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Laws concerning Offerings

15 Then the Lord told Moses, “Give the following instructions to the people of Israel.

“When you finally settle in the land I am giving you, you will offer special gifts as a pleasing aroma to the Lord. These gifts may take the form of a burnt offering, a sacrifice to fulfill a vow, a voluntary offering, or an offering at any of your annual festivals, and they may be taken from your herds of cattle or your flocks of sheep and goats. When you present these offerings, you must also give the Lord a grain offering of two quarts[a] of choice flour mixed with one quart[b] of olive oil. For each lamb offered as a burnt offering or a special sacrifice, you must also present one quart of wine as a liquid offering.

“If the sacrifice is a ram, give a grain offering of four quarts[c] of choice flour mixed with a third of a gallon[d] of olive oil, and give a third of a gallon of wine as a liquid offering. This will be a pleasing aroma to the Lord.

“When you present a young bull as a burnt offering or as a sacrifice to fulfill a vow or as a peace offering to the Lord, you must also give a grain offering of six quarts[e] of choice flour mixed with two quarts[f] of olive oil, 10 and give two quarts of wine as a liquid offering. This will be a special gift, a pleasing aroma to the Lord.

11 “Each sacrifice of a bull, ram, lamb, or young goat should be prepared in this way. 12 Follow these instructions with each offering you present. 13 All of you native-born Israelites must follow these instructions when you offer a special gift as a pleasing aroma to the Lord. 14 And if any foreigners visit you or live among you and want to present a special gift as a pleasing aroma to the Lord, they must follow these same procedures. 15 Native-born Israelites and foreigners are equal before the Lord and are subject to the same decrees. This is a permanent law for you, to be observed from generation to generation. 16 The same instructions and regulations will apply both to you and to the foreigners living among you.”

17 Then the Lord said to Moses, 18 “Give the following instructions to the people of Israel.

“When you arrive in the land where I am taking you, 19 and you eat the crops that grow there, you must set some aside as a sacred offering to the Lord. 20 Present a cake from the first of the flour you grind, and set it aside as a sacred offering, as you do with the first grain from the threshing floor. 21 Throughout the generations to come, you are to present a sacred offering to the Lord each year from the first of your ground flour.

22 “But suppose you unintentionally fail to carry out all these commands that the Lord has given you through Moses. 23 And suppose your descendants in the future fail to do everything the Lord has commanded through Moses. 24 If the mistake was made unintentionally, and the community was unaware of it, the whole community must present a young bull for a burnt offering as a pleasing aroma to the Lord. It must be offered along with its prescribed grain offering and liquid offering and with one male goat for a sin offering. 25 With it the priest will purify the whole community of Israel, making them right with the Lord,[g] and they will be forgiven. For it was an unintentional sin, and they have corrected it with their offerings to the Lord—the special gift and the sin offering. 26 The whole community of Israel will be forgiven, including the foreigners living among you, for all the people were involved in the sin.

27 “If one individual commits an unintentional sin, the guilty person must bring a one-year-old female goat for a sin offering. 28 The priest will sacrifice it to purify[h] the guilty person before the Lord, and that person will be forgiven. 29 These same instructions apply both to native-born Israelites and to the foreigners living among you.

30 “But those who brazenly violate the Lord’s will, whether native-born Israelites or foreigners, have blasphemed the Lord, and they must be cut off from the community. 31 Since they have treated the Lord’s word with contempt and deliberately disobeyed his command, they must be completely cut off and suffer the punishment for their guilt.”

Penalty for Breaking the Sabbath

32 One day while the people of Israel were in the wilderness, they discovered a man gathering wood on the Sabbath day. 33 The people who found him doing this took him before Moses, Aaron, and the rest of the community. 34 They held him in custody because they did not know what to do with him. 35 Then the Lord said to Moses, “The man must be put to death! The whole community must stone him outside the camp.” 36 So the whole community took the man outside the camp and stoned him to death, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

Tassels on Clothing

37 Then the Lord said to Moses, 38 “Give the following instructions to the people of Israel: Throughout the generations to come you must make tassels for the hems of your clothing and attach them with a blue cord. 39 When you see the tassels, you will remember and obey all the commands of the Lord instead of following your own desires and defiling yourselves, as you are prone to do. 40 The tassels will help you remember that you must 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 that I might be your God. I am the Lord your God!”

Footnotes

  1. 15:4a Hebrew 1⁄10 of an ephah [2.2 liters].
  2. 15:4b Hebrew 1⁄4 of a hin [1 liter]; also in 15:5.
  3. 15:6a Hebrew 2⁄10 of an ephah [4.4 liters].
  4. 15:6b Hebrew 1⁄3 of a hin [1.3 liters]; also in 15:7.
  5. 15:9a Hebrew 3⁄10 of an ephah [6.6 liters].
  6. 15:9b Hebrew 1⁄2 of a hin [2 liters]; also in 15:10.
  7. 15:25 Or will make atonement for the whole community of Israel.
  8. 15:28 Or to make atonement for.

Offerings by the Israelis

15 Later, the Lord instructed[a] Moses, “Tell the Israelis that when you enter the land where you’ll be living that I’m about to give you, you are to make an offering by fire to the Lord, either a burnt offering, a sacrificial offering to fulfill a vow, or a voluntary offering at the appointed time, to make a pleasing aroma to the Lord either from your cattle or from your flocks. The offeror is to bring the oblation to the Lord, containing one tenth of an ephah[b] of fine flour as a grain offering, mixed with one fourth of a hin[c] of olive oil. Also prepare one fourth of a hin[d] of wine for a drink offering or for the sacrifice of each lamb.

“For a ram, prepare a grain offering consisting of two tenths of an ephah[e] of fine flour mixed with one third of a hin[f] of olive oil. Now as for your drink offering, offer one third of a hin[g] of wine as a pleasing aroma to the Lord.

“When you prepare a bull as a burnt offering, or as a sacrifice to fulfill a vow, or for peace offerings to the Lord, then the bullock is to be presented accompanied by a meal offering of three tenths of an ephah[h] of fine flour mixed with half a hin[i] of oil.

10 “As for drink offerings, offer half a hin[j] of wine, for an offering made by fire is a pleasing aroma to the Lord. 11 Do this for each bullock, ram, male lamb, or goat. 12 Depending on the number of offerings[k] that you prepare, do for each one according to their number. 13 Every native born person is to do these things, bringing an offering made by fire as a pleasing aroma to the Lord.”

Offerings by Resident Aliens

14 “Now, if a resident alien[l] lives[m] with you, or whoever else is with you throughout your generations, let him make an offering made by fire, a pleasing aroma to the Lord. Just as you do, so is he to do. 15 There is to be a single standard for your community, one statute for you and the resident alien who lives with you, a long lasting statute throughout your generations. Just as you do, so is the resident alien to do in the presence of the Lord. 16 There is to be one law and one ordinance for you and for the resident alien who lives with you.”

Offerings on Entering the Land

17 Then the Lord instructed Moses: 18 “Tell the Israelis that when they enter the land that I’m about to bring you to, 19 when you have eaten some of the bread that the land produces, you are to offer a raised offering to the Lord. 20 You are to offer a cake made from the first of your bread dough as a raised offering to the Lord. Offer it as a raised offering right off your threshing floor. 21 From then on, throughout your generations give the first of your bread dough to the Lord.”

Offerings for Inadvertent National Sin

22 “Here’s what you are to do[n] when you all[o] go astray and fail to observe all these commands that the Lord had spoken to Moses, 23 including anything that the Lord commanded you by the authority[p] of Moses, starting from the day the Lord commanded Moses and continuing through your generations. 24 When anything is done without the knowledge[q] of the congregation, the entire community is to offer one young bull for a burnt offering, a pleasing aroma to the Lord, along with its meal and drink offerings offered according to procedure, and one male goat for a sin offering. 25 Then the priest is to make atonement for the entire community of the Israelis, and they will be forgiven[r] for inadvertent sins. They are to bring their offering, an offering made by fire to the Lord, as well as their sin offering, into the Lord’s presence on account of their error. 26 Then the entire community of Israel will be forgiven, along with the resident alien who lives among them, since all the people will have sinned inadvertently.”

Offerings for Inadvertent Personal Sin

27 “Now when one person[s] sins inadvertently, then he is to bring a one year old female goat for a sin offering. 28 Then, in the Lord’s presence, the priest is to make atonement for the person who sinned inadvertently, that is, to make atonement on his behalf so he may be forgiven. 29 You are to have a single law for the one who does things inadvertently, whether for the native-born Israeli or for the resident alien who lives among you.”

On Willful Sin

30 “But if some person acts with a high hand, whether a native-born or a resident alien, he blasphemes God, and that person is to be eliminated from among his people. 31 Because he has despised the law of the Lord and has broken his commands, that person is certainly to be eliminated. His iniquity will remain on him.”

32 As it was when the Israelis were in the wilderness, they found a man who was gathering wood on the Sabbath day. 33 The ones who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses, Aaron, and all the people. 34 Then they confined him until it could be declared what should be done to him. 35 Then the Lord told Moses, “The man is certainly to die. The entire community is to stone him to death outside the camp.” 36 So the whole community brought him outside the camp and stoned him with stones so that he died, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

On Garments and Reminders

37 Later, the Lord instructed Moses, 38 “Tell the Israelis that they are to make tassels at the edges of their garments throughout their generations and that they are to put a violet cord on the tassels at the edges of their garments. 39 That way, when you see the tassel, you’ll remember all the commands of the Lord and you’ll observe them. Then you won’t seek your own interests and desires[t] that lead you to be unfaithful. 40 Therefore, remember to observe all my commands and to be holy in the presence of 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.”

Footnotes

  1. Numbers 15:1 Or spoke
  2. Numbers 15:4 The Heb. lacks the unit of measurement
  3. Numbers 15:4 I.e. about one quart; the hin was equivalent to about one gallon
  4. Numbers 15:5 I.e. about one quart; the hin was equivalent to about one gallon
  5. Numbers 15:6 The Heb. lacks the unit of measurement
  6. Numbers 15:6 I.e. about one third of a gallon; the hin was equivalent to about one gallon
  7. Numbers 15:7 I.e. about one third of a gallon; the hin was equivalent to about one gallon
  8. Numbers 15:9 The Heb. lacks the unit of measurement
  9. Numbers 15:9 I.e. about two quarts; the hin was equivalent to about one gallon
  10. Numbers 15:10 I.e. about two quarts; the hin was equivalent to about one gallon
  11. Numbers 15:12 The Heb. lacks of offerings
  12. Numbers 15:14 Or foreigner
  13. Numbers 15:14 Lit. sojourn
  14. Numbers 15:22 The Heb. lacks Here’s what you are to do
  15. Numbers 15:22 Lit. you (pl.)
  16. Numbers 15:23 Lit. by the hand
  17. Numbers 15:24 Lit. is hidden from the eyes
  18. Numbers 15:25 Or it are to be forgiven them
  19. Numbers 15:27 Lit. soul
  20. Numbers 15:39 Lit. heart and your own eyes