Numbers 33–35

The Stages of Israel’s Journey from Egypt

³³These are the stages by which the Israelites went out of the land of Egypt in military formation under the leadership of Moses and Aaron.^{* 2}Moses wrote down their starting points, stage by stage, by command of the Lord, and these are their stages according to their starting places. ³They set out from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the day after the Passover the Israelites went out boldly in the sight of all the Egyptians,^{* 4}while the Egyptians were burying all their firstborn, whom the Lord had struck down among them. The Lord executed judgments even against their gods.^*

⁵So the Israelites set out from Rameses and camped at Succoth. ⁶They set out from Succoth and camped at Etham, which is on the edge of the wilderness.^{* 7}They set out from Etham and turned back to Pi-hahiroth, which faces Baal-zephon, and they camped before Migdol.^{* 8}They set out from Pi-hahiroth,^w passed through the sea into the wilderness, went a three days’ journey in the wilderness of Etham, and camped at Marah.^{* 9}They set out from Marah and came to Elim; at Elim there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they camped there.^{* 10}They set out from Elim and camped by the Red Sea.^{x 11}They set out from the Red Sea^y and camped in the wilderness of Sin.^{* 12}They set out from the wilderness of Sin and camped at Dophkah. ¹³They set out from Dophkah and camped at Alush. ¹⁴They set out from Alush and camped at Rephidim, where there was no water for the people to drink.^{* 15}They set out from Rephidim and camped in the wilderness of Sinai.^{* 16}They set out from the wilderness of Sinai and camped at Kibroth-hattaavah.^{* 17}They set out from Kibroth-hattaavah and camped at Hazeroth.^{* 18}They set out from Hazeroth and camped at Rithmah. ¹⁹They set out from Rithmah and camped at Rimmon-perez. ²⁰They set out from Rimmon-perez and camped at Libnah.^{* 21}They set out from Libnah and camped at Rissah. ²²They set out from Rissah and camped at Kehelathah. ²³They set out from Kehelathah and camped at Mount Shepher. ²⁴They set out from Mount Shepher and camped at Haradah. ²⁵They set out from Haradah and camped at Makheloth. ²⁶They set out from Makheloth and camped at Tahath. ²⁷They set out from Tahath and camped at Terah. ²⁸They set out from Terah and camped at Mithkah. ²⁹They set out from Mithkah and camped at Hashmonah. ³⁰They set out from Hashmonah and camped at Moseroth.^{* 31}They set out from Moseroth and camped at Bene-jaakan. ³²They set out from Bene-jaakan and camped at Hor-haggidgad. ³³They set out from Hor-haggidgad and camped at Jotbathah.^{* 34}They set out from Jotbathah and camped at Abronah. ³⁵They set out from Abronah and camped at Ezion-geber.^{* 36}They set out from Ezion-geber and camped in the wilderness of Zin (that is, Kadesh).^{* 37}They set out from Kadesh and camped at Mount Hor, on the edge of the land of Edom.^*

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

⁴⁰The Canaanite, the king of Arad, who lived in the Negeb in the land of Canaan, heard of the coming of the Israelites.^*

⁴¹They set out from Mount Hor and camped at Zalmonah. ⁴²They set out from Zalmonah and camped at Punon. ⁴³They set out from Punon and camped at Oboth.^{* 44}They set out from Oboth and camped at Iye-abarim, in the territory of Moab.^{* 45}They set out from Iyim and camped at Dibon-gad. ⁴⁶They set out from Dibon-gad and camped at Almon-diblathaim. ⁴⁷They set out from Almon-diblathaim and camped in the mountains of Abarim, before Nebo.^{* 48}They set out from the mountains of Abarim and camped in the plains of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho;^{* 49}they camped by the Jordan from Beth-jeshimoth as far as Abel-shittim in the plains of Moab.^*

Directions for the Conquest of Canaan

⁵⁰In the plains of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho, the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ⁵¹“Speak to the Israelites, and say to them: When you cross over the Jordan into the land of Canaan, ⁵²you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, destroy all their figured stones, destroy all their cast images, and demolish all their high places.^{* 53}You shall take possession of the land and settle in it, for I have given you the land to possess. ⁵⁴You shall apportion the land by lot according to your clans; to a large one you shall give a large inheritance, and to a small one you shall give a small inheritance; the inheritance shall belong to the person on whom the lot falls; according to your ancestral tribes you shall apportion it.^{* 55}But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then those whom you let remain shall be as barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides; they shall trouble you in the land where you are settling.^{* 56}And I will do to you as I thought to do to them.”

The Boundaries of the Land

³⁴The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²“Command the Israelites, and say to them: When you enter the land of Canaan (this is the land that shall fall to you for an inheritance, the land of Canaan, defined by its boundaries),^{* 3}your south sector shall extend from the wilderness of Zin along the side of Edom. Your southern boundary shall begin from the end of the Dead Sea^z on the east;^{* 4}your boundary shall turn south of the ascent of Akrabbim and cross to Zin, and its outer limit shall be south of Kadesh-barnea; then it shall go on to Hazar-addar and cross to Azmon; ⁵the boundary shall turn from Azmon to the Wadi of Egypt, and its termination shall be at the Sea.^*

⁶“For the western boundary, you shall have the Great Sea and its^a coast; this shall be your western boundary.

⁷“This shall be your northern boundary: from the Great Sea you shall mark out your line to Mount Hor;^{* 8}from Mount Hor you shall mark it out to Lebo-hamath, and the outer limit of the boundary shall be at Zedad;^{* 9}then the boundary shall extend to Ziphron, and its end shall be at Hazar-enan; this shall be your northern boundary.

¹⁰“You shall mark out your eastern boundary from Hazar-enan to Shepham, ¹¹and the boundary shall continue down from Shepham to Riblah on the east side of Ain, and the boundary shall go down and reach the eastern slope of the sea of Chinnereth,^{* 12}and the boundary shall go down to the Jordan, and its end shall be at the Dead Sea.^b This shall be your land with its boundaries all around.”

¹³Moses commanded the Israelites, saying, “This is the land that you shall apportion by lot, which the Lord has commanded to give to the nine tribes and to the half-tribe,^{* 14}for the tribe of the Reubenites by their ancestral houses and the tribe of the Gadites by their ancestral houses have taken their inheritance and also the half-tribe of Manasseh;^{* 15}the two tribes and the half-tribe have taken their inheritance beyond the Jordan at Jericho eastward, toward the sunrise.”

Tribal Leaders

¹⁶The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁷“These are the names of the men who shall apportion the land to you for inheritance: the priest Eleazar and Joshua son of Nun.^{* 18}You shall take one leader of every tribe to apportion the land for inheritance.^{* 19}These are the names of the men: Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb son of Jephunneh. ²⁰Of the tribe of the Simeonites, Shemuel son of Ammihud. ²¹Of the tribe of Benjamin, Elidad son of Chislon. ²²Of the tribe of the Danites a leader, Bukki son of Jogli. ²³Of the Josephites: of the tribe of the Manassites a leader, Hanniel son of Ephod, ²⁴and of the tribe of the Ephraimites a leader, Kemuel son of Shiphtan. ²⁵Of the tribe of the Zebulunites a leader, Eli-zaphan son of Parnach. ²⁶Of the tribe of the Issacharites a leader, Paltiel son of Azzan. ²⁷And of the tribe of the Asherites a leader, Ahihud son of Shelomi. ²⁸Of the tribe of the Naphtalites a leader, Pedahel son of Ammihud. ²⁹These were the ones whom the Lord commanded to apportion the inheritance for the Israelites in the land of Canaan.”

Cities for the Levites

³⁵In the plains of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho, the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²“Command the Israelites to give, from the inheritance that they possess, towns for the Levites to live in; you shall also give to the Levites pasturelands surrounding the towns.^{* 3}The towns shall be theirs to live in, and their pasturelands shall be for their cattle, for their livestock, and for all their animals. ⁴The pasturelands of the towns, which you shall give to the Levites, shall reach from the wall of the town outward a thousand cubits all around. ⁵You shall measure, outside the town, for the east side two thousand cubits, for the south side two thousand cubits, for the west side two thousand cubits, and for the north side two thousand cubits, with the town in the middle; this shall belong to them as pastureland for their towns.

⁶“The towns that you give to the Levites shall include the six cities of refuge, where you shall permit a slayer to flee, and in addition to them you shall give forty-two towns.^{* 7}The towns that you give to the Levites shall total forty-eight, with their pasturelands. ⁸And as for the towns that you shall give from the possession of the Israelites, from the larger tribes you shall take many, and from the smaller tribes you shall take few; each, in proportion to the inheritance that it obtains, shall give of its towns to the Levites.”^*

Cities of Refuge

⁹The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁰“Speak to the Israelites and say to them: When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, ¹¹then you shall select cities to be cities of refuge for you, so that a slayer who kills a person without intent may flee there.^{* 12}The cities shall be for you a refuge from the avenger, so that the slayer may not die until there is a trial before the congregation.^*

¹³“The…