Numbers 14–15

14TH CHAPTER

The People Rebel against the Lord

¹Then all the people in the Israelite community raised their voices and cried out loud all that night. ²They complained to Moses and Aaron, “If only we had died in Egypt or this desert! ³Why is the Lord bringing us to this land—just to have us die in battle? Our wives and children will be taken as prisoners of war! Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?” ⁴They said to each other, “Let’s choose a leader and go back to Egypt.” 

⁵Immediately, Moses and Aaron bowed with their faces touching the ground in front of the whole community of Israel assembled there. ⁶At the same time, two of those who had explored the land, Joshua (son of Nun) and Caleb (son of Jephunneh), tore their clothes in despair. ⁷They said to the whole community of Israel, “The land we explored is very good. ⁸If the Lord is pleased with us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us. This is a land flowing with milk and honey! ⁹Don’t rebel against the Lord, and don’t be afraid of the people of the land. We will devour them like bread. They have no protection, and the Lord is with us. So don’t be afraid of them.” 

¹⁰But when the whole community of Israel talked about stoning Moses and Aaron to death, they all saw the glory of the Lord ⸤shining⸥ at the tent of meeting. ¹¹The Lord said to Moses, “How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to trust me in spite of all the miraculous signs I have done among them? ¹²I’ll strike them with a plague, I’ll destroy them,^aand I’ll make you into a nation larger and stronger than they are.” 

¹³But Moses said to the Lord, “What if the Egyptians hear about it? (You used your power to take these people away from them.) ¹⁴What if the Egyptians tell the people who live in this land? Lord, they have already heard that you are with these people, that they have seen you with their own eyes, that your column of smoke stays over them, and that you go ahead of them in a column of smoke by day and in a column of fire by night. ¹⁵But if you kill all these people at the same time, then the nations who have heard these reports about you will say, ¹⁶‘The Lord wasn’t able to bring these people into the land he promised them, so he slaughtered them in the desert.’ 

¹⁷“Lord, let your power be as great as when you said, ¹⁸‘The Lord … patient, forever loving.… He forgives wrongdoing and disobedience.… He never lets the guilty go unpunished, punishing children … for their parents’ sins to the third and fourth generation.…’ ¹⁹By your great love, please forgive these people’s sins, as you have been forgiving them from the time they left Egypt until now.” 

²⁰The Lord said, “I forgive them, as you have asked. ²¹But as I live and as the glory of the Lord fills the whole earth, I solemnly swear that ²²none of the people who saw my glory and the miraculous signs I did in Egypt and in the desert will see the land which I promised their ancestors. They have tested me now ten times and refused to obey me.^b23None of those who treat me with contempt will see it! ²⁴But because my servant Caleb has a different attitude and has wholeheartedly followed me, I’ll bring him to the land he already explored. His descendants will possess it. ²⁵(The Amalekites and Canaanites are living in the valleys.) Tomorrow you must turn around, go back into the desert, and follow the road that goes to the Red Sea.” 

²⁶Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ²⁷“How long must I put up with this wicked community that keeps complaining about me? I’ve heard the complaints the Israelites are making about me. ²⁸So tell them, ‘As I live, declares the Lord, I solemnly swear I will do everything to you that you said I would do. ²⁹Your bodies will drop dead in this desert. All of you who are at least 20 years old, who were registered and listed, and who complained about me will die. ³⁰I raised my hand and swore an oath to give you this land to live in. But none of you will enter it except Caleb (son of Jephunneh) and Joshua (son of Nun). ³¹You said your children would be taken as prisoners of war. Instead, I will bring them into the land you rejected, and they will enjoy it. ³²However, your bodies will drop dead in this desert. ³³Your children will be shepherds in the desert for 40 years. They will suffer for your unfaithfulness until the last of your bodies lies dead in the desert. ³⁴For 40 days you explored the land. So for 40 years—one year for each day—you will suffer for your sins and know what it means for me to be against you.’ ³⁵I, the Lord, have spoken. I swear I will do these things to all the people in this whole wicked community who have joined forces against me. They will meet their end in this desert. Here they will die!” 

³⁶So the men Moses sent to explore the land died in front of the Lord from a plague. ³⁷They died because they had returned and made the whole community complain about Moses by spreading lies about the land.^c38Of all the men who went to explore the land, only Joshua (son of Nun) and Caleb (son of Jephunneh) survived. 

The Amalekites and Canaanites Defeat Israel

³⁹When Moses told these things to all the Israelites, the people mourned bitterly, as if someone had died. ⁴⁰Early the next morning they headed into the mountain region. They said, “We have sinned. Now we’ll go to the place the Lord promised.” 

⁴¹But Moses asked, “Why are you disobeying the Lord’s command? Your plan won’t work! ⁴²Don’t go! You will be defeated by your enemies because the Lord is not with you. ⁴³The Amalekites and Canaanites are there, and you will die in battle. Now that you have turned away from the Lord, the Lord will not be with you.” 

⁴⁴But they headed into the mountain region anyway, even though the ark of the Lord’s promise and Moses stayed in the camp. ⁴⁵The Amalekites and Canaanites who lived there came down from those mountains, attacked the Israelites, and defeated them at Hormah.^d

15TH CHAPTER

Grain and Wine Made Part of the Sacrifices to the Lord

¹The Lord said to Moses, ²“Speak to the Israelites and tell them: Once you’re settled in the land I’m giving you, ³you may bring offerings by fire to the Lord. They may be burnt offerings or any other kind of sacrifice. They may be offered to fulfill a vow, as a freewill offering, or as one of your festival offerings. They may be cattle, sheep, or goats—offerings that are a soothing aroma to the Lord. ⁴Whoever brings the offering must also give the Lord a grain offering of eight cups of flour mixed with one quart of olive oil. ⁵With each sheep or goat for the burnt offering or any other sacrifice, also give an offering of one quart of wine. 

⁶“With a ram, give a grain offering of 16 cups of flour mixed with 1¼ quarts of oil ⁷and an offering of 1¼ quarts of wine. Offer them as a soothing aroma to the Lord. 

⁸“Suppose you sacrifice a young bull as a burnt offering to the Lord or make any other kind of sacrifice—to keep a vow or as a fellowship offering. ⁹Offer with the young bull a grain offering of 24 cups of flour mixed with two quarts of olive oil. ¹⁰Also give an offering of two quarts of wine. It is an offering by fire, a soothing aroma to the Lord. ¹¹Do this for each bull, each ram, and each sheep or goat. ¹²Do it for each animal, however many you sacrifice. ¹³All native-born Israelites must do it this way when they bring an offering by fire, a soothing aroma to the Lord. 

¹⁴“Suppose foreigners are visiting you or living among you in future generations. If they bring an offering by fire, a soothing aroma to the Lord, they must do as you do. ¹⁵There is one law for the whole assembly: for you and foreigners who are living with you. It is a permanent law for future generations. As far as the Lord is concerned, you and foreigners are the same. ¹⁶The instructions and rules are the same for you as well as foreigners who are living with you.” 

Offering the First Bread Dough to the Lord

¹⁷The Lord said to Moses, ¹⁸“Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When you enter the land where I’m taking you ¹⁹and eat any of the food from the land, give some of it as a contribution to the Lord. ²⁰Shape one part of your dough into a ring the same way you do with the contribution you make from the threshing floor.^a21For generations to come, you must give one part of your dough as a contribution to the Lord. 

What Is to Be Done about Unintentional and Intentional Wrongdoings

²²“Suppose you unintentionally do something wrong by not obeying all these commands the Lord gave Moses. ²³(Everything the Lord commanded you through Moses holds as true for generations to come as it did the day the Lord gave the commands.) ²⁴If it was unintentional and no one else knows about it, the whole community must sacrifice a young bull as a burnt offering, a soothing aroma to the Lord, along with the proper grain and wine offerings, and a male goat as an offering for sin. ²⁵The priest will make peace with the Lord for the whole community of Israel. Then they will be forgiven because the wrongdoing was unintentional and they brought these two offerings to the Lord for their sin: an offering by fire and an offering for sin. ²⁶So the whole community of Israel will be forgiven, including foreigners who are living among them, since all the people were involved in the unintentional wrongdoing. 

²⁷“If one person unintentionally does something wrong, a one-year-old female goat must be sacrificed as an offering for sin. ²⁸The priest will offer the sacrifice to make peace with the Lord for that person, and that person will be forgiven. ²⁹You must give the same instructions to everyone who does something wrong unintentionally, whether they are native-born Israelites or not. 

³⁰“But any native-born Israelite or foreigner who deliberately does something wrong insults the Lord and must be excluded from the people. ³¹That person has despised the Lord’s word and broken the Lord’s command. He must be excluded completely. He…