Numbers 14–15

Chapter 14

The People Rebel

¹Then all the congregation ¹lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept ²that night.

²All the sons of Israel ^agrumbled against Moses and Aaron; and the whole congregation said to them, “^bWould that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness!

³“Why is the Lord bringing us into this land, ^ato fall by the sword? ^bOur wives and our little ones will become plunder; would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?”

⁴So they said to one another, “^aLet us appoint a leader and return to Egypt.”

^5aThen Moses and Aaron fell on their faces in the presence of all the assembly of the congregation of the sons of Israel.

⁶Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, of those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes;

⁷and they spoke to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, saying, “^aThe land which we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land.

⁸“^aIf the Lord is pleased with us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us—^ba land which flows with milk and honey.

⁹“Only ^ado not rebel against the Lord; and do not ^bfear the people of the land, for they will be our ¹prey. Their ²protection has been removed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them.”

^10aBut all the congregation said to stone them with stones. Then ^bthe glory of the Lord appeared in the tent of meeting to all the sons of Israel.

Moses Pleads for the People

^11aThe Lord said to Moses, “How long will this people spurn Me? And how long will ^bthey not believe in Me, despite all the signs which I have performed in their midst?

¹²“I will smite them with ^1apestilence and dispossess them, and I ^bwill make you into a nation greater and mightier than they.”

^13aBut Moses said to the Lord, “Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for by Your strength You brought up this people from their midst,

¹⁴and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that You, O Lord, are in the midst of this people, for ^aYou, O Lord, are seen eye to eye, while Your cloud stands over them; and You go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night.

¹⁵“Now if You slay this people as one man, ^athen the nations who have heard of Your fame will ¹say,

¹⁶‘Because the Lord ^acould not bring this people into the land which He promised them by oath, therefore He slaughtered them in the wilderness.’

¹⁷“But now, I pray, let the power of the Lord be great, just as You have ¹declared,

¹⁸‘^aThe Lord is slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but ^bHe will by no means clear the guilty, ^cvisiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children ¹to the third and the fourth generations.’

¹⁹“^aPardon, I pray, the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of Your lovingkindness, just as You also have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.”

The Lord Pardons and Rebukes

²⁰So the Lord said, “^aI have pardoned them according to your word;

²¹but indeed, ^aas I live, ^1ball the earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord.

²²“Surely ^aall the men who have seen My glory and My signs which I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet ^bhave put Me to the test these ten times and have not listened to My voice,

^23ashall by no means see the land which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who spurned Me see it.

²⁴“But My servant Caleb, ^abecause he has had a different spirit and has followed Me fully, ^1bI will bring into the land ²which he entered, and his ³descendants shall take possession of it.

²⁵“^aNow the Amalekites and the Canaanites live in the valleys; turn tomorrow and set out to the wilderness by the way of the ¹Red Sea.”

²⁶The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying,

²⁷“How long shall I bear with this evil congregation who are ^agrumbling against Me? I have heard the complaints of the sons of Israel, which they are ¹making against Me.

²⁸“Say to them, ‘^aAs I live,’ says the Lord, ‘just as ^byou have spoken in My hearing, so I will surely do to you;

^29ayour corpses will fall in this wilderness, even all ^byour ¹numbered men, according to your complete number from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against Me.

³⁰‘Surely you shall not come into the land in which I ¹swore to settle you, ^aexcept Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun.

³¹‘^aYour children, however, whom you said would become a prey—I will bring them in, and they will know the land which you have rejected.

³²‘^aBut as for you, your corpses will fall in this wilderness.

³³‘Your sons shall be shepherds for ^aforty years in the wilderness, and they will ¹suffer for your ²unfaithfulness, until your corpses ³lie in the wilderness.

³⁴‘According to the ^anumber of days which you spied out the land, forty days, for every day you shall bear your ¹guilt a year, even forty years, and you will know My opposition.

³⁵‘^aI, the Lord, have spoken, surely this I will do to all this evil congregation who are gathered together against Me. In this wilderness they shall be destroyed, and there they will die.’ ”

^36aAs for the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land and who returned and made all the congregation grumble against him by bringing out a bad report concerning the land,

³⁷even ^athose men who brought out the very bad report of the land died by a ^bplague before the Lord.

³⁸But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh remained alive out of those men who went to spy out the land.

Israel Repulsed

³⁹When Moses spoke ^athese words to all the sons of Israel, ^bthe people mourned greatly.

⁴⁰In the morning, however, they rose up early and went up to the ¹ridge of the hill country, saying, “^aHere we are; ²we have indeed sinned, but we will go up to the place which the Lord has promised.”

⁴¹But Moses said, “^aWhy then are you transgressing the ¹commandment of the Lord, when it will not succeed?

⁴²“^aDo not go up, or you will be struck down before your enemies, for the Lord is not among you.

⁴³“For the Amalekites and the Canaanites will be there in front of you, and you will fall by the sword, inasmuch as you have turned back from following the Lord. And the Lord will not be with you.”

⁴⁴But they went up heedlessly to the ¹ridge of the hill country; neither ^athe ark of the covenant of the Lord nor Moses left the camp.

⁴⁵Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down, and struck them and beat them down as far as ^aHormah.

Chapter 15

Laws for Canaan

¹Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

²“^aSpeak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When you enter the land ¹where you are to live, which I am giving you,

³then make ^aan offering by fire to the Lord, a burnt offering or a sacrifice to ^1bfulfill a special vow, or as a freewill offering or in your ^cappointed times, to make a ^dsoothing aroma to the Lord, from the herd or from the flock.

⁴‘^aThe one who presents his offering shall present to the Lord a grain offering of one-tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with one-fourth of a ¹hin of oil,

⁵and you shall prepare wine for the drink offering, one-fourth of a hin, with the burnt offering or for the sacrifice, for ^aeach lamb.

⁶‘Or for a ram you shall prepare as a grain offering two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with one-third of a hin of oil;

⁷and for the drink offering you shall offer one-third of a hin of wine as a soothing aroma to the Lord.

⁸‘When you prepare ^aa bull as a burnt offering or a sacrifice, to ¹fulfill a special vow, or for peace offerings to the Lord,

⁹then you shall offer with the bull a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with one-half a hin of oil;

¹⁰and you shall offer as the drink offering one-half a hin of wine as an offering by fire, as a soothing aroma to the Lord.

¹¹‘Thus it shall be done for each ox, or for each ram, or for each of the male lambs, or of the goats.

¹²‘According to the number that you prepare, so you shall do for everyone according to their number.

¹³‘All who are native shall do these things in this manner, in presenting an offering by fire, as a soothing aroma to the Lord.

Law of the Sojourner

¹⁴‘If an alien sojourns with you, or one who may be among you throughout your generations, and he wishes to make an offering by fire, as a soothing aroma to the Lord, just as you do so he shall do.

¹⁵‘As for the assembly, there shall be ^aone statute for you and for the alien who sojourns with you, a perpetual statute throughout your generations; as you are, so shall the alien be before the Lord.

¹⁶‘There is to be ^aone law and one ordinance for you and for the alien who sojourns with you.’ ”

¹⁷Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

¹⁸“Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When you enter the land where I bring you,

¹⁹then it shall be, that when you eat of the ^1afood of the land, you shall lift up ²an offering to the Lord.

²⁰‘^aOf the first of your ¹dough you shall lift up a cake as an ²offering; as ^bthe offering of the threshing floor, so you shall lift it up.

²¹‘From the first of your ¹dough you shall give to the Lord an ²offering throughout your generations.

²²‘But when you ^aunwittingly fail and do not observe all these commandments, which the Lord has spoken to Moses,

²³even all that the Lord has commanded you ¹through Moses, from the day when the Lord gave commandment and onward throughout your generations,

²⁴then it shall be, if it is done ^aunintentionally, ¹without the knowledge of the congregation, that all the congregation shall offer one bull for a burnt offering, as a soothing aroma to the Lord, ^bwith its grain offering and its drink offering, according to the ordinance, and one male goat for a sin offering.

²⁵‘Then ^athe priest shall make atonement for all the congregation of the sons of Israel, and they will be forgiven; for it was an error, and they have brought their offering, an offering by fire to the Lord, and their sin offering before the Lord, for their error.

²⁶‘So all the congregation of the sons of Israel will be forgiven,…