1 From him came the manwho would win the favor of all the living:Dear to God and human beings,Moses, whose memory is a blessing.
2 God made him like the angels in honor,and strengthened him with fearful powers.
3 At his words God performed signsand sustained him in the king’s presence.He gave him the commandments for his people,and revealed to him his glory.
4 Because of his trustworthiness and meeknessGod selected him from all flesh;
5 He let him hear his voice,and led him into the cloud,Where he handed over the commandments,the law of life and understanding,That he might teach his precepts to Jacob,his judgments and decrees to Israel.
6 He also raised up, like Moses in holiness,his brother Aaron, of the tribe of Levi.
7 He made his office perpetualand bestowed on him priesthood for his people;He established him in honorand crowned him with lofty majesty.
8 He clothed him in splendid garments,and adorned him with glorious vestments:Breeches, tunic, and robe
9 with pomegranates at the hemAnd a rustle of bells round about,whose pleasing sound at each stepWould make him heard within the sanctuary,a reminder for the people;
10 The sacred vestments of gold, violet,and crimson, worked with embroidery;The breastpiece for decision, the ephod and cincture
11 with scarlet yarn, the work of the weaver;Precious stones with seal engravingsin golden settings, the work of the jeweler,To commemorate in incised letterseach of the tribes of Israel;
12 On his turban a diadem of gold,its plate engraved with the sacred inscription—Majestic, glorious, renowned for splendor,a delight to the eyes, supremely beautiful.
13 Before him, no one had been adorned with these,nor may they ever be worn by any otherExcept his sons and them alone,generation after generation, for all time.
14 His grain offering is wholly burntas an established offering twice each day;
15 For Moses ordained himand anointed him with the holy oil,In a lasting covenant with him and his family,as permanent as the heavens,That he should serve God in the priesthoodand bless the people in his name.
16 He chose him from all the livingto sacrifice burnt offerings and choice portions,To burn incense, sweet odor as a memorial,and to atone for the people of Israel.
17 He gave to him the laws,and authority to prescribe and to judge:To teach precepts to the people,and judgments to the Israelites.
18 Strangers rose in anger against him,grew jealous of him in the desert—The followers of Dathan and Abiram,and the band of Korah in their defiance.
19 When the Lord saw this he became angry,and destroyed them in his burning wrath.He brought against them a marvel,and consumed them in flaming fire.
20 Then he increased the glory of Aaronand bestowed upon him his inheritance:The sacred offerings he allotted to him,with the showbread as his portion;
21 The oblations of the Lord are his food,a gift to him and his descendants.
22 But he holds no land among the peoplenor shares with them their heritage;For the Lord himself is his portion and inheritanceamong the Israelites.
23 Phinehas too, the son of Eleazar,was the courageous third of his lineWhen, zealous for the God of all,he met the crisis of his peopleAnd, at the prompting of his noble heart,atoned for the children of Israel.
24 Therefore, on him also God conferred the right,in a covenant of friendship, to provide for the sanctuary,So that he and his descendantsshould possess the high priesthood forever.
25 For even his covenant with David,the son of Jesse of the tribe of Judah,Was an individual heritage through one son alone;but the heritage of Aaron is for all his descendants.So now bless the Lordwho has crowned you with glory!
26 May he grant you wisdom of heartto govern his people in justice,Lest the benefits you confer should be forgotten,or your authority, throughout all time.