Bible in 90 Days

²⁰ Moses, Aaron, and the entire community of the people of Israel did for the Levites just as they had been told. The Israelites did for them everything that the Lord commanded Moses in regard to the Levites. ²¹ The Levites purified themselves and washed their clothing. Aaron offered them as a wave offering before the Lord and made atonement for them to purify them. ²² After that, the Levites went to do their work at the Tent of Meeting in the presence of Aaron and his sons. Just as the Lord had commanded Moses about the Levites, that is exactly what they did for them.

²³ The Lord spoke to Moses: ²⁴ “This applies to the Levites: From twenty-five years of age and up, they are to serve in the work at the Tent of Meeting. ²⁵ But when they are fifty years old, they are to retire from the service and no longer work. ²⁶ They may assist their brothers at the Tent of Meeting in performing their duties, but they are not to do the work. This is exactly what you are to do in regard to the Levites and their duties.”

Regulations for Observing the Passover

9 The Lord spoke to Moses in the Wilderness of Sinai, during the first month of the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt. He said, ² “The people of Israel are to observe the Passover at its appointed time. ³ On the fourteenth day of this month, at twilight,^[a] you will observe it at its appointed time. You will observe it according to all its regulations and all its ordinances.”

⁴ Moses told the Israelites to observe the Passover. ⁵ They observed the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month, at twilight, in the Wilderness of Sinai. The Israelites did everything just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

⁶ There were some men, however, who were unclean because of contact with a dead body. So they were not able to observe the Passover on that day. They went before Moses and Aaron on that same day. ⁷ These men said to him, “We are unclean because of a dead body. Why should we be kept from presenting the offering of the Lord at its appointed time among the people of Israel?”

⁸ So Moses said to them, “Wait and let me hear what the Lord commands concerning you.”

⁹ The Lord spoke to Moses ¹⁰ and told him to tell the Israelites this:

If any one of you or your descendants is unclean because of contact with a dead body or is on a distant journey, he may still observe the Passover to the Lord. ¹¹ Such people are to observe it during the second month, on the fourteenth day, at twilight. They are to eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. ¹² They must not leave any of it until morning. They are not to break a single one of its bones. They are to observe the Passover according to every regulation for it.

¹³ But anyone who is clean and is not on a journey yet fails to observe the Passover will be cut off from his people. He will bear his sin because he did not present the offering of the Lord at its appointed time.

¹⁴ If an alien dwells among you and desires to observe the Passover to the Lord, he is to do so according to the regulation for the Passover and its ordinance. You are to have one regulation, the same for the alien and for the native of the land.

The Cloud and the Dwelling

¹⁵ On the day that the Dwelling was set up, the cloud covered the Dwelling, that is, the Tent of the Testimony. The cloud over the Dwelling looked like fire from evening until morning. ¹⁶ It was always like this: The cloud would cover the Dwelling, and at night it looked like fire. ¹⁷ Whenever the cloud above the tent lifted up, the Israelites would set out. Wherever the cloud settled down, the Israelites would camp at that spot. ¹⁸ At the command of the Lord, the Israelites set out, and at the command of the Lord they set up camp. For the entire time that the cloud settled over the Dwelling, they would keep their camp at that place. ¹⁹ When the cloud stayed over the Dwelling for many days, the Israelites would keep the Lord’s order and would not set out. ²⁰ Sometimes the cloud would be over the Dwelling for only a few days. Then according to the command of the Lord the Israelites would remain camped at that place. Then at the command of the Lord they would set out again. ²¹ Sometimes the cloud was over the Dwelling only from evening until morning. So when the cloud lifted up in the morning, they set out. Whether by day or by night, when the cloud lifted up, they set out. ²² Whether it was two days, a month, or a year that the cloud stayed settled over the Dwelling, the Israelites remained camped at that place and did not set out. But when it lifted up, they set out. ²³ At the command of the Lord they camped, and at the command of the Lord they set out. They kept the Lord’s order, following the command of the Lord given through Moses.

The Silver Trumpets

10 The Lord told Moses ² to make two trumpets of hammered silver and to use them in this way:

You will use them to summon the community and to have the camp set out.

³ When they blow both trumpets, the entire community will gather to you at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. ⁴ If they blow just one trumpet, then the tribal chiefs, the heads of the Israelite clans, will gather to you.

⁵ When you blow the signal on the trumpets, the camps that are on the east side will set out. ⁶ When you blow the signal a second time, the camps that are on the south side will set out. This will be the signal to set out.

⁷ When the community is to gather, you will blow the trumpets, but you will not sound the signal for setting out.

⁸ Aaron’s sons, the priests, will blow the trumpets. This will be a permanent regulation for you and for your descendants. ⁹ When you go out into battle in your own land against an adversary who attacks you, you will sound the signal with the trumpets. Then you will be remembered before the Lord your God, and you will be saved from your enemies.

¹⁰ Also at the times when you rejoice, at your appointed festivals and at the New Moon, you will blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings and over the sacrifices of your fellowship offerings. They will serve as a memorial for you before your God. I am the Lord your God.

The Israelites Leave Sinai

¹¹ On the twentieth day of the second month, in the second year, the cloud lifted up above the Dwelling of the Testimony. ¹² The Israelites set out on their journey from the Wilderness of Sinai. The cloud settled in the Wilderness of Paran. ¹³ For the first time, they set out according to the command of the Lord through Moses.

¹⁴ First, the standard for the camp of Judah’s descendants set out according to their military units. Nahshon son of Amminadab was over Judah’s unit. ¹⁵ Nethanel son of Zuar was over the unit for the tribe of Issachar’s descendants. ¹⁶ Eliab son of Helon was over the unit for the tribe of Zebulun’s descendants.

¹⁷ The Dwelling was then taken down. The sons of Gershon and the sons of Merari set out, carrying the Dwelling.

¹⁸ The standard for the camp of Reuben set out according to their military units. Elizur son of Shedeur was over Reuben’s unit. ¹⁹ Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai was over the unit for the tribe of Simeon’s descendants. ²⁰ Eliasaph son of Deuel was over the unit for the tribe of Gad’s descendants.

²¹ The Kohathites then set out, carrying the holy things. The others would set up the Dwelling before they arrived.

²² The standard for the camp of Ephraim’s descendants set out according to their military units. Elishama son of Ammihud was over Ephraim’s unit. ²³ Gamaliel son of Pedahzur was over the unit for the tribe of Manasseh’s descendants. ²⁴ Abidan son of Gideoni was over the unit for the tribe of Benjamin’s descendants.

²⁵ The standard for the camp of Dan’s descendants, serving as the rear guard for the entire camp, set out according to their military units. Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai was over Dan’s unit. ²⁶ Pagiel son of Ochran was over the unit for the tribe of Asher’s descendants. ²⁷ Ahira son of Enan was over the unit for the tribe of Naphtali’s descendants.

²⁸ This was the marching order for the Israelites, according to their military units. This is how they set out.

²⁹ Moses said to Hobab, the son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses’ father-in-law, “We are setting out to the place about which the Lord promised, ‘I will give it to you.’ Come with us, and we will treat you well, for the Lord has promised good concerning Israel.”

³⁰ Hobab said to him, “I will not go, but I will go to my own land and to my own relatives.”

³¹ Moses said, “Please do not leave us, because you know where we should camp in the wilderness. You can be our eyes. ³² If you will go with us, whatever good the Lord does for us, we will do for you.”

³³ They set out from the mountain of the Lord on a three-day journey. The Ark of the Lord’s Covenant set out before them for that three-day journey to find a resting place for them. ³⁴ 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, “Rise up, O Lord, and may your enemies be scattered! May those who hate you flee before you!” ³⁶ When it came to rest, he would say, “Return, O Lord, to the countless thousands of Israel!”

Fire From the Lord

11 The people were complaining about their hardships so that the Lord heard it. When the Lord heard it, his anger burned. So the Lord’s fire burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp. ² The people cried out to Moses, and Moses prayed to the Lord. So the fire died down. ³ They named that place Taberah,^[b] because the Lord’s fire burned among them.

Complaints About the Food

⁴ The foreign rabble who were among the Israelites were overcome by their craving. The Israelites also wept once again and said, “Who is going to give us meat to eat? ⁵ We remember the fish we ate in Egypt free of charge, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. ⁶ But now our lives are wasting away.^[c] We have nothing at all to look at except this manna.”

⁷ The manna was like coriander seed, and it looked like resin.^{[d] 8} The people went around and gathered it up. They would grind it in hand mills or crush it in a mortar. They would boil it in pots or make it into loaves. It tasted like a cake made with oil. ⁹ When dew fell on the camp during the night, the manna fell along with it.

¹⁰ Moses heard people from all the clans weeping, each one at the entrance to his own tent. At the same time, the Lord’s anger burned fiercely, and Moses was displeased.^{[e] 11} Moses said to the Lord, “Why have you treated your servant so badly? Why have I not found favor in your eyes? Why do you put the burden of all these people on me? ¹² Did I conceive all these people by myself? Am I the one who gave birth to them so that you tell me to carry them in my arms to the land which you swore to their fathers, just as a woman who is nursing carries a baby? ¹³ Where is there meat for me to give to all these people? Listen, they are weeping to me and saying, ‘Give us meat so that we can eat.’ ¹⁴ I am not able to carry all these people by myself, because that is too much for me. ¹⁵ If you are going to treat me this way, please kill me right now. If I have found favor in your eyes, do not let me see my own ruin.”

Elders Appointed to Assist Moses

¹⁶ So the Lord said to Moses, “Gather seventy men from the elders of Israel for me, men whom you know to be elders and officers for the people. Take them to the Tent of Meeting and make them stand there with you. ¹⁷ I will come down and talk with you there. I will take from the Spirit that is on you and will put it on them. They will share the burden of the people with you so that you will not have to carry it by yourself.

¹⁸ “Say to the people, ‘Consecrate yourselves to be ready for tomorrow. You will eat meat because you have wept and the Lord has heard you say, “Who will give us meat to eat? Yes, things were good for us in Egypt.” Therefore the Lord will give you meat, and you will eat. ¹⁹ You will eat not just for one day, for two days, for five days, for ten days, not even just for twenty days, ²⁰ but for a whole month, until meat comes out of your nostrils, and you begin to loathe it. This will happen because you have rejected the Lord, who is among you, and you have wept in his presence, saying, “Why did we come out of Egypt?”’”

²¹ Moses said, “I am in the middle of a people with six hundred thousand foot soldiers, and now you say, ‘I will give them meat, and they will eat for a whole month.’ ²² If flocks and herds were slaughtered for them, would that be enough for them? If all the fish of the sea were caught for them, would that be enough for them?”

²³ The Lord said to Moses, “Is the arm of the Lord too short? Now you will see whether what I have said to you will happen or not.”

²⁴ Moses went out and told the people the Lord’s words. He gathered seventy men from the elders of the people and had them stand all around the tent. ²⁵ The Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him. He took from the Spirit that was on Moses and put it on the seventy elders. When the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied, but they did not do it again.^[f]

²⁶ Two men, however, remained in the camp. The name of one was Eldad, and the name of the other was Medad. They were listed among the elders, but they had not gone out to the tent. The Spirit rested on them, and they prophesied back in the camp. ²⁷ A young man ran and reported this to Moses. He said, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp!”

²⁸ Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide from his youth, answered, “My lord Moses, stop them!”

²⁹ Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for my sake? If only all of the Lord’s people were prophets so that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!” ³⁰ Then Moses returned to the camp along with the elders of Israel.

Quail and a Plague From the Lord

³¹ A wind sent out from the Lord brought quail in from the sea. The wind scattered them throughout the camp (and about a day’s journey in any direction around the camp) about three feet deep^[g] on the ground. ³² All that day, all that night, and all the next day, the people got up and gathered the quail. No one gathered fewer than sixty bushels.^[h] They spread them out around the camp. ³³ But while the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the Lord’s anger burned against the people, and the Lord struck the people with a very severe plague. ³⁴ They named that place Kibroth Hatta’avah,^[i] because there they buried the people who were overcome by their craving.

³⁵ From Kibroth Hatta’avah the people traveled to Hazeroth, and they stayed at Hazeroth.

Miriam and Aaron Oppose Moses

12 Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman he had married (for he had married a Cushite woman). ² They said, “Has the Lord really spoken only through Moses? Hasn’t he also spoken through us?” The Lord heard this.

³ (Now the man Moses was very humble, more humble^[j] than anyone else on the face of the earth.)

⁴ Right then the Lord spoke suddenly to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, “You three come out to the Tent of Meeting!”

The three of them came out. ⁵ The Lord came down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the entrance to the tent. He called Aaron and Miriam, and they both came forward. ⁶ He said, “Now listen to my words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, will make myself known to him in a vision. In a dream I will speak with him. ⁷ Not so, however, with my servant Moses. He is faithful in my whole household. ⁸ With him I speak face-to-face,^[k] clearly, and not in riddles. He sees the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant, against Moses?” ⁹ The Lord’s anger burned against them, and he left.

¹⁰ The cloud went up from above the tent, and immediately Miriam was leprous,^[l] as white as snow. Aaron turned to Miriam and saw that she was leprous.

¹¹ Aaron said to Moses, “My lord, please do not hold this sin against us. We have acted foolishly. We have sinned. ¹² Please do not let her be like a stillborn infant that comes out of its mother’s womb^[m] with its flesh half-eaten away.”

¹³ Moses cried out to the Lord, “God, please heal her, please!”

¹⁴ The Lord said to Moses, “If her father had merely spit in her face, would she not be disgraced for seven days? Have her confined outside of the camp for seven days, and after that she can be brought back in.”

¹⁵ Miriam was confined outside of the camp for seven days, and the people did not set out until Miriam was brought back in. ¹⁶ Afterward the people set out from Hazeroth and camped in the Wilderness of Paran.

Scouting Canaan

13 The Lord spoke to Moses: ² “Send men to scout the land of Canaan, which I myself am giving to the Israelites. You are to send one man from each ancestral tribe, each one a tribal chief among the people of Israel.”

³ Moses sent them from the Wilderness of Paran according to the Lord’s command. All of these men were heads of the Israelites. ⁴ These were their names:

¹⁶ These were the names of the men whom Moses sent to scout the land. Moses renamed Hoshea son of Nun “Joshua.”^[n]

¹⁷ Moses sent them to scout the land of Canaan and said to them, “Go up this way through the Negev^[o] and go up into the hill country.^{[p] 18} See what the land is like. See if the people who live in the land are strong or weak. See if they are few or many. ¹⁹ See if the land that they live in is good or bad. See what kind of cities they live in. See if the cities are camps or fortified places. ²⁰ See what the land is like. See if the land is fertile or poor. See if there are trees in the land or not. Be courageous and bring back some of the fruit of the land.” This happened at the season of the first ripe grapes.

²¹ So they went up and scouted the land from the Wilderness of Zin to Rehob, toward Lebo Hamath. ²² They went up through the Negev and came to Hebron. Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the descendants of Anak, were there. (Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) ²³ The scouts came to the Valley of Eshcol, and there they cut down a branch with one cluster of grapes. They carried it on a pole between two men, along with some pomegranates and figs. ²⁴ They named that place the Valley of Eshcol,^[q] because of the cluster which the Israelites had cut down from there. ²⁵ At the end of forty days, they returned from scouting the land.

The Report About Canaan

²⁶ They came back to Moses, Aaron, and the entire community of the Israelites at Kadesh in the Wilderness of Paran. They brought back a report to them and to the entire community. They showed them some of the fruit of the land. ²⁷ They reported to him and said, “We went to the land where you sent us. It really does flow with milk and honey, and here is its fruit. ²⁸ However, the people who live in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. We also saw the descendants of Anak there. ²⁹ The Amalekites are living in the land of the Negev. The Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites are living in the hill country. The Canaanites are living by the sea and along the Jordan.”

³⁰ Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “We should go up now and take possession of it, because we can certainly conquer it!”

³¹ But the men who had gone up with Caleb said, “We are not able to go up against the people, because they are stronger than we are.” ³² So they spread a negative report to the Israelites about the land that they had scouted. They said, “The land that we explored and scouted is a land that eats up its inhabitants. All the people we saw in the land were huge. ³³ We saw there the Nephilim^[r] (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). In our own eyes we seemed like grasshoppers. We seemed like grasshoppers in their eyes too.”

The People Rebel

14 The entire community raised a loud cry. The people wept that night. ² All of the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The entire community said to them, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt! If only we had died in this wilderness! ³ Why is the Lord bringing us to this land to fall by the sword? Our wives and our children will be taken as captives! Wouldn’t it be better for us to return to Egypt?” ⁴ So they said to one another, “Let’s put someone in charge and return to Egypt.”

⁵ Then Moses and Aaron fell facedown before the entire assembly of the Israelite community.

⁶ Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, two of those who had scouted the land, tore their clothes. ⁷ They spoke to the entire Israelite community, “The land that we explored and scouted is a very good land. ⁸ If the Lord is pleased with us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land that is flowing with milk and honey. ⁹ Only do not revolt against the Lord. Do not fear the people of the land, for we will eat them up.^[s] Their protection is taken away from them, and the Lord is with us. Do not fear them.”

¹⁰ Still the entire community threatened to stone them to death. The Glory of the Lord appeared to all the Israelites over the Tent of Meeting. ¹¹ The Lord said to Moses, “How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they not believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them? ¹² I will strike them with a plague and disown them. Then I will make you into a nation greater and mightier than they are.”

Moses Intercedes for Israel

¹³ Moses said to the Lord, “The Egyptians will hear it, since by your own power you brought these people up from the midst of the Egyptians. ¹⁴ They will tell the inhabitants of this land about it. They have heard that you, the Lord, are in the midst of this people. You, the Lord, are seen face-to-face.^[t] Your cloud stands over them. You go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night. ¹⁵ If you killed these people, leaving no one, then the nations which have heard about your fame will say, ¹⁶ ‘Because the Lord was not able to bring these people into the land which he swore to them, he has slaughtered them in the wilderness.’ ¹⁷ Now please let the power of the Lord be great, just as you have said, ¹⁸ ‘The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in mercy, forgiving guilt and rebellion. He certainly does not leave the guilty unpunished, following up on the guilt of the fathers with the children unto the third and the fourth generation.’ ¹⁹ According to your great mercy, please pardon the guilt of these people, just as you have forgiven these people from Egypt until now.”

God Decrees Forty Years of Wandering

²⁰ The Lord said, “I have pardoned them just as you have said. ²¹ But as surely as I live, and as surely as the entire earth is filled with the glory of the Lord, ²² not one of the men who has seen my glory and my signs, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and who has tested me these ten times and has not listened to my voice— ²³ I promise that none of them will see the land which I swore to their fathers. None of those who treated me with contempt will see it. ²⁴ But because my servant Caleb had a different spirit and has followed me completely, I will bring him into the land to which he traveled. His descendants will possess it. ²⁵ Since the Amalekites and the Canaanites are living in the valleys and lowlands, tomorrow you are to turn back and set out into the wilderness along the route to the Red Sea.”

²⁶ The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, ²⁷ “How long will this wicked community grumble against me? I have heard the Israelites’ constant grumblings against me. ²⁸ Tell them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Lord, I will do to you just as I have heard you say. ²⁹ In this wilderness your corpses will fall. All of you who were registered in the census, every one of you twenty years old and up who have grumbled against me, ³⁰ I swear that none of you will go into the land where I promised to settle you, except for Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun. ³¹ But your children, whom you said would become plunder, I will bring in, and they will experience the land which you have rejected. ³² But as for you, your corpses will fall in this wilderness. ³³ Your children will be shepherds in the wilderness for forty years. They will have to endure your prostitution until your corpses perish in the wilderness. ³⁴ You will bear the consequences of your guilt for forty years, based on the number of days that you scouted the land, forty days, one year for every day. You will experience my opposition.’ ³⁵ I, the Lord, have spoken. I swear that I will do this to this entire wicked community, who are gathered together against me. In this wilderness they will perish. There they will die.”

³⁶ The men whom Moses had sent to scout the land, who returned and made the entire community grumble against him by giving a negative report about the land— ³⁷ those men who brought the wicked, negative report about the land—died by the plague before the Lord. ³⁸ Of those men who had gone to scout the land, only Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh remained alive.

Israel Defeated in Battle

³⁹ Moses told these things to all the Israelites, and the people mourned bitterly. ⁴⁰ They got up early in the morning and went up to the heights of the hill country. They said, “We are ready. We will go up to the place which the Lord spoke about. We admit we have sinned.”

⁴¹ Moses said, “What is this? Why are you going against the Lord’s command? This will not succeed. ⁴² Do not go up, because the Lord is not among you. You will be struck down before your enemies, ⁴³ because the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there to oppose you. You will fall by the sword because you turned away from following the Lord. Therefore the Lord will not be with you.”

⁴⁴ But they dared to go up to the heights of the hill country. Nevertheless, the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord and Moses did not leave the camp. ⁴⁵ Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites, who lived in that hill country, came down, attacked them, and beat them down all the way to Hormah.

Supplementary Offerings

15 The Lord told Moses ² to speak to the Israelites and tell them this:

When you come into the land where you will live, the land which I am giving to you, ³ and you make an offering by fire^[u] to the Lord from the herd or the flock, to make a pleasing aroma to the Lord (whether it is a burnt offering or a sacrifice, whether it is to fulfill a vow or as a voluntary offering or at your appointed festivals), ⁴ the person who presents his offering is to present to the Lord two quarts^[v] of fine flour mixed with a quart^[w] of oil as a grain offering. ⁵ For each lamb, for the burnt offering or the sacrifice, you are to supply a quart of wine as the drink offering.

⁶ With a ram you are to supply four quarts^[x] of fine flour mixed with a quart and a half^[y] of oil as a grain offering, ⁷ and you will also present a quart of wine as the drink offering, a pleasing aroma to the Lord.

⁸ If you are offering a young bull as a burnt offering or a sacrifice, which is to fulfill a vow or to be a fellowship offering to the Lord, ⁹ you are to present along with the young bull six quarts^[z] of fine flour mixed with two quarts^[aa] of oil as a grain offering, ¹⁰ and you will present two quarts of wine as the drink offering, as a gift of food^[ab] with a pleasing aroma to the Lord. ¹¹ This is to be provided for each offering from the cattle, rams, lambs, or goats. ¹² You are to supply these offerings for each sacrifice you prepare.

¹³ Everyone who is native-born is to do these things in this way when presenting a gift of food with a pleasing aroma to the Lord. ¹⁴ For your generations to come, if an alien resides with you or someone else settles among you, and he wants to present a gift offered by fire, with a pleasing aroma to the Lord, he is to do just as you do. ¹⁵ In the assembly there will be a single regulation for you and for the resident alien, a permanent regulation for your generations to come. You and the alien will be the same before the Lord. ¹⁶ There will be a single law and a single ordinance for you and the alien residing with you.

¹⁷ The Lord told Moses ¹⁸ to speak to the Israelites and tell them this:

When you come to the land to which I am bringing you ¹⁹ and when you eat from the food of the land, you are to present an elevated offering to the Lord. ²⁰ From the first of your dough you are to present a round^[ac] loaf as an elevated offering. You are to lift it up just like an elevated offering from the threshing floor. ²¹ For your generations to come, you will give to the Lord an elevated offering from the first of your dough.

Offerings for Unintentional Sins

²² When you err unintentionally and do not carry out all these commands, which the Lord has spoken to Moses— ²³ everything that the Lord has commanded you through Moses, from the day that the Lord first gave these commands and onward, for your generations to come— ²⁴ if it was done unintentionally, and the community was not aware of it, the entire community shall offer one young bull as a whole burnt offering, as a pleasing aroma to the Lord, with its grain offering and its drink offering, according to the ordinance, and one male goat as a sin offering. ²⁵ The priest will make atonement for the entire Israelite community, and they will be forgiven, because it was an unintentional error. They are to bring their offering, a gift made by fire to the Lord, and their sin offering before the Lord for their unintentional error. ²⁶ The entire Israelite community and the aliens who reside among them will be forgiven, for all the people were involved in this error unintentionally.

²⁷ If one person errs unintentionally, he must present a year-old female goat for a sin offering. ²⁸ The priest will make atonement for the person who erred unintentionally, since by that unintentional error he sinned against the Lord. When the priest makes atonement for him, he will be forgiven. ²⁹ You shall have a single law for anyone who commits an error unintentionally, whether a native-born Israelite or an alien who resides among you.

³⁰ But a person who does anything defiantly,^[ad] whether he is native-born or an alien, is blaspheming the Lord. That person must be cut off from among his people. ³¹ Because he has despised the Lord’s word and has broken his commands, that person will be completely cut off. His guilt shall remain on him.

The Sabbath-Breaker Put to Death

³² While the Israelites were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering wood on the Sabbath day. ³³ The people who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses, Aaron, and the entire community. ³⁴ They put him in custody, because it had not been made clear what should be done with him.

³⁵ The Lord said to Moses, “The man must certainly be put to death. The entire community is to stone him outside of the camp.” ³⁶ The entire community brought him outside of the camp and stoned him to death, just as the Lord commanded Moses.

Tassels on Garments

³⁷ The Lord told Moses ³⁸ to speak to the Israelites and tell them this:

Korah, Dathan, and Abiram

16 Now Korah, who was the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, joined with Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and with On, the son of Peleth. These three were descendants of Reuben. They gathered ² two hundred fifty well-known Israelites, tribal chiefs of the community, appointed representatives who served on the council, and they rose up against Moses. ³ They assembled together against Moses and Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! For the entire community is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them! Why do you lift yourselves up above the Lord’s assembly?”

⁴ When Moses heard this, he fell facedown. ⁵ He said to Korah and to all his followers, “In the morning the Lord will reveal which of you are his and which of you are holy, and he will have that person come near to him. The man he chooses, he will have that man come near to him. ⁶ Do this, Korah, you and all your followers. Take censers, ⁷ put fire in them, and place incense on them in the presence of the Lord tomorrow. The man whom the Lord chooses will be set aside as holy. You have gone too far, you Levites!”

⁸ Moses said to Korah, “Listen, you Levites! ⁹ Isn’t it enough for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the Israelite community and brought you near to himself to do the work of the Lord’s Dwelling and to stand before the congregation to minister to them, ¹⁰ and that he has brought you near, along with all your fellow Levites who are with you? Do you seek the priesthood also? ¹¹ Therefore you and all your followers have gathered together against the Lord! As for Aaron, who is he that you should grumble against him?”

¹² Moses sent to summon Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, but they said, “We will not come! ¹³ Isn’t it enough that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to have us die in the wilderness? Must you also make yourself a ruler over us? ¹⁴ Besides this, you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey. You have not given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you gouge out the eyes of these men? We will not come up.”

¹⁵ Moses was very angry and said to the Lord, “Do not pay attention to their offering. I have not taken a single donkey from them, nor have I wronged any one of them.”

¹⁶ Moses said to Korah, “Tomorrow, you and all your followers are to appear before the Lord—you and they, and Aaron. ¹⁷ Every one of them is to take his censer and put incense on it, and each man will present his censer before the Lord, two hundred fifty censers. You and Aaron also, each one of you, will present his censer.”

¹⁸ They each took their own censers, put fire in them, placed incense on them, and stood at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting with Moses and Aaron. ¹⁹ Korah assembled the entire community opposite Moses and Aaron at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. The glory of the Lord appeared to the entire assembly. ²⁰ The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, ²¹ “Separate yourselves from this assembly so that I may put an end to them instantly!”

²² But Moses and Aaron fell facedown and said, “O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, when one man sins, will you be angry against the entire community?”

²³ The Lord spoke to Moses: ²⁴ “Tell the assembly, ‘Move away from the dwelling of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram!’” ²⁵ So Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram. The elders of Israel followed him. ²⁶ He told the assembly, “Move back from the tents of these wicked men. Do not touch anything that belongs to them, or you will be swept away because of all their sins!” ²⁷ So from every side, they moved away from the dwelling of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the entrance to their tents with their wives, children, and little ones.

²⁸ Moses said, “This is how you will know that the Lord has sent me to do all these things and that all this was not just my idea.^{[ae] 29} If these men die a death like everyone else and if they suffer the same fate that everyone does, then the Lord has not sent me. ³⁰ But if the Lord creates something unheard of and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with everything that belongs to them, and they go down alive into the grave,^[af] you will know that these men have treated the Lord with contempt.”

³¹ As soon as he finished speaking all these words, the ground beneath them split open. ³² The earth opened its mouth and swallowed up everyone who was with Korah, along with their households and all their possessions. ³³ So they and everything that belonged to them went down alive into the grave. The earth closed up over them, and they disappeared from the midst of the assembly. ³⁴ Hearing their screams, all the Israelites who were around them fled, because they said, “The earth will swallow us up too!” ³⁵ Fire went out from the Lord and consumed the two hundred fifty men who offered the incense.

³⁶ The Lord spoke to Moses:^{[ag] 37} “Tell Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest to remove the censers from the burning debris and scatter the fire far away, for the censers are holy. ³⁸ Make the censers belonging to those who sinned at the cost of their own lives into hammered sheets for plating the altar, because they presented them before the Lord, and the censers are holy. They will serve as a sign to the Israelites.”

³⁹ Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers, which had been presented by those who had been burned up by fire. They hammered them into plating for the altar ⁴⁰ as a reminder to the Israelites that no unauthorized person, who is not from the descendants of Aaron, should come near to burn incense before the Lord and become like Korah and his followers. Eleazar the priest did just as the Lord said to him through Moses.

⁴¹ But on the next day the entire Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. They said, “You have killed the people of the Lord!”

⁴² When the community assembled together against Moses and Aaron and turned toward the Tent of Meeting, the cloud covered it, and the Glory of the Lord appeared. ⁴³ Moses and Aaron went in front of the Tent of Meeting. ⁴⁴ The Lord spoke to Moses: ⁴⁵ “Get away from this community so that I may put an end to them instantly!” Moses and Aaron fell facedown to the ground.

⁴⁶ Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer, put fire from the altar in it, place incense on it, go quickly to the community, and make atonement for them, because wrath has gone out from the Lord! The plague has begun.”

⁴⁷ Aaron did as Moses said and ran into the middle of the assembly. The plague had already begun among the people. He put the incense on his censer and made atonement for the people. ⁴⁸ He stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stopped. ⁴⁹ Now those who died by the plague totaled 14,700, besides those who died because of the offense of Korah. ⁵⁰ Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, and the plague was stopped.

Aaron’s Staff Is Chosen

17 The Lord spoke to Moses: ² “Speak to the Israelites, and collect staffs from them, one from each father’s house, from all their tribal chiefs according to their fathers’ houses, twelve staffs in all. Write each man’s name on his staff. ³ Write Aaron’s name on the staff of Levi, because there will be one staff for each head of their fathers’ houses. ⁴ You are to place them in the Tent of Meeting before the Testimony, where I meet with you. ⁵ The staff of the man whom I will choose will sprout. I will rid myself of the Israelites’ constant grumbling against you.”

⁶ So Moses spoke to the Israelites, and each one of their tribal chiefs gave him a staff, one staff for each tribal chief according to their fathers’ houses, twelve staffs in all. Aaron’s staff was among their staffs. ⁷ Moses placed the staffs before the Lord in the Tent of the Testimony.

⁸ On the next day Moses went into the Tent of the Testimony and discovered that Aaron’s staff representing the house of Levi had sprouted, budded, blossomed, and produced almonds. ⁹ Moses brought out all the staffs from the Lord’s presence to all the Israelites. They looked, and each man took his staff.

¹⁰ The Lord said to Moses, “Put Aaron’s staff back in front of the Testimony to be kept as a sign against the rebellious.^[ah] In this way you will put an end to their grumblings against me, so that they do not die.” ¹¹ That is what Moses did. He did just as the Lord commanded him.

¹² The Israelites said to Moses, “Look, we are perishing! We are lost! We are all lost! ¹³ Everyone who approaches the Lord’s Dwelling dies! Must we all perish?”

Duties of the Priests and Levites

18 The Lord gave these directions to Aaron:

You, your sons, and your father’s house with you will bear the guilt for any sins in connection with the sanctuary. You and your sons with you will bear the guilt for any sins in connection with your priesthood. ² Also have your brothers from the tribe of Levi, your father’s tribe, come forward with you so that they may join you and assist you when you and your sons along with you are on duty in front of the Tent of the Testimony. ³ They will perform the duties for you and for the entire tent. However, they are not to go close to the furnishings in the sanctuary or to the altar, so that they and you will not die. ⁴ They are to join you and perform the duties for the Tent of Meeting, to do all the work at the tent. No unauthorized person is to go near you.

⁵ You are to perform the duties for the sanctuary and for the altar so that there will not be any more wrath on the Israelites. ⁶ See, I myself have taken your brothers, the Levites, from among the Israelites. They are a gift to you, given by the Lord, to do the work at the Tent of Meeting. ⁷ But you and your sons with you will keep watch over your priesthood in connection with everything at the altar and inside the veil. You are to do this work. I am giving you your priesthood as a gift. Any unauthorized person who comes near must be put to death.

Offerings to Support the Priests and Levites

⁸ The Lord spoke to Aaron. This is what he said:

See, I myself have put you in charge of the elevated offerings made to me. All of the holy things from the Israelites I have given to you as an allotment and to your sons as a permanent right. ⁹ Part of the most holy things that are not burned in the fire will be yours. Every one of their offerings which they give to me—every one of their grain offerings, every one of their sin offerings, and every one of their restitution offerings—will be most holy for you and your sons. ¹⁰ You will eat it as a most holy thing. Every male may eat of it. It will be holy for you.

¹¹ This is yours too: the elevated offerings from their gifts, including all the wave offerings^[ai] from the Israelites. I have given them to you and to your sons and daughters with you as a permanent right. Everyone who is ceremonially clean in your house may eat it.

¹² All the best oil, all the best wine and grain, the Israelites’ firstfruits which they give to the Lord, I have given them all to you. ¹³ The first ripe produce from everything that is in their land, all that they bring to the Lord, will be yours. Everyone who is ceremonially clean in your house may eat it.

¹⁴ Everything permanently devoted by the Israelites will be yours. ¹⁵ The firstborn from every living thing, human or animal, whatever they present to the Lord, will be yours. However, you must redeem the firstborn of any human. You must also redeem the firstborn of an unclean animal. ¹⁶ When they are one month old, you must redeem them at the set redemption price, five shekels of silver, according to the sanctuary shekel, which weighs twenty gerahs.

¹⁷ However, you may not redeem the firstborn of the cattle, sheep, or goats. They are set aside as holy. You will splash their blood on the altar and turn their fat into smoke as an offering made by fire, with a pleasing aroma to the Lord. ¹⁸ Their meat will be yours. It will be yours just like the breast of the wave offering and the right thigh. ¹⁹ All the elevated offerings of holy things, which the Israelites lift up to the Lord, I have given to you and to your sons and daughters with you as a permanent allotment. It is a permanent covenant of salt^[aj] before the Lord for you and your descendants with you.

²⁰ The Lord also said these things to Aaron:

You will not have any allotment of land among them in the land, and you will not have any share among them. I am your share and your possession among the people of Israel.

²¹ See, I have given all the tithes in Israel to the Levites as a possession in return for their work which they are doing, the work at the Tent of Meeting. ²² The Israelites will never again come near the Tent of Meeting. If they do, they will become responsible for sin and die. ²³ But the Levites are to do the work at the Tent of Meeting, and they will bear their guilt. It will be a permanent regulation throughout your generations to come: They will not have any possession among the Israelites. ²⁴ For the tithe from the Israelites, which they lift up as an elevated offering for the Lord, I have given to the Levites as a possession. Therefore I have said to them, “They will not have any possession among the Israelites.”

²⁵ The Lord told Moses ²⁶ to speak to the Levites and tell them this:

When you receive from the Israelites the tithe, which I have given to you as your possession, you will lift up an elevated offering from it for the Lord, a tenth of the tithe. ²⁷ Your elevated offering will be credited to you, as if it were grain from the threshing floor and abundance from the winepress. ²⁸ In this way you also are to lift up an elevated offering for the Lord from every one of the tithes which you receive from the Israelites. From the tithes, you will give the elevated offering for the Lord to Aaron the priest. ²⁹ You will lift up every elevated offering for the Lord from the things given to you, from all the best, the holiest part of it.

³⁰ Tell the Levites this:

When you lift up the best part of the offering, it will be credited to the Levites as if it were produce from the threshing floor and the winepress. ³¹ You may eat it anywhere, with your household, for it is your wages in return for your work at the Tent of Meeting. ³² You will not become responsible for sin in regard to it when you lift up the best part of it. You will not defile the holy things from the Israelites, and you will not die.

Purification Rites

19 The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron:

² These are requirements of the law which the Lord has commanded.

Tell the Israelites to bring you a red heifer without blemish, one that has no defect and that has never been under a yoke. ³ You are to give it to Eleazar the priest. He is to have it taken outside of the camp and slaughtered in his presence. ⁴ With his finger Eleazar the priest is to take some of its blood and sprinkle it seven times toward the front of the Tent of Meeting. ⁵ The heifer is to be burned in his sight. Its hide, flesh, and blood are to be burned along with its manure. ⁶ The priest will take cedar wood, hyssop, and scarlet yarn and throw them onto the burning heifer. ⁷ Then the priest will wash his clothes and bathe his flesh in water. Afterward he will come into the camp, and the priest will be unclean until evening. ⁸ The one who burns the heifer is to wash his clothing in water and bathe his flesh in water. He will remain unclean until evening.

⁹ A man who is ceremonially clean is to gather up the heifer’s ashes and place them outside of the camp in a clean place. They will be kept for the Israelite congregation to use to make the water for removing impurity.^[ak] It is a sin offering. ¹⁰ The one who gathers the heifer’s ashes is to wash his clothes and be unclean until evening. This will be a permanent regulation for the Israelites and the aliens residing among them.

¹¹ Whoever touches the body of a dead person will be unclean for seven days. ¹² He is to purify himself with the water on the third day, and he will become clean on the seventh day. But if he does not purify himself on the third day, then he will not become clean on the seventh day. ¹³ Anyone who touches a dead human body but does not purify himself defiles the Lord’s Dwelling. That person must be cut off from Israel. He is unclean, because he has not sprinkled himself with the water for removing impurity. His uncleanness is still on him.

¹⁴ This is the law when someone dies in a tent: Everyone who comes into the tent and everyone who is in the tent will be unclean for seven days. ¹⁵ Every open container without a lid on it is unclean.

¹⁶ Anyone in the open countryside who touches someone killed by a sword or someone who has died, or anyone who touches a human bone or a grave, will be unclean for seven days.

¹⁷ For the unclean person, take some of the ashes from the burnt sin offering, put them into a vessel, and add water from a flowing source^[al] to the ashes. ¹⁸ A ceremonially clean person is to take hyssop, dip it in the water, and sprinkle the water on the tent, on all the items, and on the people who were there. He is also to sprinkle it on anyone who has touched someone who was killed or someone who has died and on anyone who has touched a grave or a human bone. ¹⁹ The ceremonially clean person will sprinkle the unclean person on the third day and on the seventh day. On the seventh day, after the ceremonially clean person has purified the unclean person, that person will wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and he will be clean at evening. ²⁰ But anyone who is unclean and refuses to purify himself will be cut off from the midst of the assembly, because he has defiled the sanctuary of the Lord. The water for removing impurity was not sprinkled on him, so he remains unclean. ²¹ This will be a permanent regulation for them. The one who sprinkles the water for removing impurity shall wash his clothing, and whoever touches the water for removing impurity will be unclean until evening.

²² Everything that the unclean person touches will be unclean, and the person who touches those things will be unclean until evening.

The Death of Miriam

20 The people of Israel, the entire community, came to the Wilderness of Zin in the first month, and the people stayed at Kadesh. Miriam died there and was buried there.

Water From the Rock

² There was no water for the community, so they assembled together against Moses and Aaron. ³ The people quarreled with Moses and said, “If only we had perished when our brothers perished before the Lord! ⁴ Why have you brought the Lord’s assembly into this wilderness for us and our livestock to die here? ⁵ Why have you taken us up out of Egypt to bring us into this horrible place? This place does not have grain, figs, vines, or pomegranates. There is no water to drink!”

⁶ Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. They fell facedown. The Glory of the Lord appeared to them. ⁷ The Lord spoke to Moses: ⁸ “Take the staff and assemble the community. You and Aaron, your brother, speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will pour out its water. You will bring water for them from the rock and provide water for the community and their livestock.”

⁹ Moses took the staff from the Lord’s presence just as the Lord commanded him. ¹⁰ Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, “Listen now, you rebels! Must we bring water out of this rock for you?” ¹¹ Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff two times, and a great amount of water gushed out. The congregation and their livestock drank.

¹² Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust me enough to honor me as holy in the eyes of the Israelites, therefore you will not bring this assembly into this land which I have given to them.”

¹³ These are the waters of Meribah,^[am] because there the Israelites quarreled with the Lord, and through them he showed himself to be holy.

Edom Denies Israel Passage

¹⁴ Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom to say, “This is what your brother Israel says: You know all the hardship that has come upon us. ¹⁵ Our ancestors went down to Egypt, and we lived in Egypt for a long time. The Egyptians mistreated us and our ancestors. ¹⁶ When we cried to the Lord, he heard our voice, sent an angel, and brought us out of Egypt. So look, here we are in Kadesh, a city on the edge of your territory. ¹⁷ Please let us pass through your land. We will not pass through any field or vineyard. We will not drink water from any well. We will go on the King’s Highway. We will not turn to the right or to the left until we have passed through your territory.”

¹⁸ Edom said to him, “You must not pass through our territory, or we will go out to meet you with the sword.”

¹⁹ The Israelites said to them, “We will go up on the main road. If we drink your water, we and our herds of livestock, then we will pay for it. Just let us pass through on foot, nothing else.”

²⁰ Edom said, “You will not pass through.” Edom went out to meet them with a large force of many people. ²¹ Edom refused to give Israel passage through their territory, so Israel turned away from them.

The Death of Aaron

²² The entire community of the Israelites set out from Kadesh and came to Mount Hor. ²³ The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron at Mount Hor along the border of Edom’s territory. He said, ²⁴ “Aaron will be gathered to his people, because he cannot enter into the land which I have given to the Israelites, because you rebelled against my command at the waters of Meribah. ²⁵ Take Aaron and Eleazar his son and bring them up to the top of Mount Hor. ²⁶ Remove Aaron’s garments and put them on Eleazar his son. Aaron will be gathered to his fathers and die there.”

²⁷ Moses did just as the Lord commanded. They went up to the top of Mount Hor in the sight of the entire community. ²⁸ Moses removed Aaron’s garments and put them on Eleazar his son. Aaron died there on the top of the mountain, and Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain. ²⁹ When the entire community saw that Aaron had passed away, the entire house of Israel wept for Aaron for thirty days.

Arad Destroyed

21 The Canaanite king of Arad, who lived in the Negev, heard that Israel was coming on the road to Atharim. He fought against Israel and captured some of them. ² Israel made this vow to the Lord: “If you will indeed give these people into our hands, then we will totally destroy their cities.” ³ The Lord listened to Israel’s voice and gave the Canaanites into their hands. The Israelites totally destroyed them and their cities. They named the place Hormah.^[an]

The Bronze Snake

⁴ They set out from Mount Hor along the road to the Red Sea to go around the land of Edom, but the people became very impatient along the way. ⁵ The people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? Look, there is no food! There is no water! And we are disgusted by this worthless food!”^[ao]

⁶ The Lord sent venomous^[ap] snakes among the people, and the snakes bit the people. As a result many people from Israel died. ⁷ The people went to Moses and said, “We have sinned, because we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord to take the snakes away from us.” So Moses prayed on behalf of the people.