Numbers 18:25-20:13

New King James Version

The Tithe of the Levites

²⁵ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁶ “Speak thus to the Levites, and say to them: ‘When you take from the children of Israel the tithes which I have given you from them as your inheritance, then you shall offer up a heave offering of it to the Lord, ^(A)a tenth of the tithe. ²⁷ And your heave offering shall be reckoned to you as though it were the grain of the ^(B)threshing floor and as the fullness of the winepress. ²⁸ Thus you shall also offer a heave offering to the Lord from all your tithes which you receive from the children of Israel, and you shall give the Lord’s heave offering from it to Aaron the priest. ²⁹ Of all your gifts you shall offer up every heave offering due to the Lord, from all the ^[a]best of them, the consecrated part of them.’ ³⁰ Therefore you shall say to them: ‘When you have lifted up the best of it, then the rest shall be accounted to the Levites as the produce of the threshing floor and as the produce of the winepress. ³¹ You may eat it in any place, you and your households, for it is ^(C)your ^[b]reward for your work in the tabernacle of meeting. ³² And you shall ^(D)bear no sin because of it, when you have lifted up the best of it. But you shall not ^(E)profane the holy gifts of the children of Israel, lest you die.’ ”

Laws of Purification

19 Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, ² “This is the ^[c]ordinance of the law which the Lord has commanded, saying: ‘Speak to the children of Israel, that they bring you a red heifer without ^[d]blemish, in which there is no ^(F)defect ^(G)and on which a yoke has never come. ³ You shall give it to Eleazar the priest, that he may take it ^(H)outside the camp, and it shall be slaughtered before him; ⁴ and Eleazar the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger, and ^(I)sprinkle some of its blood seven times directly in front of the tabernacle of meeting. ⁵ Then the heifer shall be burned in his sight: ^(J)its hide, its flesh, its blood, and its offal shall be burned. ⁶ And the priest shall take ^(K)cedar wood and ^(L)hyssop and scarlet, and cast them into the midst of the fire burning the heifer. ^7 (M)Then the priest shall wash his clothes, he shall bathe in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp; the priest shall be unclean until evening. ⁸ And the one who burns it shall wash his clothes in water, bathe in water, and shall be unclean until evening. ⁹ Then a man who is clean shall gather up ^(N)the ashes of the heifer, and store them outside the camp in a clean place; and they shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel ^(O)for the water of ^[e]purification; it is for purifying from sin. ¹⁰ And the one who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until evening. It shall be a statute forever to the children of Israel and to the stranger who dwells among them.

^11 (P)‘He who touches the dead ^[f]body of anyone shall be unclean seven days. ^12 (Q)He shall purify himself with the water on the third day and on the seventh day; 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 Whoever touches the body of anyone who has died, and ^(R)does not purify himself, ^(S)defiles the tabernacle of the Lord. That person shall be cut off from Israel. He shall be unclean, because ^(T)the water of purification was not sprinkled on him; ^(U)his uncleanness is still on him.

¹⁴ ‘This is the law when a man dies in a tent: All who come into the tent and all who are in the tent shall be unclean seven days; ¹⁵ and every ^(V)open vessel, which has no cover fastened on it, is unclean. ^16 (W)Whoever in the open field touches one who is slain by a sword or who has died, or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days.

¹⁷ ‘And for an unclean person they shall take some of the ^(X)ashes of the heifer burnt for purification from sin, and ^[g]running water shall be put on them in a vessel. ¹⁸ A clean person shall take ^(Y)hyssop and dip it in the water, sprinkle it on the tent, on all the vessels, on the persons who were there, or on the one who touched a bone, the slain, the dead, or a grave. ¹⁹ The clean person shall sprinkle the unclean on the third day and on the seventh day; ^(Z)and on the seventh day he shall purify himself, wash his clothes, and bathe in water; and at evening he shall be clean.

²⁰ ‘But the man who is unclean and does not purify himself, that person shall be cut off from among the assembly, because he has ^(AA)defiled the sanctuary of the Lord. The water of purification has not been sprinkled on him; he is unclean. ²¹ It shall be a perpetual statute for them. He who sprinkles the water of purification shall wash his clothes; and he who touches the water of purification shall be unclean until evening. ^22 (AB)Whatever the unclean person touches shall be unclean; and ^(AC)the person who touches it shall be unclean until evening.’ ”

Moses’ Error at Kadesh^(AD)

20 Then^(AE) the children of Israel, the whole congregation, came into the Wilderness of Zin in the first month, and the people stayed in ^(AF)Kadesh; and ^(AG)Miriam died there and was buried there.

^2 (AH)Now there was no water for the congregation; ^(AI)so they gathered together against Moses and Aaron. ³ And the people ^(AJ)contended with Moses and spoke, saying: “If only we had died ^(AK)when our brethren died before the Lord! ^4 (AL)Why have you brought up the assembly of the Lord into this wilderness, that we and our animals should die here? ⁵ And why have you made us come up out of Egypt, to bring us to this evil place? It is not a place of grain or figs or vines or pomegranates; nor is there any water to drink.” ⁶ So Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the door of the tabernacle of meeting, and ^(AM)they ^[h]fell on their faces. And ^(AN)the glory of the Lord appeared to them.

⁷ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ^8 (AO)“Take the rod; you and your brother Aaron gather the congregation together. Speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will yield its water; thus ^(AP)you shall bring water for them out of the rock, and give drink to the congregation and their animals.” ⁹ So Moses took the rod ^(AQ)from before the Lord as He commanded him.

¹⁰ And Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock; and he said to them, ^(AR)“Hear now, you rebels! Must we bring water for you out of this rock?” ¹¹ Then Moses lifted his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; ^(AS)and water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their animals drank.

¹² Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, “Because ^(AT)you did not believe Me, to ^(AU)hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.”

^13 (AV)This was the water of ^[i]Meribah, because the children of Israel contended with the Lord, and He was hallowed among them.