Numbers 1

Numbers 2

The Arrangement of Israel’s Camp

¹Yhwh spoke to Moses and Aaron, ²“The Israelites will put up their tents with each family under the flag that symbolizes its household. They will put their tents around the tent of meeting, facing it.

³“On the east side, facing the rising sun, the armies led by Judah will camp under their flag. The leader for the people of Judah is Nahshon, son of Amminadab. ⁴The total number of men in his army is 74,600.

⁵“Next to them will be the tribe of Issachar. The leader for the people of Issachar is Nethanel, son of Zuar. ⁶The total number of men in his army is 54,400.

⁷“Then ⌞will be⌟ the tribe of Zebulun. The leader for the people of Zebulun is Eliab, son of Helon. ⁸The total number of men in his army is 57,400.

⁹“The grand total of all the troops in Judah’s camp is 186,400. They will be the first group to move out.

¹⁰“On the south side the armies led by Reuben will camp under their flag. The leader for the people of Reuben is Elizur, son of Shedeur. ¹¹The total number of men in his army is 46,500.

¹²“Next to them will be the tribe of Simeon. The leader for the people of Simeon is Shelumiel, son of Zurishaddai. ¹³The total number of men in his army is 59,300.

¹⁴“Then ⌞will be⌟ the tribe of Gad. The leader for the people of Gad is Eliasaph, son of Deuel. ¹⁵The total number of men in his army is 45,650.

¹⁶“The grand total of all the troops in Reuben’s camp is 151,450. They will be the second group to move out.

¹⁷“When the tent of meeting is moved, the Levites will stay in the middle of the groups. The tribes will move out in the same order as they are in the camp, everyone in place under his own flag.

¹⁸“On the west side the armies led by Ephraim will camp under their flag. The leader for the people of Ephraim is Elishama, son of Ammihud. ¹⁹The total number of men in his army is 40,500.

²⁰“Next to them will be the tribe of Manasseh. The leader for the people of Manasseh is Gamaliel, son of Pedahzur. ²¹The total number of men in his army is 32,200.

²²“Then ⌞will be⌟ the tribe of Benjamin. The leader for the people of Benjamin is Abidan, son of Gideoni. ²³The total number of men in his army is 35,400.

²⁴“The grand total of all the troops in Ephraim’s camp is 108,100. They will be the third group to move out.

²⁵“On the north side the armies led by Dan will camp under their flag. The leader for the people of Dan is Ahiezer, son of Ammishaddai. ²⁶The total number of men in his army is 62,700.

²⁷“Next to them will be the tribe of Asher. The leader for the people of Asher is Pagiel, son of Ochran. ²⁸The total number of men in his army is 41,500.

²⁹“Then ⌞will be⌟ the tribe of Naphtali. The leader for the people of Naphtali is Ahira, son of Enan. ³⁰The total number of men in his army is 53,400.

³¹“The grand total of all the men in Dan’s camp is 157,600. They will be the last group to move out. They will travel under their own flag.”

³²This is the total number of Israelites, counted by households. The grand total of all the troops in the camps was 603,550. ³³As Yhwh had commanded Moses, the Levites were not registered along with the other Israelites.

³⁴So the Israelites did everything as Yhwh had commanded Moses. They set up camp under their flags, and each person traveled with his own family and household.

Numbers 3

The Tribe of Levi Is Registered and Assigned Duties

¹This is the list of Aaron and Moses’ descendants at the time when Yhwh spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai.

²The names of Aaron’s sons are Nadab (the firstborn), Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. ³These are the names of Aaron’s sons, the anointed priests, who were ordained to serve as priests. ⁴Nadab and Abihu died in Yhwh’s presence because they offered unauthorized fire in his presence in the Desert of Sinai. They had no children. So only Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests during the lifetime of their father Aaron.

⁵Yhwh said to Moses, ⁶“Bring the tribe of Levi, and have them stand in front of the priest Aaron to assist him. ⁷They will work for him and the whole community in front of the tent of meeting, doing what needs to be done for the inner tent. ⁸They will take care of all the furnishings in the tent of meeting and work for the Israelites, doing what needs to be done for the inner tent. ⁹Give the Levites to Aaron and his sons. The Levites will be the only Israelites given to them. ¹⁰Appoint Aaron and his sons to serve as priests. Anyone else who tries to do the priests’ duties must be put to death.”

¹¹Yhwh said to Moses, ¹²“Out of all the Israelites, I have taken the Levites to be substitutes for every firstborn male offspring among them. The Levites are mine, ¹³because every firstborn is mine. The day I killed every firstborn male in Egypt, I set apart as holy every firstborn in Israel, whether human or animal. They will be mine. I am Yhwh.”

¹⁴Yhwh said to Moses in the Desert of Sinai, ¹⁵“Count the Levites by households and families. Count every male who is at least one month old.” ¹⁶So Moses did what Yhwh said and registered them as he had been commanded.

¹⁷Gershon, Kohath, and Merari were the sons of Levi.

¹⁸Libni and Shimei were the sons of Gershon. Their families were named after them.

¹⁹Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel were the sons of Kohath. Their families were named after them.

²⁰Mahli and Mushi were the sons of Merari. Their families were named after them.

These were the households of Levite families.

²¹To Gershon belonged the families descended from Libni and Shimei. These were the families descended from Gershon. ²²The total number of all the males at least one month old was 7,500. ²³The families descended from Gershon put up their tents on the west side behind the tent of meeting. ²⁴The leader of the Gershonite households was Eliasaph, son of Lael. ²⁵At the tent of meeting the Gershonites were in charge of the inner tent, the outer tent and cover, the screen for the entrance to the tent of meeting, ²⁶the curtains for the courtyard, the screen for the entrance to the courtyard that surrounds the inner tent and the altar, and the ropes. They took care of all these things.

²⁷To Kohath belonged the families descended from Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. These were the families descended from Kohath. ²⁸The number of all the males at least one month old was 8,600. They were in charge of the holy place. ²⁹The families descended from Kohath put up their tents on the south side of the tent of meeting. ³⁰The leader of the Kohathite families and households was Elizaphan, son of Uzziel. ³¹They were in charge of the ark, the table, the lamp stand, the altars, the utensils used in the holy place, and the screen. They took care of all these things.

³²The chief leader of the Levites was Eleazar, son of the priest Aaron. It was Eleazar’s duty to supervise those who were in charge of the holy place.

³³To Merari belonged the families descended from Mahli and Mushi. These were the families descended from Merari. ³⁴The total number of all the males at least one month old was 6,200. ³⁵The leader of the Merarite families and households was Zuriel, son of Abihail. They put up their tents on the north side of the tent of meeting. ³⁶It was the duty of the Merarites to be in charge of the framework of the inner tent, the crossbars, posts, sockets, and all the equipment. They took care of all these things. ³⁷They also took care of the posts for the surrounding courtyard, the bases, pegs, and ropes.

³⁸Moses, Aaron, and his sons put up their tents on the east side in front of the tent of meeting. They were in charge of the holy place on behalf of the Israelites. Anyone else who tried to do the Levites’ duties had to be put to death.

³⁹The grand total of Levites that Moses and Aaron counted at Yhwh’s command, by families, every male who was at least one month old, was 22,000.

⁴⁰Yhwh said to Moses, “Register every firstborn male of the Israelites who is at least one month old, and make a list of their names. ⁴¹I am Yhwh. Take the Levites for me to be substitutes for all firstborn Israelites. Also take the animals of the Levites to be substitutes for all firstborn animals of the Israelites.”

⁴²So Moses registered all the firstborn Israelites as Yhwh commanded him. ⁴³The total of all the firstborn males at least one month old was 22,273. They were listed by name.

⁴⁴Yhwh said to Moses, ⁴⁵“Take the Levites to be substitutes for all the firstborn Israelites and the animals of the Levites to be substitutes for their animals. The Levites will be mine. I am Yhwh. ⁴⁶There are 273 more firstborn male Israelites than there are Levites. ⁴⁷It will cost you two ounces of silver per person (using the standard weight of the holy place) to buy them back. ⁴⁸Give the silver to Aaron and his sons. It will buy back those Israelites who outnumber the Levites.”

⁴⁹So Moses took this ransom money from the Israelites who outnumbered the Levites. ⁵⁰The silver Moses collected for the firstborn Israelites weighed 34 pounds, using the standard weight of the holy place. ⁵¹Then Moses did what Yhwh said and gave Aaron and his sons this ransom money as he had been commanded.

Numbers 4

The Duties of the Families Descended from Levi’s Sons

¹Yhwh said to Moses and Aaron, ²“Take a census of the Levites who are descended from Kohath. List them by families and households. ³Register all the men between the ages of 30 and 50 who are qualified to work at the tent of meeting.

⁴“This is the work the Kohathites will do in the tent of meeting: They will take care of the most holy things. ⁵When the camp is supposed to move, Aaron and his sons will go in and take down the canopy that hangs over the ark containing the words of Elohim’s promise. First they will cover the ark with the canopy. ⁶Over this they will put a covering of fine leather. On top of that they will spread a cloth made entirely of violet material. Then they will put the poles in place.

⁷“They will spread a violet cloth over the table of the presence and put on it the plates, dishes, bowls, and pitchers for the wine offerings. The bread that is always in Yhwh’s presence will also be on it. ⁸They will spread a bright red cloth over everything on the table. They will cover all this with fine leather. Then they will put the poles in place.

⁹“They will take a violet cloth and cover the lamp stand, as well as the lamps, tongs, trays, and all the containers for the olive oil used in the lamps. ¹⁰Then they will put the lamp stand and all its utensils under a covering of fine leather and put them on a frame to carry them.

¹¹“They will spread a violet cloth over the gold altar and cover the cloth with fine leather. Then they will put the poles in place.

¹²“They will take all the articles that are used in the holy place, put them in a violet cloth, cover that with fine leather, and put them on a frame to carry them.

¹³“After they take the ashes away, they will spread a purple cloth over the altar. ¹⁴Next, they will put all the accessories used at the altar on it. These are the trays, forks, shovels, and bowls—all the altar’s accessories. They will spread a covering of fine leather over all this. Then they will put the poles in place.

¹⁵“When Aaron and his sons have finished covering the holy things and the camp is ready to move, the Kohathites will come to carry all the holy articles. They must never touch the holy things, or they will die. The Kohathites will carry all the things from the tent of meeting.

¹⁶“Eleazar, son of the priest Aaron, will be in charge of the oil for the lamps, the sweet-smelling incense, the daily grain offering, and the anointing oil. He is in charge of the whole tent and everything in it, the holy place and its contents.”

¹⁷Yhwh said to Moses and Aaron, ¹⁸“Don’t let the Kohathite families from Levi’s tribe be destroyed. ¹⁹This is what you must do so that they won’t die when they come near the most holy things: Aaron and his sons will go into the holy place and tell each man what he will do and what he will carry. ²⁰But the Kohathites must not go in to look at the holy things, even for a moment, or they will die.”

²¹Yhwh said to Moses, ²²“Also take a census of the Gershonites. List them by households and families. ²³Register all the men between the ages of 30 and 50 who are qualified to serve at the tent of meeting.

²⁴“This is what the Gershonite families will do and what they will carry: ²⁵They will carry the sheets that are part of the inner tent and the tent of meeting. They will also carry the inner cover for the tent of meeting, the outer cover of fine leather that goes over it, the screen for the entrance to the tent of meeting, ²⁶the curtains for the courtyard around the tent and the altar, the screen for the entrance to the courtyard, the ropes, and all the equipment used to set up the curtains. The Gershonites will do everything that needs to be done with these things. ²⁷All their work, whatever they carry and all their duties, will be done under the direction of Aaron and his sons. You are in charge of telling them everything they’re supposed to carry. ²⁸This is the work of the Gershonite families in the tent of meeting. Ithamar, son of the priest Aaron, will be in charge of them.

²⁹“Register the Merarites by families and households. ³⁰Register all the men between the ages of 30 and 50 who are qualified to serve at the tent of meeting. ³¹These are their duties as they work at the tent of meeting: They will carry the framework for the inner tent, the crossbars, posts, and sockets, ³²the posts for the surrounding courtyard, the bases, pegs, and ropes. They must take care of all this equipment. Tell each man by name the things he will carry. ³³This is what the Merarite families will do as they work at the tent of meeting. Ithamar, son of the priest Aaron, will be in charge of them.”

³⁴Moses, Aaron, and the leaders of the community registered the Kohathites by their families and households. ³⁵They registered all the men between the ages of 30 and 50 who were qualified to work at the tent of meeting. ³⁶The total of those who were registered was 2,750. They were listed by families. ³⁷This was the total of all those in the Kohathite families who served at the tent of meeting. Moses and Aaron did as Yhwh had commanded Moses and registered the Kohathites.

³⁸The Gershonites were registered by families and households. ³⁹All the men between the ages of 30 and 50 who were qualified to serve at the tent of meeting were registered. ⁴⁰The total of those who were registered was 2,630. They were listed by families and households. ⁴¹This was the total of all those in the Gershonite families who worked at the tent of meeting. Moses and Aaron did as Yhwh had commanded Moses and registered the Gershonites.

⁴²The Merarites were registered by families and households. ⁴³All the men between the ages of 30 and 50 who were qualified to serve at the tent of meeting were registered. ⁴⁴The total of all those who were registered was 3,200. They were listed by families. ⁴⁵This was the total of those registered in the Merarite families. Moses and Aaron did as Yhwh had commanded Moses and registered the Merarites.

⁴⁶The grand total of all the Levites whom Moses, Aaron, and the leaders of Israel registered was 8,580. They were listed by families and households. ⁴⁷These were the men between the ages of 30 and 50 who were qualified to do the work of serving and who carried the tent of meeting. (Verse 48 (in Hebrew) has been placed in verse 46 to express the complex Hebrew sentence structure more clearly in English.) ⁴⁹At Yhwh’s command through Moses each man was registered and told what to do and what to carry.

So they were registered as Yhwh commanded Moses.

Numbers 5

Removing Unclean People from the Camp

¹Yhwh said to Moses, ²“Command the Israelites to send outside the camp anyone who has a serious skin disease or a discharge or anyone who is unclean (“Unclean” refers to anything that is not presentable to Elohim.) from touching a dead body. ³Send all of these unclean men and women outside the camp. They must not make this camp where I live among you unclean.” ⁴So the Israelites did as Yhwh had told Moses. They sent these unclean people outside the camp.

Confessing and Paying for Sins

⁵Yhwh said to Moses, ⁶“Tell the Israelites: If you do something wrong to another person, you have been unfaithful to Yhwh. When you realize your guilt, ⁷you must confess your sin, pay in full for what you did wrong, add one-fifth to it, and give it to the person who was wronged. ⁸But there may be no heir to whom the payment can be made. In that case, the payment for what you did wrong must be given to Yhwh for the priest ⌞to use⌟. This payment is in addition to the ram which makes peace with Yhwh.

⁹“Any contribution over and above the holy offerings that the Israelites bring to the priest will belong to the priest. ¹⁰Each person’s holy offerings will belong to that person, but whatever is given to the priest will belong to the priest.”

When a Husband Suspects That His Wife Has Been Unfaithful

¹¹Yhwh said to Moses: ¹²“Speak to the Israelites and tell them: A man’s wife may have been unfaithful to him ¹³and may have had sexual intercourse with another man without her husband’s knowledge. She may have kept it secret if there were no witnesses to accuse her and she wasn’t caught in the act.

¹⁴“A husband may have a fit of jealousy and suspect his wife, whether she was actually unfaithful or not. ¹⁵He must then take his wife to the priest along with eight cups of barley flour as an offering for her. He must not pour olive oil on the flour or put frankincense on it, since it is a grain offering brought because of the husband’s jealousy, an offering used for a confession—to remind someone of a sin that was committed.

¹⁶“The priest will have the woman come forward and stand in Yhwh’s presence. ¹⁷Then the priest will take holy water in a piece of pottery and put some dust from the floor of the tent into the water. ¹⁸The priest will bring the woman into Yhwh’s presence and loosen her hair. In her hands he will put the offering used for a confession (that is, the grain offering brought because of the husband’s jealousy). The priest will hold in his hands the bitter water that can bring a curse. (In this verse and the following verses there is a play on words between the Hebrew words hammarîm (bitter) and hame ʿaraîm (that can bring a curse).)

¹⁹“Then the priest will say to her, ‘If no other man has had sexual intercourse with you and you haven’t been unfaithful to your husband, you’re not guilty. This bitter water that can bring a curse will not harm you. ²⁰If, in fact, you have been unfaithful and have had sexual intercourse with another man, ²¹may Yhwh make you an example for your people to see what happens when the curse of this oath comes true: Yhwh will make your uterus drop and your stomach swell.’ (Or “make you have miscarriages and become sterile.”)

“Then the priest will administer the oath and the curse by saying: ²²‘May this water that can bring a curse go into your body and make your stomach swell and your uterus drop!’

“Then the woman will say, ‘Amen, amen!’

²³“The priest will write these curses on a scroll and wash them off into the bitter water. ²⁴Then he will have the woman drink the bitter water that can bring the curse. This water will go into her ⌞and⌟ become bitter. ²⁵The priest will take the grain offering she was holding, present it to Yhwh, and bring it to the altar. ²⁶The priest will take a handful of the grain offering as a memorial portion and burn it on the altar. Then he will have the woman drink the water. ²⁷If she has become unclean by being unfaithful to her husband, the water that can bring the curse will go into her and become bitter. Her stomach will swell, her uterus will drop, and she will become cursed among her people. ²⁸But if the woman is not unclean and is pure, she is not guilty and will be able to have children.

²⁹“These are the instructions for how to deal with jealousy. They tell you what to do when a woman is unfaithful to her husband and becomes unclean. ³⁰They also tell you what to do when a husband has a fit of jealousy and is suspicious of his wife. He will make his wife stand in Yhwh’s presence, and the priest will do everything these instructions tell him to do. ³¹The husband isn’t guilty of doing anything wrong, but the woman will suffer the consequences of her sin.”

Numbers 6

Taking a Special Vow

¹Yhwh said to Moses, ²“Speak to the Israelites and tell them: A man or a woman may make a special vow to live as a Nazirite dedicated to Yhwh. ³Nazirites must never drink wine, liquor, vinegar made from wine or liquor, or any kind of grape juice, and they must never eat fresh grapes or raisins. ⁴As long as they are Nazirites, they must never eat anything that comes from a grapevine, not even grape seeds or skins.

⁵“As long as they are under the Nazirite vow, no razor may touch their heads. During the entire time that they are dedicated to Yhwh as Nazirites, they will be holy. They must let their hair grow long. ⁶While they are dedicated to Yhwh as Nazirites, they must never go near a dead body. ⁷Even if their own father, mother, brother, or sister dies, they must not make themselves unclean (“Unclean” refers to anything that is not presentable to Elohim.) by going near them. Nazarites show their vow to Elohim with their long hair. ⁸As long as they are Nazirites, they will be holy to Yhwh.

⁹“Someone might suddenly drop dead next to a Nazirite and make the Nazirite’s hair unclean. Seven days later he must shave his head in order to be declared clean. (“Clean” refers to anything that is presentable to Elohim.) ¹⁰On the eighth day he must bring two mourning doves or two young pigeons to the priest at the entrance to the tent of meeting. ¹¹The priest will sacrifice one as an offering for sin and the other one as a burnt offering. The priest will make peace with Yhwh for the person who touched the dead body. That same day the person must dedicate his head again. ¹²Once again he will dedicate himself to Yhwh as a Nazirite for the same length of time as before. He must bring a one-year-old male lamb as an offering for guilt. The first time period won’t count. He has to start over from when he became unclean.

¹³“These are the instructions for Nazirites who complete their vows: They must come to the entrance of the tent of meeting. ¹⁴They must bring these offerings to Yhwh: a one-year-old male lamb as a burnt offering, a one-year-old female lamb as an offering for sin, and a ram as a fellowship offering. All of these animals must have no defects. ¹⁵They must also bring a basket of unleavened bread containing some rings of bread made with olive oil and wafers of unleavened bread brushed with olive oil, along with other grain offerings and wine offerings.

¹⁶“The priest will bring these offerings to Yhwh and make the offering for sin and the burnt offering. ¹⁷He will sacrifice the ram as a fellowship offering to Yhwh, offer the basket of unleavened bread along with it, and make the grain offerings and wine offerings.

¹⁸“Then the Nazirites will shave their heads at the entrance to the tent of meeting, take the hair as proof that they had made this vow, and put it on the fire under the fellowship offering.

¹⁹“Then the priest will take one of the shoulders from a boiled ram, one ring of unleavened bread from the basket, and one wafer of unleavened bread and hand them to the Nazirites after they have shaved off their hair. ²⁰The priest will present them as an offering to Yhwh. They are holy and belong to the priest, along with the ram’s breast that is presented and the thigh that is given. After that, the Nazirites may drink wine.

²¹“These are the instructions for those who have vowed to bring their offerings to Yhwh because they were Nazirites. They must bring these offerings in addition to anything else they can afford. They must fulfill the requirements of these instructions for Nazirites and finish whatever they vowed to do.”

How Aaron and His Sons Will Bless the Israelites

²²Yhwh said to Moses, ²³“Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is how you will bless the Israelites. Say to them:

24 Yhwh will bless you and watch over you.
25 Yhwh will smile on you and be kind to you.
26 Yhwh will look on you with favor and give you peace.’

²⁷“So whenever they use my name to bless the Israelites, I will bless them.”

Numbers 7

Offerings for the Dedication of the Altar

¹When Moses finished setting up the tent, he anointed it and dedicated it and all the furnishings. He also anointed and dedicated the altar and all the utensils. ²Then the leaders of Israel, the heads of the households—those tribal leaders who helped in the census—came to give their offerings. ³They brought these gifts to Yhwh: six freight wagons and twelve oxen, one wagon from every two leaders and one ox from each leader. They brought them in front of the tent.

⁴Yhwh said to Moses, ⁵“Accept these gifts from them to use in the work done for the tent of meeting. Give them to the Levites to use wherever they need these gifts for their work.” ⁶Moses took the wagons and the oxen and gave them to the Levites. ⁷He gave two wagons and four oxen to the Gershonites for the work they had to do. ⁸He gave four wagons and eight oxen to the Merarites for the work they had to do under the direction of Ithamar, son of the priest Aaron. ⁹But Moses gave none of these gifts to the Kohathites, because they took care of the holy things. They had to carry the holy things on their own shoulders.

¹⁰The leaders also brought offerings for the dedication of the altar when it was anointed. They presented their gifts in front of the altar. ¹¹Yhwh said to Moses, “Each day a different leader will bring his gift for the dedication of the altar.”

¹²The one who brought his gifts on the first day was Nahshon, son of Amminadab, from the tribe of Judah. ¹³He brought a silver plate that weighed 3¼ pounds and a silver bowl that weighed 1¾ pounds, using the standard weight of the holy place. Each dish was filled with flour mixed with olive oil as a grain offering. ¹⁴He also brought a gold dish that weighed 4 ounces, filled with incense; ¹⁵a young bull, a ram, and a one-year-old male lamb as a burnt offering; ¹⁶a male goat as an offering for sin; ¹⁷and two bulls, five rams, five male goats, and five one-year-old male lambs as a fellowship offering. These were the gifts from Nahshon, son of Amminadab.

¹⁸On the second day Nethanel, son of Zuar, the leader from the tribe of Issachar, brought his gifts. ¹⁹He brought a silver plate that weighed 3¼ pounds and a silver bowl that weighed 1¾ pounds using the standard weight of the holy place. Each dish was filled with flour mixed with olive oil as a grain offering. ²⁰He also brought a gold dish that weighed 4 ounces, filled with incense; ²¹a young bull, a ram, and a one-year-old male lamb as a burnt offering; ²²a male goat as an offering for sin; ²³and two bulls, five rams, five male goats, and five one-year-old male lambs as a fellowship offering. These were the gifts from Nethanel, son of Zuar.

²⁴On the third day the leader of the descendants of Zebulun, Eliab, son of Helon, ²⁵brought his gifts: a silver plate that weighed 3¼ pounds and a silver bowl that weighed 1¾ pounds using the standard weight of the holy place. Each dish was filled with flour mixed with olive oil as a grain offering. ²⁶He also brought a gold dish that weighed 4 ounces, filled with incense; ²⁷a young bull, a ram, and a one-year-old male lamb as a burnt offering; ²⁸a male goat as an offering for sin; ²⁹and two bulls, five rams, five male goats, and five one-year-old male lambs as a fellowship offering. These were the gifts from Eliab, son of Helon.

³⁰On the fourth day the leader of the descendants of Reuben, Elizur, son of Shedeur, ³¹brought his gifts: a silver plate that weighed 3¼ pounds and a silver bowl that weighed 1¾ pounds using the standard weight of the holy place. Each dish was filled with flour mixed with olive oil as a grain offering. ³²He also brought a gold dish that weighed 4 ounces, filled with incense; ³³a young bull, a ram, and a one-year-old male lamb as a burnt offering; ³⁴a male goat as an offering for sin; ³⁵and two bulls, five rams, five male goats, and five one-year-old male lambs as a fellowship offering. These were the gifts from Elizur, son of Shedeur.

³⁶On the fifth day the leader of the descendants of Simeon, Shelumiel, son of Zurishaddai, ³⁷brought his gifts: a silver plate that weighed 3¼ pounds and a silver bowl that weighed 1¾ pounds using the standard weight of the holy place. Each dish was filled with flour mixed with olive oil as a grain offering. ³⁸He also brought a gold dish that weighed 4 ounces, filled with incense; ³⁹a young bull, a ram, and a one-year-old male lamb as a burnt offering; ⁴⁰a male goat as an offering for sin; ⁴¹and two bulls, five rams, five male goats, and five one-year-old male lambs as a fellowship offering. These were the gifts from Shelumiel, son of Zurishaddai.

⁴²On the sixth day the leader of the descendants of Gad, Eliasaph, son of Deuel, ⁴³brought his gifts: a silver plate that weighed 3¼ pounds and a silver bowl that weighed 1¾ pounds using the standard weight of the holy place. Each dish was filled with flour mixed with olive oil as a grain offering. ⁴⁴He also brought a gold dish that weighed 4 ounces, filled with incense; ⁴⁵a young bull, a ram, and a one-year-old male lamb as a burnt offering; ⁴⁶a male goat as an offering for sin; ⁴⁷and two bulls, five rams, five male goats, and five one-year-old male lambs as a fellowship offering. These were the gifts from Eliasaph, son of Deuel.

⁴⁸On the seventh day the leader of the descendants of Ephraim, Elishama, son of Ammihud, ⁴⁹brought his gifts: a silver plate that weighed 3¼ pounds and a silver bowl that weighed 1¾ pounds using the standard weight of the holy place. Each dish was filled with flour mixed with olive oil as a grain offering. ⁵⁰He also brought a gold dish that weighed 4 ounces, filled with incense; ⁵¹a young bull, a ram, and a one-year-old male lamb as a burnt offering; ⁵²a male goat as an offering for sin; ⁵³and two bulls, five rams, five male goats, and five one-year-old male lambs as a fellowship offering. These were the gifts from Elishama, son of Ammihud.

⁵⁴On the eighth day the leader of the descendants of Manasseh, Gamaliel, son of Pedahzur, ⁵⁵brought his gifts: a silver plate that weighed 3¼ pounds and a silver bowl that weighed 1¾ pounds using the standard weight of the holy place. Each dish was filled with flour mixed with olive oil as a grain offering. ⁵⁶He also brought a gold dish that weighed 4 ounces, filled with incense; ⁵⁷a young bull, a ram, and a one-year-old male lamb as a burnt offering; ⁵⁸a male goat as an offering for sin; ⁵⁹and two bulls, five rams, five male goats, and five one-year-old male lambs as a fellowship offering. These were the gifts from Gamaliel, son of Pedahzur.

⁶⁰On the ninth day the leader of the descendants of Benjamin, Abidan, son of Gideoni, ⁶¹brought his gifts: a silver plate that weighed 3¼ pounds and a silver bowl that weighed 1¾ pounds using the standard weight of the holy place. Each dish was filled with flour mixed with olive oil as a grain offering. ⁶²He also brought a gold dish that weighed 4 ounces, filled with incense; ⁶³a young bull, a ram, and a one-year-old male lamb as a burnt offering; ⁶⁴a male goat as an offering for sin; ⁶⁵and two bulls, five rams, five male goats, and five one-year-old male lambs as a fellowship offering. These were the gifts from Abidan, son of Gideoni.

⁶⁶On the tenth day the leader of the descendants of Dan, Ahiezer, son of Amishaddai, ⁶⁷brought his gifts: a silver plate that weighed 3¼ pounds and a silver bowl that weighed 1¾ pounds using the standard weight of the holy place. Each dish was filled with flour mixed with olive oil as a grain offering. ⁶⁸He also brought a gold dish that weighed 4 ounces, filled with incense; ⁶⁹a young bull, a ram, and a one-year-old male lamb as a burnt offering; ⁷⁰a male goat as an offering for sin; ⁷¹and two bulls, five rams, five male goats, and five one-year-old male lambs as a fellowship offering. These were the gifts from Ahiezer, son of Amishaddai.

⁷²On the eleventh day the leader of the descendants of Asher, Pagiel, son of Ochran, ⁷³brought his gifts: a silver plate that weighed 3¼ pounds and a silver bowl that weighed 1¾ pounds using the standard weight of the holy place. Each dish was filled with flour mixed with olive oil as a grain offering. ⁷⁴He also brought a gold dish that weighed 4 ounces, filled with incense; ⁷⁵a young bull, a ram, and a one-year-old male lamb as a burnt offering; ⁷⁶a male goat as an offering for sin; ⁷⁷and two bulls, five rams, five male goats, and five one-year-old male lambs as a fellowship offering. These were the gifts from Pagiel, son of Ochran.

⁷⁸On the twelfth day the leader of the descendants of Naphtali, Ahira, son of Enan, ⁷⁹brought his gifts: a silver plate that weighed 3¼ pounds and a silver bowl that weighed 1¾ pounds using the standard weight of the holy place. Each dish was filled with flour mixed with olive oil as a grain offering. ⁸⁰He also brought a gold dish that weighed 4 ounces, filled with incense; ⁸¹a young bull, a ram, and a one-year-old male lamb as a burnt offering; ⁸²a male goat as an offering for sin; ⁸³and two bulls, five rams, five male goats, and five one-year-old male lambs as a fellowship offering. These were the gifts from Ahira, son of Enan.

⁸⁴These were the gifts from the leaders of Israel for the dedication of the altar when it was anointed: 12 silver plates, 12 silver bowls, and 12 gold dishes. ⁸⁵Each silver plate weighed 3¼ pounds, and each bowl weighed 1¾ pounds. Together all the silver dishes weighed 60 pounds, using the standard weight of the holy place. ⁸⁶The 12 gold dishes filled with incense weighed 4 ounces each, using the standard weight of the holy place. Together all the gold dishes weighed about 3 pounds. ⁸⁷The total number of animals for the burnt offerings was 12 young bulls, 12 rams, 12 one-year-old male lambs, along with their grain offerings. Twelve male goats were used as offerings for sin. ⁸⁸The total number of animals for fellowship offerings was 24 bulls, 60 rams, 60 male goats, and 60 one-year-old male lambs. These were the gifts for the dedication of the altar after it was anointed.

⁸⁹Whenever Moses went into the tent of meeting to speak with Yhwh, he heard the voice speaking to him from above the throne of mercy on the ark containing the words of Elohim’s promise, from between the two angels. (Or “cherubim.”) This is how Yhwh spoke with Moses.

Numbers 8

The Lamp Stand in the Tent

¹Yhwh said to Moses, ²“Speak to Aaron and tell him: When you set up the seven lamps on the lamp stand, they should light up the area in front of it.”

³So Aaron set up the lamps on the lamp stand to light up the area in front of it, as Yhwh commanded Moses.

⁴This is how the lamp stand was made: The whole lamp stand, from top to bottom, was hammered out of gold. It was made exactly like the one Yhwh had shown Moses.

The Levites Are Made Ready to Do Yhwh ’s Work

⁵Yhwh said to Moses, ⁶“Separate the Levites from the rest of the Israelites, and make them clean. (“Clean” refers to anything that is presentable to Elohim.) ⁷This is what you must do to make them clean: Sprinkle them with water to take away their sins. Make them shave their whole bodies and wash their clothes. Then they will be clean. ⁸Next, they must take a young bull and the grain offering of flour mixed with olive oil that is offered with it. You must take a second young bull as an offering for sin. ⁹Bring the Levites to the front of the tent of meeting, and assemble the whole community of Israel. ¹⁰Then bring the Levites into Yhwh’s presence, and the Israelites will place their hands on them. ¹¹Aaron will present the Levites to Yhwh as an offering from the Israelites. Then they will be ready to do Yhwh’s work.

¹²“The Levites will place their hands on the heads of the young bulls. Sacrifice one of them as an offering for sin and the other one as a burnt offering to Yhwh. These sacrifices will make peace with Yhwh for the Levites. ¹³Make the Levites stand in front of Aaron and his sons, and present them as an offering to Yhwh. ¹⁴In this way you will separate the Levites from the other Israelites, and the Levites will be mine.

¹⁵“Once you have made them clean and presented them as an offering, the Levites may come and do their work at the tent of meeting. ¹⁶They will be the only Israelites given to me. I have taken them to be mine as substitutes for every firstborn male offspring of the Israelites. ¹⁷Every firstborn in Israel, whether human or animal, is mine. The day I killed every firstborn male in Egypt, I set them apart as holy to me. ¹⁸So I have taken the Levites as substitutes for all the firstborn sons of the Israelites. ¹⁹The Levites will be the only Israelites I give to Aaron and his sons. They will work for the Israelites at the tent of meeting. They will make peace with Yhwh for the Israelites. Then no plague will strike the Israelites when they come near the holy place.”

²⁰Moses, Aaron, and the whole community of Israel did what Yhwh commanded Moses to do to the Levites. ²¹The Levites performed the ceremonies to take away their sins and washed their clothes. Aaron presented them as an offering to Yhwh and made peace with Yhwh for them in order to make them clean. ²²After that, the Levites came and did their work at the tent of meeting in the presence of Aaron and his sons. They did as Yhwh had commanded Moses.

²³Yhwh said to Moses, ²⁴“These are the instructions for the Levites: Men 25 years old or older are eligible to serve at the tent of meeting. ²⁵But when they’re 50 years old, they must retire from active service and not work anymore. ²⁶They may assist the other Levites in their duties at the tent of meeting, but they may not do any regular work. This is how you will handle the Levites’ duties.”

Numbers 9

The Second Passover

¹In the first month of the second year after the Israelites left Egypt, Yhwh spoke to Moses in the Desert of Sinai. He said, ²“The Israelites must celebrate the Passover at the same time every year. ³You must celebrate it on the fourteenth day of this month at dusk. Follow all the rules and regulations for the celebration of the Passover.”

⁴So Moses told the Israelites to celebrate the Passover, ⁵and they celebrated it on the fourteenth day of the first month at dusk while they were in the Desert of Sinai. The Israelites did everything as Yhwh had commanded Moses.

⁶But there were some men who had become unclean (“Unclean” refers to anything that is not presentable to Elohim.) from touching a dead body, and they couldn’t celebrate the Passover that day. They came to Moses and Aaron ⁷and said, “We are unclean because we touched a dead body. Why won’t you let us bring our offerings to Yhwh at the same time the rest of the Israelites bring their offerings?”

⁸Moses answered them, “Wait here until I find out what Yhwh commands you to do.”

⁹Then Yhwh said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites: ¹⁰Suppose you or any of your descendants is unclean from touching a dead body or is away on a long trip. You may still celebrate the Passover. ¹¹You will celebrate it on the fourteenth day of the second month at dusk. You must eat the Passover animal along with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. ¹²You must never leave any of the meat until morning or break any of the animal’s bones. You must follow all the rules for the Passover when you celebrate it. ¹³But if you are clean (“Clean” refers to anything that is presentable to Elohim.) and not on a trip and yet don’t bother to celebrate the Passover, you must be excluded from the people. You didn’t bring your offering to Yhwh at the right time. You must suffer the consequences for your sin.

¹⁴“Foreigners living with you may want to celebrate Yhwh’s Passover. They must follow these same rules and regulations. The same rules will apply to foreigners and native-born Israelites.”

The Column of Smoke Leads Israel through the Desert

¹⁵On the day the tent of the words of Elohim’s promise was set up, the ⌞column of⌟ smoke covered it. From evening until morning, the smoke over the tent glowed like fire. ¹⁶The smoke always glowed this way. At night the smoke covering the tent glowed like fire. ¹⁷Whenever the smoke moved from the tent, the Israelites would break camp, and wherever it stopped, the Israelites would set up camp. ¹⁸At Yhwh’s command the Israelites would break camp, and at his command they would set up camp. As long as the ⌞column of⌟ smoke stayed over the tent, they would stay in the same place. ¹⁹When the smoke stayed over the tent for a long time, the Israelites obeyed Yhwh’s command and wouldn’t break camp. ²⁰The same thing happened when the smoke stayed only a few days over the tent: At Yhwh’s command they would set up camp, and at his command they would break camp. ²¹Sometimes the ⌞column of⌟ smoke stayed only from evening until morning. When the smoke moved in the morning, they broke camp. Day or night, when the smoke moved, they broke camp. ²²Whether it was two days, a month, or a year, as long as the ⌞column of⌟ smoke stayed over the tent, the Israelites would stay in the same place and not break camp. But when the smoke moved, they would break camp. ²³At Yhwh’s command they set up camp, and at his command they broke camp. They obeyed the command that Yhwh had given through Moses.

Numbers 10

Two Silver Signal Trumpets

¹Yhwh said to Moses, ²“Make two trumpets out of hammered silver. Use them to call the community together and as a signal to break camp. ³When you blow both trumpets, the whole community will meet with you at the entrance to the tent of meeting. ⁴If only one trumpet blows, the leaders, the heads of the divisions of Israel, will meet with you. ⁵When they hear the trumpet fanfare, the tribes that are camped on the east side will break camp first. ⁶When the trumpets sound a second fanfare, the tribes that are camped on the south will break camp. The fanfare is the signal to break camp. ⁷But when you gather the assembly, the trumpets will blow without sounding a fanfare. ⁸The sons of Aaron, the priests, will blow the trumpets. This will be a permanent law for you and your descendants.

⁹“When you go to war in your own country against an enemy who is oppressing you, the trumpets will sound a fanfare. Then Yhwh your Elohim will remember you and rescue you from your enemies. ¹⁰Also, on your festival days and on the first day of the month, blow the trumpets when you sacrifice your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. The trumpets will be a reminder for you in Elohim’s presence. I am Yhwh your Elohim.”

Israel Leaves Mount Sinai

¹¹On the twentieth day of the second month of the second year, the ⌞column of⌟ smoke left the tent of the words of Elohim’s promise. ¹²So the Israelites moved from the Desert of Sinai and traveled from place to place until the ⌞column of⌟ smoke stopped in the Desert of Paran.

¹³This was the first time they moved, following the command that Yhwh had given through Moses. ¹⁴With their flag in front, the armies led by Judah’s descendants broke camp first. Nahshon, son of Amminadab, was in command. ¹⁵Nethanel, son of Zuar, commanded the army of Issachar. ¹⁶Eliab, son of Helon, commanded the army of Zebulun. ¹⁷Then the tent ⌞of meeting⌟ was taken down, and the Gershonites and Merarites, who carried it, broke camp.

¹⁸With their flag in front, the armies led by Reuben’s descendants broke camp next. Elizur, son of Shedeur, was in command. ¹⁹Shelumiel, son of Zurishaddai, commanded the army of Simeon. ²⁰Eliasaph, son of Deuel, commanded the army of Gad. ²¹Then the Kohathites, who carried the holy things, broke camp. By the time they arrived, the tent ⌞of meeting⌟ would already be set up.

²²With their flag in front, the armies led by Ephraim’s descendants broke camp next. Elisha, son of Ammihud, was in command. ²³Gamaliel, son of Pedahzur, commanded the army of Manasseh. ²⁴Abidan, son of Gideoni, commanded the army of Benjamin.

²⁵As a rear guard for the whole camp, the armies led by Dan’s descendants broke camp last with their flag in front. Ahiezer, son of Ammishaddai, was in command. ²⁶Pagiel, son of Ochran, commanded the army of Asher. ²⁷Ahira, son of Enan, commanded the army of Naphtali.

²⁸This was the order in which the Israelite armies broke camp when they went from place to place.

²⁹Moses said to his brother-in-law Hobab, son of Reuel the Midianite, “We are going to the place Yhwh promised to give us. Come with us. We will be good to you, because Yhwh has promised good things to Israel.”

³⁰Hobab answered, “No, I won’t go. I want to go back to my own country where my relatives are.”

³¹But Moses said, “Please don’t leave us. You know where we can set up camp in the desert, and you could be our guide. ³²If you come with us, we will share with you all the good things Yhwh gives us.”

³³So they left the mountain of Yhwh and traveled for three days. The ark of Yhwh’s promise went ahead of them a distance of three days’ journey to find them a place to rest. ³⁴Yhwh’s ⌞column of⌟ smoke was over them by day when they moved the camp.

³⁵Whenever the ark started to move, Moses would say,

“Arise, O Yhwh!
Scatter your enemies!
Make those who hate you run away from you!”

³⁶And whenever it stopped, he would say,

“Return, O Yhwh, to the countless thousands of Israel!”

Numbers 11

The People of Israel Demand Meat to Eat

¹The people began complaining out loud to Yhwh about their troubles. When Yhwh heard them, he became angry, and fire from Yhwh began to burn among them. It destroyed some people on the outskirts of the camp. ²The people cried out to Moses, Moses prayed to Yhwh, and the fire died down. ³That place was called Taberah [Fire] because fire from Yhwh burned among them there.

⁴Some foreigners among the Israelites had a strong craving for ⌞other kinds of⌟ food. Even the Israelites started crying again and said, “If only we had meat to eat! ⁵Remember all the free fish we ate in Egypt and the cucumbers, watermelons, leeks, onions, and garlic we had? ⁶But now we’ve lost our appetite! Everywhere we look there’s nothing but manna!”

⁷(Manna was ⌞small⌟ like coriander seeds and looked like resin. ⁸The people would go around and gather it, then grind it in a handmill or crush it in a mortar. They would cook it in a pot or make round loaves of bread out of it. It tasted like rich pastry made with olive oil. ⁹When dew fell on the camp at night, manna fell with it.)

¹⁰Moses heard people from every family crying at the entrance to their tents. Yhwh became very angry, and Moses didn’t like it either. ¹¹So he asked, “Yhwh, why have you brought me this trouble? How have I displeased you that you put the burden of all these people on me? ¹²Am I their mother? Did I give birth to them? Are you really asking me to carry them in my arms—as a nurse carries a baby—all the way to the land you promised their ancestors with an oath? ¹³Where can I get meat for all these people? They keep crying for me to give them meat to eat. ¹⁴I can’t take care of all these people by myself. This is too much work for me! ¹⁵If this is how you’re going to treat me, why don’t you just kill me? I can’t face this trouble anymore.”

¹⁶Yhwh answered Moses, “Bring me 70 Israelite men who you know are leaders and officers of the people. Take them to the tent of meeting, and have them stand with you. ¹⁷I’ll come down and speak with you there. I’ll take some of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them. They will help you take care of the people. You won’t have to take care of the people alone. ¹⁸Tell the people to get ready for tomorrow. They must be set apart as holy. Then they will eat meat. I, Yhwh, heard them crying and saying, ‘If only we had meat to eat! We were better off in Egypt!’ So I will give them meat. ¹⁹They won’t eat it just for one or two days, or five, or ten, or twenty days, ²⁰but for a whole month, until it comes out of their ears and they’re sick of it. This is because they rejected Yhwh who is here among them and cried in front of him, asking, ‘Why did we ever leave Egypt?’ ”

²¹But Moses said, “Here I am with 600,000 foot soldiers around me. Yet, you say, ‘I will give them meat to eat for a whole month!’ ²²Would they have enough if all the flocks and herds were butchered for them? Would they have enough if all the fish in the sea were caught for them?”

²³Yhwh asked Moses, “Is there a limit to Yhwh’s power? Now you will see whether or not my words come true.”

²⁴Moses went out and told the people what Yhwh said. He gathered 70 of the leaders of the people and had them stand around the tent. ²⁵Then Yhwh came down in the ⌞column of⌟ smoke and spoke with him. He took some of the Spirit that was on Moses and put it on the 70 leaders. When the Spirit came to rest on them, they prophesied, but they never prophesied again.

²⁶Two men, named Eldad and Medad, had stayed in the camp. They were on the list with the other leaders but hadn’t gone with them to the tent. The Spirit came to rest on them, too, and they prophesied in the camp.

²⁷Then a young man ran and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.” ²⁸So Joshua, son of Nun, who had been Moses’ assistant ever since he was a young man, spoke up and said, “Stop them, sir!”

²⁹But Moses asked him, “Do you think you need to stand up for me? I wish all Yhwh’s people were prophets and that Yhwh would put his Spirit on them.”

³⁰Then Moses and the leaders went back to the camp.

³¹Yhwh sent a wind from the sea that brought quails and dropped them all around the camp. There were quails on the ground about three feet deep as far as you could walk in a day in any direction.

³²All that day and night and all the next day the people went out and gathered the quails. No one gathered less than 60 bushels. Then they spread the quails out all around the camp.

³³While the meat was still in their mouths—before they had even had a chance to chew it—Yhwh became angry with the people and struck them with a severe plague. ³⁴That place was called Kibroth Hattaavah [Graves of Those Who Craved ⌞Meat⌟] because there they buried the people who had a strong craving ⌞for meat⌟.

³⁵From Kibroth Hattaavah the people moved to Hazeroth, and they stayed there.

Numbers 12

Miriam and Aaron Oppose Moses

¹Miriam and Aaron began to criticize Moses because he was married to a woman from Sudan. ²They asked, “Did Yhwh speak only through Moses? Didn’t he also speak through us?” Yhwh heard their complaint.

³(Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on earth.)

⁴Suddenly, Yhwh said to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, “All three of you come to the tent of meeting.” So all three of them came. ⁵Then Yhwh came down in the column of smoke and stood at the entrance to the tent. He called to Aaron and Miriam, and they both came forward.

⁶He said, “Listen to my words: When there are prophets of Yhwh among you, I make myself known to them in visions or speak to them in dreams. ⁷But this is not the way I treat my servant Moses. He is the most faithful person in my household. (Or “He is in charge of my entire household.”) ⁸I speak with him face to face, plainly and not in riddles. He even sees the form of Yhwh. Why weren’t you afraid to criticize my servant Moses?”

⁹Yhwh was angry with them, so he left.

¹⁰When the smoke left the tent, Miriam was covered with an infectious skin disease. She was as white as snow. Aaron turned to her and saw she was covered with the disease. ¹¹So he said to Moses, “Please, sir, don’t punish us for this foolish sin we committed. ¹²Don’t let her be like a stillborn baby that’s not completely developed.”

¹³So Moses cried to Yhwh, “Please, Elohim, heal her!”

¹⁴Yhwh replied to Moses, “If her own father had spit in her face, wouldn’t she be excluded from the community for seven days? She must be put in isolation outside the camp for seven days. Then she can be brought back.” ¹⁵So Miriam was put in isolation outside the camp for seven days. The people didn’t break camp until she was brought back.

¹⁶After that, the people moved from Hazeroth and set up camp in the Desert of Paran.

Numbers 13

Moses Sends Out 12 Spies

¹Yhwh said to Moses, ²“Send men to explore Canaan, which I’m giving to the Israelites. Send one leader from each of their ancestors’ tribes.”

³So at Yhwh’s command, Moses sent these men from the Desert of Paran. All of them were leaders of the Israelites.

⁴These are their names:

Shammua, son of Zaccur, from the tribe of Reuben;

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

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

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

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

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

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

¹¹Gaddi, son of Susi, from the tribe of Joseph (that is, the tribe of Manasseh);

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

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

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

¹⁵Geuel, son of Machi, from the tribe of Gad.

¹⁶These are the names of the men Moses sent to explore the land. But Moses gave Hoshea, son of Nun, the name Joshua.

¹⁷When Moses sent them to explore Canaan, he told them, “Go through the Negev and then into the mountain region. ¹⁸See what the land is like and whether the people living there are strong or weak, few or many. ¹⁹Is the land they live in good or bad? Do their cities have walls around them or not? ²⁰Is the soil rich or poor? Does the land have trees or not? Do your best to bring back some fruit from the land.” (It was the season when grapes were beginning to ripen.)

²¹So the men explored the land from the Desert of Zin to the border of Hamath. ²²They went through the Negev and came to Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai lived. They are descendants of Anak. (Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) ²³When they came to the Eshcol Valley, they cut off a branch with only one bunch of grapes on it. They carried it on a pole between two of them. They also brought some pomegranates and figs. ²⁴So they called that valley Eshcol [Bunch of Grapes] because of the bunch of grapes the Israelites cut off there.

²⁵Forty days later, they came back from exploring the land. ²⁶They came back to Moses, Aaron, and the whole community of Israel at Kadesh in the Desert of Paran. They gave their report and showed them the fruit from the land.

²⁷This is what they reported to Moses: “We went to the land where you sent us. It really is a land flowing with milk and honey. Here’s some of its fruit. ²⁸But the people who live there are strong, and the cities have walls and are very large. We even saw the descendants of Anak there. ²⁹The Amalekites live in the Negev. The Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites live in the mountain region. And the Canaanites live along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea and all along the Jordan River.”

³⁰Caleb told the people to be quiet and listen to Moses. Caleb said, “Let’s go now and take possession of the land. We should be more than able to conquer it.”

³¹But the men who had gone with him said, “We can’t attack those people! They’re too strong for us!” ³²So they began to spread lies among the Israelites about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored is one that devours those who live there. All the people we saw there are very tall. ³³We saw Nephilim there. (The descendants of Anak are Nephilim.) We felt as small as grasshoppers, and that’s how we must have looked to them.”

Numbers 14

The People Rebel against Yhwh

¹Then all the people in the Israelite community raised their voices and cried out loud all that night. ²They complained to Moses and Aaron, “If only we had died in Egypt or this desert! ³Why is Yhwh bringing us to this land—just to have us die in battle? Our wives and children will be taken as prisoners of war! Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?” ⁴They said to each other, “Let’s choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”

⁵Immediately, Moses and Aaron bowed with their faces touching the ground in front of the whole community of Israel assembled there. ⁶At the same time, two of those who had explored the land, Joshua (son of Nun) and Caleb (son of Jephunneh), tore their clothes in despair. ⁷They said to the whole community of Israel, “The land we explored is very good. ⁸If Yhwh is pleased with us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us. This is a land flowing with milk and honey! ⁹Don’t rebel against Yhwh, and don’t be afraid of the people of the land. We will devour them like bread. They have no protection, and Yhwh is with us. So don’t be afraid of them.”

¹⁰But when the whole community of Israel talked about stoning Moses and Aaron to death, they all saw the glory of Yhwh⌞shining⌟ at the tent of meeting. ¹¹Yhwh said to Moses, “How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to trust me in spite of all the miraculous signs I have done among them? ¹²I’ll strike them with a plague, I’ll destroy them, (Or “I’ll take away the land I promised them.”) and I’ll make you into a nation larger and stronger than they are.”

¹³But Moses said to Yhwh, “What if the Egyptians hear about it? (You used your power to take these people away from them.) ¹⁴What if the Egyptians tell the people who live in this land? Yhwh, they have already heard that you are with these people, that they have seen you with their own eyes, that your column of smoke stays over them, and that you go ahead of them in a column of smoke by day and in a column of fire by night. ¹⁵But if you kill all these people at the same time, then the nations who have heard these reports about you will say, ¹⁶‘Yhwh wasn’t able to bring these people into the land he promised them, so he slaughtered them in the desert.’

¹⁷“Yhwh, let your power be as great as when you said, ¹⁸‘Yhwh … patient, forever loving…. He forgives wrongdoing and disobedience…. He never lets the guilty go unpunished, punishing children … for their parents’ sins to the third and fourth generation….’ ¹⁹By your great love, please forgive these people’s sins, as you have been forgiving them from the time they left Egypt until now.”

²⁰Yhwh said, “I forgive them, as you have asked. ²¹But as I live and as the glory of Yhwh fills the whole earth, I solemnly swear that ²²none of the people who saw my glory and the miraculous signs I did in Egypt and in the desert will see the land which I promised their ancestors. They have tested me now ten times and refused to obey me. (Part of verse 23 (in Hebrew) has been placed in verse 22 to express the complex Hebrew sentence structure more clearly in English.) ²³None of those who treat me with contempt will see it! ²⁴But because my servant Caleb has a different attitude and has wholeheartedly followed me, I’ll bring him to the land he already explored. His descendants will possess it. ²⁵(The Amalekites and Canaanites are living in the valleys.) Tomorrow you must turn around, go back into the desert, and follow the road that goes to the Red Sea.”

²⁶Then Yhwh said to Moses and Aaron, ²⁷“How long must I put up with this wicked community that keeps complaining about me? I’ve heard the complaints the Israelites are making about me. ²⁸So tell them, ‘As I live, declares Yhwh, I solemnly swear I will do everything to you that you said I would do. ²⁹Your bodies will drop dead in this desert. All of you who are at least 20 years old, who were registered and listed, and who complained about me will die. ³⁰I raised my hand and swore an oath to give you this land to live in. But none of you will enter it except Caleb (son of Jephunneh) and Joshua (son of Nun). ³¹You said your children would be taken as prisoners of war. Instead, I will bring them into the land you rejected, and they will enjoy it. ³²However, your bodies will drop dead in this desert. ³³Your children will be shepherds in the desert for 40 years. They will suffer for your unfaithfulness until the last of your bodies lies dead in the desert. ³⁴For 40 days you explored the land. So for 40 years—one year for each day—you will suffer for your sins and know what it means for me to be against you.’ ³⁵I, Yhwh, have spoken. I swear I will do these things to all the people in this whole wicked community who have joined forces against me. They will meet their end in this desert. Here they will die!”

³⁶So the men Moses sent to explore the land died in front of Yhwh from a plague. ³⁷They died because they had returned and made the whole community complain about Moses by spreading lies about the land. (Part of verse 37 (in Hebrew) has been placed at the end of verse 36 to express the complex Hebrew sentence structure more clearly in English.) ³⁸Of all the men who went to explore the land, only Joshua (son of Nun) and Caleb (son of Jephunneh) survived.

The Amalekites and Canaanites Defeat Israel

³⁹When Moses told these things to all the Israelites, the people mourned bitterly, as if someone had died. ⁴⁰Early the next morning they headed into the mountain region. They said, “We have sinned. Now we’ll go to the place Yhwh promised.”

⁴¹But Moses asked, “Why are you disobeying Yhwh’s command? Your plan won’t work! ⁴²Don’t go! You will be defeated by your enemies because Yhwh is not with you. ⁴³The Amalekites and Canaanites are there, and you will die in battle. Now that you have turned away from Yhwh, Yhwh will not be with you.”

⁴⁴But they headed into the mountain region anyway, even though the ark of Yhwh’s promise and Moses stayed in the camp. ⁴⁵The Amalekites and Canaanites who lived there came down from those mountains, attacked the Israelites, and defeated them at Hormah. (Or “and defeated them, chasing them all the way to Hormah.”)

Numbers 15

Grain and Wine Made Part of the Sacrifices to Yhwh

¹Yhwh said to Moses, ²“Speak to the Israelites and tell them: Once you’re settled in the land I’m giving you, ³you may bring offerings by fire to Yhwh. They may be burnt offerings or any other kind of sacrifice. They may be offered to fulfill a vow, as a freewill offering, or as one of your festival offerings. They may be cattle, sheep, or goats—offerings that are a soothing aroma to Yhwh. ⁴Whoever brings the offering must also give Yhwh a grain offering of eight cups of flour mixed with one quart of olive oil. ⁵With each sheep or goat for the burnt offering or any other sacrifice, also give an offering of one quart of wine.

⁶“With a ram, give a grain offering of 16 cups of flour mixed with 1¼ quarts of oil ⁷and an offering of 1¼ quarts of wine. Offer them as a soothing aroma to Yhwh.

⁸“Suppose you sacrifice a young bull as a burnt offering to Yhwh or make any other kind of sacrifice—to keep a vow or as a fellowship offering. ⁹Offer with the young bull a grain offering of 24 cups of flour mixed with two quarts of olive oil. ¹⁰Also give an offering of two quarts of wine. It is an offering by fire, a soothing aroma to Yhwh. ¹¹Do this for each bull, each ram, and each sheep or goat. ¹²Do it for each animal, however many you sacrifice. ¹³All native-born Israelites must do it this way when they bring an offering by fire, a soothing aroma to Yhwh.

¹⁴“Suppose foreigners are visiting you or living among you in future generations. If they bring an offering by fire, a soothing aroma to Yhwh, they must do as you do. ¹⁵There is one law for the whole assembly: for you and foreigners who are living with you. It is a permanent law for future generations. As far as Yhwh is concerned, you and foreigners are the same. ¹⁶The instructions and rules are the same for you as well as foreigners who are living with you.”

Offering the First Bread Dough to Yhwh

¹⁷Yhwh said to Moses, ¹⁸“Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When you enter the land where I’m taking you ¹⁹and eat any of the food from the land, give some of it as a contribution to Yhwh. ²⁰Shape one part of your dough into a ring the same way you do with the contribution you make from the threshing floor. (A threshing floor is an outdoor area where grain is separated from its husks.) ²¹For generations to come, you must give one part of your dough as a contribution to Yhwh.

What Is to Be Done about Unintentional and Intentional Wrongdoings

²²“Suppose you unintentionally do something wrong by not obeying all these commands Yhwh gave Moses. ²³(Everything Yhwh commanded you through Moses holds as true for generations to come as it did the day Yhwh gave the commands.) ²⁴If it was unintentional and no one else knows about it, the whole community must sacrifice a young bull as a burnt offering, a soothing aroma to Yhwh, along with the proper grain and wine offerings, and a male goat as an offering for sin. ²⁵The priest will make peace with Yhwh for the whole community of Israel. Then they will be forgiven because the wrongdoing was unintentional and they brought these two offerings to Yhwh for their sin: an offering by fire and an offering for sin. ²⁶So the whole community of Israel will be forgiven, including foreigners who are living among them, since all the people were involved in the unintentional wrongdoing.

²⁷“If one person unintentionally does something wrong, a one-year-old female goat must be sacrificed as an offering for sin. ²⁸The priest will offer the sacrifice to make peace with Yhwh for that person, and that person will be forgiven. ²⁹You must give the same instructions to everyone who does something wrong unintentionally, whether they are native-born Israelites or not.

³⁰“But any native-born Israelite or foreigner who deliberately does something wrong insults Yhwh and must be excluded from the people. ³¹That person has despised Yhwh’s word and broken Yhwh’s command. He must be excluded completely. He remains guilty.”

A Man Breaks the Rules for the Day of Rest

³²While the Israelites were in the desert, they found a man gathering wood on the day of rest—a holy day. ³³Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron and the whole community. ³⁴They kept him in custody until they decided what to do with him.

³⁵Then Yhwh said to Moses, “This man must be put to death. The whole community must take him outside the camp and stone him.” ³⁶So the whole community took him outside the camp and stoned him to death, as Yhwh commanded Moses.

The Israelites Are Commanded to Wear Tassels

³⁷Yhwh said to Moses, ³⁸“Speak to the Israelites and tell them: For generations to come they must wear tassels on the corners of their clothes with violet threads in each tassel. ³⁹Whenever you look at the threads in the tassel, you will remember all Yhwh’s commands and obey them. Then you won’t do whatever you want and go after whatever you see, as if you were chasing after prostitutes. ⁴⁰You will remember to obey all my commands, and you will be holy to your Elohim. ⁴¹I am Yhwh your Elohim, who brought you out of Egypt to be your Elohim. I am Yhwh your Elohim.”

Numbers 16

Korah’s Rebellion

¹Korah (son of Izhar), Dathan and Abiram (sons of Eliab), and On (son of Peleth) dared to challenge Moses. (The beginning of verse 2 (in Hebrew) has been placed in verse 1 to express the complex Hebrew sentence structure more clearly in English.) (Korah was a descendant of Kohath and Levi. Dathan, Abiram, and On were descendants of Reuben.) ²These four men were joined by 250 Israelite men, well-known leaders of the community, chosen by the assembly. ³They came together to confront Moses and Aaron and said to them, “You’ve gone far enough! Everyone in the whole community is holy, and Yhwh is among them. Why do you set yourselves above Yhwh’s assembly?”

⁴As soon as Moses heard this, he bowed with his face touching the ground. ⁵Then he said to Korah and all his followers, “In the morning Yhwh will show who belongs to him, who is holy, and who it is that he will allow to come near him. Only the person Yhwh chooses will be allowed to come near him. ⁶Korah, you and all your followers must do this tomorrow: Take incense burners, ⁷and put burning coals and incense in them in Yhwh’s presence. Then Yhwh will choose the man who is holy. You’ve gone far enough!”

⁸Moses also said to Korah, “Listen, you Levites! ⁹Isn’t it enough for you that the Elohim of Israel has separated you from the rest of the community of Israel? Yhwh has brought you near himself to do the work for his tent and stand in front of the community to serve them. ¹⁰He has brought you and all the other Levites near himself, but now you demand to be priests. ¹¹So you and all your followers have joined forces against Yhwh! Who is Aaron that you should complain about him?”

¹²Then Moses sent for Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab. But they said, “We won’t come! ¹³Isn’t it enough that you brought us out of a land flowing with milk and honey only to kill us in the desert? Do you also have to order us around? ¹⁴Certainly you haven’t brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey or given us any fields and vineyards to own. Do you think you can still pull the wool over our eyes? We won’t come.”

¹⁵Moses became angry and said to Yhwh, “Don’t accept their offering. I haven’t taken anything from them, not even a donkey. And I haven’t mistreated any of them.”

¹⁶Moses said to Korah, “Tomorrow you and all your followers must come into Yhwh’s presence. Aaron will also be there with you. ¹⁷Each man will take his incense burner and put incense in it. They will offer all 250 incense burners to Yhwh. Then you and Aaron offer your incense burners.”

¹⁸So each man took his incense burner, put burning coals and incense in it, and stood with Moses and Aaron at the entrance to the tent of meeting. ¹⁹When Korah had gathered all his followers—those who opposed Moses and Aaron—at the entrance to the tent of meeting, the glory of Yhwh appeared to the whole group.

²⁰Yhwh said to Moses and Aaron, ²¹“Move away from these men, and I’ll destroy them in an instant.” ²²Immediately, they bowed with their faces touching the ground and said, “O Elohim, you are the Elohim who gives the breath of life to everyone! If one man sins, will you be angry with the whole community?”

²³Then Yhwh said to Moses, ²⁴“Tell the community: Move away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.”

²⁵Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the leaders of Israel followed him. ²⁶He said to the community, “Move away from the tents of these wicked men. Don’t touch anything that belongs to them, or you’ll be swept away because of all their sins.” ²⁷So they moved away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram had come out and were standing at the entrances to their tents with their wives and children.

²⁸Moses said, “This is how you will know that Yhwh sent me to do all these things and that it wasn’t my idea: ²⁹If these men die like all other people—if they die a natural death—then Yhwh hasn’t sent me. ³⁰But if Yhwh does something totally new—if the ground opens up, swallows them and everything that belongs to them, and they go down alive to their graves—then you’ll know that these men have treated Yhwh with contempt.”

³¹As soon as he had finished saying all this, the ground under them split, ³²and the earth opened up to swallow them, their families, the followers of Korah, and all their property. ³³They went down alive to their graves with everything that belonged to them. The ground covered them, and so they disappeared from the assembly. ³⁴All the Israelites around them ran away when they heard their screams. They thought the ground would swallow them, too.

³⁵Fire came from Yhwh and consumed the 250 men who were offering incense. (Numbers 16:36–50 in English Bibles is Numbers 17:1–15 in the Hebrew Bible.)

³⁶Then Yhwh said to Moses, ³⁷“Tell Eleazar, son of the priest Aaron, to take the incense burners out of the fire and scatter the coals and incense somewhere else, because the incense burners have become holy. ³⁸The incense burners of these men who sinned and lost their lives are holy, because they were offered to Yhwh. Hammer them into thin metal sheets to cover the altar. This will be a sign to the Israelites.”

³⁹So the priest Eleazar took the bronze incense burners which had been brought by those who had been burned to death. The incense burners were then hammered into thin metal sheets to cover the altar, ⁴⁰following the command that Yhwh had given through Moses. The bronze-covered altar will remind Israel that no one but a descendant of Aaron can come near to burn incense to Yhwh. Everyone else will die like Korah and his followers.

⁴¹The next day the whole community of Israel complained to Moses and Aaron. They said, “You have killed Yhwh’s people.” ⁴²The community came together to confront Moses and Aaron. When they turned toward the tent of meeting, they saw the smoke covering it, and the glory of Yhwh appeared.

⁴³Then Moses and Aaron went to the front of the tent of meeting. ⁴⁴Yhwh said to Moses, ⁴⁵“Get away from these people, and let me destroy them in an instant!” Immediately, they bowed with their faces touching the ground.

⁴⁶Moses said to Aaron, “Take your incense burner, put burning coals from the altar and incense in it, and go quickly into the community to make peace with Yhwh for the people. Yhwh is showing his anger; a plague has started.”

⁴⁷Aaron took his incense burner, as Moses told him, and ran into the middle of the assembly, because the plague had already begun among the people. He put incense on the incense burner to make peace with Yhwh for the people. ⁴⁸He stood between those who had died and those who were still alive, and the plague stopped. ⁴⁹Still, 14,700 died from the plague in addition to those who had died because of Korah. ⁵⁰By the time Aaron came back to Moses at the entrance to the tent of meeting, the plague had stopped.

Numbers 17

Aaron’s Staff Grows

¹ (Numbers 17:1–13 in English Bibles is Numbers 17:16–28 in the Hebrew Bible.)Yhwh said to Moses, ²“Speak to the Israelites, and get 12 staffs from them, one from the leader of each of their tribes. (There is a play on words here. Hebrew matteh can mean “staff” or “tribe.”) Write each man’s name on his staff. ³Write Aaron’s name on the staff for Levi because there must be one staff for the head of each tribe. ⁴Put them in the tent of meeting where I meet with you, in front of the words of my promise. ⁵The staff from the man I choose will begin to grow. In this way I will silence the frequent complaints the Israelites make against you and Aaron.”

⁶So Moses spoke to the Israelites. Their leaders gave him 12 staffs, one from the leader of each of their tribes. Aaron’s staff was among them. ⁷Moses put the staffs in Yhwh’s presence in the tent of the words of Elohim’s promise.

⁸The next day Moses went into the tent. He found that Aaron’s staff for the tribe of Levi had not only begun to grow, but it had also blossomed and produced ripe almonds. ⁹Moses brought out the staffs from Yhwh’s presence and showed them to all the Israelites. They looked at them, and each man took his staff.

¹⁰Yhwh said to Moses, “Put Aaron’s staff back in front of the words of my promise, and keep it there as a sign to warn any other rebels. Then you will stop their complaints about me, and they won’t die.”

¹¹Moses did exactly what Yhwh commanded him to do.

¹²The Israelites said to Moses, “Now we’re going to die! We’re lost! We’re all lost! ¹³Anyone who comes near Yhwh’s tent will die! Are we all going to die?”

Numbers 18

The Duties of the Levites and Priests

¹Yhwh said to Aaron, “You, your sons, and your family will be responsible for any sins against the holy place. You and your sons will also be responsible for any sins you commit when you work as priests. ²Bring the other Levites from your ancestor’s tribe to join you and help you and your sons serve in front of the tent of the words of my promise. ³They will work for you, doing whatever work is necessary for the whole tent. But they must not come near the altar or the furnishings in the holy place, or they will die, and you will die, too. ⁴They will join you and do whatever work is necessary for the tent of meeting, including all the maintenance work for the tent. But no one else may come near you.

⁵“You must be in charge of the work done at the holy place and at the altar. Then I won’t show my anger against the Israelites again. ⁶I have chosen the other Levites from among the Israelites to help you. They are a gift given to Yhwh to do whatever work is necessary at the tent of meeting. ⁷Only you and your sons may do the work of priests—everything done at the altar and under the canopy. This is my gift to you: You may serve me as priests. Anyone else who comes near ⌞the holy place to do this work⌟ must die.”

Contributions for the Levites and Priests

⁸Yhwh said to Aaron, “I am putting you in charge of all the contributions given to me. I am giving you and your descendants all the holy gifts from the Israelites as your share. These contributions will always be yours. ⁹That part of the most holy offerings which is not burned belongs to you. It may come from a grain offering, an offering for sin, or a guilt offering. Whatever is brought to me as a most holy offering will belong to you and your sons. ¹⁰Eat it in a most holy place. Any male may eat it. You must consider it holy.

¹¹“The contributions that come as gifts taken from the offerings presented by the Israelites are also yours. I am giving these to you, your sons, and your daughters. They will always be yours. Anyone in your household who is clean (“Clean” refers to anything that is presentable to Elohim.) may eat them.

¹²“I am also giving you the first of the produce they give Yhwh: the best of all the olive oil and the best of the new wine and fresh grain. ¹³The first of all produce harvested in their land that they bring to Yhwh is yours. Anyone in your household who is clean may eat it.

¹⁴“Anything in Israel that is claimed by Yhwh is yours. ¹⁵Every firstborn male, human or animal, that is brought to Yhwh is yours. But you must buy back every firstborn son and the firstborn male of any unclean animal. ¹⁶When they are one month old, you must buy them back at the fixed price of two ounces of silver, using the standard weight of the holy place.

¹⁷“But you must never buy back a firstborn ox, sheep, or goat. They are holy. Throw the blood from these animals against the altar, and burn the fat as an offering by fire, a soothing aroma to Yhwh. ¹⁸But the meat is yours, like the breast and the right thigh that are presented. ¹⁹I am giving you, your sons, and your daughters all the holy contributions the Israelites bring to Yhwh. These contributions will always be yours. It is an everlasting promise of salt in Yhwh’s presence for you and your descendants.”

²⁰Yhwh said to Aaron, “You will have no land or property of your own as the other Israelites will have. I am your possession and your property among the Israelites.

²¹“I am giving the Levites one-tenth of every Israelite’s income. This is in return for the work they do at the tent of meeting. ²²The other Israelites must never again come near the tent of meeting. Otherwise, they’ll suffer the consequences of their sin and die. ²³Only the Levites will do the work at the tent of meeting. They will be responsible for their own sins. This is a permanent law for future generations. They will own no property as the other Israelites will. ²⁴Instead, I will give the Levites what the Israelites contribute to Yhwh—one-tenth of the Israelites’ income. This is why I said about them, ‘They will own no property as the other Israelites do.’ ”

²⁵Yhwh said to Moses, ²⁶“Speak to the Levites and say to them: You will take one-tenth of the Israelites’ income which I’m giving you as your property. When you do, you must contribute one-tenth of that income as your contribution to Yhwh. ²⁷Your contribution will be considered to be grain from the threshing floor (A threshing floor is an outdoor area where grain is separated from its husks.) or juice from the winepress. ²⁸So you, too, will contribute one-tenth of your income to Yhwh out of all that you receive from the Israelites’ income. You will give Yhwh’s contribution to the priest Aaron. ²⁹Out of all the gifts you receive, you must contribute the best and holiest parts to Yhwh.

³⁰“Also tell them: When you contribute the best part, your contribution will be considered to be produce from the threshing floor or winepress. ³¹So you and your households may eat it anywhere, because it’s the wages you receive for your work at the tent of meeting. ³²When you contribute the best part, you won’t suffer the consequences of any sin. You won’t be dishonoring the holy offerings given by the Israelites, and you won’t die.”

Numbers 19

Water That Makes Israel Clean After Someone Dies

¹Yhwh said to Moses and Aaron, ²“This is what Yhwh’s teachings have commanded: Tell the Israelites to bring you a red cow that is perfect, with no defects. Also, it must never have worn a yoke. (A yoke is a wooden bar placed over the necks of work animals so that they can pull plows or carts.) ³Give it to the priest Eleazar. It must be taken outside the camp and slaughtered in his presence. ⁴The priest Eleazar will take some of the blood with his finger and sprinkle it seven times toward the front of the tent of meeting. ⁵Then the entire cow (the skin, meat, blood, and excrement) will be burned while he watches. ⁶The priest will take some cedar wood, a hyssop sprig, and some red yarn and throw them onto the burning cow. ⁷The priest must then wash his clothes and his body. After that, he may go into the camp. But he will be unclean (“Unclean” refers to anything that is not presentable to Elohim.) until evening. ⁸The person who burned the calf must also wash his clothes and his body. He, too, will be unclean until evening.

⁹“A man who is clean (“Clean” refers to anything that is presentable to Elohim.) will collect the ashes from the cow and put them in a clean place outside the camp. They will be kept by the community of Israel and used in the water that takes away uncleanness. The cow is an offering for sin. ¹⁰The person who collected the ashes from the cow must also wash his clothes. He will be unclean until evening. This will be a permanent law for the Israelites and for the foreigners who live with them.

¹¹“Whoever touches the dead body of any human being will be unclean for seven days. ¹²The unclean person must use this water on the third day and the seventh day to take away his sin. Then he will be clean. But if he doesn’t use this water on the third day and the seventh day, he will not be clean. ¹³Whoever touches the dead body of a human being and doesn’t use this water to take away his sin makes Yhwh’s tent unclean. That person must be excluded from Israel, because the water that takes away uncleanness wasn’t sprinkled on him. He is unclean; his uncleanness stays with him.

¹⁴“These are your instructions for when a person dies in a tent: Everyone who goes into the tent and everyone who is in the tent will be unclean for seven days. ¹⁵Every container without a lid fastened on it is unclean.

¹⁶“Whoever is outdoors and touches someone who was killed or has died naturally or anyone who touches a human bone or a grave will be unclean for seven days.

¹⁷“⌞This is what you must do⌟ for people who become unclean from touching a dead body. Put some of the ashes from the red cow that was burned as an offering for sin into a container. Then pour fresh water on them. ¹⁸A person who is clean will take a sprig of hyssop, dip it in the water, and sprinkle the tent, all the furnishings, and all the people who were in the tent ⌞with the dead body⌟. He must also sprinkle any person who has touched a human bone or a grave and any person who has touched someone who has been killed or who has died naturally. ¹⁹A person who is clean will sprinkle these types of unclean people on the third day and the seventh day. On the seventh day the clean person will finish taking away their sins. Then they must wash their clothes and bodies, and in the evening they will be clean. ²⁰But if the person who becomes unclean doesn’t have his sin taken away, that person must be excluded from the assembly. He has made the holy place of Yhwh unclean. The water to take away uncleanness wasn’t sprinkled on him. He is unclean. ²¹This will be a permanent law for them.

“Whoever sprinkles the water to take away uncleanness must wash his clothes. And whoever touches this water will be unclean until evening. ²²Anything that an unclean person touches becomes unclean, and the person who touches it will be unclean until evening.”

Numbers 20

Water from the Rock

¹In the first month the whole community of Israel came into the Desert of Zin, and they stayed at Kadesh. Miriam died and was buried there.

²Since the community was without water, they came together to confront Moses and Aaron. ³The people complained to Moses and said, “If only we had died when the other Israelites died in Yhwh’s presence! ⁴Did you bring Yhwh’s assembly into this desert just to have us and our animals die here? ⁵Why did you make us leave Egypt and bring us into this terrible place? This is no place to plant crops. Even figs, grapes, and pomegranates won’t grow here. And there’s no water to drink!”

⁶Moses and Aaron went from the assembly to the entrance of the tent of meeting. Immediately, they bowed with their faces touching the ground, and the glory of Yhwh appeared to them.

⁷Yhwh said to Moses, ⁸“Take your staff, then you and your brother Aaron gather the community. Right before their eyes, tell the rock to give up its water. In this way you will give the community water from the rock for them and their animals to drink.”

⁹Moses took his staff out of ⌞the tent in⌟ Yhwh’s presence as he had been commanded. ¹⁰Then Moses and Aaron assembled the community in front of the rock and said to them, “Listen, you rebels, must we bring water out of this rock for you?” ¹¹Moses raised his hand and hit the rock twice with the staff. Water came pouring out, and all the people and their animals drank.

¹²But Yhwh said to Moses and Aaron, “You didn’t trust me! You didn’t show the Israelites how holy I am! So you will not bring this congregation into the land I’m giving them.”

¹³This was the oasis of Meribah [Complaining], where the Israelites complained about Yhwh and where he showed them he was holy.

Edom Refuses to Allow Israel to Pass through Its Territory

¹⁴Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom. He said, “This is what your brother Israel says: You know all the hardships we’ve had. ¹⁵Our ancestors went to Egypt, and we lived there for many years. The Egyptians mistreated us and our ancestors. ¹⁶When we cried out to Yhwh, he heard us, sent a messenger, and brought us out of Egypt.

“Now we’re here in Kadesh, a city on the edge of your territory. ¹⁷Please let us go through your country. We won’t go through any of your fields or vineyards, or drink any of the water from your wells. We’ll stay on the king’s highway and never leave it until we’ve passed through your territory.”

¹⁸But the Edomites answered, “You may not pass through our country. If you try, we’ll come out and attack you.”

¹⁹The Israelites replied, “We’ll stay on the main road, and if we or our livestock drink any of your water, we’ll pay for it. We want to pass through on foot. That’s all.”

²⁰But the Edomites said, “You may not pass through.” Then they came out and attacked with many well-armed troops. ²¹Since the Edomites refused to let Israel go through their territory, the Israelites turned around and went a different way.

Aaron’s Death

²²The whole community of Israel left Kadesh and came to Mount Hor. ²³At Mount Hor, near the border of Edom, Yhwh said to Moses and Aaron, ²⁴“Aaron must now join his ancestors ⌞in death⌟, since he cannot enter the land I’m giving the Israelites. This is because you both rebelled against my command at the oasis of Meribah. ²⁵Bring Aaron and his son Eleazar up on Mount Hor. ²⁶Take off Aaron’s priestly clothes, and put them on his son Eleazar. Then Aaron will die there and join ⌞his ancestors⌟.”

²⁷Moses did as Yhwh commanded. The whole community saw them go up on Mount Hor. ²⁸Moses took off Aaron’s priestly clothes and put them on his son Eleazar. Aaron died there on top of the mountain. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain. ²⁹The whole community saw that Aaron had died, and all the Israelites mourned for Aaron 30 days.

Numbers 21

The King of Arad Is Defeated

¹When the Canaanite king of Arad, who lived in the Negev, heard that the Israelites were coming on the road to Atharim, he fought them and took some of them as prisoners. ²Then the Israelites made this vow to Yhwh: “If you will hand these people over to us, we’ll destroy their cities because you’ve claimed them.” ³Yhwh listened to the Israelites and handed the Canaanites over to them. They destroyed the Canaanites and their cities. So they called the place Hormah [Claimed for Destruction].

The Bronze Snake

⁴Then they moved from Mount Hor, following the road that goes to the Red Sea, in order to get around Edom. The people became impatient on the trip ⁵and criticized Elohim and Moses. They said, “Why did you make us leave Egypt—just to let us die in the desert? There’s no bread or water, and we can’t stand this awful food!”

⁶So Yhwh sent poisonous snakes among the people. They bit the people, and many of the Israelites died. ⁷The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we criticized Yhwh and you. Pray to Yhwh so that he will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.

⁸Yhwh said to Moses, “Make a snake, and put it on a pole. Anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” ⁹So Moses made a bronze snake and put it on a pole. People looked at the bronze snake after they were bitten, and they lived. (There is a play on words here between Hebrew nachash (snake) and nechosheth (bronze).)

Israel Travels Past Edom to Moab

¹⁰The Israelites moved and set up camp at Oboth. ¹¹Next they moved from Oboth and set up camp at Iye Abarim in the desert west of Moab. ¹²From there they moved and set up camp at the Zered River. ¹³They moved from there and set up camp on the other side of the Arnon Valley in the desert that extends into Amorite territory. (The Arnon Valley is the border between Moab and the Amorites.) ¹⁴This is how it’s described in the Book of the Wars of Yhwh:

“… Waheb in Suphah and the valleys,
15 Arnon and the slopes of the valleys
that go down to the site of Ar
and lie along the border of Moab….”

¹⁶From there they went to Beer [Well]. This is the well where Yhwh said to Moses, “Gather the people, and I will give them water.” ¹⁷Then Israel sang this song about the well:

“Make your water spring up!
Sing to the well,
18 the well dug by princes,
dug out by the nobles of the people
with their scepters and staffs.”

From the desert they went to Mattanah, ¹⁹and from Mattanah to Nahaliel, and from Nahaliel to Bamoth, ²⁰and from Bamoth to the valley in Moab where Mount Pisgah overlooks Jeshimon.

Sihon and Og Defeated

²¹Then Israel sent messengers to say to King Sihon of the Amorites, ²²“Let us go through your country. We won’t go through any of your fields or vineyards or drink any of the water from your wells. We’ll stay on the king’s highway until we’ve passed through your territory.”

²³Sihon wouldn’t let Israel pass through his territory. Sihon gathered all his troops and came out into the desert to attack Israel. When Sihon’s troops came to Jahaz, they fought against Israel. ²⁴But Israel defeated them in battle and took possession of their land from the Arnon Valley to the Jabbok River. ⌞They stopped at⌟ the border of the Ammon because it was fortified. ²⁵Israel took all those Amorite cities, including Heshbon and all its villages, and lived in them. ²⁶Heshbon was the city of King Sihon of the Amorites. He had fought the former king of Moab and had taken all his land up to the Arnon Valley.

²⁷This is why the poets say:

“Come to Heshbon! Rebuild it!
Restore Sihon’s city!
28 Fire came out of Heshbon,
flames from Sihon’s city.
They destroyed Ar of Moab,
the rulers of Arnon’s worship sites.†Masoretic Text; Greek “it consumed Arnon’s worship sites.”
29 How horrible it is for you, Moab!
You are destroyed, you people of Chemosh.
Chemosh let his sons become refugees
and he let his daughters become prisoners
of King Sihon of the Amorites.
30 But we shot the Amorites full of arrows.
From Heshbon to Dibon they all died.
We destroyed everyone and everything
between Nophah and Medeba.”

³¹So Israel settled in the land of the Amorites. ³²After Moses sent spies to Jazer, the Israelites captured its cities and villages and forced out the Amorites who were there. ³³Then they turned and followed the road that goes to Bashan. King Og of Bashan and all his troops came out to fight the Israelites at Edrei.

³⁴Yhwh said to Moses, “Don’t be afraid of him. I’ll hand him, all his troops, and his land over to you. Do to him what you did to King Sihon of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon.” ³⁵The Israelites defeated him, his sons, and all his troops, leaving no survivors. And they took possession of his land.

Numbers 22

Balaam Is Hired to Curse Israel

¹Then the Israelites moved and set up camp across from Jericho, on the plains of Moab east of the Jordan River.

²Balak, son of Zippor, saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. ³The Moabites were very afraid because there were so many Israelites. Besides, the Moabites couldn’t stand these people.

⁴So the Moabites said to the leaders of Midian, “All those people will eventually eat up everything around us the same way an ox eats up the grass in a field.”

At that time Balak, son of Zippor, was king of Moab. ⁵He sent messengers to summon Balaam, son of Beor, who was at Pethor, on the Euphrates River, in the land where his people lived. Balak’s message was, “A nation has just come here from Egypt. They’ve spread out all over the countryside and are setting up their camp here in front of me. ⁶Please come and curse these people for me, because they are too strong for me. Maybe then I’ll be able to defeat them and force them out of the country. I know that whomever you bless is blessed and whomever you curse is cursed.”

⁷The leaders of Moab and Midian left, taking money with them to pay for Balaam’s services. They came to Balaam and told him what Balak had said.

⁸“Spend the night here,” Balaam said to them, “and I’ll report to you what Yhwh tells me.” So the princes of Moab stayed with Balaam.

⁹Elohim came to Balaam and asked, “Who are these men with you?”

¹⁰Balaam answered, “Balak, son of King Zippor of Moab, sent them with this message: ¹¹‘Some people have just come from Egypt and are spreading out all over the countryside. Now come and curse them for me. Maybe I’ll be able to fight them and force them out.’ ”

¹²But Elohim said to Balaam, “Don’t go with them! Don’t curse these people, because they are blessed.”

¹³When Balaam got up in the morning, he said to Balak’s princes, “Go back to your own country, because Yhwh has refused to let me go with you.”

¹⁴So the Moabite princes went back to Balak and said, “Balaam refused to come with us.”

¹⁵Balak sent a larger group of more highly respected princes. ¹⁶When they came to Balaam, they said to him, “This is what Balak, son of Zippor, says: Don’t let anything keep you from coming to me. ¹⁷I will make sure you are richly rewarded, and I will do whatever you ask. Please, come and curse these people for me.”

¹⁸But Balaam answered Balak’s servants, “Even if Balak gave me his palace filled with silver and gold, I couldn’t disobey the command of Yhwh my Elohim no matter whether the request was important or not. ¹⁹Now, why don’t you stay here tonight, as the others did, and I’ll find out what else Yhwh may have to tell me.”

²⁰That night Elohim came to Balaam and said, “If these men have come to summon you, go with them, but do only what I tell you.”

Balaam’s Journey to Moab

²¹When Balaam got up in the morning, he saddled his donkey and left with the Moabite princes.

²²Elohim became angry that he was going. So the Messenger of Yhwh stood in the road to stop him. Balaam was riding on his donkey, accompanied by his two servants. ²³When the donkey saw the Messenger of Yhwh standing in the road with his sword drawn, the donkey turned off the road into a field. Balaam hit the donkey to get it back on the road.

²⁴Where the road went through the vineyards, it was narrow, with stone walls on both sides. Now the Messenger of Yhwh stood there. ²⁵When the donkey saw the Messenger of Yhwh, it moved over and pinned Balaam’s foot against the wall. So Balaam hit the donkey again.

²⁶Then the Messenger of Yhwh moved ahead and stood in a narrower place where there was no room to turn to the right or the left. ²⁷When the donkey saw the Messenger of Yhwh, it lay down under Balaam. Balaam became so angry he hit the donkey with his stick. ²⁸Then Yhwh made the donkey speak, and it asked Balaam, “What have I done to make you hit me three times?”

²⁹Balaam answered, “You’ve made a fool of me! If I had a sword in my hand, I’d kill you right now.”

³⁰The donkey said to Balaam, “I’m your own donkey. You’ve always ridden me. Have I ever done this to you before?”

“No,” he answered.

³¹Then Yhwh let Balaam see the Messenger of Yhwh who was standing in the road with his sword drawn. So Balaam knelt, bowing with his face touching the ground.

³²The Messenger of Yhwh asked him, “Why have you hit your donkey three times like this? I’ve come here to stop you because the trip you’re taking is evil. ³³The donkey saw me and turned away from me these three times. If it had not turned away from me, I would certainly have killed you by now but spared the donkey.”

³⁴Balaam said to the Messenger of Yhwh, “I’ve sinned. I didn’t know you were standing there in the road to stop me. If you still think this trip is evil, I’ll go back.”

³⁵The Messenger of Yhwh said to Balaam, “Go with the men, but say only what I tell you.” So Balaam went with Balak’s princes.

³⁶When Balak heard that Balaam had come, he went out to meet him at Ir Moab, in the region of the Arnon Valley, right on the border of Moab. ³⁷Balak said to Balaam, “Why didn’t you come when I summoned you? You knew I’d be able to reward you.”

³⁸Balaam replied, “Well, I’ve come to you now. But I can’t say whatever I want to. I can only say what Elohim tells me to say.”

³⁹Balaam went with Balak to Kiriath Huzoth. ⁴⁰Balak sacrificed cattle, sheep, and goats, and sent some of the meat to Balaam and the princes who were with him.

⁴¹The next morning Balak took Balaam up to Bamoth Baal. From there he could see the outskirts of the Israelites’ camp.

Numbers 23

Balaam’s First Prophecy

¹Balaam said to Balak, “Build seven altars here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me.” ²Balak did what Balaam told him, and the two of them offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

³Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here beside your burnt offering while I’m gone. Maybe Yhwh will come and meet with me. I will tell you whatever he reveals to me.” Then Balaam went off to a higher place where there were no trees.

⁴Elohim came to him, and Balaam said, “I have set up seven altars, and I offered a bull and a ram on each altar.”

⁵Yhwh told Balaam, “Go back to Balak, and give him my message.”

⁶So he went back to Balak and found him standing beside his burnt offering with all the princes of Moab. ⁷Then Balaam delivered this message:

“Balak brought me from Aram.
The king of Moab summoned me from the eastern mountains.
‘Come, curse Jacob for me,’ he said.
‘Come, condemn Israel.’
8 How can I curse those whom Elohim hasn’t cursed?
How can I condemn those whom Yhwh hasn’t condemned?
9 I see them from the top of rocky cliffs,
I look at them from the hills.
I see a nation that lives by itself,
people who do not consider themselves
to be like other nations.
10 The descendants of Jacob are like specks of dust.
Who can count them
or number even one-fourth of the people of Israel?
Let me die the death of innocent people.
Let my end be like theirs.”

¹¹Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I brought you here to curse my enemies, but all you’ve done is bless them!”

¹²Balaam answered, “I must say what Yhwh tells me to say.”

Balaam’s Second Prophecy

¹³Then Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place, where you can see the Israelites. You will see only some of them, not all of them. Curse them for me from there.”

¹⁴So he took him to the Field of Zophim (Or “to a lookout point.”) on top of Mount Pisgah, where he built seven altars. He offered a bull and a ram on each altar. ¹⁵Then Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here beside your burnt offering while I meet with Elohim over there.”

¹⁶Yhwh came to Balaam and told him, “Go back to Balak, and give him my message.”

¹⁷He came to Balak and found him standing beside his burnt offering with the princes of Moab. Balak asked him, “What did Yhwh say?” ¹⁸Then Balaam delivered this message:

“Stand up, Balak, and listen!
Hear me, son of Zippor!
19 Elohim is not like people. He tells no lies.
He is not like humans. He doesn’t change his mind.
When he says something, he does it.
When he makes a promise, he keeps it.
20 I have received a command to bless.
He has blessed, and I can’t change it.
21 He doesn’t want any trouble for the descendants of Jacob.
He sees no misfortune for the people of Israel.
Yhwh their Elohim is with them,
praised as their king.
22 El brought them out of Egypt
has the strength of a wild bull.
23 No spell can curse the descendants of Jacob.
No magic can harm the people of Israel.
Now it will be said of Jacob and Israel:
‘See what Elohim has done!’
24 Here is a nation that attacks like a lioness
and is as ferocious as a lion.
It doesn’t lie down until it eats its prey
and drinks the blood of its victim.”

²⁵Balak said to Balaam, “If you won’t curse them, then at least don’t bless them!”

²⁶Balaam answered, “Didn’t I tell you that I must do whatever Yhwh says?”

²⁷Balak said to Balaam, “Come, let me take you to another place. Maybe Elohim wants you to curse them for me from there.” ²⁸So Balak took Balaam to the top of Mount Peor, which overlooks Jeshimon.

²⁹Balaam said to Balak, “Build seven altars here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me.” ³⁰Balak did what Balaam told him, and he offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

Numbers 24

Balaam’s Third Prophecy

¹When Balaam saw that Yhwh wanted to bless Israel, he didn’t look for omens as he had done before. He turned toward the desert, ²looked up, and saw Israel’s camp grouped by tribes. The Spirit of Elohim entered him, ³and he delivered this message:

“This is the message of Balaam, son of Beor.
This is the message of the man whose eyesight is clear.
4 This is the message of the one who hears El's words,
has a vision from the Almighty,
and falls ⌞into a trance⌟ with his eyes open:
5 How beautiful are your tents, Jacob,
and the places where you live, Israel.
6 Your tents spread out like rivers,
like gardens by a river,
like aloes planted by Yhwh,
like cedars by the water.
7 Water will flow from their buckets,
and their crops will have plenty of water.
Their king will be greater than Agag,
and their kingdom will be considered the best.
8 The Elohim who brought them out of Egypt
has the strength of a wild bull.
He will devour nations that are his enemies,
crush their bones,
and pierce them with arrows.
9 His people lie down ⌞and⌟ rest like a lion.
They are like a lioness. Who dares to disturb them?
Those who bless you will be blessed!
Those who curse you will be cursed!”

Balaam’s Fourth Prophecy

¹⁰Balak became angry with Balaam. He clapped his hands and said, “I summoned you to curse my enemies, and now you have blessed them three times. ¹¹Get out of here! Go home! I said I’d reward you richly, but Yhwh has made you lose your reward.”

¹²Balaam answered Balak, “I told the messengers you sent me, ¹³‘Even if Balak would give me his palace filled with silver and gold, I couldn’t disobey Yhwh’s command no matter how good or bad the request might seem to me. I must say only what Yhwh says.’ ¹⁴Even though I’m going back to my people, I’ll give you some advice. I’ll tell you what these people will do to your people in the days to come.”

¹⁵Then Balaam delivered this message:

“This is the message of Balaam, son of Beor.
This is the message of the man whose eyesight is clear.
16 This is the message of the one who hears El's words,
receives knowledge from the Most High,
has a vision from the Almighty,
and falls ⌞into a trance⌟ with his eyes open:
17 I see someone who is not here now.
I look at someone who is not nearby.
A star will come from Jacob.
A scepter will rise from Israel.
He will crush the heads of the Moabites
and destroy all the people of Sheth.*Or “all the descendants of Seth.”
18 Edom will be conquered,
and Seir, his enemy, will be conquered.
So Israel will become wealthy.
19 He will rule from Jacob
and destroy whoever is left in their cities.”

²⁰Then Balaam saw the Amalekites and delivered this message:

“Amalek was first among the nations,
but in the end it will be destroyed.”

²¹Then he saw the Kenites and delivered this message:

“You have a permanent place to live.
Your nest is built in a rock.
22 But it is destined to be burned, you ⌞descendants of⌟ Cain,
when Assyria takes you as prisoners of war.” †There is a play on words here among Hebrew qeyniy (Kenite), qinneka (your nest), and qayin (Cain).

²³He delivered this message:

“Oh no! Who will live when Elohim decides to do this?
24 Ships will come from the shores of Cyprus.
They will conquer Assyria and Eber.
But they, too, will be totally destroyed.”

²⁵Then Balaam got up and went back home, and Balak also went on his way.

Numbers 25

Israel Commits Idolatry

¹While Israel was staying at Shittim, the men began to have sex with Moabite women ²who invited the people to the sacrifices offered to their Elohim. The people ate the meat from the sacrifices and worshiped these Elohim. ³Since the Israelites joined in worshiping Baal of Peor, Yhwh became angry with Israel.

⁴Yhwh said to Moses, “Take all the leaders of the people, and execute them in broad daylight in Yhwh’s presence. This will turn Yhwh’s anger away from Israel.”

⁵So Moses said to the judges of Israel, “Each of you must kill the men who have joined in worshiping Baal of Peor.”

⁶One of the Israelite men brought a Midianite woman to his brothers. He did this right in front of Moses and the whole community of Israel while they were crying at the entrance to the tent of meeting. ⁷Phinehas, son of Eleazar and grandson of the priest Aaron, saw this. So he left the assembly, took a spear in his hand, ⁸and went into the tent after the Israelite man. He drove the spear through the man and into the woman’s body. Because of this, the plague that the Israelites were experiencing stopped. ⁹However, 24,000 people died from that plague.

¹⁰Then Yhwh said to Moses, ¹¹“Phinehas, son of Eleazar and grandson of the priest Aaron, turned my fury away from the Israelites. Since he stood up for me, I didn’t have to stand up for myself and destroy them. ¹²So tell Phinehas that I’m making a promise of peace to him. ¹³My promise is that he and his descendants will be priests permanently because he stood up for his Elohim and he made peace with Yhwh for the Israelites.”

¹⁴The name of the Israelite man who was killed with the Midianite woman was Zimri, son of Salu. (Salu was the leader of a family from Simeon.) ¹⁵The name of the Midianite woman who was killed was Cozbi, daughter of Zur. (Zur was the head of a family from the Midianite tribes.)

¹⁶Yhwh said to Moses, ¹⁷“Treat the Midianites as your enemies, and kill them ¹⁸because they treated you as enemies. They plotted to trick you in the incident that took place at Peor. They used their sister Cozbi, daughter of a Midianite leader, who was killed on the day of the plague caused by the incident at Peor.”

Numbers 26

Moses Takes Another Census of Israel

¹After the plague Yhwh said to Moses and Eleazar, son of the priest Aaron, ²“Take a census of the whole community of Israel by households. List those who are at least 20 years old and eligible for military duty.”

³So Moses and the priest Eleazar spoke to the Israelites on the plains of Moab near the Jordan River across from Jericho. They said, ⁴“Take a census of those at least 20 years old, as Yhwh commanded Moses.”

These are the Israelites who came from Egypt:

⁵Reuben was Israel’s firstborn. The descendants of Reuben were the family of Hanoch, the family of Pallu, ⁶the family of Hezron, and the family of Carmi.

⁷These were the families of Reuben. The total number of men was 43,730.

⁸Eliab was the son (Ancient scribal tradition; Masoretic Text “sons.”) of Pallu, ⁹and Nemuel, Dathan, and Abiram were the sons of Eliab. (It was Dathan and Abiram, men chosen by the community, who defied Moses and Aaron’s authority. They joined Korah’s followers when they defied Yhwh’s authority. ¹⁰The ground opened up and swallowed them along with Korah. They and their followers died when the fire consumed the 250 men. This was a warning. ¹¹But the descendants of Korah didn’t die.)

¹²The families descended from Simeon were the family of Nemuel, the family of Jamin, the family of Jakin, ¹³the family of Zerah, and the family of Shaul.

¹⁴These were the families of Simeon. The total number of men was 22,200.

¹⁵The families descended from Gad were the family of Zephon, the family of Haggi, the family of Shuni, ¹⁶the family of Ozni, the family of Eri, ¹⁷the family of Arodi, (Genesis 46:16, Samaritan Pentateuch, Greek, Syriac; Masoretic Text “Arod.”) and the family of Areli.

¹⁸These were the families of Gad’s descendants. The total number of men was 40,500.

¹⁹Er and Onan were sons of Judah, but they died in Canaan. ²⁰The families descended from Judah were the family of Shelah, the family of Perez, and the family of Zerah.

²¹The descendants of Perez were the family of Hezron and the family of Hamul.

²²These were the families of Judah. The total number of men was 76,500.

²³The families descended from Issachar were the family of Tola, the family of Puah, (Samaritan Pentateuch, Greek, Syriac, Latin; Masoretic Text “Puvah.”) ²⁴the family of Jashub, and the family of Shimron.

²⁵These were the families of Issachar. The total number of men was 64,300.

²⁶The families descended from Zebulun were the family of Sered, the family of Elon, and the family of Jahleel.

²⁷These were the families of Zebulun. The total number of men was 60,500.

²⁸The families descended from Joseph⌞through⌟ Manasseh and Ephraim were ²⁹(from Manasseh) the family of Machir (Machir was the father of Gilead) and the family of Gilead.

³⁰The descendants of Gilead were the family of Iezer, the family of Helek, ³¹the family of Asriel, the family of Shechem, ³²the family of Shemida, and the family of Hepher. ³³(Zelophehad, son of Hepher, had no sons—only daughters. Their names were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.)

³⁴These were the families of Manasseh. The total number of men was 52,700.

³⁵The families descended from Ephraim were the family of Shuthelah, the family of Beker, and the family of Tahan.

³⁶The descendants of Shuthelah were the family of Eran.

³⁷These were the families of Ephraim’s descendants. The total number of men was 32,500.

These were the families descended from Joseph.

³⁸The families descended from Benjamin were the family of Bela, the family of Ashbel, the family of Ahiram, ³⁹the family of Shupham, (A few Hebrew manuscripts, Samaritan Pentateuch, Greek, Syriac, Targum, Latin; Masoretic Text “Shephupham.”) and the family of Hupham.

⁴⁰The descendants of Bela (⌞through⌟ Ard and Naaman) were the family of Ard and the family of Naaman.

⁴¹These were the families descended from Benjamin. The total number of men was 45,600.

⁴²The family descended from Dan was the family of Shuham.

This was the family descended from Dan. ⁴³The total number of men in all the family of Shuham was 64,400.

⁴⁴The families descended from Asher were the family of Imnah, the family of Ishvi, and the family of Beriah.

⁴⁵The descendants Beriah were the family of Heber and the family of Malchiel.

⁴⁶(Asher had a daughter named Serah.)

⁴⁷These were the families of Asher’s descendants. The total number of men was 53,400.

⁴⁸The families descended from Naphtali were the family of Jahzeel, the family of Guni, ⁴⁹the family of Jezer, and the family of Shillem.

⁵⁰These were the families of Naphtali. The total number of men was 45,400.

⁵¹The total number of Israelite men was 601,730.

⁵²Then Yhwh said to Moses, ⁵³“The land these people will possess must be divided using the list of names ⌞from the census⌟. ⁵⁴Give more land to larger tribes and less land to smaller ones. Use the totals ⌞from the census⌟ in giving land to each tribe. ⁵⁵But the land must be divided by drawing lots. The tribes will receive their land based on the names of their ancestors. ⁵⁶Whether the tribes are large or small, the land must be divided by drawing lots.”

⁵⁷The families descended from Levi were listed as the family of Gershon, the family of Kohath, and the family of Merari.

⁵⁸These were the families of Levi: the Libnite family, the Hebronite family, the Mahlite family, the Mushite family, and the Korahite family.

Kohath was the ancestor of Amram. ⁵⁹The name of Amram’s wife was Jochebed, a descendant of Levi, who was born in Egypt. She gave birth to Amram’s children: Aaron, Moses, and their sister Miriam. ⁶⁰Aaron was the father of Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. ⁶¹But Nadab and Abihu had died because they offered unauthorized fire in Yhwh’s presence.

⁶²The total number of all the ⌞Levite⌟ males at least one month old was 23,000. They were not counted along with the other Israelites, because they were given no land of their own.

⁶³Moses and the priest Eleazar added up the total number of Israelites on the plains of Moab near the Jordan River across from Jericho. ⁶⁴Among them there wasn’t a single one of the Israelites Moses and the priest Aaron had counted in the Desert of Sinai. ⁶⁵Yhwh had said, “They must all die in the desert.” The only ones left were Caleb (son of Jephunneh) and Joshua (son of Nun).

Numbers 27

A Request from Zelophehad’s Daughters

¹The daughters of Zelophehad, son of Hepher, grandson of Gilead, descendant of Machir, whose father was Manasseh, belonged to the families of Manasseh, son of Joseph. Their names were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. They came ²to Moses and stood in front of him, the priest Eleazar, the leaders, and the whole community at the entrance to the tent of meeting. They said, ³“Our father died in the desert. He was not a part of Korah’s followers who joined forces against Yhwh. He died for his own sin and left no sons. ⁴Why should our father’s name be allowed to die out in his family because he had no son? Give us property among our father’s relatives.”

⁵So Moses brought their case to Yhwh, ⁶and Yhwh said to him, ⁷“Zelophehad’s daughters are right. You must give them property of their own among their father’s relatives. Turn their father’s property over to them.

⁸“Tell the Israelites: If a man dies and leaves no sons, turn his property over to his daughters. ⁹If he has no daughters, give his property to his brothers. ¹⁰If he has no brothers, give his property to his uncles on his father’s side of the family. ¹¹If he has no uncles, give his property to the nearest relative in his family, and that relative will take possession of it. This will be a rule for the Israelites, as Yhwh commanded Moses.”

Yhwh Appoints Joshua to Succeed Moses

¹²Yhwh said to Moses, “Go up into the Abarim Mountains, and take a look at the land I will give the Israelites. ¹³After you see it, you, too, will join your ancestors ⌞in death⌟, as your brother Aaron did. ¹⁴You both rebelled against my command in the Desert of Zin. You didn’t show the people how holy I am when they were complaining at the oasis.” (This was the oasis of Meribah at Kadesh in the Desert of Zin.)

¹⁵Moses said to Yhwh, ¹⁶“Yhwh, you are the Elohim who gives the breath of life to everyone. Please appoint someone over the community ¹⁷who will lead them in and out ⌞of battle⌟ so that Yhwh’s community will not be like sheep without a shepherd.”

¹⁸So Yhwh said to Moses, “Take Joshua, son of Nun, a man who has the Spirit, and place your hand on him. ¹⁹Make him stand in front of the priest Eleazar and the whole community, and give him his instructions in their presence. ²⁰Give him some of your authority so that the whole community of Israel will obey him. ²¹He will stand in front of the priest Eleazar, who will use the Urim (The Urim and Thummim were used by the chief priest to determine Elohim’s answer to questions.) to make decisions in Yhwh’s presence. At his command Joshua and the whole community of Israel will go into battle. And at his command they will return.”

²²Moses did as Yhwh commanded him. He took Joshua and made him stand in front of the priest Eleazar and the whole community. ²³Moses placed his hands on Joshua and gave him his instructions as Yhwh had told him.

Numbers 28

Daily Sacrifices

¹Yhwh said to Moses, ²“Give this command to the Israelites: Be sure to bring me my offerings at the right times. They are my food. They are offerings by fire, a soothing aroma. ³These are the offerings by fire that you must bring to Yhwh. Every day you must bring as a daily burnt offering two one-year-old lambs that have no defects. ⁴Offer one in the morning and the other at dusk. ⁵⌞With each of them⌟ also bring a grain offering of eight cups of flour mixed with one quart of virgin olive oil. ⁶This is the daily burnt offering which was established on Mount Sinai. This offering is a soothing aroma, an offering by fire to Yhwh. ⁷Also bring a wine offering of one quart of wine for each lamb. Pour it out to Yhwh in a holy place. ⁸Offer the other lamb at dusk along with the same grain offering and wine offering as you brought in the morning. This is an offering by fire, a soothing aroma to Yhwh.

Weekly Sacrifices

⁹“On the day of rest—a holy day, offer two one-year-old lambs that have no defects, a grain offering of 16 cups of flour mixed with olive oil, and the wine offering that goes with it. ¹⁰This burnt offering is for every day of rest—a holy day, in addition to the daily burnt offerings and the wine offerings that go with them.

Monthly Sacrifices

¹¹“On the first of every month bring Yhwh a burnt offering of two young bulls, one ram, and seven one-year-old lambs that have no defects. ¹²With each bull there will be a grain offering of 24 cups of flour mixed with olive oil, with each ram a grain offering of 16 cups of flour mixed with olive oil, ¹³and with each one-year-old lamb a grain offering of 8 cups of flour mixed with olive oil. This is a burnt offering, a soothing aroma, an offering by fire to Yhwh. ¹⁴The wine offering that goes with each bull will be 2 quarts of wine, with each ram 1½ quarts of wine, and with each lamb 1 quart of wine. This will be the monthly burnt offering for every month of the year. ¹⁵In addition to the daily burnt offering with its wine offering, one male goat must be offered to Yhwh as an offering for sin.

Annual Sacrifices

¹⁶“The fourteenth day of the first month is Yhwh’s Passover. ¹⁷The fifteenth of this same month is a pilgrimage festival. For seven days you must eat only unleavened bread. ¹⁸On the first day there will be a holy assembly. Don’t do any regular work. ¹⁹Instead, bring Yhwh an offering by fire, a burnt offering of two young bulls, one ram, and seven one-year-old lambs, all of them without defects. ²⁰Along with them bring grain offerings of flour mixed with olive oil. Bring 24 cups for each bull, 16 cups for each ram, ²¹and 8 cups for each of the seven lambs. ²²Also bring one male goat as an offering for sin to make peace with Yhwh. ²³Offer these in addition to the morning burnt offering. ²⁴Bring all these offerings on each of the seven days. They are food. They are offerings by fire, a soothing aroma to Yhwh. They will be offered in addition to the daily burnt offering and the wine offering that goes with it. ²⁵On the seventh day you must have a holy assembly. You must not do any regular work.

²⁶“During the Festival of Weeks, you must have a holy assembly. On that day you must not do any regular work. Bring Yhwh your new grain offering, the first produce harvested from your fields. ²⁷Bring a burnt offering as a soothing aroma to Yhwh—two young bulls, one ram, and seven one-year-old lambs. ²⁸Along with them bring grain offerings of flour mixed with olive oil. Bring 24 cups for each bull, 16 cups for each ram, ²⁹and 8 cups for each of the seven lambs. ³⁰Also bring one male goat to make peace with Yhwh. ³¹Offer these animals that have no defects along with their wine offerings, in addition to the daily burnt offerings and their grain offerings.”

Numbers 29

¹⌞Yhwh continued,⌟ “On the first day of the seventh month you must have a holy assembly. You must not do any regular work. It is a day for ⌞the trumpets to sound⌟ a fanfare. ²As a burnt offering, a soothing aroma to Yhwh, bring one young bull, one ram, and seven one-year-old lambs that have no defects. ³Along with them bring grain offerings of flour mixed with olive oil. Bring 24 cups for each bull, 16 cups for each ram, ⁴and 8 cups for each of the seven lambs. ⁵Also bring one male goat as an offering for sin to make peace with Yhwh. ⁶Offer these in addition to the monthly burnt offering with its grain offering, and the daily burnt offerings with their proper grain offerings and wine offerings. They are a soothing aroma, an offering by fire to Yhwh.

⁷“On the tenth day of the seventh month you must have a holy assembly. You must humble yourselves. You must not do any work. ⁸As a burnt offering, a soothing aroma, bring one young bull, one ram, and seven one-year-old lambs, all of them without defects. ⁹Along with them bring grain offerings of flour mixed with olive oil. Bring 24 cups for each bull, 16 cups for each ram, ¹⁰and 8 cups for each of the seven lambs. ¹¹Also bring one male goat as an offering for sin (in addition to the ⌞other⌟ offering for sin to make peace with Yhwh) and the daily burnt offerings with their grain offerings and wine offerings.

¹²“On the fifteenth day of the seventh month you must have a holy assembly. You must not do any regular work. Instead, celebrate a festival to Yhwh for seven days. ¹³As a burnt offering, an offering by fire, a soothing aroma to Yhwh, bring 13 young bulls, 2 rams, and 14 one-year-old lambs, all of them without defects. ¹⁴Along with them bring grain offerings of flour mixed with olive oil. Bring 24 cups for each of the 13 bulls, 16 cups for each of the 2 rams, ¹⁵and 8 cups for each of the 14 one-year-old lambs. ¹⁶Also bring one male goat as an offering for sin in addition to the daily burnt offerings with their grain offerings and wine offerings.

¹⁷“On the second day bring 12 young bulls, 2 rams, and 14 one-year-old lambs that have no defects. ¹⁸Along with them bring the proper amount of grain offerings and wine offerings for each of the bulls, rams, and lambs. ¹⁹Also bring one male goat as an offering for sin in addition to the daily burnt offerings with their grain offerings and wine offerings.

²⁰“On the third day bring 11 bulls, 2 rams, and 14 one-year-old lambs that have no defects. ²¹Along with them bring the proper amount of grain offerings and wine offerings for each of the bulls, rams, and lambs. ²²Also bring one male goat as an offering for sin in addition to the daily burnt offerings with their grain offerings and wine offerings.

²³“On the fourth day bring 10 bulls, 2 rams, and 14 one-year-old lambs that have no defects. ²⁴Along with them bring the proper amount of grain offerings and wine offerings for each of the bulls, rams, and lambs. ²⁵Also bring one male goat as an offering for sin in addition to the daily burnt offerings with their grain offerings and wine offerings.

²⁶“On the fifth day bring 9 bulls, 2 rams, and 14 one-year-old lambs that have no defects. ²⁷Along with them bring the proper amount of grain offerings and wine offerings for each of the bulls, rams, and lambs. ²⁸Also bring one male goat as an offering for sin in addition to the daily burnt offerings with their grain offerings and wine offerings.

²⁹“On the sixth day bring 8 bulls, 2 rams, and 14 one-year-old lambs that have no defects. ³⁰Along with them bring the proper amount of grain offerings and wine offerings for each of the bulls, rams, and lambs. ³¹Also bring one male goat as an offering for sin in addition to the daily burnt offerings with their grain offerings and wine offerings.

³²“On the seventh day bring 7 bulls, 2 rams, and 14 one-year-old lambs that have no defects. ³³Along with them bring the proper amount of grain offerings and wine offerings for each of the bulls, rams, and lambs. ³⁴Also bring one male goat as an offering for sin in addition to the daily burnt offerings with their grain offerings and wine offerings.

³⁵“On the eighth day you must hold a religious assembly. You must not do any daily work. ³⁶As a burnt offering, an offering by fire, a soothing aroma to Yhwh, bring one bull, one ram, and seven one-year-old lambs that have no defects. ³⁷Along with them bring the proper amount of grain offerings and wine offerings for the bull, the ram, and the lambs. ³⁸Also bring one male goat as an offering for sin in addition to the daily burnt offerings with their grain offerings and wine offerings.

³⁹“These are the offerings you must bring to Yhwh at your festivals. They are the offerings you must bring in addition to the offerings for anything you vowed to give to Yhwh, your freewill offerings, your burnt offerings, your grain offerings, your wine offerings, and your fellowship offerings.” (Numbers 29:40 in English Bibles is Numbers 30:1 in the Hebrew Bible.)

⁴⁰Moses told the Israelites everything Yhwh had commanded him.

Numbers 30

Teachings about Vows

¹ (Numbers 30:1–16 in English Bibles is Numbers 30:2–17 in the Hebrew Bible.)Moses said to the heads of the tribes of Israel, “This is what Yhwh has commanded ⌞about vows⌟: ²If a man makes a vow to Yhwh that he will do something or swears an oath that he won’t do something, he must not break his word. He must do everything he said he would do.

³“A young girl, who still lives in her father’s house, might make a vow to Yhwh that she will do something or swear an oath that she won’t do something. ⁴If her father says nothing to her when he hears about it, her vow or oath must be kept. ⁵But if her father objects when he hears about it, her vow or oath doesn’t have to be kept. Yhwh will free her ⌞from this vow or oath⌟ because her father objected.

⁶“An unmarried woman might make a vow that she will do something or carelessly promise that she won’t do something. When she marries, ⁷her husband may hear about it but say nothing to her. Then her vow or oath must be kept. ⁸But if her husband objects when he hears about it, he can cancel the vow or promise she made. Yhwh will free her ⌞from this vow or promise⌟.

⁹“But a widow or a divorced woman must keep her vow or her promise.

¹⁰“A married woman might make a vow that she will do something or swear an oath that she won’t do something. ¹¹Her husband may hear about it but may say nothing and not object. Then her vow or oath must be kept. ¹²But if her husband cancels it when he hears about it, nothing she said in her vow or oath has to be kept. Her husband has canceled it, and Yhwh will free her ⌞from this vow or oath⌟.

¹³“A husband decides whether or not his wife has to keep any vow to do something or any oath to do without something. ¹⁴If he says nothing to her about it day after day, this means he’s decided that she must keep her vow or oath. She must keep it because he said nothing to her when he heard about it. ¹⁵But if he cancels it later, he will suffer the consequences.”

¹⁶These are the laws Yhwh gave Moses for husbands and wives, and for fathers with young daughters still living at home.

Numbers 31

Yhwh Commands Israel to Defeat Midian

¹Yhwh said to Moses, ²“Get even with the Midianites for what they did to the Israelites. After that you will join your ancestors ⌞in death⌟.”

³Moses said to the people, “Some of your men must get ready to go to war against the Midianites. Yhwh will use them to get even with Midian. ⁴Send 1,000 men from each of the tribes of Israel.”

⁵So 1,000 men from each tribe were supplied from the divisions of Israel—12,000 men ready for war. ⁶Then Moses sent them off to war, 1,000 men from each tribe along with Phinehas, son of the priest Eleazar. Phinehas took with him the holy articles and the trumpets for the fanfare.

⁷They went to war against Midian, as Yhwh commanded Moses, and killed every man. ⁸Among those killed were the five kings of Midian—Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba. They also killed Balaam, son of Beor, in battle. ⁹The Israelites took the Midianite women and children as prisoners of war. They also took all their animals, their livestock, and their valuables as loot. ¹⁰They burned all the cities where the Midianites lived and all their settlements. ¹¹Then they took everything as loot, including all the people and animals, ¹²and brought the prisoners of war, the loot, and everything to Moses, the priest Eleazar, and the community of Israel at the camp on the plains of Moab near the Jordan River across from Jericho.

¹³Moses, the priest Eleazar, and all the leaders of the community went outside the camp to meet them. ¹⁴Moses was angry with the officers of the army, the commanders of the companies and battalions, who were returning from battle.

¹⁵“Why did you let all the women live?” he asked them. ¹⁶“Remember, they were the ones who followed Balaam’s advice and caused the Israelites to be unfaithful to Yhwh in the incident that took place at Peor. Yhwh’s community experienced a plague at that time. ¹⁷So kill all the Midianite boys and every Midianite woman who has gone to bed with a man. ¹⁸But save for yourselves every girl who has never gone to bed with a man.

¹⁹“Everyone who killed a person or touched a dead body must stay outside the camp seven days. You and your prisoners of war must use the ritual water on the third and seventh days in order to take away your sin. ²⁰Do the same for all the clothes and everything made of leather, goats’ hair, or wood.”

²¹Then the priest Eleazar said to the soldiers who had gone into battle, “This is what Yhwh’s teachings told Moses to do: ²²Any gold, silver, bronze, iron, tin, or lead— ²³anything that won’t burn—must be put through fire in order to make it clean. (“Clean” refers to anything that is presentable to Elohim.) Then it must also be put through the ritual water in order to take away its sin. Whatever might burn must ⌞only⌟ be put through the ritual water. ²⁴On the seventh day wash your clothes, and you will be clean. Then you may come into the camp.”

²⁵Yhwh said to Moses, ²⁶“You, the priest Eleazar, and the heads of the families of the community need to count all the loot, including the people and animals you captured. ²⁷Divide the loot between the soldiers who served in the war and the rest of the community. ²⁸Collect a tax for Yhwh. From the soldiers who served in the war collect one out of every 500 things. This includes people, cattle, donkeys, sheep, and goats. ²⁹Collect all these things from the soldiers’ half of the loot, and give them to the priest Eleazar as a contribution to Yhwh. ³⁰From the Israelites’ half of the loot, collect one out of every 50 things. This includes people, cattle, donkeys, sheep, goats, and every other kind of animal. Give them to the Levites who are in charge of the work done at Yhwh’s tent.” ³¹Moses and the priest Eleazar did as Yhwh commanded Moses.

³²This is the loot that was left from everything that the troops took: 675,000 sheep and goats, ³³72,000 cattle, ³⁴61,000 donkeys, and ³⁵32,000 women who had never gone to bed with a man.

³⁶Half of it went to the soldiers who served in the war. Of the 337,500 sheep and goats they received, ³⁷675 went to Yhwh as taxes. ³⁸Of the 36,000 cattle they received, 72 went to Yhwh as taxes. ³⁹Of the 30,500 donkeys they received, 61 went to Yhwh as taxes. ⁴⁰Of the 16,000 people they received, 32 went to Yhwh as taxes.

⁴¹Moses gave Yhwh’s taxes to the priest Eleazar, as Yhwh had commanded him.

⁴²Moses took the Israelites’ half of the loot from the soldiers. ⁴³The community received 337,500 sheep and goats, ⁴⁴36,000 cattle, ⁴⁵30,500 donkeys, ⁴⁶and 16,000 people.

⁴⁷From the Israelites’ half Moses collected one out of every 50 things, including people and animals, as Yhwh commanded him. Then he gave all this to the Levites who were in charge of the work done at Yhwh’s tent.

⁴⁸Then the officers from the military divisions, the commanders of the companies and battalions of men, came to Moses. ⁴⁹They said to him, “Sir, we have counted all the soldiers under our command, and not one of them is missing. ⁵⁰So we have brought as gifts to Yhwh the gold jewelry that each of us found—arm bands, bracelets, signet rings, earrings, and pendants. We offer them to make peace with Yhwh.”

⁵¹Moses and the priest Eleazar took all the hand-crafted gold articles from them. ⁵²All the gold contributed to Yhwh by the commanders weighed about 420 pounds. ⁵³Each soldier kept his own loot. ⁵⁴Moses and the priest Eleazar took the gold from the commanders and brought it into Yhwh’s presence at the tent of meeting as a reminder to the Israelites.

Numbers 32

The Tribes of Reuben and Gad Request Land East of the Jordan River

¹The tribes of Reuben and Gad had a large number of livestock. They saw that the regions of Jazer and Gilead were a good place for livestock. ²So they came to Moses, the priest Eleazar, and the leaders of the community, and said to them, ³“Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo, and Beon, ⁴the land that Yhwh won for the community of Israel, is a good place for livestock. Gentlemen, we have livestock. ⁵Please give us this land as our property. Don’t make us cross the Jordan River.”

⁶Moses asked the tribes of Gad and Reuben, “Are you going to stay here while the rest of the Israelites go to war? ⁷That might discourage them from entering the land Yhwh has given them. ⁸That’s what your ancestors did when I sent them from Kadesh Barnea to take a look at the land. ⁹They went as far as the Eshcol Valley and saw the land. But then they discouraged the rest of the Israelites from entering the land that Yhwh had given them. ¹⁰That day Yhwh became angry and swore this oath, ¹¹‘None of the people 20 years old or older, who came from Egypt, will see the land I promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob with an oath. This is because they didn’t wholeheartedly follow me.’ ¹²Only Caleb (son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite) and Joshua (son of Nun) will get to see the land. This is because they wholeheartedly followed Yhwh. ¹³Since Yhwh was angry with the Israelites, he made them wander in the desert for 40 years until the whole generation of those who had done evil in Yhwh’s presence was gone.

¹⁴“You’re just like your parents! You’re a bunch of sinners trying to make Yhwh angry with Israel again. ¹⁵If you turn away from him, he will abandon all these people in the desert. You would be responsible for their destruction.”

¹⁶Then the tribes of Gad and Reuben came up to Moses and said, “Allow us to build stone fences for our livestock and cities for our families here. ¹⁷Then we’ll be ready ⌞to march⌟ in battle formation (Greek, Latin; Masoretic Text “ready ⌞to march⌟ ahead quickly.”) ahead of the other Israelites until we have brought them to their land. Meanwhile our families will live in walled cities, safe from the other people who live here. ¹⁸We will not return to our homes until every Israelite has received his own land. ¹⁹We won’t take possession of any land on the other side of the Jordan River, to the west and beyond. We already have our land here, east of the Jordan.”

²⁰Moses answered, “Do what you have said. In Yhwh’s presence have all your armed men get ready for battle. ²¹Have them cross the Jordan, and fight until Yhwh forces out his enemies ²²and the land is conquered. Then you may come back. You will have fulfilled your military duty to Yhwh and Israel. This land will be your own property in Yhwh’s presence.

²³“If you don’t do all these things, you will be sinning against Yhwh. You can be sure that you will be punished for your sin. ²⁴Build cities for your families and stone fences for your flocks, but do what you have promised.”

²⁵Then the tribes of Gad and Reuben said to Moses, “Sir, we will do as you command. ²⁶Our children, our wives, our livestock, and all our other animals will stay here in the cities of Gilead. ²⁷But in Yhwh’s presence we will all get ready for battle and go with you, as you have said.”

²⁸So Moses gave orders about them to the priest Eleazar, Joshua (son of Nun), and the family heads of the tribes of Israel. ²⁹Moses told them, “If the tribes of Gad and Reuben get ready for battle in Yhwh’s presence and cross the Jordan River with you and you conquer the land, give them Gilead as their own property. ³⁰If they don’t get ready for battle and go with you, the land they will take possession of must be in Canaan with yours.”

³¹The tribes of Gad and Reuben answered, “Sir, we will do as Yhwh has said. ³²We will enter Canaan as armed troops in Yhwh’s presence, but the land we will take possession of is here, east of the Jordan.”

³³So Moses gave the tribes of Gad, Reuben, and half of the tribe of Manasseh, son of Joseph, the kingdoms of King Sihon of the Amorites and King Og of Bashan—the whole land with its cities and its surrounding territory.

³⁴The tribe of Gad rebuilt the cities of Dibon, Ataroth, Aroer, ³⁵Atroth Shophan, Jazer, Jogbehah, ³⁶Beth Nimrah, and Beth Haran as walled cities. They also built stone fences for their flocks.

³⁷The tribe of Reuben rebuilt the cities of Heshbon, Elealeh, Kiriathaim, ³⁸Nebo, Baal Meon (whose names were changed), and Sibmah. These are the names they gave the cities they rebuilt.

³⁹The descendants of Machir, son of Manasseh, went to Gilead, captured it, and forced out the Amorites who were there. ⁴⁰So Moses gave Gilead to the people of Machir (the descendants of Manasseh), and they lived there. ⁴¹Then Jair, a descendant of Manasseh, captured the settlements in Gilead. He called them Havvoth Jair [Settlements of Jair]. ⁴²Nobah captured Kenath and its villages. He named it Nobah after himself.

Numbers 33

A Summary of Israel’s Journeys after Leaving Egypt

¹This is a list of all the places where the Israelites set up camp after they left Egypt in organized groups under the leadership of Moses and Aaron. ²At Yhwh’s command Moses wrote down the places where they went as they traveled. This is the list:

³They moved from Rameses on the fifteenth day of the first month, the day after the Passover. The Israelites boldly left in full view of all the Egyptians. ⁴The Egyptians were burying all their firstborn sons, whom Yhwh had killed in a mighty act of judgment on their Elohim.

⁵The Israelites moved from Rameses and set up camp at Succoth.

⁶They moved from Succoth and set up camp at Etham, on the edge of the desert.

⁷They moved from Etham and turned back to Pi Hahiroth, east of Baal Zephon, and set up camp near Migdol.

⁸They moved from Pi Hahiroth (Most Hebrew manuscripts, Samaritan Pentateuch, Syriac, Latin; some Hebrew manuscripts “moved from in front of Hahiroth.”) and went through the middle of the sea into the desert. After they traveled for three days in the Desert of Etham, they set up camp at Marah.

⁹They moved from Marah and came to Elim. Elim had 12 springs and 70 palm trees, so they set up camp there.

¹⁰They moved from Elim and set up camp by the Red Sea.

¹¹They moved from the Red Sea and set up camp in the Desert of Sin.

¹²They moved from the Desert of Sin and set up camp at Dophkah.

¹³They moved from Dophkah and set up camp at Alush.

¹⁴They moved from Alush and set up camp at Rephidim, where there was no water for the people to drink.

¹⁵They moved from Rephidim and set up camp in the Desert of Sinai.

¹⁶They moved from the Desert of Sinai and set up camp at Kibroth Hattaavah.

¹⁷They moved from Kibroth Hattaavah and set up camp at Hazeroth.

¹⁸They moved from Hazeroth and set up camp at Rithmah.

¹⁹They moved from Rithmah and set up camp at Rimmon Perez.

²⁰They moved from Rimmon Perez and set up camp at Libnah.

²¹They moved from Libnah and set up camp at Rissah.

²²They moved from Rissah and set up camp at Kehelathah.

²³They moved from Kehelathah and set up camp at Mount Shepher.

²⁴They moved from Mount Shepher and set up camp at Haradah.

²⁵They moved from Haradah and set up camp at Makheloth.

²⁶They moved from Makheloth and set up camp at Tahath.

²⁷They moved from Tahath and set up camp at Terah.

²⁸They moved from Terah and set up camp at Mithcah.

²⁹They moved from Mithcah and set up camp at Hashmonah.

³⁰They moved from Hashmonah and set up camp at Moseroth.

³¹They moved from Moseroth and set up camp at Bene Jaakan.

³²They moved from Bene Jaakan and set up camp at Hor Haggidgad.

³³They moved from Hor Haggidgad and set up camp at Jotbathah.

³⁴They moved from Jotbathah and set up camp at Abronah.

³⁵They moved from Abronah and set up camp at Ezion Geber.

³⁶They moved from Ezion Geber and set up camp at Kadesh in the Desert of Zin.

³⁷They moved from Kadesh and set up camp at Mount Hor on the border of Edom. ³⁸At Yhwh’s command the priest Aaron went up on Mount Hor. He died there on the first day of the fifth month in the fortieth year after the Israelites had left Egypt. ³⁹Aaron was 123 years old when he died on Mount Hor.

⁴⁰(The Canaanite king of Arad, who lived in the Negev, which was in Canaan, heard that the Israelites were coming.)

⁴¹They moved from Mount Hor and set up camp at Zalmonah.

⁴²They moved from Zalmonah and set up camp at Punon.

⁴³They moved from Punon and set up camp at Oboth.

⁴⁴They moved from Oboth and set up camp at Iye Abarim on the border of Moab.

⁴⁵They moved from Iyim (Or “Iye Abarim.”) and set up camp at Dibon Gad.

⁴⁶They moved from Dibon Gad and set up camp at Almon Diblathaim.

⁴⁷They moved from Almon Diblathaim and set up camp in the Abarim Mountains east of Nebo.

⁴⁸They moved from the Abarim Mountains and set up camp on the plains of Moab near the Jordan River across from Jericho. ⁴⁹They set up camp on the plains of Moab along the Jordan. Their camp extended from Beth Jeshimoth to Abel Shittim.

The Canaanites Must Be Forced Out

⁵⁰Yhwh said to Moses on the plains of Moab near the Jordan River across from Jericho, ⁵¹“Tell the Israelites, ‘You will be crossing the Jordan River and entering Canaan. ⁵²As you advance, force out all the people who live there. Get rid of all their stone and metal idols, and destroy all their places of worship. ⁵³Take possession of the land and live there, because I will give it to you for your own. ⁵⁴Divide the land among your families by drawing lots. Give more land to larger families and less land to smaller ones. The land must be given to each family by drawing lots. Divide it among your ancestors’ tribes.

⁵⁵“ ‘But if you do not force out those who live in the land, they will be like splinters in your eyes and thorns in your sides. They will constantly fight with you over the land you live in. ⁵⁶Then I will do to you what I planned to do to them.’ ”

Numbers 34

The Boundaries of Israel’s Land

¹Yhwh said to Moses, ²“Give the Israelites these instructions. When you enter Canaan, the land that will be given to you as your inheritance has these borders:

³“The southern side includes part of the Desert of Zin along the border of Edom. In the east the southern border starts from the end of the Dead Sea ⁴and turns south of the Akrabbim Pass. It then goes past Zin and ends at Kadesh Barnea. From there it goes to Hazar Addar and on to Azmon. ⁵From Azmon it turns toward the River of Egypt so that the border ends at the Mediterranean Sea.

⁶“The western border is the coastline of the Mediterranean Sea.

⁷“The northern border extends from the Mediterranean Sea to Mount Hor, ⁸and from Mount Hor to the border of Hamath so that it ends at Zedad. ⁹From there the border goes to Ziphron and ends at Hazar Enan.

¹⁰“The eastern border extends from Hazar Enan to Shepham. ¹¹From Shepham the border goes down to Riblah, east of Ain, and continues along the eastern slope of the Sea of Galilee. ¹²Then the border goes along the Jordan River so that it ends at the Dead Sea.

“This will be your land and the borders around it.”

¹³Moses commanded the Israelites, “This is the land you will divide by drawing lots. Yhwh has commanded that this land will be given to the nine-and-a-half tribes. ¹⁴The households from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half of the tribe of Manasseh have already received their land. ¹⁵Those two-and-a-half tribes received land east of the Jordan River across from Jericho.”

Men Are Appointed to Divide the Land

¹⁶Yhwh said to Moses, ¹⁷“These are the names of the men who will divide the land for you: the priest Eleazar and Joshua, son of Nun. ¹⁸You must also take one leader from each tribe to divide the land. ¹⁹These are their names:

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

²⁰Shemuel, son of Ammihud, from the tribe of Simeon;

²¹Elidad, son of Kislon, from the tribe of Benjamin;

²²Bukki, son of Jogli, the leader of the tribe of Dan;

²³Hanniel, son of Ephod, the leader of the tribe of Manasseh;

²⁴Kemuel, son of Shiphtan, the leader of the tribe of Ephraim;

(Manasseh and Ephraim are Joseph’s descendants.) (This sentence has been moved from verse 23 in order to express the complex Hebrew sentence structure more clearly in English.)

²⁵Elizaphan, son of Parnach, the leader of the tribe of Zebulun;

²⁶Paltiel, son of Azzan, the leader of the tribe of Issachar;

²⁷Ahihud, son of Shelomi, the leader of the tribe of Asher;

²⁸Pedahel, son of Ammihud, the leader of the tribe of Naphtali.”

²⁹These are the men Yhwh commanded to divide Canaan for the Israelites.

Numbers 35

Cities for the Levites

¹Yhwh spoke to Moses on the plains of Moab near the Jordan River across from Jericho. He said, ²“Tell the Israelites to give the Levites some cities from their own property. They must also give the Levites the pastureland around those cities. ³Then the Levites will have cities to live in and pastureland for their cattle, the flocks they own, and any other animals they have.

⁴“The land around the cities that you give the Levites will extend 1,500 feet from the city wall. ⁵Outside the city measure off 3,000 feet on the east side, 3,000 feet on the south side, 3,000 feet on the west side, and 3,000 feet on the north side, with the city in the center. This will be their pastureland around the city.

⁶“Six of the cities you give the Levites will be cities of refuge. You must allow murderers to escape to these cities. In addition, you must also give the Levites 42 other cities. ⁷So you will give a total of 48 cities with pastureland to the Levites. ⁸The cities you give the Levites from the property of the other Israelites must be given based on the amount of land each tribe owns. Take more cities from larger tribes and fewer from smaller tribes.”

Cities of Refuge

⁹Yhwh said to Moses, ¹⁰“Tell the Israelites: When you cross the Jordan River and enter Canaan, ¹¹select certain cities to be places of refuge. Anyone who unintentionally kills another person may run to them. ¹²These cities will be places of refuge from any relative who can avenge the death. So anyone accused of murder will not have to die until he has had a trial in front of the community. ¹³There will be six cities you select as places of refuge, ¹⁴three on the east side of the Jordan River and three in Canaan. ¹⁵These six cities will be places of refuge for Israelites, foreigners, and strangers among you. Anyone who unintentionally kills another person may flee to these cities.

¹⁶“But if any of you uses an iron weapon to kill another person, you are a murderer. Murderers must be put to death. ¹⁷If any of you picks up a stone as a weapon and uses it to kill another person, you are a murderer. Murderers must be put to death. ¹⁸Or if any of you picks up a piece of wood as a weapon and uses it to kill another person, you are a murderer. Murderers must be put to death. ¹⁹The relative who can avenge the death must make sure a murderer is put to death. When he catches up with the murderer, he must kill him. ²⁰If any of you kills someone you hate by shoving him or by deliberately throwing something at him, ²¹or if you beat your enemy to death with your bare hands, you must be put to death. You are a murderer. The relative who can avenge the death must kill you when he catches up with you, because you are a murderer.

²²“But suppose you accidentally kill someone who wasn’t your enemy. Maybe you shoved him or threw something at him but didn’t mean to kill him. ²³Or suppose you drop a big stone, and someone is killed. However, you didn’t know the person was there, he wasn’t your enemy, and you weren’t trying to harm him. ²⁴Then the community must use these rules in order to decide if you ⌞are innocent⌟ or if the dead person’s relative can avenge the death. ²⁵⌞If you are innocent,⌟ the community must protect you from that relative. They must take you back to the city of refuge you fled to. You must live there until the death of the high priest who was anointed with the holy oil.

²⁶“But don’t go outside the city of refuge you fled to. ²⁷If the relative who can avenge the death finds you outside the city of refuge and kills you, the relative is not guilty of murder. ²⁸Accused murderers must stay in their city of refuge until the death of the high priest. They may go back to their own property only after his death.

²⁹“These will be the rules for future generations wherever you live.

³⁰“Whoever kills another person will be put to death as a murderer only on the testimony of more than one witness. No one can be put to death on the testimony of only one witness.

³¹“Never accept a cash payment in exchange for the life of a convicted murderer who has been given the death penalty. Murderers must be put to death.

³²“An accused murderer who has fled to a city of refuge must never go back and live on his own land before the death of the high priest. Don’t accept a cash payment to allow him to do this.

³³“You must not pollute the land where you live. Murder is what pollutes the land. The land where a murder was committed can never make peace with Yhwh except through the death of the murderer. ³⁴Never make the land where you and I live unclean. (“Unclean” refers to anything that is not presentable to Elohim.) I, Yhwh, live among the Israelites.”

Numbers 36

The Rights of Women to Inherit Land

¹The heads of the households whose families were descended from Gilead, son of Machir and grandson of Manasseh, (families of Joseph’s descendants) came and spoke to Moses and the leaders of the other Israelite households. ²They said, “Sir, Yhwh commanded you to give the Israelites their land by drawing lots. Yhwh also commanded you to give the land of our relative Zelophehad to his daughters. ³Suppose they marry men from the other tribes of Israel. Their land will be taken away from that of our ancestors and added to the land of the tribe they marry into. Then we will have lost part of our land. ⁴When the Israelites’ jubilee year comes, their land will be added to that of the tribe they married into. Then part of the land of our ancestors’ tribe will be gone.”

⁵So Moses gave the Israelites a command from Yhwh. “The tribe of Joseph’s descendants is right. ⁶This is what Yhwh commands for Zelophehad’s daughters: They may marry anyone they want to, but only within a family of their ancestor’s tribe. ⁷In this way no land of the Israelites will pass from one tribe to another. Every Israelite must keep the tribal land inherited from his ancestors. ⁸A woman who inherits land in any of the tribes of Israel may marry a man from any family in her ancestor’s tribe. In this way every Israelite keeps the land inherited from his ancestors. ⁹No land may pass from one tribe to another. Each Israelite tribe must keep the land it inherits.”

¹⁰Zelophehad’s daughters did as Yhwh commanded Moses. ¹¹Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah married their cousins on their father’s side of the family. ¹²They married within the families of the descendants of Manasseh, son of Joseph. So their land stayed in the tribe of their father’s family.

¹³These are the commands and rules Yhwh gave the Israelites through Moses on the plains of Moab near the Jordan River across from Jericho.

Moses Takes a Census of Israel