♦︎
   you shall not worship a foreign god.
10  ‘I am the Lord your God,
      who brought you up from the land of Egypt; ♦︎
   open your mouth wide and I shall fill it.’
11  But my people would not hear my voice ♦︎
   and Israel would not obey me.
12  So I sent them away in the stubbornness of their hearts, ♦︎
   and let them walk after their own counsels.
13  O that my people would listen to me, ♦︎
   that Israel would walk in my ways!
14  Then I should soon put down their enemies ♦︎
   and turn my hand against their adversaries.
15  Those who hate the Lord would be humbled before him, ♦︎
   and their punishment would last for ever.
16  But Israel would I feed with the finest wheat ♦︎
   and with honey from the rock would I satisfy them.

The Rites of Ordination

8The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²Take Aaron and his sons with him, the vestments, the anointing-oil, the bull of sin-offering, the two rams, and the basket of unleavened bread; ³and assemble the whole congregation at the entrance of the tent of meeting. ⁴And Moses did as the Lord commanded him. When the congregation was assembled at the entrance of the tent of meeting, ⁵Moses said to the congregation, ‘This is what the Lord has commanded to be done.’

6 Then Moses brought Aaron and his sons forward, and washed them with water. ⁷He put the tunic on him, fastened the sash around him, clothed him with the robe, and put the ephod on him. He then put the decorated band of the ephod around him, tying the ephod to him with it. ⁸He placed the breastpiece on him, and in the breastpiece he put the Urim and the Thummim. ⁹And he set the turban on his head, and on the turban, in front, he set the golden ornament, the holy crown, as the Lord commanded Moses.

10 Then Moses took the anointing-oil and anointed the tabernacle and all that was in it, and consecrated them. ¹¹He sprinkled some of it on the altar seven times, and anointed the altar and all its utensils, and the basin and its base, to consecrate them. ¹²He poured some of the anointing-oil on Aaron’s head and anointed him, to consecrate him. ¹³And Moses brought forward Aaron’s sons, and clothed them with tunics, and fastened sashes around them, and tied head-dresses on them, as the Lord commanded Moses.

30 Then Moses took some of the anointing-oil and some of the blood that was on the altar and sprinkled them on Aaron and his vestments, and also on his sons and their vestments. Thus he consecrated Aaron and his vestments, and also his sons and their vestments.

31 And Moses said to Aaron and his sons, ‘Boil the flesh at the entrance of the tent of meeting, and eat it there with the bread that is in the basket of ordination-offerings, as I was commanded, “Aaron and his sons shall eat it”; ³²and what remains of the flesh and the bread you shall burn with fire. ³³You shall not go outside the entrance of the tent of meeting for seven days, until the day when your period of ordination is completed. For it will take seven days to ordain you; ³⁴as has been done today, the Lord has commanded to be done to make atonement for you. ³⁵You shall remain at the entrance of the tent of meeting day and night for seven days, keeping the Lord’s charge so that you do not die; for so I am commanded.’ ³⁶Aaron and his sons did all the things that the Lord commanded through Moses.

The Coming of the Lord

13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters,^* about those who have died,^* so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. ¹⁴For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died.^{* 15}For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will by no means precede those who have died.^{* 16}For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call and with the sound of God’s trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord for ever. ¹⁸Therefore encourage one another with these words.