Numbers 17–19

CHAPTER 17

Aaron’s Rod Buds

¹¹Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

²“Speak to the sons of Israel, and get from them a rod for each father’s household: twelve rods from all their leaders according to their fathers’ households. You shall write each name on his rod,

³and write Aaron’s name on the rod of Levi; for there is one rod for the head of each of their fathers’ households.

⁴“You shall then deposit them in the tent of meeting in front of ^athe testimony, where I meet with you.

⁵“And it will come about that the rod of ^athe man whom I choose will sprout. Thus I will rid Myself of the grumblings of the sons of Israel, who are grumbling against you.”

⁶Moses therefore spoke to the sons of Israel, and all their leaders gave him a rod apiece, for each leader according to their fathers’ households, twelve rods, with the rod of Aaron among their rods.

⁷So Moses deposited the rods before Yahweh in ^athe tent of the testimony.

⁸Now it happened on the next day Moses went into the tent of the testimony; and behold, ^athe rod of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted and put forth buds and produced flowers, and it bore ripe almonds.

⁹Moses then brought out all the rods from the presence of Yahweh to all the sons of Israel; and they looked, and each man took his rod.

¹⁰But Yahweh said to Moses, “Put back the rod of Aaron ^abefore the testimony ¹to be kept as a sign against the ^2brebels, that you may put an end to their grumblings against Me, so that they will not die.”

¹¹Thus Moses did; just as Yahweh had commanded him, so he did.

¹²Then the sons of Israel spoke to Moses, saying, “^aBehold, we are breathing our last breath, we are perishing, we are all perishing!

¹³“^aEveryone who comes near, who comes near to the tabernacle of Yahweh, must die. Are we to breathe our utter last?”

CHAPTER 18

Responsibilities of the Levites

¹So Yahweh said to Aaron, “You and your sons and your father’s household with you shall ^abear the guilt ¹in connection with the sanctuary, and you and your sons with you shall bear the guilt ²in connection with your priesthood.

²“But bring near with you also your brothers, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, that they may be ^ajoined with you and minister to you, while you and your sons with you are before the tent of the testimony.

³“And they shall thus keep your responsibility and the responsibility of all the tent, but ^athey shall not come near to the furnishings of the sanctuary and ^bthe altar, so that neither they nor you will die.

⁴“And they shall be joined with you and keep the responsibility of the tent of meeting, for all the service of the tent; but ¹an outsider may not come near you.

⁵“So you shall keep the ^aresponsibility of the sanctuary and the responsibility of the altar, ^bso that there will no longer be wrath on the sons of Israel.

⁶“And behold, I Myself ^ahave taken your brothers the Levites from among the sons of Israel; they are ^ba gift to you, given to Yahweh, to perform the service for the tent of meeting.

⁷“But you and your sons with you shall ^akeep your priesthood in everything that concerns the altar and inside the veil, and you are to perform service. I am giving you the priesthood as ^ba ¹bestowed service, but ^cthe ²outsider who comes near shall be put to death.”

The Priests’ Portion

⁸Then Yahweh spoke to Aaron, “Now behold, I Myself have given you the responsibility of My ^1acontributions, even all the holy gifts of the sons of Israel I have given them to you as a portion and to your sons as a perpetual statute.

⁹“This shall be yours from the most holy gifts reserved from the fire; every offering of theirs, even ^aevery grain offering and every ^bsin offering and every guilt offering, which they shall render to Me, shall be most holy for you and for your sons.

¹⁰“As the most holy gifts you shall eat it; every male shall eat it. It shall be holy to you.

¹¹“This also is yours, ^athe contribution from their gift, even all the wave offerings of the sons of Israel; I have ^bgiven them to you and to your sons and daughters with you as a perpetual statute. Everyone of your household who is clean may eat it.

¹²“^aAll the ¹best of the fresh oil and all the ²best of the fresh wine and of the grain, the first fruits of those which they give to Yahweh, I give them to you.

¹³“^aThe first ripe fruits of all that is in their land, which they bring to Yahweh, shall be yours; everyone of your household who is clean may eat it.

¹⁴“^aEvery devoted thing in Israel shall be yours.

¹⁵“^1aEvery first issue of the womb of all flesh, whether man or animal, which they bring near to Yahweh, shall be yours; nevertheless the firstborn of man you shall surely redeem, and the firstborn of unclean animals you shall redeem.

¹⁶“Now as to their redemption price, from a month old you shall redeem them, by your valuation, five ¹shekels in silver, according to the ²shekel of the sanctuary, which is twenty gerahs.

¹⁷“But ^athe firstborn of an ox or the firstborn of a sheep or the firstborn of a goat, you shall not redeem; they are holy. ^bYou shall splash their blood on the altar and shall offer up their fat in smoke as an offering by fire, for a soothing aroma to Yahweh.

¹⁸“And their ¹meat shall be yours; it shall be yours like the ^abreast of a wave offering and like the right thigh.

¹⁹“^aAll the contributions of the holy gifts, which the sons of Israel raise up to Yahweh, I have given to you and your sons and your daughters with you, as a perpetual statute. It is ^ban everlasting covenant of salt before Yahweh to you and your seed with you.”

²⁰Then Yahweh said to Aaron, “^aYou shall have no inheritance in their land nor own any portion among them; ^bI am your portion and your inheritance among the sons of Israel.

²¹“Now to the sons of Levi, behold, I have given all the ^atithe in Israel for an inheritance, in return for their service which they perform, the service of the tent of meeting.

²²“^aAnd the sons of Israel shall not come near the tent of meeting again, or they will bear sin and die.

²³“Only the Levites shall perform the service of the tent of meeting, and they shall ^abear their iniquity; it shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations, and among the sons of Israel ^bthey shall have no inheritance.

²⁴“For the tithe of the sons of Israel, which they raise up as a contribution offering to Yahweh, I have given to the Levites for an inheritance; therefore I have said concerning them, ‘^aThey shall have no inheritance among the sons of Israel.’”

²⁵Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

²⁶“Moreover, you shall speak to the Levites and say to them, ‘When you take from the sons of Israel ^athe tithe which I have given you from them for your inheritance, then you shall raise up a contribution offering from it to Yahweh, a ^btithe of the tithe.

²⁷‘And your contribution offering shall be reckoned to you as the grain from the threshing floor or the full produce from the wine vat.

²⁸‘So you shall also raise up a contribution offering to Yahweh from all your tithes, which you receive from the sons of Israel; and from it you shall give the contribution offering of Yahweh to Aaron the priest.

²⁹‘Out of all your gifts you shall raise up every contribution offering due to Yahweh, from all the ¹best of them, ²the sacred part from them.’

³⁰“And you shall say to them, ‘When you have raised up from it the best of it, then the rest shall be accounted to the Levites as the product of the threshing floor and as the product of the wine vat.

³¹‘And you may eat it anywhere, you and your households, for it is your compensation in return for your service in the tent of meeting.

³²‘And you will bear no sin by reason of it when you have raised up the ¹best of it. But you shall not ^aprofane the sacred gifts of the sons of Israel, so that you will not die.’”

CHAPTER 19

Statute of the Red Heifer

¹Then Yahweh spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying,

²“This is the statute of the law which Yahweh has commanded, saying, ‘Speak to the sons of Israel that they take to you a ^ared heifer without blemish, in which is no defect and ^bon which a yoke has never ¹been placed.

³‘And you shall give it to ^aEleazar the priest, and it shall ^bbe brought outside the camp and be slaughtered in his presence.

⁴‘Next Eleazar the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger and ^asprinkle some of its blood toward the front of the tent of meeting seven times.

⁵‘Then the heifer shall be burned in his sight; ^aits hide and its flesh and its blood, with its refuse, shall be burned.

⁶‘And the priest shall take ^acedar wood and hyssop and scarlet material and cast it into the midst of the ¹burning heifer.

⁷‘The priest ^ashall then wash his clothes and bathe his ¹body in water and afterward come into the camp, but the priest shall be unclean until evening.

⁸‘The one who burns it shall also wash his clothes in water and bathe his ¹body in water and shall be unclean until evening.

⁹‘Now a man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and deposit them outside the camp in a clean place, and ¹the congregation of the sons of Israel shall keep it as ^awater to remove impurity; it is ²purification from sin.

¹⁰‘And the one who gathers the ashes of the heifer ^ashall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening; and it shall be a perpetual statute to the sons of Israel and to the sojourner who sojourns among them.

¹¹‘^aThe one who touches the corpse of any ¹person shall be unclean for seven days.

¹²‘That one shall ^apurify himself from uncleanness with ¹the water on the third day and on the seventh day, and then he will be clean; but if he does not purify himself on the third day and on the seventh day, he will not be clean.

¹³‘^aAnyone who touches a corpse, the ¹body of a man who has died, and does not purify himself, ^2bmakes the ³tabernacle of Yahweh unclean; and that person shall be cut off from Israel. Because the water for impurity was not ^4csplashed on him, he shall be unclean; his uncleanness is still on him.

¹⁴‘This is the law when a man dies in a tent: everyone who comes into the tent…