Numbers 14–17

1Then the whole congregation lifted up their voices and cried out, and that night the people wept.

2All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt, or if only we had died in this wilderness!

3Why is the LORD bringing us into this land to fall by the sword? Our wives and children will become plunder. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?”

4So they said to one another, “Let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt.”

5Then Moses and Aaron fell facedown before the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel.

6Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes

7and said to the whole congregation of Israel, “The land we passed through and explored is an exceedingly good land.

8If the LORD delights in us, He will bring us into this land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and He will give it to us.

9Only do not rebel against the LORD, and do not be afraid of the people of the land, for they will be like bread for us. Their protection has been removed, and the LORD is with us. Do not be afraid of them!”

10But the whole congregation threatened to stone Joshua and Caleb. Then the glory of the LORD appeared to all the Israelites at the Tent of Meeting.

11And the LORD said to Moses, “How long will this people treat Me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in Me, despite all the signs I have performed among them?

12I will strike them with a plague and destroy them—and I will make you into a nation greater and mightier than they are.”

13But Moses said to the LORD, “The Egyptians will hear of it, for by Your strength You brought this people from among them.

14And they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have already heard that You, O LORD, are in the midst of this people, that You, O LORD, have been seen face to face, that Your cloud stands over them, and that You go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.

15If You kill this people as one man, the nations who have heard of Your fame will say,

16‘Because the LORD was unable to bring this people into the land He swore to give them, He has slaughtered them in the wilderness.’

17So now I pray, may the power of my Lord be magnified, just as You have declared:

18‘The LORD is slow to anger and abounding in loving devotion, forgiving iniquity and transgression. Yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished; He will visit the iniquity of the fathers upon their children to the third and fourth generation.’

19Pardon, I pray, the iniquity of this people, in keeping with the greatness of Your loving devotion, just as You have forgiven them ever since they left Egypt.”

20“I have pardoned them as you requested,” the LORD replied.

21“Yet as surely as I live and as surely as the whole earth is filled with the glory of the LORD,

22not one of the men who have seen My glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness—yet have tested Me and disobeyed Me these ten times—

23not one will ever see the land that I swore to give their fathers. None of those who have treated Me with contempt will see it.

24But because My servant Caleb has a different spirit and has followed Me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he has entered, and his descendants will inherit it.

25Now since the Amalekites and Canaanites are living in the valleys, turn back tomorrow and head for the wilderness along the route to the Red Sea.”

26Then the LORD said to Moses and Aaron,

27“How long will this wicked congregation grumble against Me? I have heard the complaints that the Israelites are making against Me.

28So tell them: As surely as I live, declares the LORD, I will do to you exactly as I heard you say.

29Your bodies will fall in this wilderness—all who were numbered in the census, everyone twenty years of age or older—because you have grumbled against Me.

30Surely none of you will enter the land in which I swore to settle you, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.

31But I will bring your children, whom you said would become plunder, into the land you have rejected—and they will enjoy it.

32As for you, however, your bodies will fall in this wilderness.

33Your children will be shepherds in the wilderness for forty years, and they will suffer for your unfaithfulness until the last of your bodies lies in the wilderness.

34In keeping with the forty days you spied out the land, you shall bear your guilt forty years—a year for each day—and you will experience My alienation.

35I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will surely do these things to this entire wicked congregation, which has conspired against Me. They will meet their end in the wilderness, and there they will die.”

36So the men Moses had sent to spy out the land, who had returned and made the whole congregation grumble against him by bringing out a bad report about the land—

37those men who had brought out the bad report about the land—were struck down by a plague before the LORD.

38Of those men who had gone to spy out the land, only Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh remained alive.

39And when Moses relayed these words to all the Israelites, the people mourned bitterly.

40Early the next morning they got up and went up toward the ridge of the hill country. “We have indeed sinned,” they said, “but we will go to the place the LORD has promised.”

41But Moses said, “Why are you transgressing the commandment of the LORD? This will not succeed!

42Do not go up, lest you be struck down by your enemies, because the LORD is not among you.

43For there the Amalekites and Canaanites will face you, and you will fall by the sword. Because you have turned away from the LORD, He will not be with you.”

44But they dared to go up to the ridge of the hill country, though neither Moses nor the ark of the covenant of the LORD moved from the camp.

45Then the Amalekites and Canaanites who lived in that part of the hill country came down, attacked them, and routed them all the way to Hormah.

1Then the LORD said to Moses,

2“Speak to the Israelites and tell them: After you enter the land that I am giving you as a home

3and you present a food offering to the LORD from the herd or flock to produce a pleasing aroma to the LORD—either a burnt offering or a sacrifice, for a special vow or freewill offering or appointed feast—

4then the one presenting his offering to the LORD shall also present a grain offering of a tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with a quarter hin of olive oil.

5With the burnt offering or sacrifice of each lamb, you are to prepare a quarter hin of wine as a drink offering.

6With a ram you are to prepare a grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with a third of a hin of olive oil,

7and a third of a hin of wine as a drink offering, a pleasing aroma to the LORD.

8When you prepare a young bull as a burnt offering or sacrifice to fulfill a vow or as a peace offering to the LORD,

9present with the bull a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with half a hin of olive oil.

10Also present half a hin of wine as a drink offering. It is a food offering, a pleasing aroma to the LORD.

11This is to be done for each bull, ram, lamb, or goat.

12This is how you must prepare each one, no matter how many.

13Everyone who is native-born shall prepare these things in this way when he presents a food offering as a pleasing aroma to the LORD.

14And for the generations to come, if a foreigner residing with you or someone else among you wants to prepare a food offering as a pleasing aroma to the LORD, he is to do exactly as you do.

15The assembly is to have the same statute both for you and for the foreign resident; it is a permanent statute for the generations to come. You and the foreigner shall be the same before the LORD.

16The same law and the same ordinance will apply both to you and to the foreigner residing with you.”

17Then the LORD said to Moses,

18“Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When you enter the land to which I am bringing you

19and you eat the food of the land, you shall lift up an offering to the LORD.

20From the first of your dough, you are to lift up a cake as a contribution; offer it just like an offering from the threshing floor.

21Throughout your generations, you are to give the LORD an offering from the first of your dough.

22Now if you stray unintentionally and do not obey all these commandments that the LORD has spoken to Moses—

23all that the LORD has commanded you through Moses from the day the LORD gave them and continuing through the generations to come—

24and if it was done unintentionally without the knowledge of the congregation, then the whole congregation is to prepare one young bull as a burnt offering, a pleasing aroma to the LORD, with its grain offering and drink offering according to the regulation, and one male goat as a sin offering.

25The priest is to make atonement for the whole congregation of Israel, so that they may be forgiven; for the sin was unintentional and they have brought to the LORD a food offering and a sin offering, presented before the LORD for their unintentional sin.

26Then the whole congregation of Israel and the foreigners residing among them will be forgiven, since it happened to all the people unintentionally.

27Also, if one person sins unintentionally, he is to present a year-old female goat as a sin offering.

28And the priest shall make atonement before the LORD on behalf of the person who erred by sinning unintentionally; and when atonement has been made for him, he will be forgiven.

29You shall have the same law for the one who acts in error, whether he is a native-born Israelite or a foreigner residing among you.

30But the person who sins defiantly, whether a native or foreigner, blasphemes the LORD. That person shall be cut off from among his people.

31He shall certainly be cut off, because he has despised the word of the LORD and broken His commandment; his guilt remains on him.”

32While the Israelites were in the wilderness, a man was found gathering wood on the Sabbath day.

33Those who found the man gathering wood brought him to Moses, Aaron, and the whole congregation,

34and because it had not been declared what should be done to him, they placed him in custody.

35And the LORD said to Moses, “The man must surely be put to death. The whole congregation is to stone him outside the camp.”

36So the whole congregation took the man outside the camp and stoned him to death, as the LORD had commanded Moses.

37And the LORD said to Moses,

38“Speak to the Israelites and tell them that throughout the generations to come they are to make for themselves tassels for the corners of their garments, with a blue cord on each tassel.

39These will serve as tassels for you to look at, so that you may remember all the commandments of the LORD, that you may obey them and not prostitute yourselves by following your own heart and your own eyes.

40Then you will remember and obey all My commandments, and you will be holy to your God.

41I am the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God. I am the LORD your God.”

1Now Korah son of Izhar, the son of Kohath son of Levi, along with some Reubenites—Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth—conducted

2a rebellion against Moses, along with 250 men of Israel renowned as leaders of the congregation and representatives in the assembly.

3They came together against Moses and Aaron and told them, “You have taken too much upon yourselves! For everyone in the entire congregation is holy, and the LORD is in their midst. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the LORD?”

4When Moses heard this, he fell facedown.

5Then he said to Korah and all his followers, “Tomorrow morning the LORD will reveal who belongs to Him and who is holy, and He will bring that person near to Himself. The one He chooses He will bring near to Himself.

6You, Korah, and all your followers are to do as follows: Take censers,

7and tomorrow you are to place fire and incense in them in the presence of the LORD. Then the man the LORD chooses will be the one who is holy. It is you sons of Levi who have taken too much upon yourselves!”

8Moses also said to Korah, “Now listen, you sons of Levi!

9Is it not enough for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel and brought you near to Himself to perform the work at the LORD’s tabernacle, and to stand before the congregation to minister to them?

10He has brought you near, you and all your fellow Levites, but you are seeking the priesthood as well.

11Therefore, it is you and all your followers who have conspired against the LORD! As for Aaron, who is he that you should grumble against him?”

12Then Moses summoned Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, but they said, “We will not come!

13Is it not enough that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness? Must you also appoint yourself as ruler over us?

14Moreover, you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey or given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you gouge out the eyes of these men? No, we will not come!”

15Then Moses became very angry and said to the LORD, “Do not regard their offering. I have not taken one donkey from them or mistreated a single one of them.”

16And Moses said to Korah, “You and all your followers are to appear before the LORD tomorrow—you and they and Aaron.

17Each man is to take his censer, place incense in it, and present it before the LORD—250 censers. You and Aaron are to present your censers as well.”

18So each man took his censer, put fire and incense in it, and stood with Moses and Aaron at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.

19When Korah had gathered his whole assembly against them at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, the glory of the LORD appeared to the whole congregation.

20And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron,

21“Separate yourselves from this congregation so that I may consume them in an instant.”

22But Moses and Aaron fell facedown and said, “O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, when one man sins, will You be angry with the whole congregation?”

23Then the LORD said to Moses,

24“Tell the congregation to move away from the dwellings of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.”

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

26And he warned the congregation, “Move away now from the tents of these wicked men. Do not touch anything that belongs to them, or you will be swept away because of all their sins.”

27So they moved away from the dwellings of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Meanwhile, Dathan and Abiram had come out and stood at the entrances to their tents with their wives and children and infants.

28Then Moses said, “This is how you will know that the LORD has sent me to do all these things, for it was not my own doing:

29If these men die a natural death, or if they suffer the fate of all men, then the LORD has not sent me.

30But if the LORD brings about something unprecedented, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them and all that belongs to them so that they go down alive into Sheol, then you will know that these men have treated the LORD with contempt.”

31As soon as Moses had finished saying all this, the ground beneath them split open,

32and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their households—all Korah’s men and all their possessions.

33They went down alive into Sheol with all they owned. The earth closed over them, and they vanished from the assembly.

34At their cries, all the people of Israel who were around them fled, saying, “The earth may swallow us too!”

35And fire came forth from the LORD and consumed the 250 men who were offering the incense.

36Then the LORD said to Moses,

37“Tell Eleazar son of Aaron the priest to remove the censers from the flames and to scatter the coals far away, because the censers are holy.

38As for the censers of those who sinned at the cost of their own lives, hammer them into sheets to overlay the altar, for these were presented before the LORD, and so have become holy. They will serve as a sign to the Israelites.”

39So Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers brought by those who had been burned up, and he had them hammered out to overlay the altar,

40just as the LORD commanded him through Moses. This was to be a reminder to the Israelites that no outsider who is not a descendant of Aaron should approach to offer incense before the LORD, lest he become like Korah and his followers.

41The next day the whole congregation of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron, saying, “You have killed the LORD’s people!”

42But when the congregation gathered against them, Moses and Aaron turned toward the Tent of Meeting, and suddenly the cloud covered it and the glory of the LORD appeared.

43Then Moses and Aaron went to the front of the Tent of Meeting,

44and the LORD said to Moses,

45“Get away from this congregation so that I may consume them in an instant.” And Moses and Aaron fell facedown.

46Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer, place fire from the altar in it, and add incense. Go quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them, because wrath has come out from the LORD; the plague has begun.”

47So Aaron took the censer as Moses had ordered and ran into the midst of the assembly. And seeing that the plague had begun among the people, he offered the incense and made atonement for the people.

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

49But those who died from the plague numbered 14,700, in addition to those who had died on account of Korah.

50Then Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, since the plague had been halted.

1And the LORD said to Moses,

2“Speak to the Israelites and take from them twelve staffs, one from the leader of each tribe. Write each man’s name on his staff,

3and write Aaron’s name on the staff of Levi, because there must be one staff for the head of each tribe.

4Place the staffs in the Tent of Meeting in front of the Testimony, where I meet with you.

5The staff belonging to the man I choose will sprout, and I will rid Myself of the constant grumbling of the Israelites against you.”

6So Moses spoke to the Israelites, and each of their leaders gave him a staff—one for each of the leaders of their tribes, twelve staffs in all. And Aaron’s staff was among them.

7Then Moses placed the staffs before the LORD in the Tent of the Testimony.

8The next day Moses entered the Tent of the Testimony and saw that Aaron’s staff, representing the house of Levi, had sprouted, put forth buds, blossomed, and produced almonds.

9Then Moses brought out all the staffs from the LORD’s presence to all the Israelites. They saw them, and each man took his own staff.

10The LORD said to Moses, “Put Aaron’s staff back in front of the Testimony, to be kept as a sign for the rebellious, so that you may put an end to their grumbling against Me, lest they die.”

11So Moses did as the LORD had commanded him.

12Then the Israelites declared to Moses, “Look, we are perishing! We are lost; we are all lost!

13Anyone who comes near the tabernacle of the LORD will die. Are we all going to perish?”