Parashah 39: Hukkat (Regulation) 19:1–22:1

[In regular years read with Parashah 40, in leap years read separately]

19 Adonai said to Moshe and Aharon, ² “This is the regulation from the Torah which Adonai has commanded. Tell the people of Isra’el to bring you a young red female cow without fault or defect and which has never borne a yoke. ³ You are to give it to El‘azar the cohen; it is to be brought outside the camp and slaughtered in front of him. ⁴ El‘azar the cohen is to take some of its blood with his finger and sprinkle this blood toward the front of the tent of meeting seven times. ⁵ The heifer is to be burned to ashes before his eyes — its skin, meat, blood and dung is to be burned to ashes. ⁶ The cohen is to take cedar-wood, hyssop and scarlet yarn and throw them onto the heifer as it is burning up. ⁷ Then the cohen is to wash his clothes and himself in water, after which he may re-enter the camp; but the cohen will remain unclean until evening. ⁸ The person who burned up the heifer is to wash his clothes and himself in water, but he will remain unclean until evening. ⁹ A man who is clean is to collect the ashes of the heifer and store them outside the camp in a clean place. They are to be kept for the community of the people of Isra’el to prepare water for purification from sin. ¹⁰ The one who collected the ashes of the heifer is to wash his clothes and be unclean until evening. For the people of Isra’el and for the foreigner staying with them this will be a permanent regulation.

¹¹ “Anyone who touches a corpse, no matter whose dead body it is, will be unclean for seven days. ¹² He must purify himself with [these ashes] on the third and seventh days; then he will be clean. But if he does not purify himself the third and seventh days, he will not be clean. ¹³ Anyone who touches a corpse, no matter whose dead body it is, and does not purify himself has defiled the tabernacle of Adonai. That person will be cut off from Isra’el, because the water for purification was not 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 enters the tent and everything in the tent will be unclean for seven days. ¹⁵ Every open container without a cover closely attached is unclean. ¹⁶ Also whoever is in an open field and touches a corpse, whether of someone killed by a weapon or of someone who died naturally, or the bone of a person, or a grave, will be unclean for seven days.

¹⁷ “For the unclean person they are to take some of the ashes of the animal burned up as a purification from sin and add them to fresh water in a container. (LY: ii) ¹⁸ A clean person is to take a bunch of hyssop leaves, dip it in the water and sprinkle it on the tent, on all the containers, on the people who were there, and on the person who touched the bone or the person killed or the one who died naturally or the grave. ¹⁹ The clean person will sprinkle the unclean person on the third and seventh days. On the seventh day he will purify him; then he will wash his clothes and himself in water; and he will be clean at evening. ²⁰ The person who remains unclean and does not purify himself will be cut off from the community because he has defiled the sanctuary of Adonai. The water for purification has not been sprinkled on him; he is unclean. ²¹ This is to be a permanent regulation for them. The person who sprinkles the water for purification is to wash his clothes. Whoever touches the water for purification will be unclean until evening. ²² Anything the unclean person touches will be unclean, and anyone who touches him will be unclean until evening.”

20 The people of Isra’el, the whole community, entered the Tzin Desert in the first month, and they stayed in Kadesh. There Miryam died, and there she was buried.

² Because the community had no water, they assembled themselves against Moshe and Aharon. ³ The people quarreled with Moshe and said, “We wish we had died when our brothers died before Adonai. ⁴ Why did you bring Adonai’s community into this desert? To die there, we and our livestock? ⁵ Why did you make us leave Egypt? To bring us to this terrible place without seed, figs, grapevines, pomegranates or even water to drink?” ⁶ Moshe and Aharon left the assembly, went to the entrance of the tent of meeting and fell on their faces; and the glory of Adonai appeared to them.

(RY: ii, LY: iii) ⁷ Adonai said to Moshe, ⁸ “Take the staff, assemble the community, you and Aharon your brother; and before their eyes, tell the rock to produce its water. You will bring them water out of the rock and thus enable the community and their livestock to drink.” ⁹ Moshe took the staff from the presence of Adonai, as he had ordered him. ¹⁰ But after Moshe and Aharon had assembled the community in front of the rock, he said to them, “Listen here, you rebels! Are we supposed to bring you water from this rock?” ¹¹ Then Moshe raised his hand and hit the rock twice with his staff. Water flowed out in abundance, and the community and their livestock drank.

¹² But Adonai said to Moshe and Aharon, “Because you did not trust in me, so as to cause me to be regarded as holy by the people of Isra’el, you will not bring this community into the land I have given them.” ¹³ This is M’rivah Spring [Disputation Spring], where the people of Isra’el disputed with Adonai, and he was caused to be regarded as holy by them.

(LY: iv) ¹⁴ Moshe sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom: “This is what your brother Isra’el says: you know all the troubles we have gone through — ¹⁵ that our ancestors went down into Egypt, we lived in Egypt a long time, and the Egyptians treated us and our ancestors badly. ¹⁶ But when we cried out to Adonai, he heard us, sent an angel and brought us out of Egypt. Now here we are in Kadesh, a city at the edge of your territory. ¹⁷ Please let us pass through your land. We will not go through fields or vineyards, and we won’t drink any water from the wells. We will go along the King’s Highway, not turning aside either to the right or to the left until we have left your territory.”

¹⁸ But Edom answered, “You are not to pass through my land; if you do, I will come out against you with the sword.” ¹⁹ The people of Isra’el replied, “We will keep to the highway; if we do drink the water, either we or our livestock, we will pay for it. Just let us pass through on foot — it’s nothing.” ²⁰ But he said, “You are not to pass through”; and Edom came out against them with many people and much force. ²¹ Thus Edom refused to allow Isra’el passage through its territory, so Isra’el turned away.

(RY: iii, LY: v) ²² They traveled on from Kadesh; and the people of Isra’el, the whole community, arrived at Mount Hor. ²³ At Mount Hor, by the border of the land of Edom, Adonai said to Moshe and Aharon, ²⁴ “Aharon is about to be gathered to his people, because he is not to enter the land I have given to the people of Isra’el, inasmuch as you rebelled against what I said at the M’rivah Spring. ²⁵ Take Aharon and El‘azar his son, bring them up to Mount Hor, ²⁶ remove the garments from Aharon and put them on El‘azar his son. Aharon will be gathered to his people — he will die there.”

²⁷ Moshe did as Adonai had ordered. They went up onto Mount Hor before the eyes of the whole community. ²⁸ Moshe removed the garments from Aharon, and put them on El‘azar his son, and Aharon died there on the top of the mountain. Then Moshe and El‘azar came down the mountain. ²⁹ When the entire community saw that Aharon was dead, they mourned Aharon thirty days, the whole house of Isra’el.

21 Then the king of ‘Arad, a Kena‘ani who lived in the Negev, heard that Isra’el was approaching by way of Atarim, so he attacked Isra’el and took some of them captive. ² Isra’el made a vow to Adonai, “If you will hand this people over to me, I will completely destroy their cities.” ³ Adonai listened to what Isra’el said and handed over the Kena‘anim, so they completely destroyed them and their cities and named the place Hormah [complete destruction].

⁴ Then they traveled from Mount Hor on the road toward the Sea of Suf in order to go around the land of Edom; but the people’s tempers grew short because of the detour. ⁵ The people spoke against God and against Moshe: “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt? To die in the desert? There’s no real food, there’s no water, and we’re sick of this miserable stuff we’re eating!”

(LY: vi) ⁶ In response, Adonai sent poisonous snakes among the people; they bit the people, and many of Isra’el’s people died. ⁷ The people came to Moshe and said, “We sinned by speaking against Adonai and against you. Pray to Adonai that he rid us of these snakes.” Moshe prayed for the people, ⁸ and Adonai answered Moshe: “Make a poisonous snake and put it on a pole. When anyone who has been bitten sees it, he will live.” ⁹ Moshe made a bronze snake and put it on the pole; if a snake had bitten someone, then, when he looked toward the bronze snake, he stayed alive.

¹⁰ The people of Isra’el traveled on and camped at Ovot. ¹¹ From Ovot they traveled and camped at ‘Iyei-Ha‘avarim, in the desert fronting Mo’av on the east. ¹² From there they traveled and camped in Vadi Zered. ¹³ From there they traveled and camped on the other side of the Arnon, in the desert; this river comes out of the territory of the Emori; for the Arnon is the boundary between Mo’av and the Emori. ¹⁴ This is why it says, in the Book of the Wars of Adonai, “. . . Vahev at Sufah, the vadis of Arnon, ¹⁵ and the slope of the vadis extending as far as the site of ‘Ar, which lie next to the territory of Mo’av.”

¹⁶ From there they went on to Be’er [well]; that is the well about which Adonai said to Moshe, “Assemble the people, and I will give them water.” ¹⁷ Then Isra’el sang this song:

From the desert they went to Mattanah, ¹⁹ from Mattanah to Nachali’el, from Nachali’el to Bamot, ²⁰ and from Bamot to the valley by the plain of Mo’av at the start of the Pisgah range, where it overlooks the desert.

(RY: iv, LY: vii) ²¹ Isra’el sent messengers to Sichon, king of the Emori, with this message: ²² “Let me pass through your land. We won’t turn aside into fields or vineyards, and we won’t drink any water from the wells. We will go along the King’s Highway until we have left your territory.” ²³ But Sichon would not allow Isra’el to pass through his territory. Instead, Sichon mustered all his people and went out into the desert to fight Isra’el. On reaching Yachatz, he fought Isra’el. ²⁴ Isra’el defeated him by force of arms and took control of his land from the Arnon to the Yabok River, but only as far as the people of ‘Amon, because the territory of the people of ‘Amon was well defended. ²⁵ Isra’el took all these cities — Isra’el lived in all the cities of the Emori, in Heshbon and all its surrounding towns. ²⁶ Heshbon was the city of Sichon, the king of the Emori, who had fought against the former king of Mo’av and conquered all his land up to the Arnon. ²⁷ This is why the storytellers say,

³¹ Thus Isra’el lived in the land of the Emori.

³² Moshe sent men to reconnoiter Ya‘zer; they captured its towns and drove out the Emori who were there.

³³ Then they turned and went up along the road to Bashan; and ‘Og, the king of Bashan, marched out against them, he with all his people, to fight at Edre‘i. (LY: Maftir) ³⁴ Adonai said to Moshe, “Don’t be afraid of him, for I have handed him over to you with all his people and his land. You will treat him just as you did Sichon, king of the Emori, who lived at Heshbon.” ³⁵ So they struck him down, with his sons and all his people, until there was no one left alive; and then they took control of his land.

22 Then the people of Isra’el traveled on and camped in the plains of Mo’av beyond the Yarden River, opposite Yericho.

Haftarah Hukkat: Shof’tim (Judges) 11:1–33

B’rit Hadashah suggested readings for Parashah Hukkat: Yochanan (John) 3:9–21; 4:3–30; 12:27–50

Parashah 40: Balak 22:2–25:9

[In regular years read with Parashah 39, in leap years read separately]

² Now Balak the son of Tzippor saw all that Isra’el had done to the Emori. ³ Mo’av was very afraid of the people, because there were so many of them; Mo’av was overcome with dread because of the people of Isra’el. ⁴ So Mo’av said to the leaders of Midyan, “This horde will lick up everything around us, the way an ox licks up grass in the field.”

Balak the son of Tzippor was king of Mo’av at that time. ⁵ He sent messengers to Bil‘am the son of B‘or, at P’tor by the [Euphrates] River in his native land, to tell him, “Listen, a people has come out of Egypt, spread over all the land and settled down next to me. ⁶ Therefore, please come, and curse this people for me, because they are stronger than I am. Maybe I will be able to strike them down and drive them out of the land, for I know that whomever you bless is in fact blessed, and whomever you curse is in fact cursed.” ⁷ The leaders of Mo’av and Midyan left, taking with them the payment for divining, came to Bil‘am and spoke to him the words of Balak. ⁸ He said to them, “Stay here tonight, and I will bring you back whatever answer Adonai tells me.” So the princes of Mo’av stayed with Bil‘am.

⁹ God came to Bil‘am and said, “Who are these men with you?” ¹⁰ Bil‘am said to God, “Balak the son of Tzippor, king of Mo’av, has sent me this message: ¹¹ ‘The people who came out of Egypt have spread over the land; now, come and curse them for me; maybe I will be able to fight against them and drive them out.’” ¹² God answered Bil‘am, “You are not to go with them; you are not to curse the people, because they are blessed.”

(RY: v; LY: ii) ¹³ Bil‘am got up in the morning and said to the princes of Balak, “Return to your own land, because Adonai refuses to give me permission to go with you.” ¹⁴ The princes of Mo’av got up, returned to Balak and said, “Bil‘am refuses to come with us.”

¹⁵ Balak again sent princes, more of them and of higher status than the first group. ¹⁶ They went to Bil‘am and said to him, “Here is what Balak the son of Tzippor says: ‘Please don’t let anything keep you from coming to me. ¹⁷ I will reward you very well, and whatever you say to me I will do. So please come, and curse this people for me.’” ¹⁸ Bil‘am answered the servants of Balak, “Even if Balak were to give me his palace filled with silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the word of Adonai my God to do anything, great or small. ¹⁹ Now, please, you too, stay here tonight; so that I may find out what else Adonai will say to me.” ²⁰ God came to Bil‘am during the night and said to him, “If the men have come to summon you, get up and go with them; but do only what I tell you.”

(LY: iii) ²¹ So Bil‘am got up in the morning, saddled his donkey and went with the princes of Mo’av. ²² But God’s anger flared up because he went, and the angel of Adonai stationed himself on the path to bar his way. He was riding on his donkey, and his two servants were with him. ²³ The donkey saw the angel of Adonai standing on the road, drawn sword in hand; so the donkey turned off the road into the field; and Bil‘am had to beat the donkey to get it back on the road. ²⁴ Then the angel of Adonai stood on the road where it became narrow as it passed among the vineyards and had stone walls on both sides. ²⁵ The donkey saw the angel of Adonai and pushed up against the wall, crushing Bil‘am’s foot against the wall. So he beat it again. ²⁶ The angel of Adonai moved ahead and stood in a place so tight that there was no room to turn either right or left. ²⁷ Again the donkey saw the angel of Adonai and lay down under Bil‘am, which made him so angry that he hit the donkey with his stick. ²⁸ But Adonai enabled the donkey to speak, and it said to Bil‘am, “What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?” ²⁹ Bil‘am said to the donkey, “It’s because you’ve been making a fool of me! I wish I had a sword in my hand; I would kill you on the spot!” ³⁰ The donkey said to Bil‘am, “I’m your donkey, right? You’ve ridden me all your life, right? Have I ever treated you like this before?” “No,” he admitted. ³¹ Then Adonai opened Bil‘am’s eyes, so that he could see the angel of Adonai standing in the way with his drawn sword in his hand, and he bowed his head and fell on his face. ³² The angel of Adonai said to him, “Why did you hit your donkey three times like that? I have come out here to bar your way, because you are rushing to oppose me. ³³ The donkey saw me and turned aside these three times; and indeed, if she hadn’t turned away from me, I would have killed you by now and saved it alive!” ³⁴ Bil‘am said to the angel of Adonai, “I have sinned. I didn’t know that you were standing on the road to block me. Now, therefore, if what I am doing displeases you, I will go back.” ³⁵ But the angel of Adonai said to Bil‘am, “No, go on with the men; but you are to say only what I tell you to say.” So Bil‘am went along with the princes of Balak.

³⁶ When Balak heard that Bil‘am had come, he went out to meet him in the city of Mo’av at the Arnon border, in the farthest reaches of the territory. ³⁷ Balak said to Bil‘am, “I sent more than once to summon you! Why didn’t you come to me? Did you think I couldn’t pay you enough?” ³⁸ Bil‘am replied to Balak, “Here, I’ve come to you! But I have no power of my own to say anything. The word that God puts in my mouth is what I will say.”

(RY: vi, LY: iv) ³⁹ Bil‘am went with Balak. When they arrived at Kiryat-Hutzot, ⁴⁰ Balak sacrificed cattle and sheep, then sent to Bil‘am and the princes with him. ⁴¹ In the morning Balak took Bil‘am and brought him up to the high places of Ba‘al; from there he could see a portion of the people.

23 Bil‘am said to Balak, “Build me seven altars here, and prepare me seven bulls and seven rams here.” ² Balak did as Bil‘am said; then Balak and Bil‘am offered a bull and a ram on each altar. ³ Bil‘am said to Balak, “Stand by your burnt offering while I go off; maybe Adonai will come and meet me; and whatever he shows me I will tell you.” He went off to a bare hill. ⁴ God met Bil‘am, who said to him, “I prepared the seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.” ⁵ Then Adonai put a word in Bil‘am’s mouth and said, “Go on back to Balak, and speak as I tell you.” ⁶ He went back to him, and there, standing by his burnt offering, he with all the princes of Mo’av, ⁷ he made his pronouncement:

¹¹ Balak said to Bil‘am, “What have you done to me?! To curse my enemies is why I brought you; and, here, you have totally blessed them!” ¹² He answered, “Mustn’t I take care to say just what Adonai puts in my mouth?”

(LY: v) ¹³ Balak said to him, “All right, come with me to another place where you can see them. You will see only some of them, not all; but you can curse them for me from there.” ¹⁴ He took him through the field of Tzofim to the top of the Pisgah Range, built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar. ¹⁵ Bil‘am said to Balak, “Stand here by your burnt offering, while I go over there for a meeting.” ¹⁶ Adonai met Bil‘am, put a word in his mouth and said, “Go on back to Balak, and speak as I tell you.” ¹⁷ He came to him and stood by his burnt offering, with all the princes of Mo’av. Balak asked him, “What did Adonai say?” ¹⁸ Then Bil‘am made his pronouncement:

²⁵ Balak said to Bil‘am, “Obviously, you won’t curse them. But at least don’t bless them!” ²⁶ However, Bil‘am answered Balak, “Didn’t I warn you that I must do everything Adonai says?”

(RY: vii, LY: vi) ²⁷ Balak said to Bil‘am, “Come, I will take you now to another place; maybe it will please God for you to curse them for me from there.” ²⁸ Balak took Bil‘am to the top of P‘or, overlooking the desert. ²⁹ Bil‘am said to Balak, “Build me seven altars here, and prepare me seven bulls and seven rams.” ³⁰ Balak did as Bil‘am said and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

24 When Bil‘am saw that it pleased Adonai to bless Isra’el, he didn’t go, as at the other times, to make use of divination, but looked out toward the desert. ² Bil‘am raised his eyes and saw Isra’el encamped tribe by tribe. Then the Spirit of God came upon him, ³ and he made his pronouncement:

¹⁰ Balak blazed with fury against Bil‘am. He struck his hands together and said to Bil‘am, “I summoned you to curse my enemies. But here, you have done nothing but bless them — three times already! ¹¹ Now you had better escape to your own place! I had planned to reward you very well, but now Adonai has deprived you of payment.”

¹² Bil‘am answered Balak, “Didn’t I tell the messengers you sent me ¹³ that even if Balak would give me his palace full of silver and gold, I could not of my own accord go beyond the word of Adonai to do either good or bad? that what Adonai said is what I would say? (LY: vii) ¹⁴ But now that I am going back to my own people, come, I will warn you what this people will do to your people in the acharit-hayamim. ¹⁵ So he made his pronouncement:

²⁰ He saw ‘Amalek and made this pronouncement:

²¹ He saw the Keini and made this pronouncement:

²³ Finally, he made this pronouncement:

²⁵ Then Bil‘am got up, left and returned to his home; and Balak too went his way.

25 Isra’el stayed at Sheetim, and there the people began whoring with the women of Mo’av. ² These women invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, where the people ate and bowed down to their gods. ³ With Isra’el thus joined to Ba‘al-P‘or, the anger of Adonai blazed up against Isra’el.

⁴ Adonai said to Moshe, “Take all the chiefs of the people, and hang them facing the sun before Adonai, so that the raging fury of Adonai will turn away from Isra’el.” ⁵ Moshe said to the judges of Isra’el, “Each of you is to put to death those in his tribe who have joined themselves to Ba‘al-P‘or.”

⁶ Just then, in the sight of Moshe and the whole community of Isra’el, as they were weeping at the entrance to the tent of meeting, a man from Isra’el came by, bringing to his family a woman from Midyan. (Maftir) ⁷ When Pinchas the son of El‘azar, the son of Aharon the cohen, saw it, he got up from the middle of the crowd, took a spear in his hand, ⁸ and pursued the man from Isra’el right into the inner part of the tent, where he thrust his spear through both of them — the man from Isra’el and the woman through her stomach. Thus was the plague among the people of Isra’el stopped; ⁹ nevertheless, 24,000 died in the plague.

Haftarah Balak: Mikhah (Micah) 5:6(7)– 6:8

B’rit Hadashah suggested readings for Parashah Balak: 2 Kefa (2 Peter) 2:1–22; Y’hudah (Jude) 11; Revelation 2:14–15