Numbers 11-15

Lexham English Bible

The Israelites Complain

11 And it happened, the people were like those who complain of hardship^[a] in the hearing^[b] of Yahweh, and Yahweh became angry,^[c] and the fire of Yahweh burned among them, and it consumed the edge of the camp. ² Then the people cried out to Moses, and Moses prayed to Yahweh, and the fire died down. ³ And he called the name of that place Taberah^[d] because the fire of Yahweh burned among them.

⁴ The riff-raff that were in their midst had a strong desire;^[e] and the Israelites^[f] turned back and also wept, and they said, “Who will feed us meat? ⁵ We remember the fish that we ate in Egypt for nothing, the cucumber, melon, leek, the onions, and the garlic. ⁶ But now our strength is dried up;^[g] there is nothing whatsoever except for the manna before us.”^[h]

⁷ Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its outward appearance was like that of bdellium-gum. ⁸ The people went about and gathered it, and they ground it with mills or crushed it with mortar. Then they boiled it in a pot and made it into bread-cakes; and it tasted like olive oil cakes. ⁹ When the dew came down on the camp at night, the manna came down with it.

¹⁰ Moses heard the people weeping according to their^[i] clans, each at the doorway of their tents. Then Yahweh became very angry,^[j] and in the eyes of Moses it was bad. ¹¹ And Moses said to Yahweh, “Why have you brought trouble to your servant? Why have I not found favor in your eyes, that the burdens of all these people have been placed on me? ¹² Did I conceive all these people? If I have fathered them,^[k] that you could say to me, ‘Carry them^[l] in your lap, just as a foster-father carries the suckling on the land that you swore an oath to their ancestors?’^{[m] 13} From where do I have meat to give all these people? They weep before me, saying, ‘Give us meat and let us eat!’ ¹⁴ I am not able to carry all these people along alone; they are too heavy for me. ¹⁵ If this is how you are going to treat me, please kill me immediately if I find favor in your eyes, and do not let me see my misery.”

¹⁶ And Yahweh said to Moses, “Gather for me seventy men from the elders of Israel whom you know are elders of the people and their^[n] officials; take them to the tent of assembly, and they will stand there with you. ¹⁷ I will come down and speak with you there; I will take away from the spirit that is on you, and I will place it on them; and they will bear the burdens of the people with you; you will not bear it alone. ¹⁸ And you will say to the people, ‘Sanctify yourselves tomorrow, for you will eat meat because you have wept in the ears of Yahweh, saying, “Who will feed us good meat? It was good for us in Egypt.” Yahweh will give to you meat, and you will eat. ¹⁹ You will eat, not one day, or two days, or five days, or ten days, or twenty days, ²⁰ but for a whole month,^[o] until it comes out from your nose and becomes as nausea to you; because you have rejected Yahweh, who is in your midst, and you wept before his presence,^[p] saying, “Why did we ever leave Egypt?”’” ²¹ But Moses said, “There are six hundred thousand on foot, among whom I am in the midst, and you yourself said, ‘I will give meat to them, and they will eat for a whole month.’ ²² Should flocks and cattle be slaughtered for them? Should all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to be enough for them?” ²³ And Yahweh said to Moses, “Is Yahweh’s power limited?^[q] Now you will see if my word will happen or not.”

²⁴ So Moses went out, and he spoke the words of Yahweh to the people, and he gathered together seventy men from the elders of the people, and he made them stand^[r] all around the tent. ²⁵ Then Yahweh went down in the cloud and spoke to him, and he took away the spirit that was on him, and he put it^[s] on the seventy elders. And as soon as the spirit was resting on them they prophesied, but they did not do it again.

²⁶ But two men were left in the camp; the name of one was Eldad, and the name of the second was Medad, and the spirit rested on them; they were among those who were written down, but they did not go out to the tent, so they prophesied in the camp. ²⁷ So a boy^[t] ran and told Moses and said, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.” ²⁸ And Joshua son of Nun, the assistant of Moses from time of his youth, answered, “Moses, my lord, stop them.” ²⁹ But Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for my sake? Would that he^[u] give all Yahweh’s people prophets, that Yahweh put his spirit on them!” ³⁰ Then Moses and the elders of Israel were gathered to the camp.

The Quail

³¹ Then a wind set out from Yahweh, and it drove quails from the west, and he spread them out on the camp about a day’s journey on one side and about a day’s journey on the other, all around the camp, about two cubits on the surface of the land. ³² And so the people worked^[v] all day and all night and all the next day, and they gathered the quail (the least of the ones collecting gathered ten homers).^{[w] 33} While the meat was still between their teeth, before it was consumed, Yahweh was angry with the people, and Yahweh struck a very great plague among the people. ³⁴ And he called the name of that place Kibroth Hattaavah^[x] because they buried the people that were greedy.^{[y] 35} From Kibroth Hattaavah^[z] the people set out to Hazeroth; and they stayed^[aa] in Hazeroth.

Aaron and Miriam Murmur Against Moses

12 And Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he took (because he took a Cushite wife); ² and they said, “Has Yahweh spoken only through Moses? Has not Yahweh also spoken through us?” And Yahweh heard it. ³ Now the man, Moses, was more humble than any other person on the face of the earth, ⁴ and Yahweh said suddenly to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, “Go out, you three, to the tent of assembly.” So the three of them when out. ⁵ And Yahweh went down in a column of cloud and stood at the doorway of the tent, and he called Aaron and Miriam, and the two of them went, ⁶ and he said,

Why were you not afraid to speak against my servant, against Moses?”

⁹ And Yahweh became very angry^[ac] with them, and he went away. ¹⁰ And the cloud departed from on the tent, and behold, Miriam was infected with a skin disease^[ad] white like snow; when Aaron turned toward Miriam, behold, she was afflicted with a skin disease. ¹¹ So Aaron said to Moses, “Please, my lord, please do not put on us this sin in which we were foolish and in which we have sinned. ¹² Please do not let her be like the dead, whose flesh is half consumed when coming out from the womb of its mother.” ¹³ And Moses cried to Yahweh, saying, “God, please heal her!”^{[ae] 14} But Yahweh said to Moses, “If her father had surely spit in her face, would she not bear her shame for seven days? Let her be confined for seven days to an outside place of the camp, and afterward she may be gathered.” ¹⁵ So Miriam was confined to the outside place of the camp seven days, and the people did not set out until Miriam was gathered. ¹⁶ And afterward the people set out from Hazeroth, and they encamped in the desert of Paran.

Spies Sent to Spy Out the Land of Canaan

13 And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Send for yourself men, and let them explore the land of Canaan, which I am about to give to the Israelites;^[af] from each tribe of his father send one man,^[ag] everyone a leader among them.” ³ So Moses sent them from the desert of Paran on the command of Yahweh; all of the men were leaders^[ah] of the Israelites.^{[ai] 4} And these are their names: from the tribe of Reuben, Shammua son of Zaccur; ⁵ from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat son of Hori; ⁶ from the tribe of Judah, Caleb son of Jephunneh; ⁷ from the tribe of Issachar, Igal son of Joseph; ⁸ from the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea son of Nun; ⁹ from the tribe of Benjamin, Palti son of Raphu; ¹⁰ from the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel son of Sodi; ¹¹ from the tribe of Joseph, from the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi son of Susi; ¹² from the tribe of Dan, Ammiel son of Gemalli; ¹³ from the tribe of Asher, Sethur son of Michael; ¹⁴ from the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi son of Vophsi; ¹⁵ from the tribe of Gad, Geuel son of Maki. ¹⁶ These are the names of the men whom Moses sent to explore the land. And Moses called Hoshea son of Nun Joshua.

¹⁷ Moses sent them to explore the land of Canaan, and he said to them, “Go up like this to the Negev,^[aj] and go up into the hill country, ¹⁸ and you will see what the land is like and if the people who inhabit it are strong or weak, or whether they are few or many, ¹⁹ and whether the land that they are inhabiting is good or bad, and whether the cities they are inhabiting are camps or fortifications, ²⁰ and whether the land is fertile or lean, and whether there are trees on it or not. You will show yourself courageous, and you will take some of the fruit of the land.” It was the time of first ripe grapes.

²¹ So they went up and explored the land from the desert of Zin until Rehob, at Lebo Hamath.^{[ak] 22} They went up through the Negev^[al] and came to Hebron, where^[am] Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai the descendants of the Anakites were. (Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) ²³ And they came up to the valley^[an] of Eshcol, and they cut off a vine branch and one cluster of grapes from there; they carried it on a pole between two men, with pomegranates and figs. ²⁴ That place he called the valley^[ao] of Eshcol on account of the cluster of grapes that the Israelites^[ap] cut off from there.

The Spies Return

²⁵ They returned from exploring the land at the end of forty days.^{[aq] 26} And they came^[ar] to Moses and Aaron and to the entire community of the Israelites^[as] in the desert of Paran at Kadesh; they brought back word to them and to all the community, and they showed them the fruit of the land. ²⁷ And they told him,^[at] “We came to the land that you sent us, and it is flowing of milk and honey; this is its fruit. ²⁸ Yet the people who are inhabiting it are strong and the cities are fortified and very large; moreover, we saw the descendants of the Anakites there. ²⁹ The Amalekites are living in the land of the Negev;^[au] the Hittites, Jebusites, and the Amorites are living in the hill country; and the Canaanites are living at the sea and on the banks of the Jordan.”

³⁰ And Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “Surely, let us go up and let us take possession of it because surely we will be able to prevail over it.” ³¹ And the men who went up with him said, “We are not able to go up to the people because they are stronger than us.” ³² And they presented the report of the land that they explored to the Israelites,^[av] saying, “The land that we went through to explore is a land that eats its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in its midst are men of great size.^{[aw] 33} There we saw the Nephilim (the descendants^[ax] of Anak came from the Nephilim), and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their eyes.”

The People Complain

14 Then all the community lifted up their voices,^[ay] and the people wept during that night. ² And all the Israelites^[az] grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and all the community said to them, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt or in this desert! ³ Why did Yahweh bring us into this land to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little children will become plunder; would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?” ⁴ They said to each other,^[ba] “Let us appoint a leader, and we will return to Egypt.”

⁵ Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before^[bb] the assembly of the community of the Israelites.^{[bc] 6} Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, from the explorers of the land, tore their garments. ⁷ And they said to all the community of the Israelites,^[bd] “The land that we went through to explore is an exceptionally good land.^{[be] 8} If Yahweh delights in us, then he will bring us into this land, and he will give it to us, a land that is flowing with milk and honey. ⁹ Only do not rebel against Yahweh, and you will not fear the people of the land, because they will be our food. Their protection^[bf] has been turned from them; Yahweh is with us. You should not fear them.” ¹⁰ And all the community said to stone them with stones, but the glory of Yahweh appeared in the tent of assembly among the Israelites.^[bg]

¹¹ And Yahweh said to Moses, “How long until this people will despise me, and how long until they will not believe in me, and in all the signs that I have done in their^[bh] midst? ¹² I will strike them^[bi] with disease, and I will dispossess them;^[bj] I will make you into a greater and stronger nation than them.”^[bk]

¹³ And Moses said to Yahweh, “Then the Egyptians will hear that you brought up this people from their^[bl] midst in your power, ¹⁴ and they will tell it^[bm] to the inhabitants of this land. They heard that you, Yahweh, are in the midst of this people, that you are seen eye to eye, and your cloud is standing over them, and in a column of cloud you go before them by day and in a column of fire at night. ¹⁵ But if you destroy this people all at once,^[bn] the nations that will have heard your message will say, ¹⁶ ‘Yahweh was unable to bring this people in the land that he swore by an oath, and he slaughtered them in the desert.’ ¹⁷ But now, please, let the power of my Lord be great, just has you spoke,

¹⁹ Please forgive the sin of this people according to the greatness of your loyal love, just as you forgave^[bq] this people, from Egypt until now.”

²⁰ Yahweh said, “I have forgiven them according to your word; ²¹ but as I am alive, the glory of Yahweh will fill all the earth. ²² But because all the men who have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the desert yet tested me these ten times and did not listen to my voice, ²³ they will not see the land that I swore by oath to their ancestors,^[br] and all those who despised me will not see it. ²⁴ But my servant Caleb, because another spirit was with him, he remained true after me, and I will bring him into the land that he entered,^[bs] and his offspring will take possession of it. ²⁵ And the Amalekites and the Canaanites live in the valleys; tomorrow turn and set out for the desert by way of the Red Sea.”^[bt]

²⁶ And Yahweh spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, ²⁷ “How long will I bear this evil community who are grumbling against me? I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites^[bu] which they are making^[bv] against me. ²⁸ Say to them, ‘Surely as I live,’ declares^[bw] Yahweh, ‘just as you spoke in my hearing,^[bx] so I will do to you; ²⁹ in this desert your corpses will fall, and all your counted ones, according to all your number, from twenty years old^[by] and above who grumbled against me. ³⁰ You yourselves will not come into the land that I swore by oath^[bz] to make you to dwell in it, but Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun. ³¹ But your little children, whom you said would be plunder, I will bring them, and they will know the land that you rejected. ³² But for you, all your corpses will fall in this desert. ³³ And your children will be shepherds in the desert forty years,^[ca] and you will bear your unfaithfulness until all your corpses have fallen^[cb] in the desert. ³⁴ According to the number of the days^[cc] that you explored the land, forty days,^[cd] a day for each year,^[ce] you will bear your sins forty years,^[cf] and you will know my opposition.’ ³⁵ I, Yahweh, have spoken; I will surely do this to all this evil community who has banded together against me. In this desert they will come to an end, and there they will die.”

³⁶ As for the men whom Moses sent to explore the land, who returned and made the community grumble against him by spreading a report over the land, ³⁷ the men who spread the evil report of the land died by the plague before Yahweh.^{[cg] 38} But Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh lived from among the men who went to explore the land.

³⁹ And Moses spoke words to all the Israelites,^[ch] and the people mourned greatly. ⁴⁰ They rose early in the morning and went to the top of the mount, saying, “Here we are. We will go up to the place that Yahweh said, because we have sinned.” ⁴¹ But Moses said, “Why are you going against the command of Yahweh? It will not succeed. ⁴² You should not go up because Yahweh is not in your midst; do not let yourselves be defeated in the presence of your enemies, ⁴³ because the Amalekites^[ci] and the Canaanites^[cj] are there before you,^[ck] and you will fall by the sword; because you have turned back from Yahweh, and Yahweh will not be with you.” ⁴⁴ But they dared to go to the top of the mountain, and the ark of the covenant of Yahweh and Moses did not depart from the midst of the camp. ⁴⁵ So the Amalekites^[cl] and the Canaanites^[cm] who were living on the mountain descended, and they beat them down, up to Hormah.

Various Sacrifices and Offerings

15 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Speak to the Israelites^[cn] and say to them, ‘When you come into the land of your dwellings that I am about to give to you, ³ you will make an offering by fire for Yahweh from the cattle or from the flock, a burnt offering or a sacrifice to fulfill a vow, or as a freewill offering or at your feasts, to make a fragrance of appeasement for Yahweh. ⁴ And the one who presents an offering^[co] for Yahweh, he will present a grain offering of finely milled flour; a tenth will be mixed with a fourth of the liquid measure of oil; ⁵ and you will add a fourth of wine for the libation upon the burnt offering, or to the sacrifice for each ram-lamb. ⁶ Or for the ram you will make a grain offering of two-tenths of finely milled flour mixed into a third of a liquid measure of oil. ⁷ You will present a third of the liquid measure of wine for the libation, a fragrance of appeasement for Yahweh. ⁸ When you prepare a bull^[cp] as a burnt offering or a sacrifice to fulfill a vow or a fellowship offering for Yahweh, ⁹ you will present with the bull^[cq] a grain offering of three-tenths of finely milled flour mixed with half a liquid measure of oil, ¹⁰ and you will present half a liquid measure of wine as a libation, as an offering made by fire, a fragrance of appeasement for Yahweh.

¹¹ “‘This is how it should be done for each bull, or for the each ram, or for the small four-footed mammal, or ram-lambs, or goats. ¹² According to the number that you prepare, so should you do to each according to their number. ¹³ Every native must do these things to present an offering made by fire, a fragrance of appeasement for Yahweh. ¹⁴ If an alien dwells among you, or whoever is in your midst throughout your generations,^[cr] and prepares an offering made by fire, a fragrance of appeasement for Yahweh, he should do as you do. ¹⁵ For the assembly, there will be one decree for you and for the alien who dwells among you; it is an eternal decree for all your generations. You as well as the alien^[cs] will be before Yahweh.^{[ct] 16} There will be one law and one stipulation for you and for the alien dwelling among you.’”

¹⁷ Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁸ “Speak to the Israelites^[cu] and say to them, ‘When you come into the land to which I am about to bring you, ¹⁹ whenever you eat from the food of the land, you will lift up a contribution to Yahweh. ²⁰ You must lift up a contribution of the first batch of your ring-shaped dough bread; you must lift it up as a contribution of the threshing floor. ²¹ You will give to Yahweh a contribution from the first of your dough throughout your generations.^[cv]

²² “‘But if you go astray and you do not follow^[cw] all these commandments that Yahweh commanded to Moses, ²³ all that Yahweh commanded you by the hand of Moses^[cx] from the day that Yahweh commanded and beyond, throughout your generations,^{[cy] 24} and if it was done unintentionally without the knowledge^[cz] of the community, then the entire community must prepare one young bull^[da] as a burnt offering, as a fragrance of appeasement for Yahweh, and its grain offering and its libation, according to the stipulation, and one male goat as a sin offering. ²⁵ The priest will make atonement for all of the community of the Israelites,^[db] and they will be forgiven^[dc] because it was unintentional; they will bring their offering, an offering made by fire for Yahweh, their sin offering before Yahweh^[dd] for their unintentional sin. ²⁶ All of the community of the Israelites^[de] will be forgiven, as well as the alien that dwells in their midst, because the whole community was involved in the unintentional wrong.

²⁷ “‘If one person sins unintentionally, that person will present a female goat in its first year^[df] as a sin offering. ²⁸ And the priest will make atonement for the person who sinned unintentionally^[dg] before Yahweh,^[dh] to make atonement for him, and he will be forgiven. ²⁹ For the native among the Israelites^[di] and the alien that dwells in their midst, there will be one law for anyone who commits an unintentional wrong. ³⁰ But the one who acts presumptuously^[dj] from among the native or alien blasphemes against Yahweh, and that person must be cut off from the midst of the people. ³¹ Because he despised the word of Yahweh and broke his command, that person will be surely cut off and bear the guilt.’”

Violation of the Sabbath

³² When the Israelites^[dk] were in the desert, they found a man who was gathering wood on the day of the Sabbath. ³³ The ones who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses, Aaron, and to all the community. ³⁴ And they put him under watch because it was not made clear what should be done to him. ³⁵ And Yahweh said to Moses, “Surely the man must be put to death by stoning him; all the community must stone him with stones from outside the camp.” ³⁶ So the entire community brought him out to a place outside the camp, and they stoned him to death^[dl] just as Yahweh commanded Moses.

Garment Fringes

³⁷ Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ³⁸ “Speak to the Israelites,^[dm] and tell them to make for themselves tassels^[dn] on the hems of their garments throughout their generations^[do] and to put a blue cord on the tassel of the hem. ³⁹ You will have a tassel for you to look at^[dp] and remember all the commands of Yahweh and do them, and not follow after the unfaithfulness of your own heart and eyes,^{[dq] 40} so that you will remember and do all my commandments, and you will be holy for your God. ⁴¹ I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God; I am Yahweh your God.”