Numbers 15:18–41

¹⁸the following regulations for the people of Israel to observe in the land that he was going to give them. ¹⁹When any food produced there is eaten, some of it is to be set aside as a special contribution to the Lord. ²⁰When you bake bread, the first loaf of the first bread made from the new corn is to be presented as a special contribution to the Lord. This is to be presented in the same way as the special contribution you make from the corn you thresh. ²¹For all time to come, this special gift is to be given to the Lord from the bread you bake.

²²But suppose someone unintentionally fails to keep some of these regulations which the Lord has given Moses. ²³And suppose that in the future the community fails to do everything that the Lord commanded through Moses. ²⁴If the mistake was made because of the ignorance of the community, they are to offer a bull as a burnt offering, a smell that pleases the Lord, with the proper grain offering and wine offering. In addition, they are to offer a male goat as a sin offering. ²⁵The priest shall perform the ritual of purification for the community, and they will be forgiven, because the mistake was unintentional and they brought their sin offering as a food offering to the Lord. ²⁶The whole community of Israel and the foreigners living among them will be forgiven, because everyone was involved in the mistake.

^27*If an individual sins unintentionally, he is to offer a one-year-old female goat as a sin offering. ^28*At the altar the priest shall perform the ritual of purification to purify the person from his sin, and he will be forgiven. ²⁹The same regulation applies to all who unintentionally commit a sin, whether they are native Israelites or resident foreigners.

³⁰But any person who sins deliberately, whether he is a native or a foreigner, is guilty of treating the Lord with contempt, and he shall be put to death, ³¹because he has rejected what the Lord said and has deliberately broken one of his commands. He is responsible for his own death.

The Man Who Broke the Sabbath

³²Once, while the Israelites were still in the wilderness, a man was found gathering firewood on the Sabbath. ³³He was taken to Moses, Aaron, and the whole community, ³⁴and was put under guard, because it was not clear what should be done with him. ³⁵Then the Lord said to Moses, “The man must be put to death; the whole community is to stone him to death outside the camp.” ³⁶So the whole community took him outside the camp and stoned him to death, as the Lord had commanded.

Rules about Tassels

³⁷The Lord commanded Moses ^38*to say to the people of Israel: “Make tassels on the corners of your garments and put a blue cord on each tassel. You are to do this for all time to come. ³⁹The tassels will serve as reminders, and each time you see them you will remember all my commands and obey them; then you will not turn away from me and follow your own wishes and desires. ⁴⁰The tassels will remind you to keep all my commands, and you will belong completely to me. ⁴¹I am the Lord your God; I brought you out of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord.”