“ They will serve as judges to resolve any disagreements among my people. Their decisions must be based on my regulations. And the priests themselves must obey my instructions and decrees at all the sacred festivals, and see to it that the Sabbaths are set apart as holy days.

有争讼的事，他们应当站立判断，要按我的典章判断。在我一切的节期必守我的律法、条例，也必以我的安息日为圣日。

有争讼的事，他们应当审判，按我的典章审判。他们要在我的节期守我的律法和条例，也当以我的安息日为圣日。

有争讼的事，他们应当审判，按我的典章审判。他们要在我的节期守我的律法和条例，也当以我的安息日为圣日。

他们要审理诉讼之事，按我的律例断是非。他们必须按我定的律例和法度遵守一切节期，守安息日为圣日。

他们要在争讼的事上作判断，要按着我的典章判断。他们要在我所有的节期里谨守我的律法和条例，守我的安息日为圣日。

有爭訟的事，他們應當站立判斷，要按我的典章判斷。在我一切的節期必守我的律法、條例，也必以我的安息日為聖日。

有爭訟的事，他們應當審判，按我的典章審判。他們要在我的節期守我的律法和條例，也當以我的安息日為聖日。

有爭訟的事，他們應當審判，按我的典章審判。他們要在我的節期守我的律法和條例，也當以我的安息日為聖日。

他們要審理訴訟之事，按我的律例斷是非。他們必須按我定的律例和法度遵守一切節期，守安息日為聖日。

他們要在爭訟的事上作判斷，要按著我的典章判斷。他們要在我所有的節期裡謹守我的律法和條例，守我的安息日為聖日。

在爭訟的事上他們要中立而判斷，按我的典章行判斷。我的禮節規矩、我的條例在我的一切制定節期上、他們都要謹守；我的安息日他們要守它為聖。

有訟事必審鞫、按我律而斷之、在我諸節期、必守我法律典章、亦守我安息日為聖、

有訟事、必當鞫問、遵我法度、在大會中必守我禮儀、法度、以我安息日為聖日、

有訟事、彼當審鞫、彼當審鞫原文作彼立以審鞫遵我法度而審鞫、在我諸節期、必守我律法禮儀、禮儀或作典章亦守我諸安息日為聖日、

“‘ In any dispute, the priests are to serve as judges and decide it according to my ordinances. They are to keep my laws and my decrees for all my appointed festivals, and they are to keep my Sabbaths holy.

“ When people do not agree, the priests must serve as judges between them. They must make their decisions based on my laws. They must obey my laws and rules for all my appointed feasts. And they must keep my Sabbath days holy.

In a dispute, they shall act as judges, and they shall judge it according to my judgments. They shall keep my laws and my statutes in all my appointed feasts, and they shall keep my Sabbaths holy.

“ In a dispute, they will officiate as judges and decide the case according to my ordinances. They are to observe my laws and statutes regarding all my appointed festivals, and keep my Sabbaths holy.

In a dispute they shall take their stand to judge; they shall judge it according to My ordinances. They shall also keep My laws and My statutes in all My appointed feasts, and sanctify My Sabbaths.

In controversy they shall stand as judges, and judge it according to My judgments. They shall keep My laws and My statutes in all My appointed meetings, and they shall hallow My Sabbaths.

And in a controversy they shall stand to judge; according to mine ordinances shall they judge it: and they shall keep my laws and my statutes in all my appointed feasts; and they shall hallow my sabbaths.

“ In a dispute, they will officiate as judges and decide the case according to My ordinances. They must observe My laws and statutes regarding all My appointed festivals, and keep My Sabbaths holy.

And in controversy they shall stand in judgment;[ and] they shall judge it according to my judgments: and they shall keep my laws and my statutes in all mine assemblies; and they shall hallow my sabbaths.

“‘ In a controversy they will act as judges; they will judge according to my ordinances. They will keep my laws and my statutes regarding all my appointed festivals and will observe my Sabbaths.

“‘“ In a controversy they shall stand to judge. They shall judge it according to my ordinances. They shall keep my laws and my statutes in all my appointed feasts. They shall make my Sabbaths holy.

Then David said,“ From all the Levites, 24,000 will supervise the work at the Temple of the Lord. Another 6,000 will serve as officials and judges.

Your priests have violated my instructions and defiled my holy things. They make no distinction between what is holy and what is not. And they do not teach my people the difference between what is ceremonially clean and unclean. They disregard my Sabbath days so that I am dishonored among them.

In Jerusalem, Jehoshaphat appointed some of the Levites and priests and clan leaders in Israel to serve as judges for cases involving the Lord’s regulations and for civil disputes.These were his instructions to them:“ You must always act in the fear of the Lord, with faithfulness and an undivided heart.Whenever a case comes to you from fellow citizens in an outlying town, whether a murder case or some other violation of God’s laws, commands, decrees, or regulations, you must warn them not to sin against the Lord, so that he will not be angry with you and them. Do this and you will not be guilty.

The Lord said to Moses,“ Give these instructions to the people of Israel: The offerings you present as special gifts are a pleasing aroma to me; they are my food. See to it that they are brought at the appointed times and offered according to my instructions.“ Say to the people: This is the special gift you must present to the Lord as your daily burnt offering. You must offer two one year old male lambs with no defects.Sacrifice one lamb in the morning and the other in the evening.With each lamb you must offer a grain offering of two quarts of choice flour mixed with one quart of pure oil of pressed olives.This is the regular burnt offering instituted at Mount Sinai as a special gift, a pleasing aroma to the Lord.Along with it you must present the proper liquid offering of one quart of alcoholic drink with each lamb, poured out in the Holy Place as an offering to the Lord.Offer the second lamb in the evening with the same grain offering and liquid offering. It, too, is a special gift, a pleasing aroma to the Lord.“ On the Sabbath day, sacrifice two one year old male lambs with no defects. They must be accompanied by a grain offering of four quarts of choice flour moistened with olive oil, and a liquid offering.This is the burnt offering to be presented each Sabbath day, in addition to the regular burnt offering and its accompanying liquid offering.“ On the first day of each month, present an extra burnt offering to the Lord of two young bulls, one ram, and seven one year old male lambs, all with no defects.These must be accompanied by grain offerings of choice flour moistened with olive oil— six quarts with each bull, four quarts with the ram,and two quarts with each lamb. This burnt offering will be a special gift, a pleasing aroma to the Lord.You must also present a liquid offering with each sacrifice: two quarts of wine for each bull, a third of a gallon for the ram, and one quart for each lamb. Present this monthly burnt offering on the first day of each month throughout the year.“ On the first day of each month, you must also offer one male goat for a sin offering to the Lord. This is in addition to the regular burnt offering and its accompanying liquid offering.“ On the fourteenth day of the first month, you must celebrate the Lord’s Passover.On the following day— the fifteenth day of the month— a joyous, seven day festival will begin, but no bread made with yeast may be eaten.The first day of the festival will be an official day for holy assembly, and no ordinary work may be done on that day.As a special gift you must present a burnt offering to the Lord— two young bulls, one ram, and seven one year old male lambs, all with no defects.These will be accompanied by grain offerings of choice flour moistened with olive oil— six quarts with each bull, four quarts with the ram,and two quarts with each of the seven lambs.You must also offer a male goat as a sin offering to purify yourselves and make yourselves right with the Lord.Present these offerings in addition to your regular morning burnt offering.On each of the seven days of the festival, this is how you must prepare the food offering that is presented as a special gift, a pleasing aroma to the Lord. These will be offered in addition to the regular burnt offerings and liquid offerings.The seventh day of the festival will be another official day for holy assembly, and no ordinary work may be done on that day.“ At the Festival of Harvest, when you present the first of your new grain to the Lord, you must call an official day for holy assembly, and you may do no ordinary work on that day.Present a special burnt offering on that day as a pleasing aroma to the Lord. It will consist of two young bulls, one ram, and seven one year old male lambs.These will be accompanied by grain offerings of choice flour moistened with olive oil— six quarts with each bull, four quarts with the ram,and two quarts with each of the seven lambs.

The governor told them not to eat the priests’ share of food from the sacrifices until a priest could consult the Lord about the matter by using the Urim and Thummim— the sacred lots.

so that if I am delayed, you will know how people must conduct themselves in the household of God. This is the church of the living God, which is the pillar and foundation of the truth.

“ Suppose a case arises in a local court that is too hard for you to decide— for instance, whether someone is guilty of murder or only of manslaughter, or a difficult lawsuit, or a case involving different kinds of assault. Take such legal cases to the place the Lord your God will choose,and present them to the Levitical priests or the judge on duty at that time. They will hear the case and declare the verdict.You must carry out the verdict they announce and the sentence they prescribe at the place the Lord chooses. You must do exactly what they say.After they have interpreted the law and declared their verdict, the sentence they impose must be fully executed; do not modify it in any way.Anyone arrogant enough to reject the verdict of the judge or of the priest who represents the Lord your God must die. In this way you will purge the evil from Israel.Then everyone else will hear about it and be afraid to act so arrogantly.

all the people assembled with a unified purpose at the square just inside the Water Gate. They asked Ezra the scribe to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses, which the Lord had given for Israel to obey.So on October 8 Ezra the priest brought the Book of the Law before the assembly, which included the men and women and all the children old enough to understand.He faced the square just inside the Water Gate from early morning until noon and read aloud to everyone who could understand. All the people listened closely to the Book of the Law.Ezra the scribe stood on a high wooden platform that had been made for the occasion. To his right stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah. To his left stood Pedaiah, Mishael, Malkijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam.Ezra stood on the platform in full view of all the people. When they saw him open the book, they all rose to their feet.Then Ezra praised the Lord, the great God, and all the people chanted,“ Amen! Amen!” as they lifted their hands. Then they bowed down and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.The Levites— Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, and Pelaiah— then instructed the people in the Law while everyone remained in their places.They read from the Book of the Law of God and clearly explained the meaning of what was being read, helping the people understand each passage.Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who were interpreting for the people said to them,“ Don’t mourn or weep on such a day as this! For today is a sacred day before the Lord your God.” For the people had all been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law.And Nehemiah continued,“ Go and celebrate with a feast of rich foods and sweet drinks, and share gifts of food with people who have nothing prepared. This is a sacred day before our Lord. Don’t be dejected and sad, for the joy of the Lord is your strength!”And the Levites, too, quieted the people, telling them,“ Hush! Don’t weep! For this is a sacred day.”So the people went away to eat and drink at a festive meal, to share gifts of food, and to celebrate with great joy because they had heard God’s words and understood them.On October 9 the family leaders of all the people, together with the priests and Levites, met with Ezra the scribe to go over the Law in greater detail.As they studied the Law, they discovered that the Lord had commanded through Moses that the Israelites should live in shelters during the festival to be held that month.He had said that a proclamation should be made throughout their towns and in Jerusalem, telling the people to go to the hills to get branches from olive, wild olive, myrtle, palm, and other leafy trees. They were to use these branches to make shelters in which they would live during the festival, as prescribed in the Law.So the people went out and cut branches and used them to build shelters on the roofs of their houses, in their courtyards, in the courtyards of God’s Temple, or in the squares just inside the Water Gate and the Ephraim Gate.So everyone who had returned from captivity lived in these shelters during the festival, and they were all filled with great joy! The Israelites had not celebrated like this since the days of Joshua son of Nun.Ezra read from the Book of the Law of God on each of the seven days of the festival. Then on the eighth day they held a solemn assembly, as was required by law.

The Lord said to Moses,“ Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. These are the Lord’s appointed festivals, which you are to proclaim as official days for holy assembly.“ You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of complete rest, an official day for holy assembly. It is the Lord’s Sabbath day, and it must be observed wherever you live.“ In addition to the Sabbath, these are the Lord’s appointed festivals, the official days for holy assembly that are to be celebrated at their proper times each year.“ The Lord’s Passover begins at sundown on the fourteenth day of the first month.On the next day, the fifteenth day of the month, you must begin celebrating the Festival of Unleavened Bread. This festival to the Lord continues for seven days, and during that time the bread you eat must be made without yeast.On the first day of the festival, all the people must stop their ordinary work and observe an official day for holy assembly.For seven days you must present special gifts to the Lord. On the seventh day the people must again stop all their ordinary work to observe an official day for holy assembly.”Then the Lord said to Moses,“ Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. When you enter the land I am giving you and you harvest its first crops, bring the priest a bundle of grain from the first cutting of your grain harvest.On the day after the Sabbath, the priest will lift it up before the Lord so it may be accepted on your behalf.On that same day you must sacrifice a one year old male lamb with no defects as a burnt offering to the Lord.With it you must present a grain offering consisting of four quarts of choice flour moistened with olive oil. It will be a special gift, a pleasing aroma to the Lord. You must also offer one quart of wine as a liquid offering.Do not eat any bread or roasted grain or fresh kernels on that day until you bring this offering to your God. This is a permanent law for you, and it must be observed from generation to generation wherever you live.“ From the day after the Sabbath— the day you bring the bundle of grain to be lifted up as a special offering— count off seven full weeks.Keep counting until the day after the seventh Sabbath, fifty days later. Then present an offering of new grain to the Lord.From wherever you live, bring two loaves of bread to be lifted up before the Lord as a special offering. Make these loaves from four quarts of choice flour, and bake them with yeast. They will be an offering to the Lord from the first of your crops.Along with the bread, present seven one year old male lambs with no defects, one young bull, and two rams as burnt offerings to the Lord. These burnt offerings, together with the grain offerings and liquid offerings, will be a special gift, a pleasing aroma to the Lord.Then you must offer one male goat as a sin offering and two one year old male lambs as a peace offering.“ The priest will lift up the two lambs as a special offering to the Lord, together with the loaves representing the first of your crops. These offerings, which are holy to the Lord, belong to the priests.That same day will be proclaimed an official day for holy assembly, a day on which you do no ordinary work. This is a permanent law for you, and it must be observed from generation to generation wherever you live.“ When you harvest the crops of your land, do not harvest the grain along the edges of your fields, and do not pick up what the harvesters drop. Leave it for the poor and the foreigners living among you. I am the Lord your God.”The Lord said to Moses,“ Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. On the first day of the appointed month in early autumn, you are to observe a day of complete rest. It will be an official day for holy assembly, a day commemorated with loud blasts of a trumpet.You must do no ordinary work on that day. Instead, you are to present special gifts to the Lord.”Then the Lord said to Moses,“ Be careful to celebrate the Day of Atonement on the tenth day of that same month— nine days after the Festival of Trumpets. You must observe it as an official day for holy assembly, a day to deny yourselves and present special gifts to the Lord.Do no work during that entire day because it is the Day of Atonement, when offerings of purification are made for you, making you right with the Lord your God.All who do not deny themselves that day will be cut off from God’s people.And I will destroy anyone among you who does any work on that day.You must not do any work at all! This is a permanent law for you, and it must be observed from generation to generation wherever you live.This will be a Sabbath day of complete rest for you, and on that day you must deny yourselves. This day of rest will begin at sundown on the ninth day of the month and extend until sundown on the tenth day.”And the Lord said to Moses,“ Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. Begin celebrating the Festival of Shelters on the fifteenth day of the appointed month— five days after the Day of Atonement. This festival to the Lord will last for seven days.On the first day of the festival you must proclaim an official day for holy assembly, when you do no ordinary work.For seven days you must present special gifts to the Lord. The eighth day is another holy day on which you present your special gifts to the Lord. This will be a solemn occasion, and no ordinary work may be done that day.(“ These are the Lord’s appointed festivals. Celebrate them each year as official days for holy assembly by presenting special gifts to the Lord— burnt offerings, grain offerings, sacrifices, and liquid offerings— each on its proper day.These festivals must be observed in addition to the Lord’s regular Sabbath days, and the offerings are in addition to your personal gifts, the offerings you give to fulfill your vows, and the voluntary offerings you present to the Lord.)“ Remember that this seven day festival to the Lord— the Festival of Shelters— begins on the fifteenth day of the appointed month, after you have harvested all the produce of the land. The first day and the eighth day of the festival will be days of complete rest.On the first day gather branches from magnificent trees— palm fronds, boughs from leafy trees, and willows that grow by the streams. Then celebrate with joy before the Lord your God for seven days.You must observe this festival to the Lord for seven days every year. This is a permanent law for you, and it must be observed in the appointed month from generation to generation.For seven days you must live outside in little shelters. All native born Israelites must live in shelters.This will remind each new generation of Israelites that I made their ancestors live in shelters when I rescued them from the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.”So Moses gave the Israelites these instructions regarding the annual festivals of the Lord.

“ Keep the Sabbath day holy. Don’t pursue your own interests on that day, but enjoy the Sabbath and speak of it with delight as the Lord’s holy day. Honor the Sabbath in everything you do on that day, and don’t follow your own desires or talk idly.Then the Lord will be your delight. I will give you great honor and satisfy you with the inheritance I promised to your ancestor Jacob. I, the Lord, have spoken!”