The Lighting in the Tabernacle

8 The Lord spoke to Moses: ² “Speak to Aaron and tell him: When you set up the lamps, the seven lamps are to give light in front of the lampstand.” ³ So Aaron did this; he set up its lamps to give light in front of the lampstand just as the Lord had commanded Moses. ⁴ This is the way the lampstand was made: it was a hammered work of gold, hammered from its base to its flower petals. The lampstand was made according to the pattern the Lord had shown Moses.^(A)

Consecration of the Levites

⁵ The Lord spoke to Moses: ⁶ “Take the Levites from among the Israelites and ceremonially cleanse them. ⁷ Do this to them for their purification: Sprinkle them with the purification water.^(B) Have them shave their entire bodies and wash their clothes, and so purify themselves.^(C)

⁸ “They are to take a young bull and its grain offering of fine flour mixed with oil, and you are to take a second young bull for a sin offering. ⁹ Bring the Levites before the tent of meeting and assemble the entire Israelite community.^{(D) 10} Then present the Levites before the Lord, and have the Israelites lay their hands on them. ¹¹ Aaron is to present the Levites before the Lord as a presentation offering from the Israelites, so that they may perform the Lord’s work.^{(E) 12} Next the Levites are to lay their hands on the heads of the bulls. Sacrifice one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering to the Lord, to make atonement for the Levites.^(F)

¹³ “You are to have the Levites stand before Aaron and his sons, and you are to present them before the Lord as a presentation offering. ¹⁴ In this way you are to separate the Levites from the rest of the Israelites so that the Levites will belong to me.^{(G) 15} After that the Levites may come to serve at the tent of meeting, once you have ceremonially cleansed them and presented them as a presentation offering.^{(H) 16} For they have been exclusively assigned to me from the Israelites.^(I) I have taken them for myself in place of all who come first from the womb, every Israelite firstborn.^{(J) 17} For every firstborn among the Israelites is mine, both man and animal. I consecrated them to myself^(K) on the day I struck down every firstborn in the land of Egypt. ¹⁸ But I have taken the Levites in place of every firstborn among the Israelites. ¹⁹ From the Israelites, I have given the Levites exclusively to Aaron and his sons to perform the work for the Israelites at the tent of meeting and to make atonement on their behalf, so that no plague will come against the Israelites when they approach the sanctuary.”^(L)

²⁰ Moses, Aaron, and the entire Israelite community did this to the Levites. The Israelites did everything to them the Lord commanded Moses regarding the Levites. ²¹ The Levites purified themselves and washed their clothes; then Aaron presented^[a] them before the Lord as a presentation offering. Aaron also made atonement for them to cleanse them ceremonially. ²² After that, the Levites came to do their work at the tent of meeting in the presence of Aaron and his sons. So they did to them as the Lord had commanded Moses concerning the Levites.

²³ The Lord spoke to Moses: ²⁴ “In regard to the Levites: From twenty-five years old or more, a man enters the service in the work at the tent of meeting.^{(M) 25} But at fifty years old he is to retire from his service in the work and no longer serve. ²⁶ He may assist his brothers to fulfill responsibilities^[b] at the tent of meeting,^(N) but he must not do the work. This is how you are to deal with the Levites regarding their duties.”

The Second Passover

9 In the first month of the second year after their departure from the land of Egypt, the Lord told Moses in the Wilderness of Sinai,^{(O) 2} “The Israelites are to observe the Passover at its appointed time.^{(P) 3} You must observe it at its appointed time on the fourteenth day of this month at twilight; you are to observe it according to all its statutes and ordinances.”^{(Q) 4} So Moses told the Israelites to observe the Passover, ⁵ and they observed it in the first month on the fourteenth day at twilight in the Wilderness of Sinai. The Israelites did everything as the Lord had commanded Moses.

⁶ But there were some men who were unclean because of a human corpse, so they could not observe the Passover on that day.^(R) These men came before Moses and Aaron the same day ⁷ and said to him, “We are unclean because of a human corpse. Why should we be excluded from presenting the Lord’s offering at its appointed time with the other Israelites?”

⁸ Moses replied to them, “Wait here until I hear what the Lord commands for you.”

⁹ Then the Lord spoke to Moses: ¹⁰ “Tell the Israelites: When any one of you or your descendants is unclean because of a corpse^(S) or is on a distant journey, he may still observe the Passover to the Lord. ¹¹ Such people are to observe it in the second month, on the fourteenth day at twilight. They are to eat the animal with unleavened bread and bitter herbs;^{(T) 12} they may not leave any of it until morning or break any of its bones.^(U) They must observe the Passover according to all its statutes.

¹³ “But the man who is ceremonially clean, is not on a journey, and yet fails to observe the Passover is to be cut off from his people, because he did not present the Lord’s offering at its appointed time. That man will bear the consequences of his sin.

¹⁴ “If an alien resides with you and wants to observe the Passover to the Lord,^(V) he is to do it according to the Passover statute and its ordinances. You are to apply the same statute to both the resident alien and the native of the land.”^(W)

Guidance by the Cloud

¹⁵ On the day the tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the testimony,^(X) and it appeared like fire above the tabernacle from evening until morning. ¹⁶ It remained that way continuously: the cloud would cover it,^[c] appearing like fire at night.^{(Y) 17} Whenever the cloud was lifted up above the tent, the Israelites would set out; at the place where the cloud stopped, there the Israelites camped.^{(Z) 18} At the Lord’s command the Israelites set out, and at the Lord’s command they camped. As long as the cloud stayed over the tabernacle, they camped.

¹⁹ Even when the cloud stayed over the tabernacle many days, the Israelites carried out the Lord’s requirement and did not set out. ²⁰ Sometimes the cloud remained over the tabernacle for only a few days. They would camp at the Lord’s command and set out at the Lord’s command. ²¹ Sometimes the cloud remained only from evening until morning; when the cloud lifted in the morning, they set out. Or if it remained a day and a night, they moved out when the cloud lifted. ²² Whether it was two days, a month, or longer,^[d] the Israelites camped and did not set out as long as the cloud stayed over the tabernacle. But when it was lifted, they set out. ²³ They camped at the Lord’s command, and they set out at the Lord’s command. They carried out the Lord’s requirement according to his command through Moses.

Two Silver Trumpets

10 The Lord spoke to Moses: ² “Make two trumpets of hammered silver to summon the community^(AA) and have the camps set out. ³ When both are sounded in long blasts, the entire community is to gather before you at the entrance to the tent of meeting. ⁴ However, if one is sounded, only the leaders, the heads of Israel’s clans,^(AB) are to gather before you.

⁵ “When you sound short blasts, the camps pitched on the east^(AC) are to set out. ⁶ When you sound short blasts a second time, the camps pitched on the south^(AD) are to set out. Short blasts are to be sounded for them to set out. ⁷ When calling the assembly together, you are to sound long blasts, not short ones. ⁸ The sons of Aaron, the priests, are to sound the trumpets. Your use of these is a permanent statute throughout your generations.

⁹ “When you enter into battle in your land against an adversary who is attacking you, sound short blasts on the trumpets, and you will be remembered before the Lord your God and be saved from your enemies.^{(AE) 10} You are to sound the trumpets over your burnt offerings and your fellowship sacrifices and on your joyous occasions, your appointed festivals, and the beginning of each of your months. They will serve as a reminder for you before your God: I am the Lord your God.”^(AF)

From Sinai to Paran

¹¹ During the second year, in the second month on the twentieth day of the month, the cloud was lifted up above the tabernacle of the testimony. ¹² The Israelites traveled on from the Wilderness of Sinai, moving from one place to the next^(AG) until the cloud stopped in the Wilderness of Paran.^{(AH) 13} They set out for the first time according to the Lord’s command through Moses.^(AI)

¹⁴ The military divisions of the camp of Judah’s descendants with their banner set out first, and Nahshon son of Amminadab^(AJ) was over their divisions. ¹⁵ Nethanel son of Zuar^(AK) was over the division of the tribe of Issachar’s descendants, ¹⁶ and Eliab son of Helon was over the division of the tribe of Zebulun’s descendants. ¹⁷ The tabernacle was then taken down, and the Gershonites and the Merarites set out, transporting the tabernacle.

¹⁸ The military divisions of the camp of Reuben with their banner set out, and Elizur son of Shedeur was over their divisions. ¹⁹ Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai^(AL) was over the division of the tribe of Simeon’s descendants, ²⁰ and Eliasaph son of Deuel^[e] was over the division of the tribe of Gad’s descendants. ²¹ The Kohathites then set out, transporting the holy objects;^(AM) the tabernacle was to be set up before their arrival.

²² Next the military divisions of the camp of Ephraim’s descendants with their banner set out, and Elishama son of Ammihud^(AN) was over their divisions. ²³ Gamaliel son of Pedahzur was over the division of the tribe of Manasseh’s descendants, ²⁴ and Abidan son of Gideoni was over the division of the tribe of Benjamin’s descendants.

²⁵ The military divisions of the camp of Dan’s descendants with their banner set out, serving as rear guard for all the camps, and Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai^(AO) was over their divisions. ²⁶ Pagiel son of Ochran was over the division of the tribe of Asher’s descendants, ²⁷ and Ahira son of Enan was over the division of the tribe of Naphtali’s descendants. ²⁸ This was the order of march for the Israelites by their military divisions as they set out.

²⁹ Moses said to Hobab, descendant of Reuel^(AP) the Midianite and Moses’s relative by marriage, “We’re setting out for the place the Lord promised, ‘I will give it to you.’^(AQ) Come with us, and we will treat you well, for the Lord has promised good things to Israel.”^(AR)

³⁰ But he replied to him, “I don’t want to go. Instead, I will go to my own land and my relatives.”

³¹ “Please don’t leave us,” Moses said, “since you know where we should camp in the wilderness, and you can serve as our eyes. ³² If you come with us, whatever good the Lord does for us we will do for you.”^(AS)

³³ They set out from the mountain of the Lord on a three-day journey with the ark of the Lord’s covenant traveling ahead of them for those three days to seek a resting place for them.^{(AT) 34} Meanwhile, the cloud of the Lord was over them by day when they set out from the camp.

³⁵ Whenever the ark set out, Moses would say:

³⁶ When it came to rest, he would say:

Complaints about Hardship

11 Now the people began complaining openly before^[f] the Lord about hardship. When the Lord heard, his anger burned,^(AW) and fire^(AX) from the Lord blazed among them and consumed the outskirts of the camp. ² Then the people cried out to Moses, and he prayed to the Lord, and the fire died down. ³ So that place was named Taberah,^[g](AY) because the Lord’s fire had blazed among them.

Complaints about Food

⁴ The riffraff^[h] among them^(AZ) had a strong craving^(BA) for other food. The Israelites wept again and said, “Who will feed us meat? ⁵ We remember the free fish we ate in Egypt,^(BB) along with the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic. ⁶ But now our appetite is gone;^[i] there’s nothing to look at but this manna!”

⁷ The manna^(BC) resembled coriander seed, and its appearance was like that of bdellium.^{[j] 8} The people walked around and gathered it. They ground it on a pair of grinding stones or crushed it in a mortar, then boiled it in a cooking pot and shaped it into cakes. It tasted like a pastry cooked with the finest oil. ⁹ When the dew fell on the camp at night, the manna would fall with it.^(BD)

¹⁰ Moses heard the people, family after family, weeping at the entrance of their tents. The Lord was very angry;^(BE) Moses was also provoked.^{[k] 11} So Moses asked the Lord, “Why have you brought such trouble on your servant? Why are you angry with me,^[l] and why do you burden me with all these people?^{(BF) 12} Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth so you should tell me, ‘Carry them at your breast, as a nursing mother carries a baby,’^(BG) to the land that you swore to give their ancestors?^{(BH) 13} Where can I get meat to give all these people? For they are weeping to me, ‘Give us meat to eat!’ ¹⁴ I can’t carry all these people by myself. They are too much for me. ¹⁵ If you are going to treat me like this, please kill me right now^(BI) if I have found favor with you, and^(BJ) don’t let me see my misery^[m] anymore.”

Seventy Elders Anointed

¹⁶ The Lord answered Moses, “Bring me seventy men from Israel known to you as elders and officers of the people. Take them to the tent of meeting and have them stand there with you. ¹⁷ Then I will come down and speak with you there. I will take some of the Spirit who is on you and put the Spirit on them.^(BK) They will help you bear the burden of the people, so that you do not have to bear it by yourself.^(BL)

¹⁸ “Tell the people: Consecrate yourselves in readiness for tomorrow, and you will eat meat because you wept in the Lord’s hearing, ‘Who will feed us meat? We were better off in Egypt.’ The Lord will give you meat and you will eat. ¹⁹ You will eat, not for one day, or two days, or five days, or ten days, or twenty days, ²⁰ but for a whole month—until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes nauseating to you—because you have rejected the Lord who is among you, and wept before him, ‘Why did we ever leave Egypt?’” ^(BM)

²¹ But Moses replied, “I’m in the middle of a people with six hundred thousand foot soldiers,^(BN) yet you say, ‘I will give them meat, and they will eat for a month.’ ²² If flocks and herds were slaughtered for them, would they have enough? Or if all the fish in the sea were caught for them, would they have enough?” ^(BO)

²³ The Lord answered Moses, “Is the Lord’s arm weak?^[n](BP) Now you will see whether or not what I have promised will happen to you.”

²⁴ Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord. He brought seventy men from the elders of the people and had them stand around the tent. ²⁵ Then the Lord descended in the cloud and spoke to him.^(BQ) He took some of the Spirit who was on Moses and placed the Spirit on the seventy elders. As the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied,^(BR) but they never did it again. ²⁶ Two men had remained in the camp, one named Eldad and the other Medad; the Spirit rested on them—they were among those listed, but had not gone out to the tent—and they prophesied in the camp. ²⁷ A young man ran and reported to Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.”

²⁸ Joshua son of Nun, assistant to Moses since his youth,^[o] responded, “Moses, my lord, stop them!”

²⁹ But Moses asked him, “Are you jealous on my account?^(BS) If only all the Lord’s people were prophets and the Lord would place his Spirit on them!” ³⁰ Then Moses returned to the camp along with the elders of Israel.

Quail in the Camp

³¹ A wind sent by the Lord^(BT) came up and blew quail in from the sea; it dropped them all around the camp. They were flying three feet^[p] off^[q] the ground for about a day’s journey in every direction.^{(BU) 32} The people were up all that day and night and all the next day gathering the quail—the one who took the least gathered sixty bushels^[r]—and they spread them out all around the camp.^[s](BV)

³³ While the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the Lord’s anger burned^(BW) against the people, and the Lord struck them with a very severe plague.^{(BX) 34} So they named that place Kibroth-hattaavah,^[t] because there they buried the people who had craved the meat.

³⁵ From Kibroth-hattaavah the people moved on to Hazeroth^[u](BY) and remained there.

Miriam and Aaron Rebel

12 Miriam^(BZ) and Aaron criticized Moses because of the Cushite woman he married (for he had married a Cushite woman). ² They said, “Does the Lord speak only through Moses? Does he not also speak through us?” And the Lord heard it. ³ Moses was a very humble man, more so than anyone on the face of the earth.

⁴ Suddenly the Lord said to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, “You three come out to the tent of meeting.” So the three of them went out. ⁵ Then the Lord descended in a pillar of cloud,^(CA) stood at the entrance to the tent, and summoned Aaron and Miriam. When the two of them came forward, ⁶ he said:

So why were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?” ⁹ The Lord’s anger burned against them,^(CF) and he left.

¹⁰ As the cloud moved away from the tent, Miriam’s skin suddenly became diseased, resembling snow.^[x] When Aaron turned toward her, he saw that she was diseased ¹¹ and said to Moses, “My lord, please don’t hold against us this sin we have so foolishly committed. ¹² Please don’t let her be like a dead baby^[y] whose flesh is half eaten away when he comes out of his mother’s womb.”

¹³ Then Moses cried out to the Lord, “God, please heal her!” ^(CG)

¹⁴ The Lord answered Moses, “If her father had merely spit in her face, wouldn’t she remain in disgrace for seven days? Let her be confined outside the camp^(CH) for seven days;^(CI) after that she may be brought back in.” ¹⁵ So Miriam was confined outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not move on until Miriam was brought back in.^{(CJ) 16} After that, the people set out from Hazeroth and camped in the Wilderness of Paran.

Scouting Out Canaan

13 The Lord spoke to Moses: ² “Send men to scout out the land of Canaan^(CK) I am giving to the Israelites. Send one man who is a leader among them from each of their ancestral tribes.” ³ Moses sent them from the Wilderness of Paran at the Lord’s command. All the men were leaders in Israel.^{(CL) 4} These were their names:

¹⁶ These were the names of the men Moses sent to scout out the land, and Moses renamed Hoshea son of Nun, Joshua.

¹⁷ When Moses sent them to scout out the land of Canaan, he told them, “Go up this way to the Negev, then go up into the hill country. ¹⁸ See what the land is like, and whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many. ¹⁹ Is the land they live in good^(CO) or bad? Are the cities they live in encampments or fortifications?^{(CP) 20} Is the land fertile or unproductive?^(CQ) Are there trees in it or not? Be courageous. Bring back some fruit from the land.” It was the season for the first ripe grapes.^(CR)

²¹ So they went up and scouted out the land from the Wilderness of Zin^[z] as far as Rehob near the entrance to Hamath.^{[aa] 22} They went up through the Negev and came to Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the descendants of Anak,^(CS) were living. Hebron was built seven years before Zoan^(CT) in Egypt. ²³ When they came to Eshcol^(CU) Valley, they cut down a branch with a single cluster of grapes, which was carried on a pole by two men. They also took some pomegranates and figs.^{(CV) 24} That place was called Eshcol^[ab] Valley because of the cluster of grapes the Israelites cut there. ²⁵ At the end of forty days^(CW) they returned from scouting out the land.

Report about Canaan

²⁶ The men went back to Moses, Aaron, and the entire Israelite community in the Wilderness of Paran at Kadesh. They brought back a report for them and the whole community, and they showed them the fruit of the land.^{(CX) 27} They reported to Moses, “We went into the land where you sent us. Indeed it is flowing with milk and honey,^(CY) and here is some of its fruit. ²⁸ However, the people living in the land are strong, and the cities are large and fortified.^(CZ) We also saw the descendants of Anak^(DA) there. ²⁹ The Amalekites^(DB) are living in the land of the Negev; the Hethites, Jebusites, and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live by the sea and along the Jordan.”

³⁰ Then Caleb^(DC) quieted the people in the presence of Moses and said, “Let’s go up now and take possession of the land because we can certainly conquer it!”

³¹ But the men who had gone up with him responded, “We can’t attack the people because they are stronger than we are!” ³² So they gave a negative report to the Israelites about the land they had scouted: “The land we passed through to explore is one that devours its inhabitants, and all the people we saw in it are men of great size. ³³ We even saw the Nephilim^(DD) there—the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim!^(DE) To ourselves we seemed like grasshoppers, and we must have seemed the same to them.”

Israel’s Refusal to Enter Canaan

14 Then the whole community broke into loud cries, and the people wept that night. ² All the Israelites complained about Moses and Aaron,^(DF) and the whole community told them, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt, or if only we had died in this wilderness! ³ Why is the Lord bringing us into this land to die by the sword? Our wives and children will become plunder.^(DG) Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?” ^{(DH) 4} So they said to one another, “Let’s appoint a leader and go back to Egypt.”

⁵ Then Moses and Aaron fell facedown in front of the whole assembly of the Israelite community. ⁶ Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who scouted out the land, tore their clothes ⁷ and said to the entire Israelite community, “The land we passed through and explored is an extremely good land.^{(DI) 8} If the Lord is pleased with us, he will bring us into this land, a land flowing with milk and honey,^(DJ) and give it to us. ⁹ Only don’t rebel against the Lord, and don’t be afraid of the people of the land, for we will devour them.^(DK) Their protection^(DL) has been removed from them, and the Lord is with us. Don’t be afraid of them!”

¹⁰ While the whole community threatened to stone them,^(DM) the glory of the Lord appeared to all the Israelites at the tent of meeting.

God’s Judgment of Israel’s Rebellion

¹¹ The Lord said to Moses, “How long will these people despise me? How long will they not trust in me despite all the signs I have performed among them?^{(DN) 12} I will strike them with a plague and destroy them. Then I will make you into a greater and mightier nation than they are.”^(DO)

¹³ But Moses replied to the Lord, “The Egyptians will hear about it, for by your strength you brought up this people from them. ¹⁴ They will tell it to the inhabitants of this land.^(DP) They have heard that you, Lord, are among these people, how you, Lord, are seen face to face, how your cloud stands over them, and how you go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night.^{(DQ) 15} If you kill this people with a single blow,^[ac](DR) the nations that have heard of your fame^(DS) will declare, ¹⁶ ‘Since the Lord wasn’t able to bring this people into the land he swore to give them,^(DT) he has slaughtered them in the wilderness.’^(DU)

¹⁷ “So now, may my Lord’s power be magnified just as you have spoken: ¹⁸ The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in faithful love,^(DV) forgiving iniquity and rebellion.^(DW) But he will not leave the guilty unpunished,^(DX) bringing the consequences of the fathers’ iniquity on the children to the third and fourth generation.^{(DY) 19} Please pardon the iniquity of this people, in keeping with the greatness of your faithful love,^(DZ) just as you have forgiven them from Egypt until now.”

²⁰ The Lord responded, “I have pardoned them as you requested. ²¹ Yet as I live and as the whole earth is filled with the Lord’s glory,^{(EA) 22} none of the men who have seen my glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tested me these ten times and did not obey me, ²³ will ever see the land I swore to give their ancestors.^(EB) None of those who have despised me^(EC) will see it. ²⁴ But since my servant Caleb has a different spirit and has remained loyal to me, I will bring him into the land where he has gone, and his descendants will inherit it.^{(ED) 25} Since the Amalekites and Canaanites are living in the lowlands,^[ad] turn back tomorrow and head for the wilderness in the direction of the Red Sea.”^(EE)

²⁶ Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron: ²⁷ “How long must I endure this evil community that keeps complaining about me? I have heard the Israelites’ complaints that they make against me.^{(EF) 28} Tell them: As I live—this is the Lord’s declaration—I will do to you exactly as I heard you say. ²⁹ Your corpses will fall in this wilderness—all of you who were registered in the census, the entire number of you twenty years old or more^(EG)—because you have complained about me. ³⁰ I swear that none of you will enter the land I promised^[ae] to settle you in, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun. ³¹ I will bring your children whom you said would become plunder^(EH) into the land you rejected, and they will enjoy it.^{(EI) 32} But as for you, your corpses will fall in this wilderness. ³³ Your children will be shepherds in the wilderness for forty years and bear the penalty for your acts of unfaithfulness until all your corpses lie scattered in the wilderness. ³⁴ You will bear the consequences of your iniquities forty years based on the number of the forty days that you scouted the land, a year for each day.^[af](EJ) You will know my displeasure.^{[ag] 35} I, the Lord, have spoken. I swear that I will do this to the entire evil community that has conspired against me.^(EK) They will come to an end in the wilderness, and there they will die.”^(EL)

³⁶ So the men Moses sent to scout out the land, and who returned and incited the entire community to complain about him by spreading a negative report about the land— ³⁷ those men who spread the negative report about the land were struck down by the Lord. ³⁸ Only Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh remained alive of those men who went to scout out the land.

Israel Routed

³⁹ When Moses reported these words to all the Israelites, the people were overcome with grief. ⁴⁰ They got up early the next morning and went up the ridge of the hill country, saying, “Let’s go to the place the Lord promised, for we were wrong.”^(EM)

⁴¹ But Moses responded, “Why are you going against the Lord’s command? It won’t succeed. ⁴² Don’t go, because the Lord is not among you and you will be defeated by your enemies. ⁴³ The Amalekites and Canaanites are right in front of you, and you will fall by the sword. The Lord won’t be with you, since you have turned from following him.”

⁴⁴ But they dared to go up the ridge of the hill country, even though the ark of the Lord’s covenant and Moses did not leave the camp. ⁴⁵ Then the Amalekites and Canaanites who lived in that part of the hill country came down, attacked them, and routed them as far as Hormah.^(EN)

Korah Incites Rebellion

16 Now Korah son of Izhar, son of Kohath, son of Levi,^(A) with Dathan and Abiram,^(B) sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took ² two hundred fifty prominent Israelite men who were leaders of the community and representatives in the assembly, and they rebelled against Moses. ³ They came together against Moses and Aaron and told them, “You have gone too far! Everyone in the entire community is holy, and the Lord is among them.^(C) Why then do you exalt yourselves above the Lord’s assembly?”

⁴ When Moses heard this, he fell facedown. ⁵ Then he said to Korah and all his followers, “Tomorrow morning the Lord will reveal who belongs to him, who is set apart, and the one he will let come near^(D) him. He will let the one he chooses^(E) come near him. ⁶ Korah, you and all your followers are to do this: take firepans,^(F) and tomorrow ⁷ place fire in them and put incense on them before the Lord.^(G) Then the man the Lord chooses will be the one who is set apart.^(H) It is you Levites who have gone too far!”

⁸ Moses also told Korah, “Now listen, Levites! ⁹ Isn’t it enough for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the Israelite community to bring you near to himself,^(I) to perform the work at the Lord’s tabernacle, and to stand before the community to minister to them?^{(J) 10} He has brought you near, and all your fellow Levites who are with you, but you are pursuing the priesthood^(K) as well. ¹¹ Therefore, it is you and all your followers who have conspired against the Lord!^(L) As for Aaron, who is he^[a] that you should complain about him?”

¹² Moses sent for Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, but they said, “We will not come! ¹³ Is it not enough that you brought us up from a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness?^(M) Do you also have to appoint yourself as ruler over us? ¹⁴ Furthermore, you didn’t bring us to a land flowing with milk and honey or give us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you gouge out the eyes of these men?^(N) We will not come!”

¹⁵ Then Moses became angry and said to the Lord, “Don’t respect their offering. I have not taken one donkey from them or mistreated a single one of them.” ¹⁶ So Moses told Korah, “You and all your followers are to appear before the Lord tomorrow—you, they, and Aaron. ¹⁷ Each of you is to take his firepan, place incense on it, and present his firepan before the Lord—250 firepans. You and Aaron are each to present your firepan also.”

¹⁸ Each man took his firepan, placed fire in it, put incense on it, and stood at the entrance to the tent of meeting along with Moses and Aaron. ¹⁹ After Korah assembled the whole community against them at the entrance to the tent of meeting, the glory of the Lord^(O) appeared to the whole community. ²⁰ The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, ²¹ “Separate yourselves from this community so I may consume them instantly.”^(P)

²² But Moses and Aaron fell facedown^(Q) and said, “God, God who gives breath to all,^[b](R) when one man sins, will you vent your wrath on the whole community?” ^(S)

²³ The Lord replied to Moses, ²⁴ “Tell the community: Get away from the dwellings of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.”

²⁵ Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him. ²⁶ He warned the community, “Get away now from the tents of these wicked men. Don’t touch anything that belongs to them,^(T) or you will be swept away because of all their sins.”^{(U) 27} So they got away from the dwellings of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Meanwhile, Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the entrance of their tents with their wives, children, and infants.

²⁸ Then Moses said, “This is how you will know that the Lord sent me^(V) to do all these things and that it was not of my own will: ²⁹ If these men die naturally as all people would, and suffer the fate of all, then the Lord has not sent me. ³⁰ But if the Lord brings about something unprecedented, and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them along with all that belongs to them so that they go down alive into Sheol,^(W) then you will know that these men have despised the Lord.”

³¹ Just as he finished speaking all these words, the ground beneath them split open. ³² The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their households, all Korah’s people,^(X) and all their possessions. ³³ They went down alive into Sheol with all that belonged to them. The earth closed over them, and they vanished from the assembly. ³⁴ At their cries, all the people of Israel who were around them fled because they thought, “The earth may swallow us too!” ³⁵ Fire also came out from the Lord and consumed the 250 men who were presenting the incense.^(Y)

³⁶ Then the Lord spoke to Moses: ³⁷ “Tell Eleazar son of Aaron the priest to remove the firepans from the burning debris, because they are holy, and scatter the fire far away. ³⁸ As for the firepans of those who sinned at the cost of their own lives, make them into hammered sheets as plating for the altar, for they presented them before the Lord, and the firepans are holy. They will be a sign to the Israelites.”

³⁹ So the priest Eleazar took the bronze firepans that those who were burned had presented, and they were hammered into plating for the altar, ⁴⁰ just as the Lord commanded him through Moses. It was to be a reminder for the Israelites that no unauthorized person outside the lineage of Aaron should approach to offer incense before the Lord^(Z) and become like Korah and his followers.

⁴¹ The next day the entire Israelite community complained about Moses and Aaron,^(AA) saying, “You have killed the Lord’s people!” ⁴² When the community assembled against them, Moses and Aaron turned toward the tent of meeting, and suddenly the cloud covered it, and the Lord’s glory appeared.

⁴³ Moses and Aaron went to the front of the tent of meeting, ⁴⁴ and the Lord said to Moses, ⁴⁵ “Get away from this community so that I may consume them instantly.”^(AB) But they fell facedown.

⁴⁶ Then Moses told Aaron, “Take your firepan, place fire from the altar in it, and add incense. Go quickly to the community and make atonement for them, because wrath has come from the Lord; the plague has begun.” ⁴⁷ So Aaron took his firepan as Moses had ordered, ran into the middle of the assembly, and saw that the plague had begun among the people. After he added incense, he made atonement for the people. ⁴⁸ He stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was halted. ⁴⁹ But those who died from the plague numbered 14,700, in addition to those who died because of the Korah incident. ⁵⁰ Aaron then returned to Moses at the entrance to the tent of meeting, since the plague had been halted.^(AC)

Aaron’s Staff Chosen

17 The Lord instructed Moses, ² “Speak to the Israelites and take one staff from them for each ancestral tribe,^[c] twelve staffs from all the leaders of their tribes.^[d] Write each man’s name on his staff. ³ Write Aaron’s name on Levi’s staff, because there is to be one staff for the head of each tribe. ⁴ Then place them in the tent of meeting in front of the testimony where I meet with you. ⁵ The staff of the man I choose will sprout, and I will rid myself of the Israelites’ complaints that they have been making about you.”

⁶ So Moses spoke to the Israelites, and each of their leaders gave him a staff, one for each of the leaders of their tribes, twelve staffs in all. Aaron’s staff was among them.^{(AD) 7} Moses placed the staffs before the Lord in the tent of the testimony.

⁸ The next day Moses entered the tent of the testimony and saw that Aaron’s staff, representing the house of Levi, had sprouted, formed buds, blossomed, and produced almonds! ⁹ Moses then brought out all the staffs from the Lord’s presence to all the Israelites. They saw them, and each man took his own staff. ¹⁰ The Lord told Moses, “Put Aaron’s staff back in front of the testimony to be kept as a sign^(AE) for the rebels, so that you may put an end to their complaints before me, or else they will die.”^{(AF) 11} So Moses did as the Lord commanded him.

¹² Then the Israelites declared to Moses, “Look, we’re perishing! We’re lost; we’re all lost! ¹³ Anyone who comes near the Lord’s tabernacle will die.^(AG) Will we all perish?”