Numbers 29:1–31:47

The Festival of Trumpets

29:1–6pp—Lev 23:23–25

29 “ ‘On the first day of the seventh month hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work.s It is a day for you to sound the trumpets. 2 As an aroma pleasing to the Lord,t offer a burnt offeringu of one young bull, one ram and seven male lambs a year old,v all without defect.w 3 With the bull offer a grain offeringx of three-tenths of an ephaha of the finest flour mixed with olive oil; with the ram, two-tenthsb; 4 and with each of the seven lambs, one-tenth.c y 5 Include one male goatz as a sin offeringd to make atonement for you. 6 These are in addition to the monthlya and daily burnt offeringsb with their grain offeringsc and drink offeringsd as specified. They are food offerings presented to the Lord, a pleasing aroma.e

The Day of Atonement

29:7–11pp—Lev 16:2–34; 23:26–32

7 “ ‘On the tenth day of this seventh month hold a sacred assembly. You must deny yourselvese f and do no work.g 8 Present as an aroma pleasing to the Lord a burnt offering of one young bull, one ram and seven male lambs a year old, all without defect.h 9 With the bull offer a grain offeringi of three-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with oil; with the ram, two-tenths;j 10 and with each of the seven lambs, one-tenth.k 11 Include one male goatl as a sin offering, in addition to the sin offering for atonement and the regular burnt offeringm with its grain offering, and their drink offerings.n

The Festival of Tabernacles

29:12–39pp—Lev 23:33–43; Dt 16:13–17

12 “ ‘On the fifteenth day of the seventho month,p hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. Celebrate a festival to the Lord for seven days. 13 Present as an aroma pleasing to the Lordq a food offering consisting of a burnt offering of thirteen young bulls, two rams and fourteen male lambs a year old, all without defect.r 14 With each of the thirteen bulls offer a grain offerings of three-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with oil; with each of the two rams, two-tenths; 15 and with each of the fourteen lambs, one-tenth.t 16 Include one male goat as a sin offering,u in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain offering and drink offering.v

17 “ ‘On the second dayw offer twelve young bulls, two rams and fourteen male lambs a year old, all without defect.x 18 With the bulls, rams and lambs, offer their grain offeringsy and drink offeringsz according to the number specified.a 19 Include one male goat as a sin offering,b in addition to the regular burnt offeringc with its grain offering, and their drink offerings.d

20 “ ‘On the third day offer eleven bulls, two rams and fourteen male lambs a year old, all without defect.e 21 With the bulls, rams and lambs, offer their grain offerings and drink offerings according to the number specified.f 22 Include one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain offering and drink offering.

23 “ ‘On the fourth day offer ten bulls, two rams and fourteen male lambs a year old, all without defect. 24 With the bulls, rams and lambs, offer their grain offerings and drink offerings according to the number specified. 25 Include one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain offering and drink offering.

26 “ ‘On the fifth day offer nine bulls, two rams and fourteen male lambs a year old, all without defect. 27 With the bulls, rams and lambs, offer their grain offerings and drink offerings according to the number specified. 28 Include one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain offering and drink offering.

29 “ ‘On the sixth day offer eight bulls, two rams and fourteen male lambs a year old, all without defect. 30 With the bulls, rams and lambs, offer their grain offerings and drink offerings according to the number specified. 31 Include one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain offering and drink offering.

32 “ ‘On the seventh day offer seven bulls, two rams and fourteen male lambs a year old, all without defect. 33 With the bulls, rams and lambs, offer their grain offerings and drink offerings according to the number specified. 34 Include one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain offering and drink offering.

35 “ ‘On the eighth day hold a closing special assemblyg and do no regular work. 36 Present as an aroma pleasing to the Lordh a food offering consisting of a burnt offering of one bull, one ram and seven male lambs a year old,i all without defect. 37 With the bull, the ram and the lambs, offer their grain offerings and drink offerings according to the number specified. 38 Include one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain offering and drink offering.

39 “ ‘In addition to what you vowj and your freewill offerings,k offer these to the Lord at your appointed festivals:l your burnt offerings,m grain offerings, drink offerings and fellowship offerings.n’ ”

40 Moses told the Israelites all that the Lord commanded him.f

Vows

30 a Moses said to the heads of the tribes of Israel:o “This is what the Lord commands: 2 When a man makes a vow to the Lord or takes an oath to obligate himself by a pledge, he must not break his word but must do everything he said.p

3 “When a young woman still living in her father’s household makes a vow to the Lord or obligates herself by a pledge 4 and her father hears about her vow or pledge but says nothing to her, then all her vows and every pledge by which she obligated herself will stand.q 5 But if her father forbids herr when he hears about it, none of her vows or the pledges by which she obligated herself will stand; the Lord will release her because her father has forbidden her.

6 “If she marries after she makes a vows or after her lips utter a rash promise by which she obligates herself 7 and her husband hears about it but says nothing to her, then her vows or the pledges by which she obligated herself will stand. 8 But if her husbandt forbids her when he hears about it, he nullifies the vow that obligates her or the rash promise by which she obligates herself, and the Lord will release her.u

9 “Any vow or obligation taken by a widow or divorced woman will be binding on her.

10 “If a woman living with her husband makes a vow or obligates herself by a pledge under oath 11 and her husband hears about it but says nothing to her and does not forbid her, then all her vows or the pledges by which she obligated herself will stand. 12 But if her husband nullifies them when he hears about them, then none of the vows or pledges that came from her lips will stand.v Her husband has nullified them, and the Lord will release her. 13 Her husband may confirm or nullify any vow she makes or any sworn pledge to deny herself.b 14 But if her husband says nothing to her about it from day to day, then he confirms all her vows or the pledges binding on her. He confirms them by saying nothing to her when he hears about them. 15 If, however, he nullifies themw some time after he hears about them, then he must bear the consequences of her wrongdoing.”

16 These are the regulations the Lord gave Moses concerning relationships between a man and his wife, and between a father and his young daughter still living at home.

Vengeance on the Midianites

31 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Take vengeance on the Midianitesx for the Israelites. After that, you will be gathered to your people.y”

3 So Moses said to the people, “Arm some of your men to go to war against the Midianites so that they may carry out the Lord’s vengeancez on them. 4 Send into battle a thousand men from each of the tribes of Israel.” 5 So twelve thousand men armed for battle,a a thousand from each tribe, were supplied from the clans of Israel. 6 Moses sent them into battle,b a thousand from each tribe, along with Phinehasc son of Eleazar, the priest, who took with him articles from the sanctuaryd and the trumpetse for signaling.

7 They fought against Midian, as the Lord commanded Moses,f and killed every man.g 8 Among their victims were Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur and Rebah—the five kings of Midian.i They also killed Balaam son of Beorj with the sword.k 9 The Israelites captured the Midianite womenl and children and took all the Midianite herds, flocks and goods as plunder.m 10 They burnedn all the towns where the Midianites had settled, as well as all their camps.o 11 They took all the plunder and spoils, including the people and animals,p 12 and brought the captives, spoilsq and plunder to Moses and Eleazar the priest and the Israelite assemblyr at their camp on the plains of Moab, by the Jordan across from Jericho.s

13 Moses, Eleazar the priest and all the leaders of the community went to meet them outside the camp. 14 Moses was angry with the officers of the armyt—the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds—who returned from the battle.

15 “Have you allowed all the women to live?” he asked them. 16 “They were the ones who followed Balaam’s adviceu and enticed the Israelites to be unfaithful to the Lord in the Peor incident,v so that a plaguew struck the Lord’s people. 17 Now kill all the boys. And kill every woman who has slept with a man,x 18 but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man.

19 “Anyone who has killed someone or touched someone who was killedy must stay outside the camp seven days.z On the third and seventh days you must purify yourselvesa and your captives. 20 Purify every garmentb as well as everything made of leather, goat hair or wood.c”

21 Then Eleazar the priest said to the soldiers who had gone into battle,d “This is what is required by the law that the Lord gave Moses: 22 Gold, silver, bronze, iron,e tin, lead 23 and anything else that can withstand fire must be put through the fire,f and then it will be clean. But it must also be purified with the water of cleansing.g And whatever cannot withstand fire must …