Numbers 8:15-21:7

Common English Bible

¹⁵ The Levites will enter to serve the meeting tent, after you have cleansed them and presented them as an uplifted offering. ¹⁶ They are given over to me from the Israelites in place of all the newborn, the oldest of all the Israelites. I take them for myself. ¹⁷ Every oldest male among the Israelites is mine, whether human or animal. When I killed all the oldest males in the land of Egypt, I dedicated them to myself. ¹⁸ I have taken the Levites in place of all the oldest among the Israelites. ¹⁹ I have selected the Levites from the Israelites for Aaron and his sons to perform the service of the Israelites in the meeting tent and to seek reconciliation for the Israelites so that there will not be a plague when the Israelites approach the sanctuary.

²⁰ Moses, Aaron, and the entire Israelite community carried out for the Levites everything the Lord had commanded Moses. That is what the Israelites did for the Levites. ²¹ The Levites purified themselves and washed their clothes. Aaron presented them as an uplifted offering in the Lord’s presence, and he sought reconciliation for them in order to cleanse them. ²² After this the Levites went in to perform their service in the meeting tent before Aaron and his sons. They did for the Levites just as the Lord had commanded Moses concerning them.

²³ The Lord spoke to Moses: ²⁴ This rule applies^[a] to the Levites: Everyone 25 years old and above will enter into service, performing the duties for the meeting tent. ²⁵ At 50 years old each will retire from service. They will perform their duties no longer. ²⁶ Each may assist his fellow Levites in the meeting tent with some responsibilities, but he may not perform service. This is how you should assign responsibilities to the Levites.

Passover

9 The Lord spoke to Moses in the Sinai desert in the first month^[b] of the second year after they had left the land of Egypt: ² Let the Israelites keep the Passover at its appointed time. ³ On the fourteenth day of this month at twilight you will keep it at its appointed time. Keep it according to all its regulations and its customary practices.

⁴ Moses instructed the Israelites to keep the Passover. ⁵ At twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month^[c] they kept the Passover in the Sinai desert. The Israelites did everything just as the Lord commanded Moses.

⁶ But there were persons who were unclean from contact with a human corpse, and they were unable to keep the Passover on that day. They approached Moses and Aaron that day. ⁷ These persons said to him, “Although we are unclean from contact with a human corpse, why must we be prohibited from presenting the Lord’s offering at its appointed time with the rest of the Israelites?”

⁸ Moses said to them, “Wait while I listen for what the Lord will command concerning you.”

⁹ The Lord spoke to Moses: ¹⁰ Tell the Israelites: When any of you or your descendants are unclean from contact with a corpse or are on a long trip, they may still keep the Passover to the Lord. ¹¹ They will keep it at twilight on the fourteenth day of the second month.^[d] They will eat the Passover lamb with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. ¹² They must not leave any of it until morning, nor break any of its bones. They will keep the Passover according to all its regulations. ¹³ But any persons who are clean and not on a trip, yet don’t keep the Passover, those persons will be cut off from their people, because they didn’t present the Lord’s offering at its appointed time. Those persons will bear their sin. ¹⁴ If an immigrant resides among you and wishes to keep the Passover to the Lord, that one also will keep it according to its regulations and its customary practices. There will be one set of regulations for both of you, for the immigrant and for the native of the land.

Cloud over the dwelling

¹⁵ On the day the dwelling was erected, the cloud covered the dwelling, the covenant tent. At night until morning, the cloud appeared with lightning over the dwelling. ¹⁶ It was always there. The cloud covered it by day,^[e] appearing with lightning at night. ¹⁷ Whenever the cloud ascended from the tent, the Israelites would march. And the Israelites would camp wherever the cloud settled. ¹⁸ At the Lord’s command, the Israelites would march, and at the Lord’s command they would camp. As long as the cloud settled on the dwelling, they would camp. ¹⁹ When the cloud lingered on the meeting tent for many days, the Israelites would observe the Lord’s direction and they wouldn’t march. ²⁰ Sometimes the cloud would be over the dwelling for a number of days, so they would camp at the Lord’s command, marching again only at the Lord’s command. ²¹ Sometimes the cloud would settle only overnight, and they would march when the cloud ascended in the morning. Whether it was day or night, they would march when the cloud ascended. ²² Whether it was two days, or a month, or a long time, the Israelites would camp so long as the cloud lingered on the dwelling and settled on it. They wouldn’t march. But when it ascended, they would march. ²³ They camped at the Lord’s command and they marched at the Lord’s command. They followed the Lord’s direction according to the Lord’s command through Moses.

Trumpets

10 The Lord spoke to Moses: ² Make two silver trumpets and make them from hammered metalwork. Use them for summoning the community and for breaking camp. ³ When both are blown, the entire community will meet you at the entrance of the meeting tent. ⁴ When one is blown, the chiefs, the leaders of Israel’s divisions, will meet you. ⁵ When you blow a series of short blasts, the camp on the east side will march. ⁶ And when you blow a second series of short blasts, the camp on the south side will march. You will blow a series of short blasts to announce their march.

⁷ To gather the assembly, blow a long blast, not a series of short blasts. ⁸ Aaron’s sons the priests will blow the trumpets. This will be a permanent regulation for you throughout time.

⁹ When you go to war in your land against an enemy who is attacking you, you will blow short blasts with the trumpets so that you may be remembered by the Lord your God and be saved from your enemies.

¹⁰ On your festival days, your appointed feasts, and at the beginning of your months, you will blow the trumpets over your entirely burned offerings and your well-being sacrifices. They will serve as a reminder of you to your God. I am the Lord your God.

Organization of the wilderness march

¹¹ On the twentieth day of the second month in the second year, the cloud ascended from the covenant dwelling. ¹² The Israelites set out on their march from the Sinai desert, and the cloud settled in the Paran desert.

¹³ They marched for the first time at the Lord’s command through Moses. ¹⁴ The banner of Judah’s camp marched first with its military units. Nahshon, Amminadab’s son, commanded its military. ¹⁵ Nethanel, Zuar’s son, commanded the military of the tribe of Issachar. ¹⁶ Eliab, Helon’s son, commanded the military of the tribe of Zebulun. ¹⁷ The dwelling was taken down, and the Gershonites and the Merarites, who carried the dwelling, marched. ¹⁸ The banner of Reuben’s camp marched with its military units. Elizur, Shedeur’s son, commanded its military. ¹⁹ Shelumiel, Zurishaddai’s son, commanded the military of the tribe of Simeon. ²⁰ Eliasaph, Deuel’s son, commanded the military of the tribe of Gad. ²¹ The Kohathites, who carried the holy things, marched. The dwelling would be set up before their arrival. ²² The banner of Ephraim’s camp marched with its military units. Elishama, Ammihud’s son, commanded its military. ²³ Gamaliel, Pedahzur’s son, commanded the military of the tribe of Manasseh. ²⁴ Abidan, Gideoni’s son, commanded the military of the tribe of Benjamin. ²⁵ The banner of Dan’s camp, at the rear of the whole camp, marched with its military units. Ahiezer, Ammishaddai’s son, commanded its military. ²⁶ Pagiel, Ochran’s son, commanded the military of the tribe of Asher. ²⁷ Ahira, Enan’s son, commanded the military of the tribe of Naphtali. ²⁸ This was the order of departure of the Israelites with their military units when they set out.

The chest leads

²⁹ Moses said to Hobab the Midianite, Reuel’s son and Moses’ father-in-law, “We’re marching to the place about which the Lord has said, ‘I’ll give it to you.’ Come with us and we’ll treat you well, for the Lord has promised to treat Israel well.”

³⁰ Hobab said to him, “I won’t go; I’d rather go to my land and to my folk.”

³¹ Moses said, “Please don’t abandon us, for you know where we can camp in the desert, and you can be our eyes. ³² If you go with us, whatever good the Lord does for us, we’ll do for you.”

³³ They marched from the Lord’s mountain for three days. The Lord’s chest containing the covenant marched ahead of them for three days to look for a resting place for them. ³⁴ Now the Lord’s cloud was over them by day when they marched from the camp. ³⁵ When the chest set out, Moses would say, “Arise, Lord, let your enemies scatter, and those who hate you flee.” ³⁶ When it rested, he would say, “Return, Lord of the ten thousand thousands of Israel.”

Complaint at Taberah

11 When the people complained intensely in the Lord’s hearing, the Lord heard and became angry. Then the Lord’s fire burned them and consumed the edges of the camp. ² When the people cried out to Moses, Moses prayed to the Lord, and the fire subsided. ³ The name of that place was called Taberah,^[f] because the Lord’s fire burned against them.

Complaint over the lack of meat

⁴ The riffraff among them had a strong craving. Even the Israelites cried again and said, “Who will give us meat to eat? ⁵ We remember the fish we ate in Egypt for free, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. ⁶ Now our lives are wasting away. There is nothing but manna in front of us.”

⁷ The manna was like coriander seed and its color was like resin. ⁸ The people would roam around and collect it and grind it with millstones or pound it in a mortar. Then they would boil it in pots and make it into cakes. It tasted like cakes baked in olive oil. ⁹ When the dew fell on the camp during the night, the manna would fall with it.

Moses’ complaint about leadership

¹⁰ Moses heard the people crying throughout their clans, each at his tent’s entrance. The Lord was outraged, and Moses was upset. ¹¹ Moses said to the Lord, “Why have you treated your servant so badly? And why haven’t I found favor in your eyes, for you have placed the burden of all these people on me? ¹² Did I conceive all these people? Did I give birth to them, that you would say to me, ‘Carry them at the breast, as a nurse carries an unweaned child,’ to the fertile land that you promised their ancestors? ¹³ Where am I to get meat for all these people? They are crying before me and saying, ‘Give us meat, so we can eat.’ ¹⁴ I can’t bear this people on my own. They’re too heavy for me. ¹⁵ If you’re going to treat me like this, please kill me. If I’ve found favor in your eyes, then don’t let me endure this wretched situation.”

¹⁶ The Lord said to Moses, “Gather before me seventy men from Israel’s elders, whom you know as elders and officers of the people. Take them to the meeting tent, and let them stand there with you. ¹⁷ Then I’ll descend and speak with you there. I’ll take some of the spirit that is on you and place it on them. Then they will carry the burden of the people with you so that you won’t bear it alone. ¹⁸ To the people you will say, ‘Make yourselves holy for tomorrow; then you will eat meat, for you’ve cried in the Lord’s hearing, “Who will give us meat to eat? It was better for us in Egypt.” The Lord will give you meat, and you will eat. ¹⁹ You won’t eat for just one day, or two days, or five days, or ten days, or twenty days, ²⁰ but for a whole month until it comes out of your nostrils and nauseates you. You’ve rejected the Lord who’s been with you and you have cried before him, saying, “Why did we leave Egypt?” ’”

²¹ Moses said, “The people I’m with are six hundred thousand on foot and you’re saying, ‘I will give them meat, and they will eat for a month.’ ²² Can flocks and herds be found and slaughtered for them? Or can all the fish in the sea be found and caught for them?”

²³ The Lord said to Moses, “Is the Lord’s power too weak? Now you will see whether my word will come true for you or not.”

²⁴ So Moses went out and told the people the Lord’s words. He assembled seventy men from the people’s elders and placed them around the tent. ²⁵ The Lord descended in a cloud, spoke to him, and took some of the spirit that was on him and placed it on the seventy elders. When the spirit rested on them, they prophesied, but only this once. ²⁶ Two men had remained in the camp, one named Eldad and the second named Medad, and the spirit rested on them. They were among those registered, but they hadn’t gone out to the tent, so they prophesied in the camp. ²⁷ A young man ran and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.”

²⁸ Joshua, Nun’s son and Moses’ assistant since his youth, responded, “My master Moses, stop them!”

²⁹ Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for my sake? If only all the Lord’s people were prophets with the Lord placing his spirit on them!”

Quail from the sea

³⁰ Moses and Israel’s elders were assembled in the camp. ³¹ A wind from the Lord blew up and brought quails from the sea. It let them fall by the camp, about a day’s journey all around the camp and about three feet deep on the ground. ³² Then the people arose and gathered the quail all that day, all night, and all the next day. The least collected was ten homers,^[g] and they laid them out around the camp. ³³ While the meat was still between their teeth and not yet consumed, the Lord’s anger blazed against the people. The Lord struck the people with a very great punishment. ³⁴ The name of that place was called Kibroth-hattaavah,^[h] because there they buried the people who had the craving.

Miriam and Aaron challenge Moses

³⁵ From Kibroth-hattaavah the people marched to Hazeroth.

12 When they were in Hazeroth, Miriam and Aaron criticized Moses on account of the Cushite woman whom he had married—for he had married a Cushite woman. ² They said, “Has the Lord spoken only through Moses? Hasn’t he also spoken through us?” The Lord heard it. ³ Now the man Moses was humble, more so than anyone on earth.

The Lord defends Moses

⁴ Immediately, the Lord said to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, “You three go out to the meeting tent.” So the three of them went out. ⁵ Then the Lord descended in a column of cloud, stood at the entrance of the tent, and called to Aaron and Miriam. The two of them came forward. ⁶ He said, “Listen to my words: If there is a prophet of the Lord among you,^[i] I make myself known to him in visions. I speak to him in dreams. ⁷ But not with my servant Moses. He has proved to be reliable with all my household. ⁸ I speak with him face-to-face, visibly, not in riddles. He sees the Lord’s form. So why aren’t you afraid to criticize my servant Moses?” ⁹ The Lord’s anger blazed against them, and they went back.

The Lord punishes Miriam

¹⁰ When the cloud went away from over the tent, Miriam suddenly developed a skin disease flaky like snow. Aaron turned toward Miriam and saw her skin disease. ¹¹ Then Aaron said to Moses, “Oh, my master, please don’t punish us for the sin that we foolishly committed. ¹² Please don’t let her be like the stillborn, whose flesh is half eaten as it comes out of the mother’s womb.”

¹³ So Moses cried to the Lord, “God, please heal her!”

¹⁴ The Lord said to Moses, “If her father had spit in her face, would she not be shamed for seven days? Let her be shut out of the camp for seven days, and afterward she will be brought back.” ¹⁵ So they shut Miriam out of the camp seven days. And the people didn’t march until Miriam was brought back. ¹⁶ Afterward the people marched from Hazeroth, and they camped in the Paran desert.

Leaders explore the land of Canaan

13 The Lord spoke to Moses: ² Send out men to explore the land of Canaan, which I’m giving to the Israelites. Send one man from each ancestral tribe, each a chief among them. ³ So Moses sent them out from the Paran desert according to the Lord’s command. All the men were leaders among the Israelites. ⁴ These are their names:

¹⁶ These are the names of the men whom Moses sent out to explore the land. Moses changed the name of Hoshea, Nun’s son, to Joshua.

¹⁷ When Moses sent them out to explore the land of Canaan, he said to them, “Go up there into the arid southern plain and into the mountains. ¹⁸ You must inspect the land. What is it like? Are the people who live in it strong or weak, few or many? ¹⁹ Is the land in which they live good or bad? Are the towns in which they live camps or fortresses? ²⁰ Is the land rich or poor? Are there trees in it or not? Be courageous and bring back the land’s fruit.” It was the season of the first ripe grapes.

²¹ They went up and explored the land from the Zin desert to Rehob, near Lebo-hamath. ²² They went up into the arid southern plain and entered Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the descendants of the Anakites, lived. (Hebron was built seven years before Tanis^[j] in Egypt.) ²³ Then they entered the Cluster^[k] ravine, cut down from there a branch with one cluster of grapes, and carried it on a pole between them. They also took pomegranates and figs. ²⁴ That place was called the Cluster ravine because of the cluster of grapes that the Israelites cut down from there.

Report about the land of Canaan

²⁵ They returned from exploring the land after forty days. ²⁶ They went directly to Moses, Aaron, and the entire Israelite community in the Paran desert at Kadesh. They brought back a report to them and to the entire community and showed them the land’s fruit. ²⁷ Then they gave their report: “We entered the land to which you sent us. It’s actually full of milk and honey, and this is its fruit. ²⁸ There are, however, powerful people who live in the land. The cities have huge fortifications. And we even saw the descendants of the Anakites there. ²⁹ The Amalekites live in the land of the arid southern plain; the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites live in the mountains; and the Canaanites live by the sea and along the Jordan.”

³⁰ Now Caleb calmed the people before Moses and said, “We must go up and take possession of it, because we are more than able to do it.”

³¹ But the men who went up with him said, “We can’t go up against the people because they are stronger than we.” ³² They started a rumor about the land that they had explored, telling the Israelites, “The land that we crossed over to explore is a land that devours its residents. All the people we saw in it are huge men. ³³ We saw there the Nephilim (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We saw ourselves as grasshoppers, and that’s how we appeared to them.”

The Israelites’ complaint

14 The entire community raised their voice and the people wept that night. ² All the Israelites criticized Moses and Aaron. The entire community said to them, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt or if only we had died in this desert! ³ Why is the Lord bringing us to this land to fall by the sword? Our wives and our children will be taken by force. Wouldn’t it be better for us to return to Egypt?” ⁴ So they said to each other, “Let’s pick a leader and let’s go back to Egypt.”

⁵ Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before the assembled Israelite community. ⁶ But Joshua, Nun’s son, and Caleb, Jephunneh’s son, from those who had explored the land, tore their clothes ⁷ and said to the entire Israelite community, “The land we crossed through to explore is an exceptionally good land. ⁸ If the Lord is pleased with us, he’ll bring us into this land and give it to us. It’s a land that’s full of milk and honey. ⁹ Only don’t rebel against the Lord and don’t be afraid of the people of the land. They are our prey.^[l] Their defense has deserted them, but the Lord is with us. So don’t be afraid of them.” ¹⁰ But the entire community intended to stone them.

The Lord’s anger and Moses’ intercession

Then the Lord’s glory appeared in the meeting tent to all the Israelites. ¹¹ The Lord said to Moses, “How long will these people disrespect me? And how long will they doubt me after all the signs that I performed among them? ¹² I’ll strike them down with a plague and disown them. Then I’ll make you into a great nation, stronger than they.”

¹³ Moses said to the Lord, “The Egyptians will hear, for with your power you brought these people up from among them. ¹⁴ They’ll tell the inhabitants of this land. They’ve heard that you, Lord, are with this people. You, Lord, appear to them face-to-face. Your cloud stands over them. You go before them in a column of cloud by day and in a column of lightning by night. ¹⁵ If you kill these people, every last one of them, the nations who heard about you will say, ¹⁶ ‘The Lord wasn’t able to bring these people to the land that he solemnly promised to give them. So he slaughtered them in the desert.’ ¹⁷ Now let my master’s power be as great as you declared when you said, ¹⁸ ‘The Lord is very patient and absolutely loyal, forgiving wrongs and disloyalty. Yet he doesn’t forgo all punishment, disciplining the grandchildren and great-grandchildren for their ancestors’ wrongs.’ ¹⁹ Please forgive the wrongs of these people because of your absolute loyalty, just as you’ve forgiven these people from their time in Egypt until now.”

²⁰ Then the Lord said, “I will forgive as you requested. ²¹ But as I live and as the Lord’s glory fills the entire earth, ²² none of the men who saw my glory and the signs I did in Egypt and in the desert, but tested me these ten times and haven’t listened to my voice, ²³ will see the land I promised to their ancestors. All who disrespected me won’t see it. ²⁴ But I’ll bring my servant Caleb into the land that he explored, and his descendants will possess it because he has a different spirit, and he has remained true to me. ²⁵ Since the Amalekites and the Canaanites live in the valley, tomorrow turn and march into the desert by the route of the Reed Sea.”^[m]

The Israelites’ punishment

²⁶ The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron: ²⁷ How long will this wicked community complain against me? I’ve heard the Israelites’ dissent as they continue to complain against me. ²⁸ Say to them, “As I live,” says the Lord, “just as I’ve heard you say, so I’ll do to you. ²⁹ Your dead bodies will fall in this desert. None of you who were enlisted and were registered from 20 years old and above, who complained against me, ³⁰ will enter the land in which I promised^[n] to settle you, with the exception of Caleb, Jephunneh’s son, and Joshua, Nun’s son. ³¹ But your children, whom you said would be taken by force, I’ll bring them in and they will know the land that you rejected. ³² Your bodies, however, will fall in this desert, ³³ and your children will be shepherds in the desert for forty years. They will suffer for your unfaithfulness, until the last of your bodies fall in the desert. ³⁴ For as many days as you explored the land, that is, forty days, just as many years you’ll bear your guilt, that is, forty years. This is how you will understand my frustration.” ³⁵ I the Lord have spoken. I will do this to the entire wicked community who gathered against me. They will die in this desert. There they’ll meet their end.

³⁶ The men whom Moses sent out to explore the land had returned and caused the entire community to complain against him by starting a rumor about the land. ³⁷ These men died by a plague in the Lord’s presence on account of their false rumor. ³⁸ But Joshua, Nun’s son, and Caleb, Jephunneh’s son, survived from those men who went to explore the land.

³⁹ Moses spoke these words to all the Israelites, and the people mourned bitterly. ⁴⁰ They rose early in the morning and went up to the top of the mountain range, saying, “Let’s go up to the place the Lord told us to, for we have sinned.”

⁴¹ But Moses said, “Why do you disobey the Lord’s command? It won’t succeed. ⁴² Don’t go up, for the Lord isn’t with you. Don’t be struck down before your enemies. ⁴³ The Amalekites and the Canaanites will be there in front of you and you will fall by the sword because you turned away from the Lord, and the Lord is no longer with you.” ⁴⁴ Yet they recklessly^[o] ascended toward the top of the mountains, even though Moses and the Lord’s chest containing the covenant didn’t depart from the camp. ⁴⁵ Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites, who lived in those mountains, descended, struck them down, and beat them all the way to Hormah.

Immigrants in the land of Canaan

15 The Lord spoke to Moses: ² Speak to the Israelites and say to them: When you enter the land where you will live, which I am giving you, ³ and you make a food gift^[p] to the Lord as a soothing smell for the Lord from the herd or the flock—whether an entirely burned offering, or a sacrifice to fulfill a solemn promise, or a spontaneous gift, or at your sacred seasons— ⁴ the one presenting the offering to the Lord will bring a grain offering of one-tenth of a measure of fine flour mixed with one-fourth of a hin^[q] of oil. ⁵ You will also offer one-fourth of a hin of wine as a drink offering with either the entirely burned offering or the sacrifice, for each lamb. ⁶ For a ram you will offer a grain offering of two-tenths of a measure of fine flour mixed with one-third of a hin of oil. ⁷ You will also present one-third of a hin of wine for a drink offering as a soothing smell for the Lord. ⁸ When you offer a bull for an entirely burned offering, or a sacrifice to fulfill a solemn promise, or a well-being sacrifice to the Lord, ⁹ you will present^[r] with the bull a grain offering of three-tenths of a measure of fine flour mixed with a half hin of oil. ¹⁰ You will present a half hin of wine for a drink offering as a food gift that is a soothing smell to the Lord. ¹¹ So will it be done with each ox, each ram, or for any sheep or goat. ¹² However many you offer, you will do the same for each one.

¹³ Every citizen will perform these rituals in bringing a food gift that is a soothing smell to the Lord. ¹⁴ If an immigrant lives with you or has settled among you for many years and would also like to offer a food gift that is a soothing smell to the Lord, that person must do just as you do. ¹⁵ The assembly will have the same regulation for you and for the immigrant. The regulation will be permanent for all time. You and the immigrant will be the same in the Lord’s presence. ¹⁶ There will be one set of instructions and one legal norm for the immigrant and for you.

¹⁷ The Lord spoke to Moses: ¹⁸ Speak to the Israelites and say to them: When you enter the land to which I’m bringing you, ¹⁹ whenever you eat the land’s food you will present a gift offering to the Lord. ²⁰ You will present a gift offering from the first bread you bake just like you present a gift offering from the threshing floor. ²¹ You will give a gift offering from the first bread you bake for all time.

Offerings for accidental sin

²² If by accident you don’t obey all these commands that the Lord spoke to Moses, ²³ or everything that the Lord commanded you through Moses from the day of the Lord’s command onward for all time, ²⁴ then if it was done unintentionally without the knowledge of the community, the entire community must offer one bull from the herd as an entirely burned offering, a soothing smell to the Lord, with its grain and drink offering according to the specific instruction, and one male goat for a purification offering. ²⁵ The priest will seek reconciliation for the entire Israelite community. They will be forgiven, because it was unintentional and because they brought their food gift to the Lord, along with their purification offering in the Lord’s presence for their accidental error. ²⁶ The entire Israelite community and the immigrant residing among them will be forgiven, because all the people acted unintentionally.

²⁷ If an individual sins unintentionally, that person must present a one-year-old female goat for a purification offering. ²⁸ The priest will seek reconciliation in the Lord’s presence for the person who sinned unintentionally, when the sin is an accident, seeking reconciliation so that person will be forgiven. ²⁹ There will be one set of instructions for the Israelite citizen and the immigrant residing with you for anyone who commits an unintentional sin.

Punishment for intentional sin

³⁰ But the person who acts deliberately,^[s] whether a citizen or an immigrant, and insults the Lord, that person will be cut off from the people ³¹ for despising the Lord’s word and breaking his commands. That person will be completely cut off and bear the guilt.

Instructions for Sabbath observance

³² When the Israelites were in the desert, they found a man gathering wood on the Sabbath day. ³³ Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses, Aaron, and the entire community. ³⁴ They placed him in custody, because it wasn’t clear what should be done to him. ³⁵ Then the Lord said to Moses: The man should be put to death. The entire community should stone him outside the camp. ³⁶ The entire community took him outside the camp and stoned him. He died as the Lord had commanded Moses.

Fringes on garments

³⁷ The Lord said to Moses: ³⁸ Speak to the Israelites and say to them: Make fringes on the edges of your clothing for all time. Have them put blue cords on the fringe on the edges. ³⁹ This will be your fringe. You will see it and remember all the Lord’s commands and do them. Then you won’t go exploring the lusts of your own heart or your eyes. ⁴⁰ In this way you’ll remember to do all my commands. Then you will be holy to your God. ⁴¹ I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord your God.

A challenge to the priesthood

16 Korah—Izhar’s son, Kohath’s grandson, and Levi’s great-grandson—with Dathan and Abiram, Eliab’s sons, and On, Peleth’s son, descendants of Reuben, ² rose up against Moses, along with two hundred fifty Israelite men, leaders of the community, chosen by the assembly, men of reputation. ³ They assembled against Moses and Aaron and said to them, “You’ve gone too far, because the entire community is holy, every last one of them, and the Lord is with them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the Lord’s assembly?”

⁴ When Moses heard this, he fell on his face. ⁵ He spoke to Korah and all his community, “In the morning the Lord will make known who is his, who is holy, and who is able to approach him. The one he chooses for himself is the one who will be able to approach him. ⁶ This is what must be done. Korah and your entire community: Take censers for yourselves. ⁷ Tomorrow put fire in them and place incense on them in the Lord’s presence. The man whom the Lord chooses, that one is holy. You Levites have gone too far!” ⁸ Moses said to Korah, “Listen, you Levites, ⁹ isn’t it enough for you that Israel’s God has separated you from the Israelite community to allow you to approach him, to perform the service of the Lord’s dwelling, and to serve before the community by ministering for them? ¹⁰ He has allowed you and all your fellow Levites with you to approach him. Yet you also seek the priesthood? ¹¹ Thus you and your entire community have assembled against the Lord. But Aaron, what is he that you complain about him?”

Test of priesthood

¹² Moses sent for Dathan and Abiram, Eliab’s sons. But they said, “We won’t come up! ¹³ Isn’t it enough that you’ve brought us up from a land full of milk and honey to kill us in the desert so that you’d also dominate us? ¹⁴ Moreover, you haven’t brought us to a land full of milk and honey, nor given us the inheritance of field and vineyard. Would you also gouge out the eyes of these men? We won’t come up!”

¹⁵ Moses became very angry and he said to the Lord, “Pay no attention to their offering. I haven’t taken a single donkey from them, nor have I wronged any one of them.”

¹⁶ Moses said to Korah, “You and your entire community should appear before the Lord tomorrow, you, they, and Aaron. ¹⁷ Every person should take his censer, place incense on it, and present it before the Lord. Each person will carry his censer, two hundred fifty censers in all, including you and Aaron.” ¹⁸ Then every person took his censer, placed fire on it, put incense on it, and stood at the entrance of the meeting tent with Moses and Aaron. ¹⁹ Korah gathered the entire community with them to the entrance of the meeting tent.

Then the Lord’s glory appeared to the entire community. ²⁰ The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, ²¹ “Separate yourselves from this community so that I may consume them in a moment.”

²² They fell on their faces and said, “God, the God of all living things. If one person sins, should you become angry with the entire community?”

²³ The Lord said to Moses, ²⁴ “Speak to the community and say, ‘Withdraw from around the dwellings of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.’”

²⁵ Moses rose and went to Dathan and Abiram. Israel’s elders followed him. ²⁶ He spoke to the community: “Move away from the tents of these wicked men and don’t touch anything of theirs, lest you too be wiped out for all their sins.” ²⁷ They withdrew from around the dwellings of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Then Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the entrance of their tents with their wives, children, and little ones. ²⁸ Moses said, “By this you will know that the Lord sent me to do these deeds and that it wasn’t my own desire. ²⁹ If all these people die a natural death, or if their fate be that of all humans, then the Lord hasn’t sent me. ³⁰ But if the Lord performs an act of creation, and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them and everything that belongs to them, so that they descend alive to their graves, then you’ll know that these men disrespected the Lord.”

The rebels’ punishment

³¹ As soon as he finished speaking these words, the ground under them split open. ³² The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their households, including every human that belonged to Korah and all their possessions. ³³ They along with all their possessions descended alive to their graves, and the earth closed over them. They perished in the middle of the assembly. ³⁴ All the Israelites who were around them fled at their cry, for they said, “The earth may swallow us.” ³⁵ Then fire went out from the Lord and consumed the two hundred fifty men offering incense.

The reminder of the censers

^36 [t] The Lord spoke to Moses: ³⁷ Tell Eleazar, Aaron the priest’s son, to raise the censers from the fire and scatter the ashes about, because they are holy. ³⁸ Hammer the censers of those who sinned and lost their lives into thin plates for the altar. Since they presented them in the Lord’s presence, they had become holy. They will be a sign for the Israelites.

³⁹ Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers presented by those who had been consumed by fire and hammered them into a covering for the altar, ⁴⁰ just as the Lord instructed him through Moses. This was a reminder for the Israelites that no outsider who isn’t one of Aaron’s descendants should approach to burn incense in the Lord’s presence, so as not to be like Korah and his community.

⁴¹ On the next day the entire Israelite community complained to Moses and Aaron, “You killed the Lord’s people.” ⁴² When the community assembled against Moses and Aaron, they turned toward the meeting tent. At that moment the cloud covered it, and the Lord’s glory appeared. ⁴³ Moses and Aaron came to the front of the meeting tent, ⁴⁴ and the Lord spoke to Moses: ⁴⁵ Get away from this community, so that I may consume them in an instant.

They fell on their faces, ⁴⁶ and Moses said to Aaron, “Take the censer, put fire from the altar on it, place incense on it, go quickly to the community, and seek reconciliation for them. Indeed, the Lord’s anger has gone out. The plague has begun.” ⁴⁷ Aaron took it as Moses said and ran into the middle of the assembly, for the plague had already begun among the people. He burned incense and sought reconciliation for the people. ⁴⁸ He stood between the dead and the living, and the plague stopped. ⁴⁹ Those who died from the plague were fourteen thousand seven hundred, in addition to those who died because of Korah. ⁵⁰ Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance of the meeting tent once the plague stopped.

Aaron’s budding staff

17 ^[u] The Lord spoke to Moses: ² Speak to the Israelites and take from them a staff from each household, from each of the chiefs of their households, twelve staffs. Write each person’s name on his staff. ³ Write Aaron’s name on Levi’s staff, for there will be one staff for the leader of each household. ⁴ Then you will place them in the meeting tent in front of the chest containing the covenant, where I meet you. ⁵ The staff of the person I choose will sprout. Then I will rid myself of the Israelites’ complaints that they make against you.

⁶ Moses spoke to the Israelites, and each of their chiefs gave him a staff, one staff for each chief and his household, twelve staffs, and the staff of Aaron was with their staffs. ⁷ Moses placed the staffs before the Lord in the meeting tent. ⁸ The next day Moses entered the covenant tent, and Aaron’s staff of Levi’s household had sprouted. It grew shoots, produced blossoms, and bore almonds. ⁹ Moses brought out all the staffs from the Lord’s presence to the Israelites. They saw what happened, and each person took back his staff.

¹⁰ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Return Aaron’s staff in front of the chest containing the covenant to serve as a sign to the rebels so that their complaints against me end and they don’t die.” ¹¹ Moses did exactly as the Lord commanded him.

¹² The Israelites said to Moses, “We are perishing. We are being destroyed. All of us are being destroyed. ¹³ Anyone who approaches the Lord’s dwelling will die. Are we doomed to perish?”

The priests’ and Levites’ duties

18 The Lord said to Aaron: You, your sons, and your household will bear the guilt of offenses connected with the sanctuary. You and your sons will bear the guilt of offenses connected with your priesthood. ² Bring with you your brothers from the tribe of Levi, your father’s tribe, so that they can assist you and serve you and your sons before the covenant tent. ³ They will perform their duties for you and the service for the entire tent. But they will not approach the holy equipment of the sanctuary or the altar, lest both they and you die. ⁴ They will assist you and they will perform the duties of the meeting tent with regard to all the work of the tent. But no outsider may accompany you. ⁵ You will perform the duties of the sanctuary and the altar. Then there will no longer be any anger against the Israelites. ⁶ I have taken your brothers, the Levites, from the Israelites. They are a gift to you, dedicated to the Lord to perform the service of the meeting tent. ⁷ You and your sons must perform the duties of your priesthood for all the matters of the altar and the area behind the curtain. I give you your priestly service as a gift. But an outsider who approaches will die.

The priests’ compensation

⁸ The Lord spoke to Aaron: I now place you in charge of my gifts, including all the Israelites’ sacred offerings. I have given them to you and your sons as an allowance. This is a permanent regulation. ⁹ This is what belongs to you from the most holy offerings, from the offerings by fire: all their offerings, including their grain offerings, their purification offerings, and their compensation offerings. The most holy offerings that they bring to me will be yours and your sons’. ¹⁰ You will eat it as a most holy thing. Every male may eat it. It will be holy to you. ¹¹ This will also belong to you, your sons, and your daughters: I’m giving you the gift offerings and all the Israelites’ uplifted offerings. This is a permanent regulation. Anyone who is clean in your household may eat it. ¹² All the choice oil, new wine, and the grain’s first harvest that they give to the Lord, I’m giving to you. ¹³ The early produce of everything in their land, which they bring to the Lord, will be yours. Anyone who is clean in your household may eat it. ¹⁴ Everything that is devoted to the Lord in Israel will be yours. ¹⁵ Any oldest male from the womb of any living thing that is presented to the Lord, whether human or animal, will be yours. However, you will redeem the oldest males of humans and of unclean animals. ¹⁶ Their redemption price from one month of age you will calculate at five shekels of silver according to the sanctuary shekel, which is twenty gerahs. ¹⁷ But the oldest offspring of a cow, sheep, or goat you may not redeem. They are holy. You must dash their blood on the altar and turn their fat into smoke for a soothing smell to the Lord. ¹⁸ But their meat is yours. It will be yours just as the breast of the uplifted offering and the right thigh are yours. ¹⁹ All the holy gift offerings that the Israelites raise to the Lord I have given to you, your sons, and your daughters. This is a permanent regulation. It is a covenant of salt forever in the Lord’s presence, for you and your descendants.

²⁰ The Lord said to Aaron: You will have no inheritance in their land, nor will you have a share among them. I am your share and your inheritance among the Israelites.

The Levites’ compensation

²¹ I have given all the one-tenth portions in Israel to the Levites as an inheritance. They are a reward for performing their service in the meeting tent. ²² The Israelites will no longer be able to approach the meeting tent, or they will be responsible for their sin and die. ²³ The Levites will perform the service of the meeting tent, and they will be responsible for their own sins. This is a permanent regulation for all time. But they will not inherit land among the Israelites ²⁴ because I’ve given the Israelites’ one-tenth portion, which they have raised to the Lord as a gift offering, as an inheritance to the Levites. Therefore, I’ve said to them, “They won’t inherit land among the Israelites.”

²⁵ The Lord spoke to Moses: ²⁶ Speak to the Levites and say to them: When you receive from the Israelites the one-tenth portion that I have given you from them as your inheritance, you also must present a gift offering to the Lord from it, a tenth from the one-tenth portion. ²⁷ It will be considered your gift offering, like the grain of the threshing floor and what fills the winepress. ²⁸ In this way you will also present a gift offering to the Lord from all the one-tenth portions that you take from the Israelites. You will provide from it a gift offering to the Lord for Aaron the priest. ²⁹ You will present each gift offering to the Lord from all your gifts, from its best portions and its holiest parts.

³⁰ You will say to them: When you have presented the best portion, it will be considered for the Levites equivalent to the produce of the grain and the produce of the winepress. ³¹ You and your household may eat it anywhere, because it is payment for your service in the meeting tent. ³² You will not bear guilt after you have presented the best portion. But you must not make the sacred gifts of the Israelites impure, on penalty of death.

Instructions about the red cow and the water of purification

19 The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron: ² This is the regulation in the Instruction that the Lord commanded. Tell the Israelites that they must bring you a red cow without defect, which is flawless and on which no yoke has been laid. ³ You will give it to Eleazar the priest, and he will take it outside the camp and slaughter it in front of him. ⁴ Eleazar the priest will take some of its blood with his finger and sprinkle it seven times in front of the meeting tent. ⁵ Then he will burn the cow in front of him, its skin, flesh, and blood, with its dung. ⁶ The priest will take cedarwood, hyssop, and crimson cloth and throw them into the fire where the cow is burning. ⁷ Then the priest will wash his clothes and bathe his body in water. Afterward the priest will enter the camp, but he will be unclean until evening. ⁸ The one who burned the cow will wash his clothes in water and bathe his body in water, but he will be unclean until evening. ⁹ A person who is clean will gather the ashes of the cow and place them outside the camp in a clean place. They will be kept for the water of purification for the Israelite community as a purification offering. ¹⁰ The one who gathers the ashes of the cow will wash his clothes but will be unclean until evening. This will be a permanent regulation for the Israelites and for the immigrant who lives among them.

Contact with a dead body

¹¹ The person who touches the dead body of any human will be unclean for seven days. ¹² That person must be cleansed with water on the third and seventh days to be clean. If he fails to be cleansed with water on the third and seventh days, he will not be clean. ¹³ Anyone who touches the body of a human who has died and doesn’t cleanse himself defiles the Lord’s dwelling. Such persons must be cut off from Israel because the water of purification wasn’t sprinkled on them. They remain unclean.

¹⁴ This is the instruction: When anyone dies in a tent, all who go into the tent and all who are in the tent are unclean for seven days. ¹⁵ Any open jar without a sealed cover on it is unclean. ¹⁶ Anyone in the open field who touches a person slain by the sword, or who died naturally, or a human bone or a grave, will be unclean for seven days. ¹⁷ For the unclean person, they will take some of the ashes of the purification offering and place fresh water with it in a jar. ¹⁸ Then a clean person will take hyssop, dip it into the water, and sprinkle it on the tent, on all the jars, on the people who were there, and on anyone who touched bone, the slain, the dead, or the grave. ¹⁹ On the third day and the seventh day the clean person will sprinkle it on the unclean, so that he will have purified him on the seventh day. He will then wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be clean at evening. ²⁰ Any person who is unclean and didn’t cleanse himself will be cut off from the assembly, because he has defiled the Lord’s sanctuary. He didn’t have the water of purification sprinkled on him. He is unclean. ²¹ This will be a permanent regulation for them. The one who sprinkles the water of purification will wash his own clothes. Anyone who touches the water of purification will be unclean until evening. ²² Whoever the unclean person touches will be unclean, and the one who touches the unclean will be unclean until evening.

Lawsuit over water and Moses’ disobedience

20 In the first month,^[v] the entire Israelite community entered the Zin desert and the people stayed at Kadesh. Miriam died and was buried there. ² Now there was no water for the community, and they assembled against Moses and Aaron. ³ Then the people confronted Moses and said to him, “If only we too had died when our brothers perished in the Lord’s presence! ⁴ Why have you brought the Lord’s assembly into this desert to kill us and our animals here? ⁵ Why have you led us up from Egypt to bring us to this evil place without grain, figs, vines, or pomegranates? And there’s no water to drink!”

⁶ Moses and Aaron went away from the assembly to the entrance of the meeting tent and they fell on their faces. Then the Lord’s glory appeared to them. ⁷ The Lord spoke to Moses: ⁸ “You and Aaron your brother, take the staff and assemble the community. In their presence, tell the rock to provide water. You will produce water from the rock for them and allow the community and their animals to drink.”

⁹ Moses took the staff from the Lord’s presence, as the Lord had commanded him. ¹⁰ Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly before the rock. He said to them, “Listen, you rebels! Should we produce water from the rock for you?” ¹¹ Then Moses raised his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice. Out flooded water so that the community and their animals could drink.

¹² The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you didn’t trust me to show my holiness before the Israelites, you will not bring this assembly into the land that I am giving them.” ¹³ These were the waters of Meribah,^[w] where the Israelites confronted the Lord with controversy and he showed his holiness to them.

The Israelites confront Edom

¹⁴ Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom: “This is what your brother Israel says: ‘You know all the adversity that has happened to us. ¹⁵ How our ancestors went down to Egypt and lived in Egypt for a long time. The Egyptians oppressed us as they had our ancestors, ¹⁶ and we cried out to the Lord. He heard our voice, sent a messenger, and brought us out of Egypt. Now here we are in Kadesh, a city on the edge of your border. ¹⁷ Please let us cross through your land. We won’t pass through any field or vineyard, or drink water from any well. We will walk on the King’s Highway and not turn to the right or to the left until we have crossed your border.’”

¹⁸ Edom said to him, “You won’t cross through, or I will come out against you with a sword.”

¹⁹ The Israelites said to him, “We’ll go up by the road. If we drink from your water, either we or our livestock, we’ll pay for it. It’s a small matter. We would only ask to cross on foot.”

²⁰ But he said, “You won’t cross.” Then Edom came out against them with a powerful army and a strong hand. ²¹ Edom refused to allow Israel to cross his border. And Israel turned away from him. ²² They marched from Kadesh.

Aaron’s death at Mount Hor

The entire Israelite community came to Mount Hor. ²³ The Lord said to Moses and Aaron at Mount Hor on the border of the land of Edom: ²⁴ Aaron will join his ancestors, for he may not enter the land that I’ve given to the Israelites, because you rebelled against my command at the waters of Meribah. ²⁵ Take Aaron and his son Eleazar, and bring them up Mount Hor. ²⁶ Strip Aaron of his clothes and put them on Eleazar his son. Then Aaron will die there.

²⁷ Moses did as the Lord commanded. They went up Mount Hor in the sight of the entire community. ²⁸ Moses stripped Aaron of his clothes and put them on Eleazar his son. Aaron died there at the top of the mountain. Then Moses and Eleazar descended from the mountain. ²⁹ When the entire community saw that Aaron had died, the entire household of Israel wept thirty days for Aaron.

Defeat of the Canaanite king of Arad

21 When the Canaanite king of Arad, who ruled in the arid southern plain, heard that the Israelites were coming on the Atharim road, he fought against Israel and took some of them captive. ² Then Israel made a solemn promise to the Lord and said, “If you give this people into our hands, we will completely destroy their city.” ³ The Lord heard the voice of Israel and handed the Canaanites over. They completely destroyed them and their cities, so the name of the place is called Hormah.^[x]

The bronze snake’s healing power

⁴ They marched from Mount Hor on the Reed Sea^[y] road around the land of Edom. The people became impatient on the road. ⁵ The people spoke against God and Moses: “Why did you bring us up from Egypt to kill us in the desert, where there is no food or water. And we detest this miserable bread!” ⁶ So the Lord sent poisonous^[z] snakes among the people and they bit the people. Many of the Israelites died.

⁷ The people went to Moses and said, “We’ve sinned, for we spoke against the Lord and you. Pray to the Lord so that he will send the snakes away from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.