Bible in 90 Days

¹⁵ “Make the Levites pure, and present them as an offering so that they may come to work at the Meeting Tent. ¹⁶ They will be given completely to me from the Israelites; I have taken them for myself instead of the firstborn of every Israelite woman. ¹⁷ All the firstborn in Israel—people or animals—are mine. When I killed all the firstborn in Egypt, I set the firstborn in Israel aside for myself. ¹⁸ But I have taken the Levites instead of all the firstborn in Israel. ¹⁹ From all the Israelites I have given the Levites to Aaron and his sons so that they may serve the Israelites at the Meeting Tent. They will help remove the Israelites’ sins so they will belong to the Lord and so that no disaster will strike the Israelites when they approach the Holy Place.”

²⁰ So Moses, Aaron, and all the Israelites obeyed and did with the Levites what the Lord commanded Moses. ²¹ The Levites made themselves clean and washed their clothes. Then Aaron presented them as an offering to the Lord. He also removed their sins so they would be pure. ²² After that, the Levites came to the Meeting Tent to work, and Aaron and his sons told them what to do. They did with the Levites what the Lord commanded Moses.

²³ The Lord said to Moses, ²⁴ “This command is for the Levites. Everyone twenty-five years old or older must come to the Meeting Tent, because they all have jobs to do there. ²⁵ At the age of fifty, they must retire from their jobs and not work again. ²⁶ They may help their fellow Levites with their work at the Meeting Tent, but they must not do the work themselves. This is the way you are to give the Levites their jobs.”

The Passover Is Celebrated

9 The Lord spoke to Moses in the Desert of Sinai in the first month of the second year after the Israelites left Egypt. He said, ² “Tell the Israelites to celebrate the Passover at the appointed time. ³ That appointed time is the fourteenth day of this month at twilight; they must obey all the rules about it.”

⁴ So Moses told the Israelites to celebrate the Passover, ⁵ and they did; it was in the Desert of Sinai at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month. The Israelites did everything just as the Lord commanded Moses.

⁶ But some of the people could not celebrate the Passover on that day because they were unclean from touching a dead body. So they went to Moses and Aaron that day and ⁷ said to Moses, “We are unclean because of touching a dead body. But why should we be kept from offering gifts to the Lord at this appointed time? Why can’t we join the other Israelites?”

⁸ Moses said to them, “Wait, and I will find out what the Lord says about you.”

⁹ Then the Lord said to Moses, ¹⁰ “Tell the Israelites this: ‘If you or your descendants become unclean because of a dead body, or if you are away on a trip during the Passover, you must still celebrate the Lord’s Passover. ¹¹ But celebrate it at twilight on the fourteenth day of the second month. Eat the lamb with bitter herbs and bread made without yeast. ¹² Don’t leave any of it until the next morning or break any of its bones. When you celebrate the Passover, follow all the rules. ¹³ Anyone who is clean and is not away on a trip but does not eat the Passover must be cut off from the people. That person did not give an offering to the Lord at the appointed time and must be punished for the sin.

¹⁴ “‘Foreigners among you may celebrate the Lord’s Passover, but they must follow all the rules. You must have the same rules for foreigners as you have for yourselves.’”

The Cloud Above the Tent

¹⁵ On the day the Holy Tent, the Tent of the Agreement, was set up, a cloud covered it. From dusk until dawn the cloud above the Tent looked like fire. ¹⁶ The cloud stayed above the Tent, and at night it looked like fire. ¹⁷ When the cloud moved from its place over the Tent, the Israelites moved, and wherever the cloud stopped, the Israelites camped. ¹⁸ So the Israelites moved at the Lord’s command, and they camped at his command. While the cloud stayed over the Tent, they remained camped. ¹⁹ Sometimes the cloud stayed over the Tent for a long time, but the Israelites obeyed the Lord and did not move. ²⁰ Sometimes the cloud was over it only a few days. At the Lord’s command the people camped, and at his command they moved. ²¹ Sometimes the cloud stayed only from dusk until dawn; when the cloud lifted the next morning, the people moved. When the cloud lifted, day or night, the people moved. ²² The cloud might stay over the Tent for two days, a month, or a year. As long as it stayed, the people camped, but when it lifted, they moved. ²³ At the Lord’s command the people camped, and at his command they moved. They obeyed the Lord’s order that he commanded through Moses.

The Silver Trumpets

10 The Lord said to Moses, ² “Make two trumpets of hammered silver, and use them to call the people together and to march out of camp. ³ When both trumpets are blown, the people should gather before you at the entrance to the Meeting Tent. ⁴ If you blow only one trumpet, the leaders, the heads of the family groups of Israel, should meet before you. ⁵ When you loudly blow the trumpets, the tribes camping on the east should move. ⁶ When you loudly blow them again, the tribes camping on the south should move; the loud sound will tell them to move. ⁷ When you want to gather the people, blow the trumpets, but don’t blow them as loudly.

⁸ “Aaron’s sons, the priests, should blow the trumpets. This is a law for you and your descendants from now on. ⁹ When you are fighting an enemy who attacks you in your own land, blow the trumpets loudly. The Lord your God will take notice of you and will save you from your enemies. ¹⁰ Also blow your trumpets at happy times and during your feasts and at New Moon festivals. Blow them over your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, because they will help you remember your God. I am the Lord your God.”

The Israelites Move Camp

¹¹ The cloud lifted from the Tent of the Agreement on the twentieth day of the second month of the second year. ¹² So the Israelites moved from the Desert of Sinai and continued until the cloud stopped in the Desert of Paran. ¹³ This was their first time to move, and they did it as the Lord had commanded Moses.

¹⁴ The divisions from the camp of Judah moved first under their flag. Nahshon son of Amminadab was the commander. ¹⁵ Nethanel son of Zuar was over the division of the tribe of Issachar. ¹⁶ Eliab son of Helon was over the division of the tribe of Zebulun. ¹⁷ Then the Holy Tent was taken down, and the Gershonites and Merarites, who carried it, moved next.

¹⁸ Then came the divisions from the camp of Reuben under their flag, and Elizur son of Shedeur was the commander. ¹⁹ Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai was over the division of the tribe of Simeon. ²⁰ Eliasaph son of Deuel was over the division of the tribe of Gad. ²¹ Then came the Kohathites, who carried the holy things; the Holy Tent was to be set up before they arrived.

²² Next came the divisions from the camp of Ephraim under their flag, and Elishama son of Ammihud was the commander. ²³ Gamaliel son of Pedahzur was over the division of the tribe of Manasseh, ²⁴ and Abidan son of Gideoni was over the division of the tribe of Benjamin.

²⁵ The last ones were the rear guard for all the tribes. These were the divisions from the camp of Dan under their flag, and Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai was the commander. ²⁶ Pagiel son of Ocran was over the division of the tribe of Asher; ²⁷ Ahira son of Enan was over the division of the tribe of Naphtali. ²⁸ This was the order the Israelite divisions marched in when they moved.

²⁹ Hobab was the son of Reuel the Midianite,^[a] who was Moses’ father-in-law. Moses said to Hobab, “We are moving to the land the Lord promised to give us. Come with us and we will be good to you, because the Lord has promised good things to Israel.”

³⁰ But Hobab answered, “No, I will not go. I will go back to my own land where I was born.”

³¹ But Moses said, “Please don’t leave us. You know where we can camp in the desert, and you can be our guide. ³² Come with us. We will share with you all the good things the Lord gives us.” ³³ So they left the mountain of the Lord and traveled for three days. The Ark of the Lord’s Agreement went in front of the people for those three days, as they looked for a place to camp. ³⁴ The Lord’s cloud was over them during the day when they left their camp.

³⁵ When the Ark left the camp, Moses said,

³⁶ And when the Ark was set down, Moses said,

Fire from the Lord

11 Now the people complained to the Lord about their troubles, and when he heard them, he became angry. Then fire from the Lord burned among the people at the edge of the camp. ² The people cried out to Moses, and when he prayed to the Lord, the fire stopped burning. ³ So that place was called Taberah,^[b] because the Lord’s fire had burned among them.

Seventy Elders Help Moses

⁴ Some troublemakers among them wanted better food, and soon all the Israelites began complaining. They said, “We want meat! ⁵ We remember the fish we ate for free in Egypt. We also had cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic. ⁶ But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!”

⁷ The manna was like small white seeds. ⁸ The people would go to gather it, and then grind it in handmills, or crush it between stones. After they cooked it in a pot or made cakes with it, it tasted like bread baked with olive oil. ⁹ When the dew fell on the camp each night, so did the manna.

¹⁰ Moses heard every family crying as they stood in the entrances of their tents. Then the Lord became very angry, and Moses got upset. ¹¹ He asked the Lord, “Why have you brought me, your servant, this trouble? What have I done wrong that you made me responsible for all these people? ¹² I am not the father of all these people, and I didn’t give birth to them. So why do you make me carry them to the land you promised to our ancestors? Must I carry them in my arms as a nurse carries a baby? ¹³ Where can I get meat for all these people? They keep crying to me, ‘We want meat!’ ¹⁴ I can’t take care of all these people alone. It is too much for me. ¹⁵ If you are going to continue doing this to me, then kill me now. If you care about me, put me to death, and then I won’t have any more troubles.”

¹⁶ The Lord said to Moses, “Bring me seventy of Israel’s elders, men that you know are leaders among the people. Bring them to the Meeting Tent, and have them stand there with you. ¹⁷ I will come down and speak with you there. I will take some of the Spirit that is in you, and I will give it to them. They will help you care for the people so that you will not have to care for them alone.

¹⁸ “Tell the people this: ‘Make yourselves holy for tomorrow, and you will eat meat. You cried to the Lord, “We want meat! We were better off in Egypt!” So now the Lord will give you meat to eat. ¹⁹ You will eat it not for just one, two, five, ten, or even twenty days, ²⁰ but you will eat that meat for a whole month. You will eat it until it comes out your nose, and you will grow to hate it. This is because you have rejected the Lord, who is with you. You have cried to him, saying, “Why did we ever leave Egypt?”’”

²¹ Moses said, “Lord, here are six hundred thousand people standing around me, and you say, ‘I will give them enough meat to eat for a month!’ ²² If we killed all the flocks and herds, that would not be enough. If we caught all the fish in the sea, that would not be enough.”

²³ But the Lord said to Moses, “Do you think I’m weak? Now you will see if I can do what I say.”

²⁴ So Moses went out to the people and told them what the Lord had said. He gathered seventy of the elders together and had them stand around the Tent. ²⁵ Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to Moses. The Lord took some of the Spirit Moses had, and he gave it to the seventy leaders. With the Spirit in them, they prophesied, but just that one time.

²⁶ Two men named Eldad and Medad were also listed as leaders, but they did not go to the Tent. They stayed in the camp, but the Spirit was also given to them, and they prophesied in the camp. ²⁷ A young man ran to Moses and said, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.”

²⁸ Joshua son of Nun said, “Moses, my master, stop them!” (Ever since he was a young boy, Joshua had been Moses’ assistant.)

²⁹ But Moses answered, “Are you jealous for me? I wish all the Lord’s people could prophesy. I wish the Lord would give his Spirit to all of them!” ³⁰ Then Moses and the leaders of Israel went back to the camp.

The Lord Sends Quail

³¹ The Lord sent a strong wind from the sea, and it blew quail into the area all around the camp. The quail were about three feet deep on the ground, and there were quail a day’s walk in any direction. ³² The people went out and gathered quail all that day, that night, and the next day. Everyone gathered at least sixty bushels, and they spread them around the camp. ³³ But the Lord became very angry, and he gave the people a terrible sickness that came while the meat was still in their mouths. ³⁴ So the people named that place Kibroth Hattaavah,^[c] because there they buried those who wanted other food.

³⁵ From Kibroth Hattaavah the people went to stay at Hazeroth.

Miriam and Aaron Speak Against Moses

12 Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife (he had married a Cushite). ² They said, “Is Moses the only one the Lord speaks through? Doesn’t he also speak through us?” And the Lord heard this.

³ (Now Moses was very humble. He was the least proud person on earth.)

⁴ So the Lord suddenly spoke to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam and said, “All three of you come to the Meeting Tent.” So they went. ⁵ The Lord came down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the entrance to the Tent. He called to Aaron and Miriam, and they both came near. ⁶ He said, “Listen to my words:

⁹ The Lord was very angry with them, and he left.

¹⁰ When the cloud lifted from the Tent and Aaron turned toward Miriam, she was as white as snow; she had a skin disease. ¹¹ Aaron said to Moses, “Please, my master, forgive us for our foolish sin. ¹² Don’t let her be like a baby who is born dead. (Sometimes a baby is born with half of its flesh eaten away.)”

¹³ So Moses cried out to the Lord, “God, please heal her!”

¹⁴ The Lord answered Moses, “If her father had spit in her face, she would have been shamed for seven days, so put her outside the camp for seven days. After that, she may come back.” ¹⁵ So Miriam was put outside of the camp for seven days, and the people did not move on until she came back.

¹⁶ After that, the people left Hazeroth and camped in the Desert of Paran.

The Spies Explore Canaan

13 The Lord said to Moses, ² “Send men to explore the land of Canaan, which I will give to the Israelites. Send one leader from each tribe.”

³ So Moses obeyed the Lord’s command and sent the Israelite leaders out from the Desert of Paran. ⁴ 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 Manasseh (a tribe of Joseph), 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 Moses sent to explore the land. (Moses gave Hoshea son of Nun the new name Joshua.)

¹⁷ Moses sent them to explore Canaan and said, “Go through southern Canaan and then into the mountains. ¹⁸ See what the land looks like. Are the people who live there strong or weak? Are there a few or many? ¹⁹ What kind of land do they live in? Is it good or bad? What about the towns they live in—are they open like camps, or do they have walls? ²⁰ What about the soil? Is it fertile or poor? Are there trees there? Try to bring back some of the fruit from that land.” (It was the season for the first grapes.)

²¹ So they went up and explored the land, from the Desert of Zin all the way to Rehob by Lebo Hamath. ²² They went through the southern area to Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the descendants of Anak lived. (The city of Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) ²³ In the Valley of Eshcol, they cut off a branch of a grapevine that had one bunch of grapes on it and carried that branch on a pole between two of them. They also got some pomegranates and figs. ²⁴ That place was called the Valley of Eshcol,^[d] because the Israelites cut off the bunch of grapes there. ²⁵ After forty days of exploring the land, the men returned to the camp.

²⁶ They came back to Moses and Aaron and all the Israelites at Kadesh, in the Desert of Paran. The men reported to them and showed everybody the fruit from the land. ²⁷ They told Moses, “We went to the land where you sent us, and it is a fertile land! Here is some of its fruit. ²⁸ But the people who live there are strong. Their cities are walled and very large. We even saw some Anakites there. ²⁹ The Amalekites live in the southern area; the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites live in the mountains; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan River.”

³⁰ Then Caleb told the people near Moses to be quiet, and he said, “We should certainly go up and take the land for ourselves. We can certainly do it.”

³¹ But the men who had gone with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” ³² And those men gave the Israelites a bad report about the land they explored, saying, “The land that we explored is too large to conquer. All the people we saw are very tall. ³³ We saw the Nephilim people there. (The Anakites come from the Nephilim people.) We felt like grasshoppers, and we looked like grasshoppers to them.”

The People Complain Again

14 That night all the people in the camp began crying loudly. ² All the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron, and all the people said to them, “We wish we had died in Egypt or in this desert. ³ Why is the Lord bringing us to this land to be killed with swords? Our wives and children will be taken away. We would be better off going back to Egypt.” ⁴ They said to each other, “Let’s choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”

⁵ Then Moses and Aaron bowed facedown in front of all the Israelites gathered there. ⁶ Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who had explored the land, tore their clothes. ⁷ They said to all of the Israelites, “The land we explored is very good. ⁸ If the Lord is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land and give us that fertile land. ⁹ Don’t turn against the Lord! Don’t be afraid of the people in that land! We will chew them up. They have no protection, but the Lord is with us. So don’t be afraid of them.”

¹⁰ Then all the people talked about killing them with stones. But the glory of the Lord appeared at the Meeting Tent to all the Israelites. ¹¹ The Lord said to Moses, “How long will these people ignore me? How long will they not believe me in spite of the miracles I have done among them? ¹² I will give them a terrible sickness and get rid of them. But I will make you into a great nation that will be stronger than they are.”

¹³ Then Moses said to the Lord, “The Egyptians will hear about it! You brought these people from there by your great power, ¹⁴ and the Egyptians will tell this to those who live in this land. They have already heard about you, Lord. They know that you are with your people and that you were seen face to face. They know that your cloud stays over your people and that you lead your people with that cloud during the day and with fire at night. ¹⁵ If you put these people to death all at once, the nations who have heard about your power will say, ¹⁶ ‘The Lord was not able to bring them into the land he promised them. So he killed them in the desert.’

¹⁷ “So show your strength now, Lord. Do what you said: ¹⁸ ‘The Lord doesn’t become angry quickly, but he has great love. He forgives sin and law breaking. But the Lord never forgets to punish guilty people. When parents sin, he will also punish their children, their grandchildren, their great-grandchildren, and their great-great-grandchildren.’ ¹⁹ By your great love, forgive these people’s sin, just as you have forgiven them from the time they left Egypt until now.”

²⁰ The Lord answered, “I have forgiven them as you asked. ²¹ But, as surely as I live and as surely as my glory fills the whole earth, I make this promise: ²² All these people saw my glory and the miracles I did in Egypt and in the desert, but they disobeyed me and tested me ten times. ²³ So not one of them will see the land I promised to their ancestors. No one who rejected me will see that land. ²⁴ But my servant Caleb thinks differently and follows me completely. So I will bring him into the land he has already seen, and his children will own that land. ²⁵ Since the Amalekites and the Canaanites are living in the valleys, leave tomorrow and follow the desert road toward the Red Sea.”

The Lord Punishes the People

²⁶ The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ²⁷ “How long will these evil people complain about me? I have heard the grumbling and complaining of these Israelites. ²⁸ So tell them, ‘This is what the Lord says. I heard what you said, and as surely as I live, I will do those very things to you: ²⁹ You will die in this desert. Every one of you who is twenty years old or older and who was counted with the people—all of you who complained against me—will die. ³⁰ Not one of you will enter the land where I promised you would live; only Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun will go in. ³¹ You said that your children would be taken away, but I will bring them into the land to enjoy what you refused. ³² As for you, you will die in this desert. ³³ Your children will be shepherds here for forty years. Because you were not loyal, they will suffer until you lie dead in the desert. ³⁴ For forty years you will suffer for your sins—a year for each of the forty days you explored the land. You will know me as your enemy.’ ³⁵ I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will certainly do these things to all these evil people who have come together against me. So they will all die here in this desert.”

³⁶ The men Moses had sent to explore the land had returned and spread complaints among all the people. They had given a bad report about the land. ³⁷ The men who gave a very bad report died; the Lord killed them with a terrible sickness. ³⁸ Only two of the men who explored the land did not die—Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh.

³⁹ When Moses told these things to all the Israelites, they were very sad. ⁴⁰ Early the next morning they started to go toward the top of the mountains, saying, “We have sinned. We will go where the Lord told us.”

⁴¹ But Moses said, “Why are you disobeying the Lord’s command? You will not win! ⁴² Don’t go, because the Lord is not with you and you will be beaten by your enemies. ⁴³ You will run into the Amalekites and Canaanites, who will kill you with swords. You have turned away from the Lord, so the Lord will not be with you.”

⁴⁴ But they were proud. They went toward the top of the mountains, but Moses and the Ark of the Agreement with the Lord did not leave the camp. ⁴⁵ The Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in those mountains came down and attacked the Israelites and beat them back all the way to Hormah.

Rules About Sacrifices

15 The Lord said to Moses, ² “Speak to the Israelites and say to them, ‘When you enter the land that I am giving you as a home, ³ give the Lord offerings made by fire. These may be from your herds or flocks, as a smell pleasing to the Lord. These may be burnt offerings or sacrifices for special promises, or as gifts to him, or as festival offerings. ⁴ The one who brings the offering shall also give the Lord a grain offering. It should be two quarts of fine flour mixed with one quart of olive oil. ⁵ Each time you offer a lamb as a burnt offering or sacrifice, also prepare a quart of wine as a drink offering.

⁶ “‘If you are giving a male sheep, also prepare a grain offering of four quarts of fine flour mixed with one and one-fourth quarts of olive oil. ⁷ Also prepare one and one-fourth quarts of wine as a drink offering. Its smell will be pleasing to the Lord.

⁸ “‘If you prepare a young bull as a burnt offering or sacrifice, whether it is for a special promise or a fellowship offering to the Lord, ⁹ bring a grain offering with the bull. It should be six quarts of fine flour mixed with two quarts of olive oil. ¹⁰ Also bring two quarts of wine as a drink offering. This offering is made by fire, and its smell will be pleasing to the Lord. ¹¹ Prepare each bull or male sheep, lamb or young goat this way. ¹² Do this for every one of the animals you bring.

¹³ “‘All citizens must do these things in this way, and the smell of their offerings by fire will be pleasing to the Lord. ¹⁴ From now on if foreigners who live among you want to make offerings by fire so the smell will be pleasing to the Lord, they must offer them the same way you do. ¹⁵ The law is the same for you and for foreigners, and it will be from now on; you and the foreigners are alike before the Lord. ¹⁶ The teachings and rules are the same for you and for the foreigners among you.’”

¹⁷ The Lord said to Moses, ¹⁸ “Tell the Israelites: ‘You are going to another land, where I am taking you. ¹⁹ When you eat the food there, offer part of it to the Lord. ²⁰ Offer a loaf of bread from the first of your grain, which will be your offering from the threshing floor. ²¹ From now on offer to the Lord the first part of your grain.

²² “‘Now what if you forget to obey any of these commands the Lord gave Moses? ²³ These are the Lord’s commands given to you through Moses, which began the day the Lord gave them to you and will continue from now on. ²⁴ If the people forget to obey one of these commands, all the people must offer a young bull as a burnt offering, a smell pleasing to the Lord. By law you must also give the grain offering and the drink offering with it, and you must bring a male goat as a sin offering.

²⁵ “‘The priest will remove that sin for all the Israelites so they will belong to the Lord. They are forgiven, because they didn’t know they were sinning. For the wrong they did they brought offerings to the Lord, an offering by fire and a sin offering. ²⁶ So all of the people of Israel and the foreigners living among them will be forgiven. No one meant to do wrong.

²⁷ “‘If just one person sins without meaning to, a year-old female goat must be brought for a sin offering. ²⁸ The priest will remove the sin of the person who sinned accidentally. He will remove it before the Lord, and the person will be forgiven. ²⁹ The same teaching is for everyone who sins accidentally—for those born Israelites and for foreigners living among you.

³⁰ “‘But anyone who sins on purpose is against the Lord and must be cut off from the people, whether it is someone born among you or a foreigner. ³¹ That person has turned against the Lord’s word and has not obeyed his commands. Such a person must surely be cut off from the others. He is guilty.’”

A Man Worked on the Sabbath

³² When the Israelites were still in the desert, they found a man gathering wood on the Sabbath day. ³³ Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron and all the people. ³⁴ They held the man under guard, because they did not know what to do with him. ³⁵ Then the Lord said to Moses, “The man must surely die. All the people must kill him by throwing stones at him outside the camp.” ³⁶ So all the people took him outside the camp and stoned him to death, as the Lord commanded Moses.

The Tassels

³⁷ The Lord said to Moses, ³⁸ “Speak to the Israelites and tell them this: ‘Tie several pieces of thread together and attach them to the corners of your clothes. Put a blue thread in each one of these tassels. Wear them from now on. ³⁹ You will have these tassels to look at to remind you of all the Lord’s commands. Then you will obey them and not be disloyal by following what your bodies and eyes want. ⁴⁰ Then you will remember to obey all my commands, and you will be God’s holy people. ⁴¹ I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord your God.’”

Korah, Dathan, Abiram, and On

16 Korah, Dathan, Abiram, and On turned against Moses. (Korah was the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi; Dathan and Abiram were brothers, the sons of Eliab; and On was the son of Peleth; Dathan, Abiram, and On were from the tribe of Reuben.) ² These men gathered two hundred fifty other Israelite men, well-known leaders chosen by the community, and challenged Moses. ³ They came as a group to speak to Moses and Aaron and said, “You have gone too far. All the people are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. So why do you put yourselves above all the people of the Lord?”

⁴ When Moses heard this, he bowed facedown. ⁵ Then he said to Korah and all his followers: “Tomorrow morning the Lord will show who belongs to him. He will bring the one who is holy near to him; he will bring to himself the person he chooses. ⁶ So Korah, you and all your followers do this: Get some pans for burning incense. ⁷ Tomorrow put fire and incense in them and take them before the Lord. He will choose the man who is holy. You Levites have gone too far.”

⁸ Moses also said to Korah, “Listen, you Levites. ⁹ The God of Israel has separated you from the rest of the Israelites. He brought you near to himself to do the work in the Lord’s Holy Tent and to stand before all the Israelites and serve them. Isn’t that enough? ¹⁰ He has brought you and all your fellow Levites near to himself, yet now you want to be priests. ¹¹ You and your followers have joined together against the Lord. Your complaint is not against Aaron.”

¹² Then Moses called Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, but they said, “We will not come! ¹³ You have brought us out of a fertile land to this desert to kill us, and now you want to order us around. ¹⁴ You haven’t brought us into a fertile land; you haven’t given us any land with fields and vineyards. Will you put out the eyes of these men? No! We will not come!”

¹⁵ Then Moses became very angry and said to the Lord, “Don’t accept their gifts. I have not taken anything from them, not even a donkey, and I have not done wrong to any of them.”

¹⁶ Then Moses said to Korah, “You and all your followers must stand before the Lord tomorrow. And Aaron will stand there with you and them. ¹⁷ Each of you must take your pan and put incense in it; present these two hundred fifty pans before the Lord. You and Aaron must also present your pans.” ¹⁸ So each man got his pan and put burning incense in it and stood with Moses and Aaron at the entrance to the Meeting Tent. ¹⁹ Korah gathered all his followers who were against Moses and Aaron, and they stood at the entrance to the Meeting Tent. Then the glory of the Lord appeared to everyone.

²⁰ The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ²¹ “Move away from these men so I can destroy them quickly.”

²² But Moses and Aaron bowed facedown and cried out, “God, you are the God over the spirits of all people. Please don’t be angry with this whole group. Only one man has really sinned.”

²³ Then the Lord said to Moses, ²⁴ “Tell everyone to move away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.”

²⁵ Moses stood and went to Dathan and Abiram; the elders of Israel followed him. ²⁶ Moses warned the people, “Move away from the tents of these evil men! Don’t touch anything of theirs, or you will be destroyed because of their sins.” ²⁷ So they moved away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram were standing outside their tents with their wives, children, and little babies.

²⁸ Then Moses said, “Now you will know that the Lord has sent me to do all these things; it was not my idea. ²⁹ If these men die a normal death—the way men usually die—then the Lord did not really send me. ³⁰ But if the Lord does something new, you will know they have insulted the Lord. The ground will open and swallow them. They will be buried alive and will go to the place of the dead, and everything that belongs to them will go with them.”

³¹ When Moses finished saying these things, the ground under the men split open. ³² The earth opened and swallowed them and all their families. All Korah’s men and everything they owned went down. ³³ They were buried alive, going to the place of the dead, and everything they owned went with them. Then the earth covered them. They died and were gone from the community. ³⁴ The people of Israel around them heard their screams and ran away, saying, “The earth will swallow us, too!”

³⁵ Then a fire came down from the Lord and destroyed the two hundred fifty men who had presented the incense.

³⁶ The Lord said to Moses, ³⁷ “Tell Eleazar son of Aaron, the priest, to take all the incense pans out of the fire. Have him scatter the coals a long distance away. But the incense pans are still holy. ³⁸ Take the pans of these men who sinned and lost their lives, and hammer them into flat sheets that will be used to cover the altar. They are holy, because they were presented to the Lord, and they will be a sign to the Israelites.”

³⁹ So Eleazar the priest gathered all the bronze pans that had been brought by the men who were burned up. He had the pans hammered into flat sheets to put on the altar, ⁴⁰ as the Lord had commanded him through Moses. These sheets were to remind the Israelites that only descendants of Aaron should burn incense before the Lord. Anyone else would die like Korah and his followers.

Aaron Saves the People

⁴¹ The next day all the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron and said, “You have killed the Lord’s people.”

⁴² When the people gathered to complain against Moses and Aaron, they turned toward the Meeting Tent, and the cloud covered it. The glory of the Lord appeared. ⁴³ Then Moses and Aaron went in front of the Meeting Tent.

⁴⁴ The Lord said to Moses, ⁴⁵ “Move away from these people so I can destroy them quickly.” So Moses and Aaron bowed facedown.

⁴⁶ Then Moses said to Aaron, “Get your pan, and put fire from the altar and incense in it. Hurry to the people and remove their sin. The Lord is angry with them; the sickness has already started.” ⁴⁷ So Aaron did as Moses said. He ran to the middle of the people, where the sickness had already started among them. So Aaron offered the incense to remove their sin. ⁴⁸ He stood between the dead and the living, and the sickness stopped there. ⁴⁹ But 14,700 people died from that sickness, in addition to those who died because of Korah. ⁵⁰ Then Aaron went back to Moses at the entrance to the Meeting Tent. The terrible sickness had been stopped.

Aaron’s Walking Stick Buds

17 The Lord said to Moses, ² “Speak to the people of Israel and get twelve walking sticks from them—one from the leader of each tribe. Write the name of each man on his stick, and ³ on the stick from Levi, write Aaron’s name. There must be one stick for the head of each tribe. ⁴ Put them in the Meeting Tent in front of the Ark of the Agreement, where I meet with you. ⁵ I will choose one man whose walking stick will begin to grow leaves; in this way I will stop the Israelites from always complaining against you.”

⁶ So Moses spoke to the Israelites. Each of the twelve leaders gave him a walking stick—one from each tribe—and Aaron’s walking stick was among them. ⁷ Moses put them before the Lord in the Tent of the Agreement.

⁸ The next day, when Moses entered the Tent, he saw that Aaron’s stick (which stood for the family of Levi) had grown leaves. It had even budded, blossomed, and produced almonds. ⁹ So Moses brought out to the Israelites all the walking sticks from the Lord’s presence. They all looked, and each man took back his stick.

¹⁰ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Put Aaron’s walking stick back in front of the Ark of the Agreement. It will remind these people who are always turning against me to stop their complaining against me so they won’t die.” ¹¹ So Moses obeyed what the Lord commanded him.

¹² The people of Israel said to Moses, “We are going to die! We are destroyed. We are all destroyed! ¹³ Anyone who even comes near the Holy Tent of the Lord will die. Will we all die?”

The Work of the Priests and Levites

18 The Lord said to Aaron, “You, your sons, and your family are now responsible for any wrongs done against the Holy Place; you and your sons are responsible for any wrongs done against the priests. ² Bring with you your fellow Levites from your tribe, and they will help you and your sons serve in the Tent of the Agreement. ³ They are under your control, to do all the work that needs to be done in the Tent. But they must not go near the things in the Holy Place or near the altar. If they do, both you and they will die. ⁴ They will join you in taking care of the Meeting Tent. They must do the work at the Tent, and no one else may come near you.

⁵ “You must take care of the Holy Place and the altar so that I won’t become angry with the Israelites again. ⁶ I myself chose your fellow Levites from among the Israelites as a gift given for you to the Lord, to work at the Meeting Tent. ⁷ But only you and your sons may serve as priests. Only you may serve at the altar or go behind the curtain. I am giving you this gift of serving as a priest, and anyone else who comes near the Holy Place will be put to death.”

⁸ Then the Lord said to Aaron, “I myself make you responsible for the offerings given to me. All the holy offerings that the Israelites give to me, I give to you and your sons as your share, your continual portion. ⁹ Your share of the holy offerings is that part which is not burned. When the people bring me gifts as most holy offerings, whether they are grain or sin or penalty offerings, they will be set apart for you and your sons. ¹⁰ You must eat the offering in a most holy place. Any male may eat it, but you must respect it as holy.

¹¹ “I also give you the offerings the Israelites present to me. I give these to you and your sons and daughters as your continual share. Anyone in your family who is clean may eat it.

¹² “And I give you all the best olive oil and all the best new wine and grain. This is what the Israelites give to me, the Lord, from the first crops they harvest. ¹³ When they bring to the Lord all the first things they harvest, they will be yours. Anyone in your family who is clean may eat these things.

¹⁴ “Everything in Israel that is given to the Lord is yours. ¹⁵ The first one born to any family, whether people or animals, will be offered to the Lord. And that will be yours. But you must make a payment for every firstborn child and every firstborn animal that is unclean. ¹⁶ When they are one month old, you must make a payment for them of two ounces of silver, as set by the Holy Place measure.

¹⁷ “But you must not make a payment for the firstborn ox or sheep or goat. Those animals are holy. Sprinkle their blood on the altar and burn their fat as an offering made by fire. The smell is pleasing to the Lord. ¹⁸ But the meat will be yours, just as the breast that is presented and the right thigh will be yours. ¹⁹ Anything the Israelites present as holy gifts I, the Lord, give to you, your sons and daughters as your continual portion. This is a lasting agreement of salt^[e] before the Lord for you and your children forever.”

²⁰ The Lord also said to Aaron, “You will not inherit any of the land, and you will not own any land among the other people. I will be yours. Out of all the Israelites, only you will inherit me.

²¹ “When the people of Israel give me a tenth of what they make, I will give that tenth to the Levites. This is their payment for the work they do serving at the Meeting Tent. ²² But the other Israelites must never go near the Meeting Tent, or they will die for their sin. ²³ Only the Levites should work in the Meeting Tent and be responsible for any sins against it. This is a rule from now on. The Levites will not inherit any land among the other Israelites, ²⁴ but when the Israelites give a tenth of everything they make to me, I will give that tenth to the Levites as a reward. That is why I said about the Levites: ‘They will not inherit any land among the Israelites.’”

²⁵ The Lord said to Moses, ²⁶ “Speak to the Levites and tell them: ‘You will receive a tenth of everything the Israelites make, which I will give to you. But you must give a tenth of that back to the Lord. ²⁷ I will accept your offering just as much as I accept the offerings from others, who give new grain or new wine. ²⁸ In this way you will present an offering to the Lord as the other Israelites do. When you receive a tenth from the Israelites, you will give a tenth of that to Aaron, the priest, as the Lord’s share. ²⁹ Choose the best and holiest part from what you are given as the portion you must give to the Lord.’

³⁰ “Say to the Levites: ‘When you present the best, it will be accepted as much as the grain and wine from the other people. ³¹ You and your families may eat all that is left anywhere, because it is your pay for your work in the Meeting Tent. ³² And if you always give the best part to the Lord, you will never be guilty. If you do not sin against the holy offerings of the Israelites, you will not die.’”

The Offering for Cleansing

19 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ² “These are the teachings that the Lord commanded. Tell the Israelites to get a young red cow that does not have anything wrong with it and that has never been worked. ³ Give the cow to Eleazar the priest; he will take it outside the camp and kill it. ⁴ Then Eleazar the priest must put some of its blood on his finger and sprinkle it seven times toward the front of the Meeting Tent. ⁵ The whole cow must be burned while he watches; the skin, the meat, the blood, and the intestines must all be burned. ⁶ Then the priest must take a cedar stick, a hyssop branch, and a red string and throw them onto the burning cow. ⁷ After the priest has washed himself and his clothes with water, he may come back into the camp, but he will be unclean until evening. ⁸ The man who burns the cow must wash himself and his clothes in water; he will be unclean until evening.

⁹ “Then someone who is clean will collect the ashes from the cow and put them in a clean place outside the camp. The Israelites will keep these ashes to use in the cleansing water, in a special ceremony to cleanse away sin. ¹⁰ The man who collected the cow’s ashes must wash his clothes and be unclean until evening. This is a lasting rule for the Israelites and for the foreigners among them.

¹¹ “Those who touch a dead person’s body will be unclean for seven days. ¹² They must wash themselves with the cleansing water on the third day and on the seventh day; then they will be clean. But if they do not wash themselves on the third day and the seventh day, they cannot be clean. ¹³ If those who touch a dead person’s body stay unclean and go to the Lord’s Holy Tent, it becomes unclean; they must be cut off from Israel. If the cleansing water is not sprinkled on them, they are unclean and will stay unclean.

¹⁴ “This is the teaching about someone who dies in a tent: Anyone in the tent or anyone who enters it will be unclean for seven days. ¹⁵ And every open jar or pot without a cover becomes unclean. ¹⁶ If anyone is outside and touches someone who was killed by a sword or who died a natural death, or if anyone touches a human bone or a grave, that person will be unclean for seven days.

¹⁷ “So you must use the ashes from the burnt offering to make that person clean again. Pour fresh water over the ashes into a jar. ¹⁸ A clean person must take a hyssop branch and dip it into the water, and then he must sprinkle it over the tent and all its objects. He must also sprinkle the people who were there, as well as anyone who touched a bone, or the body of someone who was killed, or a dead person, or a grave. ¹⁹ The person who is clean must sprinkle this water on the unclean people on the third day and on the seventh day. On the seventh day they will become clean. They must wash their clothes and take a bath, and they will be clean that evening. ²⁰ If any who are unclean do not become clean, they must be cut off from the community. Since they were not sprinkled with the cleansing water, they stay unclean, and they could make the Lord’s Holy Tent unclean. ²¹ This is a lasting rule. Those who sprinkle the cleansing water must also wash their clothes, and anyone who touches the water will be unclean until evening. ²² Anything an unclean person touches becomes unclean, and whoever touches it will be unclean until evening.”

Moses Disobeys God

20 In the first month all the people of Israel arrived at the Desert of Zin, and they stayed at Kadesh. There Miriam died and was buried. ² There was no water for the people, so they came together against Moses and Aaron. ³ They argued with Moses and said, “We should have died in front of the Lord as our brothers did. ⁴ Why did you bring the Lord’s people into this desert? Are we and our animals to die here? ⁵ Why did you bring us from Egypt to this terrible place? It has no grain, figs, grapevines, or pomegranates, and there’s no water to drink!”

⁶ So Moses and Aaron left the people and went to the entrance of the Meeting Tent. There they bowed facedown, and the glory of the Lord appeared to them. ⁷ The Lord said to Moses, ⁸ “Take your walking stick, and you and your brother Aaron should gather the people. Speak to that rock in front of them so that its water will flow from it. When you bring the water out from that rock, give it to the people and their animals.”

⁹ So Moses took the stick from in front of the Lord, as he had said. ¹⁰ Moses and Aaron gathered the people in front of the rock, and Moses said, “Now listen to me, you who turn against God! Do you want us to bring water out of this rock?” ¹¹ Then Moses lifted his hand and hit the rock twice with his stick. Water began pouring out, and the people and their animals drank it.

¹² But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe me, and because you did not honor me as holy before the people, you will not lead them into the land I will give them.”

¹³ These are the waters of Meribah,^[f] where the Israelites argued with the Lord and where he showed them he was holy.

Edom Will Not Let Israel Pass

¹⁴ From Kadesh, Moses sent messengers to the king of Edom. He said, “Your brothers, the Israelites, say to you: You know about all the troubles we have had, ¹⁵ how our ancestors went down into Egypt and we lived there for many years. The people of Egypt were cruel to us and our ancestors, ¹⁶ but when we cried out to the Lord, he heard us and sent us an angel to bring us out of Egypt.

“Now we are here at Kadesh, a town on the edge of your land. ¹⁷ Please let us pass through your country. We will not touch any fields of grain or vineyards, and will not drink water from the wells. We will travel only along the king’s road, not turning right or left until we have passed through your country.”

¹⁸ But the king of Edom answered: “You may not pass through here. If you try, I will come and meet you with swords.”

¹⁹ The Israelites answered: “We will go along the main road, and if we or our animals drink any of your water, we will pay for it. We only want to walk through. That’s all.”

²⁰ But he answered: “You may not pass through here.”

Then the Edomites went out to meet the Israelites with a large and powerful army. ²¹ The Edomites refused to let them pass through their country, so the Israelites turned back.

Aaron Dies

²² All the Israelites moved from Kadesh to Mount Hor, ²³ near the border of Edom. There the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ²⁴ “Aaron will die. He will not enter the land that I’m giving to the Israelites, because you both acted against my command at the waters of Meribah. ²⁵ Take Aaron and his son Eleazar up on Mount Hor, ²⁶ and take off Aaron’s special clothes and put them on his son Eleazar. Aaron will die there; he will join his ancestors.”

²⁷ Moses obeyed the Lord’s command. They climbed up Mount Hor, and all the people saw them go. ²⁸ Moses took off Aaron’s clothes and put them on Aaron’s son Eleazar. Then Aaron died there on top of the mountain. Moses and Eleazar came back down the mountain, ²⁹ and when all the people learned that Aaron was dead, everyone in Israel cried for him for thirty days.

War with the Canaanites

21 The Canaanite king of Arad lived in the southern area. When he heard that the Israelites were coming on the road to Atharim, he attacked them and captured some of them. ² Then the Israelites made this promise to the Lord: “If you will help us defeat these people, we will completely destroy their cities.” ³ The Lord listened to the Israelites, and he let them defeat the Canaanites. The Israelites completely destroyed the Canaanites and their cities, so the place was named Hormah.^[g]

The Bronze Snake

⁴ The Israelites left Mount Hor and went on the road toward the Red Sea, in order to go around the country of Edom. But the people became impatient on the way ⁵ and grumbled at God and Moses. They said, “Why did you bring us out of Egypt to die in this desert? There is no bread and no water, and we hate this terrible food!”

⁶ So the Lord sent them poisonous snakes; they bit the people, and many of the Israelites died. ⁷ The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we grumbled at you and the Lord. Pray that the Lord will take away these snakes.” So Moses prayed for the people.