Numbers 17–19

¹And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, saying, ²‘Speak unto the sons of Israel, and take from them each a rod, for a father’s house, from all their princes, for the house of their fathers, twelve rods; the name of each thou dost write on his rod, ³and Aaron’s name thou dost write on the tribe of Levi; for one rod is for the head of their fathers’ house: ⁴and thou hast placed them in the tent of meeting, before the testimony, where I meet with you.

⁵‘And it hath come to pass, the man’s rod on whom I fix doth flourish, and I have caused to cease from off me the murmurings of the sons of Israel, which they are murmuring against you.’ ⁶And Moses speaketh unto the sons of Israel, and all their princes give unto him one rod for a prince, one rod for a prince, for their fathers’ house, twelve rods, and the rod of Aaron is in the midst of their rods; ⁷and Moses placeth the rods before Jehovah, in the tent of the testimony.

⁸And it cometh to pass, on the morrow, that Moses goeth in unto the tent of the testimony, and lo, the rod of Aaron hath flourished for the house of Levi, and is bringing out flourishing, and doth blossom blossoms, and doth produce almonds; ⁹and Moses bringeth out all the rods from before Jehovah, unto all the sons of Israel, and they look, and take each his rod. ¹⁰And Jehovah saith unto Moses, ‘Put back the rod of Aaron, before the testimony, for a charge, for a sign to the sons of rebellion, and thou dost remove their murmurings from off me, and they do not die;’ ¹¹and Moses doth as Jehovah hath commanded him; so he hath done. ¹²And the sons of Israel speak unto Moses, saying, ‘Lo, we have expired; we have perished; we have all of us perished; ¹³any who is at all drawing near unto the tabernacle of Jehovah dieth; have we not been consumed—to expire?’

Chapter 18

¹And Jehovah saith unto Aaron, ‘Thou, and thy sons, and the house of thy father with thee, do bear the iniquity of the sanctuary; and thou, and thy sons with thee, do bear the iniquity of your priesthood; ²and also thy brethren, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of thy father, bring near with thee, and they are joined unto thee, and serve thee, even thou and thy sons with thee, before the tent of the testimony.

³‘And they have kept thy charge, and the charge of all the tent; only, unto the vessels of the sanctuary and unto the altar they do not come near, and they die not, either they or you; ⁴and they have been joined unto thee, and have kept the charge of the tent of meeting, for all the service of the tent; and a stranger doth not come near unto you; ⁵and ye have kept the charge of the sanctuary, and the charge of the altar, and there is no more wrath against the sons of Israel.

⁶‘And I, lo, I have taken your brethren the Levites from the midst of the sons of Israel; to you a gift they are given by Jehovah, to do the service of the tent of meeting; ⁷and thou, and thy sons with thee, do keep your priesthood, for everything of the altar, and within the vail, and ye have served; a service of gift I make your priesthood; and the stranger who is coming near is put to death.’

⁸And Jehovah speaketh unto Aaron: ‘And I, lo, I have given to thee the charge of My heave-offerings, of all the hallowed things of the sons of Israel—to thee I have given them for the anointing, and to thy sons, by a statute age-during. ⁹This is thine of the most holy things, from the fire: all their offering, to all their present, and to all their sin-offering, and to all their guilt-offering, which they give back to Me, is most holy to thee, and to thy sons; ¹⁰in the holy of holies thou dost eat it; every male doth eat it; holy it is to thee.

¹¹‘And this is thine: the heave-offering of their gift, to all the wave-offerings of the sons of Israel, to thee I have given them, and to thy sons, and to thy daughters with thee, by a statute age-during; every clean one in thy house doth eat it; ¹²all the best of the oil, and all the best of the new wine, and wheat—their first -fruits which they give to Jehovah—to thee I have given them.

¹³‘The first-fruits of all that is in their land, which they bring in to Jehovah, are thine; every clean one in thy house doth eat it; ¹⁴every devoted thing in Israel is thine, ¹⁵every one opening a womb of all flesh which they bring near to Jehovah, among man and among beast, is thine; only, thou dost certainly ransom the first-born of man, and the firstling of the unclean beast thou dost ransom.

¹⁶‘And their ransomed ones from a son of a month, thou dost ransom with thy valuation, of silver, five shekels, by the shekel of the sanctuary, twenty gerahs it is.

¹⁷‘Only, the firstling of a cow, or the firstling of a sheep, or the firstling of a goat, thou dost not ransom, holy they are: their blood thou dost sprinkle on the altar, and of their fat thou makest perfume, a fire-offering of sweet fragrance to Jehovah, ¹⁸and their flesh is thine, as the breast of the wave-offering, and as the right leg, it is thine; ¹⁹all the heave-offerings of the holy things which the sons of Israel lift up to Jehovah I have given to thee and to thy sons, and to thy daughters with thee, by a statute age-during, a covenant of salt, age-during it is before Jehovah, to thee and to thy seed with thee.’

²⁰And Jehovah saith unto Aaron, ‘In their land thou dost not inherit, and a portion thou hast not in their midst: I am thy portion, and thine inheritance in the midst of the sons of Israel; ²¹and to the sons of Levi, lo, I have given all the tenth in Israel for inheritance in exchange for their service which they are serving—the service of the tent of meeting.

²²‘And the sons of Israel come no more near unto the tent of meeting, to bear sin, to die, ²³and the Levites have done the service of the tent of meeting, and they—they bear their iniquity; a statute age-during to your generations, that in the midst of the sons of Israel they have no inheritance; ²⁴but the tithe of the sons of Israel which they lift up to Jehovah, a heave-offering, I have given to the Levites for inheritance; therefore I have said of them, In the midst of the sons of Israel they have no inheritance.’ ²⁵And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, saying, ²⁶‘And unto the Levites thou dost speak; and thou hast said unto them, When ye take from the sons of Israel the tithe which I have given to you from them, for your inheritance, then ye have lifted up from it the heave-offering of Jehovah, a tithe of the tithe; ²⁷and your heave-offering hath been reckoned to you as corn from the threshing-floor, and as fulness from the wine-vat; ²⁸so ye do lift up—ye also—the heave-offering of Jehovah from all your tithes which ye receive from the sons of Israel; and ye have given from it the heave-offering of Jehovah to Aaron the priest; ²⁹out of all your gifts ye do lift up the whole heave-offering of Jehovah; out of all its fat,—its hallowed part—out of it.

³⁰‘And thou hast said unto them, In your lifting up its fat out of it, then it hath been reckoned to the Levites, as increase of a threshing-floor, and as increase of a wine-vat; ³¹and ye have eaten it in every place, ye and your households, for it is your hire in exchange for your service in the tent of meeting; ³²and ye bear no sin for it, in your lifting up its fat out of it, and the holy things of the sons of Israel ye do not pollute, and ye die not.’

Chapter 19

¹And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, and unto Aaron, saying, ²‘This is a statute of the law which Jehovah hath commanded, saying, Speak unto the sons of Israel, and they bring unto thee a red cow, a perfect one, in which there is no blemish, on which no yoke hath gone up; ³and ye have given it unto Eleazar the priest, and he hath brought it out unto the outside of the camp, and hath slaughtered it before him.

⁴‘And Eleazar the priest hath taken of its blood with his finger, and hath sprinkled over-against the front of the tent of meeting of her blood seven times; ⁵and one hath burnt the cow before his eyes; her skin, and her flesh, and her blood, besides her dung, he doth burn; ⁶and the priest hath taken cedar wood, and hyssop, and scarlet, and hath cast unto the midst of the burning of the cow; ⁷and the priest hath washed his garments, and hath bathed his flesh with water, and afterwards doth come in unto the camp, and the priest is unclean till the evening; ⁸and he who is burning it doth wash his garments with water, and hath bathed his flesh with water, and is unclean till the evening.

⁹‘And a clean man hath gathered the ashes of the cow, and hath placed at the outside of the camp, in a clean place, and it hath become to the company of the sons of Israel a charge for waters of separation—it is a cleansing; ¹⁰and he who is gathering the ashes of the heifer hath washed his garments, and is unclean till the evening; and it hath been to the sons of Israel, and to the sojourner who is sojourning in their midst, for a statute age-during.

¹¹‘He who is coming against the dead body of any man—is unclean seven days; ¹²he doth cleanse himself for it on the third day, and on the seventh day he is clean; and if he cleanse not himself on the third day, then on the seventh day he is not clean. ¹³Any one who is coming against the dead, against the body of man who dieth, and cleanseth not himself—the tabernacle of Jehovah he hath defiled, and that person hath been cut off from Israel, for water of separation is not sprinkled upon him; he is unclean; his uncleanness is still upon him.

¹⁴‘This is the law, when a man dieth in a tent: every one who is coming in unto the tent, and all that is in the tent, is unclean seven days; ¹⁵and every open vessel which hath no covering of thread upon it is unclean.

¹⁶‘And every one who cometh, on the face of the field, against the pierced of a sword, or against the dead, or against a bone of man, or against a grave, is unclean seven days; ¹⁷and they have taken for the unclean person of the ashes of the burning of the cleansing, and he hath put upon it running water unto a vessel; ¹⁸and a clean person hath taken hyssop, and…