1

1 Israel’s First Census And the Lord spoke to Moses in the Wilderness of Sinai in the tent of meeting on the first day of the second month in the second year after they went out from the land of Egypt, saying:

2 Take the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel, after their families, by the house of their fathers, with the number of their names, every male by their polls,

3 from twenty years old and upward, all who are able to go out to war in Israel. You and Aaron will number them by their armies.

4 With you there will be a man of every tribe, each one the head of his father’s house.

5 These are the names of the men who will stand with you: of the tribe of Reuben, Elizur the son of Shedeur;

6 of Simeon, Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai;

7 of Judah, Nahshon the son of Amminadab;

8 of Issachar, Nethanel the son of Zuar;

9 of Zebulun, Eliab the son of Helon;

10 of the children of Joseph: of Ephraim, Elishama the son of Ammihud; of Manasseh, Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur;

11 of Benjamin, Abidan the son of Gideoni;

12 of Dan, Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai;

13 of Asher, Pagiel the son of Okran;

14 of Gad, Eliasaph the son of Deuel;

15 of Naphtali, Ahira the son of Enan.

16 These were the renowned of the congregation, leaders of the tribes of their fathers, heads of thousands in Israel.

17 Moses and Aaron took these men who had been mentioned by name,

18 and they assembled all the congregation on the first day of the second month, and they declared their pedigrees according to their families, by the house of their fathers, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, by their polls.

19 As the Lord commanded Moses, so he numbered them in the Wilderness of Sinai.

20 The children of Reuben, the oldest son of Israel, by their generations, after their families, by the house of their fathers, according to the number of the names, by their polls, every male from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go out to war,

21 those who were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Reuben, were forty-six thousand five hundred.

22 Of the children of Simeon, by their generations, after their families, by the house of their fathers, those who were numbered of them, according to the number of the names, by their polls, every male from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go out to war,

23 those who were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Simeon, were fifty-nine thousand three hundred.

24 Of the children of Gad, by their generations, after their families, by the house of their fathers, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go out to war,

25 those who were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Gad, were forty-five thousand six hundred and fifty.

26 Of the children of Judah, by their generations, after their families, by the house of their fathers, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go out to war,

27 those who were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Judah, were seventy-four thousand six hundred.

28 Of the children of Issachar, by their generations, after their families, by the house of their fathers, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go out to war,

29 those who were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Issachar, were fifty-four thousand four hundred.

30 Of the children of Zebulun, by their generations, after their families, by the house of their fathers, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go out to war,

31 those who were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Zebulun, were fifty-seven thousand four hundred.

32 Of the children of Joseph, namely, of the children of Ephraim, by their generations, after their families, by the house of their fathers, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go out to war,

33 those who were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Ephraim, were forty thousand five hundred.

34 Of the children of Manasseh, by their generations, after their families, by the house of their fathers, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go out to war,

35 those who were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Manasseh, were thirty-two thousand two hundred.

36 Of the children of Benjamin, by their generations, after their families, by the house of their fathers, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go out to war,

37 those who were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Benjamin, were thirty-five thousand four hundred.

38 Of the children of Dan, by their generations, after their families, by the house of their fathers, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go out to war,

39 those who were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Dan, were sixty-two thousand seven hundred.

40 Of the children of Asher, by their generations, after their families, by the house of their fathers, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go out to war,

41 those who were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Asher, were forty-one thousand five hundred.

42 Of the children of Naphtali, by their generations, after their families, by the house of their fathers, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go out to war,

43 those who were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Naphtali, were fifty-three thousand four hundred.

44 These are those who were numbered, which Moses and Aaron numbered, and the leaders of Israel, being twelve men. Each one was for the house of his fathers.

45 So were all those who were numbered of the children of Israel, by the house of their fathers, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go out to war in Israel.

46 Even all they who were numbered were six hundred and three thousand five hundred and fifty.

47 But the Levites after the tribe of their fathers were not numbered among them.

48 For the Lord had spoken to Moses, saying:

49 Only you will not number the tribe of Levi, nor take the census of them among the children of Israel,

50 but you will appoint the Levites over the tent of the testimony, and over all its vessels, and over all things that belong to it. They will carry the tabernacle, and all its vessels, and they will minister to it, and will camp around the tabernacle.

51 When the tabernacle sets out, the Levites will take it down, and when the tabernacle is to be set up, the Levites will set it up, and the foreigner that approaches will be put to death.

52 The children of Israel will pitch their tents, every man by his own camp, and every man by his own standard, throughout their armies.

53 But the Levites will camp around the tabernacle of the testimony, so there will be no wrath on the congregation of the children of Israel. And the Levites will keep the charge of the tabernacle of the testimony.

54 Thus the children of Israel did according to all that the Lord commanded Moses.

2

1 Tribes and Leaders by Armies And the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying:

2 Every man of the children of Israel will camp by his own standard, with the ensign of his father’s house. Facing the tent of meeting they will camp.

3 On the east side toward the rising of the sun the standard of the camp of Judah will camp throughout their armies, and Nahshon the son of Amminadab will be captain of the children of Judah.

4 His host, and those who were numbered of them, were seventy-four thousand six hundred.

5 Those who camp next to him will be the tribe of Issachar, and Nethanel the son of Zuar will be captain of the children of Issachar.

6 His host, and those who were numbered of them, were fifty-four thousand four hundred.

7 Then comes the tribe of Zebulun, and Eliab the son of Helon will be captain of the children of Zebulun.

8 His host, and those who were numbered of them, were fifty-seven thousand four hundred.

9 All who were numbered throughout the armies in the camp of Judah were one hundred and eighty-six thousand four hundred. They will march out first.

10 On the south side will be the standard of the camp of Reuben according to their armies, and the captain of the children of Reuben will be Elizur the son of Shedeur.

11 His host, and those who were numbered of them, were forty-six thousand five hundred.

12 Those who camp by him will be the tribe of Simeon, and the captain of the children of Simeon will be Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai.

13 His host, and those who were numbered of them, were fifty-nine thousand three hundred.

14 Then comes the tribe of Gad, and the captain of the sons of Gad will be Eliasaph the son of Reuel.

15 His host, and those who were numbered of them, were forty-five thousand six hundred and fifty.

16 All who were numbered in the camp of Reuben were one hundred and fifty-one thousand four hundred and fifty, throughout their armies. And they will set out in the second rank.

17 Then the tent of meeting will set out with the camp of the Levites in the middle of the camp. As they camp, so they will set out, every man in his place by their standards.

18 On the west side will be the standard of the camp of Ephraim according to their armies, and the captain of the sons of Ephraim will be Elishama the son of Ammihud.

19 His host, and those who were numbered of them, were forty thousand five hundred.

20 By him will be the tribe of Manasseh, and the captain of the children of Manasseh will be Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur.

21 His host, and those who were numbered of them, were thirty-two thousand two hundred.

22 Then comes the tribe of Benjamin, and the captain of the sons of Benjamin will be Abidan the son of Gideoni.

23 His host, and those who were numbered of them, were thirty-five thousand four hundred.

24 All who were numbered of the camp of Ephraim were one hundred and eight thousand one hundred, throughout their armies. And they will go out in the third rank.

25 The standard of the camp of Dan will be on the north side by their armies, and the captain of the children of Dan will be Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai.

26 His host, and those who were numbered of them, were sixty-two thousand seven hundred.

27 Those who camp by him will be the tribe of Asher, and the captain of the children of Asher will be Pagiel the son of Okran.

28 His host, and those who were numbered of them, were forty-one thousand five hundred.

29 Then the tribe of Naphtali, and the captain of the children of Naphtali will be Ahira the son of Enan.

30 His host, and those who were numbered of them, were fifty-three thousand four hundred.

31 All they who were numbered in the camp of Dan were one hundred and fifty-seven thousand six hundred. They will set out in the back with their standards.

32 These are those who were numbered of the children of Israel by the house of their fathers. All those who were numbered of the camps throughout their hosts were six hundred and three thousand five hundred and fifty.

33 But the Levites were not numbered among the children of Israel, as the Lord commanded Moses.

34 The children of Israel did according to all that the Lord commanded Moses. So they camped by their standards, and so they set out, each one after his family, according to their fathers’ houses.

3

1 The Sons of Aaron These also are the generations of Aaron and Moses in the day that the Lord spoke with Moses in Mount Sinai.

2 These are the names of the sons of Aaron: Nadab the firstborn, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.

3 These are the names of the sons of Aaron, the priests who were anointed, whom he consecrated to minister as priests.

4 Nadab and Abihu died before the Lord when they brought strange fire before the Lord in the Wilderness of Sinai, and they had no children, and Eleazar and Ithamar ministered as priests in the sight of Aaron their father.

5 Duties of the Levites The Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

6 Bring the tribe of Levi near, and present them before Aaron the priest, and they will minister to him.

7 They will keep his directives, and serve the whole congregation before the tent of meeting, to do the service of the tabernacle.

8 They will keep all the instruments of the tent of meeting, and attend to the needs of the children of Israel, to do the service of the tabernacle.

9 You will give the Levites to Aaron and to his sons. They are wholly given to him from the children of Israel.

10 You will appoint Aaron and his sons, and they will attend to their priesthood, and the foreigner that approaches will be put to death.

11 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

12 I Myself have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead of all the firstborn that open the womb among the children of Israel. Therefore the Levites will be Mine

13 because all the firstborn are Mine, for on the day that I struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I set apart to Me all the firstborn in Israel, both man and beast. They will be Mine. I am the Lord.

14 A Census of the Levites The Lord spoke to Moses in the Wilderness of Sinai, saying:

15 Number the children of Levi after the house of their fathers, by their families. You will number every male from a month old and older.

16 Moses numbered them according to the word of the Lord, as he was commanded.

17 These were the sons of Levi by their names: Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari.

18 These are the names of the sons of Gershon by their families: Libni and Shimei;

19 the sons of Kohath by their families: Amram, and Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel;

20 the sons of Merari by their families: Mahli and Mushi. These are the families of the Levites according to the house of their fathers.

21 From Gershon was the family of the Libnites and the family of the Shimeites. These are the families of the Gershonites.

22 Those who were numbered of them, according to the number of all the males, from a month old and older, those who were numbered of them were seven thousand five hundred.

23 The families of the Gershonites were to camp behind the west side of the tabernacle.

24 The chief of the house of the father of the Gershonites was Eliasaph the son of Lael.

25 The charge of the sons of Gershon in the tent of meeting included the tabernacle, and the tent, its covering, and the hanging for the door of the tent of meeting,

26 the hangings of the court, the curtain for the opening of the court that is around the tabernacle and the altar, and its cords—all the service pertaining to these.

27 Of Kohath was the family of the Amramites, and the family of the Izharites, and the family of the Hebronites, and the family of the Uzzielites. These are the families of the Kohathites.

28 The number of all the males, from a month old and older, were eight thousand six hundred, keeping the guard of the sanctuary.

29 The families of the sons of Kohath were to camp on the south side of the tabernacle.

30 The chief of the house of the father of the families of the Kohathites was Elizaphan the son of Uzziel.

31 Their duty included the ark, and the table, and the lampstand, and the altars, and the vessels of the sanctuary they minister with, and the hanging, and all its service.

32 Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest was to be chief over the leaders of the Levites and to have the oversight of those who kept the guard of the sanctuary.

33 Of Merari was the family of the Mahlites and the family of the Mushites. These are the families of Merari.

34 Those who were numbered of them, according to the number of all the males from a month old and older, were six thousand two hundred.

35 The chief of the house of the father of the families of Merari was Zuriel the son of Abihail. These were to camp on the north side of the tabernacle.

36 Under the oversight and guard of the sons of Merari were the frames of the tabernacle, the bars, the pillars, the sockets, all their accessories, all the service pertaining to these,

37 and the pillars of the court all around, with their sockets, and pins, and cords.

38 But those who were to camp before the tabernacle toward the east, even before the tent of meeting on the east side, were Moses, and Aaron and his sons, keeping the guard of the sanctuary for the guard of the children of Israel, and the foreigner who approached was to be put to death.

39 All who were numbered of the Levites, which Moses and Aaron numbered at the commandment of the Lord, throughout their families, all the males from a month old and older, were twenty-two thousand.

40 The Redemption of the Firstborn The Lord said to Moses: Number all the firstborn of the males of the children of Israel from a month old and older and take the number of their names.

41 You will take the Levites for Me (I am the Lord) instead of all the firstborn among the children of Israel, and the livestock of the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the livestock of the children of Israel.

42 Moses numbered, as the Lord commanded him, all the firstborn among the children of Israel.

43 All the firstborn males, by the number of names, from a month old and upward, of those who were numbered of them, were twenty-two thousand two hundred and seventy-three.

44 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

45 Take the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the children of Israel, and the livestock of the Levites instead of their livestock, and the Levites will be Mine. I am the Lord.

46 For those who are to be redeemed of the two hundred and seventy-three of the firstborn of the children of Israel, which are more than the Levites,

47 you will take five shekels apiece by the poll; according to the shekel of the sanctuary you will take them (the shekel is twenty gerahs).

48 And you will give the money, by which the number of them is to be redeemed, to Aaron and to his sons.

49 Moses took the redemption money of those who were over and above those who were redeemed by the Levites.

50 Of the firstborn of the children of Israel he took the money, one thousand three hundred and sixty-five shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary.

51 And Moses gave the money of those who were redeemed to Aaron and to his sons, according to the word of the Lord, as the Lord commanded Moses.

4

1 Duties of the Kohathites And the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying:

2 Take the sum of the sons of Kohath from among the sons of Levi, after their families, by the house of their fathers,

3 from thirty years old and older, even to fifty years old, all that enter into the host, to do the work in the tent of meeting.

4 This will be the service of the sons of Kohath in the tent of meeting, concerning the holiest things.

5 And when the camp sets out, Aaron will come, and his sons, and they will take down the covering curtain, and cover the ark of the testimony with it,

6 and will put on it the covering of porpoise skins, and will spread over it a cloth completely of blue, and will put in its poles.

7 Upon the table of showbread they will spread a cloth of blue, and put the dishes on it, and the spoons, and the bowls, and covers to cover it, and the showbread will be on it.

8 And they will spread on them a cloth of scarlet, and cover the same with a covering of porpoise skins, and will put in its poles.

9 They will take a cloth of blue, and cover the lampstand of the light, and its lamps, and its tongs, and its snuff dishes, and all its oil vessels, with which they minister to it.

10 And they will put it and all its vessels within a covering of porpoise skins and will put it on a carrying pole.

11 Upon the golden altar they will spread a cloth of blue, and cover it with a covering of porpoise skins, and will put in its poles.

12 And they will take all the instruments of ministry, with which they minister in the sanctuary, and put them in a cloth of blue, and cover them with a covering of porpoise skins, and will put them on a carrying pole.

13 And they will take away the ashes from the altar and spread a purple cloth on it.

14 They shall put on it all the instruments with which they minister there, the censers, the flesh hooks, the shovels, the basins, all the utensils of the altar. And they will spread on it a covering of porpoise skins and insert its poles.

15 When Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary, and all the instruments of the sanctuary, as the camp is to set out, after that, the sons of Kohath will come to carry it. But they will not touch any holy thing, lest they die. These things are the burden of the sons of Kohath in the tent of meeting.

16 To the office of Eleazar, Aaron the priest’s son, pertains the oil for the light, and the sweet incense, and the daily grain offering, and the anointing oil, and the oversight of all the tabernacle, and of all that is in it, in the sanctuary, and in the instruments thereof.

17 The Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying:

18 Do not cut the tribe of the families of the Kohathites from among the Levites.

19 But do this to them, that they may live and not die, when they approach the most holy things. Aaron and his sons will go in, and appoint each one to his service and to his burden.

20 But they will not go in to see when the holy things are covered, lest they die.

21 Duties of the Gershonites The Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

22 Take also the sum of the sons of Gershon, throughout the houses of their fathers, by their families.

23 From thirty years old and older to fifty years old you will number them, all that enter in to perform the service, to do the work in the tent of meeting.

24 This is the service of the families of the Gershonites, to serve, and to work.

25 And they will carry the curtains of the tabernacle, and the tent of meeting, its covering, and the covering of the porpoise skins that is on it, and the hanging for the door of the tent of meeting,

26 and the hangings of the courtyard, and the hanging for the opening of the gate of the courtyard, which is by the tabernacle and by the altar all around, and their cords, and all the instruments of their service, and all that is made for them. So they will serve.

27 At the appointment of Aaron and his sons will be all the service of the sons of the Gershonites, in all their burdens, and in all their service. And you shall assign to them all their tasks as their duty.

28 This is the service of the families of the sons of Gershon in the tent of meeting. And their charge will be under the hand of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.

29 Duties of the Merarites As for the sons of Merari, you will number them by their families, by the house of their fathers.

30 From thirty years old and older, even to fifty years old, you will number them, everyone who enters into the service, to do the work of the tent of meeting.

31 This is the charge of their burden, according to all their service in the tent of meeting. The boards of the tabernacle, and its bars thereof, and its pillars, and its sockets,

32 and the pillars of the court round about, and their sockets, and their pins, and their cords, with all their instruments, and with all their service, and by name you will list the instruments of the charge of their burden.

33 This is the service of the families of the sons of Merari, according to all their service, in the tent of meeting, under the hand of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.

34 Census of the Levites Moses, Aaron, and the leaders of the congregation numbered the sons of the Kohathites by their families, and by the house of their fathers,

35 from thirty years old and older to fifty years old, everyone who entered into the service, for the work in the tent of meeting.

36 And those who were numbered by their families were two thousand seven hundred and fifty.

37 These were the ones listed of the families of the Kohathites, all who might do service in the tent of meeting, which Moses and Aaron numbered according to the commandment of the Lord by the hand of Moses.

38 Those who were numbered of the sons of Gershon, throughout their families, and by the house of their fathers,

39 from thirty years old and older to fifty years old, everyone who entered into the service, for the work in the tent of meeting,

40 even those who were numbered of them, throughout their families, by the house of their fathers, were two thousand six hundred and thirty.

41 These were the ones listed by the families of the sons of Gershon, of all who might do service in the tent of meeting, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the commandment of the Lord.

42 Those who were numbered of the families of the sons of Merari, throughout their families, by the house of their fathers,

43 from thirty years old and older to fifty years old, everyone who entered into the service, for the work in the tent of meeting,

44 even those who were numbered by their families, were three thousand two hundred.

45 These were the ones listed of the families of the sons of Merari, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the word of the Lord by the hand of Moses.

46 All those who were numbered of the Levites, whom Moses, Aaron, and the leaders of Israel numbered, by their families, and by the house of their fathers,

47 from thirty years old and older to fifty years old, everyone who came to do the service of the ministry, and the service of the work in the tent of meeting,

48 even those who were numbered were eight thousand five hundred and eighty.

49 According to the commandment of the Lord they were numbered by the hand of Moses, each according to his service, and according to his burden. Thus they were numbered by him, as the Lord commanded Moses.

5

1 The Unclean And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

2 Command the children of Israel that they put out of the camp every leper, and everyone who has a discharge, and whoever is defiled by the dead.

3 Both male and female you will put out. You will put them outside the camp, so they do not defile their camps in the midst of which I dwell.

4 The children of Israel did so, and put them outside the camp. As the Lord spoke to Moses, so the children of Israel did.

5 Restitution for Wrongs The Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

6 Tell the children of Israel: When a man or woman commits any sin against another, acting unfaithfully against the Lord, that person is guilty,

7 and shall confess his sin which he has committed, and he will repay his offense with its principal, and add to it one-fifth, and give it to him who was wronged.

8 But if the man has no relative to repay the offense to, let the offense be repaid to the Lord, even to the priest, beside the ram of the atonement, whereby an atonement will be made for him.

9 Every offering of all the holy things of the children of Israel, which they bring to the priest, will be his.

10 Every man’s holy things will be his. Whatever any man gives the priest, it will be his.

11 The Test for Adultery The Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

12 Speak to the children of Israel and say to them: If any man’s wife goes astray, and acts treacherously against him,

13 and a man lies with her carnally, and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband, and it is concealed though she has defiled herself, and there is no witness against her, nor is she caught in the act,

14 and if the spirit of jealousy comes on him, and he is jealous of his wife who has defiled herself, or if the spirit of jealousy comes on him and he is jealous of his wife, though she has not defiled herself,

15 then the man shall bring his wife to the priest and he shall bring her offering for her, a tenth of an ephah of barley flour. He shall pour no oil on it nor put frankincense on it, for it is a grain offering of jealousy, a grain offering of remembrance, bringing iniquity to remembrance.

16 The priest will bring her near, and set her before the Lord.

17 And the priest will take holy water in an earthen vessel, and the priest will take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle and put it into the water.

18 And the priest will set the woman before the Lord, and uncover the woman’s head, and put the memorial offering in her hands, which is the grain offering of jealousy, and the priest will have in his hand the bitter water that causes the curse.

19 And the priest will charge her by an oath, and say to the woman, “If no man has lain with you, and if you have not gone astray to impurity with another instead of your husband, be free from this bitter water that causes the curse.

20 But if you have gone astray to another instead of your husband, and if you are defiled, and a man besides your husband has lain with you”—

21 then the priest will charge the woman with an oath of cursing, and the priest will say to the woman, “The Lord make you a curse and an oath among your people, when the Lord makes your thigh rot and your belly swell.

22 And this water that causes the curse will go into your bowels, to make your belly swell and your thigh rot.” And the woman will say, “Amen, amen.”

23 The priest will write these curses in a book, and he will wash them out with the bitter water.

24 And he will cause the woman to drink the bitter water that causes the curse. And the water that causes the curse will enter into her and become bitter.

25 Then the priest will take the grain offering of jealousy out of the woman’s hand and will wave the offering before the Lord and offer it on the altar.

26 And the priest will take a handful of the offering, the memorial portion, and burn it on the altar, and afterward will cause the woman to drink the water.

27 When he has made her to drink the water, then it will be that, if she is defiled and has acted treacherously against her husband, the water that causes the curse will enter into her, and become bitter, and her belly will swell, and her thigh will rot, and the woman will be a curse among her people.

28 If the woman is not defiled, but is clean, then she will be free and will conceive offspring.

29 This is the law of jealousies, when a wife goes astray to another instead of her husband, and is defiled,

30 or when the spirit of jealousy comes on him, and he is jealous over his wife, and will set the woman before the Lord, and the priest will perform on her all this law.

31 Then the man will be guiltless from iniquity, and this woman will bear her iniquity.

6

1 The Nazirite Vow And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

2 Speak to the children of Israel and say to them: When either a man or woman will make a hard vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to separate themselves to the Lord,

3 he will separate himself from wine and strong drink and will drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong drink. Neither shall he drink any juice of grapes, nor eat fresh or dry grapes.

4 All the days of his separation he will eat nothing that is made of the grapevine, from the seed to the skin.

5 All the days of the vow of his separation no razor will come on his head until the days are fulfilled in which he separates himself to the Lord. He will be holy and will let the locks of the hair of his head grow.

6 All the days that he separates himself to the Lord he will not approach a dead body.

7 He will not defile himself for his father or for his mother, for his brother or for his sister if they die because the separation of his God is on his head.

8 All the days of his separation he is holy to the Lord.

9 If any man dies very suddenly beside him, and he has defiled his consecrated head, then he will shave his head in the day of his cleansing, on the seventh day will he shave it.

10 On the eighth day he will bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons to the priest, to the door of the tent of meeting.

11 And the priest will offer one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering and make an atonement for him, since he sinned because of the dead, and will sanctify his head that same day.

12 He will consecrate to the Lord the days of his separation and bring a male lamb in its first year as a guilt offering. But the previous days will be lost because his separation was defiled.

13 This is the law of the Nazirite. When the days of his separation are fulfilled, he will be brought to the door of the tent of meeting.

14 And he will offer his offering to the Lord, one male lamb a year old without blemish as a burnt offering, one ewe lamb a year old without blemish as a sin offering, one ram without blemish as a peace offering,

15 a basket of unleavened bread, loaves of fine flour mixed with oil, unleavened wafers anointed with oil, and their grain offering with their drink offerings.

16 The priest will bring them before the Lord and will offer his sin offering and his burnt offering.

17 And he will offer the ram as a sacrifice of a peace offering to the Lord with the basket of unleavened bread. The priest will offer also his grain offering and his drink offering.

18 The Nazirite will shave his consecrated head at the door of the tent of meeting, and will take the hair from his consecrated head and put it in the fire which is under the sacrifice of the peace offerings.

19 The priest will take the cooked shoulder of the ram, and one unleavened cake out of the basket, and one unleavened wafer and will put them on the hands of the Nazirite, after he has shaved his consecrated hair.

20 And the priest will wave them as a wave offering before the Lord. This is holy for the priest, with the breast waved and the shoulder offered. And after that the Nazirite may drink wine.

21 This is the law of the Nazirite who has vowed to the Lord, his offering for his separation, besides whatever else his hand is able to provide. According to the vow which he spoke, so he must do, according to the law of his separation.

22 The Priestly Blessing The Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

23 Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying, This is how you will bless the children of Israel, saying to them,

24 The Lord bless you and keep you;

25 the Lord make His face to shine upon you, and be gracious unto you;

26 the Lord lift His countenance upon you, and give you peace.

27 They will put My name upon the children of Israel, and I will bless them.

7

1 Offerings at the Tabernacle’s Dedication And it was on the day that Moses had fully set up the tabernacle and anointed it and sanctified it and all its instruments, both the altar and all its vessels, and anointed them, and sanctified them,

2 that the leaders of Israel, heads of their fathers’ houses, who were the leaders of the tribes, and were over them who were counted, made an offering.

3 And they brought their offering before the Lord, six covered wagons, and twelve oxen, a wagon for two of the leaders, and for each one an ox. And they brought them before the tabernacle.

4 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

5 Accept these things from them, that they may be used in the service of the tent of meeting. Give them to the Levites, to each man according to his service.

6 Moses took the wagons and the oxen and gave them to the Levites.

7 Two wagons and four oxen he gave to the sons of Gershon, according to their service.

8 And four wagons and eight oxen he gave to the sons of Merari, according to their service, under the hand of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.

9 But to the sons of Kohath he gave none because the service of the sanctuary belonging to them was that they should carry on their shoulders.

10 The leaders brought their dedication offerings when the altar was anointed, and offered their offerings before the altar.

11 The Lord said to Moses: They will offer their offering, each leader on his day, for the dedicating of the altar.

12 He that offered his offering the first day was Nahshon the son of Amminadab, of the tribe of Judah.

13 And his offering was one silver charger, the weight of which was one hundred and thirty shekels, one silver bowl of seventy shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering;

14 one spoon of ten shekels of gold, full of incense;

15 one young bull, one ram, and one male lamb in its first year as a burnt offering;

16 one goat kid as a sin offering;

17 and as a sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs in their first year. This was the offering of Nahshon the son of Amminadab.

18 On the second day Nethanel the son of Zuar, leader of Issachar, presented an offering.

19 He offered as his offering one silver charger, the weight of which was one hundred and thirty shekels, one silver bowl of seventy shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mingled with oil as a grain offering;

20 one spoon of ten shekels of gold, full of incense;

21 one young bull, one ram, and one male lamb in its first year as a burnt offering;

22 one goat kid as a sin offering;

23 and as a sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs in their first year. This was the offering of Nethanel the son of Zuar.

24 On the third day Eliab the son of Helon, leader of the children of Zebulun, presented an offering.

25 And his offering was one silver charger, the weight of which was one hundred and thirty shekels, one silver bowl of seventy shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering;

26 one spoon of ten shekels of gold, full of incense;

27 one young bull, one ram, one male lamb in its first year as a burnt offering;

28 one goat kid as a sin offering;

29 and as a sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, five male lambs in their first year. This was the offering of Eliab the son of Helon.

30 On the fourth day Elizur the son of Shedeur, leader of the children of Reuben, presented an offering.

31 And his offering was one silver charger, the weight of which was one hundred and thirty shekels, one silver bowl of seventy shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering;

32 one spoon of ten shekels of gold, full of incense;

33 one young bull, one ram, one male lamb in its first year as a burnt offering;

34 one goat kid as a sin offering;

35 and as a sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, five male lambs in their first year. This was the offering of Elizur the son of Shedeur.

36 On the fifth day Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai, leader of the children of Simeon, presented an offering.

37 And his offering was one silver charger, the weight of which was one hundred and thirty shekels, one silver bowl of seventy shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering;

38 one spoon of ten shekels of gold, full of incense;

39 one young bull, one ram, one male lamb in its first year, as a burnt offering:

40 one goat kid as a sin offering;

41 and as a sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, five male lambs in their first year. This was the offering of Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai.

42 On the sixth day Eliasaph the son of Deuel, leader of the children of Gad, presented an offering.

43 And his offering was one silver charger, the weight of which was one hundred and thirty shekels, one silver bowl of seventy shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering;

44 one spoon of ten shekels of gold, full of incense;

45 one young bull, one ram, one male lamb in its first year as a burnt offering;

46 one goat kid as a sin offering;

47 and as a sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, five male lambs in their first year. This was the offering of Eliasaph the son of Deuel.

48 On the seventh day Elishama the son of Ammihud, leader of the children of Ephraim, presented an offering.

49 And his offering was one silver charger, the weight of which was one hundred and thirty shekels, one silver bowl of seventy shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering;

50 one spoon of ten shekels of gold, full of incense;

51 one young bull, one ram, one male lamb in its first year as a burnt offering;

52 one goat kid as a sin offering;

53 and as a sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, five male lambs in their first year. This was the offering of Elishama the son of Ammihud.

54 On the eighth day Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur, leader of the children of Manasseh, presented an offering.

55 And his offering was one silver charger, the weight of which was one hundred and thirty shekels, one silver bowl of seventy shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering;

56 one spoon of ten shekels of gold, full of incense;

57 one young bull, one ram, and one male lamb in its first year as a burnt offering;

58 one goat kid as a sin offering;

59 and as a sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, five male lambs in their first year. This was the offering of Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur.

60 On the ninth day Abidan the son of Gideoni, leader of the children of Benjamin, presented an offering.

61 And his offering was one silver charger, the weight of which was one hundred and thirty shekels, one silver bowl of seventy shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering;

62 one spoon of ten shekels of gold, full of incense;

63 one young bull, one ram, and one male lamb in its first year as a burnt offering;

64 one goat kid as a sin offering;

65 and as a sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs in their first year. This was the offering of Abidan the son of Gideoni.

66 On the tenth day Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai, leader of the children of Dan, presented an offering.

67 And his offering was one silver charger, the weight of which was one hundred and thirty shekels, one silver bowl of seventy shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering;

68 one spoon of ten shekels of gold, full of incense;

69 one young bull, one ram, and one male lamb in its first year as a burnt offering;

70 one goat kid as a sin offering;

71 and as a sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs in their first year. This was the offering of Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai.

72 On the eleventh day Pagiel the son of Okran, leader of the children of Asher, presented an offering.

73 And his offering was one silver charger, the weight of which was one hundred and thirty shekels, one silver bowl of seventy shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering;

74 one spoon of ten shekels of gold, full of incense;

75 one young bull, one ram, and one male lamb in its first year as a burnt offering;

76 one goat kid as a sin offering;

77 and as a sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs in their first year. This was the offering of Pagiel the son of Okran.

78 On the twelfth day Ahira the son of Enan, leader of the children of Naphtali, presented an offering.

79 And his offering was one silver charger, the weight of which was one hundred and thirty shekels, one silver bowl of seventy shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering;

80 one spoon of ten shekels of gold, full of incense;

81 one young bull, one ram, and one male lamb in its first year as a burnt offering;

82 one goat kid as a sin offering;

83 and as a sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs in their first year. This was the offering of Ahira the son of Enan.

84 This was the dedication of the altar, in the day when it was anointed, by the leaders of Israel: twelve silver plates, twelve silver bowls, and twelve gold spoons,

85 each silver plate weighing one hundred and thirty shekels, each bowl seventy. All the silver vessels weighed two thousand four hundred shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary.

86 The gold spoons were twelve, full of incense, weighing ten shekels apiece, according to the shekel of the sanctuary. All the gold of the spoons was one hundred and twenty shekels.

87 All the oxen for the burnt offering were twelve bulls, twelve rams, twelve male lambs in their first year, with their grain offering, and twelve goat kids for a sin offering.

88 And all the oxen for the sacrifice of the peace offerings were twenty-four bulls, the rams sixty, the goats sixty, the one-year-old lambs sixty. This was the dedication of the altar after it was anointed.

89 And then Moses went into the tent of meeting to speak with Him, and he heard the voice of One speaking to him from the mercy seat that was on the ark of the testimony, from between the two cherubim, and He spoke to him.

8

1 The Seven Lamps And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

2 Speak to Aaron and say to him: When you set up the lamps, the seven lamps will give light before the lampstand.

3 Aaron did so. He lit the lamps before the lampstand, as the Lord commanded Moses.

4 And this was the work of the lampstand: hammered gold, to its shaft, to its flowers was beaten work. According to the pattern which the Lord had shown Moses, so he made the lampstand.

5 Consecrating the Levites The Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

6 Take the Levites from among the children of Israel and cleanse them.

7 Thus you will do to them to cleanse them: Splash purifying water on them, and let them shave their whole body, and let them wash their clothes, and so make themselves clean.

8 Then let them take a young bull with its grain offering, also fine flour mixed with oil, and you will take another young bull as a sin offering.

9 You will bring the Levites before the tent of meeting. And you will gather the whole assembly of the children of Israel together.

10 And you will bring the Levites before the Lord. And the children of Israel will put their hands on the Levites.

11 And Aaron will offer the Levites before the Lord as a wave offering of the children of Israel, that they may do the service of the Lord.

12 The Levites will lay their hands on the heads of the bulls, and you will offer one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering to the Lord, to make an atonement for the Levites.

13 You will set the Levites before Aaron and before his sons, and offer them as a wave offering to the Lord.

14 Thus will you separate the Levites from among the children of Israel, and the Levites will be Mine.

15 And afterwards the Levites will go in to do the service of the tent of meeting, and you will cleanse them and offer them as a wave offering.

16 For they are completely set aside for Me by the children of Israel. Instead of all who open the womb, instead of the firstborn of all the children of Israel, I have taken them for Myself.

17 For all the firstborn of the children of Israel are Mine, both man and animal. On the day that I struck every firstborn in the land of Egypt I sanctified them for Myself.

18 I have taken the Levites instead of all the firstborn of the children of Israel.

19 I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and to his sons from among the children of Israel, to serve the service of the children of Israel in the tent of meeting and to make an atonement for the children of Israel, so there will be no plague among the children of Israel when the children of Israel approach the sanctuary.

20 Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the children of Israel did to the Levites; according to all that the Lord commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so the children of Israel did to them.

21 The Levites cleansed themselves from sin, and they washed their clothes, and Aaron offered them as a wave offering before the Lord, and Aaron made an atonement for them to cleanse them.

22 And after that the Levites went in to do their service in the tent of meeting before Aaron and before his sons. As the Lord had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so they did to them.

23 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

24 This is what belongs to the Levites: From twenty-five years old and older they will go in to do their duty concerning the service of the tent of meeting.

25 And from the age of fifty years they will cease doing their duty concerning its service and will serve no more.

26 But they will minister with their brothers in the tent of meeting, to attend to their needs, but will not do the work. Thus you will do to the Levites concerning their duties.

9

1 The Passover at Sinai And the Lord spoke to Moses in the Wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of the second year after they came out of the land of Egypt, saying:

2 Let the children of Israel also keep the Passover at its appointed time.

3 On the fourteenth day of this month, at evening, you will keep it at its appointed time. According to all its rites and according to all its ceremonies, you will keep it.

4 Moses spoke to the children of Israel, that they should keep the Passover.

5 They kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month at evening in the Wilderness of Sinai. According to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so the children of Israel did.

6 There were men who were unclean by the dead body of a man, so they could not keep the Passover on that day, and they came before Moses and before Aaron on that day.

7 And those men said to him, “We are defiled by the dead body of a man. Why are we kept back, that we may not offer an offering of the Lord at its appointed time among the children of Israel?”

8 And Moses said to them, “Stand still, and I will hear what the Lord will command concerning you.”

9 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

10 Speak to the children of Israel, saying: If any man of you or of your posterity is unclean because of a dead body, or is far off on a journey, he will still keep the Passover to the Lord.

11 The fourteenth day of the second month at evening they will keep it, and eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.

12 They will leave none of it until the morning, nor break any of its bones. According to all the ordinances of the Passover they will keep it.

13 But the man who is ceremonially clean, and is not on a journey, and fails to keep the Passover, even the same person will be cut off from his people. Because he did not bring the offering of the Lord at its appointed time, that man will bear his sin.

14 If a stranger will sojourn among you and will keep the Passover to the Lord, according to the ordinance of the Passover, and according to the manner of it, so he will do. You will have one ordinance both for the resident alien and for the natural born citizen of the land.

15 The Cloud and the Fire And on the day that the tabernacle was erected, the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the testimony, and at evening there was over the tabernacle the appearance of fire until the morning.

16 So it was always. The cloud covered it by day, and the appearance of fire by night.

17 When the cloud was lifted up from over the tabernacle, then after it the children of Israel journeyed, and in the place where the cloud settled, there the children of Israel camped.

18 At the commandment of the Lord the children of Israel journeyed, and at the commandment of the Lord they camped. As long as the cloud dwelt over the tabernacle they camped.

19 When the cloud remained many days over the tabernacle, then the children of Israel kept the charge of the Lord and did not journey.

20 When the cloud remained a few days over the tabernacle, according to the commandment of the Lord they dwelt in their tents, and according to the commandment of the Lord they journeyed.

21 When the cloud dwelt from evening until morning and the cloud was lifted up in the morning, then they journeyed. Whether it was by day or by night that the cloud was lifted up, they journeyed.

22 Whether it was two days, or a month, or a long time that the cloud dwelt over the tabernacle, the children of Israel dwelt in their tents and did not journey. But when it was lifted up they journeyed.

23 At the command of the Lord they camped, and at the command of the Lord they journeyed. They kept the charge of the Lord at the command of the Lord by the hand of Moses.

10

1 The Silver Trumpets And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

2 Make for yourself two silver trumpets. Of a hammered work you will make them, and you will use them for summoning of the assembly and directing the breaking up of the camps.

3 When they blow both of them, all the assembly will assemble themselves to you at the door of the tent of meeting.

4 If they blow only one, then the leaders, who are heads of the thousands of Israel, will gather themselves to you.

5 When you blow an alarm, then the camps that lie on the east will set out.

6 When you blow an alarm the second time, then the camps that lie on the south will set out. They will blow an alarm for their setting out.

7 But when the assembly is to be gathered together, you will blow, but you will not sound an alarm.

8 The sons of Aaron, the priests, will blow the trumpets, and they will be to you as an ordinance forever throughout your generations.

9 And if you go to war in your land against the enemy that oppresses you, then you will blow an alarm with the trumpets, and you will be remembered before the Lord your God, and you will be saved from your enemies.

10 Also in the day of your gladness, and at your appointed days, and in the beginnings of your months, you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings, and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings that they may be a memorial for you before your God. I am the Lord your God.

11 The Departure From Sinai And it was on the twentieth day of the second month, in the second year, that the cloud was lifted up from over the tabernacle of the testimony.

12 The children of Israel set out from the Wilderness of Sinai. And the cloud dwelt in the Wilderness of Paran.

13 And they set out for the first time at the command of the Lord by the hand of Moses.

14 And the standard of the camp of the sons of Judah set out first by their armies, and over his armies was Nahshon the son of Amminadab.

15 Over the armies of the tribe of the children of Issachar was Nethanel the son of Zuar.

16 Over the armies of the tribe of the children of Zebulun was Eliab the son of Helon.

17 The tabernacle was taken down, and the sons of Gershon and the sons of Merari set out, carrying the tabernacle.

18 The standard of the camp of Reuben set out by their armies, and over his armies was Elizur the son of Shedeur.

19 Over the armies of the tribe of the children of Simeon was Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai.

20 Over the armies of the tribe of the children of Gad was Eliasaph the son of Deuel.

21 The Kohathites set out, carrying the sanctuary, and they set up the tabernacle before they came.

22 The standard of the camp of the children of Ephraim set out by their armies, and over his armies was Elishama the son of Ammihud.

23 Over the armies of the tribe of the children of Manasseh was Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur.

24 Over the armies of the tribe of the children of Benjamin was Abidan the son of Gideoni.

25 Then the standard of the camp of the children of Dan set out, which was the rear guard of all the camps by their armies, and over his armies was Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai.

26 Over the armies of the tribe of the children of Asher was Pagiel the son of Okran.

27 Over the armies of the tribe of the children of Naphtali was Ahira the son of Enan.

28 This was the order of march of the children of Israel, company by company, when they set out.

29 Moses said to Hobab, the son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses’ father-in-law, “We are setting out to the place of which the Lord said, ‘I will give it to you.’ Come with us, and we will do good to you because the Lord has spoken good concerning Israel.”

30 Hobab said to him, “I will not go. But I will depart to my own land, and to my kindred.”

31 So Moses said, “Please do not leave us, because you know where to camp in the wilderness, and you may be our eyes.

32 Moreover, if you go with us, then it will be that whatever good the Lord will do for us, we will likewise do for you.”

33 They set out three days from the mountain of the Lord, and the ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them the three days’ journey, to find a resting place for them.

34 And the cloud of the Lord was over them by day when they set out from of the camp.

35 And it was, when the ark set out, that Moses said, “Rise up, O Lord, and let Your enemies be scattered, and let them that hate You flee before You.”

36 And when it rested, he said, “Return, O Lord, to the multitude of thousands of Israel.”

11

1 Complaints in the Desert Now when the people complained openly before the Lord, the Lord heard, and His anger burned. Then the fire of the Lord burned among them and consumed the outskirts of the camp.

2 And the people cried out to Moses, and Moses prayed to the Lord, and the fire was quenched.

3 He called the name of the place Taberah because the fire of the Lord burned among them.

4 The mixed multitude that was among them lusted, and the children of Israel wept again and said, “Who will give us meat to eat?

5 We remember the fish, which we ate in Egypt for free, the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic.

6 But now our life is dried up. There is nothing at all except this manna before our eyes.”

7 The manna was as coriander seed, and it looked like bdellium.

8 The people went about and gathered it, and ground it in mills or beat it in a mortar, and boiled it in pots, and made cakes of it, and the taste of it was like the taste of cakes baked in oil.

9 When the dew fell on the camp at night, the manna fell on it.

10 Then Moses heard the people weep throughout their families, every man in the opening of his tent, and the anger of the Lord burned greatly. Moses was also displeased.

11 Moses said to the Lord, “Why have You hurt Your servant? And why have I not found favor in Your eyes, that You lay the burden of all this people on me?

12 Have I conceived all this people? Have I given them birth, that You should say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse bears the nursing child,’ to the land which You swore to their fathers?

13 Where am I to get meat to give to all these people? For they weep to me, saying, ‘Give us meat, that we may eat.’

14 I am not able to bear all these people alone, because the burden is too heavy for me.

15 If You do this to me, please kill me at once, if I have found favor in Your eyes, and do not let me see my misery.”

16 The Seventy Elders Then the Lord said to Moses, “Gather to Me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people, and officers over them, and bring them to the tent of meeting, that they may take a stand there with you.

17 And I will come down, and I will speak with you there, and I will take of the Spirit which is on you and will put it on them, and they will bear the burden of the people with you, and you will not bear it by yourself.

18 “And say to the people: Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat, for you have wept in the hearing of the Lord, saying, ‘Who will give us meat to eat? For it was better for us in Egypt.’ Therefore the Lord will give you meat, and you shall eat.

19 You shall eat, not one day, or two days, or five days, or ten days, or twenty days,

20 but a whole month, until it comes out at your nostrils, and it will be nauseating to you because you rejected the Lord who is among you and have wept before Him, saying, ‘Why did we come out of Egypt?’ ”

21 And Moses said, “The people I am with number six hundred thousand foot soldiers, and You have said, ‘I will give them meat that they may eat a whole month.’

22 Will the flocks and the herds be slaughtered for them, to satisfy them? Or will all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to satisfy them?”

23 And the Lord said to Moses, “Is the hand of the Lord shortened? Now you will see if My word will happen to you or not.”

24 Moses went out, and he spoke to the people the words of the Lord and gathered the seventy men of the elders of the people and set them around the tabernacle.

25 And the Lord came down in a cloud, and spoke to him, and took of the Spirit that was on him, and gave it to the seventy elders, and when the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied, but did not do it again.

26 But two men remained in the camp. The name of one was Eldad, and the name of the other, Medad. And the Spirit rested on them. They were among those listed, but they had not gone out to the tent, and so they prophesied in the camp.

27 And a young man ran and told Moses and said, “Eldad and Medad prophesy in the camp.”

28 Then Joshua the son of Nun, the assistant of Moses from his youth, answered and said, “My lord Moses, forbid them.”

29 Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for my sake? Oh, that all the people of the Lord were prophets, and that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them!”

30 And Moses returned to the camp, he and the elders of Israel.

31 The Lord Sends Quail Now a wind from the Lord started up, and it swept quail from the sea and let them fall beside the camp, about a day’s journey on this side and a day’s journey on the other side, around the camp, and about two cubits above the ground.

32 And the people stayed up all that day, all night, and all the next day, and gathered the quail. Those who gathered least gathered ten homers. And they spread them out for themselves all around the camp.

33 While the meat was between their teeth, before it was chewed, the anger of the Lord burned against the people, and the Lord struck the people with a very great slaughter.

34 And he called the name of that place Kibroth Hattaavah because there they buried the people who had the craving.

35 The people journeyed from Kibroth Hattaavah to Hazeroth, and they camped at Hazeroth.

12

1 Miriam and Aaron Oppose Moses And Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he married, for he had married a Cushite woman.

2 They said, “Has the Lord spoken only by Moses? Has He not spoken also by us?” And the Lord heard it.

3 (Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all the men on the face of the earth.)

4 And the Lord spoke at once to Moses and to Aaron and to Miriam, “Come out, you three, to the tent of meeting.” And those three came out.

5 The Lord came down in a pillar of cloud, and stood in the opening of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam, and they both came forward.

6 He said, “Hear now My word. If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord will make Myself known to him in a vision, and I will speak to him in a dream.

7 Not so with My servant Moses; he is entrusted with all My house.

8 Face to face I speak with him clearly, and not in riddles, and the likeness of the Lord will he behold. Then why were you not afraid to speak against My servant, against Moses?”

9 And the anger of the Lord burned against them, and He set out.

10 When the cloud went away from over the tabernacle, Miriam became leprous as snow, and Aaron turned toward Miriam and saw that she was leprous.

11 Aaron said to Moses, “Alas, my lord, do not lay the sin on us, which we have done foolishly, and which we have sinned.

12 Do not let her be as dead, who when he goes out of his mother’s womb half his flesh is eaten.”

13 And Moses cried out to the Lord, saying, “O God, heal her, I pray!”

14 But the Lord said to Moses, “If her father had but spit in her face, would she not be ashamed seven days? Let her be shut out of the camp seven days, and afterward she may be received again.”

15 Miriam was shut out from the camp seven days, and the people did not set out until Miriam was brought in again.

16 Afterward the people set out from Hazeroth and camped in the Wilderness of Paran.

13

1 Spying in Canaan And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

2 “Send men that they may explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel. Of every tribe of their fathers you will send a man, each one a chief among them.”

3 And Moses sent them from the Wilderness of Paran according to the Lord. All those men were heads of the children of Israel.

4 These were their names: of the tribe of Reuben, Shammua the son of Zakkur;

5 of the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori;

6 of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh;

7 of the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph;

8 of the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea the son of Nun;

9 of the tribe of Benjamin, Palti the son of Raphu;

10 of the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel the son of Sodi;

11 of the tribe of Joseph, namely, of the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi the son of Susi;

12 of the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli;

13 of the tribe of Asher, Sethur the son of Michael;

14 of the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi;

15 of the tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of Maki.

16 These are the names of the men whom Moses sent to explore the land. And Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun Joshua.

17 Moses sent them to explore the land of Canaan and said to them, “Go up to this southland, and go up into the mountain.

18 And see what the land is, and the people that dwell in it, whether they are strong or weak, few or many;

19 and what the land is that they dwell in, whether it is good or bad, and what cities are that they dwell in, whether in tents, or in fortifications;

20 and what the land is, whether it is fat or lean, whether there is wood in it or not. And you be courageous and bring some of the fruit of the land.” Now the time was the time of the first ripe grapes.

21 So they went up and explored the land from the Wilderness of Zin to Rehob, near Lebo Hamath.

22 They went up by the Negev and came to Hebron where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, were (now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt).

23 And they came to the Valley of Eshkol, and cut down from there a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they carried it on a pole between two of them, and they brought some of the pomegranates and of the figs.

24 The place was called the Valley of Eshkol because of the cluster of grapes which the children of Israel cut down from there.

25 They returned from exploring the land after forty days.

26 The Spies’ Report And they returned and came to Moses and to Aaron and to all the assembly of the children of Israel, to the Wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh, and brought back word to them and to the entire assembly and showed them the fruit of the land.

27 They reported to him and said, “We came to the land where you sent us, and surely it flows with milk and honey, and this is the fruit of it.

28 However, the people are strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are fortified and very great, and also we saw the children of Anak there.

29 The Amalekites dwell in the land of the Negev, and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the mountains, and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and by the edge of the Jordan.”

30 Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “Let us go up at once and possess it, for we are able to overcome it.”

31 But the men that went up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people because they are stronger than we.”

32 They gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature.

33 And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come from the giants, and in our eyes we were like grasshoppers, and so we were in their eyes.”

14

1 Israel Refuses to Enter Canaan And the whole assembly lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night.

2 All the children of Israel grumbled against Moses and against Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, “O that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or that we had died in this wilderness!

3 And why has the Lord brought us to this land to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should become prey? Is it not better for us to return to Egypt?”

4 And they said one to another, “Let us select a leader, and let us return to Egypt.”

5 Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the congregation of the assembly of the children of Israel.

6 Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, from the ones who explored the land, tore their clothes.

7 And they spoke to all the assembly of the children of Israel, saying, “The land which we passed through to explore it is a very, very good land.

8 If the Lord delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land which flows with milk and honey.

9 Only do not rebel against the Lord, nor fear the people of the land because they are bread for us. Their defense is gone from them, and the Lord is with us. Do not fear them.”

10 But all the assembly said, “Stone them with stones.” And the glory of the Lord appeared at the tent of meeting before all the children of Israel.

11 The Lord said to Moses, “How long will this people disgrace Me? And how long will they not believe Me, in spite of all the signs which I have done among them?

12 I will strike them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make from you a nation greater and mightier than they.”

13 Moses Intercedes for the People Moses said to the Lord, “Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for by Your power You brought this people up from among them,

14 and they will say to the inhabitants of this land that they heard that You, Lord, are among this people, that You, Lord, are seen face to face, and Your cloud stands over them, and in the pillar of cloud You go before them by day and by a pillar of fire at night.

15 Now if You kill all this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of You will speak, saying,

16 ‘The Lord was not able to bring this people into the land which He swore to them, so He slaughtered them in the wilderness.’

17 “So now, I pray, let the power of my Lord be great, just as You have spoken, saying,

18 ‘The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but He will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation.’

19 Pardon the iniquity of this people, I pray, according to the greatness of Your grace, just as You have pardoned this people, from Egypt even until now.”

20 The Lord said, “I have forgiven according to your word.

21 But truly as I live, all the earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord.

22 Because all those men seeing My glory and My signs which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted Me now these ten times, and have not listened to My voice,

23 surely they will not see the land which I swore to their fathers, nor will any of them who disgraced Me see it.

24 But My servant Caleb, because he had a different spirit with him and followed Me fully, I will bring him into the land where he went, and his seed will possess it.

25 Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites lived in the valley. Tomorrow you will turn, and you will set out for the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea.”

26 Death of Rebels Predicted The Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying:

27 How long will this evil assembly be murmuring against Me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel which they murmur against Me.

28 Say to them, “As I live,” says the Lord, “just as you have spoken in My ears, so I will do to you.

29 In this wilderness your corpses will fall, and all who were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, who have murmured against Me,

30 you will not go into the land which I swore by My hand to cause you to dwell in it, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun.

31 But your children, whom you said would be a prey, I will bring them in and they will know the land, which you rejected.

32 But as for you, your corpses will fall in this wilderness.

33 Your children will be shepherds in the wilderness forty years, and they will suffer for your fornications, until your corpses are in the wilderness.

34 According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, a year for each day you will bear your iniquity, forty years, and you will know My displeasure.”

35 I the Lord have spoken. I will surely do this to all this evil assembly gathered against Me. In this wilderness they will be finished, and there they will die.

36 The men whom Moses sent to explore the land, who returned and made all the assembly murmur against him by bringing up an evil report about the land,

37 the men who brought an evil report about the land, died by the pestilence before the Lord.

38 But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, from the men that went to explore the land, lived.

39 Defeat in Battle Moses spoke these words to all the children of Israel, and the people mourned greatly.

40 They rose up early in the morning, and they went up to the top of the mountain, saying, “Here we are. We will go up to the place which the Lord has promised, for we have sinned.”

41 Moses said, “Why do you now transgress the commandment of the Lord? This will not prosper.

42 Do not go up, for the Lord is not among you; do not let yourselves be defeated by your enemies.

43 For the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you, and you will fall by the sword because you are turned from the Lord, and the Lord will not be with you.”

44 But they presumed to go up to the top of the mountain. But the ark of the covenant of the Lord and Moses did not depart from the midst of the camp.

45 Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who dwelt on that mountain went down and defeated them, pursuing them as far as Hormah.

15

1 Laws of Grain and Drink Offerings And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

2 Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: When you come into the land of your dwelling, which I am giving to you,

3 when you make an offering by fire to the Lord, a burnt offering, or a sacrifice in performing a vow, or as a freewill offering, or in your appointed feasts, to make a pleasing aroma to the Lord, of the herd or of the flock,

4 then he who brings his offering to the Lord will bring a grain offering of a tenth of an ephah of flour mixed with the fourth part of a hin of oil.

5 One-fourth of a hin of wine as a drink offering you will prepare with the burnt offering or sacrifice, for each lamb.

6 Or for a ram, you will make a grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah of flour mixed with one-third of a hin of oil.

7 As a drink offering you will offer one-third of a hin of wine, as a pleasing aroma to the Lord.

8 When you prepare a bull as a burnt offering, or as a sacrifice in performing a vow, or as a peace offering to the Lord,

9 then shall be brought with the bull a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of flour mixed with one-half a hin of oil.

10 You will bring as a drink offering one-half a hin of wine, as a fire offering, as a pleasing aroma to the Lord.

11 Thus it will be done for one herd animal, or for one ram, or for a flock animal, whether from the sheep or from the goats.

12 According to the number that you will make, so you will do for every one according to their number.

13 Every native Israelite will do these things in this manner, in offering a fire offering as a pleasing aroma to the Lord.

14 A foreigner who lives with you, or who resides among you throughout your generations, and would present a fire offering, a pleasing aroma to the Lord, shall do as you do.

15 One ordinance will be for you of the assembly and for the foreigner who lives with you, an ordinance forever throughout your generations. As you are, so will the foreigner be before the Lord.

16 One law and one justice will be for you and for the foreigner who lives with you.

17 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

18 Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: When you come into the land where I bring you,

19 then it will be, when you eat of the bread of the land you will offer up an offering to the Lord.

20 From the first of your dough you will offer a cake as an offering. As you make the offering of the threshing floor, so will you offer it.

21 Of the first of your dough you will give to the Lord an offering throughout your generations.

22 Laws About Unintentional Sins If you have erred and not observed all these commandments which the Lord has spoken to Moses,

23 even all that the Lord has commanded you by the hand of Moses, from the day that the Lord commanded Moses and onward through your generations,

24 then it will be, if it is committed by ignorance without the knowledge of the assembly, that all the assembly will offer one young bull as a burnt offering, as a pleasing aroma to the Lord, with its grain offering and its drink offering, according to the rule, and one kid of the goats as a sin offering.

25 The priest will make atonement for all the assembly of the children of Israel, and it will be forgiven them because it is ignorance, and they will bring their offering, a sacrifice made by fire to the Lord, and their sin offering before the Lord, for their ignorance.

26 And it will be forgiven all the assembly of the children of Israel and the foreigner who lives among them, because all the people were in ignorance.

27 If a person sins unintentionally, then he will bring a year-old female goat as a sin offering.

28 The priest will make an atonement for the person who sins unintentionally, when he sins by ignorance before the Lord, to make an atonement for him; and it will be forgiven him.

29 You shall have one law for the person who acts through ignorance, for the natural-born citizen among the children of Israel and foreigner who lives in your midst.

30 Laws About Intentional Sins But the person who acts by a high hand, the natural-born citizen or the foreigner, the same reviles the Lord, and that person will be cut off from among his people.

31 Because he has despised the word of the Lord and has broken His commandment, that person will be totally cut off. His iniquity will be on him.

32 The Sabbath-Breaker Executed While the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man who gathered sticks on the Sabbath day.

33 The ones who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron and to all the assembly.

34 They put him in confinement because it was not declared what should be done to him.

35 The Lord said to Moses, “The man will surely die. All the assembly will stone him with stones outside the camp.”

36 All the assembly brought him outside the camp and stoned him with stones, and he died as the Lord commanded Moses.

37 Tassels on Garments The Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

38 Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them to make for themselves tassels on the corners of their garments throughout the generations to come, and they will put a ribbon of blue on the corners of their garments.

39 And it will be for you a tassel, and you will see it, and you will remember all the commandments of the Lord, and you will do them, and you will not follow the lust of your own heart and your own eyes.

40 So shall you remember and do all My commandments, and be holy to your God.

41 I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: I am the Lord your God.

16

1 Opposition to Moses and Aaron Now Korah the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men,

2 and they rose up before Moses and men of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty chiefs of the assembly, famous in the assembly, well-known men.

3 They assembled against Moses and against Aaron, and said to them, “You take too much upon yourselves, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. So why do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?”

4 And when Moses heard it, he fell on his face,

5 and he spoke to Korah and to all his company, saying, “In the morning the Lord will show who is His and who is holy, and He will bring him to come near to Him. Whom He has chosen He will bring near to Him.

6 Do this: Take censers, Korah and all his company;

7 put fire in them, and put incense in them before the Lord tomorrow, and it will be that the man whom the Lord chooses, he will be holy. You take too much upon yourselves, sons of Levi.”

8 Moses said to Korah, “Listen, please, sons of Levi.

9 Does it seem a small thing to you that the God of Israel has separated you from the assembly of Israel to bring you near to Himself to do the service of the tabernacle of the Lord, and to stand before the assembly to minister to them?

10 And He has brought you near to Him, and all your brothers, the sons of Levi, with you, and you also seek the priesthood?

11 Therefore both you and all your company are gathered together against the Lord, and who is Aaron that you murmur against him?”

12 And Moses sent for Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, who said, “We will not come up.

13 Is it a small thing that you have brought us up out of a land that flows with milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness because you make yourself a prince over us?

14 Moreover you have not brought us into a land that flows with milk and honey nor given us inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you put out the eyes of these men? We will not come up.”

15 Moses was very angry and said to the Lord, “Do not respect their offering. I have not taken one donkey from them, nor have I hurt one of them.”

16 Moses said to Korah, “You and all your company be before the Lord, you and them and Aaron, tomorrow.

17 Let each man take his censer and put incense in it, and each of you bring his censer before the Lord, two hundred and fifty censers. Also you and Aaron shall each bring his censer.”

18 Every man took his censer and put fire in it, and laid incense on it, and stood at the door of the tent of meeting with Moses and Aaron.

19 Korah gathered all the assembly against them to the door of the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord appeared to all the assembly.

20 The Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying:

21 Separate yourselves from among this assembly, that I may consume them in a moment.

22 They fell on their faces and said, “O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, will one man sin and You will be angry with all the assembly?”

23 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

24 Speak to the assembly, saying: Get up from around the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.

25 Moses rose up and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him.

26 He spoke to the assembly, saying, “Depart now from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest you be swept away for all their sins.”

27 So they got up from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, on every side, and Dathan and Abiram came out and stood in the opening of their tents, and their wives, and their sons, and their children.

28 Moses said, “By this you will know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works, because I have not done them of my own mind.

29 If these men die the common death of all men, or if they are visited after the visitation of all men, then the Lord has not sent me.

30 But if the Lord makes a new thing, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into the pit, then you will know that these men have despised the Lord.”

31 So it was, when he finished speaking all these words, that the ground that was under them split open.

32 And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, and their houses, and all the men that belonged to Korah, and all their goods.

33 And they and all that belonged to them went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed on them, and they perished from among the assembly.

34 All Israel that was around them fled at their cry because they said, “The earth will swallow us also.”

35 A fire went out from the Lord and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense.

36 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

37 Tell Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest to take up the censers out of the blaze, for they are holy. Then scatter the fire far and wide.

38 As for the censers of these men who have sinned at the cost of their own lives, make them into hammered plates as a covering for the altar, for they presented them before the Lord and they are holy. They shall be a sign to the children of Israel.

39 So Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers, which those who were burned had offered, and they were hammered out as a covering on the altar,

40 to be a memorial to the children of Israel, that no outsider, who is not of the descendants of Aaron, shall approach to offer incense before the Lord, that he might not become like Korah and his company, as the Lord has said to him through Moses.

41 The People Complain But the next day all the assembly of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron, saying, “You have killed the people of the Lord.”

42 When the assembly was gathered against Moses and Aaron, they looked toward the tent of meeting. The cloud covered it, and the glory of the Lord appeared.

43 Moses and Aaron went before the tent of meeting.

44 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

45 “Get up from among this assembly, that I may destroy them in a moment.” And they fell on their faces.

46 Moses said to Aaron, “Take a censer and put fire in it from off the altar, and put in incense, and go quickly to the assembly, and make an atonement for them, because wrath has gone out from the Lord. The plague has begun.”

47 Aaron took it as Moses commanded and ran into the midst of the assembly, where the plague had begun among the people. He put in incense and made an atonement for the people.

48 He stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stopped.

49 Now those who died in the plague were fourteen thousand seven hundred, besides those that died concerning the thing of Korah.

50 Aaron returned to Moses, to the door of the tent of meeting, and the plague was stopped.

17

1 The Budding of Aaron’s Rod And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

2 Speak to the children of Israel, and take from them a rod, a rod for the house of their fathers, from all their leaders according to the house of their fathers, twelve rods. Write each man’s name on his rod.

3 You will write the name of Aaron on the rod of Levi, because one rod will be for each father’s house.

4 You will lay them in the tent of meeting before the testimony, where I will meet with you.

5 It will be that the rod of the man whom I choose will bud. Thus I will rid myself of the complaints of the children of Israel, that they have been making against you.

6 Moses spoke to the children of Israel, and each one of their leaders gave him a rod, one for each leader, according to their fathers’ houses, even twelve rods, and the rod of Aaron was among their rods.

7 Moses laid the rods before the Lord in the tent of witness.

8 When Moses went into the tent of witness the next day, the rod of Aaron, for the house of Levi, had sprouted. It brought forth buds, produced blossoms, and yielded almonds.

9 Moses brought out all the rods from before the Lord to all the children of Israel, and they looked, and each man took his rod.

10 The Lord said to Moses, “Return the rod of Aaron before the testimony, to be kept for a warning to rebels, that you may put an end to their complaints before Me, or else they will die.”

11 Moses did so. As the Lord commanded him, so he did.

12 The children of Israel spoke to Moses, saying, “Behold, we expire, we perish, we all perish.

13 Anyone approaching the tabernacle of the Lord will die. Are we all to perish?”

18

1 Duties of Priests and Levites And the Lord said to Aaron: You and your sons and your father’s house with you will bear the iniquity of the sanctuary, and you and your sons with you will bear the iniquity of your priesthood.

2 Your brothers also of the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, bring with you, and let them be joined with you, and minister to you. But you and your sons with you will minister before the tent of witness.

3 They will perform duties for you and for the whole tent; but they will not come near the vessels of the sanctuary or the altar, so that neither they nor you die.

4 They will be joined to you and perform the duties of the tent of meeting, for all the service of the tent; no foreigner will come near you.

5 You yourselves will perform the duties of the sanctuary and the duties of the altar, so that wrath may never come upon the children of Israel again.

6 I Myself have taken your brothers, the Levites, from among the children of Israel; they are given to you as a gift from the Lord to perform the service of the tent of meeting.

7 And you and your sons with you will attend to your priesthood for everything at the altar, and within the veil, and you will serve. I have given your priesthood to you as a gift service, and the foreigner that comes near will be put to death.

8 Offerings for Priests and Levites The Lord spoke to Aaron: I have certainly given you the charge of the offerings made to Me, all the hallowed gifts of the children of Israel. To you and to your sons have I given them as a portion, as an ordinance forever.

9 This will be yours of the most holy things, reserved from the fire: All of their offerings, all of their grain offerings and all of their sin offerings, and all of their guilt offerings, which they render to Me, will be most holy for you and for your sons.

10 In a most holy place shall you eat it; every male shall eat it. It shall be holy to you.

11 This is yours: the offering of their gift, with all the wave offerings of the children of Israel. I have given them to you and to your sons and to your daughters with you, as an eternal statute. Everyone who is clean in your house will eat of it.

12 All the best of the oil, and all the best of the wine, and of the wheat, the first fruits of what they will offer to the Lord, those have I given to you.

13 The first ripe fruit of all which is in their land, which they will bring to the Lord, will be yours. Everyone who is clean in your house will eat of it.

14 Everything devoted in Israel will be yours.

15 Everything that opens the womb of all flesh, which they bring to the Lord, whether it is of men or animals, will be yours. However, you will surely redeem the firstborn of man, and the firstborn of unclean beasts you will redeem.

16 Their redemption price, reckoned from one month of age, is five shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, which is twenty gerahs.

17 But the firstborn of a herd animal, or the firstborn of a sheep, or the firstborn of a goat, you will not redeem. They are holy. You will splash their blood on the altar and will burn their fat as a fire offering, as a pleasing aroma to the Lord.

18 Their flesh will be yours, as the wave breast and as the right shoulder are yours.

19 All the offerings of the holy things which the children of Israel offer to the Lord I have given to you, and to your sons and your daughters with you, as an eternal statute. It is a covenant of salt forever before the Lord, to you and to your seed with you.

20 The Lord said to Aaron: You will not have an inheritance in their land, nor will you have any territory among them. I am your territory and your inheritance among the children of Israel.

21 Tithes for Supporting the Levites I have given the children of Levi all the tithes in Israel for an inheritance, for their service, which they serve, even the service of the tent of meeting.

22 Hereafter, the children of Israel shall not come near the tent of meeting, lest they bear sin and die.

23 But the Levites will do the service of the tent of meeting, and they will bear their iniquity. It will be an eternal statute throughout your generations, that among the children of Israel they have no inheritance.

24 But the tithes of the children of Israel, which they offer as an offering to the Lord, I have given to the Levites to inherit. Therefore I have said to them, among the children of Israel they will have no inheritance.

25 The Tithe of the Levites The Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

26 You will speak to the Levites, and say to them: When you take from the children of Israel the tithes that I have given you from them for your inheritance, then you will offer up an offering of it to the Lord, even one-tenth of the tithe.

27 And this offering will be counted to you, as though it was the grain of the threshing floor, and as the fullness of the winepress.

28 Thus you also will set apart an offering to the Lord from all the tithes which you receive from the children of Israel. Out of them you will give the offering of the Lord to Aaron the priest.

29 Out of all your gifts you shall present every offering due to the Lord, from all the best of them, the consecrated part of them.

30 You will say to them: When you have offered the best from it, then it will be counted to the Levites as the increase of the threshing floor, and as the increase of the winepress.

31 You will eat it in every place, you and your households, because it is your reward for your service in the tent of meeting.

32 You will bear no sin because of it, when you have offered the best of it. The holy things of the children of Israel you will not pollute, and you will not die.

19

1 Laws of Purification And the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying:

2 This is the statute of the law which the Lord has commanded, saying: Tell the children of Israel that they will bring you a healthy red heifer, which has no blemish, and on which a yoke has never gone,

3 and you will give it to Eleazar the priest, and he will bring it outside the camp, and it will be slaughtered before him.

4 And Eleazar the priest will take from its blood with his finger and sprinkle some of its blood directly before the tent of meeting seven times.

5 Then it will be burned in his sight. Its hide and its flesh and its blood, with her dung, will be burned.

6 And the priest will take cedar wood, and hyssop, and scarlet and throw it into the midst of the burning of the heifer.

7 Then the priest will wash his clothes, and he will bathe his body in water, and afterward he will come into the camp, and the priest will be unclean until evening.

8 He who burns it will wash his clothes in water, and bathe his body in water, and will be unclean until evening.

9 A man who is clean will gather the ashes of the heifer and deposit them outside the camp in a clean place, and it will be guarded for the assembly of the children of Israel for water of purification. It is for purifying from sin.

10 He that gathers the ashes of the heifer will wash his clothes and be unclean until evening, and it will be for the children of Israel and for the foreigner that lives among them, for an eternal statute.

11 He that touches the dead body of any man will be unclean seven days.

12 He will make himself clean on the third day, and on the seventh day he will be clean. But if he does not make himself clean on the third day, then the seventh day he will not be clean.

13 Whoever touches the body of any man that is dead and does not purify himself defiles the tabernacle of the Lord, and that person will be cut off from Israel. Because the water of purification was not sprinkled on him, he will be unclean. His uncleanness is still on him.

14 This is the law, when a man dies in a tent. Each person who comes into the tent and all that is in the tent will be unclean seven days.

15 Every open vessel which has no covering fastened on it is unclean.

16 Whoever in the field touches one that is slain with a sword, or a dead body, or a bone of a man, or a grave will be unclean seven days.

17 For an unclean person they will take from the ashes of the burnt sin offering, and running water will be on it in a vessel.

18 A clean person will take hyssop, and dip it in the water, and splash it on the tent, and on all the vessels, and on the people who were there, and on him that touched a bone, or one slain, or one dead, or a grave.

19 The clean person will splash on the unclean person on the third day and on the seventh day. And on the seventh day he shall purify himself, wash his clothes, and bathe in water; and he will be clean at evening.

20 But the man who is unclean and does not purify himself, that person will be cut off from among the assembly because he has defiled the sanctuary of the Lord. The water of purification has not been sprinkled on him. He is unclean.

21 It will be an eternal statute to them. He that sprinkles the water of purification will wash his clothes, and he that touches the water of purification will be unclean until evening.

22 Whatever the unclean person touches will be unclean, and the person that touches it will be unclean until evening.

20

1 Moses Strikes the Rock Then the children of Israel, the whole assembly, came to the Wilderness of Zin in the first month, and the people dwelt in Kadesh, and Miriam died there and was buried there.

2 And there was no water for the assembly, and they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron.

3 The people argued with Moses, and spoke, saying, “O that we had died when our brothers died before the Lord!

4 And why have you brought up the assembly of the Lord into this wilderness, that we and our livestock should die here?

5 And why have you brought us up from Egypt, to bring us into this evil place? It is no place of seed, or of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates. Nor is there any water to drink.”

6 Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the door of the tent of meeting, and they fell on their faces, and the glory of the Lord appeared to them.

7 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

8 Take the rod, and gather the assembly together, you and Aaron your brother, and speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will give its water, and you will bring out to them water from the rock; so you will give the assembly and their livestock drink.

9 So Moses took the rod from before the Lord, as He commanded him.

10 Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly before the rock, and he said to them, “Hear now, you rebels. Will we bring out water from this rock for you?”

11 And Moses lifted up his hand, and he struck the rock twice with his rod, and plenty of water came out, and the assembly drank, and their livestock.

12 The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe in Me, to sanctify Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you will not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.”

13 This is the water of Meribah because the children of Israel argued with the Lord, and He was sanctified among them.

14 Edom Denies Israel Passage Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom, “Thus says your brother Israel: You know all the hardship that has found us,

15 how our fathers went down into Egypt, and we lived in Egypt a long time, and the Egyptians distressed us and our fathers.

16 And when we cried out to the Lord, He heard our voice and sent an angel and brought us out of Egypt. “And here we are in Kadesh, a city on the edge of your territory.

17 Please let us pass through your land. We will not pass through the fields or the vineyards, or drink of the water of the wells. We will travel the king’s highway. We will not turn to the right hand nor the left, until we have passed through your territory.”

18 Edom said to him, “You will not pass through me, lest with the sword I come out against you.”

19 The children of Israel said to him, “We will travel the highway, and if we and our livestock drink of your water, then we will pay for it. I will only go through on my feet without doing anything else.”

20 He said, “You will not go through.” And Edom came out against them with many people and with a strong hand.

21 Edom refused to give Israel passage through his territory, so Israel turned away from him.

22 The Death of Aaron They journeyed from Kadesh, and the children of Israel, even the whole assembly, came to Mount Hor.

23 The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in Mount Hor, by the border of the land of Edom, saying,

24 “Aaron will be gathered to his people because he will not enter into the land which I have given to the children of Israel because you rebelled against Me at the water of Meribah.

25 Take Aaron and Eleazar his son, and bring them up to Mount Hor,

26 and strip Aaron of his garments, and put them on Eleazar his son, and Aaron will be gathered to his people, and he will die there.”

27 Moses did as the Lord commanded, and they went up onto Mount Hor in the sight of all the assembly.

28 Moses stripped Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son. And Aaron died there on the top of the mountain, and Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain.

29 When all the assembly saw that Aaron was dead, they wept for Aaron thirty days, all the house of Israel.

21

1 Arad Destroyed When King Arad the Canaanite, who lived in the Negev, heard that Israel came by the way of Atharim, he fought against Israel and took some of them captive.

2 Israel vowed a vow to the Lord and said, “If You will indeed deliver this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities.”

3 The Lord listened to the voice of Israel and delivered up the Canaanites, and they utterly destroyed them and their cities, and he called the name of the place Hormah.

4 The Bronze Serpent They journeyed from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom, and the soul of the people was very discouraged because of the way.

5 The people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread or water, and our soul loathes this worthless manna.”

6 So the Lord sent poisonous serpents among the people, and they bit the people, and many children of Israel died.

7 So the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord, and He will take away the serpents from us.” And Moses prayed for the people.

8 The Lord said to Moses, “Make a poisonous serpent, and put it on a pole, and it will be, that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, will live.”

9 Moses made a bronze serpent and put it on a pole, and if a serpent had bitten any man, when he looked at the bronze serpent he lived.

10 The Journey to Moab The children of Israel set out and camped in Oboth.

11 They journeyed from Oboth and camped at Iye Abarim in the wilderness, which is before Moab toward the sunrise.

12 From there they journeyed and camped in the Valley of Zered.

13 From there they journeyed and camped on the other side of Arnon, which is in the wilderness that comes out of the borders of the Amorites, for Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites.

14 Therefore it is said in the Book of the Wars of the Lord: “Zahab in Suphah, and in the brooks of Arnon,

15     and at the stream of the brooks that goes down to the dwelling of Ar, and lies on the border of Moab.”

16 From there they went to Beer. That is the well of which the Lord spoke to Moses, “Gather the people together, and I will give them water.”

17 Then Israel sang this song: “Spring up, O well! sing to it—

18 the leaders dug the well; the nobles of the people dug, by the lawgiver, with their staffs.” And from the wilderness they went to Mattanah,

19 and from Mattanah to Nahaliel, and from Nahaliel to Bamoth,

20 and from Bamoth in the valley that is in the country of Moab to the top of Pisgah, which looks toward Jeshimon.

21 King Sihon Defeated Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, saying,

22 “Let me pass through your land. We will not turn into the fields nor into the vineyards. We will not drink of the waters of the well. But we will go along by the king’s highway until we are past your borders.”

23 Sihon would not allow Israel to pass through his border. But Sihon gathered all his people together and went out against Israel into the wilderness, and he came to Jahaz and fought against Israel.

24 Israel defeated him with the edge of the sword and possessed his land from Arnon to Jabbok, all the way to the children of Ammon, because the border of the children of Ammon was strong.

25 Israel took all these cities, and Israel lived in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all its villages.

26 Because Heshbon was the city of Sihon the king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab and taken all his land out of his hand, to Arnon.

27 Therefore they that speak in proverbs say: “Come into Heshbon; let it be built, and let the city of Sihon be established,

28 because a fire went out of Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sihon; it has devoured Ar of Moab and the masters of the high places of Arnon.

29 Woe to you, Moab! You have perished, O people of Chemosh! He has made his sons fugitives, and his daughters captives, to Sihon king of the Amorites.

30 “We have overthrown them; Heshbon is perished to Dibon, and we have desolated them to Nophah, which reaches to Medeba.”

31 Thus Israel lived in the land of the Amorites.

32 King Og Defeated Moses sent to spy out Jazer, and they took its villages and drove out the Amorites who were there.

33 They turned and went up by the way of Bashan, and Og the king of Bashan went out against them, he and all his people, to the battle at Edrei.

34 The Lord said to Moses, “Do not fear him because into your hand I have given him, and all his people, and his land, and you will do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon.”

35 So they killed him, and his sons, and all his people, until there was not a survivor left to him alive, and they possessed his land.

22

1 Balak Summons Balaam Then the children of Israel set out and camped in the plains of Moab on the other side of the Jordan from Jericho.

2 Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites.

3 Moab was very afraid of the people because they were many, and Moab was distressed because of the children of Israel.

4 Moab said to the elders of Midian, “Now this company will lick up all that are around us, as the ox licks up the grass of the field.” And Balak the son of Zippor was king of the Moabites at that time.

5 He sent messengers to Balaam the son of Beor at Pethor, which is by the Euphrates in the land of the sons of his people, to call him, saying, “A people went out from Egypt. They cover the face of the earth, and they dwell next to me.

6 And now, please come curse this people for me because they are too mighty for me. Perhaps I will prevail, and we will defeat them, and I will drive them out of the land because I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed.”

7 The elders of Moab and the elders of Midian went with the divination payments in their hand, and they came to Balaam and spoke to him the words of Balak.

8 He said to them, “Lodge here tonight, and I will bring you word again, as the Lord will speak to me.” And the leaders of Moab dwelt with Balaam.

9 God came to Balaam and said, “Who are these men with you?”

10 And Balaam said to God, “Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, has sent word to me, saying,

11 ‘A people went out of Egypt who covers the face of the earth. Now come, curse them for me. Perhaps I will be able to battle them and drive them out.’ ”

12 God said to Balaam, “You will not go with them. You will not curse the people because they are blessed.”

13 So Balaam rose up in the morning and said to the princes of Balak, “Go to your land because the Lord refuses to let me to go with you.”

14 The princes of Moab rose up, and they went to Balak and said, “Balaam refuses to come with us.”

15 Again Balak sent officials, more numerous and more honorable than they.

16 They came to Balaam and said to him, “Thus says Balak the son of Zippor, ‘Please, let nothing hold you back from coming to me,

17 because I will promote you to very great honor, and anything you say to me I will do. Come please, curse this people for me.’ ”

18 Balaam answered the servants of Balak, “If Balak gave me his house full of silver and gold, I am not able to go beyond the command of the Lord my God, to do less or more.

19 Now please remain here tonight, that I may know what more the Lord will say to me.”

20 God came to Balaam at night and said to him, “If the men come to call you, rise up and go with them. But surely the word which I will say to you, that will you do.”

21 Balaam, the Donkey, and the Angel Balaam rose up in the morning, and saddled his donkey, and went with the princes of Moab.

22 The anger of God was inflamed because he went, and the angel of the Lord stood in the way as an adversary against him. Now he was riding on his donkey, and his two servants were with him.

23 The donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way, and His sword was drawn in His hand, so the donkey turned out of the way and went into the field. Balaam struck the donkey to turn her onto the road.

24 But the angel of the Lord stood in a narrow path of the vineyards, a wall on this side and a wall on that side.

25 When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, she threw herself into the wall and crushed the foot of Balaam against the wall, and he struck her again.

26 The angel of the Lord went further and stood in a narrow place where there was no way to turn either to the right hand or to the left.

27 When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, she fell down under Balaam, and the anger of Balaam was inflamed, and he struck the donkey with a staff.

28 Then the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?”

29 And Balaam said to the donkey, “You have mocked me. O that there was a sword in my hand, for now I would kill you.”

30 The donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your donkey, whom you have ridden since I became yours, to this day? Do I normally do this to you?” And he said, “No.”

31 Then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way, and His sword was drawn in His hand, and he bowed his head and fell flat on his face.

32 The angel of the Lord said to him, “Why have you struck your donkey these three times? I have come out to oppose you, because your way is perverse before Me.

33 And the donkey saw Me and turned from Me these three times. If she had not turned from Me, surely by now I would have slain you and saved her alive.”

34 Balaam said to the angel of the Lord, “I have sinned because I did not know that You stood in the way against me. Now therefore, if it displeases You, I will return.”

35 The angel of the Lord said to Balaam, “Go with the men. But only speak the word that I tell you to speak.” So Balaam went with the leaders of Balak.

36 When Balak heard that Balaam had come, he went out to meet him in a city of Moab which is on the border of Arnon, which is at the furthest end of the border.

37 Balak said to Balaam, “Did I not earnestly send to summon you? Why did you not come to me? Indeed am I not able to honor you?”

38 And Balaam said to Balak, “I have come to you now. But am I able to speak just anything? The word God puts in my mouth is what I will speak. ”

39 Balaam went with Balak, and they came to Kiriath Huzoth.

40 Balak offered oxen and sheep and sent them to Balaam and to the officials who were with him.

41 Balaam’s First Prophecy It came to pass on the next day that Balak took Balaam and brought him up to Bamoth Baal, and from there he saw the extent of the people.

23

1 And Balaam said to Balak, “Build for me seven altars, and prepare for me seven oxen and seven rams.”

2 Balak did as Balaam had spoken, and Balak and Balaam offered on every altar a bull and a ram.

3 Balaam said to Balak, “Stand by your burnt offering, and I will go. Perhaps the Lord will come to meet me, and whatever He shows me I will tell you.” And he went to a high place.

4 God met Balaam, and he said to Him, “I have prepared seven altars, and I have offered on every altar a bull and a ram.”

5 The Lord put a word in the mouth of Balaam and said, “Return to Balak, and thus you will speak.”

6 So he returned to Balak, who was standing by his burnt offering with all the princes of Moab.

7 Then Balaam uttered his oracle, saying: “Balak has brought me from Aram, the king of Moab from the mountains of the east, saying, ‘Come, curse Jacob for me, and come, defy Israel!’

8 How will I curse whom God has not cursed? Or how will I defy whom the Lord has not defied?

9 For from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him; there, the people will dwell alone and will not be counted among the nations.

10 Who can count the dust of Jacob and the number of the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his!”

11 And Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies, but now you have certainly blessed them.”

12 He answered and said, “Must I not take heed to speak what the Lord puts in my mouth?”

13 Balaam’s Second Prophecy And Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place from where you may see them. You will see part of them, but will not see them all. Curse them for me from there.”

14 He brought him into the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

15 He said to Balak, “Stand here by your burnt offerings while I meet the Lord over there.”

16 The Lord met Balaam and put a word in his mouth and said, “Go again to Balak, and thus you will speak.”

17 When he came to him, he was standing by his burnt offerings with the princes of Moab. And Balak said to him, “What has the Lord spoken?”

18 And he took up his parable and said: “Rise up, Balak, and hear! Listen to me, you son of Zippor!

19 God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He spoken, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?

20 See, I have received a commandment to bless, and He has blessed, and I cannot reverse it.

21 “He has not beheld iniquity in Jacob, nor has He seen perverseness in Israel. The Lord his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them.

22 God, who brings them out of Egypt, has strength like a wild ox.

23 Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, nor is there any divination against Israel. For this time it will be said of Jacob and of Israel, ‘See what God has done!’

24 A people rises up as a great lion, and lifts itself up like a lion; it shall not lie down until it eats the prey and drinks the blood of the slain.”

25 Balak said to Balaam, “Do not curse them at all, nor bless them at all.”

26 But Balaam answered and said to Balak, “Did I not tell you, saying, ‘All that the Lord speaks, I must do’?”

27 Balaam’s Third Prophecy And Balak said to Balaam, “Please come. I will bring you to another place. Perhaps it will please God that you may curse them for me from there.”

28 Balak brought Balaam to the top of Peor, which looks toward Jeshimon.

29 Balaam said to Balak, “Build for me seven altars, and prepare for me seven bulls and seven rams.”

30 Balak did as Balaam said and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

24

1 And when Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel, he did not go as other times to seek for enchantments, but he set his face toward the wilderness.

2 Balaam lifted up his eyes, and he saw Israel dwelling in their tents by their tribes, and the Spirit of God came on him.

3 He took up his proverb and said: “Balaam the son of Beor has said, and the man whose eyes are open has said,

4 he has said, who heard the words of God, who saw the vision of the Almighty, falling into a trance, but having his eyes open:

5 “How lovely are your tents, O Jacob, and your tabernacles, O Israel!

6 “Like palm trees are they spread out, like gardens by the river’s side, like the aloe plant, which the Lord has planted, and like cedar trees beside the waters.

7 He will pour the water out of his buckets, and his seed will be in many waters. “His king will be higher than Agag, and his kingdom will be exalted.

8 “God brings him out of Egypt; he has the horns of a wild ox; he will eat up the nations, his enemies, and will break their bones, and pierce them through with his arrows.

9 He crouches, he lies down as a lion, and as a lion, who will stir him up? “Blessed is he who blesses you, and cursed is he who curses you.”

10 The anger of Balak was inflamed against Balaam, and he struck his hands together. And Balak said to Balaam, “I called you to curse my enemies, and indeed, you have certainly blessed them these three times.

11 Now flee to your own place. I thought to promote you to great honor. But certainly, the Lord has kept you back from honor.”

12 Balaam said to Balak, “Did I not speak to your messengers which you sent to me, saying,

13 ‘If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the mouth of the Lord, to do either good or bad of my own mind. But what the Lord speaks, I will speak’?

14 And now, I am going to my people. Come, I will advise you what this people will do to your people in the latter days.”

15 Balaam’s Fourth Prophecy He took up his parable and said: “The oracle of Balaam the son of Beor, and the oracle of the man whose eyes are open;

16 the oracle of the one hearing the words of God, and knowing the knowledge of the Most High, who sees the vision of the Almighty, falling into a trance, but having his eyes open:

17 “I will see him, but not now; I will behold him, but not near; a star will come out of Jacob, and a scepter will rise out of Israel, and will crush the borderlands of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth.

18 Edom will be a possession, and Seir, a possession of its enemies, while Israel does valiantly.

19 One out of Jacob shall have dominion, and destroy the survivors of the city.”

20 Then he looked on Amalek; he took up his proverb and said: “Amalek was the first of the nations, but his end will be that he perishes forever.”

21 He looked on the Kenites and took up his proverb and said: “Strong is your dwelling place, and you put your nest in a rock;

22 nevertheless the Kenite will be wasted. How long until Ashur carries you away captive?”

23 He took up his proverb and said: “Alas, who will live when God does this?

24     And ships will come from the coasts of Cyprus and will afflict Ashur and will afflict Eber, and he also will perish forever.”

25 Balaam rose up and went and returned to his place, and Balak also went his way.

25

1 Moab Seduces Israel While Israel dwelt in Shittim, the people began to commit harlotry with the women of Moab.

2 They called the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods.

3 Israel joined himself to the Baal of Peor, and the anger of the Lord was inflamed against Israel.

4 The Lord said to Moses, “Take all the chiefs of the people and hang them before the Lord in the sun, that the fierce anger of the Lord turn from Israel.”

5 Moses said to the judges of Israel, “Kill each of the men who have aligned themselves with the Baal of Peor.”

6 Behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought to his brothers a Midianite woman in the sight of Moses and in the sight of all the assembly of the children of Israel, who were weeping before the door of the tent of meeting.

7 When Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from among the assembly and took a spear in his hand,

8 and he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel and the woman through her belly. So the plague was stopped from the children of Israel.

9 Those that died in the plague were twenty-four thousand.

10 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

11 “Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned My wrath away from the children of Israel, because he was zealous for My sake among them, so I did not exterminate the children of Israel in My zeal.

12 Therefore say, ‘I hereby grant him My covenant of peace.

13 And it will be for him and his seed after him, even the covenant of an everlasting priesthood, because he was zealous for his God and made an atonement for the children of Israel.’ ”

14 Now the name of the slain Israelite who was slain with the Midianite woman was Zimri the son of Salu, a leader of a chief house among the Simeonites.

15 The name of the Midianite woman that was slain was Kozbi the daughter of Zur. He was chief over a people and of a father’s house in Midian.

16 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

17 “Be hostile to the Midianites, and defeat them,

18 because they have been hostile to you with their wiles, with which they have deceived you in the matter of Peor and in the matter of Kozbi the daughter of a leader of Midian, their sister, who was slain on the day of the plague because of Peor.”

26

1 The Second Census After the plague, the Lord spoke to Moses and to Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest, saying,

2 “Take the count of all the assembly of the children of Israel from twenty years old and older, throughout their fathers’ houses, all that are able to go to war in Israel.”

3 Moses and Eleazar the priest spoke with them in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho, saying,

4 “Take the count of the people from twenty years old and older,” as the Lord commanded Moses. The children of Israel, who went out of the land of Egypt, were these:

5 Reuben, the oldest son of Israel. The children of Reuben: of Hanok, from whom comes the family of the Hanokites; of Pallu, the family of the Palluites;

6 of Hezron, the family of the Hezronites; of Karmi, the family of the Karmites.

7 These are the families of the Reubenites: those who were counted were forty-three thousand seven hundred and thirty.

8 The son of Pallu was Eliab.

9 The sons of Eliab were Nemuel, and Dathan, and Abiram. This is that Dathan and Abiram, called out from the assembly, who argued against Moses and against Aaron in the company of Korah when they argued against the Lord.

10 And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them with Korah when that company died, when the fire devoured two hundred and fifty men, and they became a sign.

11 But the children of Korah did not die.

12 The sons of Simeon by their families were: of Nemuel, the family of the Nemuelites; of Jamin, the family of the Jaminites; of Jakin, the family of the Jakinites;

13 of Zerah, the family of the Zerahites; of Shaul, the family of the Shaulites.

14 These are the families of the Simeonites: twenty-two thousand two hundred.

15 The children of Gad by their families were: of Zephon, the family of the Zephonites; of Haggi, the family of the Haggites; of Shuni, the family of the Shunites;

16 of Ozni, the family of the Oznites; of Eri, the family of the Erites;

17 of Arodi, the family of the Arodites; of Areli, the family of the Arelites.

18 These are the families of the children of Gad according to those by their count: forty thousand five hundred.

19 The sons of Judah were Er and Onan, and Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan.

20 The sons of Judah after their families were: of Shelah, the family of the Shelanites; of Perez, the family of the Perezites; of Zerah, the family of the Zerahites.

21 The sons of Perez were: of Hezron, the family of the Hezronites; of Hamul, the family of the Hamulites.

22 These are the families of Judah by their count: seventy-six thousand five hundred.

23 The sons of Issachar by their families were: of Tola, the family of the Tolaites; of Puah, the family of the Puites;

24 of Jashub, the family of the Jashubites; of Shimron, the family of the Shimronites.

25 These are the families of Issachar by their count: sixty-four thousand three hundred.

26 The sons of Zebulun by their families were: of Sered, the family of the Seredites; of Elon, the family of the Elonites; of Jahleel, the family of the Jahleelites.

27 These are the families of the Zebulunites by their count: sixty thousand five hundred.

28 The sons of Joseph according to their families, by Manasseh and Ephraim, were:

29 The sons of Manasseh: of Makir, the family of the Makirites, and Makir begot Gilead; of Gilead, the family of the Gileadites.

30 These are the sons of Gilead: of Iezer, the family of the Iezerites; of Helek, the family of the Helekites;

31 and of Asriel, the family of the Asrielites; and of Shechem, the family of the Shechemites;

32 and of Shemida, the family of the Shemidaites; and of Hepher, the family of the Hepherites.

33 Zelophehad the son of Hepher had no sons, but daughters, and the names of the daughters of Zelophehad were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milkah, and Tirzah.

34 These are the families of Manasseh, and those who were numbered of them were fifty-two thousand seven hundred.

35 These are the sons of Ephraim according to their families: of Shuthelah, the family of the Shuthelahites; of Beker, the family of the Bekerites; of Tahan, the family of the Tahanites.

36 These are the sons of Shuthelah: of Eran, the family of the Eranites.

37 These are the families of the sons of Ephraim by their count: thirty-two thousand five hundred. These are the sons of Joseph by their families.

38 The sons of Benjamin by their families were: of Bela, the family of the Belaites; of Ashbel, the family of the Ashbelites; of Ahiram, the family of the Ahiramites;

39 of Shupham, the family of the Shuphamites; of Hupham, the family of the Huphamites.

40 The sons of Bela were Ard and Naaman: of Ard, the family of the Ardites; and of Naaman, the family of the Naamites.

41 These are the sons of Benjamin by their families, and by their count: forty-five thousand six hundred.

42 These are the sons of Dan according to their families: of Shuham, the family of the Shuhamites. These are the families of Dan after their families.

43 All the families of the Shuhamites, by their count, were sixty-four thousand four hundred.

44 The sons of Asher by their families were: of Imnah, the family of the Imnites; of Ishvi, the family of the Ishvites; of Beriah, the family of the Beriites.

45 of the sons of Beriah were: of Heber, the family of the Heberites; of Malkiel, the family of the Malkielites.

46 The name of the daughter of Asher was Serah.

47 These are the families of the sons of Asher by their count: fifty-three thousand four hundred.

48 Of the sons of Naphtali by their families were: of Jahzeel, the family of the Jahzeelites; of Guni, the family of the Gunites;

49 of Jezer, the family of the Jezerites; of Shillem, the family of the Shillemites.

50 These are the families of Naphtali according to their families; those who were numbered of them were forty-five thousand four hundred.

51 These were the counted of the children of Israel: six hundred and one thousand, seven hundred and thirty.

52 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

53 To these the land will be divided for an inheritance by the number of names.

54 To a large tribe you shall give a large inheritance, and to small tribe you shall give a small inheritance. To each one his inheritance will be given according to those who were numbered of him.

55 But the land will be divided by lot. By the names of the tribes of their fathers they will inherit.

56 According to the lot his possession will be divided between large and small.

57 These are those counted of the Levites by their families: of Gershon, the family of the Gershonites; of Kohath, the family of the Kohathites; of Merari, the family of the Merarites.

58 These are the families of the Levites: the family of the Libnites, the family of the Hebronites, the family of the Mahlites, the family of the Mushites, the family of the Korahites. And Kohath begot Amram.

59 And the name of the wife of Amram was Jochebed, the daughter of Levi, whom her mother bore to Levi in Egypt, and she bore to Amram Aaron and Moses and Miriam their sister.

60 To Aaron was born Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.

61 Nadab and Abihu died when they offered foreign fire before the Lord.

62 Those who were numbered of them were twenty-three thousand, each male from a month old and older; for they were not counted among the children of Israel, because there was no inheritance given them among the children of Israel.

63 These were counted by Moses and Eleazar the priest, who counted the children of Israel in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho.

64 But among these there was not a man counted by Moses and Aaron the priest when they counted the children of Israel in the Wilderness of Sinai

65 because the Lord had said of them, “They will surely die in the wilderness.” And there was not a man left of them, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun.

27

1 Laws of Inheritance Then came near the daughters of Zelophehad, the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Makir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of Manasseh the son of Joseph, and these are the names of his daughters: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milkah, and Tirzah.

2 They stood before Moses, and before Eleazar the priest, and before the leaders and all the assembly by the door of the tent of meeting, saying,

3 “Our father died in the wilderness, and he was not in the company of them that gathered against the Lord, in the company of Korah, but died in his own sin and had no sons.

4 Why should the name of our father diminish from among his family, because he has no son? Give to us a possession among the brothers of our father.”

5 Moses brought their case before the Lord.

6 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

7 The daughters of Zelophehad speak right. You will certainly give them an inheritance among their father’s brothers, and you will cause the inheritance of their father to pass on to them.

8 You will speak to the children of Israel, saying, “If a man dies, and has no son, then you will cause his inheritance to pass on to his daughter.

9 If he has no daughter, then you will give his inheritance to his brothers.

10 If he has no brothers, then you will give his inheritance to his father’s brothers.

11 If his father has no brothers, then you will give his inheritance to his closest kinsman in his family, and he will possess it. And it will be for the children of Israel a statute of judgment, as the Lord commanded Moses.”

12 Joshua to Succeed Moses The Lord said to Moses, “Go up into this mountain of Abarim, and see the land which I have given to the children of Israel.

13 When you have seen it, you also will be gathered to your people as Aaron your brother was gathered.

14 For you rebelled against My commandment in the Wilderness of Zin when the congregation argued against Me. You did not show My holiness at the waters before their eyes.” (These are the waters of Meribah in Kadesh in the Wilderness of Zin.)

15 Moses spoke to the Lord, saying,

16 “Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the assembly

17 who will go out before them, and who will go in before them, and who will lead them out, and who will bring them in, so the assembly of the Lord will not be like sheep who do not have a shepherd.”

18 The Lord said to Moses, “Take Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him,

19 and cause him to stand before Eleazar the priest and before all the assembly, and command in their sight.

20 You will put some of your majesty on him, in order that all the assembly of the children of Israel will listen.

21 He will stand before Eleazar the priest, who will ask for him about the judgment of the Urim before the Lord. At his word will they go out, and at his word they will come in, both he and all the children of Israel with him, even all the assembly.”

22 Moses did as the Lord commanded him, and he took Joshua, and he caused him to stand before Eleazar the priest and before all the assembly.

23 And he laid his hands on him and commanded him as the Lord spoke by the hand of Moses.

28

1 Daily Offerings And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

2 Command the children of Israel and say to them: My offering, My bread for My sacrifices made by fire, as a pleasing aroma to Me, you will guard to offer to Me at their time.

3 You will say to them: This is the fire offering which you will bring near to the Lord: two male lambs in their first year, without blemish, day by day, as a regular burnt offering.

4 The one lamb you will offer in the morning, and the other lamb you will offer at evening,

5 and one-tenth of an ephah of flour as a grain offering, mingled with one-fourth of a hin of beaten oil.

6 It is a regular burnt offering, which was ordained at Mount Sinai as a pleasing aroma, a sacrifice made by fire to the Lord.

7 Its drink offering will be one-fourth of a hin for the one lamb. In a holy place you will pour the strong wine to the Lord as a drink offering.

8 The other lamb you will offer at evening. As the morning grain offering and its drink offering, you will offer it as an offering made by fire, a pleasing aroma to the Lord.

9 Sabbath Offerings On the Sabbath day two lambs in their first year, without blemish, and two-tenths of an ephah of flour as a grain offering, mixed with oil, and its drink offering—

10 this is the burnt offering of every Sabbath, in addition to the regular burnt offering and its drink offering.

11 Monthly Offerings At the beginnings of your months you will offer a burnt offering to the Lord: two young bulls, one ram, seven lambs in their first year, without blemish;

12 three-tenths of an ephah of flour as a grain offering, mixed with oil, for one bull; and two-tenths of an ephah of flour as a grain offering, mixed with oil, for one ram;

13 and one-tenth of an ephah of flour mixed with oil as a grain offering for one lamb; as a burnt offering of a pleasing aroma, a sacrifice made by fire to the Lord.

14 Their drink offerings will be one-half a hin of wine for a bull, and one-third of a hin for a ram, and one-fourth of a hin for a lamb. This is the burnt offering of each month throughout the months of the year.

15 Also one male goat as a sin offering to the Lord shall be offered, besides the regular burnt offering and its drink offering.

16 Passover Offerings On the fourteenth day of the first month is the Passover of the Lord.

17 On the fifteenth day of this month is the feast. Unleavened bread will be eaten for seven days.

18 On the first day there will be a holy convocation. You will not do any ordinary work,

19 but you will offer a sacrifice made by fire as a burnt offering to the Lord: two young bulls, and one ram, and seven lambs in their first year. Be sure they are without blemish.

20 And their grain offering will be of flour mixed with oil. Three-tenths of an ephah you will offer for a bull, and two-tenths of an ephah for a ram.

21 One-tenth of an ephah you will offer for each of the seven lambs,

22 and one goat as a sin offering, to make an atonement for you.

23 You will offer these in addition to the burnt offering in the morning, which is for a regular burnt offering.

24 The same way you will offer daily, throughout the seven days, the food of the sacrifice made by fire, as a pleasing aroma to the Lord. It will be offered in addition to the regular burnt offering and its drink offering.

25 And on the seventh day you will have a holy assembly. You will not do any ordinary work.

26 Offerings at the Feast of Weeks And on the day of the first fruits, when you bring a new grain offering to the Lord at your Feast of Weeks, you will have a holy assembly. You will do no ordinary work.

27 But you will offer the burnt offering as a pleasing aroma to the Lord: two young bulls, one ram, and seven lambs in their first year;

28 and their grain offering of flour mixed with oil, three-tenths of an ephah for one bull, two-tenths of an ephah for one ram,

29 one-tenth of an ephah for each of the seven lambs;

30 and one goat, to make an atonement for you.

31 Make sure they are without blemish. You will offer them with their drink offerings, besides the regular burnt offering and its grain offering.

29

1 Offerings at the Feast of Trumpets In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you will have a holy assembly. You will do no ordinary work. It is a day of blowing the trumpets for you.

2 You will offer a burnt offering as a pleasing aroma to the Lord: one young bull, one ram, and seven lambs in their first year, without blemish;

3 their grain offering will be of flour mixed with oil, three-tenths of an ephah for a bull, and two-tenths of an ephah for a ram,

4 and one-tenth of an ephah for one lamb, for the seven lambs;

5 also one goat as a sin offering, to make an atonement for you;

6 besides the burnt offering of the month and its grain offering, and the daily burnt offering and its grain offering, and their drink offerings, according to their rule, as a pleasing aroma, a sacrifice made by fire to the Lord.

7 Offerings on the Day of Atonement You will have a holy assembly on the tenth day of this seventh month, and you will afflict yourselves. You will not do any work on it.

8 But you will offer a burnt offering to the Lord as a pleasing aroma: one young bull, one ram, and seven lambs in their first year. Be sure they are without blemish.

9 Their grain offering will be of flour mixed with oil, three-tenths of an ephah for the bull, and two-tenths of an ephah for one ram,

10 and one-tenth of an ephah for each of the seven lambs;

11 also one goat as a sin offering in addition to the sin offering of atonement, and the regular burnt offering, and its grain offering, and their drink offerings.

12 Offerings at the Feast of Tabernacles On the fifteenth day of the seventh month you will have a holy convocation. You will do no ordinary work, and you will keep a feast to the Lord seven days.

13 And you will offer a burnt offering, a sacrifice made by fire, as a pleasing aroma to the Lord: thirteen young bulls, two rams, and fourteen lambs in their first year, without blemish.

14 And their grain offering will be of flour mixed with oil, three-tenths of an ephah to a bull, and two-tenths of an ephah to each ram of the two rams,

15 and one-tenth to each lamb of the fourteen lambs;

16 and one goat as a sin offering in addition to the regular burnt offering, its grain offering, and its drink offering.

17 On the second day present twelve young bulls, two rams, fourteen lambs in their first year without blemish,

18 and their grain offering and their drink offerings, for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, by their number according to the ordinance;

19 also one goat as a sin offering, besides the regular burnt offering, and its grain offering, and their drink offerings.

20 On the third day present eleven bulls, two rams, fourteen lambs in their first year without blemish,

21 and their grain offering and their drink offerings, for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, by their number according to the ordinance;

22 also one goat as a sin offering, besides the regular burnt offering, and its grain offering, and its drink offering.

23 On the fourth day present ten bulls, two rams, and fourteen lambs in their first year without blemish,

24 and their grain offering and their drink offerings, for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, by their number according to the ordinance;

25 also one goat as a sin offering in addition to the regular burnt offering, its grain offering, and its drink offering.

26 On the fifth day present nine bulls, two rams, and fourteen lambs in their first year without blemish,

27 and their grain offering and their drink offerings, for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, by their number according to the ordinance;

28 also one goat as a sin offering in addition to the regular burnt offering, and its grain offering, and its drink offering.

29 On the sixth day present eight bulls, two rams, and fourteen lambs in their first year without blemish,

30 and their grain offering and their drink offerings, for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, by their number according to the ordinance;

31 also one goat as a sin offering in addition to the regular burnt offering, its grain offering, and its drink offering.

32 On the seventh day present seven bulls, two rams, and fourteen lambs in their first year without blemish,

33 and their grain offering and their drink offerings, for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, by their number according to the ordinance;

34 also one goat as a sin offering in addition to the regular burnt offering, its grain offering, and its drink offering.

35 On the eighth day you will have a solemn assembly. You will do no ordinary work on it.

36 But you will offer a burnt offering, a sacrifice made by fire as a pleasing aroma to the Lord: one bull, one ram, seven lambs in their first year, without blemish.

37 Their grain offering and their drink offerings, for the bull, for the ram, and for the lambs, will be according to their number, according to the rule;

38 also one goat as a sin offering in addition to the regular burnt offering, and its grain offering, and its drink offering.

39 These things you will do to the Lord in your set feasts in addition to your vows and your freewill offerings, as your burnt offerings, and as your grain offerings, and as your drink offerings, and as your peace offerings.

40 Moses told the children of Israel everything, according to all that the Lord commanded Moses.

30

1 The Law About Vows And Moses spoke to the heads of the tribes of the children of Israel, saying: This is the thing that the Lord has commanded.

2 If a man vows a vow to the Lord, or swears an oath to bind himself with a bond, he will not break his word. He will do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.

3 If a woman makes a vow to the Lord, and binds herself by a bond, while in her father’s house in her youth,

4 and her father hears her vow and her bond with which she has bound herself, and her father is silent to her, then all her vows will stand, and every bond with which she has bound herself will stand.

5 But if her father restrains her in the day he hears, none of her vows or her bonds with which she has bound herself will stand, and the Lord will forgive her, because her father restrained her.

6 If she had a husband when she vowed, or uttered anything out of her lips with which she bound herself,

7 and her husband heard it and was silent to her in the day that he heard it, then her vows will stand, and her bonds with which she bound herself will stand.

8 But if her husband restrains her on the day that he heard it, then he will make her vow which she vowed and that which she uttered with her lips, with which she bound herself, of no effect, and the Lord will forgive her.

9 But every vow of a widow and of her that is divorced, with which she has bound herself, will stand against her.

10 If she vowed in her husband’s house, or bound herself by a bond with an oath,

11 and her husband heard it and was silent to her and did not restrain her, then all her vows will stand, and every bond with which she bound herself will stand.

12 But if her husband has clearly voided them on the day he heard them, then whatever proceeded out of her lips concerning her vows, or concerning the bond of herself, will not stand. Her husband has voided them, and the Lord will forgive her.

13 Every vow, and every binding oath to afflict her soul, her husband may establish, or her husband may nullify.

14 But if her husband says nothing to her from day to day, then he confirms all her vows, or all her pledges, which bind her. He confirms them because he said nothing to her on the day that he heard them.

15 But if he clearly makes them void after he has heard them, then he will bear her iniquity.

16 These are the statutes which the Lord commanded Moses, between a man and his wife, and between the father and his daughter, while she is still young and in her father’s house.

31

1 Vengeance on the Midianites And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

2 “Avenge the children of Israel on the Midianites. Afterward you will be gathered to your people.”

3 Moses spoke to the people, saying, “Arm some of your men for war, and let them go against the Midianites to give the vengeance of the Lord against Midian.

4 A thousand from each tribe, throughout all the tribes of Israel, you will send to the war.”

5 So there were delivered from the thousands of Israel a thousand of each tribe, twelve thousand armed for war.

6 Moses sent them to the war, a thousand from each tribe, with Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, with the holy vessels and the trumpets to sound the alarm in his hand.

7 They waged war against the Midianites, as the Lord commanded Moses, and they killed every male.

8 They killed the kings of Midian, in addition to the rest of those who were killed: Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, five kings of Midian. Balaam the son of Beor they also killed with the sword.

9 The children of Israel returned with the women of Midian and their children and took their livestock, and all their flocks, and all their wealth for plunder.

10 They burned with fire all their cities in which they lived and all their camps.

11 They took all the plunder and all the prey of men and of beasts.

12 They brought the captives, the prey, and the plunder to Moses, to Eleazar the priest, to the assembly of the children of Israel, and to the camp on the plains of Moab, which are by Jordan across from Jericho.

13 Moses and Eleazar the priest and all the leaders of the assembly went to meet them outside the camp.

14 Moses was angry with the officers of the army, with the captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, who came from the battle.

15 Moses said to them, “Have you saved all the women alive?

16 These caused the children of Israel, through the word of Balaam, to act unfaithfully against the Lord concerning the thing of Peor, and there was a plague among the assembly of the Lord.

17 So now kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known a man by lying with him.

18 But keep alive for yourselves all the young girls who have not known a man by lying with him.

19 “And you stay outside the camp seven days. Whoever has killed any person and whoever has touched any slain, purify both yourselves and your captives on the third day and on the seventh day.

20 Purify all your clothes, and all that is made of skins, and all work of goats’ hair, and all things made of wood.”

21 Eleazar the priest said to the fighting men of Israel who went to the battle, “This is the ordinance of the law which the Lord commanded Moses:

22 Only the gold, and the silver, the bronze, the iron, the tin, and the lead,

23 everything that can go through the fire, you will make it go through the fire, and it will be clean, but some of it will be purified with the water of purification, and all that cannot pass through the fire you will make go through the water.

24 You will wash your clothes on the seventh day, and you will be clean, and afterward you will come into the camp.”

25 Dividing the Plunder The Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

26 “Take the count of the plunder that was taken, of man and of beast, you and Eleazar the priest, and the chief of the fathers of the assembly.

27 And divide the prey into two parts between those that took the war on themselves, who went out to battle, and between all the assembly.

28 And levy a tribute to the Lord from the fighting men of Israel who went out to battle: one person out of five hundred, of the people and of the oxen, and of the donkeys, and of the sheep;

29 take it from their half, and give it to Eleazar the priest as an offering to the Lord.

30 Of the half of the children of Israel, you will take one portion of fifty, of the people, of the oxen, of the donkeys, and of the flocks, of all manner of beasts, and give them to the Levites, who keep the guard of the tabernacle of the Lord.”

31 Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the Lord commanded Moses.

32 The plunder, being the rest of the prey, which the fighting men of Israel had caught, was six hundred and seventy-five thousand sheep,

33 seventy-two thousand oxen,

34 and sixty-one thousand donkeys,

35 and thirty-two thousand people in all, of women who had not known a man by lying with him.

36 The half, which was the portion of those that went out to war, was three hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep.

37 And the Lord’s tribute of the sheep was six hundred and seventy-five.

38 The oxen were thirty-six thousand, of which the Lord’s tribute was seventy-two.

39 The donkeys were thirty thousand five hundred, of which the Lord’s tribute was sixty-one.

40 The people were sixteen thousand, of which the Lord’s tribute was thirty-two people.

41 Moses gave the tribute which was the Lord’s offering to Eleazar the priest, as the Lord commanded Moses.

42 Of the half of the children of Israel, which Moses divided from the men who fought,

43 the half belonging to the assembly was three hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep,

44 thirty-six thousand oxen,

45 thirty thousand five hundred donkeys,

46 and sixteen thousand people.

47 From the half of the children of Israel Moses took one out of fifty, of man and of beast, and gave them to the Levites, who kept the guard of the tabernacle of the Lord, as the Lord commanded Moses.

48 The officers who were over thousands of the army, the captains of thousands, and captains of hundreds, came near to Moses,

49 and they said to Moses, “Your servants have taken the count of the fighting men of Israel who are in our hand, and not a man of us is missing.

50 We have brought an offering for the Lord, what every man has gotten of jewels of gold, chains, and bracelets, rings, earrings, and pendants, to make an atonement for ourselves before the Lord.”

51 Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold from them, all in the form of fashioned articles.

52 All the gold of the offering that they offered up to the Lord, of the captains of thousands and of the captains of hundreds, was sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty shekels.

53 The fighting men of Israel had taken plunder, each man for himself.

54 And Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold of the captains of thousands and of hundreds and brought it into the tent of meeting as a memorial for the children of Israel before the Lord.

32

1 The Tribes Settling in Gilead Now the children of Reuben and the children of Gad had a very great number of livestock, and when they saw the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead was a place for livestock,

2 the children of Gad and the children of Reuben came and spoke to Moses, and to Eleazar the priest, and to the leaders of the assembly, saying,

3 “Ataroth, and Dibon, and Jazer, and Nimrah, and Heshbon, and Elealeh, and Sebam, and Nebo, and Beon,

4 the land which the Lord defeated before the assembly of Israel is a land for livestock, and your servants have livestock.”

5 And they said, “If we have found mercy in your sight, let this land be given to your servants for a possession, and do not take us over the Jordan.”

6 Moses said to the children of Gad and to the children of Reuben, “Will your brothers go to war, and you will dwell here?

7 And why would you discourage the hearts of the children of Israel from going over into the land which the Lord has given to them?

8 Thus your fathers did, when I sent them from Kadesh Barnea to see the land.

9 When they went up to the Valley of Eshkol and saw the land, they discouraged the hearts of the children of Israel so they would not go into the land which the Lord had given them.

10 And the anger of the Lord was inflamed on that day, and He swore, saying,

11 ‘Surely none of the men who came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and older, will see the ground which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, because they did not completely follow Me,

12 except Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite, and Joshua the son of Nun, because they completely followed the Lord.’

13 The anger of the Lord was inflamed against Israel, and He made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation that did evil in the eyes of the Lord was finished.

14 “Behold, you have risen up in your fathers’ place, an increase of sinful men, to increase more the burning anger of the Lord toward Israel.

15 If you turn away from following Him, He will again abandon them in the wilderness, and you will destroy all this people.”

16 They approached him and said, “We will build sheepfolds here for our livestock and cities for our children.

17 But we ourselves will be armed, ready before the children of Israel, until we have brought them to their place. Our little ones will dwell in the fortified cities because of the inhabitants of the land.

18 We will not return to our houses until all the children of Israel have inherited their inheritance.

19 We will not inherit with them on the other side of the Jordan or beyond, because our inheritance fell to us on this side of the Jordan to the east.”

20 Moses said to them, “If you will do this thing, if you will be armed before the Lord for war,

21 and all of you, each armed, will go over the Jordan before the Lord until He has driven out His enemies from before Him

22 and the land is subdued before the Lord, then after that you will return and be exempt before the Lord and before Israel, and this land will be your possession before the Lord.

23 “But if you will not do so, you have sinned against the Lord, and be sure your sin will find you out.

24 Build for yourselves cities for your children and folds for your sheep, and do that which has proceeded out of your mouth.”

25 The children of Gad and the children of Reuben spoke to Moses, saying, “Your servants will do as my lord commands.

26 Our children, our wives, our flocks, and all our livestock will be there in the cities of Gilead,

27 but your servants will cross over, each man armed for war, before the Lord to battle, as my lord says.”

28 So Moses commanded Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun, and the chief fathers of the tribes of the children of Israel.

29 And Moses said to them, “If the children of Gad and the children of Reuben will cross over the Jordan with you, each man armed for battle before the Lord, and the land will be subdued before you, you are to give them the land of Gilead as a possession.

30 But if they do not cross over with you armed, they will have possessions among you in the land of Canaan.”

31 The children of Gad and the children of Reuben answered, saying, “As the Lord has said to your servants, so we will do.

32 We will cross over, armed before the Lord into the land of Canaan, so the possession of our inheritance on this side of the Jordan may be ours.”

33 Moses gave to the children of Gad, to the children of Reuben, and to half the tribe of Manasseh the son of Joseph, the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites and the kingdom of Og king of Bashan, the land with the cities within the borders, the cities of the surrounding land.

34 The children of Gad built Dibon and Ataroth and Aroer,

35 Atroth Shophan and Jazer and Jogbehah,

36 Beth Nimrah and Beth Haran, fortified cities, and folds for sheep.

37 And the children of Reuben built Heshbon and Elealeh and Kiriathaim,

38 Nebo and Baal Meon (their names being changed) and Sibmah; and they named the other cities which they built.

39 The children of Makir the son of Manasseh went to Gilead and captured it and drove out the Amorites who were in it.

40 Moses gave Gilead to Makir the son of Manasseh, and he lived in it.

41 Jair the son of Manasseh went and captured its small towns and called them Havvoth Jair.

42 Nobah went and captured Kenath and its villages and called it Nobah, after his own name.

33

1 Recounting Israel’s Journey These are the journeys of the children of Israel, who went out of the land of Egypt with their armies under the hand of Moses and Aaron.

2 Moses recorded the starting points of their journeys at the command of the Lord. These are their journeys according to their starting points.

3 They set out from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month. On the day after the Passover the children of Israel went out with a high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians,

4 because the Egyptians buried all their firstborn, whom the Lord had killed among them. Upon their gods the Lord executed judgments.

5 The children of Israel set out from Rameses and camped in Sukkoth.

6 They set out from Sukkoth and camped in Etham, which is on the edge of the wilderness.

7 They set out from Etham and turned to Pi Hahiroth, which is before Baal Zephon, and they camped before Migdol.

8 They set out from before Pi Hahiroth, and passed through the midst of the sea into the wilderness, and went three days’ journey in the Wilderness of Etham, and camped in Marah.

9 They set out from Marah, and came to Elim, and in Elim were twelve fountains of water and seventy palm trees, and they camped there.

10 They set out from Elim and camped by the Red Sea.

11 They set out from the Red Sea and camped in the Wilderness of Sin.

12 They set out from the Wilderness of Sin and camped in Dophkah.

13 They set out from Dophkah and camped in Alush.

14 They set out from Alush and camped at Rephidim, where there was no water for the people to drink.

15 They set out from Rephidim and camped in the Wilderness of Sinai.

16 They set out from the Wilderness of Sinai and camped at Kibroth Hattaavah.

17 They set out from Kibroth Hattaavah and camped at Hazeroth.

18 They set out from Hazeroth and camped in Rithmah.

19 They set out from Rithmah and camped at Rimmon Perez.

20 They set out from Rimmon Perez and camped in Libnah.

21 They set out from Libnah and camped at Rissah.

22 They set out from Rissah and camped in Kehelathah.

23 They set out from Kehelathah and camped at Mount Shepher.

24 They set out from Mount Shepher and camped in Haradah.

25 They set out from Haradah and camped in Makheloth.

26 They set out from Makheloth and camped at Tahath.

27 They set out from Tahath and camped at Terah.

28 They set out from Terah and camped in Mithkah.

29 They went from Mithkah and camped in Hashmonah.

30 They set out from Hashmonah and camped at Moseroth.

31 They set out from Moseroth and camped in Bene Jaakan.

32 They set out from Bene Jaakan and camped at Hor Haggidgad.

33 They set out from Hor Haggidgad and camped in Jotbathah.

34 They set out from Jotbathah and camped at Abronah.

35 They set out from Abronah and camped at Ezion Geber.

36 They set out from Ezion Geber and camped in the Wilderness of Zin, which is Kadesh.

37 They set out from Kadesh and camped at Mount Hor, at the edge of the land of Edom.

38 Aaron the priest went up onto Mount Hor at the word of the Lord and died there in the fortieth year after the children of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the first day of the fifth month.

39 Aaron was one hundred and twenty-three years old when he died on Mount Hor.

40 King Arad the Canaanite, who lived in the south in the land of Canaan, heard of the coming of the children of Israel.

41 They set out from Mount Hor and camped in Zalmonah.

42 They set out from Zalmonah and camped in Punon.

43 They set out from Punon and camped in Oboth.

44 They set out from Oboth and camped in Iye Abarim, on the border of Moab.

45 They set out from Iye Abarim and camped in Dibon Gad.

46 They set out from Dibon Gad and camped in Almon Diblathaim.

47 They set out from Almon Diblathaim and camped in the mountains of Abarim, before Nebo.

48 They set out from the mountains of Abarim and camped in the plains of Moab near Jordan of Jericho.

49 They camped by Jordan, from Beth Jeshimoth to Abel Shittim in the plains of Moab.

50 Instructions for Conquering Canaan The Lord spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho, saying:

51 Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: When you are crossing over Jordan into the land of Canaan,

52 then you will drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their carved images, and destroy all their molded images, and destroy all their high places,

53 and you will drive out the inhabitants of the land and dwell in it, because I have given you the land to inherit it.

54 You will possess the land by lot for an inheritance among your families, and to the larger you will give the larger inheritance, and to the smaller you will give the smaller inheritance. Every man’s inheritance will be in the place where his lot falls. By the tribes of your fathers you will inherit.

55 But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then those whom you let remain will be like thorns in your eyes and thorns in your sides. They will show hostility to you in the land in which you live.

56 And what I had planned to do to them, I will do to you.

34

1 The Borders of Canaan And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

2 Command the children of Israel, and say to them: When you are going into the land of Canaan, this is the land that will fall to you for an inheritance, the land of Canaan with its borders.

3 Then your south side will be from the Wilderness of Zin along by the border of Edom, and your south border will be the end of the Dead Sea to the east.

4 And your border will turn from the south to the Ascent of Akrabbim, and continue to Zin, and the end of it will be from the south to Kadesh Barnea. Then it will continue to Hazar Addar, and pass on to Azmon.

5 And the border will circle around from Azmon to the Brook of Egypt, and the end of it will be at the Mediterranean Sea.

6 For the western border, you will have the Mediterranean Sea and its coastline. This will be your western border.

7 This will be your northern border: From the Mediterranean Sea you will mark a line to Mount Hor;

8 from Mount Hor you will mark a line of your border to Lebo Hamath, and the limits of the border will be to Zedad.

9 And the border will go on to Ziphron, and the limits of it will be at Hazar Enan. This will be your northern border.

10 You will mark a line for your eastern border from Hazar Enan to Shepham.

11 And the border will go down from Shepham to Riblah, on the east side of Ain, and the border will go down and will reach the side of the Sea of Kinnereth to the east.

12 And the border will go down to the Jordan, and the limits of it will be at the Dead Sea. This will be your land with its borders all around.

13 Moses commanded the children of Israel, saying: This is the land which you will possess by lot, which the Lord commanded to give to the nine tribes, and to the half-tribe

14 because the tribe of the children of Reuben by the house of their fathers and the tribe of the children of Gad by the house of their fathers have received their inheritance, and half the tribe of Manasseh has received their inheritance.

15 The two tribes and the half-tribe have received their inheritance on this side of the Jordan near Jericho to the east, toward the sunrise.

16 The Leaders to Divide the Land The Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

17 These are the names of the men who will divide the land for you: Eleazar the priest and Joshua the son of Nun.

18 You will take one leader of each tribe to divide the land by inheritance.

19 These are the names of the men: of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh;

20 of the tribe of the children of Simeon, Shemuel the son of Ammihud;

21 of the tribe of Benjamin, Elidad the son of Kislon;

22 the leader of the tribe of the children of Dan, Bukki the son of Jogli;

23 the leader of the children of Joseph, for the tribe of the children of Manasseh, Hanniel the son of Ephod;

24 the leader of the tribe of the children of Ephraim, Kemuel the son of Shiphtan;

25 the leader of the tribe of the children of Zebulun, Elizaphan the son of Parnak;

26 the leader of the tribe of the children of Issachar, Paltiel the son of Azzan;

27 the leader of the tribe of the children of Asher, Ahihud the son of Shelomi;

28 the leader of the tribe of the children of Naphtali, Pedahel the son of Ammihud.

29 These are the ones whom the Lord commanded to divide the inheritance among the children of Israel in the land of Canaan.

35

1 The Levites’ Cities And the Lord spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho, saying:

2 Command the children of Israel, and they will give to the Levites of the inheritance of their possession cities to dwell in, and you will give the Levites pasturelands around the city.

3 The cities will be for them to dwell in, and their pasturelands will be for their livestock, and for their property, and for all their animals.

4 The pasturelands of the cities, which you will give to the Levites, will reach from the wall of the city and beyond one thousand cubits all around.

5 You will measure from without the city on the east side two thousand cubits, and on the south side two thousand cubits, and on the west side two thousand cubits, and on the north side two thousand cubits, and the city will be in the middle. This will be for them the pasturelands of the cities.

6 Cities of Refuge Among the cities which you will give to the Levites there will be six cities of refuge, which you will appoint for the manslayer, that he may flee there, and to them you will add forty-two cities.

7 So all the cities which you will give to the Levites will be forty-eight cities. You will give them with their pasturelands.

8 The cities which you shall give shall be from the possession of the children of Israel. From the larger tribes you shall give many, and from the smaller tribes you shall give few. Each tribe, in proportion to the inheritance that it receives, shall give of its cities to the Levites.

9 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

10 Speak to the children of Israel and say to them: When you are crossing over the Jordan into the land of Canaan,

11 then you shall designate cities as your cities of refuge, so that a manslayer who unintentionally kills a person may flee there.

12 The cities will be for you a refuge from the avenger, so that the manslayer does not die until he stands trial before the assembly.

13 The cities which you designate shall be your six cities of refuge.

14 You will give three cities across the Jordan, and three cities you will give in the land of Canaan, which will be cities of refuge.

15 For the children of Israel, and for the stranger, and for the foreign sojourner among them will be six cities. These will be for a refuge. Everyone that unintentionally kills any person may flee there.

16 If he strikes him with an instrument of iron, so that he dies, he is a murderer. The murderer shall surely be put to death.

17 If he strikes him with a stone in hand, by which he could die, and he dies, he is a murderer. The murderer shall surely be put to death.

18 Or if he strikes him with a weapon of wood in hand, by which he could die, and he dies, he is a murderer. The murderer shall surely be put to death.

19 The avenger of blood himself will slay the murderer. When he meets him, he will slay him.

20 But if he pushed him out of hatred, or threw something at him, lying in wait, so he dies,

21 or in hatred struck him with his hand, so he died, he that struck him shall surely be put to death, because he is a murderer. The avenger of blood will slay the murderer when he meets him.

22 But if he pushed him suddenly without hatred, or threw anything at him without lying in wait,

23 or used a stone that may cause death, unintentionally throwing it at him, resulting in death, though they were not enemies, and was not trying to harm him,

24 then the assembly will judge between the manslayer and the avenger of blood according to these judgments.

25 And the assembly will deliver the manslayer out of the hand of the avenger of blood, and the assembly will restore him to the city of his refuge where he fled, and he will dwell in it until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the holy oil.

26 But if the manslayer will go out at any time beyond the border of the city of his refuge where he fled,

27 and the avenger of blood finds him outside the borders of the city of his refuge, and the avenger of blood kills the manslayer, he will not be guilty of blood,

28 because the manslayer should have remained in the city of his refuge until the death of the high priest. But after the death of the high priest the manslayer may return to the land of his possession.

29 So these things will be for a statute of judgment to you throughout your generations in all your dwelling places.

30 Whoever kills a person, the murderer will be put to death by the testimony of witnesses, but one witness will not testify against a person for death.

31 And you will not take a ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death, but he will surely be put to death.

32 You will not take a ransom for him who fled to the city of his refuge, that he should come out again to dwell in the land, until the death of the priest.

33 So you will not defile the land which you are in, because blood defiles the land, and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed in it, except by the blood of him that shed it.

34 So do not defile the land which you are dwelling in, where I am residing, because I the Lord am residing among the children of Israel.

36

1 Marriage of Female Heirs And the chief fathers of the families of the children of Gilead the son of Makir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of the sons of Joseph, came near, and spoke before Moses and before the leaders, the chief fathers of the children of Israel.

2 And they said, “The Lord commanded my lord to give the land for an inheritance by lot to the children of Israel, and my lord was commanded by the Lord to give the inheritance of Zelophehad our brother to his daughters.

3 If they are married to any of the sons of the other tribes of the children of Israel, then their inheritance will be taken from the inheritance of our fathers and will be added to the inheritance of the tribe to which they are married, so will it be taken from the lot of our inheritance.

4 When the jubilee of the children of Israel happens, then their inheritance will be added to the inheritance of the tribe to which they are married, so their inheritance will be taken away from the inheritance of the tribe of our fathers.”

5 Moses commanded the children of Israel according to the word of the Lord, saying: “The tribe of the sons of Joseph has spoken right.

6 This is the thing which the Lord commands concerning the daughters of Zelophehad, saying, ‘Let them marry whom they think best. But they may marry only within a clan of their father’s tribe.

7 So the inheritance of the children of Israel will not turn from tribe to tribe, because every one of the children of Israel will keep the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers.

8 Every daughter that possesses an inheritance in any tribe of the children of Israel will be wife to one of the families of the tribe of her father, so every man of the children of Israel may enjoy the inheritance of his fathers.

9 Thus no inheritance will turn from one tribe to another tribe, but every tribe of the children of Israel will keep its own inheritance.’ ”

10 Just as the Lord commanded Moses, thus the daughters of Zelophehad did,

11 for Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milkah, and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad, were married to their uncles’ sons.

12 And they were married into the families of the sons of Manasseh the son of Joseph, and their inheritance remained in the tribe of the family of their father.

13 These are the commandments and the judgments which the Lord commanded by the hand of Moses to the children of Israel in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho.