Beginning

18 And Hashem said unto Aharon, Thou and thy Banim and thy Bais Av with thee shall bear the avon (guilt) of the Mikdash; and thou and thy Banim with thee shall bear the avon of the kehunah of you [see Ya 3:1].

² And thy brethren also of the tribe of Levi, the Shevet Avicha, bring thou with thee, that they may be joined unto thee, and minister unto thee; while thou and thy Banim with thee are before the Ohel HaEdut.

³ And they shall stand your guard duty, and the duty of Kol HaOhel; only they shall not come near the Klei HaKodesh and the Mizbe’ach, that neither they, nor ye also, die.

⁴ And they shall be joined unto thee, and stand guard duty of the Ohel Mo’ed, for kol Avodat HaOhel; and a zar shall not encroach unto you.

⁵ And ye shall stand guard of HaKodesh, and stand guard of the Mizbe’ach; that there be no Ketzef (Wrath) any more upon the Bnei Yisroel.

⁶ And I, hinei, I Myself have taken your brethren the Levi’im from among the Bnei Yisroel; to you they are given as a mattanah (gift) to Hashem, to do the Avodat Ohel Mo’ed [see Ep 4:11].

⁷ Therefore thou and thy Banim with thee shall be shomer over your Kehunah with everything of the Mizbe’ach, and within the Parochet; and ye shall do the Avodas service: I have given your Kehunah unto you as an Avodas Mattanah; and the zar (unauthorized one) that shall encroach shall be put to death.

⁸ And Hashem spoke unto Aharon, Hinei, I also have given thee the charge of Mine terumot of kol Kadoshei Bnei Yisroel; unto thee have I given them by reason of the moshchah (kohen’s allotted portion), and to thy Banim, as a chok olam.

⁹ This shall be thine of the kodesh hakodashim, reserved from the eish; every korban of theirs, every minchah of theirs, and every chattat of theirs, and every asham of theirs which they shall render unto Me, shall be kodesh kodashim for thee and for thy Banim.

¹⁰ As the kodesh hakodashim shalt thou eat it; every zakhar shall eat it; it shall be kodesh unto thee.

¹¹ And this is thine; the terumah of their gift, with all the tenufot Bnei Yisroel; I have given them unto thee, and to thy banim and to thy banot with thee, by a chok olam; every one that is tahor in thy Bais shall eat of it.

¹² All the best of the oil, and all the best of the wine, and of the grain, the reshit (firstfruit) of them which they shall offer unto Hashem, them have I given thee.

¹³ And whatsoever is Bikkurim in the land, which they shall bring unto Hashem, shall be thine; every one that is tahor in thine Bais shall eat of it.

¹⁴ Every cherem in Yisroel shall be thine.

¹⁵ Every thing that openeth the womb in all basar, which they bring unto Hashem, whether it be of adam or behemah, shall be thine; nevertheless the bechor haadam shalt thou surely redeem, and the bechor habehemah hateme’ah shalt thou redeem.

¹⁶ And those that are to be redeemed from a month old shalt thou redeem, according to thine evaluation, for the five silver shekelim, according to the shekel HaKodesh, which is twenty gerah.

¹⁷ But the bechor of a cow, or the bechor of a sheep, or the bechor of a goat, thou shalt not redeem; they are kodesh; thou shalt sprinkle their dahm upon the Mizbe’ach, and shalt burn their fat for an offering made by eish, for a re’ach nichoach unto Hashem.

¹⁸ And the basar of them shall be thine, like the breast of the tenufah and like the right thigh are thine.

¹⁹ All the terumot hakodashim, which the Bnei Yisroel offer unto Hashem, have I given thee, and thy banim and thy banot with thee, by a chok olam; it is a brit melach olam before Hashem unto thee and to thy zera with thee.

²⁰ And Hashem spoke unto Aharon, Thou shalt have no nachalah in their land, neither shalt thou have any chelek among them; I am thy chelek and thine nachalah among the Bnei Yisroel.

²¹ And, hinei, I have given the Bnei Levi all the ma’aser (tithe) in Yisroel for a nachalah, for their Avodah which they serve, even the Avodat Ohel Mo’ed.

²² Neither must the Bnei Yisroel henceforth come near the Ohel Mo’ed, lest they bear chet, and die.

²³ But the Levi’im shall perform the Avodat Ohel Mo’ed, lest they shall nasa (bear) their avon; it shall be a chukkat olam throughout your derot, that among the Bnei Yisroel they have no nachalah.

²⁴ But the ma’aser of the Bnei Yisroel, which they offer as a terumah unto Hashem, I have given to the Levi’im as a nachalah; therefore, I have said unto them, Among the Bnei Yisroel they shall have no nachalah.

²⁵ And Hashem spoke unto Moshe, saying,

²⁶ Thus speak unto the Levi’im, and say unto them, When ye take of the Bnei Yisroel the ma’aser which I have given you from them for your nachalah, then ye shall raise up a terumah of it for Hashem, even a ma’aser of the ma’aser.

²⁷ And this your terumah shall be reckoned unto you, as though it were the grain of the threshing floor, and as the fulness of the winepress.

²⁸ Thus ye also shall offer a terumat Hashem of all your ma’aserot, which ye receive of the Bnei Yisroel; and ye shall give thereof terumat Hashem to Aharon HaKohen.

²⁹ Out of all your mattenot ye shall offer every terumat Hashem, of all the best thereof, even the set apart as kodesh part thereof out of it.

³⁰ Therefore, thou shalt say unto them, When ye have raised up the best thereof from it, then it shall be counted unto the Levi’im as the increase of the threshing floor, and as the increase of the winepress.

³¹ And ye shall eat it in every place, ye and your Bais: for it is your sachar for your Avodah in the Ohel Mo’ed.

³² And ye shall bear no chet by reason of it, when ye have raised up from it the best of it; neither shall ye desecrate the Kadshei Bnei Yisroel, lest ye die.

19 And Hashem spoke unto Moshe and unto Aharon, saying,

² This is the chukkat hatorah which Hashem hath commanded, saying, Speak unto the Bnei Yisroel, that they bring thee a completely red female cow [that has not produced a calf], wherein is no blemish, and upon which never came ol (yoke):

³ And ye shall give her unto Eleazar HaKohen, that he may bring her forth outside the machaneh, and one shall slaughter (shachat) her before his face;

⁴ And Eleazar HaKohen shall take of her dahm with his finger, and sprinkle of her dahm directly before the Ohel Mo’ed seven times;

⁵ And one shall burn the heifer in his sight; her hide, and her basar, and her dahm, with her dung, shall he burn;

⁶ And the kohen shall take cedar wood, and hyssop, and crimson thread, and cast it into the midst of the burning heifer.

⁷ Then the kohen shall wash his clothes, and he shall immerse his basar in mayim, and afterward he shall come into the machaneh, and the kohen shall be tamei until the erev.

⁸ And he that burneth her shall wash his clothes in mayim, and immerse his basar in mayim, and shall be tamei until the erev.

⁹ And a man that is tahor shall gather up the ashes of the cow, and lay them up outside the machaneh in a makom tahor, and it shall be in safekeeping for HaEdah Bnei Yisroel for water of sprinkling; it is for sinpurification.

¹⁰ And he that gathereth the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes, and be tamei until the erev; and it shall be unto the Bnei Yisroel, and unto the ger that sojourneth among them, for a chukkat olam.

¹¹ He that toucheth the dead body of any man shall be tamei shivat yamim.

¹² He shall make himself tahor with it on the Yom HaShelishi, and on the seventh day he shall be tahor; but if he does not make himself tahor on the Yom HaShelishi, then the seventh day he shall not be tahor.

¹³ Whosoever toucheth the body of any man that is dead, and maketh not himself tahor, makes tamei the Mishkan Hashem; and that nefesh shall be cut off from Yisroel; because the water of sprinkling was not sprinkled upon him, he shall be tamei; his tumah is yet upon him.

¹⁴ This is the torah, when a man dieth in an ohel, all that come into the ohel, and all that is in the ohel, shall be tamei seven days.

¹⁵ And every open vessel, which hath no covering bound upon it, is tamei.

¹⁶ And whosoever toucheth one that is slain with a cherev in the open fields, or a dead body, or a bone of a man, or a kever, shall be tamei seven days.

¹⁷ And for one who is tamei they shall take of the ashes of the burning of the purification [animal], and running mayim shall be put thereto in a vessel;

¹⁸ And an ish tahor shall take hyssop, and dip it in the mayim, and sprinkle it upon the ohel, and upon all the vessels, and upon the nefashot that were there, and upon him that touched a bone, or one slain, or one dead, or a kever;

¹⁹ And the tahor (clean person) shall sprinkle upon the tamei on the Yom HaShelishi, and on the seventh day; and on the seventh day he shall make himself tahor, and wash his clothes, and immerse himself in mayim, and shall be tahor at erev [T.N. On the messianic mikveh see Co 2:11-12].

²⁰ But the man that shall be tamei, and shall not purify himself, that nefesh shall be cut off from among the Kahal, because he hath contaminated the Mikdash Hashem; the water of sprinkling hath not been sprinkled upon him; he is tamei.

²¹ And it shall be a chukkat olam unto them, that he that sprinkleth the water of sprinkling shall immerse his clothes; and he that toucheth the water of sprinkling shall be tamei until erev.

²² And whatsoever the tamei person toucheth shall be tamei; and the nefesh that toucheth it shall be tamei until erev.

20 Then came the Bnei Yisroel, even the kol HaEdah into the Midbar of Tzin in the first month; and the people abode in Kadesh; and Miryam died there, and was buried there.

² And there was no mayim for the Edah; and they gathered themselves together against Moshe and against Aharon.

³ And the people contended with Moshe, and spoke, saying, If only we had died when our brethren died before Hashem!

⁴ And why have ye brought up the Kahal Hashem into this midbar, that we and our livestock should die here?

⁵ And why have ye made us to come up out of Mitzrayim, to bring us in unto this evil place? It is no place of zera (grain), or of te’enah (fig), or of gefen (grapevine), or of pomegranates; neither is there any mayim to drink.

⁶ And Moshe and Aharon went from the presence of the Kahal unto the entrance of the Ohel Mo’ed, and they fell upon their faces; and the kavod Hashem appeared unto them.

⁷ And Hashem spoke unto Moshe, saying,

⁸ Take the rod and gather thou the Edah together, thou and Aharon thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth its mayim, and thou shalt bring forth to them mayim out of the rock; so thou shalt give the Edah and their beasts drink.

⁹ And Moshe took the rod from before Hashem, just as He commanded him.

¹⁰ And Moshe and Aharon gathered the Kahal together before the rock, and he said unto them, Hear now, ye morim (rebels, contentious ones); must we fetch you mayim out of this rock?

¹¹ And Moshe lifted up his hand, and with his rod he struck the rock twice; and the mayim came out abundantly, and the Edah drank, and their beasts also.

¹² And Hashem spoke unto Moshe and Aharon, Because ye believed Me not, to honor Me as kadosh in the eyes of the Bnei Yisroel, therefore ye shall not bring this Kahal into HaAretz which I have given them.

¹³ These were the Waters of Merivah (Quarreling); because the Bnei Yisroel quarreled with Hashem, and He showed Himself kadosh among them.

¹⁴ And Moshe sent messengers from Kadesh unto the melech of Edom, Thus saith thy brother Yisroel, Thou knowest all the hardship that hath befallen us:

¹⁵ How Avoteinu went down into Mitzrayim, and we have dwelt in Mitzrayim a long time; and the Egyptians did evil to us, and Avoteinu;

¹⁶ And when we cried unto Hashem, He heard our voice, and sent a malach, and hath brought us forth out of Mitzrayim; and, hinei, we are in Kadesh, a town in the edge of thy border;

¹⁷ Let us pass, please, through thy country; we will not pass through the fields, or through the kerem (vineyards), neither will we drink of the mayim of the wells; we will go by the Derech HaMelech; we will not turn to the right hand nor to the left until we have passed through thy territory.

¹⁸ And Edom said unto him, Thou shalt not pass through me, lest I come out against thee with the cherev.

¹⁹ And the Bnei Yisroel said unto him, We will go by the main road; and if I and my livestock drink of thy mayim, then I will pay for it; I will only, without doing anything else, pass through on my feet.

²⁰ And he said, Thou shalt not go through. And Edom came out against him with a large army, and with a yad chazakah.

²¹ Thus Edom refused to give Yisroel passage through his border; wherefore Yisroel turned away from him.

²² And the Bnei Yisroel, even Kol HaEdah, journeyed from Kadesh, and came unto Mt Hor.

²³ And Hashem spoke unto Moshe and Aharon in Mt Hor, by the border of Eretz Edom, saying,

²⁴ Aharon shall be gathered unto his people; for he shall not enter into HaAretz which I have given unto the Bnei Yisroel, because ye rebelled against My word at the Waters of Merivah.

²⁵ Take Aharon and Eleazar bno, and bring them up unto Mt Hor;

²⁶ And strip Aharon of his garments, and put them upon Eleazar bno; and Aharon shall be gathered unto his people, and shall die there.

²⁷ And Moshe did as Hashem commanded; and they went up into Mt Hor in the sight of Kol HaEdah.

²⁸ And Moshe stripped Aharon of his garments, and put them upon Eleazar bno; and Aharon died there on the top of the mount; and Moshe and Eleazar came down from the mount.

²⁹ And when Kol HaEdah saw that Aharon was dead, they mourned for Aharon shloshim yom, even Kol Bais Yisroel.