Numbers 19–22

Chapter 19

And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying:

²This is the observance of the victim, which the Lord hath ordained. Command the children of Israel, that they bring unto thee a red cow of full age, in which there is no blemish, and which hath not carried the yoke:

³And you shall deliver her to Eleazar the priest, who shall bring her forth without the camp, and shall immolate her in the sight of all:

⁴And dipping his finger in her blood, shall sprinkle it over against the door of the tabernacle seven times,

⁵And shall burn her in the sight of all delivering up to the fire her skin, and her flesh, and her blood, and her dung.

⁶The priest shall also take cedar wood, and hyssop, and scarlet twice dyed, and cast it into the flame, with which the cow is consumed.

⁷And then after washing his garments, and body, he shall enter into the camp, and shall be unclean until the evening.

⁸He also that hath burned her, shall wash his garments, and his body, and shall be unclean until the evening.

⁹And a man that is clean shall gather up the ashes of the cow, and shall pour them forth without the camp in a most clean place, that they may be reserved for the multitude of the children of Israel, and for a water of aspersion: because the cow was burnt for sin.

¹⁰And when he that carried the ashes of the cow, hath washed his garments, he shall be unclean until the evening. The children of Israel, and the strangers that dwell among them, shall observe this for a holy thing by a perpetual ordinance.

¹¹He that toucheth the corpse of a man, and is therefore unclean seven days,

¹²Shall be sprinkled with this water on the third day, and on the seventh, and so shall be cleansed. If he were not sprinkled on the third day, he cannot be cleansed on the seventh.

¹³Every one that toucheth the corpse of a man, and is not sprinkled with this mixture, shall profane the tabernacle of the Lord, and shall perish out of Israel: because he was not sprinkled with the water of expiation, he shall be unclean, and his uncleanness shall remain upon him.

¹⁴This is the law of a man that dieth in a tent: All that go into his tent and all the vessels that are there, shall be unclean seven days.

¹⁵The vessel that hath no cover, nor binding over it, shall be unclean.

¹⁶If any man in the field touch the corpse of a man that was slain, or that died of himself, or his bone, or his grave, he shall be unclean seven days.

¹⁷And they shall take of the ashes of the burning and of the sin offering, and shall pour living waters upon them into a vessel.

¹⁸And a man that is clean shall dip hyssop in them, and shall sprinkle therewith all the tent, and all the furniture, and the men that are defiled with touching any such thing:

¹⁹And in this manner he that is clean shall purify the unclean on the third and on the seventh day. And being expiated the seventh day, he shall wash both himself and his garments, and be unclean until the evening.

²⁰If any man be not expiated after this rite, his soul shall perish out of the midst of the church: because he hath profaned the sanctuary of the Lord, and was not sprinkled with the water of purification.

²¹This precept shall be an ordinance for ever. He also that sprinkled the water, shall wash his garments. Every one that shall touch the waters of expiation, shall be unclean until the evening.

²²Whatsoever a person toucheth who is unclean, he shall make it unclean: and the person that toucheth any of these things, shall be unclean until the evening.

Chapter 20

And the children of Israel, and all the multitude came into the desert of Sin, in the first month: and the people abode in Cades. And Mary died there, and was buried in the same place.

²And the people wanting water, came together against Moses and Aaron:

³And making a sedition, they said: Would God we had perished among our brethren before the Lord.

⁴Why have you brought out the church of the Lord into the wilderness, that both we and our cattle should die?

⁵Why have you made us come up out of Egypt, and have brought us into this wretched place which cannot be sowed, nor bringeth forth figs, nor vines, nor pomegranates, neither is there any water to drink?

⁶And Moses and Aaron leaving the multitude, went into the tabernacle of the covenant, and fell flat upon the ground, and cried to the Lord, and said. O Lord God, hear the cry of this people, and open to them thy treasure, a fountain of living water, that being satisfied, they may cease to murmur. And the glory of the Lord appeared over them.

⁷And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

⁸Take the rod, and assemble the people together, thou and Aaron thy brother, and speak to the rock before them, and it shall yield waters. And when thou hast brought forth water out of the rock, all the multitude and their cattle shall drink.

⁹Moses therefore took the rod, which was before the Lord, as he had commanded him,

¹⁰And having gathered together the multitude before the rock, he said to them: Hear, ye rebellious and incredulous: Can we bring you forth water out of this rock?

¹¹And when Moses had lifted up his hand, and struck the rock twice with the rod, there came forth water in great abundance, so that the people and their cattle drank,

¹²And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron: Because you have not believed me, to sanctify me before the children of Israel, you shall not bring these people into the land, which I will give them.

¹³This is the Water of contradiction, where the children of Israel strove with words against the Lord, and he was sanctified in them.

¹⁴In the mean time Moses sent messengers from Cades to the king of Edom, to say: Thus saith thy brother Israel: Thou knowest all the labour that hath come upon us:

¹⁵In what manner our fathers went down into Egypt, and there we dwelt a long time, and the Egyptians afflicted us and our fathers.

¹⁶And how we cried to the Lord, and he heard us, and sent an angel, who hath brought us out of Egypt. Lo, we are now in the city of Cades, which is in the uttermost of thy borders,

¹⁷And we beseech thee that we may have leave to pass through thy country. We will not go through the fields, nor through the vineyards, we will not drink the waters of thy wells, but we will go by the common highway, neither turning aside to the right hand, nor to the left, till we are past thy borders.

¹⁸And Edom answered them: Thou shalt not pass by me: if thou dost I will come out armed against thee.

¹⁹And the children of Israel said: We will go by the beaten way: and if we and our cattle drink of thy waters, we will give thee what is just: there shall be no difficulty in the price, only let us pass speedily.

²⁰But he answered: Thou shalt not pass. And immediately he came forth to meet them with an infinite multitude, and a strong hand,

²¹Neither would he condescend to their desire to grant them passage through his borders. Wherefore Israel turned another way from him.

²²And when they had removed the camp from Cades, they came to mount Hor, which is in the borders of the land of Edom:

²³Where the Lord spoke to Moses:

²⁴Let Aaron, saith he, go to his people: for he shall not go into the land which I have given the children of Israel, because he was incredulous to my words, at the waters of contradiction.

²⁵Take Aaron and his son with him, and bring them up into mount Hor:

²⁶And when thou hast stripped the father of his vesture, thou shalt vest therewith Eleazar his son: Aaron shall be gathered to his people, and die there.

²⁷Moses did as the Lord had commanded: and they went up into mount Hor before all the multitude.

²⁹And when he had stripped Aaron of his vestments, he vested Eleazar his son with them. And Aaron being dead in the top of the mountain, he came down with Eleazar.

³⁰And all the multitude seeing that Aaron was dead, mourned for him thirty days throughout all their families.

Chapter 21

And when king Arad the Chanaanite, who dwelt towards the south, had heard this, to wit, that Israel was come by the way of the spies, he fought against them, and overcoming them carried off their spoils.

²But Israel binding himself by vow to the Lord, said: If thou wilt deliver thus people into my hand, I will utterly destroy their cities.

³And the Lord heard the prayers of Israel, and delivered up the Chanaanite, and they cut them off and destroyed their cities: and they called the name of that place Horma, that is to say, Anathema.

⁴And they marched from mount Hor, by the way that leadeth to the Red Sea, to compass the land of Edom. And the people began to be weary of their journey and labour:

⁵And speaking against God and Moses, they said: Why didst thou bring us out of Egypt, to die in the wilderness? There is no bread, nor have we any waters: our soul now loatheth this very light food.

⁶Wherefore the Lord sent among the people fiery serpents, which bit them and killed many of them.

⁷Upon which they came to Moses, and said; We have sinned, because we have spoken against the Lord and thee: pray that he may take away these serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people.

⁸And the Lord said to him: Make a brazen serpent, and set it up for a sign: whosoever being struck shall look on it, shall live.

⁹Moses therefore made a brazen serpent, and set it up for a sign: which when they that were bitten looked upon, they were healed.

¹⁰And the children of Israel setting forwards camped in Oboth.

¹¹And departing thence they pitched their tents in Jeabarim, in the wilderness, that faceth Moab toward the east.

¹²And removing from thence, they came to the torrent Zared:

¹³Which they left and encamped over against Arnon, which is in the desert and standeth out on the borders of the Amorrhite. For Arnon is the border of Moab, dividing the Moabites and the Amorrhites.

¹⁴Wherefore it is said in the book of the wars of the Lord: As he did in the Red Sea, so will he do in the streams of Arnon.

¹⁵The rocks of the torrents were bowed down that they might rest in Ar, and lie…