Day 10 of 90

¹The Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

²"Make two trumpets of silver. You shall make them of beaten work. You shall use them for the calling of the congregation, and for the journeying of the camps.

³When they blow them, all the congregation shall gather themselves to you at the door of the Tent of Meeting.

⁴If they blow just one, then the princes, the heads of the thousands of Israel, shall gather themselves to you.

⁵When you blow an alarm, the camps that lie on the east side shall go forward.

⁶When you blow an alarm the second time, the camps that lie on the south side shall go forward. They shall blow an alarm for their journeys.

⁷But when the assembly is to be gathered together, you shall blow, but you shall not sound an alarm.

⁸The sons of Aaron, the priests, shall blow the trumpets. This shall be to you for a statute forever throughout your generations.

⁹When you go to war in your land against the adversary who oppresses you, then you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets. Then you will be remembered before the Lord your God, and you will be saved from your enemies.

¹⁰"Also in the day of your gladness, and in your set feasts, and in the beginnings of your months, you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings, and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; and they shall be to you for a memorial before your God. I am the Lord your God."

¹¹It happened in the second year, in the second month, on the twentieth day of the month, that the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle of the testimony.

¹²The children of Israel went forward according to their journeys out of the wilderness of Sinai; and the cloud abode in the wilderness of Paran.

¹³They first went forward according to the commandment of the Lord by Moses.

¹⁴First, the standard of the camp of the children of Judah went forward according to their armies. Nahshon the son of Amminadab was over his army.

¹⁵Nethanel the son of Zuar was over the army of the tribe of the children of Issachar.

¹⁶Eliab the son of Helon was over the army of the tribe of the children of Zebulun.

¹⁷The tabernacle was taken down; and the sons of Gershon and the sons of Merari, who bore the tabernacle, went forward.

¹⁸The standard of the camp of Reuben went forward according to their armies. Elizur the son of Shedeur was over his army.

¹⁹Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai was over the army of the tribe of the children of Simeon.

²⁰Eliasaph the son of Deuel was over the army of the tribe of the children of Gad.

²¹The Kohathites set forward, bearing the sanctuary. The others set up the tabernacle before they arrived.

²²The standard of the camp of the children of Ephraim set forward according to their armies. Elishama the son of Ammihud was over his army.

²³Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur was over the army of the tribe of the children of Manasseh.

²⁴Abidan the son of Gideoni was over the army of the tribe of the children of Benjamin.

²⁵The standard of the camp of the children of Dan, which was the rearward of all the camps, set forward according to their armies. Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai was over his army.

²⁶Pagiel the son of Ochran was over the army of the tribe of the children of Asher.

²⁷Ahira the son of Enan was over the army of the tribe of the children of Naphtali.

²⁸Thus were the travels of the children of Israel according to their armies; and they went forward.

²⁹Moses said to Hobab, the son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses' father-in-law, "We are journeying to the place of which the Lord said, 'I will give it to you.' Come with us, and we will treat you well; for the Lord has spoken good concerning Israel."

³⁰He said to him, "I will not go; but I will depart to my own land, and to my relatives."

³¹He said, "Do not leave us, please; because you know how we are to encamp in the wilderness, and you can be our eyes.

³²It shall be, if you go with us, yes, it shall be, that whatever good the Lord does to us, we will do the same to you."

³³They set forward from the Mount of the Lord three days' journey. The ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them three days' journey, to seek out a resting place for them.

³⁴The cloud of the Lord was over them by day, when they set forward from the camp.

³⁵It happened, when the ark went forward, that Moses said, "Rise up, Lord, and let your enemies be scattered! Let those who hate you flee before you!"

³⁶When it rested, he said, "Return, Lord, to the ten thousands of the thousands of Israel."

¹The people were complaining in the ears of the Lord. When the Lord heard it, his anger was kindled; and the Lord's fire burnt among them, and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp.

²The people cried to Moses; and Moses prayed to the Lord, and the fire abated.

³The name of that place was called Taberah, because the Lord's fire burnt among them.

⁴The mixed multitude that was among them lusted exceedingly: and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, "Who will give us flesh to eat?

⁵We remember the fish, which we ate in Egypt for nothing; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic;

⁶but now we have lost our appetite. There is nothing at all except this manna to look at."

⁷The manna was like coriander seed, and its appearance like the appearance of bdellium.

⁸The people went around, gathered it, and ground it in mills, or beat it in mortars, and boiled it in pots, and made cakes of it. Its taste was like the taste of fresh oil.

⁹When the dew fell on the camp in the night, the manna fell on it.

¹⁰Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, every man at the door of his tent; and the anger of the Lord was kindled greatly; and Moses was displeased.

¹¹Moses said to the Lord, "Why have you treated with your servant so badly? Why haven't I found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me?

¹²Have I conceived all this people? Have I brought them forth, that you should tell me, 'Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries a nursing infant, to the land which you swore to their fathers?'

¹³Where could I get meat to give to all this people? For they weep to me, saying, 'Give us meat, that we may eat.'

¹⁴I am not able to bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me.

¹⁵If you treat me this way, please kill me right now, if I have found favor in your sight; and do not let me see my wretchedness."

¹⁶The Lord said to Moses, "Gather to me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people, and officers over them; and bring them to the Tent of Meeting, that they may stand there with you.

¹⁷I will come down and talk with you there. I will take of the Spirit which is on you, and will put it on them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, that you not bear it yourself alone.

¹⁸"Say to the people, 'Sanctify yourselves against tomorrow, and you will eat flesh; for you have wept in the ears of the Lord, saying, "Who will give us flesh to eat? For it was well with us in Egypt." Therefore the Lord will give you flesh, and you will eat.

¹⁹You will not eat one day, nor two days, nor five days, neither ten days, nor twenty days,

²⁰but a whole month, until it come out at your nostrils, and it is loathsome to you; because that you have rejected the Lord who is among you, and have wept before him, saying, "Why did we come out of Egypt?"'"

²¹Moses said, "The people, among whom I am, are six hundred thousand men on foot; and you have said, 'I will give them flesh, that they may eat a whole month.'

²²Shall flocks and herds be slaughtered for them, to be sufficient for them? Shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to be sufficient for them?"

²³The Lord said to Moses, "Has the Lord's hand grown short? Now you will see whether my word will happen to you or not."

²⁴Moses went out, and told the people the words of the Lord; and he gathered seventy men of the elders of the people, and set them around the Tent.

²⁵The Lord came down in the cloud, and spoke to him, and took of the Spirit that was on him, and put it on the seventy elders: and it happened that when the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied, but they did so no more.

²⁶But two men remained in the camp. The name of one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad: and the Spirit rested on them; and they were of those who were written, but had not gone out to the Tent; and they prophesied in the camp.

²⁷A young man ran, and told Moses, and said, "Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp!"

²⁸Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Moses, one of his chosen men, answered, "My lord Moses, forbid them!"

²⁹Moses said to him, "Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the Lord's people were prophets, that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!"

³⁰Moses went into the camp, he and the elders of Israel.

³¹A wind from the Lord went out and brought quails from the sea, and let them fall by the camp, about a day's journey on this side, and a day's journey on the other side, around the camp, and about two cubits above the surface of the earth.

³²The people rose up all that day, and all the night, and all the next day, and gathered the quails. He who gathered least gathered ten homers; and they spread them all abroad for themselves around the camp.

³³While the flesh was yet between their teeth, before it was chewed, the anger of the Lord was kindled against the people, and the Lord struck the people with a very great plague.

³⁴The name of that place was called Kibroth Hattaavah, because there they buried the people who lusted.

³⁵From Kibroth Hattaavah the people traveled to Hazeroth; and they stayed at Hazeroth.

¹Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married; for he had married a Cushite woman.

²They said, "Has the Lord indeed spoken only with Moses? Hasn't he spoken also with us?" And the Lord heard it.

³Now the man Moses was very humble, above all the men who were on the surface of the earth.

⁴The Lord spoke suddenly to Moses, to Aaron, and to Miriam, "You three come out to the Tent of Meeting!" The three of them came out.

⁵The Lord came down in a pillar of cloud, and stood at the door of the Tent, and called Aaron and Miriam; and they both came forward.

⁶He said, "Hear now my words. If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known to him in a vision. I will speak with him in a dream.

⁷My servant Moses is not so. He is faithful in all my house.

⁸With him I will speak mouth to mouth, even plainly, and not in riddles; and he shall see the Lord's form. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant, against Moses?"

⁹The anger of the Lord was kindled against them; and he departed.

¹⁰The cloud departed from over the Tent; and behold, Miriam was leprous, as white as snow. Aaron looked at Miriam, and behold, she was leprous.

¹¹Aaron said to Moses, "Oh, my lord, please do not count this sin against us, in which we have done foolishly, and in which we have sinned.

¹²Let her not, I pray, be as one dead, of whom the flesh is half consumed when he comes out of his mother's womb."

¹³Moses cried to the Lord, saying, "Heal her, God, I beg you!"

¹⁴The Lord said to Moses, "If her father had but spit in her face, shouldn't she be ashamed seven days? Let her be shut up outside of the camp seven days, and after that she shall be brought in again."

¹⁵Miriam was shut up outside of the camp seven days, and the people did not travel until Miriam was brought in again.

¹⁶Afterward the people traveled from Hazeroth, and encamped in the wilderness of Paran.

¹The Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

²"Send men, that they may spy out the land of Canaan, which I give to the children of Israel. Of every tribe of their fathers, you shall send a man, every one a prince among them."

³Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran according to the commandment of the Lord: all of them men who were heads of the children of Israel.

⁴These were their names: Of the tribe of Reuben, Shammua the son of Zaccur.

⁵Of the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori.

⁶Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh.

⁷Of the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph.

⁸Of the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea the son of Nun.

⁹Of the tribe of Benjamin, Palti the son of Raphu.

¹⁰Of the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel the son of Sodi.

¹¹Of the tribe of Joseph, of the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi the son of Susi.

¹²Of the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli.

¹³Of the tribe of Asher, Sethur the son of Michael.

¹⁴Of the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi.

¹⁵Of the tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of Machi.

¹⁶These are the names of the men who Moses sent to spy out the land. Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun Joshua.

¹⁷Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said to them, "Go up this way by the Negev, and go up into the hill country:

¹⁸and see the land, what it is; and the people who dwell therein, whether they are strong or weak, whether they are few or many;

¹⁹and what the land is that they dwell in, whether it is good or bad; and what cities they are that they dwell in, whether in camps, or in strongholds;

²⁰and what the land is, whether it is fat or lean, whether there is wood therein, or not. Be courageous, and bring of the fruit of the land. Now the time was the time of the first-ripe grapes."

²¹So they went up, and spied out the land from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob, to the entrance of Hamath.

²²They went up by the Negev, and came to Hebron; and Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, were there. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)

²³They came to the valley of Eshcol, and cut down from there a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bore it on a staff between two. They also brought some of the pomegranates and figs.

²⁴That place was called the valley of Eshcol, because of the cluster which the children of Israel cut down from there.

²⁵They returned from spying out the land at the end of forty days.

²⁶They went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, to the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word to them, and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land.

²⁷They told him, and said, "We came to the land where you sent us; and surely it flows with milk and honey; and this is its fruit.

²⁸However the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. Moreover, we saw the children of Anak there.

²⁹Amalek dwells in the land of the Negev: and the Hittite, and the Jebusite, and the Amorite, dwell in the hill country; and the Canaanite dwells by the sea, and along by the side of the Jordan."

³⁰Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, "Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it."

³¹But the men who went up with him said, "We aren't able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we."

³²They brought up an evil report of the land which they had spied out to the children of Israel, saying, "The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that eats up its inhabitants; and all the people who we saw in it are men of great stature.

³³There we saw the Nephilim, the sons of Anak, who come of the Nephilim: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight."

¹All the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night.

²All the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said to them, "Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would that we had died in this wilderness!

³Why does the Lord bring us to this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will be a prey: wouldn't it be better for us to return into Egypt?"

⁴They said one to another, "Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt."

⁵Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel.

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

⁷and they spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, "The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceeding good land.

⁸If the Lord delights in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it to us; a land which flows with milk and honey.

⁹Only do not rebel against the Lord, neither fear the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defense is removed from over them, and the Lord is with us. Do not fear them."

¹⁰But all the congregation threatened to stone them with stones. The glory of the Lord appeared in the Tent of Meeting to all the children of Israel.

¹¹The Lord said to Moses, "How long will this people despise me? and how long will they not believe in me, for all the signs which I have worked among them?

¹²I will strike them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they."

¹³Moses said to the Lord, "Then the Egyptians will hear it; for you brought up this people in your might from among them;

¹⁴and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that you Lord are in the midst of this people; for you Lord are seen face to face, and 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.

¹⁵Now if you killed this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of you will speak, saying,

¹⁶'Because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the land which he swore to them, therefore he has slain them in the wilderness.'

¹⁷Now please let the power of the Lord be great, according as you have spoken, saying,

¹⁸'The Lord is slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, forgiving iniquity and disobedience; and that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and on the fourth generation.'

¹⁹Please pardon the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of your loving kindness, and according as you have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now."

²⁰The Lord said, "I have pardoned according to your word:

²¹but in very deed, as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord;

²²because all those men who have seen my glory, and my signs, which I worked in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have tempted me these ten times, and have not listened to my voice;

²³surely they shall not see the land which I swore to their fathers, neither shall any of those who despised me see it:

²⁴but my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and has followed me fully, him will I bring into the land into which he went; and his seed shall possess it.

²⁵Now the Amalekite and the Canaanite dwell in the valley: tomorrow turn, and go into the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea."

²⁶The Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,

²⁷"How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, that murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me.

²⁸Tell them, 'As I live, says the Lord, surely as you have spoken in my ears, so will I do to you:

²⁹your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness; and all who were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, who have murmured against me,

³⁰surely you shall not come into the land, concerning which I swore that I would make you dwell therein, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.

³¹But your little ones, that you said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which you have rejected.

³²But as for you, your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness.

³³Your children shall be wanderers in the wilderness forty years, and shall bear your prostitution, until your dead bodies be consumed in the wilderness.

³⁴After the number of the days in which you spied out the land, even forty days, for every day a year, you will bear your iniquities, even forty years, and you will know my alienation.'

³⁵I, the Lord, have spoken, surely this will I do to all this evil congregation, who are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die."

³⁶The men, whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned, and made all the congregation to murmur against him, by bringing up an evil report against the land,

³⁷even those men who brought up an evil report of the land, died by the plague before the Lord.

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

³⁹Moses told these words to all the children of Israel: and the people mourned greatly.

⁴⁰They rose up early in the morning, and went up to the top of the mountain, saying, "Behold, we are here, and will go up to the place which the Lord has promised: for we have sinned."

⁴¹Moses said, "Why now do you disobey the commandment of the Lord, since it shall not prosper?

⁴²Do not go up, for the Lord isn't among you; that you not be struck down before your enemies.

⁴³For there the Amalekite and the Canaanite are before you, and you shall fall by the sword: because you are turned back from following the Lord, therefore the Lord will not be with you."

⁴⁴But they presumed to go up to the top of the mountain: nevertheless the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and Moses, did not depart out of the camp.

⁴⁵Then the Amalekite came down, and the Canaanite who lived in that mountain, and struck them and beat them down, even to Hormah.

¹The Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

²"Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them, 'When you have come into the land of your habitations, which I give to you,

³and will make an offering by fire to the Lord, a burnt offering, or a sacrifice, to accomplish a vow, or as a freewill offering, or in your set feasts, to make a pleasant aroma to the Lord, of the herd, or of the flock;

⁴then he who offers his offering shall offer to the Lord a meal offering of a tenth part of an ephah of fine flour mixed with the fourth part of a hin of oil:

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

⁶"'Or for a ram, you shall prepare for a meal offering two tenth parts of an ephah of fine flour mixed with the third part of a hin of oil:

⁷and for the drink offering you shall offer the third part of a hin of wine, of a pleasant aroma to the Lord.

⁸When you prepare a bull for a burnt offering, or for a sacrifice, to accomplish a vow, or for peace offerings to the Lord;

⁹then shall he offer with the bull a meal offering of three tenth parts of an ephah of fine flour mixed with half a hin of oil:

¹⁰and you shall offer for the drink offering half a hin of wine, for an offering made by fire, of a pleasant aroma to the Lord.

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

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

¹³"'All who are native-born shall do these things in this way, in offering an offering made by fire, of a pleasant aroma to the Lord.

¹⁴If a stranger lives as a foreigner with you, or whoever may be among you throughout your generations, and will offer an offering made by fire, of a pleasant aroma to the Lord; as you do, so he shall do.

¹⁵For the assembly, there shall be one statute for you, and for the stranger who lives as a foreigner, a statute forever throughout your generations: as you are, so shall the foreigner be before the Lord.

¹⁶One law and one ordinance shall be for you, and for the stranger who lives as a foreigner with you.'"

¹⁷The Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

¹⁸"Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them, 'When you come into the land where I bring you,

¹⁹then it shall be that when you eat of the bread of the land, you shall offer up a wave offering to the Lord.

²⁰Of the first of your dough you shall offer up a cake for a wave offering: as the wave offering of the threshing floor, so you shall heave it.

²¹Of the first of your dough you shall give to the Lord a wave offering throughout your generations.

²²"'When you shall err, and not observe all these commandments, which the Lord has spoken to Moses,

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

²⁴then it shall be, if it be done unwittingly, without the knowledge of the congregation, that all the congregation shall offer one young bull for a burnt offering, for a pleasant aroma to the Lord, with the meal offering of it, and the drink offering of it, according to the ordinance, and one male goat for a sin offering.

²⁵The priest shall make atonement for all the congregation of the children of Israel, and they shall be forgiven; for it was an error, and they have brought their offering, an offering made by fire to the Lord, and their sin offering before the Lord, for their error:

²⁶and all the congregation of the children of Israel shall be forgiven, and the stranger who lives as a foreigner among them; for in respect of all the people it was done unwittingly.

²⁷"'If one person sins unwittingly, then he shall offer a female goat a year old for a sin offering.

²⁸The priest shall make atonement for the soul who errs, when he sins unwittingly, before the Lord, to make atonement for him; and he shall be forgiven.

²⁹You shall have one law for him who does anything unwittingly, for him who is native-born among the children of Israel, and for the stranger who lives as a foreigner among them.

³⁰"'But the soul who does anything with a high hand, whether he is native-born or a foreigner, the same blasphemes the Lord; and that soul shall be cut off from among his people.

³¹Because he has despised the word of the Lord, and has broken his commandment, that soul shall utterly be cut off; his iniquity shall be on him.'"

³²While the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering sticks on the Sabbath day.

³³Those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron, and to all the congregation.

³⁴They put him in custody, because it had not been declared what should be done to him.

³⁵The Lord said to Moses, "The man shall surely be put to death: all the congregation shall stone him with stones outside of the camp."

³⁶All the congregation brought him outside of the camp, and stoned him to death with stones; as the Lord commanded Moses.

³⁷The Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

³⁸"Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them that they should make themselves fringes in the borders of their garments throughout their generations, and that they put on the fringe of each border a cord of blue:

³⁹and it shall be to you for a fringe, that you may look on it, and remember all the commandments of the Lord, and do them; and that you not follow after your own heart and your own eyes, after which you use to play the prostitute;

⁴⁰that you may remember and do all my commandments, and be holy to your God.

⁴¹I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: I am the Lord your God."

¹Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, with Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men:

²and they rose up before Moses, with certain of the children of Israel, two hundred fifty princes of the congregation, called to the assembly, men of renown;

³and they assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said to them, "You take too much on yourself, since all the congregation are holy, everyone of them, and the Lord is among them: why then lift yourselves up above the assembly of the Lord?"

⁴When Moses heard it, he fell on his face:

⁵and he spoke to Korah and to all his company, saying, "In the morning the Lord will show who are his, and who is holy, and will cause him to come near to him: even him whom he shall choose he will cause to come near to him.

⁶Do this: take censers, Korah, and all his company;

⁷and put fire in them, and put incense on them before the Lord tomorrow: and it shall be that the man whom the Lord chooses, he shall be holy. You have gone too far, you sons of Levi!"

⁸Moses said to Korah, "Hear now, you sons of Levi!

⁹Is it a small thing to you, that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel, to 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;

¹⁰and that he has brought you near, and all your brothers the sons of Levi with you? and do you seek the priesthood also?

¹¹Therefore you and all your company are gathered together against the Lord: and Aaron, what is he that you murmur against him?"

¹²Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab; and they said, "We won't come up:

¹³is it a small thing that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, but you must also make yourself a prince over us?

¹⁴Moreover you haven't brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, nor given us inheritance of fields and vineyards: will you put out the eyes of these men? We won't come up."

¹⁵Moses was very angry, and said to the Lord, "Do not respect their offering: I have not taken one donkey from them, neither have I hurt one of them."

¹⁶Moses said to Korah, "You and all your company go before the Lord, you, and they, and Aaron, tomorrow:

¹⁷and each man take his censer, and put incense on them, and each man bring before the Lord his censer, two hundred fifty censers; you also, and Aaron, each his censer."

¹⁸They each took his censer, and put fire in them, and laid incense thereon, and stood at the door of the Tent of Meeting with Moses and Aaron.

¹⁹Korah assembled all the congregation against them to the door of the Tent of Meeting: and the glory of the Lord appeared to all the congregation.

²⁰The Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,

²¹"Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment!"

²²They fell on their faces, and said, "God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and will you be angry with all the congregation?"

²³The Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

²⁴"Speak to the congregation, saying, 'Get away from around the tent of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram!'"

²⁵Moses rose up and went to Dathan and Abiram; and the elders of Israel followed him.

²⁶He spoke to the congregation, saying, "Depart, please, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest you be consumed in all their sins!"

²⁷So they went away from the tent of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, on every side: and Dathan and Abiram came out, and stood at the door of their tents, and their wives, and their sons, and their little ones.

²⁸Moses said, "Hereby you shall know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works; for they are not from my own mind.

²⁹If these men die the common death of all men, or if they be visited after the visitation of all men; then the Lord hasn't sent me.

³⁰But if the Lord make a new thing, and the ground open its mouth, and swallow them up, with all that appertain to them, and they go down alive into Sheol; then you shall understand that these men have despised the Lord."

³¹It happened, as he made an end of speaking all these words, that the ground split apart that was under them;

³²and the earth opened its mouth, and swallowed them up, and their households, and all the men who appertained to Korah, and all their goods.

³³So they, and all that appertained to them, went down alive into Sheol: and the earth closed on them, and they perished from among the assembly.

³⁴All Israel that were around them fled at their cry; for they said, "Lest the earth swallow us up!"

³⁵Fire came forth from the Lord, and devoured the two hundred fifty men who offered the incense.

³⁶The Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

³⁷"Speak to Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest, that he take up the censers out of the burning, and scatter the fire yonder; for they are holy,

³⁸even the censers of these sinners against their own lives; and let them be made beaten plates for a covering of the altar: for they offered them before the Lord; therefore they are holy; and they shall be a sign to the children of Israel."

³⁹Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers, which those who were burnt had offered; and they beat them out for a covering of the altar,

⁴⁰to be a memorial to the children of Israel, to the end that no stranger, who isn't of the seed of Aaron, comes near to burn incense before the Lord; that he not be as Korah, and as his company: as the Lord spoke to him by Moses.

⁴¹But on the next day all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron, saying, "You have killed the Lord's people!"

⁴²It happened, when the congregation was assembled against Moses and against Aaron, that they looked toward the Tent of Meeting: and behold, the cloud covered it, and the glory of the Lord appeared.

⁴³Moses and Aaron came to the front of the Tent of Meeting.

⁴⁴The Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

⁴⁵"Get away from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment!" They fell on their faces.

⁴⁶Moses said to Aaron, "Take your censer, and put fire from off the altar in it, and lay incense on it, and carry it quickly to the congregation, and make atonement for them; for wrath has gone out from the Lord! The plague has begun."

⁴⁷Aaron did as Moses said, and ran into the midst of the assembly; and behold, the plague has begun among the people: and he put on the incense, and made atonement for the people.

⁴⁸He stood between the dead and the living; and the plague was stayed.

⁴⁹Now those who died by the plague were fourteen thousand and seven hundred, besides those who died about the matter of Korah.

⁵⁰Aaron returned to Moses to the door of the Tent of Meeting: and the plague was stayed.

¹The Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

²"Speak to the children of Israel, and take of them rods, one for each fathers' house, of all their princes according to their fathers' houses, twelve rods: write every man's name on his rod.

³You shall write Aaron's name on the rod of Levi; for there shall be one rod for each head of their fathers' houses.

⁴You shall lay them up in the Tent of Meeting before the testimony, where I meet with you.

⁵It shall happen, that the rod of the man whom I shall choose shall bud: and I will make to cease from me the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against you."

⁶Moses spoke to the children of Israel; and all their princes gave him rods, for each prince one, according to their fathers' houses, even twelve rods: and the rod of Aaron was among their rods.

⁷Moses laid up the rods before the Lord in the tent of the testimony.

⁸It happened on the next day, that Moses went into the tent of the testimony; and behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi was budded, and put forth buds, and produced blossoms, and bore ripe almonds.

⁹Moses brought out all the rods from before the Lord to all the children of Israel: and they looked, and took every man his rod.

¹⁰The Lord said to Moses, "Put back the rod of Aaron before the testimony, to be kept for a token against the children of rebellion; that you may make an end of their murmurings against me, that they not die."

¹¹Moses did so. As the Lord commanded him, so he did.

¹²The children of Israel spoke to Moses, saying, "Behold, we perish! We are undone! We are all undone!

¹³Everyone who comes near, who comes near to the tabernacle of the Lord, dies! Will we all perish?"

¹The Lord said to Aaron, "You and your sons and your fathers' house with you shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary; and you and your sons with you shall bear the iniquity of your priesthood.

²Your brothers also, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, bring near with you, that they may be joined to you, and minister to you: but you and your sons with you shall be before the tent of the testimony.

³They shall keep your commands, and the duty of all the Tent: only they shall not come near to the vessels of the sanctuary and to the altar, that they not die, neither they, nor you.

⁴They shall be joined to you, and keep the responsibility of the Tent of Meeting, for all the service of the Tent: and a stranger shall not come near to you.

⁵"You shall perform the duty of the sanctuary, and the duty of the altar; that there be no more wrath on the children of Israel.

⁶I, behold, I have taken your brothers the Levites from among the children of Israel: to you they are a gift, given to the Lord, to do the service of the Tent of Meeting.

⁷You and your sons with you shall keep your priesthood for everything of the altar, and for that within the veil; and you shall serve: I give you the priesthood as a service of gift: and the stranger who comes near shall be put to death."

⁸The Lord spoke to Aaron, "I, behold, I have given you the command of my wave offerings, even all the holy things of the children of Israel; to you have I given them by reason of the anointing, and to your sons, as a portion forever.

⁹This shall be yours of the most holy things from the fire: every offering of theirs, even every meal offering of theirs, and every sin offering of theirs, and every trespass offering of theirs, which they shall render to me, shall be most holy for you and for your sons.

¹⁰You shall eat of it like the most holy things. Every male shall eat of it. It shall be holy to you.

¹¹"This is yours, too: the wave offering of their gift, even all the wave offerings of the children of Israel. I have given them to you, and to your sons and to your daughters with you, as a portion forever. Everyone who is clean in your house shall eat of it.

¹²"All the best of the oil, and all the best of the vintage, and of the grain, the first fruits of them which they give to the Lord, to you have I given them.

¹³The first-ripe fruits of all that is in their land, which they bring to the Lord, shall be yours; everyone who is clean in your house shall eat of it.

¹⁴"Everything devoted in Israel shall be yours.

¹⁵Everything that opens the womb, of all flesh which they offer to the Lord, both of man and animal shall be yours: nevertheless you shall surely redeem the firstborn of man, and you shall redeem the firstborn of unclean animals.

¹⁶You shall redeem those who are to be redeemed of them from a month old, according to your estimation, for five shekels of money, after the shekel of the sanctuary (the same is twenty gerahs).

¹⁷"But you shall not redeem the firstborn of a cow, or the firstborn of a sheep, or the firstborn of a goat. They are holy. You shall sprinkle their blood on the altar, and shall burn their fat for an offering made by fire, for a pleasant aroma to the Lord.

¹⁸Their flesh shall be yours, as the wave offering breast and as the right thigh, it shall be yours.

¹⁹All the wave offerings of the holy things, which the children of Israel offer to the Lord, have I given you, and your sons and your daughters with you, as a portion forever: it is a covenant of salt forever before the Lord to you and to your seed with you."

²⁰The Lord said to Aaron, "You shall have no inheritance in their land, neither shall you have any portion among them. I am your portion and your inheritance among the children of Israel.

²¹"To the children of Levi, behold, I have given all the tithe in Israel for an inheritance, in return for their service which they serve, even the service of the Tent of Meeting.

²²Henceforth the children of Israel shall not come near the Tent of Meeting, lest they bear sin, and die.

²³But the Levites shall do the service of the Tent of Meeting, and they shall bear their iniquity: it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations; and among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance.

²⁴For the tithe of the children of Israel, which they offer as a wave offering to the Lord, I have given to the Levites for an inheritance: therefore I have said to them, 'Among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance.'"

²⁵The Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

²⁶"Moreover you shall speak to the Levites, and tell them, 'When you take of the children of Israel the tithe which I have given you from them for your inheritance, then you shall offer up a wave offering of it for the Lord, a tithe of the tithe.

²⁷Your wave offering shall be reckoned to you, as though it were the grain of the threshing floor, and as the fullness of the winepress.

²⁸Thus you also shall offer a wave offering to the Lord of all your tithes, which you receive of the children of Israel; and of it you shall give the Lord's wave offering to Aaron the priest.

²⁹Out of all your gifts you shall offer every wave offering of the Lord, of all its best, even the holy part of it out of it.'

³⁰"Therefore you shall tell them, 'When you heave its best from it, then it shall be reckoned to the Levites as the increase of the threshing floor, and as the increase of the winepress.

³¹You shall eat it in every place, you and your households: for it is your reward in return for your service in the Tent of Meeting.

³²You shall bear no sin by reason of it, when you have heaved from it its best: and you shall not profane the holy things of the children of Israel, that you not die.'"

¹The Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,

²"This is the statute of the law which the Lord has commanded: Speak to the children of Israel, that they bring you a red heifer without spot, in which is no blemish, and which was never yoked.

³You shall give her to Eleazar the priest, and he shall bring her forth outside of the camp, and one shall kill her before his face:

⁴and Eleazar the priest shall take of her blood with his finger, and sprinkle her blood toward the front of the Tent of Meeting seven times.

⁵One shall burn the heifer in his sight; her skin, and her flesh, and her blood, with her dung, shall he burn:

⁶and the priest shall take cedar wood, and hyssop, and scarlet, and cast it into the midst of the burning of the heifer.

⁷Then the priest shall wash his clothes, and he shall bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp, and the priest shall be unclean until the evening.

⁸He who burns her shall wash his clothes in water, and bathe his flesh in water, and shall be unclean until the evening.

⁹"A man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and lay them up outside of the camp in a clean place; and it shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel for a water for impurity: it is a sin offering.

¹⁰He who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the evening: and it shall be to the children of Israel, and to the stranger who lives as a foreigner among them, for a statute forever.

¹¹"He who touches the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days:

¹²the same shall purify himself with water on the third day, and on the seventh day he shall be clean: but if he doesn't purify himself the third day, then the seventh day he shall not be clean.

¹³Whoever touches a dead person, the body of a man who has died, and doesn't purify himself, defiles the tabernacle of the Lord; and that soul shall be cut off from Israel: because the water for impurity was not sprinkled on him, he shall be unclean; his uncleanness is yet on him.

¹⁴"This is the law when a man dies in a tent: everyone who comes into the tent, and everyone who is in the tent, shall be unclean seven days.

¹⁵Every open vessel, which has no covering bound on it, is unclean.

¹⁶"Whoever in the open field touches one who is slain with a sword, or a dead body, or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days.

¹⁷"For the unclean they shall take of the ashes of the burning of the sin offering; and running water shall be put thereto in a vessel:

¹⁸and a clean person shall take hyssop, and dip it in the water, and sprinkle it on the tent, and on all the vessels, and on the persons who were there, and on him who touched the bone, or the slain, or the dead, or the grave:

¹⁹and the clean person shall sprinkle on the unclean on the third day, and on the seventh day: and on the seventh day he shall purify him; and he shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and shall be clean at evening.

²⁰But the man who shall be unclean, and shall not purify himself, that soul shall be cut off from the midst of the assembly, because he has defiled the sanctuary of the Lord: the water for impurity has not been sprinkled on him; he is unclean.

²¹It shall be a perpetual statute to them: and he who sprinkles the water for impurity shall wash his clothes, and he who touches the water for impurity shall be unclean until evening.

²²"Whatever the unclean person touches shall be unclean; and the soul that touches it shall be unclean until evening."

¹The children of Israel, even the whole congregation, came into the wilderness of Zin in the first month: and the people stayed in Kadesh; and Miriam died there, and was buried there.

²There was no water for the congregation: and they assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron.

³The people strove with Moses, and spoke, saying, "We wish that we had died when our brothers died before the Lord!

⁴Why have you brought the assembly of the Lord into this wilderness, that we should die there, we and our animals?

⁵Why have you made us to come up out of Egypt, to bring us in to this evil place? It is no place of seed, or of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates; neither is there any water to drink."

⁶Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the door of the Tent of Meeting, and fell on their faces: and the glory of the Lord appeared to them.

⁷The Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

⁸"Take the rod, and assemble the congregation, you, and Aaron your brother, and speak to the rock before their eyes, that it give forth its water; and you shall bring forth to them water out of the rock; so you shall give the congregation and their livestock drink."

⁹Moses took the rod from before the Lord, as he commanded him.

¹⁰Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, "Hear now, you rebels; shall we bring you water out of this rock for you?"

¹¹Moses lifted up his hand, and struck the rock with his rod twice: and water came forth abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock.

¹²The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, "Because you did not believe in me, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them."

¹³These are the waters of Meribah; because the children of Israel strove with the Lord, and he was sanctified in them.

¹⁴Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom, saying: "Thus says your brother Israel: You know all the travail that has happened to us:

¹⁵how our fathers went down into Egypt, and we lived in Egypt a long time; and the Egyptians dealt ill with us, and our fathers:

¹⁶and when we cried to the Lord, he heard our voice, and sent an angel, and brought us forth out of Egypt: and behold, we are in Kadesh, a city in the uttermost of your border.

¹⁷"Please let us pass through your land: we will not pass through field or through vineyard, neither will we drink of the water of the wells: we will go along the king's highway; we will not turn aside to the right hand nor to the left, until we have passed your border."

¹⁸Edom said to him, "You shall not pass through me, lest I come out with the sword against you."

¹⁹The children of Israel said to him, "We will go up by the highway; and if we drink of your water, I and my livestock, then will I give its price: let me only, without doing anything else, pass through on my feet."

²⁰He said, "You shall not pass through." Edom came out against him with many people, and with a strong hand.

²¹Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through his border, so Israel turned away from him.

²²They traveled from Kadesh: and the children of Israel, even the whole congregation, came to Mount Hor.

²³The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in Mount Hor, by the border of the land of Edom, saying,

²⁴"Aaron shall be gathered to his people; for he shall not enter into the land which I have given to the children of Israel, because you rebelled against my word at the waters of Meribah.

²⁵Take Aaron and Eleazar his son, and bring them up to Mount Hor;

²⁶and strip Aaron of his garments, and put them on Eleazar his son: and Aaron shall be taken, and shall die there."

²⁷Moses did as the Lord commanded: and they went up into Mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation.

²⁸Moses stripped Aaron of his garments, and put them on Eleazar his son; and Aaron died there on the top of the mountain: and Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain.

²⁹When all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead, they wept for Aaron thirty days, even all the house of Israel.

¹The Canaanite, the king of Arad, who lived in the Negev, heard tell that Israel came by the way of Atharim; and he fought against Israel, and took some of them captive.

²Israel vowed a vow to the Lord, and said, "If you will indeed deliver this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities."

³The Lord listened to the voice of Israel, and delivered up the Canaanites; and they utterly destroyed them and their cities: and the name of the place was called Hormah.

⁴They traveled from Mount Hor by the way to the Red Sea, to compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way.

⁵The people spoke against God, and against Moses, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread, and there is no water; and our soul loathes this light bread."

⁶The Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many people of Israel died.

⁷The people came to Moses, and said, "We have sinned, because we have spoken against the Lord, and against you. Pray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us." Moses prayed for the people.

⁸The Lord said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a standard: and it shall happen, that everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live."

⁹Moses made a serpent of brass, and set it on the standard: and it happened, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he looked to the serpent of brass, he lived.

¹⁰The children of Israel traveled, and encamped in Oboth.

¹¹They traveled from Oboth, and encamped at Iyeabarim, in the wilderness which is before Moab, toward the sunrise.

¹²From there they traveled, and encamped in the valley of Zered.

¹³From there they traveled, and encamped on the other side of the Arnon, which is in the wilderness, that comes out of the border of the Amorites: for the Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites.

¹⁴Therefore it is said in the book of the Wars of the Lord, "Vaheb in Suphah, the valleys of the Arnon,

¹⁵the slope of the valleys that incline toward the dwelling of Ar, leans on the border of Moab."

¹⁶From there they traveled to Beer: that is the well of which the Lord said to Moses, "Gather the people together, and I will give them water."

¹⁷Then sang Israel this song: "Spring up, well; sing to it:

¹⁸the well, which the princes dug, which the nobles of the people dug, with the scepter, and with their poles." From the wilderness they traveled to Mattanah;

¹⁹and from Mattanah to Nahaliel; and from Nahaliel to Bamoth;

²⁰and from Bamoth to the valley that is in the field of Moab, to the top of Pisgah, which looks down on the desert.

²¹Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, saying,

²²"Let me pass through your land: we will not turn aside into field, or into vineyard; we will not drink of the water of the wells: we will go by the king's highway, until we have passed your border."

²³Sihon would not allow Israel to pass through his border: but Sihon gathered all his people together, and went out against Israel into the wilderness, and came to Jahaz; and he fought against Israel.

²⁴Israel struck him with the edge of the sword, and possessed his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, even to the children of Ammon; for the border of the children of Ammon was strong.

²⁵Israel took all these cities: and Israel lived in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all its towns.

²⁶For Heshbon was the city of Sihon the king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab, and taken all his land out of his hand, even to the Arnon.

²⁷Therefore those who speak in proverbs say, "Come to Heshbon. Let the city of Sihon be built and established;

²⁸for a fire has gone out of Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sihon. It has devoured Ar of Moab, The lords of the high places of the Arnon.

²⁹Woe to you, Moab! You are undone, people of Chemosh! He has given his sons as fugitives, and his daughters into captivity, to Sihon king of the Amorites.

³⁰We have shot at them. Heshbon has perished even to Dibon. We have laid waste even to Nophah, Which reaches to Medeba."

³¹Thus Israel lived in the land of the Amorites.

³²Moses sent to spy out Jazer; and they took its towns, and drove out the Amorites who were there.

³³They turned and went up by the way of Bashan: and Og the king of Bashan went out against them, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei.

³⁴The Lord said to Moses, "Do not fear him: for I have delivered him into your hand, and all his people, and his land; and you shall do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon."

³⁵So they struck him, and his sons and all his people, until there was none left him remaining: and they possessed his land.

¹The children of Israel traveled, and encamped in the plains of Moab beyond the Jordan at Jericho.

²Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites.

³Moab was very afraid of the people, because they were many: and Moab was distressed because of the children of Israel.

⁴Moab said to the elders of Midian, "Now this multitude will lick up all that is around us, as the ox licks up the grass of the field." Balak the son of Zippor was king of Moab at that time.

⁵He sent messengers to Balaam the son of Beor, to Pethor, which is by the River, to the land of the children of his people, to call him, saying, "Behold, there is a people who came out from Egypt. Behold, they cover the surface of the earth, and they are staying opposite me.

⁶Please come now therefore curse me this people; for they are too mighty for me: perhaps I shall prevail, that we may strike them, and that I may drive them out of the land; for I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed."

⁷The elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the rewards of divination in their hand; and they came to Balaam, and spoke to him the words of Balak.

⁸He said to them, "Lodge here this night, and I will bring you word again, as the Lord shall speak to me." The princes of Moab stayed with Balaam.

⁹God came to Balaam, and said, "Who are these men with you?"

¹⁰Balaam said to God, "Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, has said to me,

¹¹'Behold, the people that has come out of Egypt, it covers the surface of the earth: now, come curse me them; perhaps I shall be able to fight against them, and shall drive them out.'"

¹²God said to Balaam, "You shall not go with them. You shall not curse the people; for they are blessed."

¹³Balaam rose up in the morning, and said to the princes of Balak, "Go to your land; for the Lord refuses to permit me to go with you."

¹⁴The princes of Moab rose up, and they went to Balak, and said, "Balaam refuses to come with us."

¹⁵Balak sent yet again princes, more, and more honorable than they.

¹⁶They came to Balaam, and said to him, "Thus says Balak the son of Zippor, 'Please let nothing hinder you from coming to me:

¹⁷for I will promote you to very great honor, and whatever you say to me I will do. Please come therefore, and curse this people for me.'"

¹⁸Balaam answered the servants of Balak, "If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I can't go beyond the word of the Lord my God, to do less or more.

¹⁹Now therefore, please wait also here this night, that I may know what the Lord will speak to me more."

²⁰God came to Balaam at night, and said to him, "If the men have come to call you, rise up, go with them; but only the word which I speak to you, that you shall do."

²¹Balaam rose up in the morning, and saddled his donkey, and went with the princes of Moab.

²²God's anger was kindled because he went; and the angel of the Lord placed himself in the way for an adversary against him. Now he was riding on his donkey, and his two servants were with him.

²³The donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way, with his sword drawn in his hand; and the donkey turned aside out of the way, and went into the field: and Balaam struck the donkey, to turn her into the way.

²⁴Then the angel of the Lord stood in a narrow path between the vineyards, a wall being on this side, and a wall on that side.

²⁵The donkey saw the angel of the Lord, and she thrust herself to the wall, and crushed Balaam's foot against the wall: and he struck her again.

²⁶The angel of the Lord went further, and stood in a narrow place, where there was no way to turn either to the right hand or to the left.

²⁷The donkey saw the angel of the Lord, and she lay down under Balaam: and Balaam's anger was kindled, and he struck the donkey with his staff.

²⁸The Lord opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, "What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?"

²⁹Balaam said to the donkey, "Because you have mocked me, I wish there were a sword in my hand, for now I would have killed you."

³⁰The donkey said to Balaam, "Am I not your donkey, on which you have ridden all your life long to this day? Was I ever in the habit of doing so to you?" He said, "No."

³¹Then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way, with his sword drawn in his hand; and he bowed his head, and fell on his face.

³²The angel of the Lord said to him, "Why have you struck your donkey these three times? Behold, I have come forth as an adversary, because your way is perverse before me:

³³and the donkey saw me, and turned aside before me these three times. Unless she had turned aside from me, surely now I would have killed you, and saved her alive."

³⁴Balaam said to the angel of the Lord, "I have sinned; for I did not know that you stood in the way against me. Now therefore, if it displeases you, I will go back again."

³⁵The angel of the Lord said to Balaam, "Go with the men; but only the word that I shall speak to you, that you shall speak." So Balaam went with the princes of Balak.

³⁶When Balak heard that Balaam had come, he went out to meet him to the City of Moab, which is on the border of the Arnon, which is in the utmost part of the border.

³⁷Balak said to Balaam, "Did I not earnestly send to you to call you? Why did you not come to me? Am I not able indeed to promote you to honor?"

³⁸Balaam said to Balak, "Behold, I have come to you: have I now any power at all to speak anything? The word that God puts in my mouth, that shall I speak."

³⁹Balaam went with Balak, and they came to Kiriath Huzoth.

⁴⁰Balak sacrificed cattle and sheep, and sent to Balaam, and to the princes who were with him.

⁴¹It happened in the morning, that Balak took Balaam, and brought him up into the high places of Baal; and he saw from there the utmost part of the people.

¹Balaam said to Balak, "Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven bulls and seven rams."

²Balak did as Balaam had spoken; and Balak and Balaam offered on every altar a bull and a ram.

³Balaam said to Balak, "Stand by your burnt offering, and I will go: perhaps the Lord will come to meet me; and whatever he shows me I will tell you." He went to a bare height.

⁴God met Balaam: and he said to him, "I have prepared the seven altars, and I have offered up a bull and a ram on every altar."

⁵The Lord put a word in Balaam's mouth, and said, "Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak."

⁶He returned to him, and behold, he was standing by his burnt offering, he, and all the princes of Moab.

⁷He took up his parable, and said, "From Aram has Balak brought me, the king of Moab from the mountains of the East. Come, curse Jacob for me. Come, defy Israel.

⁸How shall I curse whom God has not cursed? How shall I defy whom the Lord has not defied?

⁹For from the top of the rocks I see him. From the hills I see him. Behold, it is a people that dwells alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations.

¹⁰Who can count the dust of Jacob, or number the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous! Let my last end be like his!"

¹¹Balak said to Balaam, "What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, and behold, you have blessed them altogether."

¹²He answered and said, "Must I not take heed to speak that which the Lord puts in my mouth?"

¹³Balak said to him, "Please come with me to another place, where you may see them; you shall see but the utmost part of them, and shall not see them all: and curse me them from there."

¹⁴He took him into the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars, and offered up a bull and a ram on every altar.

¹⁵He said to Balak, "Stand here by your burnt offering, while I meet over there."

¹⁶The Lord met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and said, "Return to Balak, and say this."

¹⁷He came to him, and behold, he was standing by his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab with him. Balak said to him, "What has the Lord spoken?"

¹⁸He took up his parable, and said, "Rise up, Balak, and hear! Listen to me, you son of Zippor.

¹⁹God is not a man, that he should lie, nor the son of man, that he should repent. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not make it good?

²⁰Behold, I have received a command to bless. He has blessed, and I can't reverse it.

²¹He has not seen iniquity in Jacob. Neither has he seen perverseness in Israel. The Lord his God is with him. The shout of a king is among them.

²²God brings them out of Egypt. He has as it were the strength of the wild ox.

²³Surely there is no enchantment with Jacob; Neither is there any divination with Israel. Now it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What has God done!

²⁴Behold, the people rises up as a lioness, As a lion he lifts himself up. He shall not lie down until he eat of the prey, and drinks the blood of the slain."

²⁵Balak said to Balaam, "Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all."

²⁶But Balaam answered Balak, "Did I not tell you, saying, 'All that the Lord speaks, that I must do?'"

²⁷Balak said to Balaam, "Come now, I will take you to another place; perhaps it will please God that you may curse me them from there."

²⁸Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, that looks down on the desert.

²⁹Balaam said to Balak, "Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven bulls and seven rams."

³⁰Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered up a bull and a ram on every altar.