Bible in 90 Days

¹⁵ And afterwards the Levites will go in to do the service of the tent of meeting, and you will cleanse them and offer them as a wave offering. ¹⁶ For they are completely set aside for Me by the children of Israel. Instead of all who open the womb, instead of the firstborn of all the children of Israel, I have taken them for Myself. ¹⁷ For all the firstborn of the children of Israel are Mine, both man and animal. On the day that I struck every firstborn in the land of Egypt I sanctified them for Myself. ¹⁸ I have taken the Levites instead of all the firstborn of the children of Israel. ¹⁹ I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and to his sons from among the children of Israel, to serve the service of the children of Israel in the tent of meeting and to make an atonement for the children of Israel, so there will be no plague among the children of Israel when the children of Israel approach the sanctuary.

²⁰ Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the children of Israel did to the Levites; according to all that the Lord commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so the children of Israel did to them. ²¹ The Levites cleansed themselves from sin, and they washed their clothes, and Aaron offered them as a wave offering before the Lord, and Aaron made an atonement for them to cleanse them. ²² And after that the Levites went in to do their service in the tent of meeting before Aaron and before his sons. As the Lord had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so they did to them.

²³ The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²⁴ This is what belongs to the Levites: From twenty-five years old and older they will go in to do their duty concerning the service of the tent of meeting. ²⁵ And from the age of fifty years they will cease doing their duty concerning its service and will serve no more. ²⁶ But they will minister with their brothers in the tent of meeting, to attend to their needs, but will not do the work. Thus you will do to the Levites concerning their duties.

The Passover at Sinai

9 And the Lord spoke to Moses in the Wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of the second year after they came out of the land of Egypt, saying: ² Let the children of Israel also keep the Passover at its appointed time. ³ On the fourteenth day of this month, at evening, you will keep it at its appointed time. According to all its rites and according to all its ceremonies, you will keep it.

⁴ Moses spoke to the children of Israel, that they should keep the Passover. ⁵ They kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month at evening in the Wilderness of Sinai. According to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so the children of Israel did.

⁶ There were men who were unclean by the dead body of a man, so they could not keep the Passover on that day, and they came before Moses and before Aaron on that day. ⁷ And those men said to him, “We are defiled by the dead body of a man. Why are we kept back, that we may not offer an offering of the Lord at its appointed time among the children of Israel?”

⁸ And Moses said to them, “Stand still, and I will hear what the Lord will command concerning you.”

⁹ The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ¹⁰ Speak to the children of Israel, saying: If any man of you or of your posterity is unclean because of a dead body, or is far off on a journey, he will still keep the Passover to the Lord. ¹¹ The fourteenth day of the second month at evening they will keep it, and eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. ¹² They will leave none of it until the morning, nor break any of its bones. According to all the ordinances of the Passover they will keep it. ¹³ But the man who is ceremonially clean, and is not on a journey, and fails to keep the Passover, even the same person will be cut off from his people. Because he did not bring the offering of the Lord at its appointed time, that man will bear his sin.

¹⁴ If a stranger will sojourn among you and will keep the Passover to the Lord, according to the ordinance of the Passover, and according to the manner of it, so he will do. You will have one ordinance both for the resident alien and for the natural born citizen of the land.

The Cloud and the Fire

¹⁵ And on the day that the tabernacle was erected, the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the testimony, and at evening there was over the tabernacle the appearance of fire until the morning. ¹⁶ So it was always. The cloud covered it by day, and the appearance of fire by night. ¹⁷ When the cloud was lifted up from over the tabernacle, then after it the children of Israel journeyed, and in the place where the cloud settled, there the children of Israel camped. ¹⁸ At the commandment of the Lord the children of Israel journeyed, and at the commandment of the Lord they camped. As long as the cloud dwelt over the tabernacle they camped. ¹⁹ When the cloud remained many days over the tabernacle, then the children of Israel kept the charge of the Lord and did not journey. ²⁰ When the cloud remained a few days over the tabernacle, according to the commandment of the Lord they dwelt in their tents, and according to the commandment of the Lord they journeyed. ²¹ When the cloud dwelt from evening until morning and the cloud was lifted up in the morning, then they journeyed. Whether it was by day or by night that the cloud was lifted up, they journeyed. ²² Whether it was two days, or a month, or a long time that the cloud dwelt over the tabernacle, the children of Israel dwelt in their tents and did not journey. But when it was lifted up they journeyed. ²³ At the command of the Lord they camped, and at the command of the Lord they journeyed. They kept the charge of the Lord at the command of the Lord by the hand of Moses.

The Silver Trumpets

10 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ² Make for yourself two silver trumpets. Of a hammered work you will make them, and you will use them for summoning of the assembly and directing the breaking up of the camps. ³ When they blow both of them, all the assembly will assemble themselves to you at the door of the tent of meeting. ⁴ If they blow only one, then the leaders, who are heads of the thousands of Israel, will gather themselves to you. ⁵ When you blow an alarm, then the camps that lie on the east will set out. ⁶ When you blow an alarm the second time, then the camps that lie on the south will set out. They will blow an alarm for their setting out. ⁷ But when the assembly is to be gathered together, you will blow, but you will not sound an alarm.

⁸ The sons of Aaron, the priests, will blow the trumpets, and they will be to you as an ordinance forever throughout your generations. ⁹ And if you go to war in your land against the enemy that oppresses you, then you will blow an alarm with the trumpets, and you will be remembered before the Lord your God, and you will be saved from your enemies. ¹⁰ Also in the day of your gladness, and at your appointed days, and in the beginnings of your months, you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings, and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings that they may be a memorial for you before your God. I am the Lord your God.

The Departure From Sinai

¹¹ And it was on the twentieth day of the second month, in the second year, that the cloud was lifted up from over the tabernacle of the testimony. ¹² The children of Israel set out from the Wilderness of Sinai. And the cloud dwelt in the Wilderness of Paran. ¹³ And they set out for the first time at the command of the Lord by the hand of Moses.

¹⁴ And the standard of the camp of the sons of Judah set out first by their armies, and over his armies was Nahshon the son of Amminadab. ¹⁵ Over the armies of the tribe of the children of Issachar was Nethanel the son of Zuar. ¹⁶ Over the armies of the tribe of the children of Zebulun was Eliab the son of Helon. ¹⁷ The tabernacle was taken down, and the sons of Gershon and the sons of Merari set out, carrying the tabernacle.

¹⁸ The standard of the camp of Reuben set out by their armies, and over his armies was Elizur the son of Shedeur. ¹⁹ Over the armies of the tribe of the children of Simeon was Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai. ²⁰ Over the armies of the tribe of the children of Gad was Eliasaph the son of Deuel. ²¹ The Kohathites set out, carrying the sanctuary, and they set up the tabernacle before they came.

²² The standard of the camp of the children of Ephraim set out by their armies, and over his armies was Elishama the son of Ammihud. ²³ Over the armies of the tribe of the children of Manasseh was Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur. ²⁴ Over the armies of the tribe of the children of Benjamin was Abidan the son of Gideoni.

²⁵ Then the standard of the camp of the children of Dan set out, which was the rear guard of all the camps by their armies, and over his armies was Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai. ²⁶ Over the armies of the tribe of the children of Asher was Pagiel the son of Okran. ²⁷ Over the armies of the tribe of the children of Naphtali was Ahira the son of Enan. ²⁸ This was the order of march of the children of Israel, company by company, when 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 of which the Lord said, ‘I will give it to you.’ Come with us, and we will do good to you because the Lord has spoken good concerning Israel.”

³⁰ Hobab said to him, “I will not go. But I will depart to my own land, and to my kindred.”

³¹ So Moses said, “Please do not leave us, because you know where to camp in the wilderness, and you may be our eyes. ³² Moreover, if you go with us, then it will be that whatever good the Lord will do for us, we will likewise do for you.”

³³ They set out three days from the mountain of the Lord, and the ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them the three days’ journey, to find a resting place for them. ³⁴ And the cloud of the Lord was over them by day when they set out from of the camp.

³⁵ And it was, when the ark set out, that Moses said,

³⁶ And when it rested, he said,

Complaints in the Desert

11 Now when the people complained openly before the Lord, the Lord heard, and His anger burned. Then the fire of the Lord burned among them and consumed the outskirts of the camp. ² And the people cried out to Moses, and Moses prayed to the Lord, and the fire was quenched. ³ He called the name of the place Taberah because the fire of the Lord burned among them.

⁴ The mixed multitude that was among them lusted, and the children of Israel wept again and said, “Who will give us meat to eat? ⁵ We remember the fish, which we ate in Egypt for free, the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic. ⁶ But now our life is dried up. There is nothing at all except this manna before our eyes.”

⁷ The manna was as coriander seed, and it looked like bdellium. ⁸ The people went about and gathered it, and ground it in mills or beat it in a mortar, and boiled it in pots, and made cakes of it, and the taste of it was like the taste of cakes baked in oil. ⁹ When the dew fell on the camp at night, the manna fell on it.

¹⁰ Then Moses heard the people weep throughout their families, every man in the opening of his tent, and the anger of the Lord burned greatly. Moses was also displeased. ¹¹ Moses said to the Lord, “Why have You hurt Your servant? And why have I not found favor in Your eyes, that You lay the burden of all this people on me? ¹² Have I conceived all this people? Have I given them birth, that You should say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse bears the nursing child,’ to the land which You swore to their fathers? ¹³ Where am I to get meat to give to all these people? For they weep to me, saying, ‘Give us meat, that we may eat.’ ¹⁴ I am not able to bear all these people alone, because the burden is too heavy for me. ¹⁵ If You do this to me, please kill me at once, if I have found favor in Your eyes, and do not let me see my misery.”

The Seventy Elders

¹⁶ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Gather to Me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people, and officers over them, and bring them to the tent of meeting, that they may take a stand there with you. ¹⁷ And I will come down, and I will speak with you there, and I will take of the Spirit which is on you and will put it on them, and they will bear the burden of the people with you, and you will not bear it by yourself.

¹⁸ “And say to the people: Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat, for you have wept in the hearing of the Lord, saying, ‘Who will give us meat to eat? For it was better for us in Egypt.’ Therefore the Lord will give you meat, and you shall eat. ¹⁹ You shall eat, not one day, or two days, or five days, or ten days, or twenty days, ²⁰ but a whole month, until it comes out at your nostrils, and it will be nauseating to you because you rejected the Lord who is among you and have wept before Him, saying, ‘Why did we come out of Egypt?’ ”

²¹ And Moses said, “The people I am with number six hundred thousand foot soldiers, and You have said, ‘I will give them meat that they may eat a whole month.’ ²² Will the flocks and the herds be slaughtered for them, to satisfy them? Or will all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to satisfy them?”

²³ And the Lord said to Moses, “Is the hand of the Lord shortened? Now you will see if My word will happen to you or not.”

²⁴ Moses went out, and he spoke to the people the words of the Lord and gathered the seventy men of the elders of the people and set them around the tabernacle. ²⁵ And the Lord came down in a cloud, and spoke to him, and took of the Spirit that was on him, and gave it to the seventy elders, and when the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied, but did not do it again.

²⁶ But two men remained in the camp. The name of one was Eldad, and the name of the other, Medad. And the Spirit rested on them. They were among those listed, but they had not gone out to the tent, and so they prophesied in the camp. ²⁷ And a young man ran and told Moses and said, “Eldad and Medad prophesy in the camp.”

²⁸ Then Joshua the son of Nun, the assistant of Moses from his youth, answered and said, “My lord Moses, forbid them.”

²⁹ Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for my sake? Oh, that all the people of the Lord were prophets, and that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them!” ³⁰ And Moses returned to the camp, he and the elders of Israel.

The Lord Sends Quail

³¹ Now a wind from the Lord started up, and it swept quail from the sea and let them fall beside the camp, about a day’s journey on this side and a day’s journey on the other side, around the camp, and about two cubits^[a] above the ground. ³² And the people stayed up all that day, all night, and all the next day, and gathered the quail. Those who gathered least gathered ten homers.^[b] And they spread them out for themselves all around the camp. ³³ While the meat was between their teeth, before it was chewed, the anger of the Lord burned against the people, and the Lord struck the people with a very great slaughter. ³⁴ And he called the name of that place Kibroth Hattaavah because there they buried the people who had the craving.

³⁵ The people journeyed from Kibroth Hattaavah to Hazeroth, and they camped at Hazeroth.

Miriam and Aaron Oppose Moses

12 And Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he married, for he had married a Cushite woman. ² They said, “Has the Lord spoken only by Moses? Has He not spoken also by us?” And the Lord heard it.

³ (Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all the men on the face of the earth.)

⁴ And the Lord spoke at once to Moses and to Aaron and to Miriam, “Come out, you three, to the tent of meeting.” And those three came out. ⁵ The Lord came down in a pillar of cloud, and stood in the opening of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam, and they both came forward. ⁶ He said, “Hear now My word.

⁹ And the anger of the Lord burned against them, and He set out.

¹⁰ When the cloud went away from over the tabernacle, Miriam became leprous as snow, and Aaron turned toward Miriam and saw that she was leprous. ¹¹ Aaron said to Moses, “Alas, my lord, do not lay the sin on us, which we have done foolishly, and which we have sinned. ¹² Do not let her be as dead, who when he goes out of his mother’s womb half his flesh is eaten.”

¹³ And Moses cried out to the Lord, saying, “O God, heal her, I pray!”

¹⁴ But the Lord said to Moses, “If her father had but spit in her face, would she not be ashamed seven days? Let her be shut out of the camp seven days, and afterward she may be received again.” ¹⁵ Miriam was shut out from the camp seven days, and the people did not set out until Miriam was brought in again.

¹⁶ Afterward the people set out from Hazeroth and camped in the Wilderness of Paran.

Spying in Canaan

13 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Send men that they may explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel. Of every tribe of their fathers you will send a man, each one a chief among them.”

³ And Moses sent them from the Wilderness of Paran according to the Lord. All those men were heads of the children of Israel. ⁴ These were their names:

¹⁶ These are the names of the men whom Moses sent to explore the land. And Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun Joshua.

¹⁷ Moses sent them to explore the land of Canaan and said to them, “Go up to this southland, and go up into the mountain. ¹⁸ And see what the land is, and the people that dwell in it, whether they are strong or weak, few or many; ¹⁹ and what the land is that they dwell in, whether it is good or bad, and what cities are that they dwell in, whether in tents, or in fortifications; ²⁰ and what the land is, whether it is fat or lean, whether there is wood in it or not. And you be courageous and bring some of the fruit of the land.” Now the time was the time of the first ripe grapes.

²¹ So they went up and explored the land from the Wilderness of Zin to Rehob, near Lebo Hamath. ²² They went up by the Negev and came to Hebron where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, were (now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt). ²³ And they came to the Valley of Eshkol, and cut down from there a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they carried it on a pole between two of them, and they brought some of the pomegranates and of the figs. ²⁴ The place was called the Valley of Eshkol because of the cluster of grapes which the children of Israel cut down from there. ²⁵ They returned from exploring the land after forty days.

The Spies’ Report

²⁶ And they returned and came to Moses and to Aaron and to all the assembly of the children of Israel, to the Wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh, and brought back word to them and to the entire assembly and showed them the fruit of the land. ²⁷ They reported to him and said, “We came to the land where you sent us, and surely it flows with milk and honey, and this is the fruit of it. ²⁸ However, the people are strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are fortified and very great, and also we saw the children of Anak there. ²⁹ The Amalekites dwell in the land of the Negev, and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the mountains, and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and by the edge of the Jordan.”

³⁰ Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “Let us go up at once and possess it, for we are able to overcome it.”

³¹ But the men that went up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people because they are stronger than we.” ³² They gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. ³³ And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come from the giants, and in our eyes we were like grasshoppers, and so we were in their eyes.”

Israel Refuses to Enter Canaan

14 And the whole assembly lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night. ² All the children of Israel grumbled against Moses and against Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, “O that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or that we had died in this wilderness! ³ And why has the Lord brought us to this land to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should become prey? Is it not better for us to return to Egypt?” ⁴ And they said one to another, “Let us select a leader, and let us return to Egypt.”

⁵ Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the congregation of the assembly of the children of Israel. ⁶ Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, from the ones who explored the land, tore their clothes. ⁷ And they spoke to all the assembly of the children of Israel, saying, “The land which we passed through to explore it is a very, very good land. ⁸ If the Lord delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land which flows with milk and honey. ⁹ Only do not rebel against the Lord, nor fear the people of the land because they are bread for us. Their defense is gone from them, and the Lord is with us. Do not fear them.”

¹⁰ But all the assembly said, “Stone them with stones.” And the glory of the Lord appeared at the tent of meeting before all the children of Israel. ¹¹ The Lord said to Moses, “How long will this people disgrace Me? And how long will they not believe Me, in spite of all the signs which I have done among them? ¹² I will strike them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make from you a nation greater and mightier than they.”

Moses Intercedes for the People

¹³ Moses said to the Lord, “Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for by Your power You brought this people up from among them, ¹⁴ and they will say to the inhabitants of this land that they heard that You, Lord, are among this people, that You, Lord, are seen face to face, and Your cloud stands over them, and in the pillar of cloud You go before them by day and by a pillar of fire at night. ¹⁵ Now if You kill all this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of You will speak, saying, ¹⁶ ‘The Lord was not able to bring this people into the land which He swore to them, so He slaughtered them in the wilderness.’

¹⁷ “So now, I pray, let the power of my Lord be great, just as You have spoken, saying, ¹⁸ ‘The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but He will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation.’ ¹⁹ Pardon the iniquity of this people, I pray, according to the greatness of Your grace, just as You have pardoned this people, from Egypt even until now.”

²⁰ The Lord said, “I have forgiven according to your word. ²¹ But truly as I live, all the earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord. ²² Because all those men seeing My glory and My signs which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted Me now these ten times, and have not listened to My voice, ²³ surely they will not see the land which I swore to their fathers, nor will any of them who disgraced Me see it. ²⁴ But My servant Caleb, because he had a different spirit with him and followed Me fully, I will bring him into the land where he went, and his seed will possess it. ²⁵ Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites lived in the valley. Tomorrow you will turn, and you will set out for the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea.”

Death of Rebels Predicted

²⁶ The Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying: ²⁷ How long will this evil assembly be murmuring against Me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel which they murmur against Me. ²⁸ Say to them, “As I live,” says the Lord, “just as you have spoken in My ears, so I will do to you. ²⁹ In this wilderness your corpses will fall, and all who were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, who have murmured against Me, ³⁰ you will not go into the land which I swore by My hand to cause you to dwell in it, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. ³¹ But your children, whom you said would be a prey, I will bring them in and they will know the land, which you rejected. ³² But as for you, your corpses will fall in this wilderness. ³³ Your children will be shepherds in the wilderness forty years, and they will suffer for your fornications, until your corpses are in the wilderness. ³⁴ According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, a year for each day you will bear your iniquity, forty years, and you will know My displeasure.” ³⁵ I the Lord have spoken. I will surely do this to all this evil assembly gathered against Me. In this wilderness they will be finished, and there they will die.

³⁶ The men whom Moses sent to explore the land, who returned and made all the assembly murmur against him by bringing up an evil report about the land, ³⁷ the men who brought an evil report about the land, died by the pestilence before the Lord. ³⁸ But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, from the men that went to explore the land, lived.

Defeat in Battle

³⁹ Moses spoke these words to all the children of Israel, and the people mourned greatly. ⁴⁰ They rose up early in the morning, and they went up to the top of the mountain, saying, “Here we are. We will go up to the place which the Lord has promised, for we have sinned.”

⁴¹ Moses said, “Why do you now transgress the commandment of the Lord? This will not prosper. ⁴² Do not go up, for the Lord is not among you; do not let yourselves be defeated by your enemies. ⁴³ For the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you, and you will fall by the sword because you are turned from the Lord, and the Lord will not be with you.”

⁴⁴ But they presumed to go up to the top of the mountain. But the ark of the covenant of the Lord and Moses did not depart from the midst of the camp. ⁴⁵ Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who dwelt on that mountain went down and defeated them, pursuing them as far as Hormah.

Laws of Grain and Drink Offerings

15 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ² Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: When you come into the land of your dwelling, which I am giving to you, ³ when you make an offering by fire to the Lord, a burnt offering, or a sacrifice in performing a vow, or as a freewill offering, or in your appointed feasts, to make a pleasing aroma to the Lord, of the herd or of the flock, ⁴ then he who brings his offering to the Lord will bring a grain offering of a tenth of an ephah^[c] of flour mixed with the fourth part of a hin^[d] of oil. ⁵ One-fourth of a hin of wine as a drink offering you will prepare with the burnt offering or sacrifice, for each lamb.

⁶ Or for a ram, you will make a grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah^[e] of flour mixed with one-third of a hin^[f] of oil. ⁷ As a drink offering you will offer one-third of a hin of wine, as a pleasing aroma to the Lord.

⁸ When you prepare a bull as a burnt offering, or as a sacrifice in performing a vow, or as a peace offering to the Lord, ⁹ then shall be brought with the bull a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah^[g] of flour mixed with one-half a hin^[h] of oil. ¹⁰ You will bring as a drink offering one-half a hin of wine, as a fire offering, as a pleasing aroma to the Lord. ¹¹ Thus it will be done for one herd animal, or for one ram, or for a flock animal, whether from the sheep or from the goats. ¹² According to the number that you will make, so you will do for every one according to their number.

¹³ Every native Israelite will do these things in this manner, in offering a fire offering as a pleasing aroma to the Lord. ¹⁴ A foreigner who lives with you, or who resides among you throughout your generations, and would present a fire offering, a pleasing aroma to the Lord, shall do as you do. ¹⁵ One ordinance will be for you of the assembly and for the foreigner who lives with you, an ordinance forever throughout your generations. As you are, so will the foreigner be before the Lord. ¹⁶ One law and one justice will be for you and for the foreigner who lives with you.

¹⁷ The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ¹⁸ Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: When you come into the land where I bring you, ¹⁹ then it will be, when you eat of the bread of the land you will offer up an offering to the Lord. ²⁰ From the first of your dough you will offer a cake as an offering. As you make the offering of the threshing floor, so will you offer it. ²¹ Of the first of your dough you will give to the Lord an offering throughout your generations.

Laws About Unintentional Sins

²² If you have erred and not observed all these commandments which the Lord has spoken to Moses, ²³ even all that the Lord has commanded you by the hand of Moses, from the day that the Lord commanded Moses and onward through your generations, ²⁴ then it will be, if it is committed by ignorance without the knowledge of the assembly, that all the assembly will offer one young bull as a burnt offering, as a pleasing aroma to the Lord, with its grain offering and its drink offering, according to the rule, and one kid of the goats as a sin offering. ²⁵ The priest will make atonement for all the assembly of the children of Israel, and it will be forgiven them because it is ignorance, and they will bring their offering, a sacrifice made by fire to the Lord, and their sin offering before the Lord, for their ignorance. ²⁶ And it will be forgiven all the assembly of the children of Israel and the foreigner who lives among them, because all the people were in ignorance.

²⁷ If a person sins unintentionally, then he will bring a year-old female goat as a sin offering. ²⁸ The priest will make an atonement for the person who sins unintentionally, when he sins by ignorance before the Lord, to make an atonement for him; and it will be forgiven him. ²⁹ You shall have one law for the person who acts through ignorance, for the natural-born citizen among the children of Israel and foreigner who lives in your midst.

Laws About Intentional Sins

³⁰ But the person who acts by a high hand, the natural-born citizen or the foreigner, the same reviles the Lord, and that person will be cut off from among his people. ³¹ Because he has despised the word of the Lord and has broken His commandment, that person will be totally cut off. His iniquity will be on him.

The Sabbath-Breaker Executed

³² While the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man who gathered sticks on the Sabbath day. ³³ The ones who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron and to all the assembly. ³⁴ They put him in confinement because it was not declared what should be done to him. ³⁵ The Lord said to Moses, “The man will surely die. All the assembly will stone him with stones outside the camp.” ³⁶ All the assembly brought him outside the camp and stoned him with stones, and he died as the Lord commanded Moses.

Tassels on Garments

³⁷ The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ³⁸ Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them to make for themselves tassels on the corners of their garments throughout the generations to come, and they will put a ribbon of blue on the corners of their garments. ³⁹ And it will be for you a tassel, and you will see it, and you will remember all the commandments of the Lord, and you will do them, and you will not follow the lust of your own heart and your own eyes. ⁴⁰ So shall you remember and do all My commandments, and be holy to your God. ⁴¹ I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: I am the Lord your God.

Opposition to Moses and Aaron

16 Now Korah the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men, ² and they rose up before Moses and men of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty chiefs of the assembly, famous in the assembly, well-known men. ³ They assembled against Moses and against Aaron, and said to them, “You take too much upon yourselves, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. So why do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?”

⁴ And when Moses heard it, he fell on his face, ⁵ and he spoke to Korah and to all his company, saying, “In the morning the Lord will show who is His and who is holy, and He will bring him to come near to Him. Whom He has chosen He will bring near to Him. ⁶ Do this: Take censers, Korah and all his company; ⁷ put fire in them, and put incense in them before the Lord tomorrow, and it will be that the man whom the Lord chooses, he will be holy. You take too much upon yourselves, sons of Levi.”

⁸ Moses said to Korah, “Listen, please, sons of Levi. ⁹ Does it seem a small thing to you that the God of Israel has separated you from the assembly of Israel to bring you near to Himself to do the service of the tabernacle of the Lord, and to stand before the assembly to minister to them? ¹⁰ And He has brought you near to Him, and all your brothers, the sons of Levi, with you, and you also seek the priesthood? ¹¹ Therefore both you and all your company are gathered together against the Lord, and who is Aaron that you murmur against him?”

¹² And Moses sent for Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, who said, “We will not come up. ¹³ Is it a small thing that you have brought us up out of a land that flows with milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness because you make yourself a prince over us? ¹⁴ Moreover you have not brought us into a land that flows with milk and honey nor given us inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you put out the eyes of these men? We will not come up.”

¹⁵ Moses was very angry and said to the Lord, “Do not respect their offering. I have not taken one donkey from them, nor have I hurt one of them.”

¹⁶ Moses said to Korah, “You and all your company be before the Lord, you and them and Aaron, tomorrow. ¹⁷ Let each man take his censer and put incense in it, and each of you bring his censer before the Lord, two hundred and fifty censers. Also you and Aaron shall each bring his censer.” ¹⁸ Every man took his censer and put fire in it, and laid incense on it, and stood at the door of the tent of meeting with Moses and Aaron. ¹⁹ Korah gathered all the assembly against them to the door of the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord appeared to all the assembly. ²⁰ The Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying: ²¹ Separate yourselves from among this assembly, that I may consume them in a moment.

²² They fell on their faces and said, “O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, will one man sin and You will be angry with all the assembly?”

²³ And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²⁴ Speak to the assembly, saying: Get up from around the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.

²⁵ Moses rose up and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him. ²⁶ He spoke to the assembly, saying, “Depart now from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest you be swept away for all their sins.” ²⁷ So they got up from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, on every side, and Dathan and Abiram came out and stood in the opening of their tents, and their wives, and their sons, and their children.

²⁸ Moses said, “By this you will know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works, because I have not done them of my own mind. ²⁹ If these men die the common death of all men, or if they are visited after the visitation of all men, then the Lord has not sent me. ³⁰ But if the Lord makes a new thing, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into the pit, then you will know that these men have despised the Lord.”

³¹ So it was, when he finished speaking all these words, that the ground that was under them split open. ³² And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, and their houses, and all the men that belonged to Korah, and all their goods. ³³ And they and all that belonged to them went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed on them, and they perished from among the assembly. ³⁴ All Israel that was around them fled at their cry because they said, “The earth will swallow us also.”

³⁵ A fire went out from the Lord and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense.

³⁶ The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ³⁷ Tell Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest to take up the censers out of the blaze, for they are holy. Then scatter the fire far and wide. ³⁸ As for the censers of these men who have sinned at the cost of their own lives, make them into hammered plates as a covering for the altar, for they presented them before the Lord and they are holy. They shall be a sign to the children of Israel.

³⁹ So Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers, which those who were burned had offered, and they were hammered out as a covering on the altar, ⁴⁰ to be a memorial to the children of Israel, that no outsider, who is not of the descendants of Aaron, shall approach to offer incense before the Lord, that he might not become like Korah and his company, as the Lord has said to him through Moses.

The People Complain

⁴¹ But the next day all the assembly of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron, saying, “You have killed the people of the Lord.”

⁴² When the assembly was gathered against Moses and Aaron, they looked toward the tent of meeting. The cloud covered it, and the glory of the Lord appeared. ⁴³ Moses and Aaron went before the tent of meeting. ⁴⁴ And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ⁴⁵ “Get up from among this assembly, that I may destroy them in a moment.” And they fell on their faces.

⁴⁶ Moses said to Aaron, “Take a censer and put fire in it from off the altar, and put in incense, and go quickly to the assembly, and make an atonement for them, because wrath has gone out from the Lord. The plague has begun.” ⁴⁷ Aaron took it as Moses commanded and ran into the midst of the assembly, where the plague had begun among the people. He put in incense and made an atonement for the people. ⁴⁸ He stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stopped. ⁴⁹ Now those who died in the plague were fourteen thousand seven hundred, besides those that died concerning the thing of Korah. ⁵⁰ Aaron returned to Moses, to the door of the tent of meeting, and the plague was stopped.

The Budding of Aaron’s Rod

17 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ² Speak to the children of Israel, and take from them a rod, a rod for the house of their fathers, from all their leaders according to the house of their fathers, twelve rods. Write each man’s name on his rod. ³ You will write the name of Aaron on the rod of Levi, because one rod will be for each father’s house. ⁴ You will lay them in the tent of meeting before the testimony, where I will meet with you. ⁵ It will be that the rod of the man whom I choose will bud. Thus I will rid myself of the complaints of the children of Israel, that they have been making against you.

⁶ Moses spoke to the children of Israel, and each one of their leaders gave him a rod, one for each leader, according to their fathers’ houses, even twelve rods, and the rod of Aaron was among their rods. ⁷ Moses laid the rods before the Lord in the tent of witness.

⁸ When Moses went into the tent of witness the next day, the rod of Aaron, for the house of Levi, had sprouted. It brought forth buds, produced blossoms, and yielded almonds. ⁹ Moses brought out all the rods from before the Lord to all the children of Israel, and they looked, and each man took his rod.

¹⁰ The Lord said to Moses, “Return the rod of Aaron before the testimony, to be kept for a warning to rebels, that you may put an end to their complaints before Me, or else they will die.” ¹¹ Moses did so. As the Lord commanded him, so he did.

¹² The children of Israel spoke to Moses, saying, “Behold, we expire, we perish, we all perish. ¹³ Anyone approaching the tabernacle of the Lord will die. Are we all to perish?”

Duties of Priests and Levites

18 And the Lord said to Aaron: You and your sons and your father’s house with you will bear the iniquity of the sanctuary, and you and your sons with you will bear the iniquity of your priesthood. ² Your brothers also of the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, bring with you, and let them be joined with you, and minister to you. But you and your sons with you will minister before the tent of witness. ³ They will perform duties for you and for the whole tent; but they will not come near the vessels of the sanctuary or the altar, so that neither they nor you die. ⁴ They will be joined to you and perform the duties of the tent of meeting, for all the service of the tent; no foreigner will come near you.

⁵ You yourselves will perform the duties of the sanctuary and the duties of the altar, so that wrath may never come upon the children of Israel again. ⁶ I Myself have taken your brothers, the Levites, from among the children of Israel; they are given to you as a gift from the Lord to perform the service of the tent of meeting. ⁷ And you and your sons with you will attend to your priesthood for everything at the altar, and within the veil, and you will serve. I have given your priesthood to you as a gift service, and the foreigner that comes near will be put to death.

Offerings for Priests and Levites

⁸ The Lord spoke to Aaron: I have certainly given you the charge of the offerings made to Me, all the hallowed gifts of the children of Israel. To you and to your sons have I given them as a portion, as an ordinance forever. ⁹ This will be yours of the most holy things, reserved from the fire: All of their offerings, all of their grain offerings and all of their sin offerings, and all of their guilt offerings, which they render to Me, will be most holy for you and for your sons. ¹⁰ In a most holy place shall you eat it; every male shall eat it. It shall be holy to you.

¹¹ This is yours: the offering of their gift, with all the wave offerings of the children of Israel. I have given them to you and to your sons and to your daughters with you, as an eternal statute. Everyone who is clean in your house will eat of it.

¹² All the best of the oil, and all the best of the wine, and of the wheat, the first fruits of what they will offer to the Lord, those have I given to you. ¹³ The first ripe fruit of all which is in their land, which they will bring to the Lord, will be yours. Everyone who is clean in your house will eat of it.

¹⁴ Everything devoted in Israel will be yours. ¹⁵ Everything that opens the womb of all flesh, which they bring to the Lord, whether it is of men or animals, will be yours. However, you will surely redeem the firstborn of man, and the firstborn of unclean beasts you will redeem. ¹⁶ Their redemption price, reckoned from one month of age, is five shekels,^[i] after the shekel of the sanctuary, which is twenty gerahs.

¹⁷ But the firstborn of a herd animal, or the firstborn of a sheep, or the firstborn of a goat, you will not redeem. They are holy. You will splash their blood on the altar and will burn their fat as a fire offering, as a pleasing aroma to the Lord. ¹⁸ Their flesh will be yours, as the wave breast and as the right shoulder are yours. ¹⁹ All the offerings of the holy things which the children of Israel offer to the Lord I have given to you, and to your sons and your daughters with you, as an eternal statute. It is a covenant of salt forever before the Lord, to you and to your seed with you.

²⁰ The Lord said to Aaron: You will not have an inheritance in their land, nor will you have any territory among them. I am your territory and your inheritance among the children of Israel.

Tithes for Supporting the Levites

²¹ I have given the children of Levi all the tithes in Israel for an inheritance, for their service, which they serve, even the service of the tent of meeting. ²² Hereafter, the children of Israel shall not come near the tent of meeting, lest they bear sin and die. ²³ But the Levites will do the service of the tent of meeting, and they will bear their iniquity. It will be an eternal statute throughout your generations, that among the children of Israel they have no inheritance. ²⁴ But the tithes of the children of Israel, which they offer as an offering to the Lord, I have given to the Levites to inherit. Therefore I have said to them, among the children of Israel they will have no inheritance.

The Tithe of the Levites

²⁵ The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²⁶ You will speak to the Levites, and say to them: When you take from the children of Israel the tithes that I have given you from them for your inheritance, then you will offer up an offering of it to the Lord, even one-tenth of the tithe. ²⁷ And this offering will be counted to you, as though it was the grain of the threshing floor, and as the fullness of the winepress. ²⁸ Thus you also will set apart an offering to the Lord from all the tithes which you receive from the children of Israel. Out of them you will give the offering of the Lord to Aaron the priest. ²⁹ Out of all your gifts you shall present every offering due to the Lord, from all the best of them, the consecrated part of them.

³⁰ You will say to them: When you have offered the best from it, then it will be counted to the Levites as the increase of the threshing floor, and as the increase of the winepress. ³¹ You will eat it in every place, you and your households, because it is your reward for your service in the tent of meeting. ³² You will bear no sin because of it, when you have offered the best of it. The holy things of the children of Israel you will not pollute, and you will not die.

Laws of Purification

19 And the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying: ² This is the statute of the law which the Lord has commanded, saying: Tell the children of Israel that they will bring you a healthy red heifer, which has no blemish, and on which a yoke has never gone, ³ and you will give it to Eleazar the priest, and he will bring it outside the camp, and it will be slaughtered before him. ⁴ And Eleazar the priest will take from its blood with his finger and sprinkle some of its blood directly before the tent of meeting seven times. ⁵ Then it will be burned in his sight. Its hide and its flesh and its blood, with her dung, will be burned. ⁶ And the priest will take cedar wood, and hyssop, and scarlet and throw it into the midst of the burning of the heifer. ⁷ Then the priest will wash his clothes, and he will bathe his body in water, and afterward he will come into the camp, and the priest will be unclean until evening. ⁸ He who burns it will wash his clothes in water, and bathe his body in water, and will be unclean until evening.

⁹ A man who is clean will gather the ashes of the heifer and deposit them outside the camp in a clean place, and it will be guarded for the assembly of the children of Israel for water of purification. It is for purifying from sin. ¹⁰ He that gathers the ashes of the heifer will wash his clothes and be unclean until evening, and it will be for the children of Israel and for the foreigner that lives among them, for an eternal statute.

¹¹ He that touches the dead body of any man will be unclean seven days. ¹² He will make himself clean on the third day, and on the seventh day he will be clean. But if he does not make himself clean on the third day, then the seventh day he will not be clean. ¹³ Whoever touches the body of any man that is dead and does not purify himself defiles the tabernacle of the Lord, and that person will be cut off from Israel. Because the water of purification was not sprinkled on him, he will be unclean. His uncleanness is still on him.

¹⁴ This is the law, when a man dies in a tent. Each person who comes into the tent and all that is in the tent will be unclean seven days. ¹⁵ Every open vessel which has no covering fastened on it is unclean.

¹⁶ Whoever in the field touches one that is slain with a sword, or a dead body, or a bone of a man, or a grave will be unclean seven days.

¹⁷ For an unclean person they will take from the ashes of the burnt sin offering, and running water will be on it in a vessel. ¹⁸ A clean person will take hyssop, and dip it in the water, and splash it on the tent, and on all the vessels, and on the people who were there, and on him that touched a bone, or one slain, or one dead, or a grave. ¹⁹ The clean person will splash on the unclean person on the third day and on the seventh day. And on the seventh day he shall purify himself, wash his clothes, and bathe in water; and he will be clean at evening. ²⁰ But the man who is unclean and does not purify himself, that person will be cut off from among the assembly because he has defiled the sanctuary of the Lord. The water of purification has not been sprinkled on him. He is unclean. ²¹ It will be an eternal statute to them.

He that sprinkles the water of purification will wash his clothes, and he that touches the water of purification will be unclean until evening. ²² Whatever the unclean person touches will be unclean, and the person that touches it will be unclean until evening.

Moses Strikes the Rock

20 Then the children of Israel, the whole assembly, came to the Wilderness of Zin in the first month, and the people dwelt in Kadesh, and Miriam died there and was buried there.

² And there was no water for the assembly, and they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. ³ The people argued with Moses, and spoke, saying, “O that we had died when our brothers died before the Lord! ⁴ And why have you brought up the assembly of the Lord into this wilderness, that we and our livestock should die here? ⁵ And why have you brought us up from Egypt, to bring us into this evil place? It is no place of seed, or of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates. Nor is there any water to drink.”

⁶ Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the door of the tent of meeting, and they fell on their faces, and the glory of the Lord appeared to them. ⁷ The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ⁸ Take the rod, and gather the assembly together, you and Aaron your brother, and speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will give its water, and you will bring out to them water from the rock; so you will give the assembly and their livestock drink.

⁹ So Moses took the rod from before the Lord, as He commanded him. ¹⁰ Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly before the rock, and he said to them, “Hear now, you rebels. Will we bring out water from this rock for you?” ¹¹ And Moses lifted up his hand, and he struck the rock twice with his rod, and plenty of water came out, and the assembly drank, and their livestock.

¹² The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe in Me, to sanctify Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you will not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.”

¹³ This is the water of Meribah because the children of Israel argued with the Lord, and He was sanctified among them.

Edom Denies Israel Passage

¹⁴ Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom,

“Thus says your brother Israel: You know all the hardship that has found us, ¹⁵ how our fathers went down into Egypt, and we lived in Egypt a long time, and the Egyptians distressed us and our fathers. ¹⁶ And when we cried out to the Lord, He heard our voice and sent an angel and brought us out of Egypt.

“And 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 the fields or the vineyards, or drink of the water of the wells. We will travel the king’s highway. We will not turn to the right hand nor the left, until we have passed through your territory.”

¹⁸ Edom said to him,

“You will not pass through me, lest with the sword I come out against you.”

¹⁹ The children of Israel said to him,

“We will travel the highway, and if we and our livestock drink of your water, then we will pay for it. I will only go through on my feet without doing anything else.”

²⁰ He said,

“You will not go through.”

And Edom came out against them with many people and with a strong hand. ²¹ Edom refused to give Israel passage through his territory, so Israel turned away from him.

The Death of Aaron

²² They journeyed from Kadesh, and the children of Israel, even the whole assembly, came to Mount Hor. ²³ The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in Mount Hor, by the border of the land of Edom, saying, ²⁴ “Aaron will be gathered to his people because he will not enter into the land which I have given to the children of Israel because you rebelled against Me at the water of Meribah. ²⁵ Take Aaron and Eleazar his son, and bring them up to Mount Hor, ²⁶ and strip Aaron of his garments, and put them on Eleazar his son, and Aaron will be gathered to his people, and he will die there.”

²⁷ Moses did as the Lord commanded, and they went up onto Mount Hor in the sight of all the assembly. ²⁸ Moses stripped Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son. And Aaron died there on the top of the mountain, and Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain. ²⁹ When all the assembly saw that Aaron was dead, they wept for Aaron thirty days, all the house of Israel.

Arad Destroyed

21 When King Arad the Canaanite, who lived in the Negev, heard that Israel came by the way of Atharim, he fought against Israel and took some of them captive. ² Israel vowed a vow to the Lord and said, “If You will indeed deliver this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities.” ³ The Lord listened to the voice of Israel and delivered up the Canaanites, and they utterly destroyed them and their cities, and he called the name of the place Hormah.

The Bronze Serpent

⁴ They journeyed from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom, and the soul of the people was very discouraged because of the way. ⁵ The people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread or water, and our soul loathes this worthless manna.”

⁶ So the Lord sent poisonous serpents among the people, and they bit the people, and many children of Israel died. ⁷ So the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord, and He will take away the serpents from us.” And Moses prayed for the people.