Beginning
The people turn against Moses
14 Then all the people started to weep loudly. And they cried all night. 2 All the Israelites spoke bad words against Moses and Aaron. All the people said to them, ‘We would rather have died in Egypt, or even in this desert! 3 Why has the Lord brought us into this land? Its people will kill us all with swords. They will take our wives and our children for themselves. We think that it would be better for us to return to Egypt.’ 4 So they said to each other, ‘We should choose a new leader instead of Moses. Then we should return to Egypt.’
5 Then Moses and Aaron threw themselves on the ground in front of the whole group of the Israelites. 6 Joshua, the son of Nun, and Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, were two of the men who had explored the land. They were very upset and they tore their clothes.[a] 7 Joshua and Caleb said to all the Israelites, ‘The land that we travelled through to explore is a very good land. 8 If the Lord is happy with us, he will bring us into this land. And he will give it to us. In that land there is plenty of food and drink, enough for everyone. 9 But do not refuse to obey the Lord. Do not be afraid of the people in that land. They are ready for us to fight against them and win! They have no place to hide! The Lord is with us to help us. So do not be afraid of them.’
10 Then all the people wanted to throw stones at Joshua and Caleb to kill them. But the glory of the Lord appeared over the Tent of Meeting. All the Israelites could see that.
11 The Lord said to Moses, ‘These people continue to turn away from me. I did great miracles to show them my power. But still they will not trust me. 12 I will send a disease to kill them. They will not get any of the good things that I wanted to give to them. Then I will make you, Moses, the ancestor of a nation greater and more powerful than they are.’
13 Moses said to the Lord, ‘Please do not do that! You used your great power to bring these people out of Egypt. If you destroy them, the Egyptians will hear about it. 14 Then they will tell the people who live in this land about it. They know that you, Lord, are among your people. They know that you meet with your people. They know that your cloud stays over them. They know that you lead them as a pillar of cloud during the day and as a pillar of fire during the night. 15 The people in other nations have heard of your power. So now, if you kill all your people together, the people in those nations will say, 16 “The Lord could not bring those people into the land that he had seriously promised to give to them. So he killed all of them in the desert.”
17 But now, I pray that you will show how powerful you are. You yourself have said, 18 “The Lord does not quickly become angry. His faithful love for his people continues for ever. He forgives people when they turn against him and they do bad things. But if someone is guilty, he surely punishes them. And he punishes their children, their grandchildren and their grandchildren's children.”
19 So please forgive the very bad thing that these people have done. Do that because your faithful love is so great. You have forgiven these people since they left Egypt until now. So please be kind and forgive them again now.’
20 Then the Lord said, ‘I have forgiven them as you asked me to do. 21 As surely as I live, and all the earth will be full of my glory, I tell you this. 22 All these people have seen my glory. They have seen the miracles that I did in Egypt and in the desert. But they have tested me many times now to see if I would punish them. They still do not obey me. 23 So I tell you, none of them will ever see the land that I promised to give to their ancestors. None of those men who did not trust me will see that place. 24 But my servant Caleb has thought differently, and he has obeyed me completely. So I will bring him into the land that he explored. It will belong to his descendants. 25 The Amalekites and the Canaanites live in the valleys now. So tomorrow you must turn back. You must travel through the desert towards the Red Sea.’
26 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 27 ‘These evil people have complained against me too many times! I have heard the bad things that the Israelites have said against me. 28 Tell them this: “I, the Lord, have heard your words. I promise you, as surely as I live, I will certainly do to you as you have said. 29 Your dead bodies will fall to the ground in this desert. All the men that Moses counted will die. Those were the men who were 20 years old or older when he counted them. They complained against me and now they will die in this desert. 30 None of them will go into the land that I promised to give to you to live in. The only men who will go in are Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua, the son of Nun. 31 You said that the people in Canaan would take your children to be their slaves. But I will bring those children into the land. You did not want that land for yourselves, but now it will belong to your children. 32 But as for you, your dead bodies will fall to the ground in this desert. 33 Your children will be shepherds in the desert for 40 years. Because you did not trust me, your children will have trouble. That will continue until all your dead bodies are lying in the desert. 34 You explored the land of Canaan for 40 days. Now you will have trouble for 40 years, because of your sins. Each day becomes one year! You will know that I am not with you, but I am against you. 35 I, the Lord, have spoken! I will certainly do all these things to punish these evil people. That is because they have all joined together to speak against me. In this desert they will die. Yes, that will be the end of them!” ’
36-37 The men who had given a bad report to the people about the land of Canaan died immediately. Moses had sent them to explore the land, but they had caused all the people to turn against the Lord. So the Lord sent a bad disease to kill those men. 38 Only two men who had gone to explore the land did not die. They were Joshua, the son of Nun, and Caleb, the son of Jephunneh.
39 When Moses gave God's message to all the Israelites, the people were very sad. 40 But the next morning, they got up early. They went up to the top of the hills near there. They said, ‘We have certainly done a bad thing. But now we are ready! We will go to the place that the Lord has promised to give to us.’
41 But Moses said, ‘You are still not obeying the Lord's command. Why is that? It will not happen as you want. 42 Do not go into that land. The Lord is not with you. So your enemies will win against you. 43 The Amalekites and the Canaanites will be there in front of you. They will kill you with their swords. That will happen because you have refused to obey the Lord. So the Lord will not be with you to help you.’
44 But the people did not listen to Moses. Moses and the Lord's Covenant Box stayed in the camp. But still the men went up to the top of the hills. 45 Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in those hills ran down. They attacked the Israelite men and they chased them to Hormah.[b]
Rules about sacrifices
15 The Lord said to Moses, 2 ‘Say to the Israelites, “You will go into the land that I am giving to you. 3 When you are living there, you can sacrifice bulls, male sheep or goats to the Lord. You will burn them on the altar as a burnt offering. You may offer special sacrifices to the Lord when you have promised to do it. Or you may offer sacrifices because you choose to do it. Also, you will give sacrifices during your regular festivals. The smell of these sacrifices as they burn will please the Lord. 4 The person who gives the gift to the Lord must also give a gift of flour. He must mix the flour with oil. It should be 1 kilogram of your best flour. Mix this flour with 1 litre of olive oil. 5 You must also give 1 litre of wine for each lamb. You must give that as a drink offering with each burnt offering or sacrifice.
6 If the animal is a male sheep, you must also offer 2 kilograms of flour. Mix this flour with 1.5 litres of olive oil. 7 Also, you must pour 1.5 litres of wine on the altar as a drink offering. The smell of the smoke from this sacrifice will please the Lord.
8 A person can give a young bull as a burnt offering. This may be a special sacrifice that he has promised to give to God. Or it may be a friendship offering to the Lord. 9 Also, you must offer 3 kilograms of flour. Mix this flour with 2 litres of olive oil. Do that if the bull is a burnt offering, or a friendship offering. Do the same if you offer this sacrifice because of a promise. 10 Also, you must pour 2 litres of wine on the altar as a drink offering. The smell of this smoke will please the Lord.
11 You must do the same thing for each bull or for each male sheep. And you must do the same thing for each male lamb or for each young goat. 12 You must do that for every animal that you offer as a gift to God. 13 All the Israelites must do that when they burn sacrifices. The smell of them as they burn will please the Lord. 14 A stranger who is living in your land may want to give a gift by fire to the Lord. He must do the same as you do now, and for all future time. 15 These rules will be the same for the Israelites and for all foreign people who live with them. These rules are for now and for all future time. Both you and the foreign person must obey the Lord's rules. 16 There is the same law for you and for the foreign person who is living among you. There is only one set of rules.” ’
17 The Lord said to Moses, 18 ‘Tell the Israelites this. I am bringing them into the land of Canaan. After they have gone into it, they must obey my rules. 19 When they first eat the food from that land, they must give a special offering to the Lord. 20 You must give a cake as a special offering from the first of your flour. You must do it as you give your special gift from your threshing floor. 21 From the first of your flour, you must give to the Lord a special offering. And your descendants must continue to do that.
22 The people might not obey a rule that the Lord told Moses about. But they might not know that they are not obeying a rule. 23 It might be any rule that the Lord gave to you by Moses. 24 Perhaps somebody does not know that they are not obeying one of my rules. When that happens, they must sacrifice a young bull as a burnt offering. The smell of the smoke from this sacrifice will please the Lord. Also, they must give a grain offering, a drink offering and a male goat as a sin offering. 25 Then the priest will make things right with God for all the Israelites. The Lord will forgive them. That is because their sin was a mistake. They have brought their offering, an offering by fire to the Lord. And they have brought their sin offering to the Lord, for their mistake. 26 God will forgive all the Israelites and the foreign people who live among you. That is because your sin was a mistake. And also you offered the proper sacrifices to me.
27 Also, a person may not know that something is a sin. If he does that thing, he must sacrifice a female goat. The goat must be one year old. It will be a sin offering. 28 The priest will bring the gift to the Lord. That is to make things right. Then the Lord will forgive that person who did the sin. The person did not know that he had done a wrong thing. 29 The same rule is for the Israelites and for all the foreign people who live among them. That is when it was a mistake. 30 But a person might do something that he knows to be wrong. He does it because he wants to do it. That person is as bad as someone who insults the Lord. It does not matter whether he is an Israelite or a foreign person. You must make that person separate from all the people. 31 That person thought that the Lord's command was not important. He has not obeyed God's rules. So you must make that person completely separate from the people. He is a guilty person.’
A man does not obey the rules for the day of rest
32 When the Israelites were in the desert, a man was picking up sticks on the day of rest. 33 Some people found him while he was picking up the sticks. They took him to Moses and Aaron and to all the people. 34 They were not sure what to do with the man. So they put him by himself in a tent. Men stood at the door of the tent so that he could not leave it. 35 The Lord said to Moses, ‘This man must die. All the people must take him outside the camp. They must throw stones at him to kill him.’ 36 So the people took the man outside the camp. They threw stones at him until he died. That was what the Lord had told Moses to do.
Tassels
37 The Lord said to Moses, 38 ‘Tell the Israelites that they must put tassels on the corners of their clothes. They must fix the tassels on blue strings. They must do this now and for all future time. 39 You will be able to look at the tassels. They will help you to remember all the Lord's rules. Then you can obey them. Then you will not only do what you yourself want to do. You will not turn away from me. 40 When you see the tassels, you will remember to obey all my rules. You will be holy for your God. 41 I am the Lord your God. I brought you out from Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord your God.’
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