Numbers 15
English Standard Version
Laws About Sacrifices
15 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, (A)When you come into the land you are to inhabit, which I am giving you, 3 and (B)you offer to the Lord from the herd or from the flock a food offering[a] or a burnt offering or a sacrifice, (C)to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering or (D)at your appointed feasts, to make a (E)pleasing aroma to the Lord, 4 then (F)he who brings his offering shall offer to the Lord (G)a grain offering of a tenth of an ephah[b] of fine flour, (H)mixed with a quarter of a hin[c] of oil; 5 and you shall offer with the burnt offering, or for the sacrifice, a quarter of a hin of (I)wine for the drink offering for each lamb. 6 (J)Or for a ram, you shall offer for a grain offering two tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with a third of a hin of oil. 7 And for the drink offering you shall offer a third of a hin of wine, a (K)pleasing aroma to the Lord. 8 And when you offer a bull as a burnt offering or sacrifice, to (L)fulfill a vow or for (M)peace offerings to the Lord, 9 then one shall offer (N)with the bull a grain offering of three tenths of an ephah of fine flour, mixed with half a hin of oil. 10 And you shall offer for the drink offering half a hin of wine, as a food offering, a pleasing aroma to the Lord.
11 (O)“Thus it shall be done for each bull or ram, or for each lamb or young goat. 12 As many as you offer, so shall you do with each one, as many as there are. 13 Every native Israelite shall do these things in this way, in offering a food offering, with a pleasing aroma to the Lord. 14 And if a stranger is sojourning with you, or anyone is living permanently among you, and he wishes to offer a food offering, with a pleasing aroma to the Lord, he shall do as you do. 15 For the assembly, (P)there shall be one statute for you and for the stranger who sojourns with you, a statute forever throughout your generations. You and the sojourner shall be alike before the Lord. 16 One law and one rule shall be for you and for the stranger who sojourns with you.”
17 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 18 (Q)“Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land to which I bring you 19 and when you eat of (R)the bread of the land, you shall present a contribution to the Lord. 20 (S)Of the first of your dough you shall present a loaf as a contribution; like a (T)contribution from the threshing floor, so shall you present it. 21 (U)Some of the first of your dough you shall give to the Lord as a contribution throughout your generations.
Laws About Unintentional Sins
22 (V)“But if you sin unintentionally,[d] and do not observe all these commandments that the Lord has spoken to Moses, 23 all that the Lord has commanded you by Moses, from the day that the Lord gave commandment, and onward throughout your generations, 24 then if it was done unintentionally (W)without the knowledge of the congregation, all the congregation shall offer one bull from the herd for a burnt offering, a pleasing aroma to the Lord, (X)with its grain offering and its drink offering, according to the rule, and (Y)one male goat for a sin offering. 25 (Z)And the priest shall make atonement for all the congregation of the people of Israel, and they shall be forgiven, because it was a mistake, and they have brought their offering, a food offering to the Lord, and their sin offering before the Lord for their mistake. 26 And all the congregation of the people of Israel shall be forgiven, and the stranger who sojourns among them, because the whole population was involved in the mistake.
27 (AA)“If one person sins unintentionally, he shall offer a female goat a year old for a sin offering. 28 (AB)And the priest shall make atonement before the Lord for the person who makes a mistake, when he sins unintentionally, to make atonement for him, and he shall be forgiven. 29 (AC)You shall have one law for him who does anything unintentionally, for him who is native among the people of Israel and for the stranger who sojourns among them. 30 (AD)But the person who does anything with a high hand, whether he is native or a sojourner, reviles the Lord, and that person shall be cut off from among his people. 31 Because he has (AE)despised the word of the Lord and has broken his commandment, that person shall be utterly cut off; his iniquity shall be on him.”
A Sabbathbreaker Executed
32 While the people of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man (AF)gathering sticks on the Sabbath day. 33 And those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation. 34 (AG)They put him in custody, because it had not been made clear what should be done to him. 35 And the Lord said to Moses, (AH)“The man shall be put to death; all the congregation shall (AI)stone him with stones outside the camp.” 36 And all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him to death with stones, as the Lord commanded Moses.
Tassels on Garments
37 The Lord said to Moses, 38 “Speak to the people of Israel, and tell them to (AJ)make tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and to put a cord of blue on the tassel of each corner. 39 And it shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments of the Lord, to do them, (AK)not to follow[e] after your own heart and your own eyes, which you are inclined (AL)to whore after. 40 So you shall remember and do all my commandments, and be (AM)holy to your God. 41 (AN)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
- Numbers 15:3 Or an offering by fire; so throughout Numbers
- Numbers 15:4 An ephah was about 3/5 bushel or 22 liters
- Numbers 15:4 A hin was about 4 quarts or 3.5 liters
- Numbers 15:22 Or by mistake; also verses 24, 27, 28, 29
- Numbers 15:39 Hebrew to spy out
Numbers 15
The Voice
15 The Eternal One spoke to Moses about sacrifices.
Eternal One: 2 Give the Israelites these instructions: “When you enter the land I determined would be yours, where you’ll settle and make your homes, 3-4 and when you burn a food offering, burnt offering, or sacrifice of meat from the herd or flock to make a pleasing aroma for Me; you should always accompany it with a grain offering—about two quarts of really good flour mixed with about one quart of oil. Do this whether your offering is a sworn vow or something you’re freely offering during the appointed festival. 5 Oh, and give a drink offering of some wine: about one quart for each lamb whenever you make a sacrifice or offering. 6 For bigger animals like a ram offer about four quarts of flour and about one and one-quarter quarts of oil, 7 and make about one and one-quarter quarts for the drink offering of wine. All of this will be a soothing aroma to Me. 8 For a bull (whether burnt or simply as a sacrifice to satisfy a promise or as an offering of well-being), 9 about six quarts of flour mixed with about two quarts of oil, 10 and make the drink offering two quarts of wine. Offer it by fire to make a soothing smell to Me. 11 This is how you should offer oxen or rams, male lambs, or young goats. 12 The specified accompaniments are for a single animal, so increase it based on the number of offerings you make. 13-14 Every Israelite should follow these instructions for an offering by fire to make a soothing smell for Me. Others who happen to be living among you temporarily or permanently should offer sacrifices in the same way. 15-16 There should be no difference throughout the community in this matter—Israelite or not—forever. You and the foreigner dwelling with you are the same, as I see it, so you all should follow the same rules and regulations.”
17 (to Moses) 18 Tell the Israelites this as well: “After you’ve entered the land that I’m taking you to, 19 whenever you enjoy the land’s bread, give a contribution to Me by raising up your offering to Me. 20-21 Just as you set aside a little grain on the threshing floor, so you and your descendants should set aside a little cake loaf from the first batch, as an offering to Me.
22 “If, somehow, someone overlooked or otherwise accidentally failed to do what I spelled out through Moses for the congregation 23 (all those commandments from the first day I gave them to you and throughout coming generations), 24-26 and it only came to the attention of the community after the fact, then the whole congregation should offer a bull together. Offer all of it by fire so that it smells good to Me along with the requisite grain and drink offerings, and sacrifice a male goat since it was a sin of sorts. In the process, the priest will cover all the Israelites, and they’ll be forgiven, for it was an unintentional offense. So, if they do all the right things to rectify the situation, then everyone (and not just native Israelites but even all the other people who happen to be living with them at the time) will be forgiven.
A constant theme as God instructs His people is to remember or to have a memorial: the family of Abraham builds monuments of stacked stones almost everywhere they go, and these people will do the same as they enter the land. Each child is given a name with clear meaning about either the character of the child or about the faithfulness of God. Each town is given a name that recalls something of significance, maybe the founder or a great war. Likewise, the foods they eat in their feasts have meaning or help them recall a shared memory. The offerings of the Israelites and the later sacraments of the church all serve as memorials or remembrances.
Here God instructs the people to alter their garments as a reminder of His commands and their own responsibilities to obey. Since the punishment for unbelief or disobedience is severe, God in His grace builds reminders into everyday life so the people do not have to struggle to remember these critical rules or truths.
27 “If an individual sins by accident (and the congregation catches it in time), he should offer a female yearling goat as the sin offering. 28 Thereby the priest shall cover that individual who sins accidentally in front of Me. Now that the mistake is covered, that person shall be forgiven. 29 This is the way it should be for Israelites and outsiders alike—for anyone who accidentally errs. 30-31 If it’s not an accident—the guilty person simply didn’t care about abiding by the instructions I gave to the Israelites through Moses and knowingly disregarded them—that’s different. Such a person, whether an Israelite or a stranger, has essentially rejected God. The community will ostracize him, and he’ll have to bear the burden of his guilt.”
32 One time, when the Israelites were wandering in the wilderness, it was discovered that somebody had broken the Sabbath rest commandment by gathering firewood. 33 The people who saw the man brought him to Moses and Aaron and the gathered congregation. 34 They weren’t sure what to do with him because nothing had been declared yet, so they kept him confined. 35 The Eternal One told Moses the man should be killed, that the whole congregation should take him outside the camp and stone him to death. 36 So they did just as the Eternal told them to do and executed him.
37 Once again the Eternal One spoke to Moses.
Eternal One: 38 Tell the Israelites to make fringes on each corner of their clothes and include a blue thread in each fringe. They should do this forever, 39 as it will bring to mind all My commandments and remind them not to wander off to do whatever their eyes see or hearts desire, and pursue them without restraint. 40 Instead, they will remember and do all of My commandments and be holy to your God.
41 I, the Eternal One, am your True God, the One who brought you out of Egypt to be your God. I am the Eternal One, your True God.
The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.