Numbers 15–17

Laws About Sacrifices

15The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²“Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, ^xWhen you come into the land you are to inhabit, which I am giving you, ³and ^yyou offer to the Lord from the herd or from the flock a food offering¹ or a burnt offering or a sacrifice, ^zto fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering or ^aat your appointed feasts, to make a ^bpleasing aroma to the Lord, ⁴then ^che who brings his offering shall offer to the Lord ^da grain offering of a tenth of an ephah² of fine flour, ^emixed with a quarter of a hin³ of oil; ⁵and you shall offer with the burnt offering, or for the sacrifice, a quarter of a hin of ^fwine for the drink offering for each lamb. ^6gOr for a ram, you shall offer for a grain offering two tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with a third of a hin of oil. ⁷And for the drink offering you shall offer a third of a hin of wine, a ^bpleasing aroma to the Lord. ⁸And when you offer a bull as a burnt offering or sacrifice, to ^zfulfill a vow or for ^hpeace offerings to the Lord, ⁹then one shall offer ⁱwith the bull a grain offering of three tenths of an ephah of fine flour, mixed with half a hin of oil. ¹⁰And you shall offer for the drink offering half a hin of wine, as a food offering, a pleasing aroma to the Lord.

^11j“Thus it shall be done for each bull or ram, or for each lamb or young goat. ¹²As many as you offer, so shall you do with each one, as many as there are. ¹³Every native Israelite shall do these things in this way, in offering a food offering, with a pleasing aroma to the Lord. ¹⁴And if a stranger is sojourning with you, or anyone is living permanently among you, and he wishes to offer a food offering, with a pleasing aroma to the Lord, he shall do as you do. ¹⁵For the assembly, ^kthere shall be one statute for you and for the stranger who sojourns with you, a statute forever throughout your generations. You and the sojourner shall be alike before the Lord. ¹⁶One law and one rule shall be for you and for the stranger who sojourns with you.”

¹⁷The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ^18l“Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land to which I bring you ¹⁹and when you eat of ^mthe bread of the land, you shall present a contribution to the Lord. ²⁰ⁿOf the first of your dough you shall present a loaf as a contribution; like a ^ocontribution from the threshing floor, so shall you present it. ²¹ⁿSome of the first of your dough you shall give to the Lord as a contribution throughout your generations.

Laws About Unintentional Sins

^22p“But if you sin unintentionally,⁴ and do not observe all these commandments that the Lord has spoken to Moses, ²³all that the Lord has commanded you by Moses, from the day that the Lord gave commandment, and onward throughout your generations, ²⁴then if it was done unintentionally ^qwithout the knowledge of the congregation, all the congregation shall offer one bull from the herd for a burnt offering, a pleasing aroma to the Lord, ^rwith its grain offering and its drink offering, according to the rule, and ^sone male goat for a sin offering. ^25tAnd the priest shall make atonement for all the congregation of the people of Israel, and they shall be forgiven, because it was a mistake, and they have brought their offering, a food offering to the Lord, and their sin offering before the Lord for their mistake. ²⁶And all the congregation of the people of Israel shall be forgiven, and the stranger who sojourns among them, because the whole population was involved in the mistake.

^27u“If one person sins unintentionally, he shall offer a female goat a year old for a sin offering. ^28vAnd the priest shall make atonement before the Lord for the person who makes a mistake, when he sins unintentionally, to make atonement for him, and he shall be forgiven. ^29wYou shall have one law for him who does anything unintentionally, for him who is native among the people of Israel and for the stranger who sojourns among them. ^30xBut the person who does anything with a high hand, whether he is native or a sojourner, reviles the Lord, and that person shall be cut off from among his people. ³¹Because he has ^ydespised the word of the Lord and has broken his commandment, that person shall be utterly cut off; his iniquity shall be on him.”

A Sabbathbreaker Executed

³²While the people of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man ^zgathering sticks on the Sabbath day. ³³And those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation. ^34aThey put him in custody, because it had not been made clear what should be done to him. ³⁵And the Lord said to Moses, ^b“The man shall be put to death; all the congregation shall ^cstone him with stones outside the camp.” ³⁶And all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him to death with stones, as the Lord commanded Moses.

Tassels on Garments

³⁷The Lord said to Moses, ³⁸“Speak to the people of Israel, and tell them to ^dmake tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and to put a cord of blue on the tassel of each corner. ³⁹And it shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments of the Lord, to do them, ^enot to follow⁵ after your own heart and your own eyes, which you are inclined ^fto whore after. ⁴⁰So you shall remember and do all my commandments, and be ^gholy to your God. ^41hI am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God: I am the Lord your God.”

Korah’s Rebellion

16Now ⁱKorah the son of Izhar, son of Kohath, son of Levi, and ^jDathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men. ²And they rose up before Moses, with a number of the people of Israel, 250 chiefs of the congregation, chosen from the assembly, well-known men. ^3kThey assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron and said to them, ^l“You have gone too far! For ^mall in the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?” ⁴When Moses heard it, ⁿhe fell on his face, ⁵and he said to Korah and all his company, “In the morning the Lord will show ^owho is his,¹ and who is ^pholy, and will bring him near to him. The one ^qwhom he chooses he will ^rbring near to him. ⁶Do this: take ^scensers, Korah and all his company; ⁷put fire in them and put incense on them before the Lord tomorrow, and the man whom the Lord chooses shall be the holy one. ^tYou have gone too far, sons of Levi!” ⁸And Moses said to Korah, “Hear now, you sons of Levi: ⁹is it ^utoo small a thing for you that the God of Israel has ^vseparated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself, to do service in the tabernacle of the Lord and to stand before the congregation to minister to them, ¹⁰and that he has brought you near him, and all your brothers the sons of Levi with you? And would you seek the priesthood also? ¹¹Therefore it is against the Lord that you and all your company have gathered together. What is ^wAaron that you grumble against him?”

¹²And Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, and they said, “We will not come up. ¹³Is it ^xa small thing that you have brought us up out of ^ya land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, that you must also ^zmake yourself a prince over us? ¹⁴Moreover, you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, nor given us inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you put out the eyes of these men? We will not come up.” ¹⁵And Moses was very angry and said to the Lord, ^a“Do not respect their offering. ^bI have not taken one donkey from them, and I have not harmed one of them.”

¹⁶And Moses said to Korah, “Be present, you and all your company, ^cbefore the Lord, you and they, and Aaron, tomorrow. ¹⁷And ^dlet every one of you take his censer and put incense on it, and every one of you bring before the Lord his censer, ^e250 censers; you also, and Aaron, each his censer.” ¹⁸So every man took his censer and put fire in them and laid incense on them and stood at the entrance of the tent of meeting with Moses and Aaron. ¹⁹Then Korah assembled all the congregation against them at the entrance of the tent of meeting. ^fAnd the glory of the Lord appeared to all the congregation.

²⁰And the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, ^21g“Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them ^hin a moment.” ²²And they ⁱfell on their faces and said, “O God, ^jthe God of the spirits of all flesh, ^kshall one man sin, and will you be angry with all the congregation?” ²³And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁴“Say to the congregation, Get away from the dwelling of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.”

²⁵Then Moses rose and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him. ²⁶And he spoke to the congregation, saying, ^l“Depart, please, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest you be swept away with all their sins.” ²⁷So they got away from the dwelling of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. And Dathan and Abiram came out and stood ^mat the door of their tents, together with their wives, their sons, and their little ones. ²⁸And Moses said, “Hereby you shall know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works, and that it has not been ⁿof my own accord. ²⁹If these men die as all men die, or if they are visited by the fate of all mankind, ^othen the Lord has not sent me. ³⁰But if the Lord creates something new, and ^pthe ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them, and they ^qgo down alive into Sheol, then you shall know that these men have despised the Lord.”

^31rAnd as soon as he had finished speaking all these words, the ground under them split apart. ³²And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households and ^sall the people who belonged to Korah and all their goods. ³³So they and all that belonged to…