Laws of Purification

19 Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, 2 “This is the 1ordinance of the law which the Lord has commanded, saying: ‘Speak to the children of Israel, that they bring you a red heifer without 2blemish, in which there is no adefect band on which a yoke has never come. 3 You shall give it to Eleazar the priest, that he may take it coutside the camp, and it shall be slaughtered before him; 4 and Eleazar the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger, and dsprinkle some of its blood seven times directly in front of the tabernacle of meeting. 5 Then the heifer shall be burned in his sight: eits hide, its flesh, its blood, and its offal shall be burned. 6 And the priest shall take fcedar wood and ghyssop and scarlet, and cast them into the midst of the fire burning the heifer. 7 hThen the priest shall wash his clothes, he shall bathe in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp; the priest shall be unclean until evening. 8 And the one who burns it shall wash his clothes in water, bathe in water, and shall be unclean until evening. 9 Then a man who is clean shall gather up ithe ashes of the heifer, and store them outside the camp in a clean place; and they shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel jfor the water of 3purification; it is for purifying from sin. 10 And the one who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until evening. It shall be a statute forever to the children of Israel and to the stranger who dwells among them.

11 k‘He who touches the dead 4body of anyone shall be unclean seven days. 12 lHe shall purify himself with the water on the third day and on the seventh day; 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 Whoever touches the body of anyone who has died, and mdoes not purify himself, ndefiles the tabernacle of the Lord. That person shall be cut off from Israel. He shall be unclean, because othe water of purification was not sprinkled on him; phis uncleanness is still on him.

14 ‘This is the law when a man dies in a tent: All who come into the tent and all who are in the tent shall be unclean seven days; 15 and every qopen vessel, which has no cover fastened on it, is unclean. 16 rWhoever in the open field touches one who is slain by a sword or who has died, or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days.

17 ‘And for an unclean person they shall take some of the sashes of the heifer burnt for purification from sin, and 5running water shall be put on them in a vessel. 18 A clean person shall take thyssop and dip it in the water, sprinkle it on the tent, on all the vessels, on the persons who were there, or on the one who touched a bone, the slain, the dead, or a grave. 19 The clean person shall sprinkle the unclean on the third day and on the seventh day; uand on the seventh day he shall purify himself, wash his clothes, and bathe in water; and at evening he shall be clean.

20 ‘But the man who is unclean and does not purify himself, that person shall be cut off from among the assembly, because he has vdefiled the sanctuary of the Lord. The water of purification has not been sprinkled on him; he is unclean. 21 It shall be a perpetual statute for them. He who sprinkles the water of purification shall wash his clothes; and he who touches the water of purification shall be unclean until evening. 22 wWhatever the unclean person touches shall be unclean; and xthe person who touches it shall be unclean until evening.’ ”

Moses’ Error at Kadesh

20 Then athe children of Israel, the whole congregation, came into the Wilderness of Zin in the first month, and the people stayed in bKadesh; and cMiriam died there and was buried there.

2 dNow there was no water for the congregation; eso they gathered together against Moses and Aaron. 3 And the people fcontended with Moses and spoke, saying: “If only we had died gwhen our brethren died before the Lord! 4 hWhy have you brought up the assembly of the Lord into this wilderness, that we and our animals should die here? 5 And why have you made us come up out of Egypt, to bring us to this evil place? It is not a place of grain or figs or vines or pomegranates; nor is there any water to drink.” 6 So Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the door of the tabernacle of meeting, and ithey 1fell on their faces. And jthe glory of the Lord appeared to them.

7 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 8 k“Take the rod; you and your brother Aaron gather the congregation together. Speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will yield its water; thus lyou shall bring water for them out of the rock, and give drink to the congregation and their animals.” 9 So Moses took the rod mfrom before the Lord as He commanded him.

10 And Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock; and he said to them, n“Hear now, you rebels! Must we bring water for you out of this rock?” 11 Then Moses lifted his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; oand water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their animals drank.

12 Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, “Because pyou did not believe Me, to qhallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.”

13 rThis was the water of 2Meribah, because the children of Israel contended with the Lord, and He was hallowed among them.

Passage Through Edom Refused

14 sNow Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of tEdom. u“Thus says your brother Israel: ‘You know all the hardship that has befallen us, 15 vhow our fathers went down to Egypt, wand we dwelt in Egypt a long time, xand the Egyptians 3afflicted us and our fathers. 16 yWhen we cried out to the Lord, He heard our voice and zsent the Angel and brought us up out of Egypt; now here we are in Kadesh, a city on the edge of your border. 17 Please alet us pass through your country. We will not pass through fields or vineyards, nor will we drink water from wells; we will go along the King’s Highway; we will not turn aside to the right hand or to the left until we have passed through your territory.’ ”

18 Then bEdom said to him, “You shall not pass through my land, lest I come out against you with the sword.”

19 So the children of Israel said to him, “We will go by the Highway, and if I or my livestock drink any of your water, cthen I will pay for it; let me only pass through on foot, nothing more.”

20 Then he said, d“You shall not pass through.” So Edom came out against them with many men and with a strong hand. 21 Thus Edom erefused to give Israel passage through his territory; so Israel fturned away from him.

Death of Aaron

22 Now the children of Israel, the whole congregation, journeyed from gKadesh hand came to Mount Hor. 23 And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in Mount Hor by the border of the land of Edom, saying: 24 “Aaron shall 4be igathered to his people, for he shall not enter the land which I have given to the children of Israel, because you rebelled against My word at the water of Meribah. 25 jTake Aaron and Eleazar his son, and bring them up to Mount Hor; 26 and strip Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son; for Aaron shall be gathered to his people and die there.” 27 So Moses did just as the Lord commanded, and they went up to Mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation. 28 kMoses stripped Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son; and lAaron died there on the top of the mountain. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain. 29 Now when all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead, all the house of Israel mourned for Aaron mthirty days.

Canaanites Defeated at Hormah

21 The aking of Arad, the Canaanite, who dwelt in the South, heard that Israel was coming on the road to Atharim. Then he fought against Israel and took some of them prisoners. 2 bSo Israel made a vow to the Lord, and said, “If You will indeed deliver this people into my hand, then cI will utterly destroy their cities.” 3 And the Lord listened to the voice of Israel and delivered up the Canaanites, and they utterly destroyed them and their cities. So the name of that place was called 1Hormah.

The Bronze Serpent

4 Then they journeyed from Mount Hor by the Way of the Red Sea, to dgo around the land of Edom; and the soul of the people became very 2discouraged on the way. 5 And the people espoke against God and against Moses: “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and our soul 3loathes this worthless bread.” 6 So fthe Lord sent gfiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died.

7 hTherefore the people came to Moses, and said, “We have isinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you; jpray to the Lord that He take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.

8 Then the Lord said to Moses, k“Make a lfiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.” 9 So mMoses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.

From Mount Hor to Moab

10 Now the children of Israel moved on and ncamped in Oboth. 11 And they journeyed from Oboth and camped at 4Ije Abarim, in the wilderness which is east of Moab, toward the sunrise. 12 oFrom there they moved and camped in the Valley of Zered. 13 From there they moved and camped on the other side of the Arnon, which is in the wilderness that extends from the border of the Amorites; for pthe Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites. 14 Therefore it is said in the Book of the Wars of the Lord:

5“Waheb in Suphah,

The brooks of the Arnon,

15 And the slope of the brooks

That reaches to the dwelling of qAr,

And lies on the border of Moab.”

16 From there they went rto Beer, which is the well where the Lord …