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NUM EN_UST en_English_ltr Wed Oct 01 2025 13:42:36 GMT-0500 (Central Daylight Time) tc

1 It was the first day of the second month of the year after the Israelite people had left Egypt. While the Israelite people were in the desolate area around Sinai, Yahweh spoke to Moses in the sacred tent. Yahweh told him, 2 “Count all the men among the whole Israelite community, one by one. List them by name by their tribal groups and ancestral families. 3 Only include the men who are at least 20 years old and can be soldiers. You and Aaron must list them by their army divisions. 4 One man from each tribe will help you and Aaron do this. These men must already be leaders of their ancestral families. 5 Here are the names of these men who will help you and Aaron: Shedeur’s son Elizur, who is from the tribe of Reuben; 6 Zurishaddai’s son Shelumiel, who is from the tribe of Simeon; 7 Amminadab’s son Nahshon, who is from the tribe of Judah; 8 Zuar’s son Nethanel, who is from the tribe of Issachar; 9 Helon’s son Eliab, who is from the tribe of Zebulun; 10 Ammihud’s son Elishama, who is from the tribe of Joseph’s son Ephraim; Pedahzur’s son Gamaliel, who is from the tribe of Joseph’s son Manasseh; 11 Gideoni’s son Abidan, who is from the tribe of Benjamin; 12 Ammishaddai’s son Ahiezer, who is from the tribe of Dan; 13 Okran’s son Pagiel, who is from the tribe of Asher; 14 Deuel’s son Eliasaph, who is from the tribe of Gad; 15 and Enan’s son Ahira, who is from the tribe of Naphtali.” 16 Yahweh chose these men from the community. They were already leaders of their ancestral tribes, and they led the clans of the Israelite people. 17 Moses and Aaron summoned these men whose names Yahweh had listed. 18 Moses and Aaron gathered the whole Israelite community on that same day, the first day of the second month. Then the men who were at least 20 years old registered themselves by name, one by one. They registered themselves according to their tribal groups and ancestral families. 19 So, Moses did exactly what Yahweh ordered him to do. Moses listed these men in the desolate area around Sinai. 20-21 20-21Moses and Aaron counted 46, 500 men who were descendants of Reuben, who was Jacob’s oldest son. They listed the names of these men by their tribal groups and ancestral families, one by one. These men were at least 20 years old and could be soldiers. 22-23 22-23Moses and Aaron counted 59, 300 men who were descendants of Simeon. They listed the names of these men by their tribal groups and ancestral families, one by one. These men were at least 20 years old and could be soldiers 24-25 24-25Moses and Aaron counted 45, 650 men who were descendants of Gad. They listed their names by their tribal groups and ancestral families. These men were at least 20 years old and could be soldiers. 26-27 26-27Moses and Aaron counted 74, 600 men who were descendants of Judah. They listed their names by their tribal groups and ancestral families. These men were at least 20 years old and could be soldiers. 28-29 28-29Moses and Aaron counted 54, 400 men who were descendants of Issachar. They listed their names by their tribal groups and ancestral families. These men were at least 20 years old and could be soldiers. 30-31 30-31Moses and Aaron counted 57, 400 men who were descendants of Zebulun. They listed their names by their tribal groups and ancestral families. These men were at least 20 years old and could be soldiers. 32-33 32-33Moses and Aaron counted 40, 500 men who were descendants of Joseph’s son Ephraim. They listed their names by their tribal groups and ancestral families. These men were at least 20 years old and could be soldiers. 34-35 34-35Moses and Aaron counted 32, 200 men who were descendants of Joseph’s son Manasseh. They listed their names by their tribal groups and ancestral families. These men were at least 20 years old and could be soldiers. 36-37 36-37Moses and Aaron counted 35, 400 men who were descendants of Benjamin. They listed their names by their tribal groups and ancestral families. These men were at least 20 years old and could be soldiers. 38-39 38-39Moses and Aaron counted 62, 700 men who were descendants of Dan. They listed their names by their tribal groups and ancestral families. These men were at least 20 years old and could be soldiers. 40-41 40-41Moses and Aaron counted 41, 500 men who were descendants of Asher. They listed their names by their tribal groups and ancestral families. These men were at least 20 years old and could be soldiers. 42-43 42-43Finally, Moses and Aaron counted 53, 400 men who were descendants of Naphtali. They listed their names by their tribal groups and ancestral families. These men were at least 20 years old and could be soldiers. 44 Moses and Aaron listed all these men. The 12 men who led the Israelite people, one from each ancestral family, helped them list the men. 45 These men were all the Israelites whom Moses, Aaron, and the 12 leaders listed by their ancestral families. These men were at least 20 years old and could be soldiers for the Israelite people. 46 They listed 603, 550 men in total. 47 However, they did not list the Levites by their ancestral tribe along with the other tribes. 48 That was because Yahweh had told Moses, 49 “Do not list the Levites. Do not count them along with the other Israelites. 50 Moses, order the Levites to manage the sacred tent, its equipment, and everything that goes with it. They must be the ones who transport the sacred tent and its equipment. They must be the ones who take care of it. They must set up their tents around it. 51 The Levites must disassemble the sacred tent whenever the Israelites leave a place. The Levites must set it up whenever the Israelites set up their tents in a new place. If anyone who is not a Levite approaches the sacred tent, someone must execute that person. 52 When the Israelites set up their tents, they must do so by their army divisions, with the rest of their tents and near their own tribal flags. 53 The Levites must set up their tents around the sacred tent. That way, Yahweh does not become angry with the Israelite community. The Levites must guard the sacred tent.” 54 So the Israelites did exactly everything that Yahweh had ordered Moses to tell them to do. 2 Then Yahweh told Moses and Aaron, 2 “The Israelites must set up their tents near their own tribal flags and the emblems that represent their ancestral families. They must set up their tents around the sacred tent at a distance from it. 3 Those Israelite tribes who set up their tents on the eastern side of the sacred tent must be together near the tribal flag that belongs to the descendants of Judah. They must set up their tents by their army divisions. Amminadab’s son Nahshon leads the descendants of Judah. 4 The soldiers he leads are the 74, 600 men from his tribe whom you listed. 5 The people of Issachar tribe must set up their tents next to the tents of the descendants of Judah. Zuar’s son Nethanel leads the descendants of Issachar. 6 The soldiers he leads are the 54, 400 men from his tribe whom you listed. 7 The people of Zebulun tribe must also set up their tents next to the tents of the descendants of Judah. Helon’s son Eliab leads the descendants of Zebulun. 8 The soldiers he leads are the 57, 400 men from his tribe whom you listed. 9 For Judah tribe and the two tribes that set up their tents near Judah tribe, you listed 186, 400 men in total by their army divisions. These three tribes will start walking first whenever the Israelites leave a place. 10 The tribal flag that belongs to the descendants of Reuben must be on the southern side of the sacred tent. The tribes that set up their tents on this side must do so by their army divisions. Shedeur’s son Elizur leads the descendants of Reuben. 11 The soldiers he leads are the 46, 500 men from his tribe whom you listed. 12 The people of Simeon tribe must set up their tents next to the tents of the descendants of Reuben. Zurishaddai’s son Shelumiel leads the descendants of Simeon. 13 The soldiers he leads are the 59, 300 men from his tribe whom you listed. 14 The people of Gad tribe must also set up their tents next to the tents of the descendants of Reuben. Reuel’s son Eliasaph leads the descendants of Zebulun. 15 The soldiers he leads are the 45, 650 men from his tribe whom you listed. 16 For Reuben tribe and the two tribes that set up their tents near Reuben tribe, you listed 151, 450 men in total by their army divisions. These three tribes will start walking second whenever the Israelites leave a place. 17 Whenever the Israelites leave a place, the descendants of Levi must carry the sacred tent. They must travel in the middle, between the other tribes. The Israelites must leave in the exact same order in which they set up their tents. All the people must be in their correct places near their tribal flags. 18 The tribal flag that belongs to the descendants of Ephraim must be on the western side of the sacred tent. The tribes that set up their tents on this side must do so by their army divisions. Ammihud’s son Elishama leads the descendants of Ephraim. 19 The soldiers he leads are the 40, 500 men from his tribe whom you listed. 20 The people of Manasseh tribe must set up their tents next to the tents of the descendants of Ephraim. Pedahzur’s son Gamaliel leads the descendants of Manasseh. 21 The soldiers he leads are the 32, 200 men from his tribe whom you listed. 22 The people of Benjamin tribe must also set up their tents next to the tents of the descendants of Ephraim. Gideoni’s son Abidan leads the descendants of Benjamin. 23 The soldiers he leads are the 35, 400 men from his tribe whom you listed. 24 For Ephraim tribe and the two tribes that set up their tents near Ephraim tribe, you listed 108, 100 men in total by their army divisions. These three tribes will start walking third whenever the Israelites leave a place. 25 The tribal flag that belongs to the descendants of Dan must be on the northern side of the sacred tent. The tribes that set up their tents on this side must do so by their army divisions. Ammishaddai’s son Ahiezer leads the descendants of Dan. 26 The soldiers he leads are the 62, 700 men from his tribe whom you listed. 27 The people of Asher tribe must set up their tents next to the tents of the descendants of Dan. Okran’s son Pagiel leads the descendants of Asher. 28 The soldiers he leads are the 41, 500 men from his tribe whom you listed. 29 The people of Naphtali tribe must also set up their tents next to the tents of the descendants of Dan. Enan’s son Ahira leads the descendants of Naphtali. 30 The soldiers he leads are the 53, 400 men from his tribe whom you listed. 31 For Dan tribe and the two tribes that set up their tents near Dan tribe, you listed 157, 600 men in total. These three tribes will start walking last, near their tribal flags, whenever the Israelites leave a place.” 32 These are the Israelites whom Moses and Aaron listed by their ancestral families. They listed 603, 550 men in total who set up their tents by their army divisions. 33 However, they did not list the Levites along with the other Israelites. That is what Yahweh had ordered Moses to do. 34 So the Israelites did exactly everything that Yahweh had ordered Moses to tell them to do. They set up their tents by their own tribal flags, and they left each campsite by their tribal groups and ancestral families. 3 Here is a list of the descendants of Aaron and Moses at the time when Yahweh and Moses talked on Mount Sinai. 2 Aaron’s oldest son was Nadab, and his other sons were Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. 3 Those are Aaron's sons, and they were priests. Moses had poured olive oil on them to appoint them as priests, and he had commissioned them to be priests. 4 However, Nadab and Abihu died in front of where Yahweh was present because they presented to him burning coals that he had not authorized. This happened while they were in the desolate area around Sinai. Nadab and Abihu did not have any sons. So, only Eleazar and Ithamar were priests with their father Aaron. 5 Yahweh told Moses, 6 “Summon the descendants of Levi and order them to stand in front of Aaron the priest. They must help Aaron. 7 They must guard Aaron and the whole Israelite community at the sacred tent as they set up and take down the sacred tent. 8 They must guard all the equipment for the sacred tent and the Israelites. They must do that as they set up and take down the sacred tent. 9 Moses, assign the Levites to serve Aaron and his sons. Out of all the Israelites, I have assigned the Levites exclusively to serve Aaron and his sons. 10 List Aaron and his sons as priests. They must make sure that no one else serves as a priest. If anyone who is not a Levite approaches the sacred tent, someone must execute that person.” 11 Yahweh also told Moses, 12 “Note that it is I who have appointed the Levites out of all the Israelites to serve me. They serve me in place of the oldest male from every Israelite family. So the Levites belong to me. 13 That is because the oldest male from every Israelite family belongs to me. I set apart the oldest male of every Israelite family and the oldest male offspring of all their farm animals when I killed the oldest male from every Egyptian family in Egypt. So, the eldest males belong to me. I am Yahweh.” 14 In the desolate area around Sinai, Yahweh told Moses, 15 “List all the male descendants of Levi who are at least one month old. List them by their ancestral families and tribal groups.” 16 So Moses listed these descendants of Levi. He did exactly what Yahweh ordered him to do. 17 The names of Levi’s sons were Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. 18 The names of Gershon’s sons by their tribal groups were Libni and Shimei. 19 The names of Kohath’s sons by their tribal groups were Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. 20 And the names of Merari’s sons by their tribal groups were Mahli and Mushi. These were the tribal groups of the Levites by their ancestral families. 21 The two tribal groups that descended from Gershon were the descendants of Libni and the descendants of Shimei. 22 For those two tribal groups, Moses listed 7, 500 men who were at least one month old. 23 The two tribal groups that descended from Gershon set up their tents near the back of the sacred tent on its western side. 24 Lael’s son Eliasaph led the ancestral family that descended from Gershon. 25 At the sacred tent, the descendants of Gershon guarded the inner parts of sacred tent, the outer parts of the sacred tent, what covered this outer part, the curtain at its entrance, 26 the curtains that hang on the fence around the courtyard, the curtain at the entrance to the courtyard that surrounds the sacred tent and the altar, and all the braided cords that they used to set up and take down the curtains. 27 The four tribal groups that descended from Kohath were the descendants of Amram, the descendants of Izhar, the descendants of Hebron, and the descendants of Uzziel. 28 For those four tribal groups, Moses listed 8, 600 men who were at least one month old. They guarded the sacred tent. 29 The four tribal groups that descended from Kohath set up their tents next to the sacred tent on its southern side. 30 Uzziel’s son Elizaphan led the ancestral family that descended from Kohath, which was those four tribal groups. 31 The descendants of Kohath guarded the sacred chest, the table, the lampstand, the altars, the equipment for the sacred tent that the priests use, the curtain that covered the entrance of the Most Holy Place, and everything that they used to set up and take down the curtain. 32 Aaron the priest’s son Eleazar led the men who led the Levites. He was in charge of those who guarded the sacred tent. 33 The two tribal groups that descended from Merari were the descendants of Mahli and the descendants of Mushi. 34 For those two tribal groups, Moses listed 6, 200 men who were at least one month old. 35 Abihail’s son Zuriel led the ancestral family that descended from Merari, which was those two tribal groups. Those two tribal groups set up their tents next to the sacred tent on its northern side. 36 The descendants of Merari were in charge of guarding the sacred tent’s frame boards, poles, posts, bases, and all its equipment, and everything that they used to set up and take down the sacred tent. 37 They were also in charge of guarding the posts, bases, stakes, and braided cords that were parts of the fence surrounding the courtyard. 38 Moses, Aaron, and Aaron’s sons set up their tents in front of the entrance to the sacred tent on its eastern side. They guarded the sacred tent, and they guarded the Israelites. If anyone who is not a Levite approaches the sacred tent, someone must execute that person. 39 For the descendants of Levi, Moses and Aaron listed by their tribal groups 22, 000 men who were at least one month old. Moses and Aaron listed them as Yahweh had ordered them to do. 40 Yahweh told Moses, “List all the oldest males from every Israelite family who are at least one month old. Count how many you listed. 41 I am Yahweh. Appoint the Levites to serve me in place of the oldest males from every Israelite family. Appoint for me also the farm animals of the Levites in place of every Israelite family’s farm animal’s oldest male offspring.” 42 So Moses listed the oldest males in every Israelite family. He did what Yahweh had ordered him to do. 43 When Moses listed by name all oldest males from every Israelite family who were at least one month old, there were 22, 273 of them. 44 Then Yahweh told Moses, 45 “In place of the oldest males from every Israelite family, appoint the Levites to serve me. In place of each Israelite family’s farm animal’s oldest male offspring, appoint the farm animals of the Levites to belong to me. I am Yahweh. 46 The Israelites must pay for the 273 more oldest males from Israelite families than there are male Levites. 47 So, collect exactly five pieces of silver for each of the 273 additional firstborn males. Use the same kind of pieces of silver that the priests use in the sacred tent. Each of these piece of silver weighs about 11 grams. 48 Give those pieces of silver to Aaron and his sons. Those pieces will pay for the 273 additional oldest males from Israelite families.” 49 Moses collected those pieces of silver from the 273 oldest males from Israelite families for whom the Levites did not substitute. 50 Moses collected a total of 1, 365 pieces of silver from the oldest males of Israelite families. He collected the same kind of pieces of silver that the priests use in the sacred tent. 51 Then Moses gave those 1, 365 pieces of silver to Aaron and his sons to pay for the additional 273 oldest males from Israelite families. He did exactly what Yahweh ordered him to do. 4 Yahweh told Moses and Aaron, 2 “Out of the descendants of Levi, count the male descendants of Kohath. Count them by their tribal groups and ancestral families. 3 Count only those men who are at least 30 years old and at most 50 years old. These men must be able to participate when the Levites work in the sacred tent. 4 When the Levites set up and take down the sacred tent, the descendants of Kohath are responsible for the most sacred items. 5 When the Israelites leave a place, Aaron and his sons must go to the sacred tent and pull down the curtain that blocks off the Most Holy Place. Then they must lay it over the sacred chest. 6 Then they must cover the sacred chest and the curtain with fine leather and lay a completely blue cloth covering over that leather. Then they must put the sacred chest’s poles in the proper place to carry it. 7 They must lay a blue cloth covering over the sacred table. Then they must place on that cloth the dishes, the ladles, the bowls, and the jugs that the priests use for presenting wine. Also, they must leave the sacred bread on the sacred table. 8 Then they must lay a red cloth covering over those things and cover that cloth with fine leather. Then they must put the sacred table’s poles in the proper place to carry it. 9 They must lay a blue cloth covering over the lampstand, its oil lamps, the tongs for removing burned wicks, the trays in which to put the burned wicks, and all the jars full of olive oil with which they supply the oil lamps. 10 Then they must wrap the lampstand and all its equipment in fine leather. Then they must attach the lampstand and its equipment to a pole to carry them. 11 They must lay a blue cloth covering over the golden altar and cover that cloth with fine leather. Then they must put the altar’s poles in the proper place to carry it. 12 They must wrap in a blue cloth covering all the equipment that they use in the sacred tent and cover that cloth with fine leather. Then they must attach all the equipment to a pole to carry it. 13 They must clean the bronze altar and lay a purple cloth covering over it. 14 Then they must place on that cloth all the equipment that they use at the bronze altar, including trays, forks for meat, shovels, and large bowls. Then they must lay fine leather over the altar and its equipment. Then they must put the altar’s poles in the proper place to carry it. 15 When the Israelites leave a place, Aaron and his sons must complete putting coverings on the sacred tent and all the equipment that they use in the sacred tent. Once that is complete, the descendants of Kohath can approach and carry all those things. They must not touch anything that belongs in the sacred tent, or they will die. Those are all the things that the descendants of Kohath must carry. That is what they must do at the sacred tent. 16 Aaron the priest’s son Eleazer is in charge of the olive oil that the priests burn to make light in the sacred tent, the incense that they make using spices, the grain that they present regularly, and the oil that they pour on people and things. He is in charge of every part of the sacred tent and everything in it, in what belongs in the sacred tent, and in the equipment that the priests use with it.” 17 Yahweh told Moses and Aaron, 18 “Do not cause the Levites from the Kohathite tribal groups to die. 19 Rather, Aaron and his sons must come and show each Kohathite man what he must pick up and carry. That way, the descendants of Kohath will stay alive when they come close to the most sacred items. 20 The descendants of Kohath must not look at anything that belongs in the sacred tent, not even briefly, or they will die.” 21 Yahweh told Moses, 22 “Count the male descendants of Gershon too. Count them by their ancestral families and tribal groups. 23 List the men who are at least 30 years old and at most 50 years old. These men must be able to work at the sacred tent and set it up and take it down. 24 When the Levites set up and take down the sacred tent, the tribal groups that make up the ancestral family of Gershon are responsible for setting up and taking down the sacred tent and carrying it. 25 They must carry the curtains for the inner part of the sacred tent, the outer part of the sacred tent, what covers this outer part, the fine leather that covers over all those things, the curtain at the sacred tent’s entrance, 26 the curtains that hang on the fence around the courtyard, the curtain at the entrance to the courtyard that surrounds the sacred tent and the altar, the braided cords for the curtains, and all the equipment and other items for setting up and taking down the curtains and coverings. They must set up and take down all these things. 27 The descendants of Gershon must set up and take down the sacred tent as Aaron and his sons command them. This includes everything they do to set up and take down the sacred tent and to carry it. You and Aaron must assign something for each of them to carry and to guard. 28 When the Levites set up and take down the sacred tent, that is what the tribal groups that descended from Gershon must do. Aaron the priest’s son Ithamar is in charge of them as they guard all those things. 29 Moses, list the descendants of Merari by their tribal groups and ancestral families. 30 List the men who are at least 30 years old and at most 50 years old. These men must be able to participate when the Levites set up and take down the sacred tent. 31 As they help to set up and take down the sacred tent, the descendants of Merari must guard and carry the sacred tent’s frame boards, poles, posts, and bases, 32 as well as the posts, bases, stakes, and braided cords that were parts of the fence surrounding the courtyard, including all the equipment that they used to set up and take down all those things. Assign to each of them by name equipment to guard and to carry. 33 When the Levites set up and take down the sacred tent, that is what the tribal groups that descended from Merari must do. Aaron the priest’s son Ithamar is in charge of them.” 34 So, Moses, Aaron, and the men who led the Israelite community listed the descendants of Kohath by their tribal groups and ancestral families. 35 They listed the men who were at least 30 years old and at most 50 years old. These men were able to participate when the Levites set up and took down the sacred tent. 36 Moses and Aaron listed 2, 750 of these descendants of Kohath by their tribal groups. 37 Moses and Aaron listed those men from the tribal groups that descended from Kohath, just as Yahweh ordered them to do. Moses was in charge. Each one of these men helped set up and take down the sacred tent. 38 Moses and Aaron also listed the descendants of Gershon by their tribal groups and ancestral families. 39 They listed the men who were at least 30 years old and at most 50 years old. These men were able to participate when the Levites set up and took down the sacred tent. 40 Moses and Aaron listed 2, 630 of these descendants of Gershon by their tribal groups and ancestral families. 41 Moses and Aaron listed those men from the tribal groups that descended from Gershon, just as Yahweh ordered them to do. Each one of these men helped set up and take down the sacred tent. 42 Moses and Aaron also listed the tribal groups that descended from Merari by their tribal groups and ancestral families 43 They listed the men who were at least 30 years old and at most 50 years old. These men were able to participate when the Levites set up and took down the sacred tent. 44 Moses and Aaron listed 3, 200 of these descendants of Merari by their tribal groups. 45 Moses and Aaron listed those men from the tribal groups that descended from Merari, just as Yahweh ordered them to do. Moses was in charge. 46 Moses, Aaron, and the men who led the Israelites listed all those descendants of Levi by their tribal groups and ancestral families. 47 They listed the men who were at least 30 years old and at most 50 years old. These men were able to set up and take down the sacred tent and to carry it and its equipment. 48 They listed a total of 8, 580 of these men. 49 Moses listed each of these men by what each one had to set up, take down, and carry, just as Yahweh had ordered them to do. Moses was in charge. These were all the men whom Yahweh had ordered Moses to count. 5 Yahweh told Moses, 2 “Some people among the Israelites have skin diseases, are discharging bodily fluids from their genitals, or are impure because they touched a dead body. Order the Israelites to remove those people from the campground. 3 Whether they are male or female, you shall certainly remove those people from the campground. That way, they do not make the campground impure. That matters because I am present with the Israelites in the campground.” 4 Then the Israelites did exactly what Yahweh ordered Moses to do. They removed those people from the campground. 5 Yahweh told Moses, 6 “Tell the Israelites that any person, whether man or woman, might sin against another person. When a person does that, he or she is not being loyal to Yahweh. So, that person is guilty. 7 That person must admit how he or she sinned. Then, that person must pay the one against whom he or she sinned the full cost of what he or she did plus one fifth of the full cost. 8 Suppose that the person who should receive the full cost has died and has no close relatives to receive the full cost instead. In that case, the person who sinned must pay the full cost to Yahweh by paying it to the priest. That is in addition to the ram which he or she must give to the priest. The priest will offer that ram to remove that person’s sin. 9 Whenever the Israelites bring any special and sacred contribution to the priest, that contribution belongs to the priest. 10 Indeed, whenever any person brings a sacred contribution to the priest, that contribution belongs to the priest.” 11 Yahweh told Moses, 12 “Tell the Israelites that a man’s wife might stop being loyal to him. 13 Another man might have sex with her, and so she becomes impure. However, her husband does not know this, and no one else knows either. No one can prove what she did. 14 Despite that, her husband might become suspicious that another man has had sex with her, whether she has actually become impure in that way or not. 15 In that case, the husband must take his wife to the priest. He must also take about two liters of barley flour to present to the priest on her behalf. He presents this grain offering because he is suspicious of his wife and because he wants to know whether she has done what is wrong. So, he must not put olive oil or incense on the barley flour. 16 Then the priest must lead her to the sacred tent and make her stand in front of Yahweh. 17 The priest must fill a clay container with sacred water and then put some dust from the ground inside the sacred tent into that water. 18 The priest must make the woman stand in front of Yahweh, let her hair down, and have her hold the grain offering. Her husband presents this grain offering because he wants to know whether his wife has done what is wrong and because he is suspicious of her. The priest must hold the clay container with the water. Yahweh will use this water to curse the wife who has done what is wrong and make bad things happen to her. 19 The priest must have the woman take an oath. Then, he must tell her, ‘Suppose that another man has not had sex with you and that you have been loyal to your husband and have not become impure. In that case, Yahweh will not use this water to curse you and make bad things happen to you. 20 However, suppose that you have not been loyal to your husband and have become impure. Suppose that a man who is not your husband has had sex with you.’ 21 Then the priest must have the woman speak the cursing words that go with the oath. Then he must say to her, ‘In that case, Yahweh will make you experience what the cursing words that go with the oath indicate. All your fellow Israelites will know this when Yahweh makes your genitals and womb sick. 22 Yahweh will use this water to curse you when you drink it. It will make your genitals and womb sick.’ Then the woman must say, ‘May it be so.’ 23 The priest must write down the cursing words on a scroll. Then, he must wash the ink into the water which Yahweh will use to make bad things happen to her. 24 Then, he must have the woman drink the water that Yahweh will use to curse the wife who has done what is wrong and make bad things happen to her. She must swallow it. 25 The priest must take from the woman the grain offering that her husband presented because he was suspicious of her. He must hold up this grain offering in Yahweh’s presence and take it to the altar. 26 The priest must scoop out a handful from the grain offering and burn it on the altar in a way that causes smoke to go up. After that, he must have the woman drink the water. 27 Suppose that the woman became impure and was not loyal to her husband. In that case, when the priest has her drink the water that Yahweh will use to curse the wife who has done what is wrong and make bad things happen to her, her genitals and womb will become sick. She will experience what the cursing words indicated, and all her fellow Israelites will know. 28 However, suppose that she did not become impure. In that case, she is pure, and none of these bad things will happen to her. She will be able to bear children. 29 These instructions apply when a husband is suspicious of his wife. Specifically, they apply when a wife is not loyal to her husband and becomes impure 30 or when a husband becomes suspicious that another man has had sex with with his wife. Then, the husband must make his wife stand in Yahweh‘s presence, and the priest must do to her everything that these instructions require. 31 Then, Yahweh will not punish any husband who brings his wife to the priest in this way, but Yahweh will punish any wife who has done what is wrong.’ ” 6 Yahweh told Moses, 2 “Tell the Israelites that any person, whether man or woman, may want to make a solemn promise to be a Nazirite by dedicating himself or herself to Yahweh in a special way. 3 All people who do so must completely avoid wine and any other alcoholic drink. They must not drink wine vinegar, any other kind of alcoholic vinegar, or grape juice. Also, they must not eat grapes or raisins. 4 While they are Nazirites, they must not eat anything that people make out of any part of grapes, including the seeds and the skin. 5 While they are Nazirites, they must not cut their hair. Instead, until they finish the time during which they dedicate themselves to Yahweh, they must remain sacred and let their hair grow long. 6 While they are Nazirites, they must not be near a dead boy. 7 Even if their fathers, mothers, brothers, or sisters die, they must not be near their dead bodies. That would make them impure, and they must not become impure while they have the long hair that shows that they have dedicated themselves to God. 8 While they are Nazirites, they are sacred and belong to Yahweh. 9 Suppose that someone dies suddenly near them, which makes impure the long hair that shows that they have dedicated themselves to God. In that case, on the seventh day afterward, when they become pure again, they must cut all their hair off. 10 Then, on the eighth day afterward, each of them must take two doves or two young pigeons to the priest at the entrance to the sacred tent. 11 The priest must offer one of the birds as a purifying sacrifice and the other as a wholly burned sacrifice. When the priest offers these sacrifices, I will accept the sacrifices and remove the Nazirites’ sin, which they committed when they were near the dead body. Immediately after that, they must set apart their hair again to show that they are dedicating themselves to Yahweh. 12 The time before they were near the dead body will not count toward the total time during which they dedicate themselves to Yahweh. That is because they became impure during that time. So, they must dedicate themselves to Yahweh for the entire time again. Also, each of them must take a male sheep that is one year old as a restoring sacrifice. 13 Here are the instructions for when Nazirites have finished the time during which they dedicated themselves to Yahweh. Someone must take them to the entrance to the sacred tent. 14 Then, each Nazirite must offer sacrificial animals, food, and drink to Yahweh. Each one must offer as a wholly burned sacrifice one healthy male sheep that is one year old. Each one must offer as a purifying sacrifice one healthy female sheep that is one year old. Each one must offer as a fellowship sacrifice one healthy ram. 15 Each one must offer the grain and wine offerings that go with those sacrifices. Finally, each one must offer bread without yeast in a container. Some of the bread must be thick bread with olive oil in it, and some of the bread must be thin bread with olive oil on the outside. 16 The priest must offer those things in Yahweh’s presence. He must offer the female sheep as a purifying sacrifice and the male sheep as a wholly burned sacrifice. 17 The priest must offer the ram, together with the bread without yeast in a container, as a fellowship sacrifice to Yahweh. He must also offer the grain and wine offerings that the person brought. 18 Then the Nazirites must cut off the long hair that shows that they have dedicated themselves to God. They must do this at the entrance to the sacred tent. Then, they must place the long hair they cut off on the flames that burn under the fellowship sacrifices that they offered. 19 Once he has boiled the ram, the priest must remove the shoulder and its meat from the ram. After each Nazirite shaves off his or her long hair, the priest will have him or her hold the shoulder meat and two pieces of bread without yeast from the container, one thick and one thin. 20 Then the priest must take back the meat and bread and hold them up in Yahweh’s presence. They are sacred and belong to the priest. That is in addition to the breast meat that he holds up in Yahweh’s presence and the thigh meat from the special contribution, both of which he normally receives from a fellowship sacrifice. After the priest has completed all those things, the person who was a Nazirite can now drink wine and other alcoholic drinks. 21 Those are the instructions for all people who make solemn promises to be Nazirites and to present sacrifices to Yahweh when they have finished the time during which they dedicated themselves to Yahweh. They may also present other sacrifices if they choose to do so. These people must do exactly what they solemnly promised and what those instructions require.” 22 Yahweh told Moses, 23 “Tell Aaron and his sons that when they bless the Israelites, they must use these words: 24 ‘We ask Yahweh to bless and guard you. 25 We ask Yahweh to be favorable and kind to you. 26 We ask Yahweh to care for you and make you peaceful.’ 27 When they speak those words, they declare that the Israelites belong to me. I will certainly bless the Israelites.” 7 When Moses completed setting up the sacred tent, he poured olive oil on it and set it apart. He also poured olive oil on the equipment for the sacred tent, the altar, and the equipment for the altar and set them apart. 2 Then the men who led the Israelites offered gifts to Yahweh. These men were in charge of their ancestral families, led the tribes, and ruled over the people whom they, Moses, and Aaron would list. 3 They took their gifts to the sacred tent, in Yahweh’s presence. They used six carts and twelve bulls. Each cart was from two leaders, and each bull was from one leader. 4 Then Yahweh told Moses, 5 “Accept their gifts. The Levites must use them as they set up and take down the sacred tent. Give them to the Levites who can best use them as they do so.” 6 So Moses accepted the carts and the bulls. Then, he gave them to the Levites. 7 He gave two carts and four bulls to the descendants of Gershon since they could use them as they set up and took down the sacred tent. 8 He gave four carts and eight bulls to the descendants of Merari since they could use them as they set up and took down the sacred tent. Aaron the priest’s son Ithamar was in charge of both these groups of Levites. 9 However, he did not give any carts or bulls to the descendants of Kohath. That was because they carried the things that belonged in the sacred tent. They had to carry those things themselves instead of using carts. 10 When Moses poured olive oil on the altar and set it apart, the men who led the Israelites offered gifts before the altar. 11 Yahweh told Moses, “On each of the next twelve days one man who leads the Israelites must offer the gifts that he offers because you set the altar apart.” 12 On the first day, Nahshon son of Amminadab offered his gifts. He was from Judah tribe. 13 He offered a silver dish that weighed one and one-half kilograms and a large silver bowl that weighed four-fifths of a kilogram. He weighed them the same way the priests do in the sacred tent. He filled both of them with flour with olive oil in it as a grain offering. 14 He offered a gold ladle that weighed one-tenth of a kilogram. He filled it with incense. 15 As a wholly burned sacrifice, he offered a young bull, a ram, and a male sheep that was one year old. 16 As a purifying sacrifice, he offered a male goat. 17 As a fellowship sacrifice, he offered two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male sheep that were one year old. Nahshon son of Amminadab gave all those gifts. 18 On the second day, Nethanel son of Zuar, who led Issachar tribe, offered his gifts. 19 He offered a silver dish that weighed one and one-half kilograms and a large silver bowl that weighed four-fifths of a kilogram. He weighed them the same way the priests do in the sacred tent. He filled both of them with flour with olive oil in it as a grain offering. 20 He offered a gold ladle that weighed one-tenth of a kilogram. He filled it with incense. 21 As a wholly burned sacrifice, he offered a young bull, a ram, and a male sheep that was one year old. 22 As a purifying sacrifice, he offered a male goat. 23 As a fellowship sacrifice, he offered two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male sheep that were one year old. Nethanel son of Zuar gave all those gifts. 24 On the third day, Eliab son of Helon, who led the descendants of Zebulun, offered his gifts. 25 He offered a silver dish that weighed one and one-half kilograms and a large silver bowl that weighed four-fifths of a kilogram. He weighed them the same way the priests do in the sacred tent. He filled both of them with flour with olive oil in it as a grain offering. 26 He offered a gold ladle that weighed one-tenth of a kilogram. He filled it with incense. 27 As a wholly burned sacrifice, he offered a young bull, a ram, and a male sheep that was one year old. 28 As a purifying sacrifice, he offered a male goat. 29 As a fellowship sacrifice, he offered two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male sheep that were one year old. Eliab son of Helon gave all those gifts. 30 On the fourth day, Elizur son of Shedeur, who led the descendants of Reuben, offered his gifts. 31 He offered a silver dish that weighed one and one-half kilograms and a large silver bowl that weighed four-fifths of a kilogram. He weighed them the same way the priests do in the sacred tent. He filled both of them with flour with olive oil in it as a grain offering. 32 He offered a gold ladle that weighed one-tenth of a kilogram. He filled it with incense. 33 As a wholly burned sacrifice, he offered a young bull, a ram, and a male sheep that was one year old. 34 As a purifying sacrifice, he offered a male goat. 35 As a fellowship sacrifice, he offered two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male sheep that were one year old. Elizur son of Shedeur gave all those gifts. 36 On the fifth day, Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai, who led the descendants of Simeon, offered his gifts. 37 He offered a silver dish that weighed one and one-half kilograms and a large silver bowl that weighed four-fifths of a kilogram. He weighed them the same way the priests do in the sacred tent. He filled both of them with flour with olive oil in it as a grain offering. 38 He offered a gold ladle that weighed one-tenth of a kilogram. He filled it with incense. 39 As a wholly burned sacrifice, he offered a young bull, a ram, and a male sheep that was one year old. 40 As a purifying sacrifice, he offered a male goat. 41 As a fellowship sacrifice, he offered two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male sheep that were one year old. Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai gave all those gifts. 42 On the sixth day, Eliasaph son of Deuel, who led the descendants of Gad, offered his gifts. 43 He offered a silver dish that weighed one and one-half kilograms and a large silver bowl that weighed four-fifths of a kilogram. He weighed them the same way the priests do in the sacred tent. He filled both of them with flour with olive oil in it as a grain offering. 44 He offered a gold ladle that weighed one-tenth of a kilogram. He filled it with incense. 45 As a wholly burned sacrifice, he offered a young bull, a ram, and a male sheep that was one year old. 46 As a purifying sacrifice, he offered a male goat. 47 As a fellowship sacrifice, he offered two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male sheep that were one year old. Eliasaph son of Deuel gave all those gifts. 48 On the seventh day, Elishama son of Ammihud, who led the descendants of Ephraim, offered his gifts. 49 He offered a silver dish that weighed one and one-half kilograms and a large silver bowl that weighed four-fifths of a kilogram. He weighed them the same way the priests do in the sacred tent. He filled both of them with flour with olive oil in it as a grain offering. 50 He offered a gold ladle that weighed one-tenth of a kilogram. He filled it with incense. 51 As a wholly burned sacrifice, he offered a young bull, a ram, and a male sheep that was one year old. 52 As a purifying sacrifice, he offered a male goat. 53 As a fellowship sacrifice, he offered two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male sheep that were one year old. Elishama son of Ammihud gave all those gifts. 54 On the eighth day, Gamaliel son of Pedahzur, who led the descendants of Manasseh offered his gifts. 55 He offered a silver dish that weighed one and one-half kilograms and a large silver bowl that weighed four-fifths of a kilogram. He weighed them the same way the priests do in the sacred tent. He filled both of them with flour with olive oil in it as a grain offering. 56 He offered a gold ladle that weighed one-tenth of a kilogram. He filled it with incense. 57 As a wholly burned sacrifice, he offered a young bull, a ram, and a male sheep that was one year old. 58 As a purifying sacrifice, he offered a male goat. 59 As a fellowship sacrifice, he offered two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male sheep that were one year old. Gamaliel son of Pedahzur gave all those gifts. 60 On the ninth day, Abidan son of Gideoni, who led the descendants of Benjamin, offered his gifts. 61 He offered a silver dish that weighed one and one-half kilograms and a large silver bowl that weighed four-fifths of a kilogram. He weighed them the same way the priests do in the sacred tent. He filled both of them with flour with olive oil in it as a grain offering. 62 He offered a gold ladle that weighed one-tenth of a kilogram. He filled it with incense. 63 As a wholly burned sacrifice, he offered a young bull, a ram, and a male sheep that was one year old. 64 As a purifying sacrifice, he offered a male goat. 65 As a fellowship sacrifice, he offered two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male sheep that were one year old. Abidan son of Gideoni gave all those gifts. 66 On the tenth day, Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai, who led the descendants of Dan, offered his gifts. 67 He offered a silver dish that weighed one and one-half kilograms and a large silver bowl that weighed four-fifths of a kilogram. He weighed them the same way the priests do in the sacred tent. He filled both of them with flour with olive oil in it as a grain offering. 68 He offered a gold ladle that weighed one-tenth of a kilogram. He filled it with incense. 69 As a wholly burned sacrifice, he offered a young bull, a ram, and a male sheep that was one year old. 70 As a purifying sacrifice, he offered a male goat. 71 As a fellowship sacrifice, he offered two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male sheep that were one year old. Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai gave all those gifts. 72 On the eleventh day, Pagiel son of Okran, who led the descendants of Asher, offered his gifts. 73 He offered a silver dish that weighed one and one-half kilograms and a large silver bowl that weighed four-fifths of a kilogram. He weighed them the same way the priests do in the sacred tent. He filled both of them with flour with olive oil in it as a grain offering. 74 He offered a gold ladle that weighed one-tenth of a kilogram. He filled it with incense. 75 As a wholly burned sacrifice, he offered a young bull, a ram, and a male sheep that was one year old. 76 As a purifying sacrifice, he offered a male goat. 77 As a fellowship sacrifice, he offered two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male sheep that were one year old. Pagiel son of Okran gave all those gifts. 78 On the twelfth day, Ahira son of Enan, who led the descendants of Naphtali offered his gifts. 79 He offered a silver dish that weighed one and one-half kilograms and a large silver bowl that weighed four-fifths of a kilogram. He weighed them the same way the priests do in the sacred tent. He filled both of them with flour with olive oil in it as a grain offering. 80 He offered a gold ladle that weighed one-tenth of a kilogram. He filled it with incense. 81 As a wholly burned sacrifice, he offered a young bull, a ram, and a male sheep that was one year old. 82 As a purifying sacrifice, he offered a male goat. 83 As a fellowship sacrifice, he offered two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male sheep that were one year old. Ahira son of Enan gave all those gifts. 84 When Moses poured olive oil on the altar and set it apart, the men who led the Israelites offered gifts. They offered 12 silver dishes, 12 large silver bowls, and 12 gold ladles. 85 Each silver dish weighed one and one-half kilograms. Each large silver bowl weighed four-fifths of a kilogram. Altogether, these silver dishes and large bowls weighed about 27 kilograms. They weighed them the same way the priests do in the sacred tent. 86 They filled the 12 gold ladles with incense. Each ladle weighed one-tenth of a kilogram. They weighed them the same way the priests do in the sacred tent. Altogether, these gold ladles weighed about one and one-fifth kilograms. 87 As a wholly burned sacrifice, they offered 12 bulls, 12 rams, and 12 male sheep that were one year old, along with the grain offerings for them. As a purifying sacrifice, they offered 12 male goats. 88 As a fellowship sacrifice, they offered 24 bulls, 60 rams, 60 male goats, and 60 male sheep that were one year old. That is what the men who led Israel offered when Moses poured olive oil on the altar and set it apart. 89 Then, Moses entered the sacred tent to talk with Yahweh, and he heard Yahweh’s voice. The voice came from between the two images of creatures with wings that were above the lid for the sacred chest. That is how Yahweh spoke to Moses. 8 Yahweh told Moses, 2 “Tell Aaron that, when he puts the seven lamps in their places on the lampstand, he must make sure that they light up the area in front of the lampstand.” 3 When Moses told that to Aaron, Aaron did it exactly as Yahweh had said. He put the lamps in their places on the lampstand so that they lit up the area in front of the lampstand. 4 The people who made the lampstand had made it look exactly like what Yahweh had shown to Moses. They had made it, including its main shaft and the flower decorations on it, by hammering a single sheet of gold. 5 Yahweh told Moses, 6 “Out of all the Israelites, appoint the Levites to serve me. You must make them pure. 7 Here is how to make them pure. You must flick some purifying water on them. You must have them shave off their hair completely. You must have them wash their clothes. That is how they will make themselves pure. 8 They must select a young bull and prepare grain offering that goes with it, which is flour with olive oil in it. You must select another young bull to be a purifying sacrifice. 9 Then you must have the Levites stand at the front of the sacred tent. You must summon the rest of the Israelite community to the sacred tent. 10 You must offer the Levites in my presence, and the leaders of the Israelites must place their hands on them. 11 From all the Israelites, Aaron must set the Levites apart in my presence, as if he were holding them up as an offering. Then, the Levites must do the work that I require. 12 Then the Levites must place their hands on bulls’ heads. You must have a priest offer one bull as a purifying sacrifice and the other bull as a wholly burned sacrifice in order to remove their sins and ransom them. 13 You must have the Levites stand in front of Aaron and his sons. Then, you must set the Levites apart for me, as if you were holding them up as an offering. 14 That is how you must set the Levites apart from the rest of the Israelites. Then, Levites will belong to me. 15 Once you have made them pure and set them apart, as if you were holding them up as an offering, then the Levites can set up and take down the sacred tent whenever the Israelites travel. 16 You must set the Levites apart because out of all the Israelites, I have assigned the Levites exclusively to me. They belong to me in place of the oldest male from every Israelite family. 17 That is because the oldest male from every Israelite family and the oldest male offspring of all their farm animals belong to me. When I killed the oldest male from every Egyptian family in Egypt, I set the oldest male from every Israelite family apart for myself. 18 But now I have chosen the Levites in place of the oldest male from every Israelite family. 19 Out of all the Israelites, I have assigned the Levites to serve Aaron and his sons. They will set up and take down the sacred tent for the Israelites, and they will ransom the Israelites. That way, when the Israelites approach the sacred tent, bad things will not happen to them.” 20 Moses, Aaron, and the rest of the Israelite community did exactly what Yahweh told Moses to do with the Levites. 21 The Levites washed their clothes and purified themselves. Aaron set them apart in Yahweh’s presence, as if he were holding them up as an offering. Aaron offered a sacrifice that Yahweh accepted to remove their sins, and so they were pure. 22 Once that was done, the Levites were able to set up and take down the sacred tent whenever the Israelites travel. Aaron and his sons would supervise them as they did that. So, the Israelites did exactly what Yahweh told Moses to do with the Levites. 23 Yahweh told Moses, 24 “Here are instructions for the Levites. The Levite men who are at least 30 years old are able to work at the sacred tent and set it up and take it down. 25 The Levite men who are at least 50 years old are no longer able to set up and take down the sacred tent. They must not do that anymore. 26 They can help their fellow Levites at the tent of meeting by guarding the sacred tent and its equipment. However, they cannot set up and take down the sacred tent. That is what you must have the Levites do as they guard the sacred tent and its equipment.” 9 It was the first month of the year after the Israelite people had left Egypt. While the Israelite people were in the desolate area around Sinai, Yahweh spoke to Moses. Yahweh told him, 2 “You and the rest of the Israelites must celebrate the Passover Celebration at its proper time. 3 You must celebrate it on the fourteenth day of this month, early in the evening. You must obey all the instructions about it that I previously told you.” 4 Then Moses told the Israelites that they needed to celebrate the Passover Celebration. 5 So, on the fourteenth day of the first month, early in the evening, they celebrated the Passover Celebration in the desolate area around Sinai. They did exactly what Yahweh had ordered Moses to do. 6 However, some of the Israelites were impure because they had touched a dead body. Because of that, they could not celebrate the Passover Celebration on the fourteenth day of the first month. So, they approached Moses and Aaron on the day for the Passover Celebration. 7 They told Moses, “We are impure because we touched a dead body. However, we do not want that to prevent us from offering the Passover sacrifice to Yahweh at the proper time along with the rest of the Israelites.” 8 Moses replied, “Wait here. I will go to the sacred tent and ask Yahweh, and I will listen to what he wants you to do.” 9 At the sacred tent, Yahweh told Moses: 10 “Tell the Israelites that people might be impure because they touched a dead body. Or, they might be traveling far away. In those cases, those people can still celebrate the Passover Celebration to honor me. These instructions apply to the Israelites who are alive now and to all their descendants. 11 The people who are impure or traveling can celebrate the Passover Celebration on the fourteenth day of the second month of the same year. They must eat the lamb for the Passover Celebration along with bread without yeast and sour vegetables. 12 They must not have any leftover food in the morning. Also, they must not break any of the lamb’s bones. They must obey all the instructions about the Passover Celebration that I previously told you. 13 However, suppose that any Israelites are pure and are not traveling, but they do not celebrate the Passover Celebration. In that case, the other Israelites must drive those people out from among them. That is because those people did not offer the Passover sacrifice to me at the proper time. I will punish those people for what they did wrong. 14 Any foreigners who live among you and who want to celebrate the Passover Celebration to honor me may do so. They must obey all the instructions about the Passover Celebration that I previously told you. The same instructions apply to foreigners and to Israelites.” 15 When the Israelites set up the sacred tent, the cloud that went with them out of Egypt came directly over the inner part of the sacred tent. From sunset until sunrise, it would look like fire on top of the sacred tent. 16 That is what happened regularly. The cloud would be directly over the sacred tent, and it would look like fire during the night. 17 Whenever the cloud moved from the sacred tent, the Israelites would immediately leave the place where they had set up their tents. Whenever the cloud stayed in one place, the Israelites would set up their tents there. 18 The Israelites would leave a place and set up their tents in a new place as Yahweh commanded them to using the cloud. For as long as the cloud was over the sacred tent, they would stay in that place. 19 Sometimes, the cloud would be over the sacred tent for a long time. When that happened, the Israelites would do exactly what Yahweh required. They would not leave the place where they had set up their tents. 20 Sometimes, the cloud would be over the sacred tent for only a few days. In that case, they would set up their tents in a new place and leave that place as Yahweh commanded them to using the cloud. 21 Sometimes, the cloud would be over the sacred tent only overnight. In that case, when the cloud moved from over the sacred tent in the morning, they would leave the place where they had set up their tents. Indeed, whenever the cloud moved from over the sacred tent, whether it was daytime or nighttime, they would leave the place where they had set up their tents. 22 Sometimes, the cloud would stay over the sacred tent for two days, or a month, or a year, or any other length of time. In those cases, the Israelites would stay where they had set up their tents for that time. When the cloud would eventually move from over the sacred tent, they would leave that place. 23 So, the Israelites would set up their tents in a new place and leave that place as Yahweh commanded them to using the cloud. They did exactly what Yahweh required. Moses was in charge of the Israelites as they did that. 10 Yahweh told Moses, 2 “Have someone make two trumpets by hammering them from a a single sheet of silver. You must use these trumpets to summon the whole Israelite community together and to signal that it is time to leave the place where the Israelites have set up their tents. 3 When the priests sound both trumpets, the whole Israelite community must gather together with you at the entrance to the sacred tent. 4 When the priests sound only one trumpet, the men who lead the clans of the Israelite people must gather together with you at the entrance to the sacred tent. 5 When the priests sound the trumpets in a special way, the people that set up their tents on the east side of the sacred tent must leave that place. 6 When the priests sound the trumpets in a special way a second time, the people that set up their tents on the south side of the sacred tent must leave that place. The priests must sound the trumpets in that special way whenever the people who set up their tents on any side of the sacred tent must leave those places. 7 When you want to summon the whole Israelite community, the priests must sound the trumpets, but not in that special way. 8 The descendants of Aaron who are priests are the ones who should sound the trumpets. These instructions about the trumpets always apply, both to the Israelites who are alive now and to their descendants. 9 When you fight in your own country against enemies who attack you, have the priests sound the trumpets in a special way. I, Yahweh your God, will listen and rescue you from those enemies. 10 When it is a day when you rejoice, including at the yearly celebrations and on the first day of each month, have the priests sound the trumpets. They must do that when the priests offer the wholly burned sacrifices and fellowship sacrifices that you give. Then, I will listen to you and think about you. I am Yahweh your God.” 11 It was the twentieth day of the second month of the second year. On that day, the cloud moved from the sacred tent. 12 So, the Israelites left the desolate area around Sinai. Each group of tribes left in the proper order. The cloud moved to the desolate area near the city of Paran and stayed there, and the Israelites followed it. 13 That was the first time Yahweh commanded them to leave the place where they had set up their tents. Moses was in charge as they left. 14 The three tribes that set up their camps near the tribal flag that belonged to the descendants of Judah left first. They left by their army divisions. Amminadab’s son Nahshon led the soldiers from Judah tribe. 15 Zuar’s son Nethanel led the soldiers from Issachar tribe. 16 Helon’s son Eliab led the soldiers from Zebulun tribe. 17 Then the Levites disassembled the sacred tent. The descendants of Gershon and Merari carried its pieces, and they left next. 18 Then the three tribes that set up their camps near the tribal flag that belonged to the descendants of Reuben left. They left by their army divisions. Shedeur’s son Elizur led the soldiers from Reuben tribe. 19 Zurishaddai’s son Shelumiel led the soldiers from Simeon tribe. 20 Deuel’s son Eliasaph led the soldiers from Gad tribe. 21 The descendants of Kohath carried the things that belonged in the sacred tent, and they left next. The other Levites set up the sacred tent before the descendants of Kohath arrived at the place where they would set up their tents. 22 Then the three tribes that set up their camps near the tribal flag that belonged to the descendants of Ephraim left. They left by their army divisions. Ammihud’s son Elishama led the soldiers from Ephraim tribe. 23 Pedahzur’s son Gamaliel led the soldiers from Manasseh tribe. 24 Gideoni’s son Abidan led the soldiers from Benjamin tribe. 25 Then the three tribes that set up their camps near the tribal flag that belonged to the descendants of Dan left as the rearguard. They left by their army divisions. Ammishaddai’s son Ahiezer led the soldiers from Dan tribe. 26 Okran’s son Pagiel led the soldiers from Asher tribe. 27 Enan’s son Ahira led the soldiers from Naphtali tribe. 28 That was the order in which the groups of Israelite tribes left the place where they had set up their camps. 29 When the Israelites were getting ready to leave the desolate area around Sinai, Moses spoke to Hobab. Hobab was the father of Moses’ wife, and he was Reuel’s son. He was from the Midian people group. Moses said to him, “We are about to leave for the place that Yahweh promised to give to us. Please come with us. Yahweh has promised to take good care of us Israelites. So, we will take good care of you.” 30 Hobab replied, “No, I will not come with you. Instead, I will return to my own country and family.” 31 But Moses said, “You know the places where we can set up our tents in this desolate area, and you can guide us. So, I ask you not to go away. 32 Yahweh will take very good care of us. So, if you come with us, we will take care of you in the same way.” 33 When the Israelites left Mount Sinai, where Yahweh had revealed himself, they walked for three days. The people who carried the sacred chest walked in front of the Israelites for those three days to find the place where Yahweh wanted them to set up their tents. 34 Whenever they left a place where they had set up their camps in the morning, the cloud that Yahweh sent would be over them during the day. 35 Whenever the people who carried the sacred chest left a place, Moses would say, “Yahweh, please act for us. Then, the people who hate you and act against you will run away from your presence!” 36 Whenever the people who carried the sacred chest stayed in a place, Moses would say, “Yahweh, please stay with the very many Israelite clans!” 11 One day the Israelites grumbled in Yahweh’s presence about how much they thought they were suffering. When Yahweh listened to what they said, he was angry. So, he sent a fire that burned at the edge of their campsite and destroyed some of their belongings. 2 Then the Israelites pleaded with Moses to help them. So, Moses asked Yahweh to stop the fire, and the fire did stop. 3 So they named that place Taberah, which means ‘Burning,’ because the fire from Yahweh had burned among them. 4 After that, some people who were not Israelites wanted very badly to eat meat. Then the Israelites too cried again, as they did when they grumbled earlier. They said, “We wish someone would give us meat to eat! 5 We can recall what we ate in Egypt for free: fish, gourds, and the vegetables we used for seasoning. 6 But now we have become weak, because all we have to eat is this manna that we see!” 7 As for the manna, it had the shape of small seeds, and it looked like resin. 8-9 8-9Whenever the dew appeared during the night at the place where they had set up their tents, the manna would appear with it. Then, in the morning, the people would walk around and gather the manna. Then, they would grind it up by using a handmill or a mortar and pestle. After that, they would boil it and then form it into loaves. The manna tasted like good olive oil. 10 Now as the people were crying at their tents with their tribal groups, Moses heard them. Yahweh was very angry. Also, Moses was very upset. 11 Then Moses went to the sacred tent and said to Yahweh, “I am upset that you have made me, your servant, suffer like this. You must have chosen not to treat me kindly. Otherwise, you would not have made me take care of all these people! 12 I am not their mother. Yet, you have still ordered me to act like their nurse, as if I could hold them like an infant close to my chest and carry them to the land you promised their ancestors that you would give to them. 13 All these people cry in front of me and ask me to give them meat to eat. However, I cannot get enough meat to feed all these people! 14 I cannot take care of all these people alone. It is too difficult for me. 15 I ask you to kill me now if you intend to keep treating me this way. That is how you can treat me kindly! That way, I will not have to suffer like this.” 16 Yahweh told Moses, “Summon 70 men whom you know are leaders among the Israelite people. Have them go to the sacred tent and stand there with you. 17 I will be present in a special way and talk with you at the sacred tent. By means of my Spirit, I have enabled you to lead my people. I will also enable the 70 leaders to lead my people by means of my Spirit. They will help you take care of the people so that you will not have to do so alone. 18 Also, tell the people that they must set themselves apart to prepare for the next day, when they will eat meat. Remind them that they cried in my presence and said that they wished that someone would give them meat to eat just as when they lived well in Egypt. Tell them that I will provide them with meat to eat. 19 Tell them that they will eat meat, but not for only one, two, five, ten, or even 20 days. 20 Tell them that they will instead eat meat every day for a month, and then they will have too much and will want to vomit when they eat it. Tell them that this will happen because they have not wanted to obey me, who am present with them in a special way, and because they cried in my presence and said that they were very unhappy that they left Egypt.” 21 Moses replied, “There are 600, 000 men not including women and children walking with me. Despite that, you say that you will give them enough meat to eat every day for a month! 22 Even if we killed all the sheep and oxen or caught all the fish in the sea, that would not be enough meat for them!” 23 Yahweh replied, “You doubt that I am powerful. At this time you will find out if I can do what I say I will do.” 24 After that, Moses left the sacred tent and told the people what Yahweh had said. Then he summoned 70 men who were leaders among the Israelites and had them stand around the sacred tent. 25 Then Yahweh was present in a special way in the cloud that was above the sacred tent, and he talked with Moses. By means of his Spirit, he enabled the 70 leaders to lead the Israelites, just as he had enabled Moses. When Yahweh enabled them, the leaders spoke as Yahweh inspired them. However, they did not do that again. 26 Eldad and Medad were two of the men whom Moses had summoned. However, they did not go to the sacred tent. Instead, they stayed among the Israelites’ tents. However, Yahweh enabled them too to lead the Israelites by means of his Spirit, and they spoke as Yahweh inspired them among the tents. 27 Then, a young man hurried to Moses and told him, “Eldad and Medad are speaking as Yahweh inspires them among the tents!” 28 Nun’s son Joshua, who since he was a young man had helped Moses, responded, “Moses sir, I ask that you tell them to stop doing that!” 29 Moses replied, “You should not be worried that this will harm me. In fact, I wish that Yahweh would inspire all his people by means of his Spirit so that they all would speak as he inspired them!” 30 Then Moses and the leaders went back to their tents. 31 Then Yahweh made the wind blow small birds from the nearby sea, and they fell on the ground in the campsite and as far as a person can walk in a day in every direction. They lay on the ground a meter high. 32 So the people went out and collected the small birds that day, that night, and the entire next day. The people who worked the least still collected about 2, 200 liters. They laid the quails out on the ground around the campsite. 33 While the people were about to eat the meat, before they took a bite, Yahweh was angry with them. So, he caused very many of them to die. 34 In that place the Israelites buried the bodies of the people who had wanted very badly to eat meat. So, they named that place Kibroth Hattaavah, which means “Graves for the People Who Wanted”. 35 The people left Kibroth Hattaavah and arrived in Hazeroth, and they stayed there. 12 Previously, Moses had married a woman from the Cush people group. Now while the Israelites were in Hazeroth, Moses’ older sister Miriam and his older brother Aaron criticized Moses because he had married that woman from the Cush people group. 2 They said, “Yahweh has not spoken only through Moses. He has spoken through us, too!” Yahweh heard what they said. 3 As for Moses, he was much more humble than any other person on earth. 4 Then, without warning, Yahweh told Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, “All three of you must go to the sacred tent.” So they went to the sacred tent. 5 Then Yahweh was present in a special way in a cloud that looked like a column. The cloud was at the entrance to the sacred tent. Then Yahweh summoned Aaron and Miriam. They approached the cloud. 6 Yahweh told them, “Listen to me! When people who truly speak for me are among you, I communicate with them by giving them dreams and visions. 7 But that is not how I communicate with Moses, who serves me. He is trustworthy as he leads my people. 8 I speak with him directly, and I do not make him try to figure out what I mean. Instead, I tell him plainly, and he sees how I choose to look when I am present in a special way. So, you should be afraid to criticize Moses, who serves me!” 9 Yahweh was angry with Miriam and Aaron, and he left that place. 10 The cloud too moved from the sacred tent. Immediately, Miriam had a skin disease that made her skin as white as snow. When Aaron looked at her, he immediately saw that she had a skin disease. 11 Then Aaron said to Moses, “Sir, I ask you not to punish us for the wrong thing that we did so foolishly! 12 I ask that you do not allow Miriam to be like a baby that has died and already partly decayed when its mother gives birth to it!” 13 So Moses pleaded with Yahweh, “God, I beg you to cure her!” 14 Yahweh replied, “Suppose that her father had shamed her by spitting in her face. That would shame her for seven days. Similarly, now she must stay outside the area where the Israelites set up their tents for seven days. After that, she can come back to her tent.” 15 So Miriam stayed outside the area where the Israelites set up their tents for seven days. The Israelites stayed there until she came back to her tent. 16 Then the Israelites left Hazeroth. They set up their tents in the desolate area near the city of Paran.

13 Yahweh told Moses, 2 “Have some men go to Canaan and scout it out. That is the land that I will give to you Israelites. Select one man for each ancestral tribe. Each one must be someone who helps lead his tribe.” 3 So Moses selected twelve men, each of whom was someone who helped lead the Israelites. He had them go to Canaan from where they had set up their tents in the desolate area near the city of Paran, just as Yahweh commanded him to do. 4 Here are the names of the men and their tribes: Zaccur’s son Shammua, from Reuben tribe; 5 Hori’s son Shaphat, from Simeon tribe; 6 Jephunneh’s son Caleb, from Judah tribe; 7 Joseph’s son Igal, from Issachar tribe; 8 Nun’s son Hoshea, from Ephraim tribe; 9 Raphu’s son Palti, from Benjamin tribe; 10 Sodi’s son Gaddiel, from Zebulun tribe; 11 Susi’s son Gaddi, from Manasseh tribe, which descends from Joseph; 12 Gemalli’s son Ammiel, from Dan tribe; 13 Michael’s son Sethur, from Asher tribe; 14 Vophsi’s son Nahbi, from Naphtali tribe; 15 and Maki’s son Geuel, from Gad tribe. 16 Moses had those men go and scout Canaan out. Also, Moses had given Nun’s son Hoshea the name Joshua. 17 When Moses had them go to Canaan and scout it out, he told them, “Walk directly ahead of you through the Negev. Then, walk into the hilly area north of it. 18 Pay attention to what the area is like. Pay attention to the people who live there. Find out if they are powerful or not. Find out if there are many of them or only a few. 19 Pay attention to the area where they live. Find out if it is desirable or not. Pay attention to the places where they live. Find out if they live in cities with or without walls. 20 Pay attention to the soil. Find out if it is fertile or not. Find out if trees grow there or not. Do your best to bring back some fruit that grows there.” He said that because it was time when the first grapes became ripe. 21 So those men walked to Canaan and scouted it out. They did so from the desolate area of Zin in the south to the city of Rehob, which is near the city of Lebo Hamath in the north. 22 When they left the Israelites, they walked through the Negev and arrived at the city of Hebron. People had constructed Hebron seven years before people constructed the city of Zoan, which is in Egypt. Some of the Anak people group lived near Hebron. Their names were Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai. 23 Near Eshkol Stream Bed, they chopped a branch from a grapevine that had a large group of grapes on it. They attached it to a pole so that two of them could carry it. They also collected some pomegranates and figs. 24 They named that place Eshkol Stream Bed because there the Israelites chopped off a branch that had a large group of grapes on it. The word Eshkol means “a group of grapes.” 25 When they had finished scouting Canaan out, they came back to the rest of the Israelites. They had been gone for 40 days. 26 When they arrived where the Israelites were at the city of Kadesh in the desolate area near the city of Paran, they met with Aaron, Moses, and the rest of the Israelite community. Then the leaders who had scouted Canaan out told Aaron, Moses, and the rest of the Israelite community what they had learned, and they showed them the grapes, pomegranates, and figs that they had gathered. 27 Then they told Moses in front of everyone, “We walked to the place where you told us to go. It certainly is a very fertile place! Here is the fruit it produces. 28 But the people who live there are powerful. Their cities have large walls. Also, some of the Anak people group live there. 29 The Amalekite people group lives in the Negev. The Hittite people group, the Jebusite people group, and the Amorite people group live in the hilly area. The Canaanite people group lives near the Mediterranean Sea and near the Jordan River.” 30 Caleb told the people who were in front of Moses to be quiet. Then he said, “We can definitely conquer Canaan! So, we should certainly walk there and take the area for ourselves.” 31 However, the others who had walked to Canaan with him said, “No, the people who live there are more powerful than we are. We cannot conquer them.” 32 Then those men told the Israelites bad things about Canaan, the area they had scouted out. They said, “The area that we scouted out is very bad for those who live there. Also, every person we saw there was very tall. 33 We even saw Nephils there. We felt like little bugs in comparison with them, and that is how they thought of us too.” They mentioned Nephils because the descendants of Anak are Nephils.

14 During that night, all the Israelite people cried loudly. 2 Also, all the Israelites complained about Moses and Aaron. The whole Israelite community said to Moses and Aaron, “We wish that we had died in Egypt or in this desolate area! 3 Yahweh has taken us to this land only so that the people who live here can slaughter us men. Then, they will capture our wives and children. It is best for us to go back to Egypt!” 4 So they said to each other, “We should choose a new leader, and he will lead us back to Egypt.” 5 Then Aaron and Moses sorrowfully and fearfully bowed down before Yahweh in front of the whole Israelite community. 6 Nun’s son Joshua and Jephunneh’s son Caleb were two of the men who had scouted Canaan out. They ripped their clothing to show how sad they were. 7 They told the whole Israelite community, “The area that we scouted out is extremely good. 8 We should act to please Yahweh. Then, he will lead us to Canaan and give it to us. It is a very fertile place! 9 But please, do not refuse to obey Yahweh! He acts for us. So, do not be afraid of the people who live in Canaan! There is nothing to protect them. We will defeat them as easily as we eat food. So, do not be afraid of them! 10 Then the whole Israelite community talked about killing Caleb and Joshua by throwing stones at them. However, Yahweh made himself present to all the Israelites in a glorious way at the sacred tent. 11 Yahweh told Moses, “I am displeased that these people keep rejecting me. I am displeased that they do not trust me, despite all the amazing things that I have performed among them. 12 So I will kill them with a terrible disease, and they will not live in the land of Canaan. Instead, I will make your descendants a people group. They will be more numerous and more powerful than these Israelites.” 13 Moses replied to Yahweh, “You powerfully took these people from Egypt. But if you do what you say, the Egyptians will learn about it, 14 and they will tell it to the people in Canaan. The people in Canaan have already learned that you, Yahweh, are present with the Israelites. The people in Canaan have learned that the Israelites can see your presence directly and that the cloud that you control is above them. The people in Canaan have learned that you lead the Israelites during the day with a cloud that looks like a column and during the night with fire that looks like a column. 15 So suppose that you kill all the Israelites at once. In that case, the people groups who have learned about you will say, 16 ‘Yahweh could not take these people into the land that he promised to give to them, so he killed them in the desolate area.’ 17 So, I ask you to show that you are very powerful. That is what you said about yourself when you told me, 18 ‘I do not quickly become angry. Instead, I am faithful. I forgive people when they do what is wrong or disobey me. However, I will certainly punish some people. When parents do what is wrong, I will punish their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.’ 19 I ask that you pardon these people for what they have done wrong. I ask that because you are very faithful and because you have been pardoning them during the whole time we traveled from Egypt to this place.” 20 Yahweh replied, “I have pardoned them as you asked. 21 Yet, I surely live, and I surely am gloriously present throughout the whole world. 22 Just as surely, I proclaim something about all the people who experienced the amazing things that I performed in Egypt and in the desolate area and how I make myself gloriously present. Those people provoked me many times and did not do what I said. 23 Because of that, I proclaim that none of them will experience the land that I promised their ancestors that I would give to their descendants. Indeed, no one who rejected me will experience that land. 24 However, Caleb, who serves me, is different from those people. He has obeyed me completely. Because of that, I will take him into the land that he scouted out. Some of it will belong to his descendants. 25 Now the Amalekite people group and the Canaanite people group live in the nearby valley. So, tomorrow you and the Israelites must turn around and leave this place and walk to the desolate area. You must walk on the road to the Sea of Reeds. 26 Then Yahweh told Aaron and Moses, 27 “I have often listened to these Israelites complain about me. I am displeased that this wicked community keeps doing that! 28 So tell them, ‘Here is what I, Yahweh, say: I surely live. Just as surely, I will make you experience exactly what you said to me. 29 Everyone who complained about me will die in this desolate area. That includes all the men who were at least 20 years old whom Moses, Aaron, and the 12 leaders listed. 30 You will certainly not enter the land that I solemnly promised to give to you. Only Jephunneh’s son Caleb, Nun’s son Joshua, 31 and your children will enter that land. Those are the very children whom you said your enemies would capture. Those are the people I will take to the land that you refused to enter, and they will experience it. 32 But as for you, you will die in this desolate area. 33 Your children will wander in this desolate area as herders for about forty years. Until all of you die in this desolate area, they will suffer because you did not faithfully obey me. 34 I will punish you for what you did wrong for forty years. That is one year for each of the forty days that the 12 leaders scouted Canaan out. You will experience what it is like to have me as an enemy. 35 This will certainly happen because I, Yahweh, have declared it! I will certainly carry out everything I have said about this wicked community that gathers together to oppose me. They will never leave this desolate area. In fact, they will die here!’ ” 36 As for ten of the leaders whom Moses told to scout out the land of Canaan, they had come back and told bad things about Canaan. What they did caused the Israelite community to complain about Moses. 37 So, a terrible disease killed those men in Yahweh’s presence. 38 Of the 12 men who had scouted Canaan out, only Nun’s son Joshua and Jephunneh’s son Caleb stayed alive. 39 Then Moses told the Israelites what Yahweh had said. They were very sad. 40 They woke up early the next morning and started to go to the highest parts of the hilly area in Canaan. They said, “We are here! We did what was wrong. So, now we will walk to the area that Yahweh spoke about.” 41 Moses replied, “You should not do that. You are disobeying what Yahweh said! You will not accomplish anything good. 42 Yahweh will not act for you. So, you should not walk there. Otherwise, the people who oppose you will defeat you. 43 I mean that the Amalekite people group and the Canaanite people group will oppose you there, and they will slaughter you. Here is why: you stopped obeying Yahweh. So, Yahweh will not act for you. 44 Despite that, the Israelites decided to walk to the highest parts of the hilly area in Canaan. However, both the sacred chest and Moses remained at the campsite. 45 Then men from the Amalekite people group and the Canaanite people group who lived in that hilly area attacked the Israelites. They defeated the Israelites and chased them to Hormah, which means “destroy”.

15 Yahweh told Moses, 2 “Tell this to the Israelite people: They will enter the area where they will live, which I will give to them. 3 While they live there, they will offer animals to me, either oxen or sheep, so that I will enjoy the smell of the smoke when they burn them. They may present them as wholly burned sacrifices or as any other kind of sacrifice. They may present them because they have made a solemn promise, or because they freely choose to do so, or because it is a yearly celebration. 4 In all of those cases, the people who offer the sacrifices must also offer grain and wine offerings to me. The grain offering must be about two liters of flour with about one liter of olive oil in it. 5 The wine offering must be about one liter of wine. Those are the grain and wine offerings that they must offer when they offer one male sheep as a wholly burned sacrifice or as any other kind of sacrifice. 6 When they offer a ram, the grain offering must be about four liters of flour with about one and one-fourth liters of olive oil in it. 7 The wine offering must be about one and one-fourth liters of wine. When they offer those things, I will enjoy the smell of the smoke when they burn them. 8 Here are the grain and wine offerings for when they offer a young bull as a wholly burned sacrifice or as any other kind of sacrifice. They may offer it as a fellowship sacrifice or because they made a solemn promise. 9 The grain offering for the young bull must be about six liters of flour with about two liters of olive oil in it. 10 The wine offering must be about two liters of wine. When they give those things to me, I will enjoy the smell of the smoke when they burn them. 11 Those are the grain and wine offerings for each ox, ram, and male lamb or male goat that they offer. 12 Each animal must have its appropriate grain and wine offerings, no matter how many they offer. 13 All the Israelites must follow those instructions when they offer animals to me. I will enjoy the smell of the smoke when they burn them. 14 Suppose that foreigners or anyone else who lives among the Israelites at any time want to offer animals to me so that I will enjoy the smell of the smoke when they burn them. In that case, they must follow the same instructions that the Israelites follow. 15 The whole community must follow the same instructions in my presence. That includes both the Israelites and the foreigners who live among them. These instructions always apply to both groups and their descendants. 16 The Israelites and the foreigners who live among them must follow these exact same instructions.” 17 Yahweh told Moses, 18 “Tell this to the Israelite people: They will enter the area where I will take them. 19 While they are there, they will eat what they grow from that land. When they do, they must dedicate a special contribution to me. 20 They must dedicate some of the first batch of dough that they make each year as this special contribution. They must make this dough into thick bread. When they dedicate the thick bread, it is like when farmers dedicate some of the first grain that they have harvested. 21 Both the Israelites and their descendants must dedicate to me some of the first batch of dough that they make each year. 22 Sometimes, the Israelites will accidentally disobey something that I have told you that I command. 23 That includes everything that I commanded them and their descendants through you, which applies at the time when I commanded it and from then on. 24 In that case, as long as they disobeyed accidentally and the community did not know about it, the community must offer sacrifices. They must offer one young bull as a wholly burned sacrifice, along with its grain and wine offerings. They must follow the instructions for those offerings. I will enjoy the smell of the smoke when they burn them. They must also offer one male goat as a purifying sacrifice. 25 When the priest offers those sacrifices, I will accept them to remove what the Israelite community did that was wrong. I will pardon the Israelites. I will do that because they disobeyed accidentally, because they offered the bull and its grain and wine offerings to me, and because they offered the male goat as a purifying sacrifice in my presence. 26 Because everyone disobeyed accidentally, I will pardon the whole Israelite community and the foreigners who live among them. 27 Now suppose that a single person disobeys accidentally. That person must offer a female goat that is one year old as a purifying sacrifice. 28 When the priest offers that sacrifice, I will accept it to remove what that person accidentally did wrong in my presence. I will pardon that person. 29 The Israelites and the foreigners who live among them must follow the same instructions when someone disobeys accidentally. 30 On the other hand, suppose that someone disobeys intentionally and defiantly, whether that person is an Israelite or a foreigner. In that case, that person has insulted me. The other Israelites must drive that person out from among them. 31 They must do that because that person treated what I said disrespectfully and disobeyed what I commanded. The other Israelites must completely drive that person out from among them. I will punish that person for what he or she did wrong.” 32 One day, while the Israelites were in the desolate area, some of them noticed a man who was collecting firewood on the Sabbath day. 33 Those who noticed him doing that took him to Moses and Aaron and the rest of the community. 34 The leaders did not know how to punish him. So, they had some Israelites guard him until they learned what to do. 35 Then Yahweh told Moses, “The community must certainly execute that man by throwing stones at him outside the area where the Israelites set up their tents. 36 So the whole community took that man outside the area where the Israelites set up their tents. They killed him by throwing stones at him. They did exactly what Yahweh told Moses that they should do. 37 Yahweh told Moses, 38 “Tell this to the Israelite people: They and their descendants must attach to the corners of their clothes groups of threads that hang down. Each group of threads must include one thick, blue thread. 39 When they look at the these groups of threads, they will think about everything that I have commanded them to do, and that will help them to do it. That way, they will not try to do what they naturally desire, which causes them to faithlessly disobey me. 40 Instead, they will think about everything that I have commanded them to do, and they will do it. Then, they will be sacred and belong to me, their God. 41 I am Yahweh, their God. I am the one who led them out of Egypt. I did that so that I would be their God. So, I am Yahweh, their God.”

16 Now there was a man whose name was Korah. He was the son of Izhar, who was the son of Kohath, who was the son of Levi. He decided to do something, along with Eliab’s sons Dathan and Abiram and Peleth’s son On, who were all descendants of Reuben. 2 They rebelled against Moses, and 250 men whom the Israelites had chosen to lead their community, whom the other Israelites respected, rebelled with them. 3 They came together to criticize Moses and Aaron. They said, “Yahweh is present with the whole Israelite community, and we are all sacred. So, you two are making yourselves greater than you should. You should not consider yourselves greater than the rest of the community of people who serve Yahweh!” 4 When Moses heard what they said, he sorrowfully and fearfully bowed down before Yahweh. 5 Then he said to Korah and the community that he had assembled, “Tomorrow morning Yahweh will reveal to us who is sacred and belongs to him. Whomever Yahweh selects is the one whom Yahweh authorizes to approach his own presence. 6 Here is what you, Korah and the community that you have assembled, must do. Prepare pans for burning incense. 7 Tomorrow morning, put burning coals in the pans and burn incense in Yahweh’s presence. At that time, Yahweh will choose one man, and we will know that it is he who is sacred. You Levites are making yourselves greater than you should!” 8 Then Moses spoke again to Korah. He said, “Listen to me, you Levites! 9 The God whom we Israelites serve has set you apart from the rest of the Israelite community. He has authorized you to approach his own presence. So, you set up and take down the sacred tent. You help the rest of the community. That should be great enough for you! 10 Yahweh has authorized you, Korah, along with your fellow Levites, to approach his own presence. You should not demand to become priests also! 11 So, Aaron is not the one whom you are really complaining about. Actually, you and the community that you have assembled have gathered together to oppose Yahweh!” 12 Then Moses sent a messenger to summon Eliab’s sons Dathan and Abiram. They told the messenger to say to Moses, “We will not come to you! 13 You led us out of Egypt, which is a very fertile place, to make us die here in this desolate area. That was bad! But now you claim to be our ruler in every way. That is worse! 14 Further, you have not taken us to a very fertile land. You have not provided fields and vineyards for us and our descendants. You are only trying to deceive us Israelites! So, we will not come to you.” 15 Then Moses was very angry. He said to Yahweh, “I have not taken anything from them, not even one donkey. I have not harmed any of them. Despite that, they still complain about me. So, please do not accept anything that they offer to you.” 16 Then Moses told Korah, “You and the community that you have assembled must present yourselves in Yahweh’s presence tomorrow. Aaron will also be there. 17 Each man must bring his pan for burning incense. That will be 250 pans, plus yours and Aaron’s. Each man must burn incense and offer it in Yahweh’s presence.” 18 So, the next day each of those men brought his pan for burning incense. They all put burning coals in their pans and burned incense. Along with Moses and Aaron, they stood at the entrance to the sacred tent. 19 Korah also summoned the whole Israelite community to oppose Moses and Aaron at the entrance to the sacred tent. Then Yahweh made himself present to the whole Israelite community in a glorious way. 20 Yahweh told Moses and Aaron, 21 “Get away from this community! Then I can destroy them in an instant.” 22 However, Moses and Aaron sorrowfully and fearfully bowed down before Yahweh. They said, “God, you are the God who makes everything live. Please do not act in an angry way toward the whole community when only one person did what was wrong!” 23 Yahweh told Moses, 24 “Tell this to the Israelite community: They must get away from the place where Korah, Dathan, and Abiram are staying.” 25 Then Moses walked to where Dathan and Abiram were staying. The Israelite leaders followed him. 26 He told the Israelite community, “I ask that you get away from the place where these evil men have set up their tents. Avoid touching anything that belongs to them. Otherwise, you too will experience what will happen when Yahweh punishes them for what they did wrong.” 27 So the rest of the Israelites got far away from the place where Korah, Dathan, and Abiram were staying. Now Dathan, Abiram, their wives, and their children had left their tents and were standing at the entrances to them. 28 Then Moses said, “I was not the one who decided to do all these things that I have done. It was Yahweh who told me to do them. Here is how you can be sure of that. 29 Suppose that these men die in a normal way, like most people. In that case, you can be sure that Yahweh did not tell me to do these things. 30 On the other hand, suppose that Yahweh does something that has never happened before. Suppose that the ground under them breaks open, they and everything they have fall down into the hole, and dirt covers them so that it buries them alive. In that case, you can be sure that these men rejected Yahweh.” 31 As soon as Moses was done talking, the ground beneath those men broke open. 32 When it broke open, those men and their families, as well as all the people who supported Korah besides the 250 men who were burning incense and all their possessions fell into the hole. 33 Dirt covered them and all their possessions so that it buried them alive. They no longer existed as part of the Israelite community. 34 Those people screamed as they fell, and the Israelites ran away when they heard that sound. They said, “We need to run away so that we do not fall into the hole too!” 35 Also, Yahweh sent fire that destroyed the 250 men who were offering incense. 36 Then Yahweh told Moses, 37 “The pans for burning incense that those men used are sacred. So, tell Aaron the priest’s son Eleazar to collect them from the ashes. You must throw away the burning coals that were in them far away from the campsite. 38 Those men caused themselves to die by doing what was wrong. They offered incense in those pans in my presence, and those pans are now sacred. So, have workmen hammer them into thin metal sheets and attach them to the outside of the altar. That way, they will remind the Israelites of what happened.” 39 So the priest Eleazar collected the bronze pans that the men whom the fire destroyed had offered incense in. Workmen hammered them into sheets to attach to the outside of the altar. 40 Eleazar did exactly what Yahweh commanded through Moses. The sheets remind the Israelites that any person whom Yahweh has not authorized, that is, anyone who is not a descendant of Aaron, must not approach Yahweh’s presence to burn incense in a way that causes smoke to go up. Yahweh will punish anyone who is not a descendant of Aaron and who burns incense in Yahweh’s presence in the same way he punished Korah and the community that he assembled. 41 The next day, the whole Israelite community complained about Moses and Aaron. They said, “It is you who killed people who belong to Yahweh!” 42 After the community gathered together to oppose Moses and Aaron, they looked at the sacred tent. They saw the cloud directly over it and Yahweh making himself present in a glorious way. 43 Then Moses and Aaron walked to the area in front of the sacred tent. 44 Yahweh told Moses, 45 “Get away from this community! Then I can destroy them in an instant.” Then Aaron and Moses sorrowfully and fearfully bowed down before Yahweh. 46 Then Moses told Aaron, “Yahweh is angry and has begun to act on it. He has caused the people to become sick with a terrible disease. So, prepare a pan, put burning coals from the altar in it, and burn incense in it. As soon as you can, take it to the community. When you offer the incense, Yahweh will accept it and remove what they did wrong.” 47 So Aaron did what Moses told him to do. He prepared a pan, and he hurried to a place in the middle of the community. He saw that the people were already becoming sick with the terrible disease. So, he burned incense, and Yahweh accepted it and removed what the people had done wrong. 48 Aaron stationed himself between the people who had already died and those who were still alive. Then, the people stopped getting sick with the terrible disease. 49 However, 14, 700 people had already died from the terrible disease. That was in addition to the people who died when Korah and his followers opposed Moses and Aaron. 50 After the people stopped getting sick with the terrible disease, Aaron went back to the entrance of the sacred tent, where Moses was.

17 Then Yahweh said to Moses, 2 “Tell the Israelite people to bring to you twelve walking sticks. They should bring one from each of the leaders of the twelve tribes. You should carve each leader’s name on his stick. 3 There must be one stick for the leader of each tribe, so you must carve Aaron’s name on the stick for the tribe of Levi. 4 Put those walking sticks inside the sacred tent, in front of the sacred chest that has in it the tablets on which the Ten Commandments are written. That is the place where I always talk with you. 5 Buds will sprout on the stick of the man whom I have chosen to be the priest. When the people see that, they will stop their constantly complaining about you because they will realize that he is the one whom I have chosen.”

6 So Moses told the people what Yahweh had said. Then each of the twelve Israelite leaders, including Aaron, brought his walking stick to Moses. 7 Moses placed the sticks inside the sacred tent in front of the sacred chest.

8 The following morning, when he went into the tent, he saw that Aaron’s stick, which represented the tribe of Levi, had sprouted. It had produced leaves and blossoms, and it had also produced almonds that were ripe! 9 Moses brought all the sticks out of the sacred tent and showed them to the people. Each of the twelve leaders took back his own stick.

10 Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Put Aaron’s stick in front of the sacred chest, and let it stay there permanently. That will be a warning to people who want to rebel against me. Then no more people will die because of complaining against me.” 11 So Moses did what Yahweh had commanded.

12 Then the Israelite people said to Moses, “We are going to die! All of us are surely going to die! 13 Everyone who comes close to Yahweh’s sacred tent dies. Are the rest of us going to die, also?”

18 Yahweh said to Aaron, “You and your sons and the other members of your father’s family are the ones who will be punished if anything bad happens to the things inside the sacred tent. And you and your sons will be punished if any priest does something bad. 2 Require that those who belong to your tribe, the tribe of Levi, must assist you and your sons while you perform your work at the sacred tent. 3 But while they do that work, they must not go near the sacred items inside the tent or near the altar. If they do that, they will die, and you will die, too! 4 They may assist you in doing all the work to take care of the sacred tent, but no one else is permitted to come near the place where you are working.

5 You are the ones who will do the sacred work inside the sacred tent and at the altar. If you obey these instructions, I will not become very angry with the Israelite people again. 6 I myself have chosen the descendants of Levi from the other Israelites in order that they may be your special helpers. They are like a gift that I have given you to work at the sacred tent. 7 But it is you and your sons, who are the priests, who must perform all the details I have commanded concerning the altar and with what happens inside the Very Holy Place. I am giving to you this work of serving as priests. So anyone else who tries to do that work must be executed.”

8 Yahweh also said to Aaron, “I myself have appointed you to take care of all the sacred offerings that the Israelite people bring to me. I have given all these sacred offerings to you and to your sons. You and your descendants will get a share of these offerings permanently. 9 The parts of the offerings that are not completely burned on the altar belong to you. Those parts of the sacred offerings, including the flour offerings, the offerings to make atonement for sins and to remove the guilt of sins, I require that they be set apart. I require that they be given to you and to your sons. 10 You are to eat it as a most holy offering. Every male in your clan may eat it. But you must have respect for those offerings because they are holy to you.

11 The priests lift up high the sacred offerings while they are standing in front of the altar. All of those offerings that the Israelites present to me belong to you and your sons and daughters. They will always be your share. All the members of your family who have performed the rituals to cause them to be acceptable to me are permitted to eat from these offerings.

12 I am also giving to you the first food that people harvest each year and bring to me—the best olive oil and new wine and grain. 13 All of the first crops that people harvest and bring to me belong to you. Anyone in your family who has performed the ritual to become acceptable to me is permitted to eat that food.

14 Everything in Israel that is devoted to me, will be yours. 15 The firstborn males, both humans and domestic animals, that are offered to me, will be yours. But people must buy back their firstborn sons and the firstborn animals that may not be used for sacrifices. 16 They must buy them back when they are one month old. The price that they must pay for each one is five pieces of silver. They must weigh the silver on the scales that are in the sacred tent.

17 I do not permit you to buy back the firstborn cattle or sheep or goats. They are holy and I require you to set them apart for me. Slaughter them and sprinkle their blood on the altar. Then completely burn the fat of those animals on the altar to be an offering to me. The smell as they burn will be very pleasing to me. 18 The meat from those offerings will be yours, just like the breast and right thigh of animals that are presented to me to restore fellowship with me, as the priest lifts them up high in front of the altar, are yours. 19 Anything that the Israelite people present to me as holy gifts, I am giving to you. They are for you and your sons and daughters to eat. They will always be your share. This is an agreement that I am making with you, an agreement that will last forever. I am also making this agreement with your descendants.”

20 Yahweh also said to Aaron, “You priests will not receive any of the land or the property like the other Israelite people will receive. I am what you will receive.

21 When the Israelite people bring to me a tenth of all the crops and of their newborn animals, I will give that to you descendants of Levi. That will be your payment for the work you do at the sacred tent. 22 The other Israelites must not go near that tent. If they go near it, I will consider that their doing that is a sin, and they will die for committing that sin. 23 Only the descendants of Levi are permitted to work at the sacred tent, and they will be punished if anything bad happens to it. That is a law that will never be changed. You descendants of Levi will not receive any land to own among all the other Israelite people. 24 The Israelites must present one tenth of all their crops and animals as offerings to me, and that is what I give to the descendents of Levi so they can provide for themselves. This is why I said that I will not give the descendants of Levi any land to own.”

25 Yahweh said to Moses, 26 “Tell this to the descendants of Levi, ‘When you receive one tenth of all the crops and animals from the Israelite people, you must present one tenth of all that to me to be a sacred offering, 27 just like the other Israelites present one tenth of the grain and wine that they produce. 28 You must present to me one tenth of all that you receive from the Israelite people. That will be your sacred offering to me. You must present it to Aaron. 29 Select the best parts of the things that are given to you to present them to me.’

30 Also, tell this to the descendants of Levi, ‘When you present those best portions of grain and wine as your offering to me, I will consider that those gifts are as though they came from your own grain and wine. 31 You descendants of Levi and your families are permitted to eat the rest of that food, and you may eat it wherever you want to, because it is your payment for the work that you do at the sacred tent. 32 If you give to the priests the best portions of what you receive, you will not be punished by me for accepting one tenth of the gifts that the people bring to me. But you must consider those gifts to be sacred. If you sin by eating those things in ways that are contrary to these regulations that I have given to you, you will be executed.’ ”

19 Yahweh said to Aaron and Moses, 2 “I am now giving to you another regulation. Tell the Israelite people to bring to you one reddish brown cow that has no defects. It must be an animal that has never been used for plowing ground. 3 Give it to Eleazar the priest. He must take it outside the camp and someone will slaughter it. 4 And Eleazar must dip one of his fingers in the blood and sprinkle some of it seven times on the ground near the sacred tent. 5 Then, while Eleazar watches, the cow must be burned completely—its hide, its meat, the rest of its blood, and even its dung. 6 Eliezer then must take a stick of cedar wood, a stalk of a plant named hyssop, and some scarlet yarn, and throw them into the fire where the cow is burning.

7 Then the priest must wash his clothes and bathe. After doing that, he may return to the camp. But he will be unfit for doing any sacred work until that evening. 8 The man who burns the cow must also wash his clothes and bathe, and he will also be unacceptable to me until that evening.

9 Then someone who has not become unacceptable to me must gather up the ashes of the cow and put them in a sacred place outside the camp. The ashes must be kept there for the people of Israel to use when they mix it with water for the ritual to remove the guilt of sin. 10 The man who gathers up the ashes of the cow must also wash his clothes, and he also will be unfit to do anymore sacred work until that evening. That is a regulation that will never be changed. It must be obeyed by you Israelite people and by any foreigners who live among you.

11 All those who touch a corpse will be unacceptable to me for seven days. 12 On the third day and on the seventh day after touching a corpse, in order to become acceptable to me again, they must sprinkle on themselves some of that water for removing the guilt of their sin. If they do not do that on both of those days, they will continue to be unacceptable to me. 13 All those who touch a corpse, and do not perform in the correct way the ritual to become acceptable to me again, defile Yahweh’s sacred tent. They will no longer be permitted to live among the Israelite people. The water to remove the guilt of sin was not sprinkled on them, so they continue to be unacceptable to me.

14 There is another practice that must be performed when someone dies inside a tent. All those who were inside that tent when that person died or who enter that tent will be unacceptable to me for seven days. 15 Any jars that are inside that tent that are not covered are not permitted to be used. 16 If someone who is out in a field touches the corpse of someone who was murdered, or who died from natural causes, or if someone touches a bone from some human or touches a grave, that person will be unacceptable to me for seven days.

17 For someone like that to become acceptable to me again, some of the ashes from the cow that was burned must be taken and put in a jar. Then some fresh water must be poured over the ashes. 18 Then someone who has not become unacceptable to me must take a stalk of a plant named hyssop and dip it into the water. Then that person must sprinkle some of the water on the tent where that person died, on the things that are in the tent, and on the people who were in the tent. He must also sprinkle some of that water on any person who touched a human bone or who touched a person who had been killed, or who touched a person who died of natural causes, or who touched a grave. 19 On the third day and on the seventh day after that, the person who is acceptable to me must sprinkle some of that water on those who have become unacceptable to me. On the seventh day, the people who are performing that ritual to become acceptable to me again must wash their clothes and bathe. If they do that, on that evening they will become acceptable to me again.

20 If those who have become unacceptable to me do not become acceptable to me again by doing this, they will no longer be permitted to live among to the Israelite people, because they have defiled my sacred tent. They did not sprinkle on themselves the water that removes the guilt of their sins, so they remain unacceptable to me. 21 That is a law for the Israelite people that will never be changed. Those who sprinkle that water on themselves must then wash their clothes. And anyone who touches that water which removes guilt for sins will remain unacceptable to God until that evening.

22 Anything and any person that someone who has become unacceptable to me has touched will remain unacceptable to me until that evening.”

20 In the first month of the next year, the Israelite people traveled to the wilderness of Zin and camped near Kadesh. While they were there, Moses’ sister Miriam died and was buried there.

2 There was no water for the people to drink there, so they came to Aaron and Moses. 3 They complained and said, “We wish that we had died in front of Yahweh’s sacred tent when our fellow Israelites died! 4 Did you bring us, who are Yahweh’s people, into this desert to die along with our livestock? 5 Why did you bring us from Egypt to this miserable place? There is no grain, there are no figs, no grapes, and no pomegranates here. And there is no water for us to drink!”

6 Moses and Aaron turned away from the people and went to the entrance of the sacred tent and prostrated themselves on the ground. Just then Yahweh appeared to them with his bright glory. 7 When Yahweh appeared in glory, he said, 8 “You and Aaron must take Aaron’s walking stick with you and gather all the people together. While the people are watching, command that large rock over there to pour out water. Water for the people will flow from it. All they and all their livestock will have enough water to drink.”

9 So Moses did what Yahweh told him to do. He took Aaron’s walking stick from the place in the sacred tent where it was kept. 10 Then Moses and Aaron summoned all the people to gather at the rock. Then Moses shouted to them, “All you rebellious people, listen! Is it necessary for us to bring to you water from this rock?” 11 Then Moses raised his hand and instead of speaking to the rock, he struck the rock two times with the walking stick. And water gushed out. So all the people and their livestock drank all the water that they wanted.

12 But Yahweh said to Aaron and Moses, “You did not trust me or honor me before the people of Israel, and so you will not lead them into the land I have given to them!”

13 Later this place was called the Meribah, which means ‘arguing’, because there the Israelite people argued against Yahweh, and there he showed his honor and holiness to them by giving them water.

14 While the people were at Kadesh, Moses sent messengers to the king of Edom to tell him this,

“Your relatives, the Israelite people, are sending you this message. You know the many troubles that have happened to us. 15 You know that our ancestors went down to Egypt. You know that they stayed there for many years. They suffered because the rulers of Egypt caused them to become their slaves and to work very hard.

16 But when they called out to Yahweh, he heard them and sent an angel who brought them out of Egypt. Now we have set up our tents here at Kadesh, a town on the border of your land. 17 Please allow us to travel through your country. We will be careful to not walk through your fields and your vineyards. We will not even drink water from your wells. As we travel, we will stay on the king’s highway, the main road that goes from the south to the north, and we will not leave that road until we have crossed the border of your country in the north.”

18 But the king of Edom refused. He replied, “Stay out of my country! If you try to enter it, I will send my army to attack you!”

19 The Israelite messengers replied, “If we travel through your country, we will stay on the main road. If we and any of our livestock drink any of your water, we will pay for it. We want only to travel through your country. We do not want anything else.”

20 But the king replied, “No! Stay out of our country! We will not allow you to travel through our land!” Then he sent the strongest soldiers in his army to prevent the Israelites from entering his country.

21 So, because the king of Edom refused to allow the Israelites to travel through his country, the Israelites turned and traveled a different way.

22 The Israelite people left Kadesh. They went to Mount Hor, 23 which is at the border of Edom. While they were there, Yahweh said to Aaron and Moses, 24 “It is time for Aaron to die. He will not enter the land that I am giving to you Israelites, because the two of you disobeyed me when I told you to speak to the rock to cause the water to flow at Meribah. 25 Now you, Moses, take Aaron and his son Eleazar up on Mount Hor. 26 There you must remove Aaron’s clothes that he wears when he does the works of a priest, and put them on his son, Eleazar. Aaron will die up there.”

27 So Moses did what Yahweh commanded. The three of them climbed up Mount Hor, while all the Israelite people watched. 28 At the top of the mountain, Moses took off the clothes that Aaron wore while he did the work of a priest and put them on Eleazar. Then Aaron died there on the top of the mountain, and Eleazar and Moses went back down. 29 When the Israelite people realized that Aaron had died, they all mourned for him for thirty days.

21 The king of the city of Arad lived in the area where the Canaanites lived, in the southern Judean wilderness. He heard a report that the Israelites were approaching on the road to Atharim village. So his army attacked the Israelites and captured some of them. 2 Then the Israelites declared this solemnly, “Yahweh, if you will help us to defeat these people, we will completely destroy all their towns.” 3 Yahweh heard what they requested, and he enabled them to defeat the army of this Canaan people group. The Israelite soldiers killed all the people and destroyed their towns. Ever since that time, that place has been called Hormah which means “destruction.”

4 Then the Israelites left Mount Hor and traveled on the road toward the Sea of Reeds, in order to go around the land of Edom. But the people became impatient along the way, 5 and they began to grumble against God and against Moses. They said, “Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die here in this desert? There is nothing to eat here, and nothing to drink. And we detest this lousy manna food!”

6 So Yahweh sent poisonous snakes among them. Many of the people were bitten by the snakes and died. 7 Then the people came to Moses and cried out, saying, “We now know that we have sinned against Yahweh and against you. Pray to Yahweh, asking that he will take away the snakes!” So Moses prayed for the people.

8 Then Yahweh told him, “Make a model of a poisonous snake, and attach it to the top of a pole. If those who are bitten by the snakes look at that model, they will recover.” 9 So Moses made a snake from bronze and attached it to the top of a pole. Then, when those who had been bitten by a snake looked at the bronze snake, they recovered!

10 Then the Israelites traveled to Oboth and camped there. 11 Then they left Oboth and went to Iye Abarim in the wilderness on the eastern border of Moab. 12 From there they traveled to the valley where the Zered riverbed is, and camped there. 13 Then they traveled to the north side of the Arnon River. That area is in the wilderness next to the land where the Amorites live. The Arnon River is the boundary between Moab and where the Amorites live. 14 That is why it is written down in the book of the wars of Yahweh,

“Waheb in Suphah, and the ravines there,

and the Arnon River

15 and the ravines there,

which extend as far as Ar village on the border of Moab.”

16 From there the Israelites traveled to Beer. There was a well there where Yahweh previously had said to Moses, “Gather the people together, and I will give them water.” 17 There the Israelites sang this song:

“O well, give us water!

Sing about this well!

18 Sing about this well

which our leaders dug;

they dug out the dirt with their royal scepters and their walking sticks.”

Then the Israelites left that wilderness and went through Mattanah. 19 The Israelites also went through Nahaliel, and Bamoth village. 20 Then they went to the valley in Moab where Mount Pisgah rises above the wilderness.

21 Then the Israelites sent messengers to Sihon, the king of the Amor people group. This was the message that they gave him,

22 “Allow us to travel through your country. We will stay on the king’s highway, the main road that goes from the south to the north, until we have finished traveling through your land. We will not walk through any field or vineyard, or drink water from your wells.”

23 But King Sihon refused. He would not allow them to walk through his land. Instead, he sent his whole army to attack the Israelites in the desert. They attacked the Israelites at Jahaz village. 24 But the Israelites completely defeated them and occupied their land, from the Arnon River in the south to the Jabbok River in the north. They stopped at the border of the land where the Ammon people group lived, because the Ammon army was defending the border strongly. 25 So the Israelites occupied all the cities and towns where the Amorites lived, and some of the Israelites began to live in them. They occupied the city of Heshbon and the nearby villages. 26 Heshbon was the capital of the country. It was the city where King Sihon ruled. His army had previously defeated the army of the king of Moab, and then his people had begun to live in all of the land of Moab as far as the Arnon River in the south.

27 For that reason, one of the poets wrote long ago,

“Come to Heshbon, the city where King Sihon ruled.

We want the city to be restored.

28 A fire blazed from Heshbon.

It burned down the city of Ar in Moab.

It destroyed everything on the hills along the Arnon River.

29 You people of Moab, terrible things have happened to you!

You people who worship your god Chemosh have been annihilated!

The men who worshiped Chemosh have run away and are now refugees,

and the women who worshiped him have been captured by the army of Sihon, the king of the Amor people group.

30 But we have defeated those descendants of Amor,

all the way from Heshbon in the north to the city of Dibon in the south.

We have completely obliterated them as far as the cities of Nophah and Medeba.”

31 So the Israelite people began to live in the land where the Amorites lived.

32 After Moses sent some men to explore the area near the city of Jazer, Israelite people began to live in all the towns in that region and expelled the Amor people group who lived there. 33 Then they turned north toward the region of Bashan, but King Og of Bashan and all his army attacked them at the city of Edrei.

34 Yahweh said to Moses, “Do not be afraid of Og, because I am going to enable your men to defeat him and his army, and to take possession of all his land. You will do to him what you did to Sihon, the king of the Amor people group, who ruled in Heshbon.”

35 And that is what happened. The Israelites defeated Og’s army, and killed King Og and his sons and all his people. Not a person survived! And then the Israelites began to live in their land.

22 Then the Israelites traveled west to the plain of Moab that was in the Valley of the Jordan River, across the river from Jericho.

2 But King Balak son of Zippor, who ruled Moab, found out what the Israelites had done to the Amor people group. 3 When he saw that the Israelites were very numerous, he and his people became terrified.

4 So the king of Moab went to the leaders of the Midian people group and said to them, “This huge group of Israelites will wipe out everything around them, like an ox devours grass!”

Balak was the king of Moab. 5 He sent messengers to a prophet named Balaam, who was living in his own area, in Pethor, near the Euphrates River. He sent this message to request that Balaam would come to help him,

“A huge group of people has arrived here from Egypt. It looks like they are covering the entire land! And they have begun to live close to us. 6 Because they are very powerful, we are afraid of them. So please come and curse them for me. Then my army may be able to defeat them and expel them from the land where they are now living. I know that good things will happen to the people whom you bless, and disasters will happen to the people whom you curse.”

7 Balak’s messengers, who were leaders of both the Moab and Midian people groups, took money with them to pay Balaam in order that he would come and curse the Israelites. They went to Balaam and told him what Balak had said.

8 Balaam said, “Stay here tonight. Tomorrow morning I will tell you whatever Yahweh tells me that I should say to you.”

So the leaders from Moab stayed there that night. 9 During the night, God appeared to Balaam and asked him, “Who are these men who are staying with you?”

10 Balaam replied, “Balak, the king of Moab, sent these men to tell me this message, 11 ‘A huge group of people has come from Egypt, and they have spread all over this area. Please come immediately to curse them. Then I may be able to defeat them and expel them from this area.’ ”

12 God replied to Balaam, “Do not go with them! I have blessed those people, so you must not curse them!”

13 The next morning, Balaam got up and told Balak’s men, “Go back home. But go by yourselves, because Yahweh is not allowing me to go with you.”

14 So the men from Moab returned to King Balak and they reported to him, “Balaam refused to come with us.”

15 But Balak sent another group of leaders to Balaam. It was a group that was larger and they were more important than the men in the first group. 16 They went to Balaam and told him this,

“This is what King Balak says, ‘Please do not allow anything to hinder you from coming here. 17 I will pay you a lot of money if you come, and I will do anything that you ask me to do. Just come and curse these Israelite people for me!’ ”

18 But Balaam answered them, “Even if Balak would give me a palace filled with silver and gold, I would not do anything to disobey Yahweh, my God. 19 But stay here one more night, like the other messengers did, and I will find out if Yahweh has anything more to say to me.”

20 That night God appeared to Balaam again and said to him, “These men have come to request that you go back with them, so you may go with them, but do only what I tell you to do!”

21 So the next morning, Balaam put a saddle on his donkey and he departed with two of his servants along with the men from Moab. 22 Even though God had given Balaam permission to go, he was still angry. So he sent one of his angels to Balaam. This angel stood in the road to block Balaam’s path. As Balaam and the two servants were riding on their donkeys, 23 Balaam’s donkey saw the angel. The angel was standing in the road and was holding a sword in his hand, but Balaam did not see him.

Balaam’s donkey turned off the road into a field. So Balaam struck the donkey and forced it to go back onto the road. 24 Then the angel stood in a place where the road was very narrow, between two vineyards, with walls on each side of the road. 25 When the donkey saw the angel standing there, it walked very close to the wall to try to get past the angel. As a result, it bashed Balaam’s foot against the wall. So Balaam struck the donkey again.

26 Then the angel went further along the road and stood at a place that was extremely narrow, with the result that the donkey could not get past at all. 27 This time, when the donkey saw the angel, it lay down on the ground with Balaam sitting on top of it. Balaam became extremely angry, and he struck the donkey again with his walking stick. 28 Then Yahweh enabled the donkey to speak! It said to Balaam, “What bad thing have I done to you that caused you to strike me three times?”

29 Balaam shouted, “I struck you because you have caused me to appear to be foolish! If I had a sword with me, I would kill you!”

30 But the donkey answered, “I am your own donkey, the one that you have always ridden! Have I ever done anything like this previously?”

Balaam said, “No.”

31 Then Yahweh enabled Balaam to see the angel standing on the road, holding a sword in his hand. Balaam realized that it was an angel and prostrated himself on the ground in front of the angel.

32 The angel asked him, “Why did you strike your donkey three times? I have come to block your path because what you are planning to do is wrong. 33 Three times your donkey saw me and turned away from me. If it had not done that, I would certainly have killed you already, but I would have allowed the donkey to live.”

34 Then Balaam said to the angel, “I have sinned. But I did not realize that you were standing there, trying to block my path. So if you do not want me to continue going, I will return home.”

35 But the angel replied, “I will allow you to go with these men, but you must say only what I tell you to say!”

So Balaam went on with the leaders whom Balak had sent.

36 When King Balak heard that Balaam was coming, he went to meet him at a city in Moab that is located alongside the Arnon River, near the border of his own land. 37 When he arrived where Balaam was, he said to him, “I sent you a message saying that you should come immediately! Why did you not come? Did you think that I was not able to pay you a lot of money for coming?”

38 Balaam replied, “I have come here now, but I am not able to say anything that I want to. I will say only the words that God tells me to say.”

39 Then Balaam went with Balak to Kiriath Huzoth. 40 There Balak killed some cattle and sheep as sacrifices, and offered parts of the meat to Balaam and the leaders who were with him. 41 They slept there, and the next morning Balak took Balaam part way up the mountain to Bamoth Baal village. From there, they could see some of the Israelite people who were down below.

23 Balaam said to King Balak, “Build here seven altars for me. Then kill seven young bulls and seven rams for a sacrifice.” 2 So Balak did that. And then he and Balaam each burned a young bull and a ram as a sacrifice on each altar.

3 Then Balaam said to Balak, “You stand here close to your burned offerings, and I will go and ask Yahweh if he has something else to tell me. Then I will tell you what he says to me.”

Then Balaam went by himself to the top of a hill. 4 While he was on the top of the hill, God appeared to him there. Balaam said to him, “We have built seven altars, and I have killed and burned a young bull and a ram as a sacrifice to you on each altar.”

5 Then Yahweh gave Balaam a message to give to King Balak. Then he said, “Go back and tell him what I told you.”

6 When Balaam returned to Balak, Balak was standing with the leaders from Moab beside the offerings he had burned on the altar. 7 This is the message that Balaam told them,

“Balak summoned me to come here from Aram;

the king of Moab brought me here from the hills at the eastern side of Aram.

He said, ‘Come and curse the descendants of Jacob for me!

Come and say that bad things will happen to these Israelite people!’

8 But how can I curse people whom God has not cursed?

How can I fight against people against whom Yahweh does not fight?

9 I have seen them from the tops of the rocky peaks,

I have seen them from the hills.

I see that they are a group of people who live by themselves.

They have separated themselves from other nations.

10 Who can count the descendants of Jacob, as numerous as particles of dust!

Who can count even a fourth of the number of the Israelite people?

I wish that I will die like righteous people die.

I hope that I will die peacefully like they will die.”

11 Then Balak said, “What have you done to me? I brought you here to curse my enemies, but instead you have blessed them!”

12 But Balaam replied, “I can say only what Yahweh tells me to say. I cannot say anything else.”

13 Then King Balak told Balaam, “Come with me to another place. There you will see only part of the Israelite people, and you will be able to curse those people for me.” 14 So Balak took Balaam to a field on the top of Mount Pisgah. There, again he built seven altars and offered a young bull and a ram as a sacrifice on each altar.

15 Then Balaam said to the king, “Stand here close to your burned offerings, while I go and talk with Yahweh.”

16 So Balaam did that, and Yahweh appeared to Balaam again and gave him another message. Then he said, “Go back to Balak and tell him that message.”

17 So Balaam returned to where the king and the leaders from Moab were standing, next to the altar where Balak had burned the sacrifices. Balak asked him, “What did Yahweh say?”

18 Then Balaam told him this message,

“Balak, listen carefully,

hear what I have to say, you son of Zippor!

19 God is not a human being.

Humans lie, but God never lies.

He never changes his mind, as humans do.

Whatever he has said that he will do, he does.

Whatever he has promised to do, he has done it.

20 He commanded me to request him to bless the Israelites,

So he has blessed them, and I cannot change that.

21 Yahweh their God is with them;

the people shout that he is their true king.

So the descendants of Jacob will not be harmed,

they will not endure trouble without God.

22 God brought them out slavery in Egypt

and has led them through the wilderness with strength like a wild ox.

23 When people curse the descendants of Jacob, they will not be harmed,

when people work sorcery on them, it will have no power.

So now people will say about the descendants of Jacob,

‘God has done wonderful things for the Israelites!’

24 They are very strong, like lionesses that are ready to attack other animals.

They stand firm like lions.

The lions refuse to rest until they have killed and eaten their prey

and drunk the blood of the animals they slaughtered.”

25 Then Balak said to Balaam, “If you will not curse them, then I certainly do not want you to bless them!”

26 But Balaam replied, “I told you that I must do only what Yahweh tells me to do!”

27 Then King Balak said to Balaam, “Come with me; I will take you to another place. Perhaps it will please God to allow you to curse them from that place.” 28 So Balak took Balaam to the top of Mount Peor where they could look down and see the Israelites in the desert.

29 Balaam again told Balak, “Build me seven altars again and kill seven young bulls and seven rams for a sacrifice.” 30 So Balak did what Balaam told him to do. He burned a young bull and a ram on each altar as sacrifices.

24 Balaam now realized that Yahweh wanted to bless the Israelite people, not curse them. So he did not use magic like a shaman would do to find out what Yahweh wanted, as he often did. Instead, he turned toward the desert. 2 He saw the Israelite people camped there in their tents, with each tribe gathered in one group. Then the Spirit of God came upon him, 3 and this is the prophetic message that he gave to Balak:

“I, Balaam son of Beor, am giving this prophecy.

This prophecy that I speak is as a man who sees what will happen in the future clearly speaks.

4 I hear this message from God.

I see a vision from the one who is all-powerful.

My eyes are open as I prostrate myself in front of him.

5 You descendants of Jacob, your tents are very beautiful!

The places where you live are lovely!

6 Your tents are spread out in front of me like groves of palm trees in valleys,

like gardens alongside a river.

They are like strong aloe trees that Yahweh has planted,

like strong cedar trees that grow along the rivers.

7 Your water buckets will always be full.

The seeds that you plant will always have plenty of water to make them grow.

The Israelites’ king will be greater than King Agag.

The kingdom that he rules will be honored.

8 God brought them out of Egypt,

leading them along with his great power that is like a wild ox.

God devastates all the nations that oppose him.

He breaks all those people’s bones into pieces,

and shoots them with his arrows.

9 The Israelites are like lions that crouch and lie down, ready to spring on their prey,

like lionesses that are resting.

No one would dare to arouse them!

God will bless everyone who blesses you Israelites,

and he will curse everyone who curses you.”

10 Then King Balak was extremely angry with Balaam. He showed with his hands that he was very angry, and he shouted, saying, “I summoned you here to curse my enemies! Instead, you have blessed them three times! 11 So now, get out of here! Go back home! I said that I would pay you a lot of money if you cursed them, but Yahweh has prevented you from getting any pay!”

12 Balaam said to Balak, “Do you not remember what I told the messengers that you sent to me? I said, 13 ‘Even if Balak would give me a palace filled with silver and gold, I would not disobey Yahweh. I cannot do anything bad or anything that is good that he does not approve of.’ And I told you that I could say only what Yahweh says to me. 14 So yes, I will return to my people, but first, allow me to tell you what will happen to you Moab people in the future.”

15 Then Balaam said this to Balak:

“I, Balaam, son of Beor, am again giving a prophecy.

This prophecy that I speak is again as a man who sees what will happen in the future clearly speaks.

16 I hear a message from God;

I know things that God, who lives in heaven, has revealed to me.

I see a vision from the one who is all-powerful.

My eyes are open as I prostrate myself in front of him.

17 The things that I see in the vision are not going to happen now.

I see things that God will cause to happen in the future.

A man who is a descendant of Jacob will appear like a star;

a king who holds a scepter will be one of the Israelite people.

He will crush the heads of you people of Moab;

he will wipe out the descendants of Seth.

18 The Israelites will occupy Edom,

and they will conquer their enemies who live near Mount Seir.

The Israelite people will be victorious.

19 A ruler will come who is a descendant of Jacob.

He will get rid of the people who still live in the city where Balaam first met Balak.”

20 Then Balaam looked out over where the Amalek people group lived, and he prophesied this,

“The Amalek people group were the greatest nation,

but they will be wiped out.”

21 Then he looked out over the area where the Kenite people group lived, and he prophesied this,

“You think that the place where you live is secure

like a nest that is made in the cliffs,

22 but you will be wiped out

when the army of Assyria conquers you.”

23 Balaam ended his prophecies by saying,

“Also, who can survive when God does all these things?

24 Ships will come from the Island of Cyprus ,

and the men in those ships will defeat the armies of Assyria and Eber.

But God will get rid of those men, too.”

25 Then Balaam and Balak returned to their homes.

25 While the Israelites were camped at a place called Acacia Grove, some of the men became unfaithful to God by sleeping with some of the women of the Moab people group who lived in that area. 2 Then those women invited the men to come when the sacrifices were being offered to their gods. The Israelite men accepted. They went to the feasts with the women and worshiped the gods of the Moab people group. 3 By doing that, the Israelite people joined the women in worshiping the god Baal who the Moab people group thought lived on Mount Peor. That caused Yahweh to become very angry with his people, and he sent a severe plague on many of the Israelite people.

4 Yahweh said this to Moses: “Seize all the leaders of those who are doing this and execute them while I am watching. Do that in the daytime. After you do that, I will no longer be angry with the Israelite people.”

5 So Moses said to the other Israelite leaders, “Each of you must execute your men who have joined others in worshiping Baal.”

6 But later, while many people were crying at the entrance of the sacred tent, one of the Israelite men brought a woman from the Midian people group into his tent and started to sleep with her. Moses and all the people heard of it. 7 When Phinehas, who was a grandson of Aaron, heard this he rose up from among the community, grabbed a spear. 8 Then he rushed into the man’s tent. He thrust the spear completely through the man’s body and into the woman’s belly and killed both of them. When he did that, the plague that had started to strike the Israelites stopped. 9 But twenty-four thousand people had already died from that plague.

10 Then Yahweh said to Moses, 11 “Phinehas has caused me to stop being angry with the Israelite people, by being as eager as I am to stop this sinful behavior. I was ready to get rid of all the Israelite people because I was extremely angry, but Phinehas has prevented me from doing that. 12 Now tell him that I am making a special peace agreement with him. 13 In this agreement, I am promising to give to him and to his descendants the right to be priests. I am doing this because he showed that he was very eager to honor me, his God, by stopping this sinful behavior. He has satisfied my holy righteousness against the sinfulness of Israel by causing me to forgive them for their sin.”

14 The Israelite man who was killed with the woman of the Moab people group was named Zimri son of Salu, who was the leader of a family from the tribe of Simeon. 15 The woman’s name was Kozbi. She was the daughter of Zur, who was the leader of one of the clans of the Midian people group.

16 Then Yahweh said to Moses, 17 “Take your men and attack the Midian people group and kill them. 18 They have become your enemies, because they tricked you Israelite people and induced many of you to worship Baal, and because one of your men slept with Kozbi, who was the daughter of a leader of the Midian people group. She was killed at the time the plague started because of the people who sinned at Mount Peor.”

26 After the plague ended, Yahweh said to Eleazar and Moses, 2 “Count all the people of Israel again. Write down the names of all the men who are at least 20 years old who are able to fight in battles, along with their family names.” 3 So while the Israelites were on the plains of Moab, by the Jordan across from Jericho, Eleazar and Moses told this to the Israelite leaders, 4 “Write down the names of all the Israelite men who are at least 20 years old, as Yahweh has commanded us.”

So they did that, and this is a record of all the descendants of Jacob who came out of Egypt who were still alive.

5 These are the families who descended from Reuben, Jacob’s oldest son: the Hanokite family descended from his son Hanok; the Palluite family descended from his son Pallu; 6 the Hezronite family descended from his son Hezron; and the Karmite family descended from his son Karmi. 7 The Israelite leaders counted 43, 730 men from the families that descended from Reuben 8 Pallu’s son was Eliab 9 and his grandsons were Nemuel, Dathan and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram were the leaders who joined with Korah to conspire against Aaron and Moses and rebelled against Yahweh.

10 But the earth opened up and swallowed them and Korah. Yahweh also sent a fire that burned up 250 men who supported those three men. That was a warning to all the Israelite people that they should respect and obey the leaders whom Yahweh had appointed. 11 But all of those who descended from Korah did not die on that day.

12 These are the descendants of Simeon: the Nemuelite family descended from his son Nemuel; the Jaminite family descended from his son Jamin; the Jakinite family descended from his son Jakin; 13 the Zerahite family descended from his son Zerah; and the Shaulite family descended from his son Shaul. 14 The Israelite leaders counted 22, 000 men from the families that descended from Simeon.

15 These are the families who descended from Gad: the Zephonite family descended from his son Zephon; the Haggite family descended from his son Haggo; the Shunite family descended from his son Shuni; 16 the Oznite family descended from his son Ozni; the Erite family descended from his son Eri; 17 the Arodite family descended from his son Arod; and the Arelite family descended from his son Areli;. 18 The Israelite leaders counted 40, 500 men from the families that descended from Gad.

19 As for those who descended from Judah, his sons Er and Onan died in Canaan before they had any children. 20 These are the other people who descended from Judah: the Shelanite family descended from his son Shelah; the Perezite family descended from his son Perez; and the Zerahite family descended from his son Zerah. 21 These are the families who descended from Perez: the Hezronite family descended from his son Hezron and the Hamulite family descended from his son Hamul. 22 The Israelite leaders counted 76, 500 men from the families that descended from Judah.

23 These are the families who descended from Issachar: the Tolaite family descended from his son Tola; the Puite family descended from his son Puah; 24 the Jashubite family descended from his son Jashub; and the Shimronite family descended from his son Shimron. 25 The Israelite leaders counted 64, 300 men from the families that descended from Issachar.

26 These are the families who descended from Zebulun: the Seredite family descended from his son Sered; the Elonite family descended from his son Elon; and the Jahleelite family descended from his son Jahleel. 27 The Israelite leaders counted 60, 500 men from the families that descended from Zebulun.

28 These are those who descended from Joseph, his sons were Manasseh and Ephraim. 29 These are the families who descended from Manasseh: the Makirite family descended from his son Makir; and the Gileadite family descended from Makir’s son Gilead.

30 These are the families who descended from Gilead: the Iezerite family descended from his son Iezer; the Helekite family descended from his son Helek; 31 the Asrielite family descended from his son Asriel; the Shechemite family descended from his son Shechem; 32 the Shemidaite family descended from his son Shemida; and the Hepherite family descended from his son Hepher.

33 Hepher’s son Zelophehad only had daughters. Their names were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milkah, and Tirzah. 34 The Israelite leaders counted 52, 700 men from the families that descended from Manasseh.

35 These are the families who descended from Ephraim: the Shuthelahite family descended from his son Shuthelah; the Bekerite family descended from his son Beker; and the Tahanite family descended from his son Tahan. 36 These is the the family that descended from Shuthelah: the Eranite family descended from his son Eran. 37 The Israelite leaders counted 32, 500 men from the families that descended from Ephraim. These were the families that descended from Joseph.

38 These are the families who descended from Benjamin: the Belaite family descended from his son Bela; the Ashbelite family descended from his son Ashbel; the Ahiramite family descended from his son Ahiram; 39 the Shuphamite family descended from his son Shephupham; and the Huphamite family descended from his son Hupham. 40 Bela’s sons were Ard and Naaman: the Ardite family descended from Ard and the Naamite family descended from Naaman. 41 The Israelite leaders counted 45, 600 men from the families that descended from Benjamin.

42 This is the family that descended from Dan: the Shuhamite family descended from his son Shuham. This is everyone who descended from Dan. 43 The Israelite leaders counted 64, 400 men from the families that descended from Shuham.

44 These are the families that descended from Asher: the Imnite family descended from his son Imnah; the Ishvite family descnded from his son Ishvi; and the Beriite family descended from his son Beriah. 45 The Heberite family descended from Beriah’s son Heber, and the Malkielite family descended from Beriah’s son Malkiel. 46 Asher’s daughter was Serah. 47 The Israelite leaders counted 53, 400 men from the families that descended from Asher.

48 These are the families that descended from Naphtali: the Jahzeelite family descended from his son Jahzeel; the Gunite family descended from his son Guni; 49 the Jezerite family descended from his son Jezer; and the Shillemite family descended from his son Shillem.

51 The total of the Israelite men whom the leaders counted was 601, 730.

52 Then Yahweh said to Moses, 53 “Divide Canaan land among the tribes. Distribute the land according to the number of people in each tribe that are on your lists. 54 Yahweh will give to each family an amount of land in proportion to how many people are in it. Families with many people will receive more land than families with less people. 55 Throw lots to determine which families receive each area of land. Families will inherit land according to which tribe they descended from. 56 The result of throwing lots will determine the area of land that each family receives. Allot the land between the families with many people and those with few people.”

57 The leaders also counted the male descendants of Levi. They were in clans descended from Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. 58 These also included people from the clans of Libni, Hebron, Mahli, Mushi, and Korah. All of them were descendants of Levi. Kohath was the ancestor of Amram, 59 whose wife was Jochebed. She also was a descendant of Levi, but she was born in Egypt. She and Amram had two sons, Aaron and Moses, and their older sister Miriam. 60 Aaron’s sons were Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. 61 But Nadab and Abihu died when they burned incense for a sacrifice to Yahweh in a way that disobeyed what Yahweh had commanded.

62 The leaders counted twenty-three thousand men from the descendants of Levi who were at least one month old. But these men were not counted when the rest of the Israelite people were counted, because were not given any land at that time.

63 Those were the men whom Eleazar and Moses said should be counted. They counted the Israelite people on the plains of Moab, on the east side of the Jordan River, across from Jericho. 64 None of the men whom they counted were on the lists that were made by Aaron and Moses when the Israelites were in the wilderness of Sinai. 65 They were told what Yahweh had said. He said, “They will all die in this desert,” and that is what happened. The only ones who were still alive were Jephunneh’s son Caleb and Nun’s son Joshua.

27 One day the five daughters of Zelophehad came to Moses. They were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milkah, and Tirzah. 2 They came to the entrance of the sacred tent and stood in front of Eleazar, Moses, the tribal leaders, and many other Israelite people. 3 They said, “Our father died during the time that we were in the desert, and he did not have any sons. But he was not among those who supported Korah, who rebelled against Yahweh, and he died because of his own sin. He did not have any sons. 4 Why should the name of his clan disappear because our father had no sons? So give us some land like our father’s relatives will be getting!”

5 So Moses asked Yahweh what to do about their case. 6 And Yahweh replied, 7 “What the daughters of Zelophehad are requesting is right. You must give them some land, just as you are giving to their father’s relatives. Give to each of them some of the land that would have been given to their brothers if they had any.

8 Also tell this to the Israelite people: ‘If a man who has no sons dies, give the things that his sons would have inherited to his daughters. 9 If the man has no sons or daughters, give to his brothers the things that his sons and daughters would have inherited. 10 If the man had no brothers, give to his father’s brothers the things that his sons or daughters or brothers would have inherited. 11 If the man’s father has no brothers, give to his closest relative the things that the others would have inherited.’ That will be a rule for the Israelite people, because I am giving this as a command to you, Moses, to tell them.”

12 One day, Yahweh said to Moses, “Climb to the top of the Abarim mountains east of the Jordan River. Then look out over the land that I am giving to the Israelite people. 13 After you have seen it, you will die just like your older brother Aaron did. 14 The reason that you will die and not enter that land is that you both disobeyed my instructions in the wilderness of Zin. When the Israelite people rebelled against me there at Meribah, near Kadesh, I told you to speak to the rock to cause water to flow out of it. But because you struck the rock instead of speaking to it, you did not show the people my holy power.”

15 Then Moses said this to Yahweh, 16 “Yahweh, you are the God who directs the spirits of all people. So please appoint a new leader for the Israelite people. 17 Appoint someone who will lead your people when they go to fight a battle, so that they will not just wander around like sheep that do not have a shepherd.”

18 Yahweh replied, “Get Joshua son of Nun, who has my Spirit within him. Lay your hands on him to appoint him. 19 Cause him to stand in front of Eleazar the priest, as all the people are watching, and commission him to be the new leader of the Israelite people. 20 Give to him some of the authority that you now have, in order that all the Israelite people will know that they must obey him. 21 When you all need me to guide you, Joshua will stand in front of Eleazar. Then by casting lots Eleazar will determine what they should do. At Joshua’s command all people of Israel will mobilize themselves together.”

22 So Moses did what Yahweh commanded. He presented Joshua to Eleazar and to all the Israelite people. 23 Moses laid his hands on him and commissioned him to do the work that Yahweh told Moses to tell him to do.

28 Yahweh said this to Moses, 2 “Tell this to the Israelite people, ‘Bring to me the offerings that will be burned on the altar. When they are burned, the smell will be very pleasing to me. And tell them that they must bring them at the proper time. 3 Tell them that what they must bring to me each day are two male lambs that are one year old. They must have no defects. They must be completely burned on the altar. 4 They should bring one in the morning and the other early in the evening. 5 They must also bring a flour offering of two liters of finely-ground flour, mixed with a liter of olive oil. 6 That is the offering that they must bring every day. They started to bring those offerings while you were at Mount Sinai. When those offerings are burned on the altar, the smell will be very pleasing to me. 7 When they burn each lamb, they must also pour on the sacred altar in the holy place one liter of wine. 8 In the evening, when they offer the second lamb, they must also bring the same offerings of flour and wine as they burned in the morning. When they are burned, the smell will also be very pleasing to me.

9 On each Sabbath, you must bring two male lambs, each a year old, that have no defects. Also bring a flour offering of four and one-half liters of finely ground flour mixed with olive oil and a wine offering of four and one-half liters of wine. 10 Those are the offerings that are to be burned on the altar each Sabbath. Those are in addition to the offerings of two lambs and wine that you must bring each day.

11 On the first day of each month you must bring to me an offering of two young bulls, one male sheep, and seven male lambs that are one year old. All of these must be without defects. They must all be burned completely on the altar. 12 Also bring with each bull an offering of six liters of finely-ground flour mixed with olive oil. With each male sheep make an offering of four liters of nice flour mixed with olive oil. 13 Also bring an offering of two liters of finely-ground flour mixed with olive oil with each lamb. When all of these are burned on the altar, the smell will be very pleasing to me. 14 With each bull also bring two liters of wine. With each male sheep, bring one and one-fifth liters of wine. With each lamb bring one liter of wine. These offerings must be brought on the first day of each month and burned completely on the altar. 15 In addition to these offerings that you burn, you must bring to me one goat for an offering to remove the guilt of your sins.

16 The Passover festival must be celebrated to honor me each year on the fourteenth day of your first month. 17 The Festival of Unleavened Bread will start on the next day. For the following seven days, the bread that you eat must be made without yeast. 18 On the first day of that festival, you must gather together to worship me, and you must not do any regular work that you would normally do. 19 On that day, you must bring to me for an offering that will be completely burned on the altar two young bulls, one male sheep, and seven male lambs that are one year old. They must all have no defects. 20 With each of these bulls, bring a grain offering of six liters of finely-ground flour mixed with olive oil. With the male sheep, bring a grain offering of four liters of finely ground flour mixed with olive oil. 21 With each of the seven lambs, bring an offering of two liters of finely-ground flour mixed with olive oil. 22 Also bring one goat for a sacrifice to make atonement for your sin. 23 Bring these offerings in addition to the offerings that you bring each morning. 24 The smell of the grain that is burned on the altar each day for seven days will be very pleasing to me. Bring the grain in addition to the animals and the wine that you burn on the altar. 25 On the seventh day of that festival, you must again gather together to worship me, and you must not do any regular work that you would normally do.

26 On the day of the Harvest festival, when you bring to me the first grain that you have harvested, you must gather together to worship me. Do not do any regular work that you would normally do on that day. 27 Bring to me two young bulls, one male sheep, and seven male lambs that are one year old. When they are completely burned on the altar, the smell will be very pleasing to me. 28 Also bring a flour offering of finely ground flour mixed with olive oil. For each bull bring five and three-quarters of a liter, and with each male sheep bring three and four-fifths liters. 29 For each of the lambs bring two liters. 30 Also sacrifice one male goat to make atonement for your sins. 31 Bring these offerings and the offering of wine in addition to the animals and flour that you burn on the altar each day. And remember that the animals that you sacrifice must have no defects.’ ”

29 “Each year, gather together to worship me on the first day of your seventh month, and do not do any regular work that you would normally do on that day. On that day the priests must blow their trumpets.

2 When the offerings on the altar on that day are being completely burned, the smell will be very pleasing to me. The animals that you must bring are one young bull, one male sheep, and seven male lambs that are one year old. They must have no defects. 3 With these animals bring a grain offering of finely ground flour mixed with olive oil. With the bull, bring five and three-quarters liters. With the male sheep, bring three and four-fifths liters, 4 and with each of the seven lambs bring two liters. 5 Also offer one male goat to atone for your sins. 6 All of those animals will be in addition to the animals that are completely burned on the altar each morning and on the first day of each month. The offerings of flour and wine must be made exactly as I have decreed that you are to do. When these offerings are burned, the smell will be very pleasing to me.

7 Each year, on the tenth day of your seventh month, you must gather together to worship me. Do not eat any food or do any work on that day. 8 When you burn offerings on the altar on that day, the smell will be very pleasing to me. The animals that you must bring are one young bull, one male sheep, and seven male lambs that are one year old. They must have no defects. 9 With the bull, bring a flour offering of five and three-quarters liters of finely ground flour mixed with olive oil. With the male sheep, bring three and four-fifths liters. 10 With each of the lambs, bring two liters. 11 Also bring one male goat to remove the guilt of your sins, and the animals and flour and wine that you burn on the altar each day to atone for your sins. Those offerings will be in addition to the animals and flour and wine that are completely burned on the altar each day.

12 On the fifteenth day of your seventh month, you must all gather together to worship me. You must not do any regular work that you would normally do on that day. You must continue to celebrate for seven days. 13 When the offerings are burned on the altar, the smell will be very pleasing to me. The animals that you must bring are thirteen young bulls, two male sheep, and fourteen male lambs that are one year old. These animals must have no defects. 14 With each of the thirteen bulls, bring a flour offering of five and three-quarters liters of finely-ground flour mixed with olive oil. With each of the male sheep, bring three and four-fifths liters. 15 With each of the fourteen lambs, bring two liters. 16 Also bring one male goat to be sacrificed to remove the guilt of your sins, in addition to the offerings of animals and flour and wine that are completely burned on the altar each day.

17 On the second day of the festival, you must bring to the altar twelve young bulls, two rams, and fourteen lambs that are one year old. These animals must have no defects. 18 Bring also with the animals the offerings of flour and wine that are required. 19 Also offer one male goat; sacrifice it to remove the guilt of your sins. These animals will be in addition to the offerings of animals and flour and wine that are completely burned on the altar each day.

20 On the third day of the festival, you must bring to the altar eleven young bulls, two rams, and fourteen lambs that are one year old. These animals must have no defects. They must all be burned on the altar, and their smell will please me. 21 Bring also with the animals the offerings of flour and wine that are required. 22 Also offer one male goat to be sacrificed to remove the guilt of your sins. These animals will be in addition to the offerings of animals and flour and wine that are completely burned on the altar each day.

23 On the fourth day of the festival, you must bring to the altar ten young bulls, two rams, and fourteen lambs that are one year old. These animals must have no defects. They must all be burned on the altar, and their smell will please me. 24 Bring also with the animals the offerings of flour and wine that are required. 25 Also offer one male goat to be sacrificed to remove the guilt of your sins. These animals will be in addition to the offerings of animals and flour and wine that are completely burned on the altar each day.

26 On the fifth day of the festival, you must bring to the altar nine young bulls, two rams, and fourteen lambs that are one year old. These animals must have no defects. They must all be burned on the altar, and their smell will please me. 27 Bring also with the animals the offerings of flour and wine that are required. 28 Also offer one male goat to be sacrificed to remove the guilt of your sins. These animals will be in addition to the offerings of animals and flour and wine that are completely burned on the altar each day.

29 On the sixth day of the festival, you must bring to the altar eight young bulls, two rams, and fourteen lambs that are one year old. These animals must have no defects. They must all be burned on the altar, and their smell will please me. 30 Bring also with the animals the offerings of flour and wine that are required. 31 Also offer one male goat to be sacrificed to remove the guilt of your sins. These animals will be in addition to the offerings of animals and flour and wine that are completely burned on the altar each day.

32 On the seventh day of the festival, you must bring to the altar seven young bulls, two rams, and fourteen lambs that are one year old. These animals must have no defects. They must all be burned on the altar, and their smell will please me. 33 Bring also with the animals the offerings of flour and wine that are required. 34 Also offer one male goat to be sacrificed to remove the guilt of your sins. These animals will be in addition to the offerings of animals and flour and wine that are completely burned on the altar each day.

35 Eight days after the start of that festival, you must again gather together to worship me; you must not do any regular work that you would normally do on that day. 36 On that day, you must bring to the altar one bull, one full-grown ram, and seven lambs that are one year old. These animals must have no defects. They must all be burned on the altar, and their smell will please me. 37 Bring also with the bull and the male sheep and each of the lambs the offerings of flour and wine that are required. 38 Also offer one male goat to be sacrificed to remove the guilt of your sins. These animals will be in addition to the offerings of animals and flour and wine that are completely burned on the altar each day.

39 At your festivals, these are the offerings that you must bring to me: The offerings that will be completely burned on the altar, the grain offerings, the wine offerings, and the offerings to restore fellowship with me. Those are in addition to the offerings that you give to me because you promised to do something, and other special offerings that you want to give to me.”

40 Then Moses told to the Israelite people all the things that Yahweh had commanded him.

30 Moses spoke with the leaders of the Israelite tribes. He told them these commands that Yahweh had given to him:

2 “If a man solemnly promises Yahweh that he will do something, he must do what he promised.

3 If a young woman who is still living with her parents solemnly promises to Yahweh to do something, 4 and if her father hears about what she promised, and if he does not say anything to her, she must do what she promised. 5 But if her father hears about what she promised and does not allow her to do that, then she does not need to do what she promised. Yahweh will forgive her for not doing what she promised.

6 If a woman promises Yahweh that she will do something, but then she gets married, 7 If she marries a husband while under the vows, or she makes rash utterances by which she obligates herself, they will stand. 8 But if her husband stops her on the day that he hears about it, then he cancels the vow that she has made, the rash talk of her lips with which she has bound herself. Yahweh will release her.

9 If a widow or a woman who has been divorced makes a promise, she must do what she promised.

10 If a woman who is married promises to do something, 11 and if her husband hears about it but does not object, she must do what she promised. 12 But if he hears about it and does not allow her to do that, she does not need to do what she promised, and Yahweh will forgive her for not doing it. 13 A woman’s husband may require her to do what she has promised, or he may not allow her to do what she has promised. 14 If he does not object for several days after he hears about it, she must do what she promised. 15 But if he waits a long time after she has promised to do something and then he tells her that he will not permit her to do it, if she does not do what she promised, she will not be punished. Her husband is the one whom Yahweh will punish.”

16 Those are the rules that Yahweh gave to Moses for husbands and wives, and for young women who are still living with their parents.

31 Yahweh spoke to Moses and said, 2 “Tell the Israelite people that they should pay back the Midian people group for what they did to you. After that happens, you will die.”

3 So Moses said to the people, “Get some men prepared for battle. Yahweh will enable them to pay back the Midian people group for what they did to us. 4 Select a thousand men from each tribe to fight.” 5 So twelve thousand men prepared for fighting in the battle, one thousand from each tribe. 6 When Moses sent them to the battle, Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest, went with them. He took with him some of the things from the sacred tent and the trumpets that would be blown to give the signal to start the battle.

7 The Israelite men fought the soldiers from the Midian people group, as Yahweh had told Moses to tell them to do, and they killed every man from the Midian people group. 8 Among those whom they killed were the five kings of the Midian people group—Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba. They also killed Balaam with a sword son of Beor. 9 They captured all the women and children of the Midian people group and took away their cattle, their flocks of sheep, and herds of goats, and all their other possessions. 10 Then they burned down all the houses in the towns and villages where the people of the Midian people group lived. 11 But they took home with them all the women and children and animals and possessions. 12 They brought all these to Eleazer and Moses, and to the rest of the Israelite people who were at their camp on the plains of Moab, near the Jordan River, across from Jericho. 13 Eleazar and all the leaders of the people and Moses went outside the camp to greet them.

14 But Moses was angry with some of the men who had returned from the battle. He was angry with the army officers, those men who were commanders over thousands of men and those who were commanders over hundreds of men. 15 He asked them, “Why did you allow the women to live? 16 They are the ones who did what Balaam suggested and urged our people to worship Baal instead of Yahweh. As a result, Yahweh caused a plague to strike his people while they were at Peor. 17 So, now you must kill all the boys of the Midian people group, and also kill all the women who have slept with any man. 18 Spare only the girls who are virgins. You can keep them to be your wives or your slaves.

19 All of you who have killed someone or touched the corpse of someone who was killed in the battle must stay outside the camp for seven days. On the third day and on the seventh day, you must perform the ritual to enable you to become acceptable to God again. You and your prisoners. 20 You must also wash your clothes and anything that you took to the battle that is made of leather or goat’s hair or wood.”

21 Then Eleazar said to the soldiers who had returned from the battle, “This is what Yahweh has instructed Moses. 22 You must put into a fire any gold or silver or bronze or iron or tin or lead things that you brought back from the battle. 23 Put everything that will not burn into the fire, and then they will be acceptable for you to use. But also sprinkle those things with the water that causes things and people to become acceptable to God. The things that would burn if you put them in a fire, sprinkle them with that water. 24 On the seventh day, wash your clothes, and then you will become acceptable to God again. After you do that, you may return to the camp.”

25 Yahweh also said to Moses, 26 “Tell Eleazar and the leaders of the family groups that they must write down a list of all the goods, the women, and the animals that were captured in the battle. 27 Then tell Eleazar and the leaders of the family groups that they must divide all those things between the men who fought in the battle and the rest of the people. 28 From the men who fought in the battle, take one from every five hundred people and from every five hundred cattle and donkeys and sheep, to be a tax for me. 29 Take these things to Eleazar to be my share as the offering presented to me. 30 And from the other things, take one item from every fifty. That includes people, cattle, donkeys, sheep, goats, and other animals. Give those things to the descendants of Levi who take care of my sacred tent.” 31 So Eleazar and Moses did what Yahweh commanded.

32 This is what remained from everything that the soldiers had looted: 675, 000 sheep, 33 72, 000 cattle, 34 61, 000 donkeys, 35 and 32, 000 virgin girls.

36 The men who fought in the battle took 337, 000 sheep from the battle, 37 and they gave 675 of them to Yahweh. 38 They took thirty-six thousand cattle and gave 72 of them to Yahweh. 39 They took 30, 500 donkeys, and they gave 61 of them to Yahweh. 40 They took sixteen thousand virgins, and they gave 32 of them to Yahweh.

41 Moses gave to Eleazar all the animals that had been presented to Yahweh, as Yahweh had commanded.

42 Moses separated what those who had fought in the battle received 43 from what the other people received. The people received 337, 500 sheep, 44 36, 000 cattle, 45 30, 500 donkeys, 46 and 16, 000 virgin girls. 47 From what the people received, Moses took one from every fifty items and gave them to Yahweh. That included animals and people. As Yahweh commanded, Moses gave them all to the descendants of Levi who took care of the sacred tent.

48 Then the army officers, those who were commanders over thousands of men and those who were commanders over hundreds of men, they came to Moses. 49 They said, “We, who are your servants, have counted the soldiers whom we command, and we found that none of them is missing. 50 So to thank Yahweh for that, we have brought to him a gift of the gold items that we found after the battle, gold arm bands and bracelets and rings, earrings and necklaces. We hope that this will atone for our sins.”

51 So Eleazar and Moses accepted the gold items that they brought. 52 The total of the offering they presented weighed about one hundred and ninety one kilograms. 53 Each soldier had taken these things for himself. 54 Eleazar and Moses accepted these gold items from these commanders and put them in the sacred tent to remind the Israelite people about how Yahweh had helped them defeat the Midian people group.

32 The people of the tribes of Reuben and Gad had a lot of livestock. They saw that the land near the city of Jazer and the region of Gilead east of the Jordan River had good grass for the animals to graze on. 2 So their leaders came to Eleazar and the leaders of the people and Moses. They said, 3 “This is a list of places we have surveyed: Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo, and Beon. 4 Yahweh has enabled us Israelites to capture some land that is very good for animals to graze on—the land near the towns of Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo, and Beon. 5 If it pleases you, we would like this land to be ours, instead of land on the other side of the Jordan River.”

6 Moses replied to the leaders of the tribes of Gad and Reuben, “It is not right for your fellow Israelites to go to fight in wars and you stay here! 7 If you do that, you will cause the other Israelites to be discouraged, with the result that they will not cross the Jordan River to the land that Yahweh is giving to them. 8 Our ancestors did the same kind of thing. I sent them from Kadesh Barnea to see what the land of Canaan was like. 9 They went as far as Eshcol Valley, but when they saw the huge people in the land, they returned and caused the Israelite people to be discouraged saying, ‘We should not try to enter the land that Yahweh said that he is giving to us.’ 10 So Yahweh became very angry with them, and he solemnly declared this, 11-12 11-12‘From all the people who came out of Egypt, the only ones who are at least twenty years old who will see the land that I promised to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, are Jephunneh’s son Caleb and Nun’s son Joshua, because they trusted me completely. None of the other people who came out of Egypt will even see that land, because they have not completely believed in my power.’ 13 So Yahweh was angry with the Israelite people, and as a result he has caused us to wander in this desert for forty years. Finally, all the people who had sinned against Yahweh by refusing to trust him died, one by one. 14 And you are acting like your ancestors did! You sinful Israelite people are going to cause Yahweh to be more angry with you than he was with our ancestors! 15 If you stop trusting him, he will cause you and all your fellow Israelites to stay longer in the desert, and he will get rid of all of you!”

16 Then the leaders of the tribes of Reuben and Gad said to Moses, “First we will build pens for our animals and build cities for our families here. 17 Then our families will live in strong cities with walls around them, and they will be safe from the people who live in this land. Then we will get ready to fight battles. We will help the other Israelites to get land on the other side of the river. 18 We will not return to our homes until every Israelite has received some land. 19 We will not take any land on the west side of the Jordan River, because our land will be here on the east side.”

20 So Moses told them, “I will tell you what you must do. You must get ready to fight battles for Yahweh. 21 You must cross the Jordan River carrying your weapons. 22 After Yahweh helps us to take that land from the people who live there, you will be permitted to return to your homes. You will have done what you have promised Yahweh and the Israelite people that you would do, and you may keep this land to be your own, given to you by Yahweh.

23 But if you do not do these things, you will be sinning against Yahweh, and he will punish you for that sin. 24 Now you can build cities for your families and pens for your animals, but after doing that, you must do what you have promised.”

25 The leaders of the tribes of Gad and Reuben replied, “We will do what you have asked us to do, because you are our leader. 26 Our wives and children and our cattle and sheep and goats will stay here in the cities of the Gilead area, 27 but we will prepare to go to battle. We will take our weapons and go across the Jordan River and fight for Yahweh, just as you, our leader, have said.”

28 So Moses gave instructions about them to Eleazar, Joshua, and the leaders of the Israelite tribes. 29 Moses said to them, “If the men from the tribes of Gad and Reuben prepare for battle and cross the Jordan River with you, in order to do what Yahweh desires and help you to take that land, give them the Gilead area to belong to them. 30 But if they do not take their weapons and go with you prepared to fight, they will not receive this land. They will need to accept some land in Canaan, like the rest of you will do.”

31 The leaders of the tribes of Gad and Reuben replied, “We will do what you have said and what Yahweh has said. 32 We will cross the river into Canaan land, and we will do what Yahweh desires and be prepared for battle. But our land will be here on the east side of the Jordan River.”

33 So Moses agreed to give that land to the tribes of Gad and Reuben and to half of the tribe of Joseph’s son Manasseh. That land was previously the land where Sihon, the king of the Amor people group, ruled, and the land where Og, the king of Bashan region, ruled, including its cities and surrounding land.

34 The people of the tribe of Gad rebuilt Dibon, Ataroth, Aroer, 35 Atroth Shophan, Jazer, Jogbehah, 36 Beth Nimrah, and Beth Haran cities. Those were cities with strong walls around them. And they also built pens for their sheep.

37 The people of the tribe of Reuben rebuilt Heshbon, Elealeh, Kiriathaim, 38 Nebo, Baal Meon, and Sibmah cities. When they rebuilt Nebo and Baal Meon, they gave new names to those cities.

39 The descendants of Manasseh’s son Makir went to the region of Gilead and took it away from the Amor people group. 40 So Moses gave Gilead to the family of Makir, and they started to live there. 41 Jair, who was also a descendant of Manasseh, went and captured the small towns in that region, and he named them the Towns of Jair. 42 A man named Nobah went and captured the city of Kenath and the nearby towns, and then he used his own name to be the new name of that area.

33 Here is a list of the places where the Israelites went as Aaron and Moses led them after they left Egypt. 2 Yahweh commanded Moses to write down the names of the places where they went.

3 On the fifteenth day of the first month of the year, the day after they celebrated the Passover, they left the city of Rameses in Egypt and marched boldly while the Egyptian army was coming behind them. 4 As they left, the people of Egypt were still burying the bodies of their firstborn sons. By killing them, Yahweh showed that the gods that the people of Egypt worshiped were false gods.

5 After leaving Rameses, they first went to Succoth and set up their tents there.

6 Then they left Succoth and went to Etham, at the edge of the desert, and set up their tents there.

7 Then they left Etham and returned to Pi Hahiroth, to the east of Baal Zephon, and set up their tents near Migdol.

8 Then they left Pi Hahiroth and walked through the Sea of Reeds and continued three days into the Etham Desert, and set their tents at Marah.

9 Then they left Marah and went to Elim. There were twelve springs and seventy palm trees there. They set up their tents there.

10 Then they left Elim and went to the area near the Sea of Reeds and set up their tents there.

11 Then they left the Sea of Reeds and went near the wilderness of Sinai and set up their tents there.

12 Then they left the wilderness of Sinai and went to Dophkah and set up their tents there.

13 Then they left Dophkah and went to Alush and set up their tents there.

14 Then they left Alush and went and set up their tents at Rephidim, where they had no water to drink.

15 Then they left Rephidim and went to the wilderness of the Sinai and set up their tents there.

16 Then they left the wilderness of the Sinai and went to Kibroth Hattaavah and set up their tents there.

17 Then they left Kibroth Hattaavah and went to Hazeroth and set up their tents there.

18 Then they left Hazeroth and went to Rithmah and set up their tents there.

19 Then they left Rithmah and went to Rimmon Perez and set up their tents there.

20 Then they left Rimmon Perez and went to Libnah and set up their tents there.

21 Then they left Libnah and went to Rissah and set up their tents there.

22 Then they left Rissah and set up their tents at Kehelathah.

23 Then they left Kehelathah; they went to Mount Shepher and set up their tents there.

24 Then they left Mount Shepher and went to Haradah and set up their tents there.

25 Then they left Haradah and went to Makheloth and set up their tents there.

26 Then they left Makheloth and went to Tahath and set up their tents there.

27 Then they left Tahath and went to Terah and set up their tents there.

28 Then they left Terah and went to Mithcah and set up their tents there.

29 Then they left Mithcah and went to Hashmonah and set up their tents there.

30 Then they left Hashmonah and went to Moseroth and set up their tents there.

31 Then they left Moseroth and went to Bene Jaakan and set up their tents there.

32 Then they left Bene Jaakan and went to Hor Haggidgad and set up their tents there.

33 Then they left Hor Haggidgad and went to Jotbathah and set up their tents there.

34 Then they left Jotbathah and went to Abronah and set up their tents there.

35 Then they left Abronah and went to Ezion Geber and set up their tents there.

36 Then they left Ezion Geber and went to the wilderness of Zin and set up their tents at Kadesh there.

37 Then they left Kadesh and went to Mount Hor, at the border of Edom, and set up their tents there. 38 Aaron the priest obeyed Yahweh and climbed up the mountain. There he died, on the first day of their fifth month, forty years after the Israelites left Egypt. 39 Aaron was 123 years old when he died.

40 That was when the king of the city of Arad heard that the Israelites were coming. Arad was in the southern wilderness in the land of Canaan, where the Canaan people group lived.

41 The Israelites left Mount Hor and went to Zalmonah and set up their tents there.

42 Then they left Zalmonah and went to Punon and set up tents there.

43 Then they left Punon and went to Oboth and set up their tents there.

44 Then they left Oboth and went to Iye Abarim, which was on the border of the region of Moab, and set up their tents there.

45 Then they left Iye Abarim and went to Dibon Gad and set up their tents there.

46 Then they left Dibon Gad and set up their tents at Almon Diblathaim.

47 Then they left Almon Diblathaim and went to the Abarim Mountains, near Nebo and set up their tents there.

48 Then they left the Abarim mountains and went to the plains of Moab, near the Jordan River, across from Jericho. 49 They set up their tents there on the plains of Moab. Their tents stretched for several kilometers from Beth Jeshimoth to Abel Shittim.

50 While we were there on the plains of Moab near the Jordan River, across from Jericho, Yahweh spoke to Moses. He said, 51 “Tell this to the Israelite people, ‘When you cross the Jordan River and enter the region of Canaan, 52 you must force all the people who live there to leave. Destroy all their carved figures and all cast figures made of metal. Wreck all the places where they worship their idols. 53 Take their land from them and start to live there, because I have given their land to you for you to own.

54 Divide up the land by casting lots to decide which group will get which area. Give the larger areas to the groups that have more people, and give the smaller areas to the groups that have fewer people. Each tribe will receive its own land. 55 If you do not force the people who live there to leave, they will cause you to have much trouble. They will be like sharp hooks in your eyes, and like thorns in your sides. And they will bring trouble to you, in that land where you will be living. 56 And then I will punish you, as I had planned to punish them.’ ”

34 Yahweh said to Moses, 2 “Tell this to the Israelite people, ‘You will soon enter Canaan land, and it will become yours. The following will be the borders of the land. 3 On the south you will receive part of the wilderness of Zin, near the border of the region of Edom. On the east side, the border will start at the south end of the Dead Sea.

4 It will extend to a little south of the Scorpion Pass, and extend west through the wilderness of Sin and south of Kadesh Barnea. From there it will extend to Hazar Addar and from there to Azmon. 5 From Azmon it will extend west to the dry riverbed at the border of Egypt and then to the Mediterranean Sea.

6 The border on the west will be the Mediterranean Sea.

7 The border on the north will start from the Mediterranean Sea and extend west to Mount Hor. 8 From there it will extend to Lebo Hamath and then to Zedad. 9 From there the border will extend to Ziphron, and it will end at Hazar Enan.

10 The border on the east will start at Hazar Enan and extend south to Shepham. 11 From there it will extend east of Ain to Riblah and then along the hills that are east of Galilee Lake. 12 Then the border will extend south along the Jordan River and end at the Dead Sea.

Those will be the borders around your country.’ ”

13 So Moses told all that to the Israelite people. Then he said to them, “That is the land that you will receive. You must cast lots to decide which area will go to each of the nine and a half tribes, because Yahweh has commanded that it should be divided among them. 14 The tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half of the tribe of Manasseh have already received the land in which they will live. 15 They have received land on the east side of the Jordan River, across from Jericho.”

16 Then Yahweh said to Moses,

17 “These are the men who will divide the land. First, Eleazar and Joshua, 18 but other leaders from each of the twelve tribes will help them divide the land.

• 19 From the tribe of Judah, appoint Jephunneh’s son Caleb.

20 From the tribe of Simeon appoint Ammihud’s son Shemuel.

21 From the tribe of Benjamin appoint Kislon’s son Elidad.

22 From the tribe of Dan appoint Jogli’s son Bukki.

23 From the tribe of Manasseh appoint Ephod’s son Hanniel.

24 From the tribe of Ephraim appoint Shiphtan’s son Kemuel.

25 From the tribe of Zebulun appoint Parnak’s son Elizaphan.

26 From the tribe of Issachar appoint Azzan’s son Paltiel.

27 From the tribe of Asher appoint Shelomi’s son Ahihud.

28 From the tribe of Naphtali appoint Ammihud’s son Pedahel.”

29 Yahweh commanded that all those were the men who should divide the region of Canaan among the Israelite people.

35 Yahweh told this to Moses while the Israelites were on the plain in Moab near the Jordan River, across from Jericho, 2 “Tell the Israelite people that from the land that they will receive, they must give to the descendants of Levi some cities in which they can live. They must also give them some land around these cities. 3 These cities will be for the descendants of Levi to live in, and around the cities will be land for their cattle and flocks of sheep and goats and other animals.

4 The land that you give them for their animals must extend out for 457 meters from the walls of the cities. 5 Also measure 920 meters in each direction out from the walls of each city. That additional land will be land for their animals outside the walls of the cities.

6 Six of the cities that you give to the descendants of Levi will be cities to which people can run to be safe. If someone accidentally kills someone else, the one who killed that person may run to one of those cities to be safe. 7 You must also give to the descendants of Levi forty-two other cities and the land around those cities for their animals. 8 The Israelite tribes who have the most people must give them more cities than the tribes who have fewer people give. Each tribe must give some of its cities to the descendants of Levi, but the tribes that have more land must give more cities, and the tribes that have fewer cities will give fewer cities.”

9 Yahweh also said to Moses, 10 “Tell this to the Israelite people, ‘When you cross the Jordan River and enter the region of Canaan, 11 you must choose some cities to which people can run to be safe. If someone kills another person, the one who killed that person may run to one of those cities and be safe. 12 One of the relatives of the person who was killed may think he must avenge his relative’s death by killing the murderer. But in that city, the killer will be safe because the people in that city would kill those relatives if they tried to get revenge there. The man who killed someone accidentally must be put on trial in a court. 13 You must set apart six cities to be cities to which someone who killed another person accidentally may run and be safe. 14 There must be three of these cities on the east side of the Jordan River and three on the west side, in the region of Canaan. 15 Those six cities will be cities where Israelite people may run and be safe, and where foreigners and other people who are living among you can also run and be safe. Any of those people who accidentally kills someone may run to one of these cities and be safe there.

16 But anyone who killed someone by hitting that person with a metal weapon is a murderer. You must execute all murderers. 17 And anyone who killed someone by hitting that person with a rock is a murderer. You must execute all murderers. 18 And anyone who killed someone by hitting that person with a piece of wood is a murderer. You must execute all murderers. 19 A relative of the person who was murdered must be the one who executes the murderer as soon as he finds him. 20 If someone shoves another person over a cliff or throws something at another person 21 or hits that person with his hand and causes that person to die, if he did it because he hated that person, then you must consider that he is a murderer, and must be executed. A relative of the person who was killed must be the one who executes the murderer as soon as he finds him.

22 But someone might accidentally shove someone else, or he might accidentally throw something at another person and hit him, but not because he hates that person. 23 Or he might drop a rock on someone that he could not see. There is a law for the one who does that did not plan to hurt anyone and did not hate the person who was killed. 24 That law is that the people of that city must decide whether the relative of the dead person has the right to get revenge, or whether the one who killed the other person truly did it accidentally. 25 If they decide that the killer planned to kill the other person, they must not allow him to stay in their city. But if they decide that it was done accidentally, they must protect the killer from being killed by the dead person’s relative. They must send the killer to one of the cities where he will be safe, and allow him to stay there until the high priest dies. After that, the killer may go back to his home, because the dead person’s relative no longer has the right to get revenge.

26 But while the high priest is still living, the person who is in that safe city must not leave that city. 27 If he goes outside the city, and if a relative of the dead person finds him, that relative is permitted to kill that person, and people will not consider that the relative is guilty of murder. 28 The killer must stay in that city where he will be safe until the high priest dies. He will be safe from revenge after that, because the death of the high priest will be considered to be a sacrifice to atone for that murder. After that, the killer may return to his home.

29 You must always obey these legal proceedings, wherever you live.

30 If someone is accused of killing another person, the one who is accused may be executed only if there are people who saw him do it. There must be more than one witness. No one is permitted to be executed if there was only one witness.

31 If there is a murderer who truly should be executed, do not spare his life by accepting a ransom. He must be executed.

32 If someone has run to a city where he will be safe, do not allow him to give you money in order that you will permit him to return to his home before the high priest dies.

33 You must execute people who truly murder others. If you did not do that, you would be causing the people who live in the land to become unacceptable to me. Anyone who deliberately kills an innocent person must be executed. 34 I am Yahweh, and I live among you Israelites, so do not spoil the land by allowing people to murder others without being punished.’ ”

36 The family leaders of the clan of Gilead of the tribe of Manasseh went to Moses and the other family leaders of the Israelite people. 2 They said to Moses, “Yahweh commanded you, our leader, to apportion the land to the Israelite tribes by casting lots to decide which group would get which area. Yahweh also commanded you to give the land that belonged to our fellow Israelite Zelophehad to his daughters. 3 But if his daughters marry men from the other Israelite tribes, that land will no longer belong to our tribe. People of other tribes will get it. So some of our land will no longer belong to us. 4 When the year of the celebration of Jubilee comes, when all the land that has been bought by someone is returned to its original owners, the land that belonged to Zelophehad will belong to the tribes of the men that his daughters marry. So some of our land, the land that we received from our fathers, will be taken from us, and we will never own it again.”

5 Yahweh told Moses what to reply to them, so Moses said this to them, “These men from the tribe of Manasseh are right. 6 This is what Yahweh is saying to the daughters of Zelophehad, ‘Each of you may marry anyone you want to, but you must marry only someone from your own tribe.’ 7 In that way, the land that belongs to Israelites will not be passed from one tribe to another tribe. Each Israelite will keep the land in the tribe that belonged to his ancestors. 8 A woman who inherits her father’s land may get married, but she must marry someone from her own tribe. In that way, every Israelite will keep the land that belonged to his ancestors. 9 The land must not be passed from one tribe to another tribe. Each Israelite tribe must keep the land that it received from its ancestors.”

10 Zelophehad’s daughters obeyed what Yahweh told Moses. 11 The five daughters—Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milkah and Noah—married their cousins, their father’s relatives. 12 The men whom they married were from the tribe of Manasseh, so their land continued to belong to their father’s family and tribe.

13 Those were the commands and decrees that Yahweh gave to Moses to tell to the Israelites, while they were on the plains of Moab, close to the Jordan River, across from Jericho.