Beginning

The Work of the Priests and Levites

18 The Lord said to Aaron, “You, your sons and your family are now responsible for any wrongs done against the Holy Place. You and your sons are responsible for any wrongs done against the priests. ² Bring with you your fellow Levites from your tribe. They will help you and your sons serve in the Tent of the Agreement. ³ They are under your control. They will do all the work that needs to be done in the Tent. But they must not go near the things in the Holy Place or near the altar. If they do, both you and they will die. ⁴ They will join you. They will take care of the Meeting Tent. They must do the work at the Tent. No one else may come near you.

⁵ “You must take care of the Holy Place and the altar. Then I won’t become angry with the Israelites again. ⁶ I myself chose your fellow Levites from among the Israelites. They are a gift given for you to the Lord. Their work is at the Meeting Tent. ⁷ But only you and your sons may serve as priests. Only you may serve at the altar or go behind the curtain. I am giving you this gift of serving as a priest. Anyone else who comes near the Holy Place will be put to death.”

⁸ Then the Lord said to Aaron, “I myself make you responsible for the offerings given to me. All the holy offerings that the Israelites give to me, I give to you. They are for you and your sons as your share. They will be your continual portion. ⁹ Your share of the holy offerings is that part which is not burned. The people will bring me gifts as most holy offerings. These are grain or sin or penalty offerings. These will be set apart for you and your sons. ¹⁰ You must eat it in a most holy place. Any male may eat it. But you must respect it as holy.

¹¹ “I also give you the offerings the Israelites present to me. I give these to you and your sons and daughters. This is your share. Anyone in your family who is clean may eat it.

¹² “And I give you all the best olive oil and all the best new wine and grain. This is what the Israelites give to me, the Lord. These are the first things they harvest. ¹³ They bring to the Lord all the first things they harvest. They will be yours. Anyone in your family who is clean may eat these things.

¹⁴ “Everything in Israel that is given to the Lord is yours. ¹⁵ The first one born to any family will be offered to the Lord. This is true for both men and animals. And that will be yours. But you must make a payment for every firstborn son and every firstborn animal that is unclean. ¹⁶ When they are one month old, you must make a payment for them. The cost will be two ounces of silver as set by the Holy Place measure.

¹⁷ “But you must not make a payment for the firstborn ox or sheep or goat. Those animals are holy. Sprinkle their blood on the altar and burn their fat. This is an offering made by fire. The smell is pleasing to the Lord. ¹⁸ But the meat will be yours. Also the breast that is presented and the right thigh will be yours. ¹⁹ Anything the Israelites present as holy gifts I, the Lord, give to you. It goes to you, your sons and daughters. It is your continual portion. This is a lasting promise before the Lord to you and your children forever.”

²⁰ The Lord also said to Aaron, “You will not inherit any of the land. And you will not own any land among the other people. I will be yours. Out of all the Israelites, only you will inherit me.

²¹ “The people of Israel will give a tenth of what they make. I give that tenth to the Levites. This is their payment for the work they do serving at the Meeting Tent. ²² But the other Israelites must never go near the Meeting Tent. If they do, they will die for their sin. ²³ Only the Levites should work in the Meeting Tent. They are responsible for any sins against it. This is a rule from now on. The Levites will not get any land among the other Israelites. ²⁴ But the Israelites will give a tenth of everything they make to me. And I will give that tenth to the Levites. That is why I said about the Levites: ‘They will not get any land among the Israelites.’”

²⁵ The Lord said to Moses, ²⁶ “Speak to the Levites. Tell them: ‘You will receive a tenth of everything the Israelites make. I give that to you. But you must give a tenth of that back to the Lord. ²⁷ I will accept your offering just as much as I accept the offerings from others. They give new grain or new wine. ²⁸ In this way you will present an offering to the Lord as the other Israelites do. You will receive a tenth from the Israelites. Then you will give a tenth of that to Aaron the priest as the Lord’s share. ²⁹ Choose the best and holiest part from what you are given. This is the portion you must give to the Lord.’

³⁰ “Say to the Levites: ‘When you present the best it will be accepted as much as the grain and wine from the other people. ³¹ You and your families may eat all that is left anywhere. This is your pay for your work in the Meeting Tent. ³² And if you always give the best part to the Lord, you will never be guilty. If you do not sin against the holy offerings of the Israelites, you will not die.’”

The Offering for Cleansing

19 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ² “These are the teachings that the Lord commanded. Tell the Israelites to get a young red cow. It must not have anything wrong with it. It must not have been worked. ³ Give the cow to Eleazar the priest. He will take it outside the camp and kill it. ⁴ Then Eleazar the priest must put some of the blood on his finger. He must sprinkle it seven times toward the front of the Meeting Tent. ⁵ Then the whole cow must be burned while he watches. The skin, the meat, the blood and the intestines must all be burned. ⁶ Then the priest must take a cedar stick, a hyssop branch and a red string. He must throw them onto the burning cow. ⁷ Then the priest must wash himself and his clothes with water. After that, he may come back into the camp. But he will be unclean until evening. ⁸ The man who burns the cow must wash himself and his clothes in water. He will be unclean until evening.

⁹ “Then someone who is clean will collect the ashes from the cow. He will put them in a clean place outside the camp. The Israelites will use these ashes in a special ceremony to cleanse away sin. ¹⁰ The man who collected the cow’s ashes must wash his clothes. He will be unclean until evening. This is a lasting rule. It is for the Israelites and for the foreigners among them.

¹¹ “Whoever touches a dead body will be unclean for seven days. ¹² He must wash himself with this water. He must do this on the third day and on the seventh day. Then he will be clean. But if he does not wash himself on the third day and the seventh day, he cannot be clean. ¹³ Whoever touches a dead body is unclean. If he stays unclean and goes to the Lord’s Holy Tent, it becomes unclean. So he must be separated from Israel. If the cleansing water is not sprinkled on him, he will stay unclean.

¹⁴ “This is the teaching about someone who dies in his tent. Anyone in the tent or who enters it will be unclean for seven days. ¹⁵ And every open jar or pot without a cover becomes unclean. ¹⁶ If anyone touches someone who was killed by a sword or who died a natural death, he is unclean. If he touches a human bone or a grave, he is unclean. He will be unclean for seven days.

¹⁷ “So you must use the ashes from the burnt offering to make that person clean again. Pour fresh water over the ashes into a jar. ¹⁸ A clean person must take a hyssop branch and dip it into the water. Then he must sprinkle it over the tent and its objects. And he must sprinkle the people who were there. He must sprinkle anyone who touched a bone or the body of someone who was killed. He must sprinkle anyone who touched a dead person or a grave. ¹⁹ Then someone who is clean must sprinkle this water on the unclean person. He must do this on the third day and on the seventh day. On the seventh day that person becomes clean. He must wash his clothes and take a bath. He will be clean that evening. ²⁰ If anyone who is unclean does not become clean, he must be separated from the community. He was not sprinkled with the cleansing water. He stays unclean. He could make the Holy Tent unclean. ²¹ This is a lasting rule. Whoever sprinkles the cleansing water must also wash his clothes. Anyone who touches the water will be unclean until evening. ²² Anyone the unclean person touches becomes unclean. And whoever touches him will be unclean until evening.”

Water from the Rock

20 In the first month all the people of Israel arrived at the Desert of Zin. They stayed at Kadesh. There Miriam died and was buried. ² There was no water for the people. So they came together against Moses and Aaron. ³ They argued with Moses. They said, “We should have died in front of the Lord as our brothers did. ⁴ Why did you bring the Lord’s people into this desert? Are we and our animals to die here? ⁵ Why did you bring us from Egypt to this terrible place? It has no grain, figs or pomegranates. And there’s no water to drink!”

⁶ So Moses and Aaron left the people. Then they went to the entrance of the Meeting Tent. They bowed facedown. And the glory of the Lord appeared to them. ⁷ The Lord said to Moses, ⁸ “You and your brother Aaron should gather the people. Also take your walking stick. Speak to that rock in front of them. Then water will flow from it. Give that water to the people and their animals.”

⁹ So Moses took the stick from in front of the Lord. He did as the Lord had said. ¹⁰ He and Aaron gathered the people in front of the rock. Then Moses said, “Now listen to me, you complainers! Do you want us to bring water out of this rock?” ¹¹ Then Moses lifted his hand and hit the rock twice with his stick. Water began pouring out. And the people and their animals drank it.

¹² But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “You did not believe me. You did not honor me as holy before the people. So you will not lead them into the land I will give them.”

¹³ These are the waters of Meribah.^[a] Here the Israelites argued with the Lord. And the Lord showed them he was holy.

Edom Will Not Let Israel Pass

¹⁴ From Kadesh, Moses sent messengers to the king of Edom. He said, “Your brothers, the Israelites, say to you: You know about all the troubles we have had. ¹⁵ Our ancestors went down into Egypt. And we lived there for many years. The people of Egypt were cruel to our ancestors. ¹⁶ But we cried out to the Lord. He heard us and sent us an angel to bring us out of Egypt.

“Now we are here at Kadesh, a town on the edge of your land. ¹⁷ Please let us pass through your country. We will not touch any fields of grain or vineyards. We will not drink water from the wells. We will travel only along the king’s road. We will not turn right or left until we have passed through your country.”

¹⁸ But the king of Edom answered: “You may not pass through here. If you try, I will come and meet you with swords.”

¹⁹ The Israelites answered: “We will go along the main road. If our animals drink any of your water, we will pay for it. We only want to walk through. That’s all.”

²⁰ But he answered: “You may not pass through here.”

Then the Edomites went out to meet the Israelites with a large and powerful army. ²¹ The Edomites refused to let them pass through their country. So the Israelites turned back.

Aaron Dies

²² All the Israelites moved from Kadesh to Mount Hor. ²³ It was near the border of Edom. The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ²⁴ “Aaron will die. He will not enter the land that I’m giving to the Israelites. This is because you both acted against my command at the waters of Meribah. ²⁵ Take Aaron and his son Eleazar up on Mount Hor. ²⁶ Take off Aaron’s special clothes and put them on his son Eleazar. Aaron will die there. He will join his ancestors.”

²⁷ Moses obeyed the Lord’s command. They climbed up Mount Hor. All the people saw them go. ²⁸ Moses took off Aaron’s clothes. He put them on Aaron’s son Eleazar. Then Aaron died there on top of the mountain. And Moses and Eleazar came back down the mountain. ²⁹ Then all the people learned that Aaron was dead. So everyone in Israel cried for him for 30 days.