Numbers 31:30

“His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things, I will set you over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’

I will give you shepherds according to my heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.

But we beg you, brothers, to know those who labor among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you,

This is a faithful saying: someone who seeks to be an overseer desires a good work.

Remember your leaders, men who spoke to you the word of God, and considering the results of their conduct, imitate their faith.

He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arm, and carry them in his bosom. He will gently lead those who have their young.

for you were bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.

You shall stay at the door of the Tent of Meeting day and night seven days, and keep Yahweh’s command, that you don’t die: for so I am commanded.”

Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer, put fire from the altar in it, lay incense on it, carry it quickly to the congregation, and make atonement for them; for wrath has gone out from Yahweh! The plague has begun.”

The Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and wise steward, whom his lord will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the right times?

But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things, and will remind you of all that I said to you.

He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I have affection for you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.”

God has set some in the assembly: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracle workers, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, and various kinds of languages.

subjecting yourselves to one another in the fear of Christ.

Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and in teaching.

to the beloved Apphia, to Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the assembly in your house:

According to all that I show you, the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all of its furniture, even so you shall make it.

These are the amounts of materials used for the tabernacle, even the Tabernacle of the Testimony, as they were counted, according to the commandment of Moses, for the service of the Levites, by the hand of Ithamar, the son of Aaron the priest.

Moses said to Aaron, and to Eleazar and to Ithamar, his sons, “Don’t let the hair of your heads go loose, and don’t tear your clothes, so that you don’t die, and so that he will not be angry with all the congregation; but let your brothers, the whole house of Israel, bewail the burning which Yahweh has kindled.

but appoint the Levites over the Tabernacle of the Testimony, and over all its furnishings, and over all that belongs to it. They shall carry the tabernacle and all its furnishings; and they shall take care of it, and shall encamp around it.

The prince of the fathers’ house of the families of Merari was Zuriel the son of Abihail. They shall encamp on the north side of the tabernacle.

Those who encamp before the tabernacle eastward, in front of the Tent of Meeting toward the sunrise, shall be Moses, and Aaron and his sons, keeping the requirements of the sanctuary for the duty of the children of Israel. The outsider who comes near shall be put to death.

“Moreover you shall speak to the Levites, and tell them, ‘When you take of the children of Israel the tithe which I have given you from them for your inheritance, then you shall offer up a wave offering of it for Yahweh, a tithe of the tithe.

For a child is born to us. A son is given to us; and the government will be on his shoulders. His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Shepherd your people with your staff, the flock of your heritage, who dwell by themselves in a forest, in the middle of fertile pasture land, let them feed; in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old.

Don’t be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.

But one who enters in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.

As they served the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, “Separate Barnabas and Saul for me, for the work to which I have called them.”

For I know that after my departure, vicious wolves will enter in among you, not sparing the flock.

Therefore watch, remembering that for a period of three years I didn’t cease to admonish everyone night and day with tears.

Now concerning virgins, I have no commandment from the Lord, but I give my judgment as one who has obtained mercy from the Lord to be trustworthy.

Give no occasion for stumbling, whether to Jews, or to Greeks, or to the assembly of God;

in whom we have our redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,

Paul and Timothy, servants of Jesus Christ; To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and servants:

The overseer therefore must be without reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, sensible, modest, hospitable, good at teaching;

But you be sober in all things, suffer hardship, do the work of an evangelist, and fulfill your ministry.

Yet in the same way, these also in their dreaming defile the flesh, despise authority, and slander celestial beings.

and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us, and washed us from our sins by his blood—

They sang a new song, saying, “You are worthy to take the book and to open its seals: for you were killed, and bought us for God with your blood out of every tribe, language, people, and nation,

Moses returned to Yahweh, and said, “Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made themselves gods of gold.

But the Levites shall encamp around the Tabernacle of the Testimony, that there may be no wrath on the congregation of the children of Israel. The Levites shall be responsible for the Tabernacle of the Testimony.”

The duty of the sons of Gershon in the Tent of Meeting shall be the tabernacle, the tent, its covering, the screen for the door of the Tent of Meeting,

The families of the sons of Kohath shall encamp on the south side of the tabernacle.

Their duty shall be the ark, the table, the lamp stand, the altars, the vessels of the sanctuary with which they minister, the screen, and all its service.

But to the sons of Kohath he gave none, because the service of the sanctuary belonged to them; they carried it on their shoulders.

and Aaron shall offer the Levites before Yahweh for a wave offering on the behalf of the children of Israel, that it may be theirs to do the service of Yahweh.

“After that, the Levites shall go in to do the service of the Tent of Meeting. You shall cleanse them, and offer them as a wave offering.

I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and to his sons from among the children of Israel, to do the service of the children of Israel in the Tent of Meeting, and to make atonement for the children of Israel, so that there will be no plague among the children of Israel when the children of Israel come near to the sanctuary.”

They shall keep your commands and the duty of the whole Tent; only they shall not come near to the vessels of the sanctuary and to the altar, that they not die, neither they nor you.

But the Levites shall do the service of the Tent of Meeting, and they shall bear their iniquity. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations. Among the children of Israel, they shall have no inheritance.

even of the children of Israel’s half, Moses took one drawn out of every fifty, both of man and of animal, and gave them to the Levites, who performed the duty of Yahweh’s tabernacle, as Yahweh commanded Moses.

Is this the way you repay Yahweh, foolish and unwise people? Isn’t he your father who has bought you? He has made you and established you.

However there was no accounting made with them of the money that was delivered into their hand; for they dealt faithfully.”

They stayed around God’s house, because that duty was on them; and to their duty was its opening morning by morning.

I made treasurers over the treasuries, Shelemiah the priest, and Zadok the scribe, and of the Levites, Pedaiah: and next to them was Hanan the son of Zaccur, the son of Mattaniah; for they were counted faithful, and their business was to distribute to their brothers.

When they had appointed elders for them in every assembly, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they had believed.

to the assembly of God which is at Corinth—those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called saints, with all who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, both theirs and ours:

For I am the least of the apostles, who is not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the assembly of God.

that you also be in subjection to such, and to everyone who helps in the work and labors.

He put all things in subjection under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things for the assembly,

Pay attention to yourself and to your teaching. Continue in these things, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.

For the overseer must be blameless, as God’s steward, not self-pleasing, not easily angered, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for dishonest gain;

nor yet through the blood of goats and calves, but through his own blood, entered in once for all into the Holy Place, having obtained eternal redemption.

Greet all of your leaders and all the saints. The Italians greet you.

but with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish or spot, the blood of Christ,

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellence of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

For you were going astray like sheep; but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

Likewise, you younger ones, be subject to the elder. Yes, all of you clothe yourselves with humility, to subject yourselves to one another; for “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

By this we know love, because he laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.

We know that the Son of God has come, and has given us an understanding, that we know him who is true, and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.

They shall keep his requirements, and the requirements of the whole congregation before the Tent of Meeting, to do the service of the tabernacle.

He gave two wagons and four oxen to the sons of Gershon, according to their service.

but shall assist their brothers in the Tent of Meeting, to perform the duty, and shall perform no service. This is how you shall have the Levites do their duties.”

Levy a tribute to Yahweh of the men of war who went out to battle: one soul of five hundred; of the persons, of the cattle, of the donkeys, and of the flocks.

and that they should keep the duty of the Tent of Meeting, the duty of the holy place, and the duty of the sons of Aaron their brothers, for the service of Yahweh’s house.

Take heed, therefore, to yourselves, and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the assembly of the Lord and God which he purchased with his own blood.

Here, moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful.

Tell Archippus, “Take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord, that you fulfill it.”

I commit this instruction to you, my child Timothy, according to the prophecies which were given to you before, that by them you may wage the good warfare,

Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they watch on behalf of your souls, as those who will give account, that they may do this with joy, and not with groaning, for that would be unprofitable for you.