Numbers 15
Christian Standard Bible Anglicised
Laws about Offerings
15 The Lord instructed Moses, 2 ‘Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When you enter the land I am giving you to settle in,(A) 3 and you make a food offering(B) to the Lord from the herd or flock – either a burnt offering or a sacrifice, to fulfil a vow,(C) or as a freewill offering, or at your appointed festivals – to produce a pleasing aroma for the Lord,(D) 4 the one presenting his offering to the Lord is also to present a grain offering of two litres[a] of fine flour mixed with a litre[b] of oil. 5 Prepare a litre of wine as a drink offering(E) with the burnt offering or sacrifice of each lamb.
6 ‘If you prepare a grain offering with a ram, it is to be four litres[c] of fine flour mixed with 1.3 litres[d] of oil.(F) 7 Also present 1.3 litres of wine for a drink offering as a pleasing aroma to the Lord.
8 ‘If you prepare a young bull as a burnt offering or as a sacrifice, to fulfil a vow, or as a fellowship offering to the Lord, 9 a grain offering of six litres[e] of fine flour mixed with two litres[f] of oil is to be presented with the bull.(G) 10 Also present two litres of wine as a drink offering. It is a food offering, a pleasing aroma to the Lord. 11 This is to be done for each ox, ram, lamb, or goat. 12 This is how you are to prepare each of them, no matter how many.
13 ‘Every Israelite is to prepare these things in this way when he presents a food offering as a pleasing aroma to the Lord. 14 When a foreigner resides with you or someone else is among you and wants to prepare a food offering as a pleasing aroma to the Lord, he is to do exactly as you do throughout your generations. 15 The assembly is to have the same statute for both you and the resident foreigner as a permanent statute throughout your generations.(H) You and the foreigner will be alike before the Lord. 16 The same law and the same ordinance will apply to both you and the foreigner who resides with you.’(I)
17 The Lord instructed Moses, 18 ‘Speak to the Israelites and tell them: After you enter the land where I am bringing you, 19 you are to offer a contribution to the Lord when you eat from the food of the land. 20 You are to offer a loaf from your first batch of dough(J) as a contribution; offer it just like a contribution from the threshing-floor.(K) 21 Throughout your generations, you are to give the Lord a contribution from the first batch of your dough.
22 ‘When you sin unintentionally and do not obey all these commands that the Lord spoke to Moses(L) – 23 all that the Lord has commanded you through Moses, from the day the Lord issued the commands and onward throughout your generations – 24 and if it was done unintentionally without the community’s awareness, the entire community is to prepare one young bull for a burnt offering as a pleasing aroma to the Lord, with its grain offering and drink offering according to the regulation, and one male goat as a sin offering. 25 The priest will then make atonement for the entire Israelite community so that they may be forgiven,(M) for the sin was unintentional. They are to bring their offering, a food offering to the Lord, and their sin offering before the Lord for their unintentional sin. 26 The entire Israelite community and the foreigner who resides among them will be forgiven, since it happened to all the people unintentionally.
27 ‘If one person sins unintentionally,(N) he is to present a year-old female goat as a sin offering. 28 The priest will then make atonement before the Lord on behalf of the person who acts in error sinning unintentionally, and when he makes atonement for him, he will be forgiven. 29 You are to have the same law for the person who acts in error, whether he is an Israelite or a foreigner who resides among you.
30 ‘But the person who acts defiantly,[g] whether native or resident foreigner, blasphemes the Lord.(O) That person is to be cut off from his people. 31 He will certainly be cut off, because he has despised the Lord’s word and broken his command; his guilt remains on him.’
Sabbath Violation
32 While the Israelites were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering wood on the Sabbath day.(P) 33 Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses, Aaron, and the entire community. 34 They placed him in custody because it had not been decided what should be done to him. 35 Then the Lord told Moses, ‘The man is to be put to death. The entire community is to stone him outside the camp.’(Q) 36 So the entire community brought him outside the camp and stoned him to death, as the Lord had commanded Moses.
Tassels for Remembrance
37 The Lord said to Moses, 38 ‘Speak to the Israelites and tell them that throughout their generations they are to make tassels(R) for the corners of their garments, and put a blue cord on the tassel at each corner. 39 These will serve as tassels for you to look at, so that you may remember all the Lord’s commands and obey them and not prostitute yourselves by following your own heart(S) and your own eyes.(T) 40 This way you will remember and obey all my commands and 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.’(U)
Numbers 15
Living Bible
15 1-2 The Lord told Moses to give these instructions to the people of Israel: “When your children finally live in the land I am going to give them, 3-4 and they want to please the Lord with a burnt offering or any other offering by fire, their sacrifice must be an animal from their flocks of sheep and goats, or from their herds of cattle. Each sacrifice—whether an ordinary one, or a sacrifice to fulfill a vow, or a freewill offering, or a special sacrifice at any of the annual festivals—must be accompanied by a grain offering. If a lamb is being sacrificed, use three quarts of fine flour mixed with three pints of oil, 5 accompanied by three pints of wine for a drink offering.
6 “If the sacrifice is a ram, use six quarts of fine flour mixed with four pints of oil, 7 and four pints of wine for a drink offering. This will be a sacrifice that is a pleasing fragrance to the Lord.
8-9 “If the sacrifice is a young bull, then the grain offering accompanying it must consist of nine quarts of fine flour mixed with three quarts of oil, 10 plus three quarts of wine for the drink offering. This shall be offered by fire as a pleasing fragrance to the Lord.
11-12 “These are the instructions for what is to accompany each sacrificial bull, ram, lamb, or young goat. 13-14 These instructions apply both to native-born Israelis and to foreigners living among you who want to please the Lord with sacrifices offered by fire; 15-16 for there is the same law for all, native-born or foreigner, and this shall be true forever from generation to generation; all are the same before the Lord.[a] Yes, one law for all!”
17-18 The Lord also said to Moses at this time, “Instruct the people of Israel that when they arrive in the land that I am going to give them, 19-21 they must present to the Lord a sample of each year’s new crops by making a loaf, using coarse flour from the first grain that is cut each year. This loaf must be waved back and forth before the altar in a gesture of offering to the Lord. It is an annual offering from your threshing floor and must be observed from generation to generation.
22 “If by mistake you or future generations fail to carry out all of these regulations that the Lord has given you over the years through Moses, 23-24 then when the people realize their error, they must offer one young bull for a burnt offering. It will be a pleasant odor before the Lord, and must be offered along with the usual grain offering and drink offering, and one male goat for a sin offering. 25 And the priest shall make atonement for all of the people of Israel and they shall be forgiven; for it was an error, and they have corrected it with their sacrifice made by fire before the Lord, and by their sin offering. 26 All the people shall be forgiven, including the foreigners living among them, for the entire population is involved in such error and forgiveness.
27 “If the error is made by a single individual, then he shall sacrifice a one-year-old female goat for a sin offering, 28 and the priest shall make atonement for him before the Lord, and he shall be forgiven. 29 This same law applies to individual foreigners who are living among you.
30 “But anyone who deliberately makes the ‘mistake,’ whether he is a native Israeli or a foreigner, is blaspheming Jehovah, and shall be cut off from among his people. 31 For he has despised the commandment of the Lord and deliberately failed to obey his law; he must be executed[b] and die in his sin.”
32 One day while the people of Israel were in the wilderness, one of them was caught gathering wood on the Sabbath day. 33 He was arrested and taken before Moses and Aaron and the other judges.[c] 34 They jailed him until they could find out the Lord’s mind concerning him.
35 Then the Lord said to Moses, “The man must die—all the people shall stone him to death outside the camp.”
36 So they took him outside the camp and killed him as the Lord had commanded.
37-38 The Lord said to Moses, “Tell the people of Israel to make tassels for the hems of their clothes (this is a permanent regulation from generation to generation) and to attach the tassels to their clothes with a blue cord. 39 The purpose of this regulation is to remind you, whenever you notice the tassels, of the commandments of the Lord, and that you are to obey his laws instead of following your own desires and going your own ways, as you used to do in serving other gods. 40 It will remind you to be holy to your God. 41 For I am Jehovah your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt; yes, I am the Lord, your God.”
Footnotes
- Numbers 15:15 all are the same before the Lord, literally, “as you are, so shall the foreigner be before Jehovah.”
- Numbers 15:31 he must be executed, literally, “that soul shall be utterly cut off; his iniquity shall be upon him.”
- Numbers 15:33 before Moses and Aaron and the other judges, literally, “to all the congregation.”
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