Numbers
Chapter 1
1 And the Lord spoke to
Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tent of witness, on the first day of
the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land of
Egypt, saying,
2 Take a count of the
whole congregation of the sons of Israel according to their kindreds, according
to the houses of their fathers, by number, by their names, head by head, every
male
3 from twenty years old
and upward, everyone who goes forth in the host of Israel: number them with
their host; you and Aaron shall number them.
4 And with you there
shall be men, each one according to the tribe of each of the rulers; they shall
be according to the houses of their fathers.
5 And these are the
names of the men who shall stand with you: of Reuben, Elisur son of Sediur;
6 of Simeon, Salamiel
son of Surisadai;
7 of Judah, Naasson son
of Aminadab;
8 of Issachar,
Nathanael son of Sogar;
9 of Zebulun, Eliab son
of Chailon;
10 of the sons of
Joseph: of Ephraim, Elisama son of Emiud; of Manasseh, Gamaliel son of
Phadassur;
11 of Benjamin, Abidan
son of Gadeoni;
12 of Dan, Achiezer son
of Amisadai;
13 of Asher, Phagaiel
son of Echran;
14 of Gad, Elisaph son
of Raguel;
15 of Naphtali, Achire
son of Ainan.
16 These were the
summoned men of the congregation, rulers of the tribes according to their
fathers' houses; they were the commanders of thousands of Israel.
17 And Moses and Aaron
took these men who were called by name,
18 and they assembled
all the congregation on the first day of the second month of the year, and they
registered them according to their generations, according to their fathers'
houses, according to the number of their names, from twenty years old and upward,
every male, head by head,
19 as the Lord
commanded Moses; and they were numbered in the wilderness of Sinai.
20 And the sons of
Reuben, the firstborn of Israel, according to their kindreds, according to
their divisions, according to the houses of their fathers, according to the
number of their names, head by head, all males from twenty years old and
upward, everyone going forth in the host
21 their numbering,
from the tribe of Reuben, was forty-six thousand five hundred.
22 For the sons of
Simeon, according to their kindreds, according to their divisions, according to
the houses of their fathers, according to the number of their names, head by
head, all males from twenty years old and upward, everyone going forth in the
host
23 their numbering,
from the tribe of Simeon, was fifty-nine thousand three hundred.
24 For the sons of
Judah, according to their kindreds, according to their divisions, according to
the houses of their fathers, according to the number of their names, head by
head, all males from twenty years old and upward, everyone going forth in the host
25 their numbering,
from the tribe of Judah, was seventy-four thousand six hundred.
26 For the sons of
Issachar, according to their kindreds, according to their divisions, according
to the houses of their fathers, according to the number of their names, head by
head, all males from twenty years old and upward, everyone going forth in the host
27 their numbering,
from the tribe of Issachar, was fifty-four thousand four hundred.
28 For the sons of
Zebulun, according to their kindreds, according to their divisions, according
to the houses of their fathers, according to the number of their names, head by
head, all males from twenty years old and upward, everyone going forth in the
host
29 their numbering,
from the tribe of Zebulun, was fifty-seven thousand four hundred.
30 For the sons of
Joseph, the sons of Ephraim, according to their kindreds, according to their
divisions, according to the houses of their fathers, according to the number of
their names, head by head, all males from twenty years old and upward, everyone
going forth in the host
31 their numbering,
from the tribe of Ephraim, was forty thousand five hundred.
32 For the sons of
Manasseh, according to their kindreds, according to their divisions, according
to the houses of their fathers, according to the number of their names, head by
head, all males from twenty years old and upward, everyone going forth in the
host
33 their numbering,
from the tribe of Manasseh, was thirty-two thousand two hundred.
34 For the sons of
Benjamin, according to their kindreds, according to their divisions, according
to the houses of their fathers, according to the number of their names, head by
head, all males from twenty years old and upward, everyone going forth in the
host
35 their numbering,
from the tribe of Benjamin, was thirty-five thousand four hundred.
36 For the sons of Gad,
according to their kindreds, according to their divisions, according to the
houses of their fathers, according to the number of their names, head by head,
all males from twenty years old and upward, everyone going forth in the host
37 their numbering,
from the tribe of Gad, was forty-five thousand six hundred and fifty.
38 For the sons of Dan,
according to their kindreds, according to their divisions, according to the
houses of their fathers, according to the number of their names, head by head,
all males from twenty years old and upward, everyone going forth in the host
39 their numbering,
from the tribe of Dan, was sixty-two thousand seven hundred.
40 For the sons of
Asher, according to their kindreds, according to their divisions, according to
the houses of their fathers, according to the number of their names, head by
head, all males from twenty years old and upward, everyone going forth in the
host
41 their numbering,
from the tribe of Asher, was forty-one thousand five hundred.
42 For the sons of
Naphtali, according to their kindreds, according to their divisions, according
to the houses of their fathers, according to the number of their names, head by
head, all males from twenty years old and upward, everyone going forth in the
host
43 their numbering,
from the tribe of Naphtali, was fifty-three thousand four hundred.
44 This is the
numbering which Moses and Aaron and the rulers of Israel numbered, twelve men;
there was one man for each tribe, according to the tribe of their fathers'
houses.
45 And the whole
numbering of the sons of Israel with their host, from twenty years old and
upward, everyone going forth to be arrayed for battle in Israel, was
46 six hundred and
three thousand five hundred and fifty.
47 But the Levites, of
the tribe of their family, were not numbered among the sons of Israel.
48 And the Lord spoke
to Moses, saying,
49 See that you do not
number the tribe of Levi with them, and you shall not take their number among
the sons of Israel.
50 And you, set the
Levites over the tent of witness and over all its furnishings and over
everything that is in it; they shall carry the tent and all its furnishings,
and they shall minister in it, and they shall encamp around the tent.
51 And when the tent is
to set out, the Levites shall take it down; and when the tent is to be
encamped, they shall set it up; and let the stranger who approaches be put to
death.
52 And the sons of
Israel shall encamp, each man in his own rank and each man according to his own
command, with their host;
53 but let the Levites
encamp before the Lord, around the tent of witness, and there shall be no sin
among the sons of Israel. And the Levites themselves shall keep the watch of
the tent of witness.
54 And the sons of
Israel did according to all that the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron; so they
did.
Chapter 2
1 And the Lord spoke to
Moses and Aaron, saying:
2 Let the children of
Israel encamp, each man keeping close to his own, by division, by standards,
according to the houses of their fathers; the children of Israel shall encamp
facing the tent of witness, round about it.
3 And those encamping
first, toward the east, shall be the division of the camp of Judah with their
host, and the ruler of the sons of Judah, Naasson son of Aminadab;
4 his host, those
numbered, seventy-four thousand six hundred.
5 And those encamping
next to him, the tribe of Issachar, and the ruler of the sons of Issachar,
Nathanael son of Sogar;
6 his host, those
numbered, fifty-four thousand four hundred.
7 And those encamping
next, the tribe of Zabulon, and the ruler of the sons of Zabulon, Eliab son of
Chailon;
8 his host, those
numbered, fifty-seven thousand four hundred.
9 All those numbered
from the camp of Judah were a hundred and eighty-six thousand four hundred,
with their host; they shall set out first.
10 The division of the
camp of Ruben, toward the south, with their host, and the ruler of the sons of
Ruben, Elisur son of Sediur;
11 his host, those
numbered, forty-six thousand five hundred.
12 And those encamping
next to him, the tribe of Symeon, and the ruler of the sons of Symeon, Salamiel
son of Surisadai;
13 his host, those
numbered, fifty-nine thousand three hundred.
14 And those encamping
next to him, the tribe of Gad, and the ruler of the sons of Gad, Elisaph son of
Raguel;
15 his host, those
numbered, forty-five thousand six hundred and fifty.
16 All those numbered
of the camp of Ruben were a hundred and fifty-one thousand four hundred and
fifty, with their host; they shall set out second.
17 And the tent of
witness shall be taken up, and the camp of the Levites, in the midst of the
camps; as they encamp, so also shall they set out, each keeping his place
according to his rank.
18 The division of the
camp of Ephraim, toward the sea, with their host, and the ruler of the sons of
Ephraim, Elisama son of Emiud;
19 his host, those
numbered, forty thousand five hundred.
20 And those encamping
next, the tribe of Manasse, and the ruler of the sons of Manasse, Gamaliel son
of Phadassur;
21 his host, those
numbered, thirty-two thousand two hundred.
22 And those encamping
next, the tribe of Benjamin, and the ruler of the sons of Benjamin, Abidan son
of Gadeoni;
23 his host, those
numbered, thirty-five thousand four hundred.
24 All those numbered
of the camp of Ephraim were a hundred and eight thousand one hundred, with
their host; they shall set out third.
25 The division of the
camp of Dan, toward the north, with their host, and the ruler of the sons of
Dan, Achiezer son of Amisadai;
26 his host, those
numbered, sixty-two thousand seven hundred.
27 And those encamping
next to him, the tribe of Aser, and the ruler of the sons of Aser, Phagaiel son
of Echran;
28 his host, those
numbered, forty-one thousand five hundred.
29 And those encamping
next, the tribe of Nephthali, and the ruler of the sons of Nephthali, Achire
son of Ainan;
30 his host, those
numbered, fifty-three thousand four hundred.
31 All those numbered
of the camp of Dan were a hundred and fifty-seven thousand six hundred; they
shall set out last, according to their division.
32 This is the
numbering of the children of Israel according to the houses of their fathers:
the whole numbering of the camps with their hosts was six hundred and three
thousand five hundred and fifty.
33 But the Levites were
not numbered among them, as the Lord commanded Moses.
34 And the children of
Israel did all that the Lord commanded Moses; thus they encamped according to
their division, and thus they set out, each keeping close according to their
families, according to the houses of their fathers.
Chapter 3
1 And these are the
generations of Aaron and Moses, in the day when the Lord spoke to Moses on
Mount Sinai;
2 and these are the
names of the sons of Aaron: the firstborn Nadab, and Abiud, Eleazar and
Ithamar.
3 These are the names
of the sons of Aaron, the anointed priests, whose hands they consecrated to
serve as priests.
4 And Nadab and Abiud
died before the Lord when they offered strange fire before the Lord in the
wilderness of Sinai, and they had no children; and Eleazar and Ithamar served
as priests with Aaron their father.
5 And the Lord spoke to
Moses, saying,
6 Take the tribe of
Levi, and you shall set them before Aaron the priest, and they shall minister
to him,
7 and they shall keep
his charges and the charges of the sons of Israel before the tent of witness,
to perform the works of the tent,
8 and they shall keep
all the vessels of the tent of witness and the charges of the sons of Israel,
according to all the works of the tent.
9 And you shall give
the Levites to Aaron and to his sons the priests; they are given as a gift to
me from among the sons of Israel.
10 And you shall
appoint Aaron and his sons over the tent of witness, and they shall keep their
priesthood and all things pertaining to the altar and within the veil; and the
stranger who touches them shall die.
11 And the Lord spoke
to Moses, saying,
12 And behold, I have
taken the Levites from among the sons of Israel in place of every firstborn
opening the womb among the sons of Israel; they shall be their ransom, and the
Levites shall be mine.
13 For every firstborn
is mine; in the day when I struck every firstborn in the land of Egypt, I
sanctified to myself every firstborn in Israel, from man to beast; they shall
be mine: I am the Lord.
14 And the Lord spoke
to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, saying,
15 Number the sons of
Levi according to the houses of their fathers, according to their families,
according to their kindreds; every male from a month old and upward, number
them.
16 And Moses and Aaron
numbered them by the voice of the Lord, as the Lord commanded them.
17 And these were the
sons of Levi by their names: Gedson, Kaath, and Merari.
18 And these are the
names of the sons of Gedson according to their families: Lobeni and Semei.
19 And the sons of
Kaath according to their families: Amram and Issaar, Chebron and Oziel.
20 And the sons of
Merari according to their families: Mooli and Mousi. These are the families of
the Levites according to the houses of their fathers.
21 To Gedson belonged
the family of Lobeni and the family of Semei; these are the families of Gedson.
22 Their numbering,
according to the number of every male from a month old and upward, their
numbering was seven thousand five hundred.
23 And the sons of
Gedson shall encamp behind the tent, toward the sea,
24 and the ruler of the
house of the fathers of the family of Gedson was Elisaph son of Lael.
25 And the charge of
the sons of Gedson in the tent of witness was the tent and the covering and the
veil of the door of the tent of witness,
26 and the hangings of
the court and the veil of the gate of the court which is by the tent, and the
rest of all its works.
27 To Kaath belonged
the family of the Amramites and the family of the Saarites and the family of
the Chebronites and the family of the Ozielites; these are the families of
Kaath.
28 According to number,
every male from a month old and upward, eight thousand six hundred, keeping the
charges of the holy things.
29 The families of the
sons of Kaath shall encamp beside the tent, toward the south,
30 and the ruler of the
house of the fathers of the families of Kaath was Elisaphan son of Oziel.
31 And their charge was
the ark and the table and the lampstand and the altars and the vessels of the
sanctuary, with which they minister, and the veil, and all their works.
32 And the ruler over
the rulers of the Levites was Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest, appointed to
keep the charges of the holy things.
33 To Merari belonged
the family of Mooli and the family of Mousi; these are the families of Merari.
34 Their numbering
according to number, every male from a month old and upward, was six thousand
and fifty;
35 and the ruler of the
house of the fathers of the family of Merari was Souriel son of Abichail; they
shall encamp beside the tent, toward the north.
36 The numbering of the
charge of the sons of Merari: the capitals of the tent and its bars and its
pillars and its bases and all their vessels and their works,
37 and the pillars of
the court round about and their bases and the pegs and their cords.
38 And those encamping
before the face of the tent of witness on the east were Moses and Aaron and his
sons, keeping the charges of the sanctuary for the charges of the sons of
Israel; and the stranger who touches shall die.
39 All the numbering of
the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron numbered by the voice of the Lord according
to their families, every male from a month old and upward, was twenty-two
thousand.
40 And the Lord said to
Moses, saying, Number every firstborn male of the sons of Israel from a month
old and upward, and take the number by name;
41 and you shall take
the Levites for me, I am the Lord, in place of all the firstborn of the sons of
Israel, and the cattle of the Levites in place of all the firstborn among the
cattle of the sons of Israel.
42 And Moses numbered,
as the Lord commanded, every firstborn among the sons of Israel;
43 and all the
firstborn males, according to number by name, from a month old and upward, from
their numbering, were twenty-two thousand two hundred and seventy-three.
44 And the Lord spoke
to Moses, saying,
45 Take the Levites in
place of all the firstborn of the sons of Israel, and the cattle of the Levites
in place of their cattle, and the Levites shall be mine: I am the Lord.
46 And as the ransom of
the two hundred and seventy-three, those of the firstborn of the sons of Israel
exceeding the Levites,
47 you shall take five
shekels a head, according to the holy didrachm you shall take, twenty obols to
the shekel
48 and you shall give
the money to Aaron and to his sons, the ransom of those exceeding among them.
49 And Moses took the
money, the ransom of those exceeding, for the redemption of the Levites;
50 from the firstborn
of the sons of Israel he took the money, one thousand three hundred and
sixty-five shekels according to the holy shekel.
51 And Moses gave the
ransom of those exceeding to Aaron and to his sons by the voice of the Lord, as
the Lord commanded Moses.
Chapter 4
1 And
the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying,
2 Take the sum of the
sons of Kaath from the midst of the sons of Levi, according to their families,
according to the houses of their fathers,
3 from twenty-five
years old and upward until fifty years old, everyone who goes in to minister,
to do all the works in the tent of witness.
4 And these are the
works of the sons of Kaath in the tent of witness: the holy of holies.
5 And Aaron and his
sons shall go in, whenever the camp sets out, and they shall take down the
shadowing veil and shall cover with it the ark of the witness,
6 and they shall put
upon it a covering of blue skin, and they shall put over it a garment wholly of
blue from above, and they shall put in the carrying-poles.
7 And upon the table
that is set forth they shall put a garment all of purple, and the dishes and
the censers and the cups and the libation vessels with which one pours
libations; and the loaves that are continually upon it shall be there.
8 And they shall put
upon it a scarlet garment and shall cover it with a covering of blue skin, and
they shall put through it the carrying-poles.
9 And they shall take a
blue garment and shall cover the lampstand that gives light, and its lamps and
its tongs and its funnels and all the vessels of the oil with which they
minister,
10 and they shall put
it and all its vessels into a covering of blue skin, and they shall set it upon
carrying-poles.
11 And over the golden
altar they shall put a blue garment, and shall cover it with a covering of blue
skin, and shall put in its carrying-poles.
12 And they shall take
all the vessels of ministry, with which they minister in the holy places, and
shall put them into a blue garment, and shall cover them with a covering of
blue skin, and shall set them upon carrying-poles.
13 And he shall put the
cover upon the altar, and they shall cover it with a garment all of purple,
14 and they shall put
upon it all the vessels with which they minister upon it, both the firepans and
the flesh-hooks and the bowls and the cover and all the vessels of the altar;
and they shall put upon it a covering of blue skin, and shall put in its
carrying-poles; and they shall take a purple garment and shall cover the laver
and its base, and they shall put them into a covering of blue skin, and shall
set them upon carrying-poles.
15 And Aaron and his
sons shall finish covering the holy things and all the holy vessels when the
camp sets out, and after this the sons of Kaath shall go in to carry them; and
they shall not touch the holy things, lest they die. These things the sons of
Kaath shall carry in the tent of witness.
16 Eleazar the son of
Aaron the priest is overseer: the oil of the light and the incense of the
composition and the daily sacrifice and the oil of anointing, the oversight of
the whole tent and of all that is in it in the holy place, in all the works.
17 And the Lord spoke
to Moses and Aaron, saying,
18 Do not destroy the
family of Kaath of the tribe from the midst of the Levites;
19 do this for them,
and they shall live and by no means die when they approach the holy of holies:
let Aaron and his sons go in, and they shall appoint them each according to his
burden,
20 and they shall by no
means go in suddenly to see the holy things, or they will die.
21 And the Lord spoke
to Moses, saying,
22 Take the sum of the
sons of Gedson, these also according to the houses of their fathers, according
to their families;
23 from twenty-five
years old and upward until fifty years old, number them, everyone who goes in
to minister and to do his works in the tent of witness.
24 This is the ministry
of the family of Gedson, to minister and to carry:
25 and he shall carry
the skins of the tent, and the tent of witness and its covering and the blue
covering that is upon it from above, and the covering of the door of the tent
of witness,
26 and the hangings of
the court, as many as are upon the tent of witness, and the extra parts, and
all the vessels of ministry with which they minister — they shall do these.
27 At the mouth of
Aaron and his sons shall be the ministry of the sons of Gedson, according to
all their ministries and according to all the things carried by them; and you
shall number them by name, all the things carried by them.
28 This is the ministry
of the sons of Gedson in the tent of witness, and their charge shall be in the
hand of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.
29 The sons of Merari:
number them according to their families, according to the houses of their
fathers;
30 from twenty-five
years old and upward until fifty years old number them, everyone who goes in to
perform the works of the tent of witness.
31 And these are the
charges of the things carried by them, according to all their works in the tent
of witness: the capitals of the tent and the bars and its pillars and its
bases, and the covering, and their bases and their pillars, and the covering of
the door of the tent,
32 and the pillars of
the court round about, and their bases, and the pillars of the veil of the gate
of the court, and their bases and their pegs and their cords and all their
vessels and all their instruments of ministry; number them by name, and all the
vessels of the charge of the things carried by them.
33 This is the ministry
of the family of the sons of Merari in all their works in the tent of witness,
in the hand of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.
34 And Moses and Aaron
and the rulers of Israel numbered the sons of Kaath according to their
families, according to the houses of their fathers,
35 from twenty-five
years old and upward until fifty years old, everyone who goes in to minister
and to work in the tent of witness.
36 And their numbering
according to their families was two thousand two hundred and fifty.
37 This is the
numbering of the family of Kaath, everyone who ministers in the tent of
witness, as Moses and Aaron numbered them by the voice of the Lord by the hand
of Moses.
38 And the sons of
Gedson were numbered according to their families, according to the houses of
their fathers,
39 from twenty-five
years old and upward until fifty years old, everyone who goes in to minister
and to do the works in the tent of witness.
40 And their numbering
according to their families, according to the houses of their fathers, was two
thousand six hundred and thirty.
41 This is the
numbering of the family of the sons of Gedson, everyone who ministers in the
tent of witness, whom Moses and Aaron numbered by the voice of the Lord by the
hand of Moses.
42 And the family of
the sons of Merari were also numbered according to their families, according to
the houses of their fathers,
43 from twenty-five
years old and upward until fifty years old, everyone who goes in to minister
for the works of the tent of witness.
44 And their numbering
according to their families, according to the houses of their fathers, was
three thousand two hundred.
45 This is the
numbering of the family of the sons of Merari, whom Moses and Aaron numbered by
the voice of the Lord by the hand of Moses.
46 All those numbered,
whom Moses and Aaron and the rulers of Israel numbered, the Levites, according
to families, according to the houses of their fathers,
47 from twenty-five
years old and upward until fifty years old, everyone who goes in for the work
of the works and the works of carrying in the tent of witness,
48 and those numbered
were eight thousand five hundred and eighty.
49 By the voice of the
Lord he numbered them by the hand of Moses, man by man, over their works and
over the things they carry; and they were numbered, as the Lord commanded
Moses.
Chapter 5
1 And the Lord spoke to
Moses, saying:
2 Command the sons of
Israel, and let them send out of the camp every leper and everyone with a
discharge and everyone unclean because of a dead soul;
3 from male to female,
send them outside the camp, and they shall not defile their camps, in which I
dwell among them.
4 And the sons of
Israel did so and sent them outside the camp; as the Lord spoke to Moses, so
the sons of Israel did.
5 And the Lord spoke to
Moses, saying:
6 Speak to the sons of
Israel, saying: A man or a woman, whoever commits any of the sins of humankind
and, disregarding, disregards, and that soul commits a trespass,
7 he shall confess the
sin which he committed, and he shall repay the trespass, the principal, and
shall add its fifth part to it, and shall repay it to the one against whom he
trespassed.
8 But if the man has no
next of kin so as to repay the trespass to him, the trespass repaid to the Lord
shall be for the priest, besides the ram of atonement, by which he shall make
atonement with it for him.
9 And every firstfruit
of all things sanctified among the sons of Israel, whatever they offer to the
Lord, shall be for the priest.
10 And each man's
sanctified things shall be his; whatever a man gives to the priest, it shall be
his.
11 And the Lord spoke
to Moses, saying:
12 Speak to the sons of
Israel and say to them: If any man's wife transgresses and, despising,
disregards him,
13 and someone lies
with her in a bed of seed, and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband and
she conceals it, and she is defiled, and there was no witness with her, and she
was not caught,
14 and a spirit of
jealousy comes upon him and he is jealous of his wife, and she is defiled or a
spirit of jealousy comes upon him and he is jealous of his wife, and she is not
defiled
15 then the man shall
bring his wife to the priest and shall offer the gift on her behalf, the tenth
of the oephi of barley meal; he shall not pour oil upon it nor put frankincense
upon it, for it is a sacrifice of jealousy, a sacrifice of remembrance,
recalling sin.
16 And the priest shall
bring her forward and set her before the Lord,
17 and the priest shall
take pure living water in an earthen vessel, and some of the earth that is on
the floor of the tent of witness, and taking it the priest shall cast it into
the water.
18 And the priest shall
set the woman before the Lord and shall uncover the woman's head and shall give
into her hands the sacrifice of remembrance, the sacrifice of jealousy; and in
the hand of the priest shall be the water of the conviction, this accursed
water.
19 And the priest shall
adjure her and shall say to the woman: If no one has lain with you, if you have
not transgressed so as to be defiled while under your own husband, be free from
harm from this accursed water of conviction;
20 but if you have
transgressed while under a husband, or have been defiled, and someone besides
your husband has given his bed to you
21 then the priest
shall adjure the woman with the oaths of this curse, and the priest shall say
to the woman: May the Lord make you a curse and an oath in the midst of your
people, when the Lord makes your thigh to fall away and your belly to swell,
22 and this accursed
water shall enter into your belly, to swell the belly and to make your thigh
fall away. And the woman shall say: May it be, may it be.
23 And the priest shall
write these curses in a book and shall wipe them out into the water of the
accursed conviction,
24 and he shall make
the woman drink the water of the accursed conviction, and the accursed water of
the conviction shall enter into her.
25 And the priest shall
take from the hand of the woman the sacrifice of jealousy and shall place the
sacrifice before the Lord and shall bring it to the altar,
26 and the priest shall
take a handful from the sacrifice as its memorial and shall offer it up on the
altar, and afterward he shall make the woman drink the water.
27 And it shall be, if
she is defiled and has utterly escaped her husband's notice, then the accursed
water of the conviction shall enter into her, and her belly shall swell, and
her thigh shall fall away, and the woman shall become a curse among her people.
28 But if the woman has
not been defiled and is clean, then she shall be unharmed and shall conceive
seed.
29 This is the law of
jealousy, for whenever a wife, being under a husband, transgresses and is
defiled;
30 or a man upon whom a
spirit of jealousy comes and he is jealous of his wife, then he shall set his
wife before the Lord, and the priest shall do to her all this law;
31 and the man shall be
free from sin, and that woman shall bear her sin.
Chapter 6
1 And the Lord spoke to
Moses, saying,
2 Speak to the sons of
Israel and say to them: A man or a woman, whoever makes a great vow to
consecrate himself in purity to the Lord,
3 shall be purified
from wine and strong drink; he shall not drink vinegar from wine or vinegar
from strong drink, nor shall he drink anything made from grapes, and he shall
not eat fresh grapes or raisins.
4 All the days of his
vow he shall not eat of anything that comes from the vine, wine, from the
pressed grapes even to the seed.
5 All the days of the
vow of his purification a razor shall not come upon his head; until the days
that he vowed to the Lord are fulfilled, he shall be holy, letting the hair of
his head grow long.
6 All the days of his
vow to the Lord he shall not go in to any soul that has died;
7 for father and for
mother and for brother and for sister, he shall not be defiled for them when
they die, because the vow of his God is upon him, upon his head;
8 all the days of his
vow he shall be holy to the Lord.
9 But if anyone dies
suddenly beside him, immediately the head of his vow shall be defiled, and he
shall shave his head on the day on which he is cleansed; on the seventh day he
shall be shaved.
10 And on the eighth
day he shall bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons to the priest at the
doors of the tent of witness,
11 and the priest shall
offer one for sin and one for a whole burnt offering, and the priest shall make
atonement for him for what he sinned concerning the soul, and shall sanctify
his head on that day,
12 on which he was
consecrated to the Lord for the days of the vow, and he shall bring a yearling
lamb for a trespass offering, and the former days shall not be counted, because
the head of his vow was defiled.
13 And this is the law
of the one who has vowed: on the day on which he fulfills the days of his vow,
he himself shall bring an offering to the doors of the tent of witness,
14 and he shall present
his gift to the Lord: one unblemished yearling lamb for a whole burnt offering,
and one unblemished yearling ewe lamb for a sin offering, and one unblemished
ram for a peace offering,
15 and a basket of
unleavened bread of fine flour, loaves kneaded with oil, and unleavened cakes
anointed with oil, together with their grain offering and their drink offering.
16 And the priest shall
bring them before the Lord and shall offer his sin offering and his whole burnt
offering,
17 and he shall offer
the ram as a sacrifice of peace to the Lord together with the basket of
unleavened bread, and the priest shall offer its grain offering and its drink
offering.
18 And the one who has
vowed shall shave the head of his vow at the doors of the tent of witness, and
he shall put the hair on the fire which is under the sacrifice of the peace
offering.
19 And the priest shall
take the boiled shoulder from the ram and one unleavened loaf from the basket
and one unleavened cake, and shall place them on the hands of the one who has
vowed, after he has shaved off his vow;
20 and the priest shall
present them as a wave offering before the Lord; it shall be holy for the
priest, together with the breast of the wave offering and the shoulder of the
offering removed; and after these things the one who has vowed shall drink
wine.
21 This is the law of
the one who has vowed, whoever vows to the Lord his gift to the Lord concerning
his vow, apart from whatever his hand may find, according to the extent of his
vow, which he vows according to the law of purity.
22 And the Lord spoke
to Moses, saying,
23 Speak to Aaron and
to his sons, saying: Thus you shall bless the sons of Israel, saying to them:
24 May the Lord bless
you and keep you;
25 may the Lord make
his face shine upon you and have mercy on you;
26 may the Lord lift up
his face upon you and give you peace.
Chapter 7
1 And it came to pass
on the day when Moses finished setting up the tabernacle, that he anointed it
and sanctified it, and all its furnishings, and the altar and all its
furnishings, and he anointed them and sanctified them.
2 And the leaders of
Israel made offerings, twelve leaders of their fathers' houses; these were the
leaders of the tribes, these were the ones who stood over the numbering.
3 And they brought
their gifts before the Lord: six covered wagons and twelve oxen, a wagon from
every two leaders and a calf from each, and they presented them before the
tabernacle.
4 And the Lord spoke to
Moses, saying,
5 Take them from them,
and they shall be for the works of service of the tabernacle of witness, and
you shall give them to the Levites, to each according to his service.
6 And Moses took the
wagons and the oxen and gave them to the Levites.
7 The two wagons and
the four oxen he gave to the sons of Gedson according to their services,
8 and the four wagons
and the eight oxen he gave to the sons of Merari according to their services,
through Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.
9 But to the sons of
Kaath he gave none, because they have the services of the sanctuary; they shall
bear them upon their shoulders.
10 And the leaders made
offerings for the dedication of the altar on the day when he anointed it, and
the leaders presented their gifts before the altar.
11 And the Lord said to
Moses, One leader each day, a leader each day, shall they present their gifts
for the dedication of the altar.
12 And he who presented
his gift on the first day was Naasson the son of Aminadab, leader of the tribe
of Judah.
13 And he presented his
gift: one silver dish, its weight one hundred and thirty shekels; one silver
bowl of seventy shekels according to the holy shekel, both full of fine flour
mixed with oil for a sacrifice;
14 one censer of ten
gold shekels, full of incense;
15 one calf from the
herd, one ram, one male lamb a year old for a whole burnt offering;
16 and one kid of the
goats for a sin offering;
17 and for a sacrifice
of peace, two heifers, five rams, five he-goats, five ewe lambs a year old.
This was the gift of Naasson the son of Aminadab.
18 On the second day
Nathanael the son of Sogar, leader of the tribe of Issachar, made an offering.
19 And he presented his
gift: one silver dish, its weight one hundred and thirty shekels; one silver
bowl of seventy shekels according to the holy shekel, both full of fine flour
mixed with oil for a sacrifice;
20 one censer of ten
gold shekels, full of incense;
21 one calf from the
herd, one ram, one male lamb a year old for a whole burnt offering;
22 and one kid of the
goats for a sin offering;
23 and for a sacrifice
of peace, two heifers, five rams, five he-goats, five ewe lambs a year old.
This was the gift of Nathanael the son of Sogar.
24 On the third day,
the leader of the sons of Zabulon, Eliab the son of Chailon.
25 His gift: one silver
dish, its weight one hundred and thirty shekels; one silver bowl of seventy
shekels according to the holy shekel, both full of fine flour mixed with oil
for a sacrifice;
26 one censer of ten
gold shekels, full of incense;
27 one calf from the
herd, one ram, one male lamb a year old for a whole burnt offering;
28 and one kid of the
goats for a sin offering;
29 and for a sacrifice
of peace, two heifers, five rams, five he-goats, five ewe lambs a year old.
This was the gift of Eliab the son of Chailon.
30 On the fourth day,
the leader of the sons of Ruben, Elisur the son of Sediur.
31 His gift: one silver
dish, its weight one hundred and thirty shekels; one silver bowl of seventy
shekels according to the holy shekel, both full of fine flour mixed with oil
for a sacrifice;
32 one censer of ten
gold shekels, full of incense;
33 one calf from the
herd, one ram, one male lamb a year old for a whole burnt offering;
34 and one kid of the
goats for a sin offering;
35 and for a sacrifice
of peace, two heifers, five rams, five he-goats, five ewe lambs a year old.
This was the gift of Elisur the son of Sediur.
36 On the fifth day,
the leader of the sons of Symeon, Salamiel the son of Surisadai.
37 His gift: one silver
dish, its weight one hundred and thirty shekels; one silver bowl of seventy
shekels according to the holy shekel, both full of fine flour mixed with oil
for a sacrifice;
38 one censer of ten
gold shekels, full of incense;
39 one calf from the
herd, one ram, one male lamb a year old for a whole burnt offering;
40 and one kid of the
goats for a sin offering;
41 and for a sacrifice
of peace, two heifers, five rams, five he-goats, five ewe lambs a year old.
This was the gift of Salamiel the son of Surisadai.
42 On the sixth day,
the leader of the sons of Gad, Elisaph the son of Raguel.
43 His gift: one silver
dish, its weight one hundred and thirty shekels; one silver bowl of seventy
shekels according to the holy shekel, both full of fine flour mixed with oil
for a sacrifice;
44 one censer of ten
gold shekels, full of incense;
45 one calf from the
herd, one ram, one male lamb a year old for a whole burnt offering;
46 and one kid of the
goats for a sin offering;
47 and for a sacrifice
of peace, two heifers, five rams, five he-goats, five ewe lambs a year old.
This was the gift of Elisaph the son of Raguel.
48 On the seventh day,
the leader of the sons of Ephraim, Elisama the son of Emiud.
49 His gift: one silver
dish, its weight one hundred and thirty shekels; one silver bowl of seventy
shekels according to the holy shekel, both full of fine flour mixed with oil
for a sacrifice;
50 one censer of ten
gold shekels, full of incense;
51 one calf from the
herd, one ram, one male lamb a year old for a whole burnt offering;
52 and one kid of the
goats for a sin offering;
53 and for a sacrifice
of peace, two heifers, five rams, five he-goats, five ewe lambs a year old.
This was the gift of Elisama the son of Emiud.
54 On the eighth day,
the leader of the sons of Manasse, Gamaliel the son of Phadassur.
55 His gift: one silver
dish, its weight one hundred and thirty shekels; one silver bowl of seventy
shekels according to the holy shekel, both full of fine flour mixed with oil
for a sacrifice;
56 one censer of ten
gold shekels, full of incense;
57 one calf from the
herd, one ram, one male lamb a year old for a whole burnt offering;
58 and one kid of the
goats for a sin offering;
59 and for a sacrifice
of peace, two heifers, five rams, five he-goats, five ewe lambs a year old.
This was the gift of Gamaliel the son of Phadassur.
60 On the ninth day,
the leader of the sons of Benjamin, Abidan the son of Gadeoni.
61 His gift: one silver
dish, its weight one hundred and thirty shekels; one silver bowl of seventy
shekels according to the holy shekel, both full of fine flour mixed with oil
for a sacrifice;
62 one censer of ten
gold shekels, full of incense;
63 one calf from the
herd, one ram, one male lamb a year old for a whole burnt offering;
64 and one kid of the
goats for a sin offering;
65 and for a sacrifice
of peace, two heifers, five rams, five he-goats, five ewe lambs a year old.
This was the gift of Abidan the son of Gadeoni.
66 On the tenth day,
the leader of the sons of Dan, Achiezer the son of Amisadai.
67 His gift was one
silver dish, its weight one hundred and thirty shekels, one silver bowl of
seventy shekels according to the holy shekel, both full of fine flour mixed
with oil for a sacrifice;
68 one censer of ten
gold shekels, full of incense;
69 one calf from the
herd, one ram, one yearling lamb for a whole burnt offering;
70 and one kid of the
goats for sin;
71 and for a sacrifice
of salvation, two heifers, five rams, five he-goats, five yearling ewe-lambs.
This was the gift of Achiezer the son of Amisadai.
72 On the eleventh day,
the leader of the sons of Aser, Phagaiel the son of Echran.
73 His gift was one
silver dish, its weight one hundred and thirty shekels, one silver bowl of
seventy shekels according to the holy shekel, both full of fine flour mixed
with oil for a sacrifice;
74 one censer of ten
gold shekels, full of incense;
75 one calf from the
herd, one ram, one yearling lamb for a whole burnt offering;
76 and one kid of the
goats for sin;
77 and for a sacrifice
of salvation, two heifers, five rams, five he-goats, five yearling ewe-lambs.
This was the gift of Phagaiel the son of Echran.
78 On the twelfth day,
the leader of the sons of Nephthali, Achire the son of Ainan.
79 His gift was one
silver dish, its weight one hundred and thirty shekels, one silver bowl of
seventy shekels according to the holy shekel, both full of fine flour mixed
with oil for a sacrifice;
80 one censer of ten
gold shekels, full of incense;
81 one calf from the
herd, one ram, one yearling lamb for a whole burnt offering;
82 and one kid of the
goats for sin;
83 and for a sacrifice
of salvation, two heifers, five rams, five he-goats, five yearling ewe-lambs.
This was the gift of Achire the son of Ainan.
84 This was the
dedication of the altar, on the day he anointed it, from the leaders of the
sons of Israel: twelve silver dishes, twelve silver bowls, twelve golden
censers,
85 each dish of one
hundred and thirty shekels and each bowl of seventy shekels; all the silver of
the vessels was two thousand four hundred shekels, by the holy shekel.
86 Twelve golden
censers full of incense; all the gold of the censers was one hundred and twenty
gold shekels.
87 All the cattle for
the whole burnt offering: twelve calves, twelve rams, twelve yearling lambs,
with their sacrifices and their drink offerings; and twelve kids of the goats
for sin.
88 All the cattle for
the sacrifice of salvation: twenty-four heifers, sixty rams, sixty he-goats,
sixty yearling ewe-lambs without blemish. This was the dedication of the altar,
after his hands had been filled and after he had anointed it.
89 When Moses went into
the tent of witness to speak with him, then he heard the voice of the Lord
speaking to him from above the mercy seat, which is upon the ark of the
witness, from between the two cherubim; and he spoke to him.
Chapter 8
1 And the Lord spoke to
Moses, saying,
2 Speak to Aaron, and
you shall say to him: When you set up the lamps, the seven lamps shall give
light from the side facing the front of the lampstand.
3 And Aaron did so: he
lit its lamps from the one side facing the front of the lampstand, as the Lord
commanded Moses.
4 And this was the
construction of the lampstand: solid gold, its shaft and its lilies, all solid;
according to the pattern which the Lord showed Moses, so he made the lampstand.
5 And the Lord spoke to
Moses, saying,
6 Take the Levites from
the midst of the sons of Israel, and you shall purify them.
7 And thus you shall
perform their purification for them: you shall sprinkle them with water of
purification, and a razor shall pass over all their body, and they shall wash
their garments, and they shall be clean.
8 And they shall take
one calf from the herd, and its grain offering of fine flour mixed with oil;
and you shall take a year-old calf from the herd for sin.
9 And you shall bring
the Levites before the tent of witness, and you shall assemble the whole
congregation of the sons of Israel.
10 And you shall bring
the Levites before the Lord, and the sons of Israel shall lay their hands upon
the Levites,
11 and Aaron shall set
apart the Levites as a gift before the Lord from the sons of Israel, and they
shall be for performing the works of the Lord.
12 And the Levites
shall lay their hands upon the heads of the calves, and he shall offer the one
for sin and the one as a whole burnt offering to the Lord, to make atonement
for them.
13 And you shall set
the Levites before the Lord and before Aaron and before his sons, and you shall
present them as a gift before the Lord.
14 And you shall
separate the Levites from the midst of the sons of Israel, and they shall be
mine.
15 And after this the
Levites shall go in to perform the works of the tent of witness, and you shall
cleanse them and present them before the Lord.
16 For these are given
to me as a gift from the midst of the sons of Israel; in place of all the
firstborn that open every womb from among the sons of Israel I have taken them
for myself.
17 For every firstborn
among the sons of Israel is mine, from man to beast; on the day I struck every
firstborn in the land of Egypt, I consecrated them to myself,
18 and I took the
Levites in place of every firstborn among the sons of Israel.
19 And I gave the
Levites, given as a gift, to Aaron and to his sons from the midst of the sons
of Israel, to perform the works of the sons of Israel in the tent of witness
and to make atonement for the sons of Israel; and there shall be no one among
the sons of Israel approaching the holy things.
20And Moses and Aaron
and the whole congregation of the sons of Israel did to the Levites just as the
Lord commanded Moses concerning the Levites; thus the sons of Israel did to
them.
21 And the Levites
purified themselves and washed their garments, and Aaron presented them as a
gift before the Lord, and Aaron made atonement for them to purify them.
22 And after this the
Levites went in to minister their ministry in the tent of witness before Aaron
and before his sons; just as the Lord commanded Moses concerning the Levites,
so they did to them.
23 And the Lord spoke
to Moses, saying,
24 This is what
concerns the Levites: from twenty-five years old and upward they shall go in to
serve in the tent of witness;
25 and from fifty years
old he shall withdraw from the ministry and shall work no longer,
26 and his brother
shall minister in the tent of witness, to keep watches, but he shall not
perform works. Thus you shall do to the Levites in their watches.
Chapter 9
1 And the Lord spoke to
Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the second year after they had come out of
the land of Egypt, in the first month, saying,
2 Speak, and let the
sons of Israel keep the passover at its season.
3 On the fourteenth day
of the first month, toward evening, you shall keep it at its appointed times;
according to its law and according to its ordinance you shall keep it.
4 And Moses spoke to
the sons of Israel to keep the passover.
5 Beginning on the
fourteenth day of the month in the wilderness of Sinai, as the Lord commanded
Moses, so the sons of Israel did.
6 And there came men
who were unclean by reason of a dead person, and they were not able to keep the
passover on that day; and they came before Moses and Aaron on that day,
7 and those men said to
him, We are unclean by reason of a dead person; shall we therefore fall short
of offering the gift to the Lord at its season in the midst of the sons of
Israel?
8 And Moses said to
them, Stand here, and I will hear what the Lord will command concerning you.
9 And the Lord spoke to
Moses, saying,
10 Speak to the sons of
Israel, saying, Any man whatsoever who becomes unclean by reason of a dead
person, or is on a distant journey, among you or in your generations, he too
shall keep the passover to the Lord:
11 in the second month,
on the fourteenth day, toward evening, they shall keep it; with unleavened
bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it.
12 They shall leave
none of it until the morning, and they shall not break a bone of it; according
to the law of the passover they shall keep it.
13 And the man who is
clean and is not on a distant journey and fails to keep the passover, that soul
shall be utterly destroyed from its people; because he did not offer the gift
to the Lord at its season, that man shall bear his sin.
14 And if a stranger
comes to you in your land and keeps the passover to the Lord, according to the
law of the passover and according to its ordinance he shall keep it; there
shall be one law for you, both for the stranger and for the native of the land.
15 And on the day the
tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, the house of the
testimony; and in the evening there was upon the tabernacle as it were an
appearance of fire until morning.
16 So it was
continually: the cloud covered it by day, and an appearance of fire by night.
17 And whenever the
cloud went up from the tabernacle, after that the sons of Israel set out; and
in the place where the cloud stood, there the sons of Israel encamped.
18 At the command of
the Lord the sons of Israel shall encamp, and at the command of the Lord they
shall set out; all the days in which the cloud overshadows the tabernacle, the
sons of Israel shall encamp.
19 And when the cloud
lingers over the tabernacle many days, the sons of Israel shall keep the charge
of God and shall by no means set out.
20 And it shall be,
when the cloud covers the tabernacle a number of days, at the voice of the Lord
they shall encamp, and at the command of the Lord they shall set out.
21 And it shall be,
when the cloud remains from evening until morning, and the cloud goes up in the
morning, then they shall set out by day or by night.
22 When the cloud
continues overshadowing it for a month of days, the sons of Israel shall encamp
and shall by no means set out.
23 For at the command
of the Lord they shall set out; they kept the charge of the Lord at the command
of the Lord by the hand of Moses.
Chapter 10
1 And the Lord spoke to
Moses, saying,
2 Make for yourself two
silver trumpets; you shall make them of hammered work, and they shall be for
you to summon the congregation and to set the camps in motion.
3 And you shall sound
them, and all the congregation shall be gathered together at the door of the
tent of witness.
4 But if they sound
with one, all the rulers, the leaders of Israel, shall come to you.
5 And you shall sound a
signal, and the camps encamped toward the east shall set out.
6 And you shall sound a
second signal, and the camps encamped toward the south shall set out; and you
shall sound a third signal, and the camps encamped by the sea shall set out;
and you shall sound a fourth signal, and the camps encamped toward the north
shall set out; they shall sound a signal at their setting out.
7 And whenever you
gather the congregation together, you shall sound, but not a signal.
8 And the sons of
Aaron, the priests, shall sound the trumpets, and it shall be for you a
perpetual ordinance throughout your generations.
9 And if you go out to
war in your land against the adversaries who stand against you, then you shall
signal with the trumpets, and you shall be remembered before the Lord and be
saved from your enemies.
10 And in the days of
your gladness and in your feasts and in your new moons you shall sound the
trumpets over the whole burnt offerings and over the sacrifices of your peace
offerings, and it shall be a remembrance for you before your God: I am the Lord
your God.
11 And it came to pass
in the second year, in the second month, on the twentieth day of the month,
that the cloud went up from the tent of witness,
12 and the sons of
Israel set out with their baggage in the wilderness of Sinai, and the cloud
rested in the wilderness of Paran.
13 And they set out
first by the voice of the Lord by the hand of Moses.
14 And the division of
the camp of the sons of Judah set out first with their host; and over their
host was Naasson son of Aminadab,
15 and over the host of
the tribe of the sons of Issachar was Nathanael son of Sogar,
16 and over the host of
the tribe of the sons of Zebulun was Eliab son of Chailon.
17 And the sons of
Gedson and the sons of Merari shall take down the tent and set out, carrying
the tent.
18 And the division of
the camp of Reuben set out with their host; and over their host was Elisur son
of Sediur,
19 and over the host of
the tribe of the sons of Simeon was Salamiel son of Surisadai,
20 and over the host of
the tribe of the sons of Gad was Elisaph the son of Raguel.
21 And the sons of
Kaath shall set out, carrying the holy things, and they shall set up the tent
until they arrive.
22 And the division of
the camp of Ephraim shall set out with their host; and over their host was
Elisama son of Emiud,
23 and over the host of
the tribe of the sons of Manasseh was Gamaliel the son of Phadassur,
24 and over the host of
the tribe of the sons of Benjamin was Abidan the son of Gadeoni.
25 And the division of
the camp of the sons of Dan shall set out, last of all the camps, with their
host; and over their host was Achiezer the son of Amisadai,
26 and over the host of
the tribe of the sons of Aser was Phagaiel son of Echran,
27 and over the host of
the tribe of the sons of Nephthali was Achire son of Ainan.
28 These are the armies
of the sons of Israel, and they set out with their host.
29 And Moses said to
Hobab son of Raguel the Midianite, the father-in-law of Moses, We are setting
out to the place of which the Lord said, This I will give to you; come with us,
and we will do you good, for the Lord has spoken good things concerning Israel.
30 And he said to him,
I will not go, but to my own land and to my own kindred.
31 And he said, Do not
forsake us, inasmuch as you were with us in the wilderness, and you shall be as
an elder among us;
32 and it shall be, if
you go with us, that whatever good things the Lord shall do for us, we will
also do you good.
33 And they set out
from the mountain of the Lord a journey of three days, and the ark of the
covenant of the Lord went before them a journey of three days, to seek out a
resting place for them.
34 And it came to pass
when the ark set out that Moses said, Arise, O Lord; let your enemies be
scattered; let all who hate you flee.
35 And at its resting
he said, Return, O Lord, the thousands of myriads in Israel.
36 And the cloud
overshadowed them by day when they set out from the camp.
Chapter 11
1 And the people were
murmuring evil things before the Lord, and the Lord heard and was inflamed with
anger, and fire from the Lord was kindled among them and consumed a certain
part of the camp.
2 And the people cried
out to Moses, and Moses prayed to the Lord, and the fire abated.
3 And the name of that
place was called Burning, because fire from the Lord was kindled among them.
4 And the mixed
multitude that was among them lusted with a craving, and sitting down the sons
of Israel also wept and said, "Who will feed us meat?
5 We remember the fish
which we ate in Egypt for nothing, and the cucumbers and the melons and the
leeks and the onions and the garlic;
6 but now our soul is
dried up; there is nothing at all before our eyes except the manna."
7 Now the manna is like
coriander seed, and its appearance is the appearance of crystal.
8 And the people would
go about and gather it, and grind it in the mill and pound it in the mortar and
boil it in the pot and make it into cakes; and its pleasantness was like the
taste of a cake made with oil.
9 And whenever the dew
came down upon the camp by night, the manna came down upon it.
10 And Moses heard them
weeping throughout their families, each one at his door; and the Lord was
greatly inflamed with anger, and in Moses' sight it was evil.
11 And Moses said to
the Lord, "Why have you afflicted your servant, and why have I not found
favor before you, that you lay the burden of this people upon me?
12 Did I conceive all
this people in the womb, or did I give birth to them, that you say to me, 'Take
them into your bosom, as a nurse would carry the suckling child, into the land
which you swore to their fathers'?
13 Whence am I to give
meat to all this people? For they weep against me, saying, 'Give us meat, that
we may eat.'
14 I shall not be able
alone to bear this people, for this thing is too heavy for me.
15 But if you deal thus
with me, kill me outright, if I have found mercy with you, that I may not see
my affliction."
16 And the Lord said to
Moses, "Gather to me seventy men from the elders of Israel, whom you
yourself know to be elders of the people and their scribes, and you shall bring
them to the tent of witness, and they shall stand there with you.
17 And I will come down
and speak there with you, and I will take away some of the spirit that is upon
you and put it upon them, and they shall bear together with you the burden of
the people, and you shall not bear them alone.
18 And to the people
you shall say, 'Purify yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat; for you
wept before the Lord, saying, "Who will feed us meat? For it was well with
us in Egypt." And the Lord will give you meat to eat, and you shall eat
meat.
19 You shall not eat
one day, nor two, nor five days, nor ten days, nor twenty days;
20 you shall eat for a
full month of days, until it comes out of your nostrils; and it shall be to you
a loathing, because you disobeyed the Lord, who is among you, and wept before
him, saying, "Why did we come out of Egypt?"
21 And Moses said,
"The people among whom I am number six hundred thousand footmen, and you
have said, 'I will give them meat to eat, and they shall eat for a month of
days'?
22 Shall sheep and oxen
be slaughtered for them, and will it suffice them? Or shall all the fish of the
sea be gathered for them, and will it suffice them?"
23 And the Lord said to
Moses, "Will the hand of the Lord not be sufficient? Now you shall know
whether my word shall overtake you or not."
24 And Moses went out
and spoke to the people the words of the Lord, and he gathered seventy men from
the elders of the people and set them around the tent.
25 And the Lord came
down in a cloud and spoke to him; and he took away some of the spirit that was
upon him and put it upon the seventy men, the elders; and when the spirit
rested upon them, they prophesied, and did so no more.
26 And two men were
left behind in the camp, the name of the one being Eldad and the name of the
second Modad, and the spirit rested upon them and these were of those who had
been enrolled, and they did not come to the tent and they prophesied in the
camp.
27 And a young man ran
and reported to Moses and said, "Eldad and Modad are prophesying in the
camp."
28 And Joshua the son
of Naue, who stood by Moses, his chosen one, answered and said, "My lord
Moses, forbid them."
29 And Moses said to
him, "Are you jealous on my account? Would that all the Lord's people were
prophets, whenever the Lord puts his spirit upon them!"
30 And Moses went away
into the camp, he and the elders of Israel.
31 And a wind went out
from the Lord and brought quail across from the sea, and cast them upon the
camp, a day's journey on this side and a day's journey on that side, all around
the camp, about two cubits above the ground.
32 And the people rose
up all that day and all the night and all the next day and gathered the quail;
he who gathered least gathered ten kors; and they spread them out to dry for
themselves all around the camp.
33 The meat was still
between their teeth, before it was gone, when the Lord was angered against the
people, and the Lord struck the people with an exceedingly great plague.
34 And the name of that
place was called Tombs of Craving, because there they buried the people that
had craved.
35 From Tombs of
Craving the people set out for Aseroth, and the people came to be at
Aseroth.
Chapter 12
1 And Miriam and Aaron
spoke against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom Moses had taken, for he
had taken an Ethiopian woman.
2 And they said,
"Has the Lord spoken only to Moses? Has he not also spoken to us?"
And the Lord heard.
3 Now the man Moses was
very meek, beyond all the men who were upon the earth.
4 And the Lord said at
once to Moses and Miriam and Aaron, "Come out, you three, to the tent of
witness." And the three went out to the tent of witness.
5 And the Lord came
down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the door of the tent of witness, and
Aaron and Miriam were called, and they both went out.
6 And he said to them,
"Hear my words: if there be a prophet among you for the Lord, I will be
made known to him in a vision, and in sleep I will speak to him.
7 Not so my servant
Moses; he is faithful in all my house.
8 Mouth to mouth I will
speak to him, in visible form and not through riddles, and he has seen the
glory of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant
Moses?"
9 And the anger of the
Lord's wrath was upon them, and he departed.
10 And the cloud
withdrew from the tent, and behold, Miriam was leprous, like snow; and Aaron
looked upon Miriam, and behold, she was leprous.
11 And Aaron said to
Moses, "I beg you, my lord, do not lay sin upon us, for we acted in
ignorance in that we sinned.
12 Let her not become
as one equal to death, like an abortion coming forth from a mother's womb, and
it devours half of her flesh."
13 And Moses cried out
to the Lord, saying, "O God, I beg you, heal her."
14 And the Lord said to
Moses, "If her father had spat full in her face, would she not be put to
shame seven days? Let her be set apart seven days outside the camp, and after
this she shall come in."
15 And Miriam was set
apart outside the camp seven days; and the people did not set out until Miriam
was cleansed.
16 And after this the
people set out from Hazeroth and encamped in the wilderness of Paran.
Chapter 13
1 And the Lord spoke to
Moses, saying,
2 Send men for
yourself, and let them spy out the land of the Canaanites, which I am giving to
the sons of Israel for a possession; one man per tribe, according to the
families of their fathers, you shall send them, every one a leader among them.
3 And Moses sent them
out from the wilderness of Paran by the voice of the Lord; all these men were
leaders of the sons of Israel.
4 And these are their
names: of the tribe of Reuben, Salamiel son of Zacchur;
5 of the tribe of
Simeon, Saphat son of Souri;
6 of the tribe of
Judah, Caleb son of Jephonneh;
7 of the tribe of
Issachar, Igaal son of Joseph;
8 of the tribe of
Ephraim, Ause son of Naue;
9 of the tribe of
Benjamin, Phalti son of Raphou;
10 of the tribe of
Zebulun, Goudiel son of Soudi;
11 of the tribe of
Joseph, of the sons of Manasseh, Gaddi son of Sousi;
12 of the tribe of Dan,
Amiel son of Gamali;
13 of the tribe of
Asher, Sathour son of Michael;
14 of the tribe of
Naphtali, Nabi son of Iabi;
15 of the tribe of Gad,
Goudiel son of Makchi.
16 These are the names
of the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses named Ause son of
Naue, Jesus.
17 And Moses sent them
to spy out the land of Canaan and said to them, Go up by this wilderness, and
you shall go up into the mountain,
18 and you shall see
the land, what it is, and the people dwelling upon it, whether it is stronger
or weak, whether they are few or many;
19 and what the land is
in which they dwell, whether it is good or bad; and what the cities are in
which they dwell, whether they are in walled towns or unwalled;
20 and what the land
is, whether fat or barren, whether there are trees in it or not; and
persevering, you shall take of the fruits of the land. And the days were days
of spring, the forerunners of the grape.
21 And going up they
spied out the land from the wilderness of Sin as far as Raab, at the entrance
of Ephaath.
22 And they went up
through the wilderness and came as far as Hebron, and there were Achiman and
Sessi and Thelamin, the generations of Enach; and Hebron was built seven years
before Tanis of Egypt.
23 And they came to the
Valley of the Cluster and spied it out; and they cut from there a branch with
one cluster of grapes upon it and carried it on poles, and also of the
pomegranates and of the figs.
24 That place they
named Valley of the Cluster because of the cluster which the sons of Israel cut
from there.
25 And they returned
from there, having spied out the land, after forty days,
26 and going they came
to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, to the
wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh; and they brought back word to them and to all
the congregation, and they showed the fruit of the land.
27 And they told him
and said, We came to the land to which you sent us, a land flowing with milk
and honey, and this is its fruit.
28 Only that the nation
dwelling upon it is bold, and the cities are fortified, walled, and very great,
and we have seen the generation of Enach there;
29 and Amalek dwells in
the land toward the south, and the Hittite and the Hivite and the Jebusite and
the Amorite dwell in the hill country, and the Canaanite dwells by the sea and
by the river Jordan.
30 And Caleb quieted
the people before Moses and said to him, No, but going up we shall go up and
inherit it, for we shall surely prevail against them.
31 But the men who went
up with him said, We are not going up, for we shall by no means be able to go
up against the nation, for it is much stronger than we.
32 And they brought out
a horror of the land which they had spied out to the sons of Israel, saying,
The land which we passed through to spy it out is a land that devours those who
dwell upon it; all the people whom we saw in it are men of exceeding height;
33 and there we saw the
giants, and we were before them like grasshoppers, indeed so we were before
them.
Chapter 14
1 And the whole
congregation lifted up their voice, and the people wept all that night.
2 And all the sons of
Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to
them, "Would that we had died in the land of Egypt, or that we had died in
this wilderness!
3 And why does the Lord
bring us into this land to fall in war? Our wives and children shall become
plunder. Now therefore it is better for us to return to Egypt."
4 And they said one to
another, "Let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt."
5 And Moses and Aaron
fell on their faces before all the congregation of the sons of Israel.
6 But Joshua the son of
Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, of those who had spied out the land, tore
their garments
7 and said to all the
congregation of the sons of Israel, saying, "The land which we spied out
is exceedingly, exceedingly good.
8 If the Lord chooses
us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us—a land which flows with
milk and honey.
9 Only do not become
rebels against the Lord; and do not fear the people of the land, for they are
food for us; for their time has departed from them, but the Lord is among us.
Do not fear them."
10 And all the
congregation said to stone them with stones. And the glory of the Lord appeared
in a cloud upon the tent of witness before all the sons of Israel.
11 And the Lord said to
Moses, "How long does this people provoke me, and how long do they not
believe me, with all the signs which I have done among them?
12 I will strike them
with death and destroy them, and I will make you and the house of your father
into a nation great and far more numerous than this."
13 And Moses said to
the Lord, "Then Egypt will hear that you brought up this people from among
them by your strength,
14 and moreover all
those dwelling in this land have heard that you are the Lord among this people,
you who are seen eye to eye, Lord, and your cloud stands over them, and in a
pillar of cloud you go before them by day and in a pillar of fire by night.
15 And if you destroy
this people as one man, then the nations, all who have heard your name, will
speak, saying,
16 'Because the Lord
was not able to bring this people into the land which he swore to them, he
struck them down in the wilderness.'
17 And now let your
strength be exalted, Lord, as you spoke, saying,
18 'The Lord is
long-suffering and full of mercy and true, taking away lawless deeds and
injustices and sins, and by no means will he clear the guilty, repaying the
sins of fathers upon children to the third and fourth generation.'
19 Forgive this people
their sin according to your great mercy, just as you have been gracious to them
from Egypt until now."
20 And the Lord said to
Moses, "I am gracious to them according to your word;
21 but as I live, and
my name lives, and the glory of the Lord shall fill all the earth,
22 surely all the men
who see my glory and the signs which I did in Egypt and in this wilderness, and
have tested me now these ten times and have not listened to my voice,
23 surely they shall
not see the land which I swore to their fathers, but only their children who
are here with me, all who do not know good or evil, every young inexperienced
one; to these I will give the land, but all those who provoked me shall not see
it.
24 But my servant
Caleb, because a different spirit was in him and he followed me, I will bring
him into the land into which he entered, and his seed shall inherit it.
25 Now Amalek and the
Canaanite dwell in the valley; tomorrow turn and set out into the wilderness by
the way of the Red Sea."
26 And the Lord spoke
to Moses and Aaron, saying,
27 "How long shall
I bear this wicked congregation? The things they murmur before me—the murmuring
of the sons of Israel, which they have murmured concerning you—I have heard.
28 Say to them, 'As I
live, says the Lord, surely as you have spoken in my ears, so will I do to you:
29 in this wilderness
your carcasses shall fall, and all your number and those counted among you from
twenty years old and upward, all who have murmured against me.
30 Surely you shall not
enter into the land upon which I stretched out my hand to settle you upon it,
except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun.
31 And the children,
whom you said would be plunder;them I will bring into the land, and they shall
inherit the land from which you turned away.
32 And your carcasses
shall fall in this wilderness,
33 and your sons shall
be pastured in the wilderness forty years and shall bear your fornication,
until your carcasses are consumed in the wilderness.
34 According to the
number of the days in which you spied out the land—forty days, a day for a
year, you shall bear your sins forty years, and you shall know the fury of my
wrath.
35 I the Lord have
spoken: surely so will I do to this wicked congregation which has risen up
together against me; in this wilderness they shall be utterly consumed, and
there they shall die.'"
36 And the men whom
Moses sent to spy out the land, and who came and murmured against it to the
congregation, bringing out evil reports concerning the land
37 the men who spoke
evil against the land died by the plague before the Lord;
38 but Joshua the son
of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh lived, of those men who had gone to spy
out the land.
39 And Moses spoke
these words to all the sons of Israel, and the people mourned greatly.
40 And rising early in
the morning they went up to the top of the mountain, saying, "Behold, here
we are; we will go up to the place which the Lord spoke of, for we have
sinned."
41 And Moses said,
"Why do you transgress the word of the Lord? It shall not go well for you.
42 Do not go up, for
the Lord is not with you, and you shall fall before the face of your enemies.
43 For Amalek and the
Canaanite are there before you, and you shall fall by the sword, because you
turned away, disobeying the Lord, and the Lord will not be among you."
44 And forcing their
way, they went up to the top of the mountain; but the ark of the covenant of
the Lord and Moses did not move from the camp.
45 And Amalek and the
Canaanite who dwelt in that mountain came down and routed them and cut them
down as far as Hormah; and they returned to the camp.
Chapter 15
1 And
the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
2 "Speak to the
sons of Israel and say to them: When you enter the land of your habitation,
which I am giving to you,
3 and you make whole
burnt offerings to the Lord, a whole burnt offering or a sacrifice, to magnify
a vow, or as a freewill offering, or at your feasts, to make an aroma of sweet
fragrance to the Lord, whether from the cattle or from the sheep,
4 then the one who
offers his gift to the Lord shall bring a sacrifice of fine flour, a tenth of
an ephah, mixed with oil, with a fourth of a hin.
5 And wine for a
libation, a fourth of a hin, you shall offer with the whole burnt offering or
with the sacrifice; for the one lamb you shall offer so much, an offering, an
aroma of sweet fragrance to the Lord.
6 And for the ram, when
you offer it either as a whole burnt offering or as a sacrifice, you shall
offer a sacrifice of fine flour, two tenths, mixed with oil, a third of a hin;
7 and wine for a
libation, a third of a hin, you shall offer as an aroma of sweet fragrance to
the Lord.
8 But if you offer from
the cattle for a whole burnt offering or a sacrifice, to magnify a vow, or for
a peace offering to the Lord,
9 then he shall bring
with the calf a sacrifice of fine flour, three tenths, mixed with oil, half a
hin,
10 and wine for a
libation, half a hin, an offering, an aroma of sweet fragrance to the Lord.
11 Thus you shall do
for the one calf, or for the one ram, or for the one lamb from the sheep or
from the goats.
12 According to the
number that you offer, so you shall do for each one according to their number.
13 Every native shall
do these things in this way, to bring offerings as an aroma of sweet fragrance
to the Lord.
14 And if a proselyte
joins you in your land, or whoever comes to be among you throughout your
generations, and he makes an offering, an aroma of sweet fragrance to the
Lord—as you do, so shall the congregation do for the Lord.
15 There shall be one
law for you and for the proselytes who dwell among you, an everlasting law
throughout your generations; as you are, so shall the proselyte be before the
Lord.
16 There shall be one
law and one ordinance for you and for the proselyte who dwells among you."
17 And the Lord spoke
to Moses, saying,
18 "Speak to the
sons of Israel and say to them: When you enter the land into which I am
bringing you,
19 then it shall be
that when you eat of the bread of the land, you shall set apart a portion as an
offering set apart for the Lord.
20 As the firstfruit of
your dough you shall set apart bread as an offering; as an offering from the
threshing floor, so you shall set it apart,
21 the firstfruit of
your dough, and you shall give to the Lord an offering throughout your
generations.
22 But when you err and
do not perform all these commandments which the Lord spoke to Moses,
23 as the Lord
commanded you by the hand of Moses, from the day the Lord commanded you and
onward throughout your generations,
24 then it shall be, if
it was done unintentionally, away from the eyes of the congregation, that the
whole congregation shall offer one calf from the cattle, without blemish, as a
whole burnt offering for an aroma of sweet fragrance to the Lord, and its
sacrifice and its libation according to the ordinance, and one young goat from
the goats as a sin offering.
25 And the priest shall
make atonement for the whole congregation of the sons of Israel, and it shall
be forgiven them; for it was unintentional, and they have brought their gift,
an offering to the Lord, for their sin before the Lord for their unintentional
acts.
26 And it shall be
forgiven the whole congregation of the sons of Israel, and the proselyte who
dwells with you, because it was unintentional for all the people. —
27 But if one soul sins
unintentionally, he shall bring one female goat a year old as a sin offering,
28 and the priest shall
make atonement for the soul that acted unwittingly and sinned unintentionally
before the Lord, to make atonement for him.
29 For the native among
the sons of Israel and for the proselyte who dwells among them, there shall be
one law for them, for whoever acts unintentionally.
30 But the soul who
acts with a high hand, whether of the natives or of the proselytes, this one
provokes God; that soul shall be utterly destroyed from among its people,
31 because it has
despised the word of the Lord and broken his commandments; that soul shall be
utterly rooted out, its sin is upon it."
32 And the sons of
Israel were in the wilderness, and they found a man gathering wood on the day
of the sabbaths.
33 And those who found
him gathering wood on the day of the sabbaths brought him to Moses and Aaron
and to the whole congregation of the sons of Israel.
34 And they put him in
custody, for they had not decided what they should do to him.
35 And the Lord spoke
to Moses, saying, "Let the man be put to death by death; stone him with
stones, all the congregation."
36 And the whole
congregation brought him outside the camp, and the whole congregation stoned
him with stones outside the camp, as the Lord commanded Moses.
37 And the Lord spoke
to Moses, saying,
38 "Speak to the
sons of Israel and say to them, and let them make for themselves tassels on the
corners of their garments throughout their generations, and you shall put on
the tassels of the corners a thread of blue.
39 And it shall be for
you on the tassels, and you shall look at them and remember all the
commandments of the Lord and do them, and you shall not turn aside after your
own thoughts and after your own eyes, after which you go whoring,
40 so that you may
remember and do all my commandments and be holy to your God.
41 I am the Lord your
God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God; I am the Lord
your God."
Chapter 16
1 Now Korah the son of
Izhar, son of Kohath, son of Levi, spoke, along with Dathan and Abiram, sons of
Eliab, and On the son of Peleth, son of Reuben,
2 and they rose up
before Moses, with men of the sons of Israel, two hundred and fifty, leaders of
the congregation, chosen counselors and men of renown.
3 They assembled
against Moses and Aaron and said, "Let it be enough for you, for all the
congregation, all of them, are holy, and the Lord is among them; and why do you
exalt yourselves above the congregation of the Lord?"
4 And when Moses heard
this, he fell on his face
5 and spoke to Korah
and to all his congregation, saying, "God has visited and knows those who
are his and who are holy, and he has brought them near to himself, and those
whom he chose for himself he has brought near to himself.
6 Do this: take censers
for yourselves, Korah and all his congregation,
7 and put fire on them
and put incense on them before the Lord tomorrow; and the man whom the Lord
chooses, he shall be holy. Let it be enough for you, sons of Levi."
8 And Moses said to
Korah, "Listen to me, sons of Levi.
9 Is it a small thing
to you that the God of Israel has set you apart from the congregation of Israel
and brought you near to himself to perform the services of the tabernacle of
the Lord and to stand before the congregation to minister to them?
10 And he brought you
near, and all your brothers the sons of Levi with you, and do you seek the
priesthood also?
11 Thus you and all
your congregation are gathered together against God; and who is Aaron, that you
murmur against him?"
12 And Moses sent to
summon Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab. And they said, "We will not
come up.
13 Is it a small thing
that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to kill
us in the wilderness, that you also lord it over us as a ruler?
14 Even if you had
brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey and given us an inheritance
of field and vineyards, would you put out the eyes of those men? We will not
come up."
15 And Moses was
greatly grieved and said to the Lord, "Do not pay regard to their
offering; I have not taken anything desirable from any of them, nor have I
wronged any of them."
16 And Moses said to
Korah, "Sanctify your congregation, and be ready before the Lord tomorrow,
you and they and Aaron.
17 And let each take
his censer, and you shall put incense on them, and each shall bring his censer
before the Lord, two hundred and fifty censers, and you and Aaron each his
censer."
18 And each took his
censer, and they put fire on them and laid incense on it. And Moses and Aaron
stood by the doors of the tent of witness.
19 And Korah assembled
all his congregation against them at the door of the tent of witness. And the
glory of the Lord appeared to all the congregation.
20 And the Lord spoke
to Moses and Aaron, saying,
21 "Separate
yourselves from the midst of this congregation, and I will consume them at
once."
22 And they fell on
their faces and said, "O God, God of the spirits and of all flesh, if one
man has sinned, shall the wrath of the Lord be upon all the congregation?"
23 And the Lord spoke
to Moses, saying,
24 "Speak to the
congregation, saying, 'Withdraw round about from the congregation of
Korah.'"
25 And Moses arose and
went to Dathan and Abiram, and all the elders of Israel went with him.
26 And he spoke to the
congregation, saying, "Separate yourselves from the tents of these hard
men, and do not touch anything that belongs to them, lest you perish with them
in all their sin."
27 And they withdrew
from the tent of Korah round about; and Dathan and Abiram came out and stood by
the doors of their tents, with their wives and their children and their
belongings.
28 And Moses said,
"By this you shall know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works,
that it is not of myself:
29 if these men die the
death of all men, or if their visitation is according to the visitation of all
men, then the Lord has not sent me;
30 but if the Lord
shows by a portent, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them up, and
their houses and their tents and all that belongs to them, and they go down
alive into Hades, then you shall know that these men have provoked the
Lord."
31 And when he ceased
speaking all these words, the ground split apart beneath them,
32 and the earth was
opened and swallowed them up, and their houses and all the people who were with
Korah, and their livestock.
33 And they went down,
they and all that was theirs, alive into Hades, and the earth covered them, and
they perished from the midst of the congregation.
34 And all Israel round
about them fled at their cry, for they said, "Lest the earth swallow us
up."
35 And fire came out
from the Lord and consumed the two hundred and fifty men who offered the
incense.
Chapter 17
1 And the Lord said to
Moses
2 and to Eleazar the
son of Aaron the priest: Take up the bronze censers from the midst of those who
have been burned, and scatter this strange fire there, because they have
hallowed
3 the censers of these
sinners at the cost of their lives; and make them into hammered plates, a
covering for the altar, because they were brought before the Lord and were
hallowed and became a sign to the sons of Israel.
4 And Eleazar the son
of Aaron the priest took the bronze censers, which those who had been burned
had brought, and they added them as a covering for the altar,
5 a memorial to the
sons of Israel, so that no stranger, who is not of the seed of Aaron, might
come near to offer incense before the Lord, and might not be like Korah and his
faction, as the Lord spoke by the hand of Moses.
6 And the sons of
Israel murmured on the next day against Moses and Aaron, saying: You have
killed the people of the Lord.
7 And it came to pass,
when the congregation gathered against Moses and Aaron, that they rushed toward
the tent of witness, and behold, the cloud covered it, and the glory of the
Lord appeared.
8 And Moses and Aaron
went in before the face of the tent of witness,
9 and the Lord spoke to
Moses and Aaron, saying:
10 Withdraw from the
midst of this congregation, and I will consume them at once. And they fell on
their faces.
11 And Moses said to
Aaron: Take the censer and put fire from the altar upon it, and lay incense
upon it, and carry it quickly into the camp and make atonement for them; for
wrath has gone out from the presence of the Lord, it has begun to destroy the
people.
12 And Aaron took it,
just as Moses told him, and ran into the congregation; and already the
destruction had begun among the people; and he put on the incense and made
atonement for the people,
13 and he stood between
the dead and the living, and the destruction ceased.
14 And those who died
in the destruction were fourteen thousand seven hundred, apart from those who
died on account of Korah.
15 And Aaron returned
to Moses at the door of the tent of witness, and the destruction ceased.
16 And the Lord spoke
to Moses, saying:
17 Speak to the sons of
Israel and take from them a rod, a rod for each house of their fathers, from
all their rulers according to the houses of their fathers, twelve rods, and
write each man's name upon his rod.
18 And write the name
of Aaron upon the rod of Levi; for it is one rod: they shall give it according
to the tribe of the house of their fathers.
19 And you shall place
them in the tent of witness, before the testimony, by which I will be made
known to you there.
20 And it shall be that
the man whom I choose, his rod shall sprout; and I will remove from me the
murmuring of the sons of Israel, which they murmur against you.
21 And Moses spoke to
the sons of Israel, and all their rulers gave him a rod, one rod for each ruler
according to the houses of their fathers, twelve rods, and the rod of Aaron was
in the midst of their rods.
22 And Moses laid the
rods before the Lord in the tent of witness.
23 And it came to pass
on the next day that Moses and Aaron went into the tent of witness, and behold,
the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted, and it brought forth a
shoot and blossomed with flowers and produced nuts.
24 And Moses brought
out all the rods from before the Lord to all the sons of Israel, and they saw,
and each man took his rod.
25 And the Lord said to
Moses: Put back the rod of Aaron before the testimonies to be kept as a sign
for the sons of the disobedient, and let their murmuring against me cease, and
they shall not die.
26 And Moses and Aaron
did as the Lord commanded Moses; so they did.
27 And the sons of
Israel spoke to Moses, saying: Behold, we are consumed, we are destroyed, we
are utterly consumed;
28 everyone who touches
the tent of the Lord dies; shall we die until we are completely
destroyed?
Chapter 18
1 And the Lord said to
Aaron, saying: You and your sons and the house of your father shall bear the
sins of the holy things, and you and your sons shall bear the sins of your
priesthood.
2 And bring near to
yourself your brothers, the tribe of Levi, the family of your father, and let
them be joined to you and minister to you, both you and your sons with you
before the tent of witness.
3 And they shall keep
your charges and the charges of the tent; only they shall not come near the
holy vessels and the altar, and they shall not die, neither they nor you.
4 And they shall be
joined to you and shall keep the charges of the tent of witness according to
all the services of the tent, and the stranger shall not come near to you.
5 And you shall keep
the charges of the holy things and the charges of the altar, and there shall
not be wrath among the sons of Israel.
6 And I have taken your
brothers the Levites from among the sons of Israel, a gift given to the Lord,
to perform the services of the tent of witness.
7 And you and your sons
with you shall keep your priesthood in every matter of the altar and what is
within the veil, and you shall perform the services as a gift of your
priesthood; and the stranger who approaches shall die.
8 And the Lord spoke to
Aaron: And behold, I have given you the keeping of the firstfruits; from all
things sanctified to me by the sons of Israel I have given them to you as a
prerogative and to your sons after you, an everlasting ordinance.
9 And this shall be
yours from the sanctified holy things of the offerings: from all their gifts
and from all their sacrifices and from every trespass offering of theirs and
from all their sin offerings, whatever they render to me, from all the holy
things it shall be for you and your sons.
10 In the holy of
holies you shall eat them; every male shall eat them, you and your sons; they
shall be holy to you.
11 And this shall be
yours: the firstfruit of their gifts; from all the wave offerings of the sons
of Israel I have given them to you and to your sons and to your daughters with
you, an everlasting ordinance; everyone clean in your house shall eat them.
12 Every firstfruit of
oil and every firstfruit of wine and grain, their firstfruit, whatever they
give to the Lord, I have given them to you.
13 All the first
produce, whatever is in their land, whatever they bring to the Lord, shall be
yours; everyone clean in your house shall eat them.
14 Everything devoted
among the sons of Israel shall be yours.
15 And everything that
opens the womb of all flesh, which they offer to the Lord, from man to beast,
shall be yours; but the firstborn of men shall surely be redeemed with a
ransom, and you shall redeem the firstborn of unclean beasts.
16 And its redemption
is from a month old; the valuation is five shekels according to the holy
shekel.
17 But the firstborn of
calves and the firstborn of sheep and the firstborn of goats you shall not
redeem; they are holy; and you shall pour out their blood against the altar,
and you shall offer up the fat as an offering for a sweet-smelling savor to the
Lord.
18 And the flesh shall
be yours; just as the breast of the wave offering and as the right shoulder, it
shall be yours.
19 Every offering of
the holy things, whatever the sons of Israel set apart for the Lord, I have
given to you and to your sons and to your daughters with you, an everlasting
ordinance; it is an everlasting covenant of salt before the Lord for you and
for your seed after you.
20 And the Lord spoke
to Aaron: You shall not inherit in their land, and there shall be no portion
for you among them, for I am your portion and your inheritance in the midst of
the sons of Israel.
21 And behold, to the
sons of Levi I have given every tithe in Israel as an inheritance in return for
their services, whatever service they perform in the tent of witness.
22 And the sons of
Israel shall no longer come near the tent of witness, to incur death-bearing
sin.
23 And the Levite
himself shall perform the service of the tent of witness, and they shall bear
their sins, an everlasting ordinance throughout their generations; and in the
midst of the sons of Israel they shall not inherit an inheritance;
24 because the tithes
of the sons of Israel, whatever they set apart to the Lord as an offering, I
have given to the Levites as an inheritance; therefore I have said to them: In
the midst of the sons of Israel they shall not inherit a lot.
25 And the Lord spoke
to Moses, saying:
26 And you shall speak
to the Levites and say to them: If you receive from the sons of Israel the
tithe, which I have given you from them as an inheritance, then you shall set
apart from it an offering to the Lord, a tithe of the tithe.
27 And your offerings
shall be reckoned to you as grain from the threshing floor and as an offering
from the winepress.
28 So you also shall
set apart from the offerings of the Lord, from all your tithes, whatever you
receive from the sons of Israel, and you shall give from them an offering to
the Lord, to Aaron the priest.
29 From all your gifts
you shall set apart an offering to the Lord, or from all the firstfruits what
is sanctified from it.
30 And you shall say to
them: When you set apart the firstfruit from it, it shall be reckoned to the
Levites as produce from the threshing floor and as produce from the winepress.
31 And you shall eat it
in every place, you and your households, for this is your wage in return for
your services in the tent of witness;
32 and you shall not
incur sin on account of it, when you set apart the firstfruit from it; and you
shall not profane the holy things of the sons of Israel, lest you die.
Chapter 19
1 And the Lord spoke to
Moses and Aaron, saying,
2 This is the
distinction of the law, all that the Lord has commanded, saying: Speak to the
sons of Israel, and let them take to you a red heifer without blemish, which
has no blemish in it, and upon which no yoke has been laid.
3 And you shall give it
to Eleazar the priest, and they shall bring it outside the camp to a clean
place and slaughter it before him.
4 And Eleazar shall
take some of its blood and sprinkle of its blood seven times toward the front
of the tent of witness.
5 And they shall burn
it before him, and its skin and its flesh and its blood, together with its
dung, shall be burned.
6 And the priest shall
take cedar wood and hyssop and scarlet, and they shall cast them into the midst
of the burning of the heifer.
7 And the priest shall
wash his garments and bathe his body with water, and afterward he shall come
into the camp, and the priest shall be unclean until evening.
8 And he who burns it
shall wash his garments and bathe his body, and he shall be unclean until
evening.
9 And a clean man shall
gather up the ashes of the heifer and deposit them outside the camp in a clean
place, and it shall be for the congregation of the sons of Israel to keep,
water of sprinkling; it is a purification.
10 And he who gathers
the ashes of the heifer shall wash his garments and shall be unclean until
evening. And it shall be for the sons of Israel and for the proselytes attached
to them a perpetual statute.
11 He who touches the
dead body of any human soul shall be unclean seven days;
12 he shall be purified
on the third day and on the seventh day, and he shall be clean; but if he is
not purified on the third day and on the seventh day, he shall not be clean.
13 Everyone who touches
the dead body of a human soul, if he has died, and is not purified, has defiled
the tabernacle of the Lord; that soul shall be cut off from Israel, because the
water of sprinkling has not been sprinkled upon him; he is unclean, his uncleanness
is still in him.
14 And this is the law:
if a man dies in a house, everyone who enters the house and everything in the
house shall be unclean seven days;
15 and every open
vessel, all that has no cover bound fast upon it, is unclean.
16 And everyone who
touches, upon the face of the field, one slain or a dead body or a human bone
or a grave, shall be unclean seven days.
17 And they shall take
for the unclean person some of the ashes of the burnt purification, and they
shall pour living water upon them into a vessel;
18 and a clean man
shall take hyssop and dip it into the water and sprinkle it upon the house and
upon the vessels and upon the souls, as many as are there, and upon him who
touched the human bone or the slain or the dead or the grave.
19 And the clean man
shall sprinkle it upon the unclean on the third day and on the seventh day, and
he shall be purified on the seventh day and shall wash his garments and bathe
in water, and he shall be unclean until evening.
20 And a man who is
defiled and is not purified, that soul shall be utterly destroyed from the
midst of the congregation, because he has defiled the holy things of the Lord,
because the water of sprinkling has not been sprinkled upon him; he is unclean.
21 And it shall be for
you a perpetual statute: and he who sprinkles the water of sprinkling shall
wash his garments, and he who touches the water of sprinkling shall be unclean
until evening;
22 and whatever the
unclean person touches shall be unclean, and the soul that touches it shall be
unclean until evening.
Chapter 20
1 And the sons of
Israel, the whole congregation, came into the wilderness of Sin in the first
month, and the people stayed in Kadesh, and Miriam died there and was buried
there.
2 And there was no
water for the congregation, and they gathered together against Moses and Aaron.
3 And the people
reviled Moses, saying, "Would that we had died in the destruction of our
brothers before the Lord!
4 And why have you
brought up the congregation of the Lord into this wilderness, to kill us and
our cattle?
5 And why is this, that
you brought us up out of Egypt to come to this evil place, a place where there
is no sowing, no fig trees, no vines, no pomegranates, nor water to
drink?"
6 And Moses and Aaron
went from before the congregation to the door of the tent of witness and fell
on their faces, and the glory of the Lord appeared to them.
7 And the Lord spoke to
Moses, saying,
8 "Take the rod
and assemble the congregation, you and Aaron your brother, and speak to the
rock before them, and it shall give its waters; and you shall bring forth water
for them out of the rock, and you shall give drink to the congregation and
their cattle."
9 And Moses took the
rod that was before the Lord, as the Lord commanded.
10 And Moses and Aaron
assembled the congregation before the rock, and he said to them, "Hear me,
you disobedient ones: shall we bring water for you out of this rock?"
11 And Moses lifted up
his hand and struck the rock with the rod twice, and much water came out, and
the congregation drank, and their cattle.
12 And the Lord said to
Moses and Aaron, "Because you did not believe, so as to sanctify me before
the sons of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this congregation into the
land which I have given them."
13 This is the water of
contradiction, because the sons of Israel reviled before the Lord, and he was
sanctified among them.
14 And Moses sent
messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom, saying, "Thus says your
brother Israel: You know all the hardship that has befallen us;
15 and our fathers went
down into Egypt, and we sojourned in Egypt many days, and the Egyptians
afflicted us and our fathers;
16 and we cried out to
the Lord, and the Lord heard our voice, and having sent an angel he brought us
out of Egypt; and now we are in Kadesh, a city on the edge of your borders.
17 We will pass through
your land; we will not go through fields or through vineyards, nor will we
drink water from your cistern; we will go by the king's highway; we will not
turn aside to the right or to the left until we have passed your borders."
18 And Edom said to
him, "You shall not pass through me; otherwise, I will come out in war to
meet you."
19 And the sons of
Israel say to him, "We will pass along by the mountain; and if we drink of
your water, I and my cattle, I will pay you a price; but the matter is
nothing—we will pass along by the mountain."
20 But he said,
"You shall not pass through me." And Edom came out to meet him with a
heavy crowd and with a strong hand.
21 And Edom was not
willing to allow Israel to pass through his borders; and Israel turned away
from him.
22 And they set out
from Kadesh; and the sons of Israel, the whole congregation, came to Mount Hor.
23 And the Lord spoke
to Moses and Aaron at Mount Hor, on the borders of the land of Edom, saying,
24 "Let Aaron be
gathered to his people, for you shall by no means enter the land which I have
given to the sons of Israel, because you provoked me at the water of reviling.
25 Take Aaron and
Eleazar his son, and bring them up to Mount Hor before all the congregation,
26 and strip Aaron of
his robe and put it on Eleazar his son; and let Aaron be gathered and die
there."
27 And Moses did as the
Lord commanded, and brought him up to Mount Hor before all the congregation.
28 And he stripped
Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son; and Aaron died on the
top of the mountain, and Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain.
29 And all the
congregation saw that Aaron was released, and all the house of Israel wept for
Aaron thirty days.
Chapter 21
1 And the Canaanite
king Arad, who dwelt by the wilderness, heard, for Israel came by the way of
Atharin, and he made war against Israel, and they carried off some of them as
captives.
2 And Israel vowed a
vow to the Lord and said, "If you deliver this people into my hand, I will
devote it and its cities to destruction."
3 And the Lord heard
the voice of Israel and delivered the Canaanite into his hand, and he devoted
him and his cities to destruction; and they called the name of that place
Anathema.
4 And setting out from
Mount Hor by the way to the Red Sea, they went around the land of Edom; and the
people grew faint of heart on the way.
5 And the people spoke
against God and against Moses, saying, "Why did you bring us out of Egypt
to kill us in the wilderness? For there is no bread nor water, and our soul
loathes this worthless bread."
6 And the Lord sent
among the people the deadly serpents, and they bit the people, and many people
of the sons of Israel died.
7 And the people came
to Moses and said, "We have sinned, for we spoke against the Lord and
against you; pray therefore to the Lord, and let him take the serpent away from
us." And Moses prayed to the Lord for the people.
8 And the Lord said to
Moses, "Make for yourself a serpent and set it upon a standard, and it
shall be that if a serpent bites a man, everyone who has been bitten, when he
looks at it, shall live."
9 And Moses made a
bronze serpent and set it upon a standard, and it came to pass that whenever a
serpent bit a man, and he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.
10 And the sons of
Israel set out and encamped at Oboth.
11 And departing from
Oboth, they encamped at Achelgai, on the far side, in the wilderness which
faces Moab toward the rising of the sun.
12 From there they set
out and encamped in the valley of Zared.
13 And setting out from
there, they encamped on the far side of Arnon, in the wilderness that juts out
from the borders of the Amorites; for the Arnon is the border of Moab, between
Moab and the Amorite.
14 Therefore it is said
in a book, "The war of the Lord set aflame Zoob and the torrents of Arnon,
15 and he established
the torrents to make Er dwell, and it lies adjacent to the borders of
Moab."
16 And from there, the
well: this is the well of which the Lord said to Moses, "Gather the
people, and I will give them water to drink."
17 Then Israel sang
this song at the well: "Begin to sing to it:
18 A well, rulers dug
it, kings of nations hewed it out in their kingdom, when they ruled over
them." And from the well to Manthanain;
19 and from Manthanain
to Naaliel; and from Naaliel to Bamoth;
20 and from Bamoth to
the glen which is in the plain of Moab, from the top of the hewn rock that
looks toward the face of the wilderness.
21 And Moses sent
ambassadors to Sihon, king of the Amorites, with peaceful words, saying,
22 "We will pass
through your land; we will go by the road; we will not turn aside either into
field or into vineyard; we will not drink water from your well; we will go by
the king's highway until we pass your borders."
23 And Sihon did not
allow Israel to pass through his borders, and Sihon gathered all his people and
went out to array himself against Israel in the wilderness, and he came to
Jassa and drew up against Israel.
24 And Israel struck
him with the slaughter of the sword, and they took possession of his land from
Arnon to Jabbok, as far as the sons of Ammon; for Jazer is the border of the
sons of Ammon.
25 And Israel took all
these cities, and Israel dwelt in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon
and in all its dependencies.
26 For Heshbon is the
city of Sihon, king of the Amorites, and he had made war against the king of
Moab formerly, and they took all his land from Aroer to Arnon.
27 Therefore the
riddle-speakers will say: "Come to Heshbon, that the city of Sihon may be
built and furnished.
28 For fire went out
from Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sihon, and it devoured as far as Moab
and swallowed up the pillars of Arnon.
29 Woe to you, Moab;
you have perished, people of Chemosh. Their sons were given over to be saved
alive, and their daughters as captives to Sihon, king of the Amorites;
30 and their seed shall
perish, Heshbon as far as Dibon and the women have further kindled fire against
Moab."
31 And Israel dwelt in
all the cities of the Amorites.
32 And Moses sent to
spy out Jazer, and they seized it and its villages, and they drove out the
Amorite who dwelt there.
33 And turning back,
they went up by the road to Bashan; and Og, king of Bashan, came out to meet
them, he and all his people, for battle at Edrei.
34 And the Lord said to
Moses, "Do not fear him, for I have delivered him into your hands, and all
his people and all his land, and you shall do to him as you did to Sihon, king
of the Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon."
35 And he struck him
and his sons and all his people, until none of his was left alive; and they
inherited their land.
Chapter 22
1 And the children of
Israel set out and encamped to the west of Moab, by the Jordan opposite
Jericho.
2 And Balak son of
Sepphor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorite,
3 and Moab feared the
people greatly, because they were many, and Moab was distressed before the face
of the children of Israel.
4 And Moab said to the
elders of Madiam, "Now this congregation will lick up all those around us,
as the calf licks up the green things of the plain." And Balak son of
Sepphor was king of Moab at that time.
5 And he sent envoys to
Balaam son of Beor at Phathoura, which is by the river of the land of the sons
of his people, to call him, saying, "Behold, a people has come out of
Egypt, and behold, it has covered the face of the land, and it is encamped close
beside me.
6 And now come, curse
this people for me, for it is stronger than we; if we may be able to strike
some of them, then I will drive them out of the land. For I know that those
whom you bless are blessed, and those whom you curse are cursed."
7 And the elders of
Moab and the elders of Madiam went, with the instruments of divination in their
hands, and they came to Balaam and spoke to him the words of Balak.
8 And he said to them,
"Lodge here for the night, and I will answer you the things which the Lord
may speak to me." And the rulers of Moab stayed with Balaam.
9 And God came to
Balaam and said to him, "What are these men doing with you?"
10 And Balaam said to
God, "Balak son of Sepphor, king of Moab, sent them to me, saying,
11 'Behold, a people
has come out of Egypt, and behold, it has covered the face of the land, and it
is encamped close beside me; and now come, curse it for me, if perhaps I may be
able to strike it and drive it out from the land.'"
12 And God said to
Balaam, "You shall not go with them, nor shall you curse the people, for
it is blessed."
13And Balaam rose in
the morning and said to the rulers of Balak, "Hasten back to your lord;
God does not permit me to go with you."
14And the rulers of
Moab rose and came to Balak and said, "Balaam is not willing to come with
us."
15And Balak again sent
rulers, more in number and more honored than these.
16And they came to
Balaam and said to him, "Thus says Balak the son of Sepphor: 'I beseech
you, do not hesitate to come to me;
17for I will honor you
greatly, and whatever you say, I will do for you; and come, curse this people
for me.'"
18And Balaam answered
and said to the rulers of Balak, "If Balak should give me his house full
of silver and gold, I shall not be able to transgress the word of the Lord God,
to do it either small or great in my mind.
19And now you also stay
here this night, and I shall know what the Lord will further speak to me."
20And God came to
Balaam by night and said to him, "If these men have come to call you, rise
and follow them; but the word which I speak to you, that you shall do."
21And Balaam rose in
the morning and saddled his donkey and went with the rulers of Moab.
22And God was angered
with wrath because he went, and the angel of God rose up to oppose him; and he
was mounted on his donkey, and his two servants were with him.
23 And the donkey,
seeing the angel of God standing against her in the way, and the sword drawn in
his hand, turned aside out of the way and went into the plain; and he struck
the donkey with his staff to direct her back into the way.
24 And the angel of God
stood in the furrows of the vineyards, a fence on this side and a fence on
that.
25And the donkey,
seeing the angel of God, pressed herself against the wall and crushed Balaam's
foot; and he struck her again.
26And the angel of God
went on again and stood in a narrow place, in which there was no turning aside
to the right or to the left.
27And the donkey,
seeing the angel of God, sank down under Balaam; and Balaam was enraged and
beat the donkey with his staff.
28And God opened the
mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, "What have I done to you,
that you have struck me this third time?"
29And Balaam said to
the donkey, "Because you have made a mockery of me; and if I had a sword
in my hand, I would already have pierced you through."
30And the donkey said
to Balaam, "Am I not your donkey, on which you have ridden from your youth
until this day? Have I ever, with utter disregard, treated you thus?" And
he said, "No."
31And God uncovered the
eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing against him in the
way, with the sword drawn in his hand, and he bowed down and did obeisance on
his face.
32And the angel of God
said to him, "Why have you struck your donkey this third time? And behold,
I came out to oppose you, because your way is not seemly before me.
33And the donkey,
seeing me, turned aside from me this third time; and if she had not turned
aside, I would now have killed you, but spared her."
34And Balaam said to
the angel of the Lord, "I have sinned, for I did not know that you were
standing against me in the way to meet me; and now, if it displeases you, I
will turn back."
35And the angel of God
said to Balaam, "Go along with the men; only the word which I speak to
you, take care to speak that." And Balaam went with the rulers of Balak.
36And when Balak heard
that Balaam had come, he went out to meet him, to a city of Moab, which is on
the borders of Arnon, which is at the edge of the borders.
37And Balak said to
Balaam, "Did I not send to you to call you? Why did you not come to me?
Shall I truly not be able to honor you?"
38And Balaam said to
Balak, "Behold, I have come to you; now shall I be able to say anything?
The word which God puts into my mouth, that I shall speak."
39And Balaam went with
Balak, and they came to the cities of farmsteads.
40And Balak sacrificed
sheep and calves and sent them to Balaam and to the rulers who were with him.
41And it came to pass
in the morning that Balak took Balaam and brought him up to the pillar of Baal
and showed him from there a part of the people.
Chapter 23
1 And Balaam said to
Balak, "Build me here seven altars, and prepare for me here seven calves
and seven rams."
2 And Balak did as
Balaam told him, and he offered up a calf and a ram on the altar.
3 And Balaam said to
Balak, "Stand by your sacrifice, and I will go; perhaps God will appear to
me in a meeting, and whatever word he shows me I will report to you." And
Balak stood by his sacrifice, and Balaam went to inquire of God, and he went
straight on.
4 And God appeared to
Balaam, and Balaam said to him, "I have prepared the seven altars and
offered up a calf and a ram on the altar."
5 And God put a word
into Balaam's mouth and said, "When you have returned to Balak, thus shall
you speak."
6 And he returned to
him, and behold, he was standing by his whole burnt offerings, and all the
rulers of Moab with him.
7 And a spirit of God
came upon him, and taking up his parable he said, "From Mesopotamia Balak
summoned me, the king of Moab, from the mountains of the east, saying, 'Come,
curse Jacob for me, and come, call down curses on Israel for me.'
8 Why should I curse
one whom the Lord does not curse, or why should I call down curses on one whom
God does not curse?
9 For from the top of
the mountains I shall see him, and from the hills I shall observe him. Behold,
a people shall dwell alone and shall not be reckoned among the nations.
10 Who has ascertained
the seed of Jacob, and who shall count out the peoples of Israel? May my soul
die among the souls of the righteous, and may my seed become like the seed of
these."
11 And Balak said to
Balaam, "What have you done to me? I called you to curse my enemies, and
behold, you have blessed with a blessing."
12 And Balaam said to
Balak, "Whatever God puts into my mouth, shall I not take care to speak
this?"
13 And Balak said to
him, "Come with me again to another place, from which you will not see him
from there, but you will see only some part of him, and you will certainly not
see them all; and curse him for me from there."
14 And he took him to a
lookout of the field, on the top of the hewn rock, and he built there seven
altars and offered up a calf and a ram on the altar.
15 And Balaam said to
Balak, "Stand by your sacrifice, and I will go to inquire of God."
16 And God met Balaam
and put a word into his mouth and said, "Return to Balak, and thus shall
you speak."
17 And he returned to
him, and behold, he was standing by his whole burnt offering, and all the
rulers of Moab with him. And Balak said to him, "What has the Lord
spoken?"
18 And taking up his
parable he said, "Rise up, Balak, and hear; give ear as a witness, son of
Zippor.
19 God is not like a
man, to be deceived, nor like a son of man, to be threatened. When he has
spoken, will he not do it? He will speak, and will he not abide by it?
20 Behold, I have been
taken along to bless; I will bless and will not turn back.
21 There shall be no
toil in Jacob, nor shall trouble be seen in Israel. The Lord his God is with
him; the glories of rulers are in him.
22 It was God who led
them out of Egypt; his is the glory of a unicorn.
23 For there is no
augury in Jacob, nor divination in Israel. In due season it shall be told to
Jacob and to Israel what God will accomplish.
24 Behold, a people
shall rise up like a lion's cub, and shall exult like a lion. He shall not lie
down until he eats prey, and he shall drink the blood of the wounded."
25 And Balak said to
Balaam, "Neither curse him for me with curses, nor by any means bless him
with blessing."
26 And Balaam answered
and said to Balak, "Did I not speak to you, saying, 'Whatever word God
speaks, this I will do'?"
27 And Balak said to
Balaam, "Come, let me take you to another place, if it will please God,
and curse him for me from there."
28 And Balak took
Balaam to the top of Peor, which stretches out toward the wilderness.
29 And Balaam said to
Balak, "Build me here seven altars, and prepare for me here seven calves
and seven rams."
30 And Balak did just
as Balaam told him, and he offered up a calf and a ram on the altar.
Chapter 24
1 And Balaam, seeing
that it was good before the Lord to bless Israel, did not go as was his custom
to meet the omens, but turned his face toward the wilderness.
2 And Balaam, lifting
up his eyes, beheld Israel encamped by tribes. And the spirit of God came upon
him,
3 and taking up his
parable he said: Balaam son of Beor declares, the man who truly sees declares,
4 he who hears the
oracles of God declares, who saw a vision of God in sleep, his eyes uncovered:
5 How fair are your
houses, Jacob, your tents, Israel!
6 Like shading glens,
and like gardens by rivers, and like tents which the Lord pitched, like cedars
beside waters.
7 A man shall come
forth from his seed and shall rule over many nations, and his kingdom shall be
exalted above Gog, and his kingdom shall be increased.
8 God led him out of
Egypt; his glory is like that of a unicorn. He shall devour the nations of his
enemies, and shall suck the marrow of their fatness, and with his arrows shall
shoot down the enemy.
9 Lying down he rested
like a lion and like a lion's whelp: who shall rouse him? Those who bless you
are blessed, and those who curse you are cursed.
10 And Balak was angry
with Balaam and clapped his hands together, and Balak said to Balaam: I called
you to curse my enemy, and behold, blessing you have blessed him this third
time.
11 Now therefore flee
to your place. I said, I will honor you; but now the Lord has deprived you of
glory.
12 And Balaam said to
Balak: Did I not also speak to your messengers, whom you sent to me, saying,
13 If Balak should give
me his house full of silver and gold, I shall not be able to transgress the
word of the Lord, to make it evil or good of my own accord; whatever God says,
that I will speak?
14 And now, behold, I
depart to my place. Come, I will advise you what this people will do to your
people in the last days.
15 And taking up his
parable he said: Balaam son of Beor declares, the man who truly sees declares,
16 hearing the oracles of God, possessing knowledge from the Most High, and
seeing a vision of God in sleep, his eyes uncovered:
17 I will show him, but
not now; I bless, but he draws not near. A star shall rise out of Jacob, and a
man shall arise out of Israel, and he shall crush the chiefs of Moab and shall
plunder all the sons of Seth.
18 And Edom shall be an
inheritance, and Esau his enemy shall be an inheritance; and Israel acted in
strength.
19 And one shall be
raised up out of Jacob and shall destroy him that is saved from the city.
20 And seeing Amalek
and taking up his parable he said: Amalek is the first of nations, but their
seed shall perish.
21 And seeing the
Kenite and taking up his parable he said: Strong is your dwelling; yet even if
you set your nest in a rock,
22 and even if there be
for Beor a nest of cunning, the Assyrians shall carry you away captive.
23 And seeing Og and
taking up his parable he said: Alas, alas, who shall live when God brings these
things to pass?
24 And one shall come
forth from the hand of the Kittim, and they shall afflict Assur, and they shall
afflict the Hebrews, and they themselves shall perish together.
25 And Balaam rose up
and departed, returning to his place, and Balak went away to his own
home.
Chapter 25
1 And Israel abode in
Sattin; and the people were defiled by committing fornication with the
daughters of Moab.
2 And they invited them
to the sacrifices of their idols, and the people ate of their sacrifices and
worshipped their idols.
3 And Israel was
consecrated to Beelphegor; and the Lord was angered with wrath against Israel.
4 And the Lord said to
Moses, Take all the chiefs of the people and make them a public example before
the Lord in the face of the sun, and the anger of the Lord's wrath shall be
turned away from Israel.
5 And Moses said to the
tribes of Israel, Slay each of you his kinsman who has been consecrated to
Beelphegor.
6 And behold, a man of
the sons of Israel came and brought his brother to the Midianitish woman before
Moses and before all the congregation of the sons of Israel; and they were
weeping at the door of the tent of witness.
7 And Phinees son of
Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, saw it, and rose up from the midst of the
congregation, and took a spear in his hand,
8 and went in after the
Israelite man into the chamber, and pierced them both through, both the
Israelite man and the woman through her womb; and the plague was stayed from
the sons of Israel.
9 And those who died in
the plague were twenty-four thousand.
10 And the Lord spoke
to Moses, saying,
11 Phinees son of
Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, has caused my wrath to cease from the sons of
Israel, in that he was jealous with my jealousy among them, and I did not
utterly consume the sons of Israel in my jealousy.
12 Say thus: Behold, I
give him a covenant of peace,
13 and he and his seed
after him shall have an everlasting covenant of priesthood, because he was
zealous for his God and made atonement for the sons of Israel.
14 Now the name of the
smitten Israelite man, who was smitten with the Midianitish woman, was Zambri
son of Salo, a ruler of a house of a family of the sons of Symeon;
15 and the name of the
Midianitish woman who was smitten was Chasbi, daughter of Sur, a ruler of the
nation of Ommoth; it is a house of a family of Madian.
16 And the Lord spoke
to Moses, saying, Speak to the sons of Israel, saying,
17 Be at enmity with
the Midianites and smite them,
18 for they are at
enmity with you by their deceitfulness, in all the ways they deceive you
through Phogor and through Chasbi, daughter of a ruler of Madian, their sister,
who was smitten on the day of the plague because of Phogor.
Chapter 26
1 And it came to pass
after the plague that the Lord spoke to Moses and to Eleazar the priest,
saying,
2 "Take the sum of
all the congregation of the sons of Israel, from twenty years old and upward,
according to the houses of their fathers, everyone who goes out to array
himself for battle in Israel."
3 And Moses and Eleazar
the priest spoke in Araboth of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho, saying,
4 "From twenty
years old and upward, as the Lord commanded Moses." And the sons of Israel
who came out of Egypt:
5 Ruben, the firstborn
of Israel. And the sons of Ruben: Enoch, and the clan of Enoch; to Phallu, the
clan of the Phalluites;
6 to Asron, the clan of
the Asronites; to Charmi, the clan of the Charmites.
7 These are the clans
of Ruben; and their numbering was forty-three thousand seven hundred and
thirty.
8 And the sons of
Phallu: Eliab.
9 And the sons of
Eliab: Namuel and Dathan and Abiron. These were the ones called of the
congregation; these are they who rose up against Moses and Aaron in the
congregation of Kore, in the rising up against the Lord,
10 and the earth opened
its mouth and swallowed them up, and Kore, in the death of his congregation,
when the fire devoured the two hundred and fifty; and they became a sign.
11 But the sons of Kore
did not die.
12 And the sons of
Symeon: the clan of the sons of Symeon: to Namuel, the clan of the Namuelites;
to Iamin, the clan of the Iaminites; to Iachin, the clan of the Iachinites;
13 to Zara, the clan of
the Zaraites; to Saul, the clan of the Saulites.
14 These are the clans
of Symeon according to their numbering: twenty-two thousand two hundred.
15 And the sons of
Judah: Er and Aunan; and Er and Aunan died in the land of Canaan.
16 And the sons of
Judah according to their clans were: to Selon, the clan of the Selonites; to
Phares, the clan of the Phareites; to Zara, the clan of the Zaraites.
17 And the sons of
Phares were: to Asron, the clan of the Asronites; to Iamun, the clan of the
Iamunites.
18 These are the clans
of Judah according to their numbering: seventy-six thousand five hundred.
19 And the sons of
Issachar according to their clans: to Thola, the clan of the Tholaites; to
Phua, the clan of the Phuaites;
20 to Iasub, the clan
of the Iasubites; to Samaran, the clan of the Samaranites.
21 These are the clans
of Issachar according to their numbering: sixty-four thousand three hundred.
22 The sons of Zabulon
according to their clans: to Sared, the clan of the Saredites; to Allon, the
clan of the Allonites; to Allel, the clan of the Allelites.
23 These are the clans
of Zabulon according to their numbering: sixty thousand five hundred.
24 The sons of Gad
according to their clans: to Saphon, the clan of the Saphonites; to Aggi, the
clan of the Aggites; to Suni, the clan of the Sunites;
25 to Azeni, the clan
of the Azenites; to Addi, the clan of the Addites;
26 to Aroadi, the clan
of the Aroadites; to Ariel, the clan of the Arielites.
27 These are the clans
of the sons of Gad according to their numbering: forty thousand five hundred.
28 The sons of Aser
according to their clans: to Iamin, the clan of the Iaminites; to Iesu, the
clan of the Iesuites; to Baria, the clan of the Bariaites;
29 to Chober, the clan
of the Choberites; to Melchiel, the clan of the Melchielites.
30 And the name of the
daughter of Aser was Sara.
31 These are the clans
of Aser according to their numbering: fifty-three thousand four hundred.
32 The sons of Joseph
according to their clans: Manasse and Ephraim.
33 The sons of Manasse:
to Machir, the clan of the Machirites; and Machir begot Galaad; to Galaad, the
clan of the Galaadites.
34 And these are the
sons of Galaad: to Achiezer, the clan of the Achiezerites; to Cheleg, the clan
of the Chelegites;
35 to Esriel, the clan
of the Esrielites; to Sychem, the clan of the Sychemites;
36 to Symaer, the clan
of the Symaerites; and to Opher, the clan of the Opherites.
37 And to Salpaad son
of Opher there were born no sons, but only daughters; and these are the names
of the daughters of Salpaad: Mala and Nua and Egla and Melcha and Thersa.
38 These are the clans
of Manasse according to their numbering: fifty-two thousand seven hundred.
39 And these are the
sons of Ephraim: to Sutala, the clan of the Sutalaites; to Tanach, the clan of
the Tanachites.
40 These are the sons
of Sutala: to Eden, the clan of the Edenites.
41 These are the clans
of Ephraim according to their numbering: thirty-two thousand five hundred.
These are the clans of the sons of Joseph according to their clans.
42 The sons of Benjamin
according to their clans: to Bale, the clan of the Baleites; to Asyber, the
clan of the Asyberites; to Iachiran, the clan of the Iachiranites;
43 to Sophan, the clan
of the Sophanites.
44 And the sons of Bale
were Adar and Noeman: to Adar, the clan of the Adarites; to Noeman, the clan of
the Noemanites.
45 These are the sons
of Benjamin according to their clans, according to their numbering: forty-five
thousand six hundred.
46 And the sons of Dan
according to their clans: to Sami, the clan of the Samites; these are the clans
of Dan according to their clans.
47 All the clans of
Sami according to their numbering: sixty-four thousand four hundred.
48 The sons of
Nephthali according to their clans: to Asiel, the clan of the Asielites; to
Gauni, the clan of the Gaunites;
49 to Ieser, the clan
of the Ieserites; to Sellem, the clan of the Sellemites.
50 These are the clans
of Nephthali according to their numbering: forty-five thousand four hundred.
51 This is the
numbering of the sons of Israel: six hundred and one thousand seven hundred and
thirty.
52 And the Lord spoke
to Moses, saying,
53 "To these the
land shall be divided for inheritance according to the number of names;
54 to the greater you
shall increase the inheritance, and to the fewer you shall diminish their
inheritance; to each according as they were numbered shall their inheritance be
given.
55 By lots shall the
land be divided; by the names according to the tribes of their fathers they
shall inherit;
56 by lot you shall
divide their inheritance between the many and the few."
57 And the sons of Levi
according to their clans: to Gedson, the clan of the Gedsonites; to Kaath, the
clan of the Kaathites; to Merari, the clan of the Merarites.
58 These are the clans
of the sons of Levi: the clan of the Lobenites, the clan of the Chebronites,
the clan of the Korites, and the clan of the Musites. And Kaath begot Amram.
59 And the name of his
wife was Iochabed, daughter of Levi, who bore these to Levi in Egypt; and she
bore to Amram Aaron and Moses and Mariam their sister.
60 And to Aaron were
born Nadab and Abiud and Eleazar and Ithamar.
61 And Nadab and Abiud
died when they offered strange fire before the Lord in the wilderness of Sina.
62 And there were of
their numbering twenty-three thousand, every male from a month old and upward;
for they were not numbered among the sons of Israel, because no inheritance is
given to them among the sons of Israel.
63 And this is the
numbering of Moses and Eleazar the priest, who numbered the sons of Israel in
Araboth of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho.
64 And among these
there was not a man of those numbered by Moses and Aaron, whom they numbered of
the sons of Israel in the wilderness of Sina;
65 for the Lord had
said to them, "They shall surely die in the wilderness"; and there
was not left of them even one, except Chaleb son of Iephonne and Joshua the son
of Naue.
Chapter 27
1 And the daughters of
Salpaad, son of Opher, son of Galaad, son of Machir, of the tribe of Manasse,
of the sons of Joseph, came forward ,
2 and standing before
Moses and before Eleazar the priest and before the rulers and before all the
congregation at the door of the tent of witness, they said,
3 "Our father died
in the wilderness, and he was not in the midst of the congregation that rose up
against the Lord in the assembly of Kore, for he died because of his own sin,
and he had no sons.
4 Let not the name of
our father be blotted out from the midst of his people, because he has no son;
give us a possession in the midst of our father's brothers."
5 And Moses brought
their case before the Lord.
6 And the Lord spoke to
Moses, saying,
7 "The daughters
of Salpaad have spoken rightly; you shall surely give them a possession of
inheritance in the midst of their father's brothers, and you shall pass their
father's lot to them.
8 And you shall speak
to the sons of Israel, saying: If a man dies and has no son, you shall pass his
inheritance to his daughter.
9 And if he has no
daughter, you shall give the inheritance to his brother.
10 And if he has no
brothers, you shall give the inheritance to his father's brother.
11 And if there are no
brothers of his father, you shall give the inheritance to the kinsman nearest
to him from his tribe; he shall inherit what is his. And this shall be for the
sons of Israel an ordinance of judgment, as the Lord commanded Moses."
12 And the Lord said to
Moses, "Go up onto the mountain that is on the far side and see the land
of Canaan, which I am giving to the sons of Israel as a possession.
13 And you shall see it
and you also shall be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother was
gathered on Mount Hor,
14 because you
transgressed my word in the wilderness of Sin, when the congregation resisted,
to sanctify me; you did not sanctify me at the water before them."
15 And Moses said to
the Lord,
16 "Let the Lord,
the God of the spirits and of all flesh, appoint a man over this congregation,
17 who shall go out
before them and who shall come in before them, and who shall lead them out and
who shall bring them in, so that the congregation of the Lord may not be like
sheep that have no shepherd."
18 And the Lord spoke
to Moses, saying, "Take to yourself Jesus son of Naue, a man who has
spirit within him, and you shall lay your hands upon him,
19 and you shall set
him before Eleazar the priest and give him charge before all the congregation,
and give charge concerning him in their presence.
20 And you shall put
some of your glory upon him, so that the sons of Israel may listen to him.
21 And he shall stand
before Eleazar the priest, and they shall ask of him the judgment of the
Manifest Things before the Lord; at his word they shall go out and at his word
they shall come in, he and the sons of Israel with one accord and all the
congregation."
22 And Moses did as the
Lord commanded him, and taking Jesus he set him before Eleazar the priest and
before all the congregation,
23 and he laid his
hands upon him and commissioned him, just as the Lord commanded Moses.
Chapter 28
1 And the Lord spoke to
Moses, saying,
2 Command the sons of
Israel, and you shall speak to them, saying, My gifts, my presents, my
offerings for an odor of sweet savor you shall observe to offer to me at my
feasts.
3 And you shall say to
them, These are the offerings which you shall bring to the Lord: two lambs a
year old without blemish daily for a whole burnt offering perpetually.
4 The one lamb you
shall offer in the morning, and the second lamb you shall offer toward evening.
5 And you shall make a
tenth of an ephah of fine flour for a sacrifice, mixed with oil, with the
fourth of a hin.
6 It is a perpetual
whole burnt offering, the one made on Mount Sinai for an odor of sweet savor to
the Lord.
7 And its drink
offering, the fourth of a hin for the one lamb; in the holy place you shall
pour out a drink offering of strong drink to the Lord.
8 And the second lamb
you shall offer toward evening; according to its sacrifice and according to its
drink offering you shall offer it for an odor of sweet savor to the Lord.
9 And on the day of the
sabbaths you shall bring two lambs a year old without blemish, and two tenths
of fine flour mixed with oil for a sacrifice, and a drink offering,
10 a whole burnt
offering of sabbaths on the sabbaths, in addition to the continual whole burnt
offering and its drink offering.
11 And at the new moons
you shall bring whole burnt offerings to the Lord: two calves from the herd and
one ram, seven lambs a year old without blemish,
12 three tenths of fine
flour mixed with oil for the one calf, and two tenths of fine flour mixed with
oil for the one ram,
13 a tenth of fine
flour mixed with oil for the one lamb, a sacrifice, an odor of sweet savor, an
offering to the Lord.
14 Their drink offering
shall be half of a hin for the one calf, and a third of a hin shall be for the
one ram, and a fourth of a hin of wine shall be for the one lamb. This is the
whole burnt offering month by month throughout the months of the year.
15 And one he-goat of
the goats for sin to the Lord; in addition to the continual whole burnt
offering it shall be offered, with its drink offering.
16 And in the first
month, on the fourteenth day of the month, is the passover to the Lord.
17 And on the fifteenth
day of this month is a feast; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread.
18 And the first day
shall be a designated holy day for you; you shall do no servile work.
19 And you shall bring
whole burnt offerings, offerings to the Lord: two calves from the herd, one
ram, seven lambs a year old; they shall be without blemish for you.
20 And their sacrifice
shall be fine flour mixed with oil, three tenths for the one calf and two
tenths for the one ram;
21 a tenth apiece you
shall offer for each lamb, for the seven lambs;
22 and one he-goat of
the goats for sin, to make atonement for you;
23 besides the
continual whole burnt offering of the morning, which is the perpetual whole
burnt offering.
24 These things you
shall offer according to these things each day for the seven days, a gift, an
offering for an odor of sweet savor to the Lord; in addition to the continual
whole burnt offering you shall offer its drink offering.
25 And the seventh day
shall be a called holy day for you; you shall do no servile work on it.
26 And on the day of
the firstfruits, when you offer a new sacrifice to the Lord at the feast of
weeks, it shall be a designated holy day for you; you shall do no servile work.
27 And you shall bring
whole burnt offerings for an odor of sweet savor to the Lord: two calves from
the herd, one ram, seven lambs a year old without blemish.
28 Their sacrifice
shall be fine flour mixed with oil, three tenths for the one calf and two
tenths for the one ram,
29 a tenth apiece for
each lamb, for the seven lambs;
30 and one he-goat of
the goats for sin, to make atonement for you;
31 besides the
continual whole burnt offering; and their sacrifice you shall offer to me, they
shall be without blemish for you, and their drink offerings.
Chapter 29
1 And in the seventh
month, on the first day of the month, there shall be a holy convocation for
you; you shall do no servile work; it shall be a day of signal-blowing for you.
2 And you shall offer
whole burnt offerings for a scent of sweet fragrance to the Lord: one calf from
the herd, one ram, seven unblemished yearling lambs;
3 their sacrifice shall
be fine flour mixed with oil, three tenths for the one calf and two tenths for
the one ram,
4 a tenth each for each
lamb, for the seven lambs;
5 and one he-goat from
the goats for sin, to make atonement for you;
6 besides the whole
burnt offerings of the new moon, with their sacrifices and their drink
offerings, and the perpetual whole burnt offering with their sacrifices and
their drink offerings according to their ordinance, for a scent of sweet
fragrance to the Lord.
7 And on the tenth day
of this month there shall be a holy convocation for you, and you shall afflict
your souls, and you shall do no work.
8 And you shall bring
whole burnt offerings for a scent of sweet fragrance, offerings to the Lord:
one calf from the herd, one ram, seven yearling lambs — they shall be
unblemished for you;
9 their sacrifice shall
be fine flour mixed with oil, three tenths for the one calf and two tenths for
the one ram,
10 a tenth each for
each lamb, for the seven lambs;
11 and one he-goat from
the goats for sin, to make atonement for you; besides the sin offering of
atonement and the perpetual whole burnt offering, its sacrifice and its drink
offering according to the ordinance, for a scent of sweet fragrance, an offering
to the Lord.
12 And on the fifteenth
day of this seventh month there shall be a holy convocation for you; you shall
do no servile work, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord for seven
days.
13 And you shall bring
whole burnt offerings, offerings for a scent of sweet fragrance to the Lord: on
the first day, thirteen calves from the herd, two rams, fourteen yearling
lambs, they shall be unblemished;
14 their sacrifices
shall be fine flour mixed with oil, three tenths for each calf, for the
thirteen calves, and two tenths for each ram, for the two rams,
15 a tenth each for
each lamb, for the fourteen lambs;
16 and one he-goat from
the goats for sin, besides the perpetual whole burnt offering; their sacrifices
and their drink offerings.
17 And on the second
day, twelve calves, two rams, fourteen unblemished yearling lambs;
18 their sacrifice and
their drink offering for the calves and the rams and the lambs according to
their number, according to their ordinance;
19 and one he-goat from
the goats for sin, besides the perpetual whole burnt offering; their sacrifices
and their drink offerings.
20 On the third day,
eleven calves, two rams, fourteen unblemished yearling lambs;
21 their sacrifice and
their drink offering for the calves and the rams and the lambs according to
their number, according to their ordinance;
22 and one he-goat from
the goats for sin, besides the perpetual whole burnt offering; their sacrifices
and their drink offerings.
23 On the fourth day,
ten calves, two rams, fourteen unblemished yearling lambs;
24 their sacrifices and
their drink offerings for the calves and the rams and the lambs according to
their number, according to their ordinance;
25 and one he-goat from
the goats for sin, besides the perpetual whole burnt offering; their sacrifices
and their drink offerings.
26 On the fifth day,
nine calves, two rams, fourteen unblemished yearling lambs;
27 their sacrifices and
their drink offerings for the calves and the rams and the lambs according to
their number, according to their ordinance;
28 and one he-goat from
the goats for sin, besides the perpetual whole burnt offering; their sacrifices
and their drink offerings.
29 On the sixth day,
eight calves, two rams, fourteen unblemished yearling lambs;
30 their sacrifices and
their drink offerings for the calves and the rams and the lambs according to
their number, according to their ordinance;
31 and one he-goat from
the goats for sin, besides the perpetual whole burnt offering; their sacrifices
and their drink offerings.
32 On the seventh day,
seven calves, two rams, fourteen unblemished yearling lambs;
33 their sacrifices and
their drink offerings for the calves and the rams and the lambs according to
their number, according to their ordinance;
34 and one he-goat from
the goats for sin, besides the perpetual whole burnt offering; their sacrifices
and their drink offerings.
35 And on the eighth
day there shall be a solemn closing assembly for you; you shall do no servile
work on it.
36 And you shall bring
whole burnt offerings for a scent of sweet fragrance, offerings to the Lord:
one calf, one ram, seven unblemished yearling lambs;
37 their sacrifices and
their drink offerings for the calf and the ram and the lambs according to their
number, according to their ordinance;
38 and one he-goat from
the goats for sin, besides the perpetual whole burnt offering; their sacrifices
and their drink offerings.
39 These things you
shall do for the Lord at your feasts, besides your vows and your freewill
offerings and your whole burnt offerings and your sacrifices and your drink
offerings and your peace offerings.
Chapter 30
1 And Moses spoke to
the sons of Israel according to all that the Lord commanded Moses.
2 And Moses spoke to
the rulers of the tribes of Israel, saying: This is the word which the Lord has
ordained:
3 A man, whoever vows a
vow to the Lord or swears an oath or binds himself with a binding obligation
concerning his soul, shall not profane his word; all that comes out of his
mouth he shall do.
4 But if a woman vows a
vow to the Lord or binds herself with an obligation in her father's house in
her youth,
5 and her father hears
her vows and her obligations which she has bound upon her soul, and her father
remains silent toward her, then all her vows shall stand, and all the
obligations which she has bound upon her soul shall remain for her.
6 But if her father
utterly refuses on the day he hears all her vows and the obligations which she
has bound upon her soul, they shall not stand; and the Lord shall clear her,
because her father refused.
7 But if she comes to
belong to a husband, and her vows are upon her according to the utterance of
her lips, which she bound upon her soul,
8 and her husband hears
and remains silent toward her on the day he hears, then thus all her vows shall
stand, and her obligations which she bound upon her soul shall stand.
9 But if her husband
utterly refuses on the day he hears, all her vows and her obligations which she
bound upon her soul shall not remain, because her husband refused them from
her, and the Lord shall clear her.
10 And the vow of a
widow and of a divorced woman, whatever she vows upon her soul, shall remain
for her.
11 But if her vow is
made in her husband's house, or her obligation upon her soul with an oath,
12 and her husband
hears and remains silent toward her and does not refuse her, then all her vows
shall stand, and all her obligations which she bound upon her soul shall stand
against her.
13 But if her husband
utterly annuls them on the day he hears, all that comes out of her lips
according to her vows and according to the obligations upon her soul shall not
remain for her; her husband has annulled them, and the Lord shall clear her.
14 Every vow and every
binding oath to afflict a soul, her husband shall confirm it for her, and her
husband shall annul it.
15 But if he keeps
entirely silent toward her from day to day, then he confirms for her all her
vows, and the obligations that are upon her he confirms for her, because he was
silent toward her on the day he heard.
16 But if he utterly
annuls them after the day he heard, then he shall bear his sin.
17 These are the
statutes which the Lord commanded Moses, between a man and his wife, and
between a father and his daughter in her youth in her father's house.
Chapter 31
1 And the Lord spoke to
Moses, saying,
2 "Avenge the
vengeance of the sons of Israel on the Midianites, and afterward you shall be
gathered to your people."
3 And Moses spoke to
the people, saying, "Arm men from among you to array themselves before the
Lord against Midian, to render vengeance from the Lord upon Midian;
4 a
thousand from a tribe, a thousand from a tribe, from all the tribes of Israel,
send to array for battle."
5 And there were
numbered out of the thousands of Israel a thousand from each tribe, twelve
thousand, armed for battle.
6 And Moses sent them,
a thousand from each tribe, a thousand from each tribe, with their force, and
Phinehas son of Eleazar son of Aaron the priest; and the holy vessels and the
trumpets for signals were in their hands.
7 And they arrayed
themselves against Midian, as the Lord commanded Moses, and they killed every
male;
8 and they killed the
kings of Midian together with their slain: Evi and Sur and Rokom and Ur and
Robok, five kings of Midian; and Balaam son of Beor they killed with the sword
along with their slain.
9 And they took captive
the women of Midian and their baggage, and their cattle and all their
possessions, and their force they plundered;
10 and all their cities
in their dwellings and their villages they burned with fire.
11 And they took all
the plunder and all their spoils, from man to beast,
12 and brought to Moses
and to Eleazar the priest and to all the sons of Israel the captives and the
spoils and the plunder, to the camp at Araboth Moab, which is by the Jordan
opposite Jericho.
13 And Moses and
Eleazar the priest and all the rulers of the congregation went out to meet them
outside the camp.
14 And Moses was angry
with the overseers of the force, the commanders of thousands and the commanders
of hundreds who were coming from the battle array of the war,
15 and Moses said to
them, "Why have you kept every female alive?
16 For these were the
ones who, by the word of Balaam, caused the sons of Israel to depart from and
disregard the word of the Lord, on account of Phogor, and the plague came upon
the congregation of the Lord.
17 And now, kill every
male among all the young, and kill every woman who has known the bed of a male;
18 but all the young
among the women who have not known the bed of a male, keep them alive.
19 And you, encamp
outside the camp seven days; everyone who has killed and everyone who has
touched the slain shall be purified on the third day and on the seventh day,
you and your captives;
20 and every garment
and every leather article and everything made of goat's hair and every wooden
article you shall purify."
21 And Eleazar the
priest said to the men of the force coming from the battle array of the war,
"This is the ordinance of the law which the Lord commanded Moses:
22 besides the gold and
the silver and bronze and iron and lead and tin,
23 everything that can
pass through fire, it shall also be cleansed, but it shall be purified with the
water of purification; and everything that cannot pass through fire shall pass
through water.
24 And you shall wash
your garments on the seventh day and be cleansed, and after this you shall
enter the camp."
25 And the Lord spoke
to Moses, saying,
26 "Take the total
of the spoils of the captives, from man to beast, you and Eleazar the priest
and the rulers of the ancestral houses of the congregation,
27 and you shall divide
the spoils between the warriors who went out to battle and all the
congregation.
28 And you shall set
apart a tribute for the Lord from the men of war who went out to battle: one
soul out of five hundred, from the people and from the cattle and from the oxen
and from the sheep and from the goats;
29 from their half you
shall take it, and you shall give to Eleazar the priest the firstfruits of the
Lord.
30 And from the half
belonging to the sons of Israel you shall take one out of fifty, from the
people and from the oxen and from the sheep and from the donkeys and from all
the cattle, and you shall give them to the Levites who keep the watches in the
tent of the Lord."
31 And Moses and
Eleazar the priest did as the Lord commanded Moses.
32 And the excess of
the plunder which the men of war had taken was, of the sheep, six hundred and
seventy-five thousand,
33 and oxen,
seventy-two thousand,
34 and donkeys,
sixty-one thousand,
35 and human souls, of
the women who had not known the bed of a man, all the souls were thirty-two
thousand.
36 And the half, the
portion of those who had gone out to war, was, of the number of the sheep,
three hundred and thirty thousand seven thousand five hundred;
37 and the tribute to
the Lord from the sheep was six hundred and seventy-five;
38 and oxen, thirty-six
thousand, and the tribute to the Lord was seventy-two;
39 and donkeys, thirty
thousand five hundred, and the tribute to the Lord was sixty-one;
40 and human souls,
sixteen thousand, and the tribute of them to the Lord was thirty-two souls.
41 And Moses gave the
tribute to the Lord, the offering of God, to Eleazar the priest, as the Lord
commanded Moses.
42 From the half of the
sons of Israel, which Moses divided from the men of war
43 and the half
belonging to the congregation was, of the sheep, three hundred thousand and
thirty thousand and seven thousand five hundred,
44 and oxen, thirty-six
thousand,
45 donkeys, thirty
thousand five hundred, 46and human souls, sixteen thousand
47 and Moses took from
the half belonging to the sons of Israel one out of fifty, from the people and
from the cattle, and gave them to the Levites who keep the watches of the tent
of the Lord, as the Lord commanded Moses.
48 And all those
appointed over the thousands of the force, the commanders of thousands and the
commanders of hundreds, came to Moses
49 and said to Moses,
"Your servants have taken the total of the men of war who were with us,
and not even one of them is missing;
50 and we have brought
as an offering to the Lord what each man found, articles of gold—armlet and
bracelet and ring and arm-band and hair-clasp—to make atonement for us before
the Lord."
51 And Moses and
Eleazar the priest took the gold from them, every wrought article;
52 and all the gold,
the offering which they set apart for the Lord, was sixteen thousand seven
hundred and fifty shekels, from the commanders of thousands and from the
commanders of hundreds.
53 And the men of war
had each taken plunder for himself.
54 And Moses and
Eleazar the priest took the gold from the commanders of thousands and from the
commanders of hundreds, and brought them into the tent of witness, a memorial
of the sons of Israel before the Lord.
Chapter 32
1 Now the sons of
Reuben and the sons of Gad had a multitude of cattle, an exceedingly great
multitude; and they saw the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead, and the place
was a place for cattle.
2 And the sons of
Reuben and the sons of Gad came and said to Moses and to Eleazar the priest and
to the rulers of the congregation, saying,
3 "Ataroth and
Dibon and Jazer and Nimrah and Heshbon and Elealeh and Sebam and Nebo and Beon,
4 the land which the
Lord has delivered up before the sons of Israel, is a land for grazing cattle,
and your servants have cattle."
5 And they said,
"If we have found favor before you, let this land be given to your
servants as a possession, and do not make us cross over the Jordan."
6 And Moses said to the
sons of Gad and to the sons of Reuben, "Shall your brothers go to war
while you sit here?
7 And why do you
pervert the minds of the sons of Israel from crossing over into the land which
the Lord is giving them?
8 Did not your fathers
do so, when I sent them from Kadesh-barnea to survey the land?
9 And they went up to
the Valley of the Cluster and surveyed the land, and turned away the heart of
the sons of Israel, so that they would not enter into the land which the Lord
gave them.
10 And the Lord was
angered with wrath on that day and swore, saying,
11 'Surely these men
who came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, who know evil and
good, shall not see the land which I swore to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, for
they have not followed after me,
12 except Caleb the son
of Jephunneh, the one set apart, and Joshua the son of Nun, because he followed
after the Lord.'
13 And the Lord was
angered with wrath against Israel and made them wander in the wilderness forty
years, until all the generation that did evil before the Lord was consumed.
14 Behold, you have
risen up in the place of your fathers, a brood of sinful men, to add still more
to the fierce anger of the Lord against Israel,
15 for you will turn
away from him, to leave him yet again in the wilderness, and you will act
lawlessly against this whole congregation."
16 And they came near
to him and said, "Let us build here sheepfolds for our cattle, and cities
for our households,
17 and we ourselves,
being armed, will be an advance guard before the sons of Israel, until we bring
them to their own place; and our households shall dwell in fortified cities
because of the inhabitants of the land.
18 We will by no means
return to our houses until the sons of Israel have been apportioned, each to
his own inheritance;
19 and we will no
longer inherit among them from the other side of the Jordan and beyond, because
we have received our portions on the other side of the Jordan, toward the
east."
20 And Moses said to
them, "If you will do according to this word, if you will arm yourselves
before the Lord for war,
21 and every armed man
of you will pass over the Jordan before the Lord, until his enemy is destroyed
from before his face,
22 and the land is
subdued before the Lord and afterward you shall return, then you shall be
guiltless before the Lord and before Israel, and this land shall be yours as a
possession before the Lord.
23 But if you do not do
so, you will sin before the Lord, and you will know your sin when evils
overtake you.
24 And you shall build
for yourselves cities for your households and folds for your cattle, and you
shall do what has gone out of your mouth."
25 And the sons of
Reuben and the sons of Gad spoke to Moses, saying, "Your servants will do
as our lord commands.
26 Our households and
our wives and all our cattle shall be in the cities of Gilead,
27 but your servants
will all pass over, armed and arrayed before the Lord for the war, just as our
lord says."
28 And Moses gave
charge concerning them to Eleazar the priest and Joshua the son of Nun and the
heads of the fathers' houses of the tribes of Israel,
29 and Moses said to
them, "If the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad pass over the Jordan with
you, every one armed for war before the Lord, and you subdue the land before
you, then you shall give them the land of Gilead as a possession;
30 but if they do not
pass over armed with you into the war before the Lord, then you shall cause
their households and their wives and their cattle to cross over before you into
the land of Canaan, and they shall receive an inheritance together with you in
the land of Canaan."
31 And the sons of
Reuben and the sons of Gad answered, saying, "Whatever the Lord says to
his servants, so we will do.
32 We will pass over
armed before the Lord into the land of Canaan, and you shall give us our
possession on the other side of the Jordan."
33 And Moses gave to
them—to the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben and to the half-tribe of
Manasseh of the sons of Joseph—the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites and
the kingdom of Og king of Bashan, the land and its cities with its borders, the
cities of the land round about.
34 And the sons of Gad
built Dibon and Ataroth and Aroer 35 and Sophar and Jazer, and raised them up,
36 and Nimrah and
Beth-haran, fortified cities and sheepfolds.
37 And the sons of
Reuben built Heshbon and Elealeh and Kiriathaim
38 and Baal-meon,
surrounded with walls, and Sebam; and they gave names after their own names to
the cities which they built.
39 And a son of Machir
the son of Manasseh went to Gilead and took it, and destroyed the Amorite who
dwelt in it.
40 And Moses gave
Gilead to Machir the son of Manasseh, and he dwelt there.
41 And Jair the son of
Manasseh went and took their villages and called them the Villages of Jair.
42 And Nobah went and
took Kenath and its villages, and called them Nobah after his own name.
Chapter 33
1 And these are the
stages of the sons of Israel, when they went out of the land of Egypt with
their host by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
2 And Moses wrote down
their departures and their stages by the word of the Lord; and these are the
stages of their journey.
3 They set out from
Ramesses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the
morrow after the passover the sons of Israel went out with a high hand in the
sight of all the Egyptians,
4 and the Egyptians
were burying all their dead whom the Lord had struck down, every firstborn in
the land of Egypt; and upon their gods the Lord executed vengeance.
5 And the sons of
Israel set out from Ramesses and encamped at Succoth.
6 And they set out from
Succoth and encamped at Buthan, which is a part of the wilderness.
7 And they set out from
Buthan and encamped at the mouth of Eiroth, which is opposite Beelsepphon, and
they encamped opposite Magdolus.
8 And they set out from
opposite Eiroth and crossed through the midst of the sea into the wilderness,
and they went a journey of three days through the wilderness, and encamped at
Bitterness.
9 And they set out from
Bitterness and came to Aelim; and in Aelim were twelve springs of water and
seventy trunks of palm trees, and they encamped there beside the water.
10 And they set out
from Aelim and encamped by the Red Sea.
11 And they set out
from the Red Sea and encamped in the wilderness of Sin.
12 And they set out
from the wilderness of Sin and encamped at Raphaca.
13 And they set out
from Raphaca and encamped at Aelus.
14 And they set out
from Aelus and encamped at Raphidin; and there was no water there for the
people to drink.
15 And they set out
from Raphidin and encamped in the wilderness of Sina.
16 And they set out
from the wilderness of Sina and encamped at the Graves of Desire.
17 And they set out
from the Graves of Desire and encamped at Aseroth.
18 And they set out
from Aseroth and encamped at Rathama.
19 And they set out
from Rathama and encamped at Remmon Phares.
20 And they set out
from Remmon Phares and encamped at Lemona.
21 And they set out
from Lemona and encamped at Dessa.
22 And they set out
from Dessa and encamped at Makellath.
23 And they set out
from Makellath and encamped at Saphar.
24 And they set out
from Saphar and encamped at Charadath.
25 And they set out
from Charadath and encamped at Makeloth.
26 And they set out
from Makeloth and encamped at Kataath.
27 And they set out
from Kataath and encamped at Tarath.
28 And they set out
from Tarath and encamped at Matekka.
29 And they set out
from Matekka and encamped at Selmona.
30 And they set out
from Selmona and encamped at Massuruth.
31 And they set out
from Massuruth and encamped at Banaia.
32 And they set out
from Banaia and encamped at Mount Gadgad.
33 And they set out
from Mount Gadgad and encamped at Etebatha.
34 And they set out
from Etebatha and encamped at Ebrona.
35 And they set out
from Ebrona and encamped at Gesiongaber.
36 And they set out
from Gesiongaber and encamped in the wilderness of Sin. And they set out from
the wilderness of Sin and encamped in the wilderness of Pharan, which is Cades.
37 And they set out
from Cades and encamped at Hor the mountain, near the land of Edom.
38 And Aaron the priest
went up by the command of the Lord and died there, in the fortieth year of the
going out of the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt, in the fifth month, on
the first of the month.
39 And Aaron was a
hundred and twenty-three years old when he died on Mount Hor.
40 And the Canaanite
king of Arad heard—and he dwelt in the land of Canaan, when the sons of Israel
were entering in.
41 And they set out
from Mount Hor and encamped at Selmona.
42 And they set out
from Selmona and encamped at Phino.
43 And they set out
from Phino and encamped at Oboth.
44 And they set out
from Oboth and encamped at Gai, on the other side, on the borders of Moab.
45 And they set out
from Gai and encamped at Daebon Gad. 46 And they set out from Daebon Gad and
encamped at Gelmon Deblathaim.
47 And they set out
from Gelmon Deblathaim and encamped upon the mountains of Abarim, opposite
Nabau.
48 And they set out
from the mountains of Abarim and encamped on the west of Moab, by the Jordan
opposite Jericho,
49 and they encamped
beside the Jordan between Aesimoth as far as Belsattim, on the west of Moab.
50 And the Lord spoke
to Moses on the west of Moab, beside the Jordan opposite Jericho, saying,
51 Speak to the sons of
Israel and say to them: You are crossing the Jordan into the land of Canaan,
52 and you shall
destroy all those dwelling in the land before your face, and you shall remove
their watchtowers, and all their molten idols you shall destroy, and all their
pillars you shall remove;
53 and
you shall destroy all the inhabitants of the land and dwell in it; for to you I
have given their land as an inheritance.
54 And you shall
inherit their land by lot according to your tribes: to the more numerous you
shall enlarge their possession, and to the fewer you shall lessen their
possession; to whatever place one's name comes forth, there shall be his;
according to the tribes of your fathers' houses you shall inherit.
55 But if you do not
destroy the inhabitants of the land from before your face, then those of them
whom you leave shall be thorns in your eyes and darts in your sides, and they
shall be enemies in the land in which you shall dwell,
56 and it shall come to
pass that as I had determined to do to them, so I will do to you.
Chapter 34
1 And the Lord spoke to
Moses, saying,
2 "Command the
sons of Israel and you shall say to them: You are entering into the land of
Canaan; this shall be to you for an inheritance, the land of Canaan with its
borders.
3 And the side toward
the southwest shall be yours, from the wilderness of Sin as far as adjoining
Edom, and your borders toward the southwest shall be from the edge of the salt
sea on the east;
4 and the borders shall
circle around you from the southwest to the ascent of Akrabbin, and shall pass
by Senna, and its outlet shall be to the south of Kadesh Barnea, and it shall
go out to the settlement of Arad and pass by Asemona;
5 and the borders shall
circle from Asemona to the brook of Egypt, and the outlet shall be the sea.
6 And the borders of
the sea shall be yours; the great sea shall be the boundary; this shall be your
border of the sea.
7 And this shall be
your border toward the north: from the great sea you shall measure for
yourselves alongside the mountain, the mountain;
8 and from the
mountain, the mountain, you shall measure for them as one enters into Emath,
and its outlet shall be the borders of Sarada;
9 and the borders shall
go out to Dephrona, and its outlet shall be Asernain; this shall be your border
from the north.
10 And you shall
measure for yourselves the borders of the east from Asernain to Sepphama;
11 and the borders
shall go down from Sepphama to Arbela on the east toward the springs, and the
borders shall go down from Bela along the back of the sea of Chenara on the
east;
12 and the borders
shall go down to the Jordan, and the outlet shall be the salt sea. This shall
be your land and its borders round about."
13 And Moses commanded
the sons of Israel, saying, "This is the land which you shall inherit by
lot, as the Lord commanded Moses to give it to the nine tribes and the half
tribe of Manasseh;
14 for the tribe of the
sons of Reuben and the tribe of the sons of Gad have received, according to the
houses of their fathers, and the half tribe of Manasseh have received their
allotments,
15 two tribes and a
half tribe have received their allotments beyond the Jordan opposite Jericho,
from the south toward the east."
16 And the Lord spoke
to Moses, saying,
17 "These are the
names of the men who shall allot the land for you: Eleazar the priest and
Joshua the son of Nun.
18 And you shall take
one leader from each tribe to allot the land for you.
19 And these are the
names of the men: of the tribe of Judah, Caleb son of Jephunneh;
20 of the tribe of
Simeon, Salamiel son of Emioud;
21 of the tribe of
Benjamin, Eldad son of Chaslon;
22 of the tribe of Dan,
the leader Bakchir son of Egli;
23 of the sons of
Joseph: of the tribe of the sons of Manasseh, the leader Aniel son of Ouphi,
24 of the tribe of the
sons of Ephraim, the leader Kamouel son of Sabatha;
25 of the tribe of
Zebulun, the leader Elisaphan son of Pharnach;
26 of the tribe of the
sons of Issachar, the leader Phaltiel son of Oza;
27 of the tribe of the
sons of Asher, the leader Achior son of Selemi;
28 of the tribe of
Naphtali, the leader Phadael son of Benamioud."
29 These are they whom
the Lord commanded to apportion to the sons of Israel in the land of
Canaan.
Chapter 35
1 And the Lord spoke to
Moses in the west of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho, saying,
2 Give orders to the
children of Israel, and they shall give to the Levites, from the lots of their
possession, cities to dwell in; and the outskirts of the cities round about
them they shall give to the Levites.
3 And the cities shall
be theirs to dwell in, and their appurtenances shall be for their cattle and
for all their four-footed beasts.
4 And the adjacent
lands of the cities which you shall give to the Levites shall be from the wall
of the city and outward two thousand cubits round about.
5 And you shall measure
outside the city the side toward the east two thousand cubits, and the side
toward the south two thousand cubits, and the side toward the sea two thousand
cubits, and the side toward the north two thousand cubits; and the city shall
be in the midst of this, and these shall be to you the borders of the cities.
6 And the cities you
shall give to the Levites: the six cities of refuge, which you shall give for
the one who has slain to flee there, and in addition to these forty-two cities.
7 All the cities you
shall give to the Levites shall be forty-eight cities, these together with
their outskirts.
8 And as for the cities
which you shall give from the possession of the children of Israel: from those
who have much, many, and from those who have less, fewer; each according to his
inheritance which they shall inherit, they shall give of the cities to the
Levites.
9 And the Lord spoke to
Moses, saying,
10 Speak to the
children of Israel and you shall say to them: You are crossing the Jordan into
the land of Canaan,
11 and you shall set
apart for yourselves cities; they shall be places of refuge for you, for the
slayer to flee there, everyone who has struck a soul unintentionally.
12 And the cities shall
be for you refuges from the avenger of blood, and the slayer shall by no means
die until he stands before the congregation for judgment.
13 And
the cities which you shall give,
the six cities, shall be refuges for you.
14 The three cities you
shall give beyond the Jordan, and the three cities you shall give in the land
of Canaan.
15 It shall be a refuge
for the children of Israel; and for the proselyte and for the sojourner among
you these cities shall be for a refuge, for everyone who has struck a soul
unintentionally to flee there.
16 But if he strike him
with an instrument of iron, and he die, he is a murderer; the murderer shall
surely be put to death.
17 And if he strike him
with a stone from the hand, by which one may die, and he die, he is a murderer;
the murderer shall surely be put to death.
18 And if he strike him
with a wooden instrument from the hand, by which one may die, and he die, he is
a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death.
19 The avenger of
blood, he shall kill the one who has slain; when he meets him, he shall kill
him.
20 And if out of enmity
he thrust him, or cast upon him any object from ambush, and he die,
21 or out of wrath
struck him with his hand, and he die, the striker shall surely be put to death;
he is a murderer: the slayer shall surely be put to death; the avenger of blood
shall kill the one who slew when he meets him.
22 But if suddenly, not
out of enmity, he thrust him, or cast upon him any object, not from ambush,
23 or with any stone by
which one may die, not knowing it, and it fall upon him, and he die, but he was
not his enemy nor seeking to do him harm,
24 then the
congregation shall judge between the striker and the avenger of blood according
to these judgments,
25 and the congregation
shall deliver the one who slew from the avenger of blood, and the congregation
shall restore him to the city of his refuge, where he fled, and he shall dwell
there until the death of the high priest whom they anointed with the holy oil.
26 But if the one who
has slain go out beyond the borders of the city into which he fled,
27 and the avenger of
blood find him outside the borders of the city of his refuge, and the avenger
of blood slay the one who slew, he is not guilty;
28 for he must dwell in
the city of refuge until the high priest dies, and after the death of the high
priest the one who slew shall return to the land of his possession.
29 And these things
shall be for you an ordinance of judgment throughout your generations in all
your dwellings.
30 Whoever strikes a
soul: by witnesses you shall put to death the one who slew, and one witness
shall not testify against a soul so that he die.
31 And you shall not
take a ransom for the life of the one who slew, who is guilty and deserving to
be put to death; for he shall surely be put to death.
32 You shall not take a
ransom for him to flee to a city of refuge, so as to dwell again in the land,
until the high priest dies.
33 And you shall not
pollute with blood the land in which you dwell; for this blood pollutes the
land, and the land shall not be atoned for from the blood shed upon it, except
by the blood of him who shed it.
34 And you shall not
defile the land upon which you dwell, in which I shall dwell among you; for I
am the Lord who dwells in the midst of the children of Israel.
Chapter 36
1 And the chiefs of the
tribe of the sons of Gilead, son of Machir, son of Manasseh, of the tribe of
the sons of Joseph, came near and spoke before Moses and before Eleazar the
priest and before the chiefs of the ancestral houses of the sons of Israel,
2 and they said: The
Lord commanded our lord to give the land of the inheritance by lot to the sons
of Israel, and the Lord instructed our lord to give the inheritance of
Zelophehad our brother to his daughters.
3 And if they become
wives to one of the tribes of the sons of Israel, their allotment will be taken
away from the possession of our fathers and will be added to the inheritance of
the tribe into which they marry, and it will be taken away from the lot of our
inheritance.
4 And if the release of
the sons of Israel comes, then their inheritance will be added to the
inheritance of the tribe into which they marry, and their inheritance will be
taken away from the inheritance of the tribe of our fathers.
5 And Moses commanded
the sons of Israel by the ordinance of the Lord, saying: Thus the tribe of the
sons of Joseph speaks.
6 This is the word
which the Lord has instructed for the daughters of Zelophehad, saying: Let them
be wives to whomever pleases them, only let them be wives from the clan of
their father,
7 and the inheritance
of the sons of Israel shall not be transferred from tribe to tribe, for the
sons of Israel shall each cleave to the inheritance of the tribe of his
fathers.
8 And every daughter
who holds an inheritance from the tribes of the sons of Israel shall be wife to
one of those from the clan of her father, so that the sons of Israel may each
possess his paternal inheritance;
9 and the allotment
shall not be transferred from one tribe to another tribe, but the sons of
Israel shall each cleave to his own inheritance.
10 As the Lord
instructed Moses, so the daughters of Zelophehad did,
11 and Tirzah and
Hoglah and Milcah and Noah and Mahlah, the daughters of Zelophehad, became
wives to their cousins;
12 from the clan of
Manasseh of the sons of Joseph they became wives, and their inheritance
remained with the tribe of the clan of their father.
13 These are the
commandments and the ordinances and the judgments which the Lord commanded by
the hand of Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho.