But appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of the testimony, over all its furnishings and over everything in it. They must carry the tabernacle and all its furnishings; and they must attend to it and camp around it.

"The Israelites will camp according to their divisions, each man in his camp, and each man by his standard.

But the Levites must camp around the tabernacle of the testimony, so that the Lord's anger will not fall on the Israelite community. The Levites are responsible for the care of the tabernacle of the testimony."

"Every one of the Israelites must camp under his standard with the emblems of his family; they must camp at some distance around the tent of meeting.

"Now those who will be camping on the east, toward the sunrise, are the divisions of the camp of Judah under their standard. The leader of the people of Judah is Nahshon son of Amminadab.

All those numbered of the camp of Judah, according to their divisions, are 186,400. They will travel at the front.

"On the south will be the divisions of the camp of Reuben under their standard. The leader of the people of Reuben is Elizur son of Shedeur.

All those numbered of the camp of Reuben, according to their divisions, are 151,450. They will travel second.

"Then the tent of meeting with the camp of the Levites will travel in the middle of the camps. They will travel in the same order as they camped, each in his own place under his standard.

"On the west will be the divisions of the camp of Ephraim under their standard. The leader of the people of Ephraim is Elishama son of Amihud.

All those numbered of the camp of Ephraim, according to their divisions, are 108,100. They will travel third.

"On the north will be the divisions of the camp of Dan, under their standards. The leader of the people of Dan is Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai.

All those numbered of the camp of Dan are 157,600. They will travel last, under their standards."

From Gershon came the family of the Libnites and the family of the Shimeites; these were the families of the Gershonites.

The families of the Gershonites were to camp behind the tabernacle toward the west.

From Kohath came the family of the Amramites, the family of the Izharites, the family of the Hebronites, and the family of the Uzzielites; these were the families of the Kohathites.

The families of the Kohathites were to camp on the south side of the tabernacle.

From Merari came the family of the Mahlites and the family of the Mushites; these were the families of Merari.

Now the leader of the clan of the families of Merari was Zuriel son of Abihail. These were to camp on the north side of the tabernacle.

But those who were to camp in front of the tabernacle on the east, in front of the tent of meeting, were Moses, Aaron, and his sons. They were responsible for the needs of the sanctuary and for the needs of the Israelites, but the unauthorized person who approached was to be put to death.

When it is time for the camp to journey, Aaron and his sons must come and take down the screening curtain and cover the ark of the testimony with it.

"When Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary and all the furnishings of the sanctuary, when the camp is ready to journey, then the Kohathites will come to carry them; but they must not touch any holy thing, or they will die. These are the responsibilities of the Kohathites with the tent of meeting.

"Command the Israelites to expel from the camp every leper, everyone who has a discharge, and whoever becomes defiled by a corpse.

You must expel both men and women; you must put them outside the camp, so that they will not defile their camps, among which I live."

So the Israelites did so, and expelled them outside the camp. As the Lord had spoken to Moses, so the Israelites did.

It happened that some men who were ceremonially defiled by the dead body of a man could not keep the Passover on that day, so they came before Moses and before Aaron on that day.

Whenever the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle, then after that the Israelites would begin their journey; and in whatever place the cloud settled, there the Israelites would make camp.

At the commandment of the Lord the Israelites would begin their journey, and at the commandment of the Lord they would make camp; as long as the cloud remained settled over the tabernacle they would camp.

The standard of the camp of the Judahites set out first according to their companies, and over his company was Nahshon son of Amminadab.

The standard of the camp of Reuben set out according to their companies; over his company was Elizur son of Shedeur.

And the standard of the camp of the Ephraimites set out according to their companies; over his company was Elishama son of Ammihud.

The standard of the camp of the Danites set out, which was the rear guard of all the camps by their companies; over his company was Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai.

Moses said, "Do not leave us, because you know places for us to camp in the wilderness, and you could be our guide.

And the cloud of the Lord was over them by day, when they traveled from the camp.

And when it came to rest he would say, "Return, O Lord, to the many thousands of Israel!"

When the people complained, it displeased the Lord. When the Lord heard it, his anger burned, and so the fire of the Lord burned among them and consumed some of the outer parts of the camp.

And when the dew came down on the camp in the night, the manna fell with it.)

And the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to them, and he took some of the Spirit that was on Moses and put it on the seventy elders. When the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied, but did not do so again.

But two men remained in the camp; one's name was Eldad, and the other's name was Medad. And the spirit rested on them. (Now they were among those in the registration, but had not gone to the tabernacle.) So they prophesied in the camp.

And a young man ran and told Moses, "Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp!"

Then Moses returned to the camp along with the elders of Israel.

Now a wind went out from the Lord and brought quail from the sea, and let them fall near the camp, about a day's journey on this side, and about a day's journey on the other side, all around the camp, and about three feet high on the surface of the ground.

And the people stayed up all that day, all that night, and all the next day, and gathered the quail. The one who gathered the least gathered ten homers, and they spread them out for themselves all around the camp.

And the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the entrance of the tent; he then called Aaron and Miriam, and they both came forward.

The Lord said to Moses, "If her father had only spit in her face, would she not have been disgraced for seven days? Shut her out from the camp seven days, and afterward she can be brought back in again."

So Miriam was shut outside of the camp for seven days, and the people did not journey on until Miriam was brought back in.

When they went up through the Negev, they came to Hebron where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, descendants of Anak, were living. (Now Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)

When they came to the valley of Eshcol, they cut down from there a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they carried it on a staff between two men, as well as some of the pomegranates and the figs.

They came back to Moses and Aaron and to the whole community of the Israelites in the wilderness of Paran at Kadesh. They reported to the whole community and showed the fruit of the land.

We even saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak came from the Nephilim), and we seemed liked grasshoppers both to ourselves and to them."

But they dared to go up to the crest of the hill, although neither the ark of the covenant of the Lord nor Moses departed from the camp.

Then the Lord said to Moses, "The man must surely be put to death; the whole community must stone him with stones outside the camp."

So the whole community took him outside the camp and stoned him to death, just as the Lord commanded Moses.

So they got away from the homes of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram on every side, and Dathan and Abiram came out and stationed themselves in the entrances of their tents with their wives, their children, and their toddlers.

You must give it to Eleazar the priest so that he can take it outside the camp, and it must be slaughtered before him.

Then the priest must wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and afterward he may come into the camp, but the priest will be ceremonially unclean until evening.

"'Then a man who is ceremonially clean must gather up the ashes of the red heifer and put them in a ceremonially clean place outside the camp. They must be kept for the community of the Israelites for use in the water of purification -- it is a purification for sin.

Then Moses raised his hand, and struck the rock twice with his staff. And water came out abundantly. So the community drank, and their beasts drank too.

But he said, "You may not pass through." Then Edom came out against them with a large and powerful force.

So the entire company of Israelites traveled from Kadesh and came to Mount Hor.

And Moses removed Aaron's garments and put them on his son Eleazar. So Aaron died there on the top of the mountain. And Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain.

Then the people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord that he would take away the snakes from us." So Moses prayed for the people.

But Sihon did not permit Israel to pass through his border; he gathered all his forces together and went out against Israel into the wilderness. When he came to Jahaz, he fought against Israel.

So the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the fee for divination in their hand. They came to Balaam and reported to him the words of Balak.

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

And they came to Balaam and said to him, "Thus says Balak son of Zippor: 'Please do not let anything hinder you from coming to me.

God came to Balaam that night, and said to him, "If the men have come to call you, get up and go with them; but the word that I will say to you, that you must do."

The angel of the Lord said to him, "Why have you beaten your donkey these three times? Look, I came out to oppose you because what you are doing is perverse before me.

So Balaam went with Balak, and they came to Kiriath-huzoth.

When Balaam came to him, he was still standing by his burnt offering, along with the princes of Moab. And Balak said to him, "What has the Lord spoken?"

When Balaam lifted up his eyes, he saw Israel camped tribe by tribe; and the Spirit of God came upon him.

So now, go back where you came from! I said that I would greatly honor you; but now the Lord has stood in the way of your honor."

Just then one of the Israelites came and brought to his brothers a Midianite woman in the plain view of Moses and of the whole community of the Israelites, while they were weeping at the entrance of the tent of meeting.

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

They brought the captives and the spoils and the plunder to Moses, to Eleazar the priest, and to the Israelite community, to the camp on the plains of Moab, along the Jordan River across from Jericho.

Moses, Eleazar the priest, and all the leaders of the community went out to meet them outside the camp.

"Any of you who has killed anyone or touched any of the dead, remain outside the camp for seven days; purify yourselves and your captives on the third day, and on the seventh day.

You must wash your clothes on the seventh day, and you will be ceremonially clean, and afterward you may enter the camp.'"

the Gadites and the Reubenites came and addressed Moses, Eleazar the priest, and the leaders of the community. They said,

Because they have not followed me wholeheartedly, not one of the men twenty years old and upward who came from Egypt will see the land that I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,

Then they came very close to him and said, "We will build sheep folds here for our flocks and cities for our families,

They traveled from Marah and came to Elim; in Elim there are twelve fountains of water and seventy palm trees, so they camped there.