Numbers 19-21

New American Standard Bible

Ordinance of the Red Heifer

19 Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, ² “This is the statute of the law which the Lord has commanded, saying, ‘Speak to the sons of Israel that they bring you an ^(A)unblemished red heifer in which there is no defect and ^(B)on which a yoke has never ^[a]been mounted. ³ And you shall give it to ^(C)Eleazar the priest, and it shall ^(D)be brought outside the camp and be slaughtered in his presence. ⁴ And Eleazar the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger and ^(E)sprinkle some of its blood toward the front of the tent of meeting seven times. ⁵ Then the heifer shall be burned in his sight; ^(F)its hide, its flesh, and its blood, with its refuse, shall be burned. ⁶ And the priest shall take ^(G)cedar wood, hyssop, and scarlet material, and throw it into the midst of the ^[b]burning heifer. ⁷ The priest ^(H)shall then wash his clothes and bathe his ^[c]body in water, and afterward come into the camp; but the priest will be ^[d]unclean until evening. ⁸ The one who burns ^[e]the heifer shall also wash his clothes in water and bathe his ^[f]body in water, and will be unclean until evening. ⁹ Now a man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and put them outside the camp in a clean place, and ^[g]the congregation of the sons of Israel shall keep them for ^(I)water to remove impurity; it is ^[h]purification from sin. ¹⁰ And the one who gathers the ashes of the heifer ^(J)shall wash his clothes and will be unclean until evening; and it shall be a permanent statute for the sons of Israel and for the stranger who resides among them.

¹¹ ‘^(K)The one who touches the dead body of any ^[i]person will also be unclean for seven days. ¹² That one shall ^(L)purify himself with ^[j]the water on the third day and on the seventh day, and then he will be clean; but if he does not purify himself on the third day and on the seventh day, he will not be clean. ^13 (M)Anyone who touches a dead body, the ^[k]body of a person who has died, and does not purify himself, ^(N)defiles the ^[l]tabernacle of the Lord; and that person shall be cut off from Israel. Since the water for impurity was not ^(O)sprinkled on him, he will be unclean; his uncleanness is still on him.

¹⁴ ‘This is the law when a person dies in a tent: everyone who comes into the tent and everyone who is in the tent will be unclean for seven days. ¹⁵ And every open container, which has no cover tied down on it, will be unclean. ^16 (P)Also, anyone who in the open field touches one who has been killed with a sword or one who has died naturally, or touches a human bone or a grave, will be unclean for seven days. ¹⁷ Then for the unclean person they shall take some of the ^[m]ashes of the ^[n]burnt ^[o](Q)purification from sin and ^[p]running water shall be ^[q]added to them in a container. ¹⁸ And a clean person shall take hyssop and dip it in the water, and sprinkle it on the tent, on all the furnishings, on the persons who were there, and on the one who touched the bone or the one who was killed or the one who died naturally, or the grave. ¹⁹ Then the clean person ^(R)shall sprinkle on the unclean on the third day and on the seventh day; and on the seventh day he shall purify him, and he shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and will be clean by evening.

²⁰ ‘But the person who is unclean and does not purify himself, that person shall be cut off from the midst of the assembly, because he has ^(S)defiled the sanctuary of the Lord; the water for impurity has not been sprinkled on him, so he is unclean. ²¹ So it shall be a permanent statute for them. And the one ^(T)who sprinkles the water for impurity shall wash his clothes, and the one who touches the water for impurity will be unclean until evening. ^22 (U)Furthermore, anything that the unclean person touches will be unclean; and the person who touches it will be unclean until evening.’”

Death of Miriam

20 Then the sons of Israel, the whole congregation, came to the ^(V)wilderness of Zin in the first month; and the people stayed at Kadesh. Now Miriam died there and was buried there.

^2 (W)There was no water for the congregation, ^(X)and they assembled against Moses and Aaron. ^3 (Y)Then the people argued with Moses and spoke, saying, “^(Z)If only we had perished ^(AA)when our brothers perished before the Lord! ^4 (AB)Why then have you brought the Lord’s assembly into this wilderness, for us and our livestock to die ^[r]here? ⁵ Why did you make us come up from Egypt, to bring us into this wretched place? ^(AC)It is not a place of ^[s]grain or figs or vines or pomegranates, nor is there water to drink!” ⁶ Then Moses and Aaron came in from the presence of the assembly to the entrance of the tent of meeting and ^(AD)fell on their faces. And the glory of the Lord appeared to them; ⁷ then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

The Waters of Meribah

⁸ “Take ^(AE)the staff; and you and your brother Aaron assemble the congregation and speak to the rock before their eyes, that it shall yield its water. So you shall bring water for them out of the rock, and have the congregation and their livestock drink.”

⁹ So Moses took the staff ^(AF)from before the Lord, just as He had commanded him; ¹⁰ and Moses and Aaron summoned the assembly in front of the rock. And he said to them, “^(AG)Listen now, you rebels; shall we bring water for you out of this rock?” ¹¹ Then Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice with his staff; and ^(AH)water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their livestock drank. ¹² But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “^(AI)Since you did not trust in Me, to treat Me as holy in the sight of the sons of Israel, for that reason you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.” ¹³ Those were called the waters of ^[t](AJ)Meribah, ^[u]because the sons of Israel argued with the Lord, and He proved Himself holy among them.

¹⁴ From Kadesh Moses then sent messengers to ^(AK)the king of Edom to say, “This is what your brother Israel has said: ‘You ^(AL)know all the hardship that has ^[v]overtaken us; ¹⁵ that our fathers went down to Egypt, and we stayed in Egypt a long time, and the Egyptians treated us and our fathers badly. ¹⁶ But ^(AM)when we cried out to the Lord, He heard our voice and sent ^(AN)an angel, and brought us out from Egypt; now behold, we are at Kadesh, a town on the edge of your territory. ¹⁷ Please ^(AO)let us pass through your land. We will not pass through field or vineyard; we will not even drink water from a well. We will go along the king’s road, not turning to the right or left, until we pass through your territory.’”

^18 (AP)Edom, however, said to him, “You shall not pass through ^[w]us, or I will come out with the sword against you.” ¹⁹ Again, the sons of Israel said to him, “We will go up by the road, and if I and ^(AQ)my livestock do drink any of your water, ^(AR)then I will ^[x]pay its price. Let me only pass through on my feet, ^[y]nothing more.” ²⁰ But he said, “^(AS)You shall not pass through.” And Edom came out against him with a heavy ^[z]force and a strong hand. ^21 (AT)So Edom refused to allow Israel to pass through his territory; ^(AU)then Israel turned away from him.

²² Now when they set out from ^(AV)Kadesh, the sons of Israel, the whole congregation, came to Mount Hor.

Death of Aaron

²³ Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron at ^(AW)Mount Hor by the border of the land of Edom, saying, ²⁴ “Aaron will be ^(AX)gathered to his people; for he shall not enter the land which I have given to the sons of Israel, because ^(AY)you rebelled against My ^[aa]command at the waters of Meribah. ²⁵ Take Aaron and his son ^(AZ)Eleazar, and bring them up to Mount Hor. ²⁶ Then strip Aaron of his garments and put them on his son Eleazar. So Aaron will be ^(BA)gathered to his people and will die there.” ²⁷ So Moses did just as the Lord had commanded, and they went up to Mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation. ²⁸ And after Moses stripped Aaron of his garments and ^(BB)put them on his son Eleazar, ^(BC)Aaron died there on the mountain top. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain. ²⁹ When all the congregation saw that Aaron had died, the whole house of Israel wept for Aaron for thirty ^(BD)days.

Arad Conquered

21 When the Canaanite, the king of ^(BE)Arad, who lived in the ^[ab]Negev, heard that Israel was coming by the way of Atharim, he fought against Israel and took some of them captive. ² So ^(BF)Israel made a vow to the Lord and said, “If You will indeed hand over this people to me, then I will ^[ac]utterly destroy their cities.” ³ The Lord heard the voice of Israel and turned over the Canaanites; then they ^[ad]utterly destroyed them and their cities. And the place was named ^[ae](BG)Hormah.

⁴ Then they set out from Mount Hor by the way of the ^[af]Red Sea, to ^(BH)go around the land of Edom; and the ^[ag]people became impatient because of the journey. ⁵ So the people spoke against God and Moses: “^(BI)Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no ^[ah]food and no water, and ^[ai](BJ)we are disgusted with ^[aj]this miserable food.”

The Bronze Serpent

^6 (BK)Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people and ^(BL)they bit the people, so that ^(BM)many people of Israel died. ^7 (BN)So the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, because we have spoken against the Lord and against you; ^(BO)intercede with the Lord, that He will remove the serpents from us.” And Moses interceded for the people. ⁸ Then the Lord said to Moses, “^[ak]Make a ^(BP)fiery serpent, and put it on a flag pole; and it shall come about, that everyone who is bitten, and looks at it, will live.” ⁹ So Moses made a ^(BQ)bronze serpent and put it on the flag pole; and it came about, that if a serpent bit someone, and he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.

^10 (BR)Now the sons of Israel moved out and camped in Oboth. ¹¹ Then they journeyed from Oboth and camped at Iye-abarim, in the wilderness which is opposite Moab, to the ^[al]east. ^12 (BS)From there they set out and camped in ^[am]Wadi Zered. ¹³ From there they journeyed and camped on the other side of the Arnon, which is in the wilderness that comes out of the border of the Amorites; ^(BT)for the Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites. ¹⁴ For that reason it is said in the Book of the Wars of the Lord,

^16 (BV)From there they continued to ^[ao]Beer, that is the well where the Lord said to Moses, “Assemble the people, that I may give them water.”

^17 (BW)Then Israel sang this song:

And from the wilderness they continued to Mattanah, ¹⁹ and from Mattanah to Nahaliel, and from Nahaliel to Bamoth, ²⁰ and from Bamoth to the valley that is in the land of Moab, at the top of Pisgah, which overlooks the ^[ap]desert.

Two Victories

^21 (BX)Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon, king of the Amorites, saying, ²² “^(BY)Let me pass through your land. We will not turn off into field or vineyard; we will not drink water from wells. We will go by the king’s road until we have passed through your border.” ^23 (BZ)But Sihon would not permit Israel to pass through his border. Instead, Sihon gathered all his people and went out against Israel in the wilderness, and came to ^(CA)Jahaz and fought against Israel. ²⁴ Then ^(CB)Israel struck him with the edge of the sword, and took possession of his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, as far as the sons of Ammon; for the ^(CC)border of the sons of Ammon was ^[aq]Jazer. ²⁵ Israel took all these cities, and ^(CD)Israel lived in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon and in all her ^[ar]villages. ²⁶ For Heshbon was the city of Sihon, king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab and had taken all his land out of his hand, as far as the Arnon. ²⁷ For that reason those who use proverbs say,

³¹ So Israel lived in the land of the Amorites. ³² Now Moses sent men to spy out ^(CM)Jazer, and they captured its villages and dispossessed the Amorites who were there.

^33 (CN)Then they turned and went up by the way of Bashan, and Og the king of Bashan went out against them ^[au]with all his people, for battle at ^(CO)Edrei. ³⁴ But the Lord said to Moses, “^(CP)Do not fear him, for I have handed him over to you, and all his people and his land; and you shall do to him as you did to Sihon, king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon.” ³⁵ So ^(CQ)they ^[av]killed him and his sons and all his people, until there was no survivor left; and they took possession of his land.