Bible in 90 Days

¹⁵ After you have sanctified them and presented them in this way, they shall go in and out of the Tabernacle to do their work.

¹⁶ “They are mine from among all the people of Israel, and I have accepted them in place of all the firstborn children of the Israelites: I have taken the Levites as their substitutes. ¹⁷ For all the firstborn among the people of Israel are mine, both men and animals; I claimed them for myself the night I killed all the firstborn Egyptians. ¹⁸ Yes, I have accepted the Levites in place of all the eldest sons of Israel. ¹⁹ And I will give the Levites as a gift to Aaron and his sons. The Levites will carry out the sacred duties required of the people of Israel in the Tabernacle, and will offer the people’s sacrifices, making atonement for them. There will be no plague among the Israelites—as there would be if the ordinary people entered the Tabernacle.”

²⁰ So Moses and Aaron and all the people of Israel dedicated the Levites, carefully following Jehovah’s instructions to Moses. ²¹ The Levites purified themselves and washed their clothes, and Aaron presented them to the Lord in a gesture of offering. He then performed the rite of atonement over them to purify them. ²² After that they went into the Tabernacle as assistants to Aaron and his sons; everything was done just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

^23-24 The Lord also instructed Moses, “The Levites are to begin serving in the Tabernacle at the age of twenty-five, and are to retire at the age of fifty. ^25-26 After retirement they can assist with various light duties in the Tabernacle, but will have no regular responsibilities.”

9 Jehovah gave these instructions to Moses while he and the rest of the Israelis were on the Sinai peninsula, during the first month of the second year after leaving Egypt: ^2-3 “The people of Israel must celebrate the Passover annually on April first,^[a] beginning in the evening. Be sure to follow all of my instructions concerning this celebration.”

^4-5 So Moses announced that the Passover celebration would begin on the evening of April first, there in the Sinai peninsula, just as the Lord had commanded. ^6-7 But as it happened, some of the men had just attended a funeral and were ceremonially defiled by having touched the dead, so they couldn’t eat the Passover lamb that night. They came to Moses and Aaron and explained their problem and protested at being forbidden from offering their sacrifice to the Lord at the time he had appointed.

⁸ Moses said he would ask the Lord about it, ⁹ and this was God’s reply: ¹⁰ “If any of the people of Israel, now or in the generations to come, are defiled at Passover time because of touching a dead body, or if they are on a journey and cannot be present, they may still celebrate the Passover, but one month later, ¹¹ on May first,^[b] beginning in the evening. They are to eat the lamb at that time, with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. ¹² They must not leave any of it until the next morning, and must not break a bone of it, and must follow all the regular instructions concerning the Passover.

¹³ “But anyone who is not defiled, and anyone who is not away on a trip, and yet refuses to celebrate the Passover at the regular time, shall be excommunicated from the people of Israel for refusing to sacrifice to Jehovah at the proper time; he must bear his guilt. ¹⁴ And if a foreigner is living among you and wants to celebrate the Passover to the Lord, he shall follow all these same instructions. There is one law for all.”

¹⁵ On the day the Tabernacle was raised the Cloud covered it; and that evening the Cloud changed to the appearance of fire, and stayed that way throughout the night. ¹⁶ It was always so—the daytime Cloud changing to the appearance of fire at night. ¹⁷ When the Cloud lifted, the people of Israel moved on to wherever it stopped, and camped there. ¹⁸ In this way they journeyed at the command of the Lord and stopped where he told them to, then remained there as long as the Cloud stayed. ¹⁹ If it stayed a long time, then they stayed a long time. But if it stayed only a few days, then they remained only a few days; for so the Lord had instructed them. ^20-21 Sometimes the fire-cloud stayed only during the night and moved on the next morning. But day or night, when it moved, the people broke camp and followed. ²² If the Cloud stayed above the Tabernacle two days, a month, or a year, that is how long the people of Israel stayed; but as soon as it moved, they moved. ²³ So it was that they camped or traveled at the commandment of the Lord; and whatever the Lord told Moses they should do, they did.

10 ^1-2 Now the Lord said to Moses, “Make two trumpets of beaten silver to be used for summoning the people to assemble and for signaling the breaking of camp. ³ When both trumpets are blown, the people will know that they are to gather at the entrance of the Tabernacle. ⁴ But if only one is blown, then only the chiefs of the tribes of Israel shall come to you.

^5-7 “Different trumpet blasts will be necessary to distinguish between the summons to assemble and the signal to break camp and move onward.^[c] When the travel signal is blown, the tribes camped on the east side of the Tabernacle shall leave first; at the second signal, the tribes on the south shall go. ⁸ Only the priests are permitted to blow the trumpets. This is a permanent instruction to be followed from generation to generation.

⁹ “When you arrive in the Promised Land and go to war against your enemies, God will hear you and save you from your enemies when you sound the alarm with these trumpets. ¹⁰ Use the trumpets in times of gladness, too, blowing them at your annual festivals and at the beginning of each month to rejoice over your burnt offerings and peace offerings. And God will be reminded of his covenant with you. For I am Jehovah, your God.”

¹¹ The Cloud lifted from the Tabernacle on the twentieth day of the second month^[d] of the second year of Israel’s leaving Egypt; ¹² so the Israelites left the wilderness of Sinai, and followed the Cloud until it stopped in the wilderness of Paran. ¹³ This was their first journey after having received the Lord’s travel instructions to Moses.

¹⁴ At the head of the march was the tribe of Judah grouped behind its flag and led by Nahshon, the son of Amminadab. ¹⁵ Next came the tribe of Issachar, led by Nethanel, the son of Zuar, ¹⁶ and the tribe of Zebulun, led by Eliab, the son of Helon.

¹⁷ The Tabernacle was taken down and the men of the Gershon and Merari divisions of the tribe of Levi were next in the line of march, carrying the Tabernacle upon their shoulders. ¹⁸ Then came the flag of the camp of Reuben, with Elizur the son of Shedeur leading his people. ¹⁹ Next was the tribe of Simeon headed by Shelumiel, the son of Zurishaddai; ²⁰ and the tribe of Gad led by Eliasaph, the son of Deuel.

²¹ Next came the Kohathites carrying the items from the inner sanctuary. (The Tabernacle was already erected in its new location by the time they arrived.) ²² Next in line was the tribe of Ephraim behind its flag, led by Elishama, the son of Ammihud; ²³ and the tribe of Manasseh led by Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur; ²⁴ and the tribe of Benjamin, led by Abidan the son of Gideoni. ²⁵ Last of all were the tribes headed by the flag of the tribe of Dan under the leadership of Ahiezer, the son of Ammishaddai; ²⁶ the tribe of Asher, led by Pagiel, the son of Ochran; ²⁷ and the tribe of Naphtali, led by Ahira, the son of Enan. ²⁸ That was the order in which the tribes traveled.

²⁹ One day Moses said to his brother-in-law, Hobab (son of Reuel, the Midianite), “At last we are on our way to the Promised Land. Come with us and we will do you good; for the Lord has given wonderful promises to Israel!”

³⁰ But his brother-in-law replied, “No, I must return to my own land and kinfolk.”

³¹ “Stay with us,” Moses pleaded, “for you know the ways of the wilderness and will be a great help to us.^{[e] 32} If you come, you will share in all the good things the Lord does for us.”

³³ They traveled for three days after leaving Mount Sinai,^[f] with the Ark at the front of the column to choose a place for them to stop. ³⁴ It was daytime when they left, with the Cloud moving along ahead of them as they began their march. ³⁵ As the Ark was carried forward, Moses cried out, “Arise, O Lord, and scatter your enemies; let them flee before you.” ³⁶ And when the Ark was set down he said, “Return, O Lord, to the millions of Israel.”

11 The people were soon complaining about all their misfortunes, and the Lord heard them. His anger flared out against them because of their complaints, so the fire of the Lord began destroying those at the far end of the camp. ² They screamed to Moses for help, and when he prayed for them the fire stopped. ³ Ever after, the area was known as “The Place of Burning,”^[g] because the fire from the Lord burned among them there.

^4-5 Then the Egyptians who had come with them began to long for the good things of Egypt. This added to the discontent of the people of Israel and they wept, “Oh, for a few bites of meat! Oh, that we had some of the delicious fish we enjoyed so much in Egypt, and the wonderful cucumbers and melons, leeks, onions, and garlic! ⁶ But now our strength is gone, and day after day we have to face this manna!”

⁷ The manna was the size of small seeds, whitish yellow in color. ⁸ The people gathered it from the ground and pounded it into flour, then boiled it, and then made pancakes from it—they tasted like pancakes fried in vegetable oil.^{[h] 9} The manna fell with the dew during the night.

¹⁰ Moses heard all the families standing around their tent doors weeping, and the anger of the Lord grew hot; Moses too was highly displeased.

¹¹ Moses said to the Lord, “Why pick on me, to give me the burden of a people like this? ¹² Are they my children? Am I their father? Is that why you have given me the job of nursing them along like babies until we get to the land you promised their ancestors? ¹³ Where am I supposed to get meat for all these people? For they weep to me saying, ‘Give us meat!’ ¹⁴ I can’t carry this nation by myself! The load is far too heavy! ¹⁵ If you are going to treat me like this, please kill me right now; it will be a kindness! Let me out of this impossible situation!”

¹⁶ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Summon before me seventy of the leaders of Israel; bring them to the Tabernacle, to stand there with you. ¹⁷ I will come down and talk with you there, and I will take of the Spirit which is on you and will put it upon them also; they shall bear the burden of the people along with you, so that you will not have the task alone.

¹⁸ “And tell the people to purify themselves, for tomorrow they shall have meat to eat. Tell them, ‘The Lord has heard your tearful complaints about all you left behind in Egypt, and he is going to give you meat. You shall eat it, ^19-20 not for just a day or two, or five or ten or even twenty! For one whole month you will have meat until you vomit it from your noses; for you have rejected the Lord who is here among you, and you have wept for Egypt.’”

²¹ But Moses said, “There are 600,000 men alone besides all the women and children,^[i] and yet you promise them meat for a whole month! ²² If we butcher all our flocks and herds it won’t be enough! We would have to catch every fish in the ocean to fulfill your promise!”

²³ Then the Lord said to Moses, “When did I become weak? Now you shall see whether my word comes true or not!”

²⁴ So Moses left the Tabernacle and reported Jehovah’s words to the people; and he gathered the seventy elders and placed them around the Tabernacle. ²⁵ And the Lord came down in the Cloud and talked with Moses, and the Lord took of the Spirit that was upon Moses and put it upon the seventy elders; and when the Spirit rested upon them, they prophesied for some time.

²⁶ But two of the seventy—Eldad and Medad—were still in the camp, and when the Spirit rested upon them, they prophesied there. ²⁷ Some young men ran and told Moses what was happening, ²⁸ and Joshua (the son of Nun), one of Moses’ personally chosen assistants, protested, “Sir, make them stop!”

²⁹ But Moses replied, “Are you jealous for my sake? I only wish that all of the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his Spirit upon them all!” ³⁰ Then Moses returned to the camp with the elders of Israel.

³¹ The Lord sent a wind that brought quail from the sea and let them fall into the camp and all around it! As far as one could walk in a day in any direction, there were quail flying three or four feet above the ground.^{[j] 32} So the people caught and killed quail all that day and through the night and all the next day too! The least anyone gathered was 100 bushels! Quail were spread out all around^[k] the camp. ³³ But as everyone began eating the meat, the anger of the Lord rose against the people and he killed large numbers of them with a plague. ³⁴ So the name of that place was called, “The Place of the Graves Caused by Lust,”^[l] because they buried the people there who had lusted for meat and for Egypt. ³⁵ And from that place they journeyed to Hazeroth, where they stayed awhile.

12 One day Miriam and Aaron were criticizing Moses because his wife was a Cushite woman,^{[m] 2} and they said, “Has the Lord spoken only through Moses? Hasn’t he spoken through us, too?”

But the Lord heard them. ^3-4 Immediately he summoned Moses, Aaron, and Miriam to the Tabernacle: “Come here, you three,” he commanded. So they stood before the Lord. (Now Moses was the humblest man on earth.)

⁵ Then the Lord descended in the Cloud and stood at the entrance of the Tabernacle. “Aaron and Miriam, step forward,” he commanded; and they did. ⁶ And the Lord said to them, “Even with a prophet, I would communicate by visions and dreams; ^7-8 but that is not how I communicate with my servant Moses. He is completely at home in my house! With him I speak face-to-face! And he shall see the very form of God! Why then were you not afraid to criticize him?”

⁹ Then the anger of the Lord grew hot against them, and he departed. ¹⁰ As the Cloud moved from above the Tabernacle, Miriam suddenly became white with leprosy. When Aaron saw what had happened, ¹¹ he cried out to Moses, “Oh, sir, do not punish us for this sin; we were fools to do such a thing. ¹² Don’t let her be as one dead, whose body is half rotted away at birth.”

¹³ And Moses cried out to the Lord, “Heal her, O God, I beg you!”

¹⁴ And the Lord said to Moses, “If her father had but spit in her face she would be defiled seven days. Let her be banished from the camp for seven days, and after that she can come back again.”

¹⁵ So Miriam was excluded from the camp for seven days, and the people waited until she was brought back in before they traveled again. ¹⁶ Afterwards they left Hazeroth and camped in the wilderness of Paran.

13 Jehovah now instructed Moses, ² “Send spies into the land of Canaan—the land I am giving to Israel; send one leader from each tribe.”

^3-15 (The Israelis were camped in the wilderness of Paran at the time.) Moses did as the Lord had commanded and sent these twelve tribal leaders:

¹⁶ It was at this time that Moses changed Hoshea’s name to Joshua.^[o]

¹⁷ Moses sent them out with these instructions: “Go northward into the hill country of the Negeb, ¹⁸ and see what the land is like; see also what the people are like who live there, whether they are strong or weak, many or few; ¹⁹ and whether the land is fertile or not; and what cities there are, and whether they are villages or are fortified; ²⁰ whether the land is rich or poor, and whether there are many trees. Don’t be afraid, and bring back some samples of the crops you see.” (The first of the grapes were being harvested at that time.)

²¹ So they spied out the land all the way from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob near Hamath. ²² Going northward, they passed first through the Negeb and arrived at Hebron. There they saw the Ahimanites, Sheshites, and Talmites, all families descended from Anak. (By the way, Hebron was very ancient, having been founded seven years before Tanis^[p] in Egypt.) ²³ Then they came to what is now known as the valley of Eshcol where they cut down a single cluster of grapes so large that it took two of them to carry it on a pole between them! They also took some samples of the pomegranates and figs. ²⁴ The Israelis named the valley “Eshcol” at that time (meaning “Cluster”) because of the cluster of grapes they found!

²⁵ After forty days of exploration they returned from their tour. ²⁶ They made their report to Moses, Aaron, and all the people of Israel in the wilderness of Paran at Kadesh, and they showed the fruit they had brought with them.

²⁷ This was their report: “We arrived in the land you sent us to see, and it is indeed a magnificent country—a land ‘flowing with milk and honey.’ Here is some fruit we have brought as proof. ²⁸ But the people living there are powerful, and their cities are fortified and very large; and what’s more, we saw Anakim giants there! ²⁹ The Amalekites live in the south, while in the hill country there are the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites; down along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea and in the Jordan River Valley are the Canaanites.”

³⁰ But Caleb reassured the people as they stood before Moses. “Let us go up at once and possess it,” he said, “for we are well able to conquer it!”

³¹ “Not against people as strong as they are!” the other spies said. “They would crush us!”

³² So the majority report of the spies was negative: “The land is full of warriors, the people are powerfully built, ³³ and we saw some of the Anakim there, descendants of the ancient race of giants. We felt like grasshoppers before them, they were so tall!”

14 Then all the people began weeping aloud, and they carried on all night. ² Their voices rose in a great chorus of complaint against Moses and Aaron.

“We wish we had died in Egypt,” they wailed, “or even here in the wilderness, ³ rather than be taken into this country ahead of us. Jehovah will kill us there, and our wives and little ones will become slaves. Let’s get out of here and return to Egypt!” ⁴ The idea swept the camp. “Let’s elect a leader to take us back to Egypt!” they shouted.

⁵ Then Moses and Aaron fell face downward on the ground before the people of Israel. ⁶ Two of the spies, Joshua (the son of Nun), and Caleb (the son of Jephunneh), ripped their clothing ⁷ and said to all the people, “It is a wonderful country ahead, ⁸ and the Lord loves us. He will bring us safely into the land and give it to us. It is very fertile, a land ‘flowing with milk and honey’! ⁹ Oh, do not rebel against the Lord, and do not fear the people of the land. For they are but bread for us to eat! The Lord is with us and he has removed his protection from them! Don’t be afraid of them!”

^10-11 But the only response of the people was to talk of stoning them. Then the glory of the Lord appeared, and the Lord said to Moses, “How long will these people despise me? Will they never believe me, even after all the miracles I have done among them? ¹² I will disinherit them and destroy them with a plague, and I will make you into a nation far greater and mightier than they are!”

¹³ “But what will the Egyptians think when they hear about it?” Moses pleaded with the Lord. “They know full well the power you displayed in rescuing your people. ¹⁴ They have told this to the inhabitants of this land, who are well aware that you are with Israel and that you talk with her face-to-face. They see the pillar of cloud and fire standing above us, and they know that you lead and protect us day and night. ¹⁵ Now if you kill all your people, the nations that have heard your fame will say, ¹⁶ ‘The Lord had to kill them because he wasn’t able to take care of them in the wilderness. He wasn’t strong enough to bring them into the land he swore he would give them.’

^17-18 “Oh, please, show the great power of your patience^[q] by forgiving our sins and showing us your steadfast love. Forgive us, even though you have said that you don’t let sin go unpunished, and that you punish the father’s fault in the children to the third and fourth generation. ¹⁹ Oh, I plead with you, pardon the sins of this people because of your magnificent, steadfast love, just as you have forgiven them all the time from when we left Egypt until now.”

^20-21 Then the Lord said, “All right, I will pardon them as you have requested. But I vow by my own name that just as it is true that all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord, ²² so it is true that not one of the men who has seen my glory and the miracles I did both in Egypt and in the wilderness—and ten times refused to trust me and obey me— ²³ shall even see the land I promised to this people’s ancestors. ²⁴ But my servant Caleb is a different kind of man—he has obeyed me fully. I will bring him into the land he entered as a spy, and his descendants shall have their full share in it. ²⁵ But now, since the people of Israel are so afraid of the Amalekites and the Canaanites living in the valleys, tomorrow you must turn back into the wilderness in the direction of the Red Sea.”

^26-27 Then the Lord said to Moses and to Aaron, “How long will this wicked nation complain about me? For I have heard all that they have been saying. ²⁸ Tell them, ‘The Lord vows to do to you what you feared: ²⁹ You will all die here in this wilderness! Not a single one of you twenty years old and older, who has complained against me, ³⁰ shall enter the Promised Land. Only Caleb (son of Jephunneh) and Joshua (son of Nun) are permitted to enter it.

³¹ “‘You said your children would become slaves of the people of the land. Well, instead I will bring them safely into the land and they shall inherit what you have despised. ³² But as for you, your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness. ³³ You must wander in the desert like nomads for forty years. In this way you will pay for your faithlessness, until the last of you lies dead in the desert.

^34-35 “‘Since the spies were in the land for forty days, you must wander in the wilderness for forty years—a year for each day, bearing the burden of your sins. I will teach you what it means to reject me. I, Jehovah, have spoken. Every one of you who has conspired against me shall die here in this wilderness.’”

^36-38 Then the ten spies who had incited the rebellion against Jehovah by striking fear into the hearts of the people were struck dead before the Lord. Of all the spies, only Joshua and Caleb remained alive. ³⁹ What sorrow there was throughout the camp when Moses reported God’s words to the people!

⁴⁰ They were up early the next morning and started toward the Promised Land.

“Here we are!” they said. “We realize that we have sinned, but now we are ready to go on into the land the Lord has promised us.”

⁴¹ But Moses said, “It’s too late. Now you are disobeying the Lord’s orders to return to the wilderness. ⁴² Don’t go ahead with your plan or you will be crushed by your enemies, for the Lord is not with you. ⁴³ Don’t you remember? The Amalekites and the Canaanites are there! You have deserted the Lord, and now he will desert you.”

⁴⁴ But they went ahead into the hill country, despite the fact that neither the Ark nor Moses left the camp. ⁴⁵ Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in the hills came down and attacked them and chased them to Hormah.

15 ^1-2 The Lord told Moses to give these instructions to the people of Israel: “When your children finally live in the land I am going to give them, ^3-4 and they want to please the Lord with a burnt offering or any other offering by fire, their sacrifice must be an animal from their flocks of sheep and goats, or from their herds of cattle. Each sacrifice—whether an ordinary one, or a sacrifice to fulfill a vow, or a freewill offering, or a special sacrifice at any of the annual festivals—must be accompanied by a grain offering. If a lamb is being sacrificed, use three quarts of fine flour mixed with three pints of oil, ⁵ accompanied by three pints of wine for a drink offering.

⁶ “If the sacrifice is a ram, use six quarts of fine flour mixed with four pints of oil, ⁷ and four pints of wine for a drink offering. This will be a sacrifice that is a pleasing fragrance to the Lord.

^8-9 “If the sacrifice is a young bull, then the grain offering accompanying it must consist of nine quarts of fine flour mixed with three quarts of oil, ¹⁰ plus three quarts of wine for the drink offering. This shall be offered by fire as a pleasing fragrance to the Lord.

^11-12 “These are the instructions for what is to accompany each sacrificial bull, ram, lamb, or young goat. ^13-14 These instructions apply both to native-born Israelis and to foreigners living among you who want to please the Lord with sacrifices offered by fire; ^15-16 for there is the same law for all, native-born or foreigner, and this shall be true forever from generation to generation; all are the same before the Lord.^[r] Yes, one law for all!”

^17-18 The Lord also said to Moses at this time, “Instruct the people of Israel that when they arrive in the land that I am going to give them, ^19-21 they must present to the Lord a sample of each year’s new crops by making a loaf, using coarse flour from the first grain that is cut each year. This loaf must be waved back and forth before the altar in a gesture of offering to the Lord. It is an annual offering from your threshing floor and must be observed from generation to generation.

²² “If by mistake you or future generations fail to carry out all of these regulations that the Lord has given you over the years through Moses, ^23-24 then when the people realize their error, they must offer one young bull for a burnt offering. It will be a pleasant odor before the Lord, and must be offered along with the usual grain offering and drink offering, and one male goat for a sin offering. ²⁵ And the priest shall make atonement for all of the people of Israel and they shall be forgiven; for it was an error, and they have corrected it with their sacrifice made by fire before the Lord, and by their sin offering. ²⁶ All the people shall be forgiven, including the foreigners living among them, for the entire population is involved in such error and forgiveness.

²⁷ “If the error is made by a single individual, then he shall sacrifice a one-year-old female goat for a sin offering, ²⁸ and the priest shall make atonement for him before the Lord, and he shall be forgiven. ²⁹ This same law applies to individual foreigners who are living among you.

³⁰ “But anyone who deliberately makes the ‘mistake,’ whether he is a native Israeli or a foreigner, is blaspheming Jehovah, and shall be cut off from among his people. ³¹ For he has despised the commandment of the Lord and deliberately failed to obey his law; he must be executed^[s] and die in his sin.”

³² One day while the people of Israel were in the wilderness, one of them was caught gathering wood on the Sabbath day. ³³ He was arrested and taken before Moses and Aaron and the other judges.^{[t] 34} They jailed him until they could find out the Lord’s mind concerning him.

³⁵ Then the Lord said to Moses, “The man must die—all the people shall stone him to death outside the camp.”

³⁶ So they took him outside the camp and killed him as the Lord had commanded.

^37-38 The Lord said to Moses, “Tell the people of Israel to make tassels for the hems of their clothes (this is a permanent regulation from generation to generation) and to attach the tassels to their clothes with a blue cord. ³⁹ The purpose of this regulation is to remind you, whenever you notice the tassels, of the commandments of the Lord, and that you are to obey his laws instead of following your own desires and going your own ways, as you used to do in serving other gods. ⁴⁰ It will remind you to be holy to your God. ⁴¹ For I am Jehovah your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt; yes, I am the Lord, your God.”

16 One day Korah (son of Izhar, grandson of Kohath, and a descendant of Levi) conspired with Dathan and Abiram (the sons of Eliab) and On (the son of Peleth), all three from the tribe of Reuben, ² to incite a rebellion against Moses. Two hundred and fifty popular leaders, all members of the Assembly, were involved.

³ They went to Moses and Aaron and said, “We have had enough of your presumption; you are no better than anyone else; everyone in Israel has been chosen of the Lord, and he is with all of us. What right do you have to put yourselves forward, claiming that we must obey you, and acting as though you were greater than anyone else among all these people of the Lord?”

⁴ When Moses heard what they were saying he fell face downward to the ground. ⁵ Then he said to Korah and to those who were with him, “In the morning the Lord will show you who are his, and who is holy, and whom he has chosen as his priest. ^6-7 Do this: You, Korah, and all those with you, take censers tomorrow and light them, and put incense upon them before the Lord, and we will find out whom the Lord has chosen.^[u] You are the presumptuous ones, you sons of Levi.”

^8-9 Then Moses spoke again to Korah: “Does it seem a small thing to you that the God of Israel has chosen you from among all the people of Israel to be near to himself as you work in the Tabernacle of Jehovah, and to stand before the people to minister to them? ¹⁰ Is it nothing to you that he has given this task to only you Levites? And now are you demanding the priesthood also? ^11-12 That is what you are really after! That is why you are revolting against Jehovah. And what has Aaron done, that you are dissatisfied with him?” Then Moses summoned Dathan and Abiram (the sons of Eliab), but they refused to come.

¹³ “Is it a small thing,” they mimicked,^[v] “that you brought us out of lovely Egypt to kill us here in this terrible wilderness, and that now you want to make yourself our king? ¹⁴ What’s more, you haven’t brought us into the wonderful country you promised, nor given us fields and vineyards. Whom are you trying to fool? We refuse to come.”

¹⁵ Then Moses was very angry and said to the Lord, “Do not accept their sacrifices! I have never stolen so much as a donkey from them and have not hurt one of them.”

¹⁶ And Moses said to Korah, “Come here tomorrow before the Lord with all your friends; Aaron will be here too. ¹⁷ Be sure to bring your censers with incense on them; a censer for each man, 250 in all; and Aaron will also be here with his.”

¹⁸ So they did. They came with their censers and lit them and placed the incense on them, and stood at the entrance of the Tabernacle with Moses and Aaron. ¹⁹ Meanwhile, Korah had stirred up the entire nation against Moses and Aaron, and they all assembled to watch. Then the glory of Jehovah appeared to all the people, ²⁰ and Jehovah said to Moses and Aaron, ²¹ “Get away from these people so that I may instantly destroy them.”

²² But Moses and Aaron fell face downward to the ground before the Lord. “O God, the God of all mankind,” they pleaded, “must you be angry with all the people when one man sins?”

^23-24 And the Lord said to Moses, “Then tell the people to get away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.”

²⁵ So Moses rushed over to the tents of Dathan and Abiram, followed closely by the 250 Israeli leaders. ²⁶ “Quick!” he told the people, “get away from the tents of these wicked men, and don’t touch anything that belongs to them, lest you be included in their sins and be destroyed with them.^[w]”

²⁷ So all the people stood back from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. And Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the entrances of their tents with their wives and sons and little ones.

²⁸ And Moses said, “By this you shall know that Jehovah has sent me to do all these things that I have done—for I have not done them on my own. ²⁹ If these men die a natural death or from some ordinary accident or disease, then Jehovah has not sent me. ³⁰ But if the Lord does a miracle and the ground opens up and swallows them and everything that belongs to them, and they go down alive into Sheol, then you will know that these men have despised the Lord.”

³¹ He had hardly finished speaking the words when the ground suddenly split open beneath them, ³² and a great fissure swallowed them up, along with their tents and families and the friends who were standing with them, and everything they owned. ³³ So they went down alive into Sheol and the earth closed upon them, and they perished. ³⁴ All of the people of Israel fled at their screams, fearing that the earth would swallow them too. ³⁵ Then fire came from Jehovah and burned up the 250 men who were offering incense.

^36-37 And the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest to pull those censers from the fire; for they are holy, dedicated to the Lord. He must also scatter the burning incense ³⁸ from the censers of these men who have sinned at the cost of their lives. He shall then beat the metal into a sheet as a covering for the altar, for these censers are holy because they were used before the Lord; and the altar sheet shall be a reminder to the people of Israel.”

³⁹ So Eleazar the priest took the 250 bronze censers and beat them out into a sheet of metal to cover the altar, ⁴⁰ to be a reminder to the people of Israel that no unauthorized person—no one who is not a descendant of Aaron—may come before the Lord to burn incense, lest the same thing happen to him as happened to Korah and his associates. Thus the Lord’s directions to Moses were carried out.

⁴¹ But the very next morning all the people began muttering again against Moses and Aaron, saying, “You have killed the Lord’s people.”

⁴² Soon a great, sullen mob formed; suddenly, as they looked toward the Tabernacle, the Cloud appeared and the awesome glory of the Lord was seen. ^43-44 Moses and Aaron came and stood at the entrance of the Tabernacle, and the Lord said to Moses, ⁴⁵ “Get away from these people so that I can instantly destroy them.” But Moses and Aaron fell face downward to the earth before the Lord.

⁴⁶ And Moses said to Aaron, “Quick, take a censer and place fire in it from the altar; lay incense on it, and carry it quickly among the people and make atonement for them; for God’s anger has gone out among them—the plague has already begun.”

⁴⁷ Aaron did as Moses had told him to, and ran among the people, for the plague had indeed already begun; and he put on the incense and made atonement for them. ⁴⁸ And he stood between the living and the dead, and the plague was stopped, ⁴⁹ but not before 14,700 people had died (in addition to those who had died the previous day with Korah). ⁵⁰ Then Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance of the Tabernacle; and so the plague was stopped.

17 ^1-3 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Tell the people of Israel that each of their tribal chiefs is to bring you a wooden rod with his name inscribed upon it. Aaron’s name is to be on the rod of the tribe of Levi. ⁴ Put these rods in the inner room of the Tabernacle where I meet with you, in front of the Ark. ⁵ I will use these rods to identify the man I have chosen: for buds will grow on his rod! Then at last this murmuring and complaining against you will stop!”

⁶ So Moses gave the instructions to the people, and each of the twelve chiefs (including Aaron) brought him a rod. ⁷ He put them before the Lord in the inner room of the Tabernacle, ⁸ and when he went in the next day, he found that Aaron’s rod, representing the tribe of Levi, had budded and was blossoming, and had ripe almonds hanging from it!

⁹ When Moses brought them out to show the others, they stared in disbelief! Then each man except Aaron claimed his rod. ¹⁰ The Lord told Moses to place Aaron’s rod permanently beside the Ark as a reminder of this rebellion. He was to bring it out and show it to the people again^[x] if there were any further complaints about Aaron’s authority; this would ward off further catastrophe to the people. ¹¹ So Moses did as the Lord commanded him.

^12-13 But the people of Israel only grumbled the more. “We are as good as dead,” they whined. “Everyone who even comes close to the Tabernacle dies. Must we all perish?”

18 The Lord now spoke to Aaron: “You and your sons and your family are responsible for any desecration of the sanctuary,” he said, “and will be held liable for any impropriety in your priestly work.

^2-3 “Your kinsmen, the tribe of Levi, are your assistants; but only you and your sons may perform the sacred duties in the Tabernacle itself. The Levites must be careful not to touch any of the sacred articles or the altar, lest I destroy both them and you. ⁴ No one who is not a member of the tribe of Levi shall assist you in any way. ⁵ Remember, only the priests are to perform the sacred duties within the sanctuary and at the altar. If you follow these instructions, the wrath of God will never again fall upon any of the people of Israel for violating this law. ⁶ I say it again—your kinsmen the Levites are your assistants for the work of the Tabernacle. They are a gift to you from the Lord. ⁷ But you and your sons, the priests, shall personally handle all the sacred service, including the altar and all that is within the veil, for the priesthood is your special gift of service. Anyone else who attempts to perform these duties shall die.”

⁸ The Lord gave these further instructions to Aaron: “I have given the priests all the gifts which are brought to the Lord by the people; all these offerings presented to the Lord by the gesture of waving them before the altar belong to you and your sons, by permanent law. ⁹ The grain offerings, the sin offerings, and the guilt offerings are yours, except for the sample presented to the Lord by burning upon the altar. All these are most holy offerings. ¹⁰ They are to be eaten only in a most holy place, and only by males. ¹¹ All other gifts presented to me by the gesture of waving them before the altar are for you and your families, sons and daughters alike. For all the members of your families may eat these unless anyone is ceremonially impure at the time.

¹² “Yours also are the first-of-the-harvest gifts the people bring as offerings to the Lord—the best of the olive oil, wine, grain, ¹³ and every other crop. Your families may eat these unless they are ceremonially defiled at the time. ^14-15 So everything that is dedicated to the Lord shall be yours, including the firstborn sons of the people of Israel, and the firstborn of their animals. ¹⁶ However, you may never accept the firstborn sons, nor the firstborn of any animals that I do not permit for food. Instead, there must be a payment of two and a half dollars made for each firstborn child. It is to be brought when he is one month old.

¹⁷ “However, the firstborn of cows, sheep, or goats may not be bought back; they must be sacrificed to the Lord.^[y] Their blood is to be sprinkled upon the altar, and their fat shall be burned as a fire offering; it is very pleasant to the Lord. ¹⁸ The meat of these animals shall be yours, including the breast and right thigh that are presented to the Lord by the gesture of waving before the altar. ¹⁹ Yes, I have given to you all of these ‘wave offerings’ brought by the people of Israel to the Lord; they are for you and your families as food; this is a permanent contract^[z] between the Lord and you and your descendants.

²⁰ “You priests may own no property nor have any other income, for I am all that you need.

²¹ “As for the tribe of Levi, your relatives, they shall be paid for their service with the tithes from the entire land of Israel.

²² “From now on, Israelites other than the priests and Levites shall not enter the sanctuary lest they be judged guilty and die. ²³ Only the Levites shall do the work there, and they shall be guilty if they fail. This is a permanent law among you, that the Levites shall own no property in Israel, ²⁴ for the people’s tithes, offered to the Lord by the gesture of waving before the altar, shall belong to the Levites; these are their inheritance, and so they have no need for property.”

^25-26 The Lord also said to Moses, “Tell the Levites to give to the Lord a tenth of the tithes they receive—a tithe of the tithe, to be presented to the Lord by the gesture of waving before the altar. ²⁷ The Lord will consider this as your first-of-the-harvest offering to him of grain and wine, as though it were from your own property. ^28-29 This tithe of the tithe shall be selected from the choicest part of the tithes you receive as the Lord’s portion, and shall be given to Aaron the priest. ³⁰ It shall be credited to you just as though it were from your own threshing floor and winepress. ³¹ Aaron and his sons and their families may eat it in their homes or anywhere they wish, for it is their compensation for their service in the Tabernacle. ³² You Levites will not be held guilty for accepting the Lord’s tithes if you then give the best tenth to the priests. But beware that you do not treat the holy gifts of the people of Israel as though they were common, lest you die.”

19 ^1-3 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Here is another of my laws: Tell the people of Israel to bring you a red heifer without defect, one that has never been yoked. Give her to Eleazar the priest and he shall take her outside the camp and someone shall kill her as he watches. ⁴ Eleazar shall take some of her blood upon his finger and sprinkle it seven times toward the front of the Tabernacle. ⁵ Then someone shall burn the heifer as he watches—her hide, meat, blood, and dung. ⁶ Eleazar shall take cedar wood and hyssop branches and scarlet thread, and throw them into the burning pile.

⁷ “Then he must wash his clothes, and bathe, and afterwards return to the camp and be ceremonially defiled until the evening. ⁸ And the one who burns the animal must wash his clothes and bathe, and he too shall be defiled until evening. ⁹ Then someone who is not ceremonially defiled shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and place them in some purified place outside the camp, where they shall be kept for the people of Israel as a source of water for the purification ceremonies, for removal of sin. ¹⁰ And the one who gathers up the ashes of the heifer must wash his clothes and be defiled until evening; this is a permanent law for the benefit of the people of Israel and any foreigners living among them.

¹¹ “Anyone who touches a dead human body shall be defiled for seven days, ¹² and must purify himself the third and seventh days with water run through the ashes of the red heifer^[aa]; then he will be purified; but if he does not do this on the third day, he will continue to be defiled even after the seventh day. ¹³ Anyone who touches a dead person and does not purify himself in the manner specified has defiled the Tabernacle of the Lord, and shall be excommunicated from Israel. The cleansing water was not sprinkled upon him, so the defilement continues.

¹⁴ “When a man dies in a tent, these are the various regulations: Everyone who enters the tent, and those who are in it at the time, shall be defiled seven days. ¹⁵ Any container in the tent without a lid over it is defiled.

¹⁶ “If someone out in a field touches the corpse of someone who has been killed in battle or who has died in any other way, or if he even touches a bone or a grave, he shall be defiled seven days. ¹⁷ To become purified again, ashes from the red heifer sin offering^[ab] are to be added to spring water in a kettle. ¹⁸ Then a person who is not defiled shall take hyssop branches and dip them into the water and sprinkle the water upon the tent and upon all the pots and pans in the tent, and upon anyone who has been defiled by being in the tent, or by touching a bone, or touching someone who has been killed or is otherwise dead, or has touched a grave. ¹⁹ This shall take place on the third and seventh days; then the defiled person must wash his clothes and bathe himself, and that evening he will be out from under the defilement.

²⁰ “But anyone who is defiled and doesn’t purify himself shall be excommunicated, for he has defiled the sanctuary of the Lord, and the water to cleanse him has not been sprinkled upon him; so he remains defiled. ²¹ This is a permanent law. The man who sprinkles the water must afterwards wash his clothes; and anyone touching the water shall be defiled until evening. ²² And anything a defiled person touches shall be defiled until evening.”

20 The people of Israel arrived in the wilderness of Zin in April^[ac] and camped at Kadesh, where Miriam died and was buried. ² There was not enough water to drink at that place, so the people again rebelled against Moses and Aaron. A great mob formed, ³ and they held a protest meeting.

“Would that we too had died with our dear brothers the Lord killed!” they shouted at Moses. ⁴ “You have deliberately brought us into this wilderness to get rid of us, along with our flocks and herds. ⁵ Why did you ever make us leave Egypt and bring us here to this evil place? Where is the fertile land of wonderful crops—the figs, vines, and pomegranates you told us about? Why, there isn’t even water enough to drink!”

⁶ Moses and Aaron turned away and went to the entrance of the Tabernacle, where they fell face downward before the Lord; and the glory of Jehovah appeared to them.

⁷ And he said to Moses, ⁸ “Get Aaron’s rod;^[ad] then you and Aaron must summon the people. As they watch, speak to that rock over there and tell it to pour out its water! You will give them water from a rock, enough for all the people and all their cattle!”

⁹ So Moses did as instructed. He took the rod from the place where it was kept before the Lord; ¹⁰ then Moses and Aaron summoned the people to come and gather at the rock; and he said to them, “Listen, you rebels! Must we bring you water from this rock?”

¹¹ Then Moses lifted the rod and struck the rock twice, and water gushed out; and the people and their cattle drank.

¹² But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe me^[ae] and did not sanctify me in the eyes of the people of Israel, you shall not bring them into the land I have promised them!”

¹³ This place was named Meribah (meaning “Rebel Waters”), because it was where the people of Israel fought against Jehovah, and where he showed himself to be holy before them.

¹⁴ While Moses was at Kadesh he sent messengers to the king of Edom: “We are the descendants of your brother, Israel,”^[af] he declared. “You know our sad history, ¹⁵ how our ancestors went down to visit Egypt and stayed there so long, and became slaves of the Egyptians. ¹⁶ But when we cried to the Lord he heard us and sent an Angel who brought us out of Egypt, and now we are here at Kadesh, encamped on the borders of your land. ¹⁷ Please let us pass through your country. We will be careful not to go through your planted fields, nor through your vineyards; we won’t even drink water from your wells, but will stay on the main road and not leave it until we have crossed your border on the other side.”

¹⁸ But the king of Edom said, “Stay out! If you attempt to enter my land, I will meet you with an army!”

¹⁹ “But, sir,” protested the Israeli ambassadors, “we will stay on the main road and will not even drink your water unless we pay whatever you demand for it. We only want to pass through and nothing else.”

²⁰ But the king of Edom was adamant. “Stay out!” he warned, and, mobilizing his army, he marched to the frontier with a great force. ^21-22 Because Edom refused to allow Israel to pass through their country, Israel turned back and journeyed from Kadesh to Mount Hor.

²³ Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron at the border of the land of Edom, ²⁴ “The time has come for Aaron to die—for he shall not enter the land I have given the people of Israel, for the two of you rebelled against my instructions concerning the water at Meribah. ²⁵ Now take Aaron and his son Eleazar and lead them up onto Mount Hor. ²⁶ There you shall remove Aaron’s priestly garments from him and put them on Eleazar his son; and Aaron shall die there.”

²⁷ So Moses did as the Lord commanded him. The three^[ag] of them went up together into Mount Hor as all the people watched. ²⁸ When they reached the summit, Moses removed the priestly garments from Aaron and put them on his son Eleazar; and Aaron died on the top of the mountain. Moses and Eleazar returned, ²⁹ and when the people were informed of Aaron’s death, they mourned for him for thirty days.

21 When the king of Arad heard that the Israelis were approaching (for they were traveling the same route as the spies), he mobilized his army and attacked Israel, taking some of the men as prisoners. ² Then the people of Israel vowed to the Lord that if he would help them conquer the king of Arad and his people, they would completely annihilate all the cities of that area. ³ The Lord heeded their request and defeated the Canaanites; and the Israelis completely destroyed them and their cities. The name of the region was thereafter called Hormah (meaning “Utterly Destroyed”).

⁴ Then the people of Israel returned to Mount Hor, and from there continued southward along the road to the Red Sea in order to go around the land of Edom. The people were very discouraged; ⁵ they began to murmur against God and to complain against Moses. “Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die here in the wilderness?” they whined. “There is nothing to eat here, and nothing to drink, and we hate this insipid manna.”

⁶ So the Lord sent poisonous snakes among them to punish them, and many of them were bitten and died.

⁷ Then the people came to Moses and cried out, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against Jehovah and against you. Pray to him to take away the snakes.” So Moses prayed for the people.