Chapter 14

The People Rebel

1 Then all the congregation 1lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept 2that night.

2 All the sons of Israel agrumbled against Moses and Aaron; and the whole congregation said to them, “bWould that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness!

3 “Why is the Lord bringing us into this land, ato fall by the sword? bOur wives and our little ones will become plunder; would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?”

4 So they said to one another, “aLet us appoint a leader and return to Egypt.”

5 aThen Moses and Aaron fell on their faces in the presence of all the assembly of the congregation of the sons of Israel.

6 Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, of those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes;

7 and they spoke to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, saying, “aThe land which we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land.

8 “aIf the Lord is pleased with us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us—ba land which flows with milk and honey.

9 “Only ado not rebel against the Lord; and do not bfear the people of the land, for they will be our 1prey. Their 2protection has been removed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them.”

10 aBut all the congregation said to stone them with stones. Then bthe glory of the Lord appeared in the tent of meeting to all the sons of Israel.

Moses Pleads for the People

11 aThe Lord said to Moses, “How long will this people spurn Me? And how long will bthey not believe in Me, despite all the signs which I have performed in their midst?

12 “I will smite them with 1apestilence and dispossess them, and I bwill make you into a nation greater and mightier than they.”

13 aBut Moses said to the Lord, “Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for by Your strength You brought up this people from their midst,

14 and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that You, O Lord, are in the midst of this people, for aYou, O Lord, are seen eye to eye, while Your cloud stands over them; and You go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night.

15 “Now if You slay this people as one man, athen the nations who have heard of Your fame will 1say,

16 ‘Because the Lord acould not bring this people into the land which He promised them by oath, therefore He slaughtered them in the wilderness.’

17 “But now, I pray, let the power of the Lord be great, just as You have 1declared,

18 ‘aThe Lord is slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but bHe will by no means clear the guilty, cvisiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children 1to the third and the fourth generations.’

19 “aPardon, I pray, the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of Your lovingkindness, just as You also have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.”

The Lord Pardons and Rebukes

20 So the Lord said, “aI have pardoned them according to your word;

21 but indeed, aas I live, 1ball the earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord.

22 “Surely aall the men who have seen My glory and My signs which I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet bhave put Me to the test these ten times and have not listened to My voice,

23 ashall by no means see the land which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who spurned Me see it.

24 “But My servant Caleb, abecause he has had a different spirit and has followed Me fully, 1bI will bring into the land 2which he entered, and his 3descendants shall take possession of it.

25 “aNow the Amalekites and the Canaanites live in the valleys; turn tomorrow and set out to the wilderness by the way of the 1Red Sea.”

26 The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying,

27 “How long shall I bear with this evil congregation who are agrumbling against Me? I have heard the complaints of the sons of Israel, which they are 1making against Me.

28 “Say to them, ‘aAs I live,’ says the Lord, ‘just as byou have spoken in My hearing, so I will surely do to you;

29 ayour corpses will fall in this wilderness, even all byour 1numbered men, according to your complete number from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against Me.

30 ‘Surely you shall not come into the land in which I 1swore to settle you, aexcept Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun.

31 ‘aYour children, however, whom you said would become a prey—I will bring them in, and they will know the land which you have rejected.

32 ‘aBut as for you, your corpses will fall in this wilderness.

33 ‘Your sons shall be shepherds for aforty years in the wilderness, and they will 1suffer for your 2unfaithfulness, until your corpses 3lie in the wilderness.

34 ‘According to the anumber of days which you spied out the land, forty days, for every day you shall bear your 1guilt a year, even forty years, and you will know My opposition.

35 ‘aI, the Lord, have spoken, surely this I will do to all this evil congregation who are gathered together against Me. In this wilderness they shall be destroyed, and there they will die.’ ”

36 aAs for the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land and who returned and made all the congregation grumble against him by bringing out a bad report concerning the land,

37 even athose men who brought out the very bad report of the land died by a bplague before the Lord.

38 But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh remained alive out of those men who went to spy out the land.

Israel Repulsed

39 When Moses spoke athese words to all the sons of Israel, bthe people mourned greatly.

40 In the morning, however, they rose up early and went up to the 1ridge of the hill country, saying, “aHere we are; 2we have indeed sinned, but we will go up to the place which the Lord has promised.”

41 But Moses said, “aWhy then are you transgressing the 1commandment of the Lord, when it will not succeed?

42 “aDo not go up, or you will be struck down before your enemies, for the Lord is not among you.

43 “For the Amalekites and the Canaanites will be there in front of you, and you will fall by the sword, inasmuch as you have turned back from following the Lord. And the Lord will not be with you.”

44 But they went up heedlessly to the 1ridge of the hill country; neither athe ark of the covenant of the Lord nor Moses left the camp.

45 Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down, and struck them and beat them down as far as aHormah.

Chapter 15

Laws for Canaan

1 Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

2 “aSpeak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When you enter the land 1where you are to live, which I am giving you,

3 then make aan offering by fire to the Lord, a burnt offering or a sacrifice to 1bfulfill a special vow, or as a freewill offering or in your cappointed times, to make a dsoothing aroma to the Lord, from the herd or from the flock.

4 ‘aThe one who presents his offering shall present to the Lord a grain offering of one-tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with one-fourth of a 1hin of oil,

5 and you shall prepare wine for the drink offering, one-fourth of a hin, with the burnt offering or for the sacrifice, for aeach lamb.

6 ‘Or for a ram you shall prepare as a grain offering two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with one-third of a hin of oil;

7 and for the drink offering you shall offer one-third of a hin of wine as a soothing aroma to the Lord.

8 ‘When you prepare aa bull as a burnt offering or a sacrifice, to 1fulfill a special vow, or for peace offerings to the Lord,

9 then you shall offer with the bull a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with one-half a hin of oil;

10 and you shall offer as the drink offering one-half a hin of wine as an offering by fire, as a soothing aroma to the Lord.

11 ‘Thus it shall be done for each ox, or for each ram, or for each of the male lambs, or of the goats.

12 ‘According to the number that you prepare, so you shall do for everyone according to their number.

13 ‘All who are native shall do these things in this manner, in presenting an offering by fire, as a soothing aroma to the Lord.

Law of the Sojourner

14 ‘If an alien sojourns with you, or one who may be among you throughout your generations, and he wishes to make an offering by fire, as a soothing aroma to the Lord, just as you do so he shall do.

15 ‘As for the assembly, there shall be aone statute for you and for the alien who sojourns with you, a perpetual statute throughout your generations; as you are, so shall the alien be before the Lord.

16 ‘There is to be aone law and one ordinance for you and for the alien who sojourns with you.’ ”

17 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

18 “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When you enter the land where I bring you,

19 then it shall be, that when you eat of the 1afood of the land, you shall lift up 2an offering to the Lord.

20 ‘aOf the first of your 1dough you shall lift up a cake as an 2offering; as bthe 2offering of the threshing floor, so you shall lift it up.

21 ‘From the first of your 1dough you shall give to the Lord an 2offering throughout your generations.

22 ‘But when you aunwittingly fail and do not observe all these commandments, which the Lord has spoken to Moses,

23 even all that the Lord has commanded you 1through Moses, from the day when the Lord gave commandment and onward throughout your generations,

24 then it shall be, if it is done aunintentionally, 1without the knowledge of the congregation, that all the congregation shall offer one bull for a burnt offering, as a soothing aroma to the Lord, bwith its grain offering and its drink offering, according to the ordinance, and one male goat for a sin offering.

25 ‘Then athe priest shall make atonement for all the congregation of the sons of Israel, and they will be forgiven; for it was an error, and they have brought their offering, an offering by fire to the Lord, and their sin offering before the Lord, for their error.

26 ‘So all the congregation of the sons of Israel will be forgiven, with the alien who sojourns among them, for it happened to all the people through aerror.

27 ‘Also if one person sins aunintentionally, then he shall offer a one year old female goat for a sin offering.

28 ‘aThe priest shall make atonement before the Lord for the person who goes astray when he sins unintentionally, making atonement for him 1that he may be forgiven.

29 ‘You shall have one law for him who does anything unintentionally, for him who is native among the sons of Israel and for the alien who sojourns among them.

30 ‘But the person who does anything adefiantly, whether he is native or an alien, that one is blaspheming the Lord; and that person shall be cut off from among his people.

31 ‘Because he has adespised the word of the Lord and has broken His commandment, that person shall be completely cut off; bhis 1guilt will be on him.’ ”

Sabbath-breaking Punished

32 Now while the sons of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man agathering wood on the sabbath day.

33 Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation;

34 and they put him in 1custody abecause it had not been 2declared what should be done to him.

35 Then the Lord said to Moses, “The man shall surely be put to death; aall the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp.”

36 So all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him 1to death with stones, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

37 The Lord also spoke to Moses, saying,

38 “Speak to the sons of Israel, and tell them that they shall make for themselves atassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and that they shall put on the tassel of each corner a cord of blue.

39 “It shall be a tassel for you 1to look at and aremember all the commandments of the Lord, so as to do them and not 2follow after your own heart and your own eyes, after which you played the harlot,

40 so that you may remember to do all My commandments and abe holy to your God.

41 “I am the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt to be your God; I am the Lord your God.”

Chapter 16

Korah’s Rebellion

1 Now aKorah the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, with bDathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took action,

2 and they rose up before Moses, 1together with some of the sons of Israel, two hundred and fifty leaders of the congregation, 2achosen in the assembly, men of renown.

3 They assembled together aagainst Moses and Aaron, and said to them, “1bYou have gone far enough, for all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and cthe Lord is in their midst; so why do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?”

4 When Moses heard this, ahe fell on his face;

5 and he spoke to Korah and all his company, saying, “Tomorrow morning the Lord will show who is His, and awho is holy, and will bring him near to Himself; even bthe one whom He will choose, He will bring near to Himself.

6 “Do this: take censers for yourselves, Korah and all 1your company,

7 and put fire in them, and lay incense upon them in the presence of the Lord tomorrow; and the man whom the Lord chooses shall be the one who is holy. 1aYou have gone far enough, you sons of Levi!”

8 Then Moses said to Korah, “Hear now, you sons of Levi,

9 ais it 1not enough for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the rest of the congregation of Israel, bto bring you near to Himself, to do the service of the tabernacle of the Lord, and to stand before the congregation to minister to them;

10 and that He has brought you near, Korah, and all your brothers, sons of Levi, with you? And are you aseeking for the priesthood also?

11 “Therefore you and all your company are gathered together aagainst the Lord; but as for Aaron, 1who is he that byou grumble against him?”

12 Then Moses sent 1a summons to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab; but they said, “We will not come up.

13 “Is it 1not enough that you have brought us up out of a aland flowing with milk and honey bto have us die in the wilderness, but you would also lord it over us?

14 “Indeed, you have not brought us ainto a land flowing with milk and honey, nor have you given us an inheritance of bfields and vineyards. Would you 1cput out the eyes of 2these men? We will not come up!”

15 Then Moses became very angry and said to the Lord, “aDo not regard their offering! bI have not taken a single donkey from them, nor have I done harm to any of them.”

16 Moses said to Korah, “You and all your company be present before the Lord tomorrow, both you and they along with Aaron.

17 “Each of you take his firepan and put incense on 1it, and each of you bring his censer before the Lord, two hundred and fifty firepans; also you and Aaron shall each bring his firepan.”

18 So they each took his own censer and put fire on 1it, and laid incense on 1it; and they stood at the doorway of the tent of meeting, with Moses and Aaron.

19 Thus Korah assembled all the congregation against them at the doorway of the tent of meeting. And athe glory of the Lord appeared to all the congregation.

20 Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying,

21 “aSeparate yourselves from among this congregation, bthat I may consume them instantly.”

22 But they fell on their faces and said, “O God, aGod of the spirits of all flesh, bwhen one man sins, will You be angry with the entire congregation?”

23 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

24 “Speak to the congregation, saying, ‘aGet back from around the dwellings of Korah, Dathan and Abiram.’ ”

25 Then Moses arose and went to Dathan and Abiram, with the elders of Israel following him,

26 and he spoke to the congregation, saying, “aDepart now from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing that belongs to them, bor you will be swept away in all their sin.”

27 So they got back from around the dwellings of Korah, Dathan and Abiram; and Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the doorway of their tents, along with their wives and atheir sons and their little ones.

28 Moses said, “By this you shall know that athe Lord has sent me to do all these deeds; for this is not 1my doing.

29 “If these men die 1the death of all men or 2if they suffer the afate of all men, then the Lord has not sent me.

30 “But aif the Lord 1brings about an entirely new thing and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that is theirs, and they bdescend alive into 2Sheol, then you will understand that these men have spurned the Lord.”

31 As he finished speaking all these words, the ground that was under them split open;

32 and athe earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, and their households, and ball the men who belonged to Korah with their possessions.

33 So they and all that belonged to them went down alive to 1Sheol; and the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly.

34 All Israel who were around them fled at their 1outcry, for they said, “The earth may swallow us up!”

35 aFire also came forth from the Lord and consumed the btwo hundred and fifty men who were offering the incense.

36 1Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

37 “Say to Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, that he shall take up the censers out of the midst of the 1blaze, for they are holy; and you scatter the 2burning coals abroad.

38 “As for the censers of these 1men who have sinned at the cost of their lives, let them be made into hammered sheets for a plating of the altar, since they did present them before the Lord and they are holy; and athey shall be for a sign to the sons of Israel.”

39 So Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers which the men who were burned had offered, and they hammered them out as a plating for the altar,

40 as a 1reminder to the sons of Israel that ano 2layman who is not of the 3descendants of Aaron should come near bto burn incense before the Lord; so that he will not become like Korah and his company—just as the Lord had spoken to him 4through Moses.

Murmuring and Plague

41 But on the next day all the congregation of the sons of Israel agrumbled against Moses and Aaron, saying, “You are the ones who have caused the death of the Lord’s people.”

42 It came about, however, when the congregation had assembled against Moses and Aaron, that they turned toward the tent of meeting, and behold, the cloud covered it and athe glory of the Lord appeared.

43 Then Moses and Aaron came to the front of the tent of meeting,

44 and the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

45 “1aGet away from among this congregation, that I may consume them instantly.” Then they fell on their faces.

46 Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer and put in it fire from the altar, and lay incense on it; then bring it quickly to the congregation and amake atonement for them, for bwrath has gone forth from the Lord, the plague has begun!”

47 Then Aaron took it as Moses had spoken, and ran into the midst of the assembly, for behold, the plague had begun among the people. aSo he put on the incense and made atonement for the people.

48 He took his stand between the dead and the living, so that the plague was checked.

49 aBut those who died by the plague were 14,700, besides those who bdied on account of Korah.

50 Then Aaron returned to Moses at the doorway of the tent of meeting, for the plague had been checked.