Numbers 15–17

Rules About Sacrifices

15The Lord said to Moses, ²“Speak to the Israelites and say to them, ‘When you enter the land that I am giving you as a home, ³give the Lord offerings made by fire. These may be from your herds or flocks, as a smell pleasing to the Lord. These may be burnt offerings or sacrifices for special promises, or as gifts to him, or as festival offerings. ⁴The one who brings the offering shall also give the Lord a grain offering. It should be two quarts of fine flour mixed with one quart of olive oil. ⁵Each time you offer a lamb as a burnt offering or sacrifice, also prepare a quart of wine as a drink offering.

⁶“ ‘If you are giving a male sheep, also prepare a grain offering of four quarts of fine flour mixed with one and one-fourth quarts of olive oil. ⁷Also prepare one and one-fourth quarts of wine as a drink offering. Its smell will be pleasing to the Lord.

⁸“ ‘If you prepare a young bull as a burnt offering or sacrifice, whether it is for a special promise or a fellowship offering to the Lord, ⁹bring a grain offering with the bull. It should be six quarts of fine flour mixed with two quarts of olive oil. ¹⁰Also bring two quarts of wine as a drink offering. This offering is made by fire, and its smell will be pleasing to the Lord. ¹¹Prepare each bull or male sheep, lamb or young goat this way. ¹²Do this for every one of the animals you bring.

¹³“ ‘All citizens must do these things in this way, and the smell of their offerings by fire will be pleasing to the Lord. ¹⁴From now on if foreigners who live among you want to make offerings by fire so the smell will be pleasing to the Lord, they must offer them the same way you do. ¹⁵The law is the same for you and for foreigners, and it will be from now on; you and the foreigners are alike before the Lord. ¹⁶The teachings and rules are the same for you and for the foreigners among you.’ ”

¹⁷The Lord said to Moses, ¹⁸“Tell the Israelites: ‘You are going to another land, where I am taking you. ¹⁹When you eat the food there, offer part of it to the Lord. ²⁰Offer a loaf of bread from the first of your grain, which will be your offering from the threshing floor. ²¹From now on offer to the Lord the first part of your grain.

²²“ ‘Now what if you forget to obey any of these commands the Lord gave Moses? ²³These are the Lord’s commands given to you through Moses, which began the day the Lord gave them to you and will continue from now on. ²⁴If the people forget to obey one of these commands, all the people must offer a young bull as a burnt offering, a smell pleasing to the Lord. By law you must also give the grain offering and the drink offering with it, and you must bring a male goat as a sin offering.

²⁵“ ‘The priest will remove that sin for all the Israelites so they will belong to the Lord. They are forgiven, because they didn’t know they were sinning. For the wrong they did they brought offerings to the Lord, an offering by fire and a sin offering. ²⁶So all of the people of Israel and the foreigners living among them will be forgiven. No one meant to do wrong.

²⁷“ ‘If just one person sins without meaning to, a year-old female goat must be brought for a sin offering. ²⁸The priest will remove the sin of the person who sinned accidentally. He will remove it before the Lord, and the person will be forgiven. ²⁹The same teaching is for everyone who sins accidentally—for those born Israelites and for foreigners living among you.

³⁰“ ‘But anyone who sins on purpose is against the Lord and must be cut off from the people, whether it is someone born among you or a foreigner. ³¹That person has turned against the Lord’s word and has not obeyed his commands. Such a person must surely be cut off from the others. He is guilty.’ ”

A Man Worked on the Sabbath

³²When the Israelites were still in the desert, they found a man gathering wood on the Sabbath day. ³³Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron and all the people. ³⁴They held the man under guard, because they did not know what to do with him. ³⁵Then the Lord said to Moses, “The man must surely die. All the people must kill him by throwing stones at him outside the camp.” ³⁶So all the people took him outside the camp and stoned him to death, as the Lord commanded Moses.

The Tassels

³⁷The Lord said to Moses, ³⁸“Speak to the Israelites and tell them this: ‘Tie several pieces of thread together and attach them to the corners of your clothes. Put a blue thread in each one of these tassels. Wear them from now on. ³⁹You will have these tassels to look at to remind you of all the Lord’s commands. Then you will obey them and not be disloyal by following what your bodies and eyes want. ⁴⁰Then you will remember to obey all my commands, and you will be God’s holy people. ⁴¹I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord your God.’ ”

Korah, Dathan, Abiram, and On

16Korah, Dathan, Abiram, and On turned against Moses. (Korah was the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi; Dathan and Abiram were brothers, the sons of Eliab; and On was the son of Peleth; Dathan, Abiram, and On were from the tribe of Reuben.) ²These men gathered two hundred fifty other Israelite men, well-known leaders chosen by the community, and challenged Moses. ³They came as a group to speak to Moses and Aaron and said, “You have gone too far. All the people are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. So why do you put yourselves above all the people of the Lord?”

⁴When Moses heard this, he bowed facedown. ⁵Then he said to Korah and all his followers: “Tomorrow morning the Lord will show who belongs to him. He will bring the one who is holy near to him; he will bring to himself the person he chooses. ⁶So Korah, you and all your followers do this: Get some pans for burning incense. ⁷Tomorrow put fire and incense in them and take them before the Lord. He will choose the man who is holy. You Levites have gone too far.”

⁸Moses also said to Korah, “Listen, you Levites. ⁹The God of Israel has separated you from the rest of the Israelites. He brought you near to himself to do the work in the Lord’s Holy Tent and to stand before all the Israelites and serve them. Isn’t that enough? ¹⁰He has brought you and all your fellow Levites near to himself, yet now you want to be priests. ¹¹You and your followers have joined together against the Lord. Your complaint is not against Aaron.”

¹²Then Moses called Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, but they said, “We will not come! ¹³You have brought us out of a fertile land to this desert to kill us, and now you want to order us around. ¹⁴You haven’t brought us into a fertile land; you haven’t given us any land with fields and vineyards. Will you put out the eyes of these men? No! We will not come!”

¹⁵Then Moses became very angry and said to the Lord, “Don’t accept their gifts. I have not taken anything from them, not even a donkey, and I have not done wrong to any of them.”

¹⁶Then Moses said to Korah, “You and all your followers must stand before the Lord tomorrow. And Aaron will stand there with you and them. ¹⁷Each of you must take your pan and put incense in it; present these two hundred fifty pans before the Lord. You and Aaron must also present your pans.” ¹⁸So each man got his pan and put burning incense in it and stood with Moses and Aaron at the entrance to the Meeting Tent. ¹⁹Korah gathered all his followers who were against Moses and Aaron, and they stood at the entrance to the Meeting Tent. Then the glory of the Lord appeared to everyone.

²⁰The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ²¹“Move away from these men so I can destroy them quickly.”

²²But Moses and Aaron bowed facedown and cried out, “God, you are the God over the spirits of all people. Please don’t be angry with this whole group. Only one man has really sinned.”

²³Then the Lord said to Moses, ²⁴“Tell everyone to move away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.”

²⁵Moses stood and went to Dathan and Abiram; the elders of Israel followed him. ²⁶Moses warned the people, “Move away from the tents of these evil men! Don’t touch anything of theirs, or you will be destroyed because of their sins.” ²⁷So they moved away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram were standing outside their tents with their wives, children, and little babies.

²⁸Then Moses said, “Now you will know that the Lord has sent me to do all these things; it was not my idea. ²⁹If these men die a normal death—the way men usually die—then the Lord did not really send me. ³⁰But if the Lord does something new, you will know they have insulted the Lord. The ground will open and swallow them. They will be buried alive and will go to the place of the dead, and everything that belongs to them will go with them.”

³¹When Moses finished saying these things, the ground under the men split open. ³²The earth opened and swallowed them and all their families. All Korah’s men and everything they owned went down. ³³They were buried alive, going to the place of the dead, and everything they owned went with them. Then the earth covered them. They died and were gone from the community. ³⁴The people of Israel around them heard their screams and ran away, saying, “The earth will swallow us, too!”

³⁵Then a fire came down from the Lord and destroyed the two hundred fifty men who had presented the incense.

³⁶The Lord said to Moses, ³⁷“Tell Eleazar son of Aaron, the priest, to take all the incense pans out of the fire. Have him scatter the coals a long distance away. But the incense pans are still holy. ³⁸Take the pans of these men who sinned and lost their lives, and hammer them into flat sheets that will be used to cover the altar. They are holy, because they were presented to the Lord, and they will be a sign to the Israelites.”

³⁹So Eleazar the priest gathered all the bronze pans that had been brought by the men who were burned up. He had the pans hammered into flat…