Numbers 15–17

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, with the alien who sojourns among them, for it happened to all the people through ^aerror.

²⁷‘Also if one person sins ^aunintentionally, then he shall offer a one year old female goat for a sin offering.

²⁸‘^aThe priest shall make atonement before the Lord for the person who goes astray when he sins unintentionally, making atonement for him ¹that he may be forgiven.

²⁹‘You shall have one law for him who does anything unintentionally, for him who is native among the sons of Israel and for the alien who sojourns among them.

³⁰‘But the person who does anything ^adefiantly, whether he is native or an alien, that one is blaspheming the Lord; and that person shall be cut off from among his people.

³¹‘Because he has ^adespised the word of the Lord and has broken His commandment, that person shall be completely cut off; ^bhis ¹guilt will be on him.’ ”

Sabbath-breaking Punished

³²Now while the sons of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man ^agathering wood on the sabbath day.

³³Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation;

³⁴and they put him in ¹custody ^abecause it had not been ²declared what should be done to him.

³⁵Then the Lord said to Moses, “The man shall surely be put to death; ^aall the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp.”

³⁶So all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him ¹to death with stones, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

³⁷The Lord also spoke to Moses, saying,

³⁸“Speak to the sons of Israel, and tell them that they shall make for themselves ^atassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and that they shall put on the tassel of each corner a cord of blue.

³⁹“It shall be a tassel for you ¹to look at and ^aremember all the commandments of the Lord, so as to do them and not ²follow after your own heart and your own eyes, after which you played the harlot,

⁴⁰so that you may remember to do all My commandments and ^abe holy to your God.

⁴¹“I am the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt to be your God; I am the Lord your God.”

Chapter 16

Korah’s Rebellion

¹Now ^aKorah the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, with ^bDathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took action,

²and they rose up before Moses, ¹together with some of the sons of Israel, two hundred and fifty leaders of the congregation, ^2achosen in the assembly, men of renown.

³They assembled together ^aagainst Moses and Aaron, and said to them, “^1bYou have gone far enough, for all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and ^cthe Lord is in their midst; so why do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?”

⁴When Moses heard this, ^ahe fell on his face;

⁵and he spoke to Korah and all his company, saying, “Tomorrow morning the Lord will show who is His, and ^awho is holy, and will bring him near to Himself; even ^bthe one whom He will choose, He will bring near to Himself.

⁶“Do this: take censers for yourselves, Korah and all ¹your company,

⁷and put fire in them, and lay incense upon them in the presence of the Lord tomorrow; and the man whom the Lord chooses shall be the one who is holy. ^1aYou have gone far enough, you sons of Levi!”

⁸Then Moses said to Korah, “Hear now, you sons of Levi,

^9ais it ¹not enough for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the rest of the congregation of Israel, ^bto bring you near to Himself, to do the service of the tabernacle of the Lord, and to stand before the congregation to minister to them;

¹⁰and that He has brought you near, Korah, and all your brothers, sons of Levi, with you? And are you ^aseeking for the priesthood also?

¹¹“Therefore you and all your company are gathered together ^aagainst the Lord; but as for Aaron, ¹who is he that ^byou grumble against him?”

¹²Then Moses sent ¹a summons to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab; but they said, “We will not come up.

¹³“Is it ¹not enough that you have brought us up out of a ^aland flowing with milk and honey ^bto have us die in the wilderness, but you would also lord it over us?

¹⁴“Indeed, you have not brought us ^ainto a land flowing with milk and honey, nor have you given us an inheritance of ^bfields and vineyards. Would you ^1cput out the eyes of ²these men? We will not come up!”

¹⁵Then Moses became very angry and said to the Lord, “^aDo not regard their offering! ^bI have not taken a single donkey from them, nor have I done harm to any of them.”

¹⁶Moses said to Korah, “You and all your company be present before the Lord tomorrow, both you and they along with Aaron.

¹⁷“Each of you take his firepan and put incense on ¹it, and each of you bring his censer before the Lord, two hundred and fifty firepans; also you and Aaron shall each bring his firepan.”

¹⁸So they each took his own censer and put fire on ¹it, and laid incense on it; and they stood at the doorway of the tent of meeting, with Moses and Aaron.

¹⁹Thus Korah assembled all the congregation against them at the doorway of the tent of meeting. And ^athe glory of the Lord appeared to all the congregation.

²⁰Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying,

²¹“^aSeparate yourselves from among this congregation, ^bthat I may consume them instantly.”

²²But they fell on their faces and said, “O God, ^aGod of the spirits of all flesh, ^bwhen one man sins, will You be angry with the entire congregation?”

²³Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

²⁴“Speak to the congregation, saying, ‘^aGet back from around the dwellings of Korah, Dathan and Abiram.’ ”

²⁵Then Moses arose and went to Dathan and Abiram, with the elders of Israel following him,

²⁶and he spoke to the congregation, saying, “^aDepart now from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing that belongs to them, ^bor you will be swept away in all their sin.”

²⁷So they got back from around the dwellings of Korah, Dathan and Abiram; and Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the doorway of their tents, along with their wives and ^atheir sons and their little ones.

²⁸Moses said, “By this you shall know that ^athe Lord has sent me to do all these deeds; for this is not ¹my doing.

²⁹“If these men die ¹the death of all men or ²if they suffer the ^afate of all men, then the Lord has not sent me.

³⁰“But ^aif the Lord ¹brings about an entirely new thing and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that is theirs, and they ^bdescend alive into ²Sheol, then you will understand that these men…