Numbers 33–35

Israel’s Journey from Egypt Reviewed

33These are the journeys of the children of Israel, who went out of the land of Egypt by their armies under the ^ahand of Moses and Aaron. ²Now Moses wrote down the starting points of their journeys at the command of the Lord. And these are their journeys according to their starting points:

³They ^bdeparted from Rameses in ^cthe first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the day after the Passover the children of Israel went out ^dwith boldness in the sight of all the Egyptians. ⁴For the Egyptians were burying all their firstborn, ^ewhom the Lord had killed among them. Also ^fon their gods the Lord had executed judgments.

^5gThen the children of Israel moved from Rameses and camped at Succoth. ⁶They departed from ^hSuccoth and camped at Etham, which is on the edge of the wilderness. ⁷ⁱThey moved from Etham and turned back to Pi Hahiroth, which is east of Baal Zephon; and they camped near Migdol. ⁸They departed ¹from before Hahiroth and ^jpassed through the midst of the sea into the wilderness, went three days’ journey in the Wilderness of Etham, and camped at Marah. ⁹They moved from Marah and ^kcame to Elim. At Elim were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees; so they camped there.

¹⁰They moved from Elim and camped by the Red Sea. ¹¹They moved from the Red Sea and camped in the ^lWilderness of Sin. ¹²They journeyed from the Wilderness of Sin and camped at Dophkah. ¹³They departed from Dophkah and camped at Alush. ¹⁴They moved from Alush and camped at ^mRephidim, where there was no water for the people to drink.

¹⁵They departed from Rephidim and camped in the ⁿWilderness of Sinai. ¹⁶They moved from the Wilderness of Sinai and camped ^oat ²Kibroth Hattaavah. ¹⁷They departed from Kibroth Hattaavah and ^pcamped at Hazeroth. ¹⁸They departed from Hazeroth and camped at ^qRithmah. ¹⁹They departed from Rithmah and camped at Rimmon Perez. ²⁰They departed from Rimmon Perez and camped at Libnah. ²¹They moved from Libnah and camped at Rissah. ²²They journeyed from Rissah and camped at Kehelathah. ²³They went from Kehelathah and camped at Mount Shepher. ²⁴They moved from Mount Shepher and camped at Haradah. ²⁵They moved from Haradah and camped at Makheloth. ²⁶They moved from Makheloth and camped at Tahath. ²⁷They departed from Tahath and camped at Terah. ²⁸They moved from Terah and camped at Mithkah. ²⁹They went from Mithkah and camped at Hashmonah. ³⁰They departed from Hashmonah and ^rcamped at Moseroth. ³¹They departed from Moseroth and camped at Bene Jaakan. ³²They moved from ^sBene Jaakan and ^tcamped at Hor Hagidgad. ³³They went from Hor Hagidgad and camped at Jotbathah. ³⁴They moved from Jotbathah and camped at Abronah. ³⁵They departed from Abronah ^uand camped at Ezion Geber. ³⁶They moved from Ezion Geber and camped in the ^vWilderness of Zin, which is Kadesh. ³⁷They moved from ^wKadesh and camped at Mount Hor, on the boundary of the land of Edom.

³⁸Then ^xAaron the priest went up to Mount Hor at the command of the Lord, and died there in the fortieth year after the children of Israel had come out of the land of Egypt, on the first day of the fifth month. ³⁹Aaron was one hundred and twenty-three years old when he died on Mount Hor.

⁴⁰Now ^ythe king of Arad, the Canaanite, who dwelt in the South in the land of Canaan, heard of the coming of the children of Israel.

⁴¹So they departed from Mount Hor and camped at Zalmonah. ⁴²They departed from Zalmonah and camped at Punon. ⁴³They departed from Punon and ^zcamped at Oboth. ^44aThey departed from Oboth and camped at Ije Abarim, at the border of Moab. ⁴⁵They departed from ³Ijim and camped ^bat Dibon Gad. ⁴⁶They moved from Dibon Gad and camped at ^cAlmon Diblathaim. ⁴⁷They moved from Almon Diblathaim ^dand camped in the mountains of Abarim, before Nebo. ⁴⁸They departed from the mountains of Abarim and ^ecamped in the plains of Moab by the Jordan, across from Jericho. ⁴⁹They camped by the Jordan, from Beth Jesimoth as far as the ^fAbel Acacia Grove ⁴in the plains of Moab.

Instructions for the Conquest of Canaan

⁵⁰Now the Lord spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan, across from Jericho, saying, ⁵¹“Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ^g‘When you have crossed the Jordan into the land of Canaan, ^52hthen you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, destroy all their engraved stones, destroy all their molded images, and demolish all their ⁵high places; ⁵³you shall dispossess the inhabitants of the land and dwell in it, for I have given you the land to ⁱpossess. ⁵⁴And ^jyou shall divide the land by lot as an inheritance among your families; to the larger you shall give a larger inheritance, and to the smaller you shall give a smaller inheritance; there everyone’s inheritance shall be whatever falls to him by lot. You shall inherit according to the tribes of your fathers. ⁵⁵But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it shall be that those whom you let remain shall be ^kirritants in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall harass you in the land where you dwell. ⁵⁶Moreover it shall be that I will do to you as I thought to do to them.’ ”

The Appointed Boundaries of Canaan

34Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²“Command the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When you come into ^athe land of Canaan, this is the land that shall fall to you as an inheritance—the land of Canaan to its boundaries. ^3bYour southern border shall be from the Wilderness of Zin along the border of Edom; then your southern border shall extend eastward to the end of ^cthe Salt Sea; ⁴your border shall turn from the southern side of ^dthe Ascent of Akrabbim, continue to Zin, and be on the south of ^eKadesh Barnea; then it shall go on to ^fHazar Addar, and continue to Azmon; ⁵the border shall turn from Azmon ^gto the Brook of Egypt, and it shall end at the Sea.

⁶‘As for the ^hwestern border, you shall have the Great Sea for a border; this shall be your western border.

⁷‘And this shall be your northern border: From the Great Sea you shall mark out your border line to ⁱMount Hor; ⁸from Mount Hor you shall mark out your border ^jto the entrance of Hamath; then the direction of the border shall be toward ^kZedad; ⁹the border shall proceed to Ziphron, and it shall end at ^lHazar Enan. This shall be your northern border.

¹⁰‘You shall mark out your eastern border from Hazar Enan to Shepham; ¹¹the border shall go down from Shepham ^mto Riblah on the east side of Ain; the border shall go down and reach to the eastern ¹side of the Sea ⁿof Chinnereth; ¹²the border shall go down along the Jordan, and it shall end at ^othe Salt Sea. This shall be your land with its surrounding boundaries.’ ”

¹³Then Moses commanded the children of Israel, saying: ^p“This is the land which you shall inherit by lot, which the Lord has commanded to give to the nine tribes and to the half-tribe. ^14qFor the tribe of the children of Reuben according to the house of their fathers, and the tribe of the children of Gad according to the house of their fathers, have received their inheritance; and the half-tribe of Manasseh has received its inheritance. ¹⁵The two tribes and the half-tribe have received their inheritance on this side of the Jordan, across from Jericho eastward, toward the sunrise.”

The Leaders Appointed to Divide the Land

¹⁶And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁷“These are the names of the men who shall divide the land among you as an inheritance: ^rEleazar the priest and Joshua the son of Nun. ¹⁸And you shall take one ^sleader of every tribe to divide the land for the inheritance. ¹⁹These are the names of the men: from the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh; ²⁰from the tribe of the children of Simeon, Shemuel the son of Ammihud; ²¹from the tribe of Benjamin, Elidad the son of Chislon; ²²a leader from the tribe of the children of Dan, Bukki the son of Jogli; ²³from the sons of Joseph: a leader from the tribe of the children of Manasseh, Hanniel the son of Ephod, ²⁴and a leader from the tribe of the children of Ephraim, Kemuel the son of Shiphtan; ²⁵a leader from the tribe of the children of Zebulun, Elizaphan the son of Parnach; ²⁶a leader from the tribe of the children of Issachar, Paltiel the son of Azzan; ²⁷a leader from the tribe of the children of Asher, Ahihud the son of Shelomi; ²⁸and a leader from the tribe of the children of Naphtali, Pedahel the son of Ammihud.”

²⁹These are the ones the Lord commanded to ²divide the inheritance among the children of Israel in the land of Canaan.

Cities for the Levites

35And the Lord spoke to Moses in ^athe plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho, saying: ^2b“Command the children of Israel that they give the Levites cities to dwell in from the inheritance of their possession, and you shall also give the Levites ^ccommon-land around the cities. ³They shall have the cities to dwell in; and their common-land shall be for their cattle, for their herds, and for all their animals. ⁴The common-land of the cities which you will give the Levites shall extend from the wall of the city outward a thousand cubits all around. ⁵And you shall measure outside the city on the east side two thousand cubits, on the south side two thousand cubits, on the west side two thousand cubits, and on the north side two thousand cubits. The city shall be in the middle. This shall belong to them as common-land for the cities.

⁶“Now among the cities which you will give to the Levites you shall appoint ^dsix cities of refuge, to which a manslayer may flee. And to these you shall add forty-two cities. ⁷So all the cities you will give to the Levites shall be ^eforty-eight; these you shall give with their common-land. ⁸And the cities which you will give shall be ^ffrom the possession of the children of Israel; ^gfrom the larger tribe you shall give many, from the smaller you shall give few. Each shall give some of its cities to the Levites, in…