The Daily Audio Bible

(iii) ⁵² Adonai said to Moshe, ⁵³ “The land is to be parceled out among these as a possession to be inherited, according to the number of names. ⁵⁴ To those families with more persons you are to give a greater inheritance, and to those with fewer you are to give a smaller inheritance — each family’s inheritance is to be given according to the number counted in it. ⁵⁵ However, the land is to be awarded by lot. They will inherit according to the names of the tribes of their ancestors, ⁵⁶ but the inheritance is to be parceled out by lot between the families with more and those with fewer.”

⁵⁷ Those counted among the Levi, by their families, were: of Gershon, the family of the Gershuni, of K’hat, the family of the K’hati; and of M’rari, the family of the M’rari. ⁵⁸ These are the families of Levi: the family of the Livni, the family of the Hevroni, the family of the Machli, the family of the Mushi and the family of the Korchi. K’hat was the father of ‘Amram. ⁵⁹ The name of ‘Amram’s wife was Yokheved the daughter of Levi, who was born to Levi in Egypt; and she bore to ‘Amram Aharon, Moshe and their sister Miryam. ⁶⁰ To Aharon were born Nadav, Avihu, El‘azar and Itamar; ⁶¹ but Nadav and Avihu died when they offered unauthorized fire before Adonai. ⁶² Those males one month old or more counted of the Levi were 23,000. These were not included in the census of the people of Isra’el, because no land for inheritance was given to them among the people of Isra’el.

⁶³ These are the ones counted by Moshe and El‘azar the cohen, who took a census of the people of Isra’el in the plains of Mo’av by the Yarden across from Yericho. ⁶⁴ But there was not a man among them who had also been included in the census of Moshe and Aharon the cohen when they enumerated the people of Isra’el in the Sinai Desert; ⁶⁵ because Adonai had said of them, “They will surely die in the desert.” So there was not left even one of them, except Kalev the son of Y’funeh and Y’hoshua the son of Nun.

27 Then the daughters of Tz’lof’chad the son of Hefer, the son of Gil‘ad, the son of Machir, the son of M’nasheh, of the families of M’nasheh, the son of Yosef, approached. These were the names of his daughters: Machlah, No‘ah, Hoglah, Milkah and Tirtzah. ² They stood in front of Moshe, El‘azar the cohen, the leaders and the whole community at the entrance to the tent of meeting and said, ³ “Our father died in the desert. He wasn’t part of the group who assembled themselves to rebel against Adonai in Korach’s group, but he died in his own sin, and he had no sons. ⁴ Why should the name of our father be eliminated from his family just because he didn’t have a son? Give us property to possess along with the brothers of our father.” ⁵ Moshe brought their cause before Adonai.

(iv) ⁶ Adonai answered Moshe, ⁷ “The daughters of Tz’lof’chad are right in what they say. You must give them property to be inherited along with that of their father’s brothers; have what their father would have inherited pass to them. ⁸ Moreover, say to the people of Isra’el, ‘If a man dies and does not have a son, you are to have his inheritance pass to his daughter. ⁹ If he doesn’t have a daughter, give his inheritance to his brothers. ¹⁰ If he has no brothers, give his inheritance to his father’s brothers. ¹¹ If his father doesn’t have brothers, give his inheritance to the closest relative in his family, and he will possess it. This will be the standard for judgment to be used by the people of Isra’el, as Adonai ordered Moshe.’”

¹² Adonai said to Moshe, “Climb this mountain in the ‘Avarim Range, and look out at the land which I have given the people of Isra’el. ¹³ After you have seen it, you too will be gathered to your people, just as Aharon your brother was gathered; ¹⁴ because in the Tzin Desert, when the community was disputing with me, you rebelled against my order to uphold my holiness by means of the water, with them looking on.” (This was M’rivat-Kadesh Spring, in the Tzin Desert.)

¹⁵ Moshe said to Adonai, ¹⁶ “Let Adonai, God of the spirits of all human beings, appoint a man to be over the community, ¹⁷ to go out and come in ahead of them, to lead them out and bring them in, so that Adonai’s community will not be like sheep without a shepherd.”

¹⁸ Adonai said to Moshe, “Take Y’hoshua the son of Nun, a spiritual man, and lay your hand on him. ¹⁹ Put him in front of El‘azar the cohen and the whole community, and commission him in their sight. ²⁰ Delegate to him some of your authority, so that the entire community of Isra’el will obey him. ²¹ He is to present himself to El‘azar the cohen, who is to find out by means of the urim what Adonai’s will is for Y’hoshua’s decisions. Then, at his word they will go out, and at his word they will come in, both he and all the people of Isra’el with him, the whole community.”

²² Moshe did as Adonai had ordered him. He took Y’hoshua, put him before El‘azar the cohen and the whole community, ²³ laid his hands on him, and commissioned him, as Adonai had said through Moshe.

28 (v) Adonai said to Moshe, ² “Give an order to the people of Isra’el. Tell them, ‘You are to take care to offer me at the proper time the food presented to me as offerings made by fire, providing a fragrant aroma for me.’ ³ Tell them, ‘This is the offering made by fire that you are to bring to Adonai: male lambs in their first year and without defect, two daily as a regular burnt offering. ⁴ Offer the one lamb in the morning and the other lamb at dusk, ⁵ along with two quarts of fine flour as a grain offering, mixed with one quart of oil from pressed olives. ⁶ It is the regular burnt offering, the same as was offered on Mount Sinai to give a fragrant aroma, an offering made by fire for Adonai. ⁷ Its drink offering is to be one-quarter hin for one lamb; in the Holy Place you are to pour out a drink offering of intoxicating liquor to Adonai. ⁸ The other lamb you are to present at dusk; present it with the same kind of grain offering and drink offering as in the morning; it is an offering made by fire, with a fragrant aroma for Adonai.

⁹ “‘On Shabbat offer two male lambs in their first year and without defect, with one gallon of fine flour as a grain offering, mixed with olive oil, and its drink offering. ¹⁰ This is the burnt offering for every Shabbat, in addition to the regular burnt offering and its drink offering.

¹¹ “‘At each Rosh-Hodesh of yours, you are to present a burnt offering to Adonai consisting of two young bulls, one ram and seven male lambs in their first year and without defect; ¹² with six quarts of fine flour mixed with olive oil as a grain offering for the one ram; ¹³ and two quarts of fine flour mixed with olive oil as a grain offering for each lamb. This will be the burnt offering giving a fragrant aroma, an offering made by fire for Adonai. ¹⁴ Their drink offerings will be two quarts of wine for a bull, one-and-one-third quarts for the ram, and one quart for each lamb. This is the burnt offering for every Rosh-Hodesh throughout the months of the year. ¹⁵ Also a male goat is to be offered as a sin offering to Adonai, in addition to the regular burnt offering and its drink offering.

3 In the fifteenth year of Emperor Tiberius’ rule; when Pontius Pilate was governor of Y’hudah, Herod ruler of the Galil, his brother Philip ruler of Iturea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene, ² with ‘Anan and Kayafa being the cohanim g’dolim; the word of God came to Yochanan Ben-Z’kharyah in the desert. ³ He went all through the Yarden region proclaiming an immersion involving turning to God from sin in order to be forgiven. ⁴ It was just as had been written in the book of the sayings of the prophet Yesha‘yahu,

⁷ Therefore, Yochanan said to the crowds who came out to be immersed by him, “You snakes! Who warned you to escape the coming punishment? ⁸ If you have really turned from your sins, produce fruit that will prove it! And don’t start saying to yourselves, ‘Avraham is our father’! For I tell you that God can raise up for Avraham sons from these stones! ⁹ Already the axe is at the root of the trees, ready to strike; every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown in the fire!”

¹⁰ The crowds asked Yochanan, “So then, what should we do?” ¹¹ He answered, “Whoever has two coats should share with somebody who has none, and whoever has food should do the same.” ¹² Tax-collectors also came to be immersed; and they asked him, “Rabbi, what should we do?” ¹³ “Collect no more than the government assesses,” he told them. ¹⁴ Some soldiers asked him, “What about us? What should we do?” To them he said, “Don’t intimidate anyone, don’t accuse people falsely, and be satisfied with your pay.”

¹⁵ The people were in a state of great expectancy, and everyone was wondering whether perhaps Yochanan himself might be the Messiah; ¹⁶ so Yochanan answered them all, “I am immersing you in water, but he who is coming is more powerful than I — I’m not worthy to untie his sandals! He will immerse you in the Ruach HaKodesh and in fire. ¹⁷ He has with him his winnowing fork to clear out his threshing floor and gather his wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the straw with unquenchable fire!”

¹⁸ And with many other warnings besides these he announced the Good News to the people.

¹⁹ But Yochanan also denounced Herod the regional governor for taking as his own wife Herodias, the wife of his brother, and for all the other wicked things Herod had done; ²⁰ whereupon Herod added this to the rest: he locked up Yochanan in prison.

²¹ While all the people were being immersed, Yeshua too was immersed. As he was praying, heaven was opened; ²² the Ruach HaKodesh came down on him in physical form like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, whom I love; I am well pleased with you.”