Old/New Testament
Sprouting of Aaron’s Rod
17 Adonai spoke to Moses saying, 2 “Speak to Bnei-Yisrael and get a rod from each ancestral house, twelve staffs in all, from each prince according to his ancestral household. Write each man’s name on his staff. 3 Write Aaron’s name on Levi’s staff, for there is to be one staff for the prince of each tribe. 4 Then you are to place them in the Tent of Meeting, before the Testimony, where I meet with you. 5 It will come about that the staff of the man I choose will sprout. I will then rid Myself of the grumblings of Bnei-Yisrael, who are grumbling against you.”
6 So Moses spoke to Bnei-Yisrael. Each of their princes gave him a staff, one staff for each prince according to their ancestral houses, twelve staffs in all, and Aaron’s staff was among them. 7 Moses placed the staffs before Adonai in the Tent of Testimony.
8 The next day, Moses entered the Tent of Testimony and behold, Aaron’s staff, from the house of Levi, had sprouted, blossomed, and produced almonds! 9 Moses then brought all the staffs from Adonai’s Presence to all Bnei-Yisrael. They looked and each man took his staff.
10 Adonai said to Moses, “Put Aaron’s staff back in front of the Testimony to keep as a sign to the sons of rebellion, so that it may put an end to their grumblings against Me, and so they will not die.” 11 Moses did just as Adonai had commanded him.
12 But Bnei-Yisrael said to Moses saying, “Look! We will die! We are all lost! We are lost! 13 Anyone approaching the Tabernacle of Adonai will die! Must all of us die?”
Kohen Duties and Portions
18 Adonai said to Aaron, “You, your sons, and the house of your father with you will bear the guilt for the Sanctuary, and you and your sons will bear the guilt for your priesthood. 2 Bring with you your brothers, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, so that they may join you and assist you, both you and your sons with you, before the Tent of the Testimony. 3 They are to perform their duties for you and for all matters related to the Tent. They must not approach the implements of the Sanctuary or the altar—otherwise, both you and they will die. 4 They are to team with you and attend to the Tent of Meeting, for all the service of the Tent. But no unauthorized person may intrude upon you. 5 So you are to attend to the Sanctuary and the care of the altar, so no further wrath will fall on Bnei-Yisrael.
6 “See, I have personally taken your kinsmen, the Levites, from among Bnei-Yisrael as a gift for you and your sons with you, dedicated to Adonai to serve in the work of the Tent of Meeting. 7 But you and your sons with you are to maintain your priesthood for everything pertaining to the altar and inside the parokhet. I am giving you the ministry of the priesthood as a gift. Anyone unauthorized who approaches will die.”
8 Adonai then said to Aaron, “See, I have given you charge over all My offerings. All the sacred things from Bnei-Yisrael I have given to you as set aside for you and your sons as a permanent share. 9 You are to have the part of the most holy things that is kept from the fire. Whether grain, sin or guilt offerings that they bring to Me as most holy—they are for you and your sons. 10 You are to eat it as most holy. Every male may eat it—it is set apart for you. 11 This also is yours: the gift of the wave offerings of Bnei-Yisrael. I have given all the wave offerings as a permanent share to you, your sons and your daughters. Everyone who is clean in your house may eat it. 12 All the finest olive oil, the finest new wine and grain they give to Adonai from their firstfruits, I have given them to you. 13 All the firstfruits of the land that they bring to Adonai will be for yours. Anyone who is clean in your house may eat it.
14 Every devoted thing in Israel is yours. 15 The first offspring of the womb from all flesh, whether human or animal, offered to Adonai, is yours. However, you are to redeem the firstborn of man and the firstborn of unclean animals. 16 When they are a month old, you are to redeem them at the redemption price of five shekels of silver by the Sanctuary shekel, or 20 gerahs. 17 But the firstborn of the ox, sheep or goat you are not to redeem. They are holy. You are to sprinkle their blood on the altar, and their fat you are to burn as a fire offering, a pleasing aroma to Adonai. 18 Their meat—the breast of the wave offering and the right thigh—is yours. 19 Whatever is set aside from the holy offerings which Bnei-Yisrael present to Adonai, I have given to you, your sons and your daughters with you as a permanent share. It is an everlasting covenant of salt before Adonai for you and your offspring.”
20 Adonai said to Aaron, “You will have no inheritance in their land nor share among them. I am your portion and your share among Bnei-Yisrael. 21 See, I have given all the tithes in Israel to the sons of Levi as an inheritance in return for all the work of the service they are doing in the Tent of Meeting. 22 From now on, Bnei-Yisrael must never trespass the Tent of Meeting, or they will bear the consequences of their sin and die. 23 The Levites will perform the service of the Tent of Meeting. They will bear the responsibility for their iniquity. It is a permanent ordinance throughout your generations. So among Bnei-Yisrael they are to receive no inheritance.
24 For I have given the tithes that Bnei-Yisrael present to Adonai as an offering to the Levites as an inheritance. That is why I said they would receive no inheritance among Bnei-Yisrael.”
25 Adonai spoke to Moses saying, 26 “Speak now to the Levites and say to them: When you receive from Bnei-Yisrael the tithe which I have given to you as your inheritance, you are then to offer to Adonai a tithe of that tithe. 27 Your offering will be reckoned as grain from the threshing floor or the fullness of the winepress. 28 Thus you will also present an offering to Adonai from all your tithes that you receive from Bnei-Yisrael, and from that you are to give Adonai’s portion to Aaron the kohen. 29 From all your gifts that you receive, you are to present the best and holiest from them as Adonai’s portion.
30 “Say to them: When you present the best part, it will be reckoned to the Levites as the produce of the threshing floor and of the winepress. 31 You and your household may eat it in any place. It is your wage for your service in the Tent of Meeting.
32 “In presenting the best part in this manner, you will bear no guilt in these matters. You will not defile the holy things of Bnei-Yisrael, so you will not die.”
Parashat Chukat
Red Heifer and Cleansing Water
19 Adonai spoke to Moses and Aaron saying, 2 “This is the statute of the Torah which Adonai commanded saying: Speak to Bnei-Yisrael that they bring to you a flawless red heifer on which there is no blemish and on which has never been a yoke. 3 Give her to Eleazar the kohen. He will take her outside the camp and slaughter her in his presence. 4 Then Eleazar the kohen is to take some of the blood on his finger and sprinkle it seven times toward the front of the Tent of Meeting.
5 “While watching, he is to burn the heifer, her hide, flesh, blood and refuse. 6 The kohen is to take some cedar wood, hyssop and scarlet wool, and cast them into the midst of the burning heifer.
7 “Afterward, the kohen is to wash his clothes and bathe his flesh with the water, and afterward he may come back into the camp. Still the kohen will be unclean until evening. 8 Also the one burning it is to wash his clothes and bathe his flesh with the water, and he will be unclean until evening.
9 “A clean man is to gather up the ashes of the heifer and put them in a clean place outside the camp. They are to be for the community of Bnei-Yisrael to use as water of purification from sin.
10 “The one who gathers the heifer’s ashes is also to wash his clothes as well as be unclean until evening. It will be a permanent statute for Bnei-Yisrael and for the outsider living among them.
11 “Whoever touches any dead body will be unclean for seven days. 12 He is to purify himself on the third day and on the seventh day. Then he will be clean. But if he does not purify himself on the third and seventh days, he will not be clean. 13 Anyone touching the dead body of any man, who does not purify himself, defiles Adonai’s Tabernacle, and that person will be cut off from Israel. Because the cleansing water was not sprinkled on him, he is unclean and his uncleanness will remain on him.
14 “This is the Torah for whenever a person dies in a tent. Anyone entering the tent or anyone inside the tent will be unclean seven days. 15 Any open container not having a lid fastened on it will also be unclean. 16 Anyone out in the open field who touches a dead body, whether killed by a sword or was killed by a natural cause, or touches a human bone or a grave, shall be unclean seven days.
17 “For the unclean one, they are to take some of the ash of the burnt purification offering, and pour some fresh water into a jar. 18 Then a clean person will take some hyssop, dip it into the water, and, sprinkle it on the tent, all of the furnishings, and the people who were there, as well as the one touching the bone, the one killed, the corpse or the grave.
19 The clean person will sprinkle the unclean one on the third and seventh days. He is to purify himself on the seventh day, and on the seventh day he is to wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and at evening he will be clean.
20 However, that man who is unclean but does not purify himself will be cut off from the community. He has defiled the Sanctuary of Adonai, since the cleansing water was not sprinkled on him. He is unclean. 21 This will be a permanent ordinance for them. The one sprinkling the cleansing water is also to wash his clothes, and anyone touching the cleansing water will be unclean until evening. 22 Anything touched by an unclean person becomes unclean, and anyone touching it will be unclean until evening.”
Feeding 5000 Families
30 The twelve emissaries gathered together with Yeshua, and they reported to Him all they had done and taught. 31 There were many coming and going, and they had no time even to eat. So He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to an isolated place and rest awhile.” 32 So they left privately by boat to an isolated place. 33 However, the people saw them leaving, and many recognized them. They ran on foot from all the towns to get there ahead of them. 34 As Yeshua came ashore, He saw a large crowd and felt compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.[a] So He taught them many things.
35 When it was already late, His disciples came to Him and said, “This place is isolated, and the hour is already late. 36 Send these people away so they can go into the nearby countryside and the villages and buy themselves something to eat.”
37 But He answered and said to them, “You give them something to eat!”
And they said to Him, “Should we go and spend two hundred denarii on bread to give them something to eat?”
38 Then He said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.”
When they found out, they said, “Five, and two fish.”
39 Then Yeshua made them all sit down in groups on the green grass. 40 So they reclined in groups of hundreds and fifties. 41 And He took the five loaves and the two fish; and looking up to heaven, He offered the bracha. He broke the loaves and kept giving them to the disciples to serve to the people; and He divided the two fish among them all. 42 They all ate and were satisfied, 43 and the disciples picked up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and fish. 44 Now there were five thousand men who ate the loaves.
Walking on Water
45 Right away, Yeshua made His disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while He Himself was sending the crowd away. 46 After leaving them, He went up on the hillside to pray.
47 And when evening came, the boat was in the middle of the sea and He was alone on the land. 48 He saw the disciples struggling to row, for the wind was against them. Around the fourth watch in the night,[b] Yeshua comes to them, walking on the sea; and He wanted to pass by them. 49 But when they saw Him walking on the sea, they thought He was a ghost and cried out— 50 for they all saw Him and were terrified.
But immediately, He spoke to them. He said, “Take courage! I am. Do not be afraid.” 51 Then He got into the boat with them, and the wind stopped. They were utterly dumbfounded, 52 for they still hadn’t understood about the loaves. Instead, their hearts were hardened.
Miracles Multiply
53 After they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and set anchor there. 54 As they got out of the boat, immediately people recognized Yeshua. 55 They ran about the region and began to carry around on their mats all those who were in bad shape, to wherever they heard He was. 56 And wherever He entered villages, towns, or countryside, people were placing the sick in the marketplaces and begging Him to let them touch even the tzitzit of His garment—and all who touched it were being healed.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.