Now these are the generations of Aaron and Moses, in the day when the word of the Lord came to Moses on Mount Sinai.

And Nadab and Abihu were put to death before the Lord when they made an offering of strange fire before the Lord, in the waste land of Sinai, and they had no children: and Eleazar and Ithamar did the work of priests before Aaron their father.

But if the man has no relation to whom the payment may be made, then the payment for sin made to the Lord will be the priest's, in addition to the sheep offered to take away his sin.

By taking as her lover another man, and keeps it secret so that her husband has no knowledge of it, and there is no witness against her, and she is not taken in the act;

And he will make her take an oath, and say to her, If no man has been your lover and you have not been with another in place of your husband, you are free from this bitter water causing the curse;

He is to keep himself from wine and strong drink, and take no mixed wine or strong drink or any drink made from grapes, or any grapes, green or dry.

All the time he is under his oath let no blade come near his head; till the days while he is separate are ended he is holy and his hair may not be cut.

And I have given them to Aaron and to his sons, from among the children of Israel, to undertake for them all the work of the Tent of meeting, and to take away sin from the children of Israel so that no evil may come on them when they come near the holy place.

But after they are fifty years old, they are to give up their work and do no more;

But be with their brothers in the Tent of meeting, taking care of it but doing no work. This is what you are to do in connection with the Levites and their work.

Nothing of it is to be kept till the morning, and no bone of it is to be broken: they are to keep it by the rules of the Passover.

Now in the second year, on the twentieth day of the second month, the cloud was taken up from over the Tent of witness.

Now the people were saying evil against the Lord; and the Lord, hearing it, was angry and sent fire on them, burning the outer parts of the tent-circle.

But now our soul is wasted away; there is nothing at all: we have nothing but this manna before our eyes.

Now the manna was like a seed of grain, like small clear drops.

If this is to be my fate, put me to death now in answer to my prayer, if I have grace in your eyes; and let me not see my shame.

And the Lord said to Moses, Has the Lord's hand become short? Now you will see if my word comes true for you or not.

Then the Lord came down in the cloud and had talk with him, and put on the seventy men some of the spirit which was on him: now when the spirit came to rest on them, they were like prophets, but only at that time.

Now Miriam and Aaron said evil against Moses, because of the Cushite woman to whom he was married, for he had taken a Cushite woman as his wife.

Now the man Moses was more gentle than any other man on earth.

And he said, Now give ear to my words: if there is a prophet among you I will give him knowledge of myself in a vision and will let my words come to him in a dream.

With him I will have talk mouth to mouth, openly and not in dark sayings; and with his eyes he will see the form of the Lord: why then had you no fear of saying evil against my servant Moses?

And if the land is fertile or poor, and if there is wood in it or not. And be of good heart, and come back with some of the produce of the land. Now it was the time when the first grapes were ready.

They went up into the South and came to Hebron; and Ahiman and Sheshai and Talmai, the children of Anak, were living there. (Now the building of Hebron took place seven years before that of Zoan in Egypt.)

There we saw those great men, the sons of Anak, offspring of the Nephilim: and we seemed to ourselves no more than insects, and so we seemed to them.

Only, do not go against the Lord or go in fear of the people of the land, for they will be our food; their strength has been taken from them and the Lord is with us: have no fear of them.

And the Lord said to Moses, How long will this people have no respect for me? how long will they be without faith, in the face of all the signs I have done among them?

Now if you put to death all this people as one man, then the nations who have had word of your glory will say,

So now, may my prayer come before you, and let the power of the Lord be great, as you said:

May the sin of this people have forgiveness, in the measure of your great mercy, as you have had mercy on them from Egypt up till now.

Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites are in the valley; tomorrow, turning round, go into the waste land by the way to the Red Sea.

And Moses said, Why are you now acting against the Lord's order, seeing that no good will come of it?

But they gave no attention to his words and went to the top of the mountain, though Moses and the ark of the Lord's agreement did not go out of the tent-circle.

Because he had no respect for the word of the Lord, and did not keep his law, that man will be cut off without mercy and his sin will be on him.

Now while the children of Israel were in the waste land, they saw a man who was getting sticks on the Sabbath day.

And they had him shut up, because they had no directions about what was to be done with him.

Now 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 Pallu, the son of Reuben, made themselves ready,

And Moses said to Korah, Give ear now, you sons of Levi:

Letting you, and all your brothers the sons of Levi, come near to him? and would you now be priests?

Is it not enough that you have taken us from a land flowing with milk and honey, to put us to death in the waste land, but now you are desiring to make yourself a chief over us?

Then Moses was very angry, and said to the Lord, Give no attention to their offering: not one of their asses have I taken, or done wrong to any of them.

And he said to the people, Come away now from the tents of these evil men, without touching anything of theirs, or you may be taken in the punishment of their sins.

And Moses said, Now you will see that the Lord has sent me to do all these works, and I have not done them of myself.

But if the Lord does something new, opening the earth to take them in, with everything which is theirs, and they go down living into the underworld, then it will be clear to you that the Lord has not been honoured by these men.

To be a sign, kept in memory for ever by the children of Israel, that no man who is not of the seed of Aaron has the right of burning spices before the Lord, so that he may not be like Korah and his band: as the Lord said to him by the mouth of Moses.

Now when the people had come together against Moses and Aaron, looking in the direction of the Tent of meeting, they saw the cloud covering it, and the glory of the Lord came before their eyes.

Now fourteen thousand, seven hundred deaths were caused by that disease, in addition to those who came to their end because of what Korah had done.

Now on the day after, Moses went into the Tent of witness; and he saw that Aaron's rod, the rod of the house of Levi, had put out buds, and was covered with buds and flowers and fruit.

They are to be joined with you in the care of the Tent of meeting, doing whatever is needed for the Tent: and no one of any other family may come near you.

Now, see, I have taken your brothers the Levites from among the children of Israel: they are given to you and to the Lord, to do the work of the Tent of meeting.

But no such payment may be made for the first birth of an ox or a sheep or a goat; these are holy: their blood is to be dropped on the altar, and their fat burned for an offering made by fire, a sweet smell to the Lord.

And the Lord said to Aaron, You will have no heritage in their land, or any part among them; I am your part and your heritage among the children of Israel.

But the Levites are to do the work of the Tent of meeting, and be responsible for errors in connection with it: this is a law for ever through all your generations; and among the children of Israel they will have no heritage.

For the tenths which the children of Israel give as a lifted offering to the Lord I have given to the Levites as their heritage. and so I have said to them, Among the children of Israel they will have no heritage.

And no sin will be yours on account of it, when the best of it has been lifted up on high; you are not to make a wrong use of the holy things of the children of Israel, so that death may not overtake you.

And there was no water for the people: and they came together against Moses and against Aaron.

Why have you made us come out of Egypt into this evil place? This is no place of seed or figs or vines or other fruits, and there is no water for drinking.

Then Moses and Aaron made the people come together in front of the rock, and he said to them, Give ear now, you people whose hearts are turned from the Lord; are we to get water for you out of the rock?

And the Lord gave ear to the voice of our cry, and sent an angel and took us out of Egypt: and now we are in Kadesh, a town on the edge of your land;

Let us now go through your land: we will not go into field or vine-garden, or take the water of the springs; we will go by the highway, not turning to the right or to the left, till we have gone past the limits of your land.

And crying out against God and against Moses, they said, Why have you taken us out of Egypt to come to our death in the waste land? For there is no bread and no water, and this poor bread is disgusting to us.

And the Lord said to Moses, Have no fear of him: for I have given him up into your hands, with all his people and his land; do to him as you did to Sihon, king of the Amorites, at Heshbon.

Now Balak, the son of Zippor, saw what Israel had done to the Amorites.

Come now, in answer to my prayer, and put a curse on this people, for they are greater than I: and then I may be strong enough to overcome them and send them out of the land: for it is clear that good comes to him who has your blessing, but he on whom you put your curse is cursed.

See, the people who have come out of Egypt are covering all the earth: now, put a curse on this people for me, so that I may be able to make war on them, driving them out of the land.

But God was moved to wrath because he went: and the angel of the Lord took up a position in the road to keep him from his purpose. Now he was seated on his ass, and his two servants were with him.

Then the angel of the Lord went further, stopping in a narrow place where there was no room for turning to the right or to the left.

And the ass said to Balaam, Am I not your ass upon which you have gone all your life till this day? and have I ever done this to you before? And he said, No.

And Balaam said to the angel of the Lord, I have done wrong, for I did not see that you were in the way against me: but now, if it is evil in your eyes, I will go back again.

Now Balak, hearing that Balaam had come, went to the chief town of Moab, on the edge of the Arnon, in the farthest part of the land, for the purpose of meeting him.

Then Balaam said to Balak, Now I have come to you; but have I power to say anything? Only what God puts into my mouth may I say.

And Balak said to him, Come with me now into another place from which you will not be able to see them all, but only the outskirts of them; and you will send curses on them from there.

See, I have had orders to give blessing: and he has given a blessing which I have no power to take away.

He has seen no evil in Jacob or wrongdoing in Israel: the Lord his God is with him, and the glad cry of a king is among them

No evil power has effect against Jacob, no secret arts against Israel; at the right time it will be said of Jacob and of Israel, See what God has done!

See, Israel comes up like a she-lion, lifting himself up like a lion: he will take no rest till he has made a meal of those he has overcome, drinking the blood of those he has put to death.

Then Balak said to Balaam, Come now, I will take you to another place; it may be that God will let you put a curse on them from there.

Now when Balaam saw that it was the Lord's pleasure to give his blessing to Israel, he did not, as at other times, make use of secret arts, but turning his face to the waste land,

Then Balak was full of wrath against Balaam, and angrily waving his hands he said to Balaam, I sent for you so that those who are against me might be cursed, but now, see, three times you have given them a blessing.

Go back quickly to the place you came from: it was my purpose to give you a place of honour, but now the Lord has kept you back from honour.

So now I will go back to my people: but first let me make clear to you what this people will do to your people in days to come.

I see him, but not now: looking on him, but not near: a star will come out of Jacob, and a rod of authority out of Israel, sending destruction to the farthest limits of Moab and on the head of all the sons of Sheth.

Now when Israel was living in Shittim the people became false to the Lord, doing evil with the daughters of Moab:

Now the man of Israel who was put to death with the woman of Midian was Zimri, the son of Salu, a chief of one of the families of the Simeonites.

Now after the disease was over, the Lord said to Moses and Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest,

And Zelophehad, the son of Hepher, had no sons, but only daughters, and the names of the daughters of Zelophehad were Mahlah, and Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.

Of these, twenty-three thousand males, from one month old and over, were numbered: they were not numbered with the rest of the children of Israel, for they had no heritage among the children of Israel.

Then the daughters of Zelophehad, the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of Manasseh, the son of Joseph, came forward: their names are Mahlah, Noah, and Hoglah, and Milcah, and Tirzah.

Death overtook our father in the waste land; he was not among those who were banded together with Korah against the Lord; but death came to him in his sin; and he had no sons.

Why is the name of our father to be taken away from among his family, because he had no son? Give us a heritage among our father's brothers.

And say to the children of Israel, If a man has no son at the time of his death, let his heritage go to his daughter.

And if he has no daughter, then give his heritage to his brothers.

And if he has no brothers, then give his heritage to his father's brothers.

And if his father has no brothers, then give it to his nearest relation in the family, as his heritage: this is to be a decision made by law for the children of Israel, as the Lord gave orders to Moses.

On the first day there is to be a holy meeting: you may do no sort of field-work:

Then on the seventh day there will be a holy meeting; you may do no field-work.

And at the time of the first-fruits, when you give an offering of new meal to the Lord at your feast of weeks, there is to be a holy meeting: you may do no field-work:

In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, let there be a holy meeting; on it you may do no field-work; let the day be marked by the blowing of horns;

In addition to the burned offering of the new moon, and its meal offering, and the regular burned offering and its meal offering, and their drink offerings, as they are ordered, for a sweet smell, an offering made by fire to the Lord.

And on the tenth day of this seventh month there will be a holy meeting; keep yourselves from pleasure, and do no sort of work;