Old/New Testament

Moses counts the people again^[a]

26 When the bad disease stopped killing people, the Lord spoke to Moses and to Eleazar, the son of Aaron. ² He said, ‘Count all the Israelites, clan by clan. Count all the men who are 20 years old or older. Count only those men who can fight in the army.’ ³ So Moses and Eleazar the priest spoke to the Israelites. Their camp was on the flat ground of Moab, beside the Jordan River. Jericho was on the other side of the river. They said, ⁴ ‘Count all the men who are 20 years old or older. The Lord has told Moses that we must do that.’

These are the names of the Israelites who came out of Egypt:

⁵ The tribe of Reuben, Jacob's firstborn son had these clans: Hanoch's family, Pallu's family, ⁶ Hezron's family and Carmi's family. ⁷ There were 43,730 men in the clans of the tribe of Reuben.

⁸ Pallu's descendant was Eliab. ⁹ Eliab's descendants were Nemuel, Dathan and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram were the men who turned against Moses and Aaron. Korah was their leader and they all turned against the Lord. ¹⁰ A hole opened in the ground. Korah, Dathan, Abiram and their families fell into the hole and they died. And fire killed 250 other men. So they became a sign to warn the other Israelites. ¹¹ But Korah's clan did not all die at that time.

¹² The tribe of Simeon had these clans: Nemuel's family, Jamin's family, Jakin's family, ¹³ Zerah's family and Shaul's family. ¹⁴ There were 22,200 men in the clans of the tribe of Simeon.

¹⁵ The tribe of Gad had these clans: Zephon's family, Haggi's family, Shuni's family, ¹⁶ Ozni's family, Eri's family, ¹⁷ Arod's family and Areli's family. ¹⁸ There were 40,500 men in the clans of the tribe of Gad.

¹⁹ The sons of Judah were Er and Onan, but Er and Onan died in Canaan. ²⁰ The tribe of Judah had these clans: Shelah's family, Perez's family, Zerah's family, ²¹ Hezron's family and Hamul's family. ²² There were 76,500 men in the clans of the tribe of Judah.

²³ The tribe of Issachar had these clans: Tola's family, Puah's family, ²⁴ Jashub's family and Shimron's family. ²⁵ There were 64,300 men in the clans of the tribe of Issachar.

²⁶ The tribe of Zebulun had these clans: Sered's family, Elon's family and Jahleel's family. ²⁷ There were 60,500 men in the clans of the tribe of Zebulun.

²⁸ The descendants of Joseph became two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim.

²⁹ The tribe of Manasseh had these clans: Makir's family and Gilead's family. Makir was Gilead's father. ³⁰ These clans came from Gilead's descendants: Iezer's family, Helek's family, ³¹ Asriel's family, Shechem's family, ³² Shemida's family and Hepher's family. ³³ Zelophehad, the son of Hepher, had no sons, but only daughters. The names of Zelophehad's daughters were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah and Tirzah. ³⁴ There were 52,700 men in the clans of the tribe of Manasseh.

³⁵ The tribe of Ephraim had these clans: Shuthelah's family, Becher's family, and Tahan's family. ³⁶ Eran's family was a clan from the descendants of Shuthelah. ³⁷ There were 32,500 men in the clans of the tribe of Ephraim. The clans of the tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim were all descendants of Joseph.

³⁸ The tribe of Benjamin had these clans: Bela's family, Ashbel's family, Ahiram's family, ³⁹ Shupham's family and Hupham's family. ⁴⁰ Ard's family and Naaman's family were clans from Bela's descendants. ⁴¹ There were 45,600 men in the clans of the tribe of Benjamin.

⁴² The tribe of Dan had this clan: Shuham's family. ⁴³ There were 64,400 men in Shuham's clan.

⁴⁴ The tribe of Asher had these clans: Imnah's family, Ishvi's family and Beriah's family. ⁴⁵ Heber's family and Malkiel's family were clans from Beriah's descendants. ⁴⁶ There was also a daughter of Asher who was called Serah. ⁴⁷ There were 53,400 men in the clans of the tribe of Asher.

⁴⁸ The tribe of Naphtali had these clans: Jahzeel's family, Guni's family, ⁴⁹ Jezer's family and Shillem's family. ⁵⁰ There were 45,400 men in the clans of the tribe of Naphtali.

⁵¹ There were 601,730 men on the list of all the Israelites.

Each tribe will receive some land in Canaan

⁵² The Lord said to Moses, ⁵³ ‘I will give part of the land to each tribe. You need to know the number of names that you have on your list for each tribe. ⁵⁴ The big tribes will receive a big piece of land. The small tribes will receive a smaller piece of land. ⁵⁵ You must use lots to decide the land that each tribe receive. ⁵⁶ The larger clans must have more land than the smaller clans.’

⁵⁷ The Levites included these clans: Gershon's family, Kohath's family and Merari's family. ⁵⁸ It also included these clans: Libni's family, Hebron's family, Mahli's family, Mushi's family and Korah's family. Kohath was the father of Amram. ⁵⁹ The name of Amram's wife was Jochebed. She was a descendant of Levi, and she was born in Egypt. Amram and Jochebed were the parents of Moses and Aaron, and their sister Miriam. ⁶⁰ Aaron was the father of Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. ⁶¹ Nadab and Abihu died when they offered strange fire to the Lord.^[b]

⁶² There were 23,000 male Levites who were more than one month old. Moses did not include them on the list of the other Israelite tribes. They did not receive any land as the other tribes did.

⁶³ Those are the men that Moses and Eleazar the priest counted. They counted them on the flat ground in Moab beside the Jordan River. Jericho was on the other side of the river. ⁶⁴ None of the men that Moses and Aaron had counted in the Sinai desert were still alive. ⁶⁵ The Lord had said about those men, ‘They will certainly die in the desert.’ Among all those men, only Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun were still alive.

Zelophehad's daughters

27 Then the daughters of Zelophehad, the son of Hepher, came to speak to Moses. Hepher was the son of Gilead, the son of Makir, the son of Manasseh, the son of Joseph. So Zelophehad belonged to the tribe of Manasseh. His daughters were called Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah and Tirzah. ² Moses, Eleazar the priest and all the leaders of the people were standing at the front of the Tent of Meeting. Zelophehad's daughters said to them, ³ ‘Our father died in the desert. But he was not in Korah's group of men who came together to speak against the Lord. He died in the desert because of his own sin, and he did not have any sons. ⁴ We are his daughters, so please give us some land along with our father's male relatives. Then people will not forget our father's family name.’

⁵ Moses asked the Lord about this. ⁶ The Lord said to Moses, ⁷ ‘What the daughters of Zelophehad said is right. You must give to them some of the land that their father's family will receive. Give to them the land that their father would have received.

⁸ Tell the Israelites this: “Sometimes a man only has daughters. When he dies, his daughters must receive what belongs to their family. ⁹ If he does not have any sons or daughters, you must give his family's land to his brothers. ¹⁰ If he does not have any brothers, you must give his land to his father's brothers. ¹¹ Sometimes the man's father may have no brothers. If that happens, you must give his land to another person in his family. This is a rule for all the people. The Lord gave this command to Moses.” ’

Joshua is the new leader

¹² The Lord said to Moses, ‘Go up to the top of the Abiram mountains. From there, look at the land that I am giving to the Israelites. ¹³ After that, you will die, just as your brother Aaron also died. ¹⁴ In the Zin desert, when the people turned against me, you did not obey my command. That happened when you hit the rock to get water at Meribah Kadesh. You did not show the people that I was holy, so now you will not go into the land of Canaan.’

¹⁵ Moses said to the Lord, ¹⁶ ‘You are the Lord, the God of the spirits of all people. Please choose another man to be leader over all the people. ¹⁷ He will lead them when they go out to fight, and he will bring them back safely. Then the Lord's people will not be like sheep who have no shepherd.’

¹⁸ The Lord replied to Moses, ‘Choose Joshua, the son of Nun. My Spirit is in him to help him lead well. Put your hand on him to take your place as leader. ¹⁹ He must stand in front of Eleazar the priest and in front of all the Israelites. Let all the people see that he is the new leader that I have chosen. ²⁰ Tell the people that they must obey him, because he now has your authority. ²¹ Eleazar the priest will use the Urim to find out from me what Joshua should do. Then Joshua can tell the people when to go out to fight, and he can lead them safely back again. He will tell all the Israelite people what they must do.’

²² Moses did as the Lord told him. He brought Joshua to stand in front of Eleazar the priest and all the people. ²³ He put his hands on Joshua to show that he would be the new leader. Moses gave his authority to Joshua, as the Lord had told him to do.

Offerings to the Lord

28 The Lord said to Moses, ² ‘Tell the Israelites that they must give their gifts to God at the proper time. The smell of the gifts when they burn will make him happy. ³ You must say to them, “This is the offering by fire that you must offer to the Lord: It must be two male lambs that are one year old. They must not have anything wrong with them. That is the burnt offering for every day. ⁴ You must give one lamb in the morning and one lamb in the evening. ⁵ With the lambs, you must also offer to God one kilogram of flour that you have mixed with one litre of good olive oil. ⁶ It is a regular burnt offering that God told you about. He told you about it on Sinai mountain. It is an offering by fire to the Lord. The smell as it burns makes the Lord happy. ⁷ Then the drink offering with it will be one litre of wine for each lamb. In God's Holy Tent, you must pour out a drink offering of the best wine to the Lord. ⁸ You must offer the other lamb when it begins to get dark. Offer it with a grain offering and a drink offering like the offerings in the morning. You must give it as an offering by fire. The smell of the smoke from these sacrifices will make the Lord happy.

⁹ Then on the Sabbath day, you must offer two male lambs that are one year old. They must not have anything wrong with them. And you must offer 2 kilograms of good flour. Mix that with oil as a grain offering. And you must give the proper drink offering with it. ¹⁰ This is the burnt offering for every Sabbath. But you must also give the regular burnt offering with its proper drink offering.

¹¹ Also, on the first day of every month, you must give a burnt offering to the Lord. It must be two young bulls, one male sheep and seven male lambs. The lambs must be one year old and they must not have anything wrong with them. ¹² With each bull and with the male sheep, you must give a grain offering. Mix together 3 kilograms of the best flour with olive oil. Offer it to me with each bull. Mix together 2 kilograms of the best flour with olive oil. Offer it to me with the male sheep. ¹³ And with each lamb you must give a grain offering. Mix together 1 kilogram of the best flour with olive oil. Offer it to me with each male lamb as a burnt offering to the Lord. The smell of the smoke from these sacrifices will make the Lord happy. ¹⁴ And there must be drink offerings with these sacrifices. The offering must be 2 litres of wine for a bull. It must be 1.5 litres for the male sheep and 1 litre for a lamb. That is the burnt offering of each month for every month of the year. ¹⁵ Also, you must offer one male goat as a sin offering to the Lord. You must offer it with the proper drink offering. But you must still offer the regular burnt offering.

The Passover

¹⁶ On the 14th day of the first month, you must eat the Lord's Passover meal. ¹⁷ Day 15 is the start of a week when you must eat the flat bread. You must not put any yeast in the bread. You must do that for seven days. ¹⁸ The first day will be a holy day and all the people must meet together. You must not work at your jobs on that day. ¹⁹ And you must give an offering by fire, a burnt offering to the Lord. The offering must be two young bulls, one male sheep and seven male lambs that are one year old. But these animals must not have anything wrong with them. ²⁰ Offer the proper grain offering with each animal. Mix together 3 kilograms of the best flour and olive oil. Offer it to me with each bull. With the male sheep, offer 2 kilograms of the best flour with oil. ²¹ With each of the seven lambs, you must offer one kilogram of flour that you have mixed with oil. ²² You must also give one male goat as a sin offering. That is to make things right with God for you. ²³ But you must still give the regular burnt offering in the morning. ²⁴ You must offer those gifts every day for seven days. They are the food of an offering by fire. The smell of them as they burn will make the Lord happy. But you must still give the regular burnt offering with the proper drink offering. ²⁵ And the seventh day must be a holy day and all the people must meet together. You must not work at your jobs on that day.

The Festival of Weeks

²⁶ The day when you offer to the Lord the first part of the harvest must also be a holy day. That is also the day when you give to the Lord an offering of new grain. That is the Festival of Weeks. All the people must meet together. You must not work at your jobs on that day. ²⁷ And you must give a burnt offering to the Lord. The offering must be two young bulls, one male sheep and seven male lambs that are one year old. The smell of the smoke from these sacrifices will make the Lord happy. ²⁸ Mix together 3 kilograms of the best flour and olive oil. Offer that with each bull. With the male sheep, offer 2 kilograms of flour with oil. ²⁹ With each of the seven lambs, you must offer one kilogram of flour that you have mixed with oil. ³⁰ You must also offer one male goat to remove your sins. ³¹ You must still give the regular burnt offering with the proper grain offering. You must give them with the proper drink offerings. The animals must not have anything wrong with them.

Jesus gives food to 4,000 people

8 At that time, another large crowd had come to hear Jesus. The people had nothing to eat. Jesus asked his disciples to come to him. He said to them, ² ‘I feel sorry for this crowd. They have been here with me now for three days and they do not have any food. ³ I do not want to send them back to their homes while they are hungry. They might fall down during their journey because they are weak. Some of them have travelled a long way to come here.’

⁴ The disciples replied, ‘This place is far from any houses. We cannot get enough bread to feed all these people.’

⁵ ‘How many loaves of bread do you have?’ Jesus asked. ‘We have seven loaves,’ they replied.

⁶ Jesus told the crowd that they should sit down on the ground. Then he took the seven loaves in his hands and he thanked God for them. Then he broke the bread and he gave the pieces to his disciples. The disciples gave the bread to the people. ⁷ The disciples also had a few small fish, so Jesus thanked God for these. Then he told his disciples to give the fish to the people too. ⁸ The people ate, and they all had enough food. After the people had eaten, there were still lots of small pieces of food. Jesus' disciples filled seven baskets with these pieces. ⁹ About 4,000 people were there and ate the food. Then Jesus sent the people away. ¹⁰ Immediately, he got into the boat with his disciples. They all returned to the part of the country called Dalmanutha.^[a]

¹¹ Some Pharisees came to Jesus. They began to argue with him. They wanted to see him do something powerful. That would show them that God had really sent him. ¹² Jesus cried with a low, sad sound. He said, ‘People who are alive today want God to show them something powerful. But I tell you this: God will not do the powerful thing for them that they want.’ ¹³ Then Jesus left those Pharisees. He got back into the boat to go to the other side of the lake.

Jesus talks about the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod

¹⁴ Jesus' disciples had forgotten to take bread with them. They only had one loaf in the boat. ¹⁵ Jesus said to them, ‘Be careful. Do not accept the yeast of the Pharisees or the yeast of Herod.’^[b]

¹⁶ The disciples began to say to each other, ‘Jesus is saying that because we do not have any bread.’

¹⁷ Jesus knew what they were talking about. So he said to them, ‘You should not be arguing about the bread. You still do not understand my teaching. You seem unable to learn. ¹⁸ You are like people who have eyes but they cannot see with them. You are like people who have ears but they cannot hear with them. ¹⁹ Remember that I used five loaves of bread to feed 5,000 men. How many baskets did you fill with pieces of food that were left?’

‘There were 12 baskets,’ they replied.

²⁰ Jesus asked them, ‘I also used seven loaves to feed 4,000 people. That time, how many baskets did you fill with pieces of food?’

‘There were seven baskets,’ they replied.

²¹ ‘You really should understand about me now,’ he said to them.

Jesus makes a blind man able to see

²² Jesus and his disciples came to a village called Bethsaida. Some people led a blind man to Jesus. They asked Jesus to touch the man. ²³ Jesus took the blind man's hand and he led the man out of the village. Jesus put water from his own mouth on the man's eyes. And he put his hands on the man. ‘Can you see anything?’ Jesus asked.

²⁴ The man looked up. He said, ‘I can see people. But they look like trees that are walking about.’

²⁵ So Jesus put his hands on the man's eyes again. The man looked carefully and then his eyes were completely well. Now he could see everything clearly. ²⁶ Jesus told the man that he must go back to his home. Jesus said, ‘Do not even go into the village.’

Peter says who Jesus is

²⁷ Then Jesus and his disciples went to visit some villages. They were near to the town of Caesarea Philippi. On the way, Jesus asked his disciples, ‘When people talk about me, who do they say that I am?’

²⁸ They replied, ‘Some people say that you are John the Baptist. Other people say that you are Elijah. And some other people say that you are one of God's prophets.’^[c]

²⁹ Jesus asked them, ‘But what do you think? Who do you say that I am?’

Peter answered him, ‘You are the Messiah.’^[d]

³⁰ Then Jesus warned his disciples that they must not tell anyone about him.

Jesus tells his disciples how he will die

³¹ Then Jesus began to teach his disciples about the things that must happen to the Son of Man.^[e] He would have to suffer in many ways. The important Jews, the leaders of the priests and the teachers of God's Law would turn against him. People would kill him. But after three days, he would become alive again.

³² What Jesus said was very clear. Then Peter took Jesus away from the other disciples. Peter began to tell Jesus that he must not say things like that.

³³ Jesus turned round and he looked at his disciples. He said that Peter was not saying good things. He said to Peter, ‘Satan, go away from me!^[f] Your thoughts do not come from God. Instead, you are thinking like men think.’

³⁴ Then Jesus asked the crowd and his disciples to come to him. He said to them, ‘A person who wants to come with me must not think about himself. He must decide that his own life is not important. He must be like someone who carries his own cross to go and die. Then he may come with me as my disciple. ³⁵ Whoever wants to keep his own life safe will lose it. But whoever gives his life to serve me and God's good news will have true life. ³⁶ A person may get everything in the whole world for himself. But if he loses his life, it will not be any good for him. ³⁷ There is nothing that a person can give to get back his life.

³⁸ People who are living today do not obey God. They are very bad. But you must not be ashamed of me or of my words. If you are, then the Son of Man will be ashamed of you. One day he will return and God's holy angels will be with him. He will have the bright glory of his Father. He will be ashamed of you on that day if you are ashamed of him now.’