"Look, I myself have taken the Levites from among the Israelites instead of every firstborn who opens the womb among the Israelites. So the Levites belong to me,

"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.

"'Then the priest will bring her near and have her stand before the Lord.

Then the priest will have the woman stand before the Lord, uncover the woman's head, and put the grain offering for remembering in her hands, which is the grain offering of suspicion. The priest will hold in his hand the bitter water that brings a curse.

Then the priest will put the woman under oath and say to the her, "If no other man has had sexual relations with you, and if you have not gone astray and become defiled while under your husband's authority, may you be free from this bitter water that brings a curse.

But if you have gone astray while under your husband's authority, and if you have defiled yourself and some man other than your husband has had sexual relations with you."

or when jealous feelings come over a man and he becomes suspicious of his wife; then he must have the woman stand before the Lord, and the priest will carry out all this law upon her.

And do this to them to purify them: Sprinkle water of purification on them; then have them shave all their body and wash their clothes, and so purify themselves.

You are to have the Levites stand before Aaron and his sons, and then offer them as a wave offering to the Lord.

For they are entirely given to me from among the Israelites. I have taken them for myself instead of all who open the womb, the firstborn sons of all the Israelites.

So I have taken the Levites instead of all the firstborn sons among the Israelites.

I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and his sons from among the Israelites, to do the work for the Israelites in the tent of meeting, and to make atonement for the Israelites, so there will be no plague among the Israelites when the Israelites come near the sanctuary."

If a resident foreigner lives among you and wants to keep the Passover to the Lord, he must do so according to the statute of the Passover, and according to its custom. You must have the same statute for the resident foreigner and for the one who was born in the land.'"

And Moses said to the Lord, "Why have you afflicted your servant? Why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of this entire people on me?

But if you are going to deal with me like this, then kill me immediately. If I have found favor in your sight then do not let me see my trouble."

"And say to the people, 'Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow, and you will eat meat, for you have wept in the hearing of the Lord, saying, "Who will give us meat to eat, for life was good for us in Egypt?" Therefore the Lord will give you meat, and you will eat.

but a whole month, until it comes out your nostrils and makes you sick, because you have despised the Lord who is among you and have wept before him, saying, "Why did we ever come out of Egypt?"'"

Would they have enough if the flocks and herds were slaughtered for them? If all the fish of the sea were caught for them, would they have enough?"

So Aaron said to Moses, "O my lord, please do not hold this sin against us, in which we have acted foolishly and have sinned!

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."

The Lord said to Moses, "How long will this people despise me, and how long will they not believe in me, in spite of the signs that I have done among them?

then they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that you, Lord, are among this people, that you, Lord, are seen face to face, that your cloud stands over them, and that you go before them by day in a pillar of cloud and in a pillar of fire by night.

If you kill this entire people at once, then the nations that have heard of your fame will say,

So now, let the power of my Lord be great, just as you have said,

Please forgive the iniquity of this people according to your great loyal love, just as you have forgiven this people from Egypt even until now."

Then the Lord said, "I have forgiven them as you asked.

For all the people have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have tempted me now these ten times, and have not obeyed me,

"How long must I bear with this evil congregation that murmurs against me? I have heard the complaints of the Israelites that they murmured against me.

Say to them, 'As I live, says the Lord, I will surely do to you just what you have spoken in my hearing.

Your dead bodies will fall in this wilderness -- all those of you who were numbered, according to your full number, from twenty years old and upward, who have murmured against me.

But I will bring in your little ones, whom you said would become victims of war, and they will enjoy the land that you have despised.

According to the number of the days you have investigated this land, forty days -- one day for a year -- you will suffer for your iniquities, forty years, and you will know what it means to thwart me.

I, the Lord, have said, "I will surely do so to all this evil congregation that has gathered together against me. In this wilderness they will be finished, and there they will die!"'"

And early in the morning they went up to the crest of the hill country, saying, "Here we are, and we will go up to the place that the Lord commanded, for we have sinned."

For the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you, and you will fall by the sword. Because you have turned away from the Lord, the Lord will not be with you."

And the priest is to make atonement for the whole community of the Israelites, and they will be forgiven, because it was unintentional and they have brought their offering, an offering made by fire to the Lord, and their purification offering before the Lord, for their unintentional offense.

You must have one law for the person who sins unintentionally, both for the native-born among the Israelites and for the resident foreigner who lives among them.

You must have this tassel so that you may look at it and remember all the commandments of the Lord and obey them and so that you do not follow after your own heart and your own eyes that lead you to unfaithfulness.

Therefore you and all your company have assembled together against the Lord! And Aaron -- what is he that you murmur against him?"

Is it a small thing that you have brought us up out of the land that flows with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness? Now do you want to make yourself a prince over us?

Moreover, you have not brought us into a land that flows with milk and honey, nor given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Do you think you can blind these men? We will not come up."

Moses was very angry, and he said to the Lord, "Have no respect for their offering! I have not taken so much as one donkey from them, nor have I harmed any one of them!"

And he said to the community, "Move away from the tents of these wicked men, and do not touch anything they have, lest you be destroyed because of all their sins."

Then Moses said, "This is how you will know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works, for I have not done them of my own will.

But if the Lord does something entirely new, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them up along with all that they have, and they go down alive to the grave, then you will know that these men have despised the Lord!"

But on the next day the whole community of Israelites murmured against Moses and Aaron, saying, "You have killed the Lord's people!"

I myself have chosen your brothers the Levites from among the Israelites. They are given to you as a gift from the Lord, to perform the duties of the tent of meeting.

The Lord spoke to Aaron, "See, I have given you the responsibility for my raised offerings; I have given all the holy things of the Israelites to you as your priestly portion and to your sons as a perpetual ordinance.

"And this is yours: the raised offering of their gift, along with all the wave offerings of the Israelites. I have given them to you and to your sons and daughters with you as a perpetual ordinance. Everyone who is ceremonially clean in your household may eat of it.

"All the best of the olive oil and all the best of the wine and of the wheat, the first fruits of these things that they give to the Lord, I have given to you.

All the raised offerings of the holy things that the Israelites offer to the Lord, I have given to you, and to your sons and daughters with you, as a perpetual ordinance. It is a covenant of salt forever before the Lord for you and for your descendants with you."

The Lord spoke to Aaron, "You will have no inheritance in their land, nor will you have any portion of property among them -- I am your portion and your inheritance among the Israelites.

See, I have given the Levites all the tithes in Israel for an inheritance, for their service which they perform -- the service of the tent of meeting.

But the Levites must perform the service of the tent of meeting, and they must bear their iniquity. It will be a perpetual ordinance throughout your generations that among the Israelites the Levites have no inheritance.

But I have given to the Levites for an inheritance the tithes of the Israelites that are offered to the Lord as a raised offering. That is why I said to them that among the Israelites they are to have no inheritance."

"You are to speak to the Levites, and you must tell them, 'When you receive from the Israelites the tithe that I have given you from them as your inheritance, then you are to offer up from it as a raised offering to the Lord a tenth of the tithe.

Why have you brought up the Lord's community into this wilderness? So that we and our cattle should die here?

Why have you brought us up from Egypt only to bring us to this dreadful place? It is no place for grain, or figs, or vines, or pomegranates; nor is there any water to drink!"

Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, "Because you did not trust me enough to show me as holy before the Israelites, therefore you will not bring this community into the land I have given them."

Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom: "Thus says your brother Israel: 'You know all the hardships we have experienced,

Please let us pass through your country. We will not pass through the fields or through the vineyards, nor will we drink water from any well. We will go by the King's Highway; we will not turn to the right or the left until we have passed through your region.'"

"Aaron will be gathered to his ancestors, for he will not enter into the land I have given to the Israelites because both of you rebelled against my word at the waters of Meribah.

And the 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 or water, and we detest this worthless food."

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.

We have overpowered them; Heshbon has perished as far as Dibon. We have shattered them as far as Nophah, which reaches to Medeba."

And the Lord said to Moses, "Do not fear him, for I have delivered him and all his people and his land into your hand. You will do to him what you did to King Sihon of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon.

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."

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

And Balaam said to the donkey, "You have made me look stupid; I wish there were a sword in my hand, for I would kill you right now."

The donkey said to Balaam, "Am not I your donkey that you have ridden ever since I was yours until this day? Have I ever attempted to treat you this way?" And he said, "No."

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.

The donkey saw me and turned from me these three times. If she had not turned from me, I would have killed you but saved her alive."

Balaam said to the angel of the Lord, "I have sinned, for I did not know that you stood against me in the road. So now, if it is evil in your sight, I will go back home."

Balaam said to Balak, "Look, I have come to you. Now, am I able to speak just anything? I must speak only the word that God puts in my mouth."

Then God met Balaam, who said to him, "I have prepared seven altars, and I have offered on each altar a bull and a ram."

Then Balak said to Balaam, "What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies, but on the contrary you have only blessed them!"

Indeed, I have received a command to bless; he has blessed, and I cannot reverse it.

God brought them out of Egypt. They have, as it were, the strength of a wild bull.

God brought them out of Egypt. They have, as it were, the strength of a young bull; they will devour hostile people and will break their bones and will pierce them through with arrows.

Then Balak became very angry at Balaam, and he struck his hands together. Balak said to Balaam, "I called you to curse my enemies, and look, you have done nothing but bless them these three times!

because they bring trouble to you by their treachery with which they have deceived you in the matter of Peor, and in the matter of Cozbi, the daughter of a prince of Midian, their sister, who was killed on the day of the plague that happened as a result of Peor."

"The daughters of Zelophehad have a valid claim. You must indeed give them possession of an inheritance among their father's relatives, and you must transfer the inheritance of their father to them.

Then the Lord said to Moses, "Go up this mountain of the Abarim range, and see the land I have given to the Israelites.

When you have seen it, you will be gathered to your ancestors, as Aaron your brother was gathered to his ancestors.

who will go out before them, and who will come in before them, and who will lead them out, and who will bring them in, so that the community of the Lord may not be like sheep that have no shepherd."

On the seventh day you are to have a holy assembly, you must do no regular work.

"'Also, on the day of the first fruits, when you bring a new grain offering to the Lord during your Feast of Weeks, you are to have a holy assembly. You must do no ordinary work.

"'On the tenth day of this seventh month you are to have a holy assembly. You must humble yourselves; you must not do any work on it.

"'On the fifteenth day of the seventh month you are to have a holy assembly; you must do no ordinary work, and you must keep a festival to the Lord for seven days.

"'On the eighth day you are to have a holy assembly; you must do no ordinary work on it.

Moses said to them, "Have you allowed all the women to live?

But all the young women who have not had sexual intercourse with a man will be yours.

and said to him, "Your servants have taken a count of the men who were in the battle, who were under our authority, and not one is missing.

So we have brought as an offering for the Lord what each man found: gold ornaments, armlets, bracelets, signet rings, earrings, and necklaces, to make atonement for ourselves before the Lord."

the land that the Lord subdued before the community of Israel, is ideal for cattle, and your servants have cattle."

So they said, "If we have found favor in your sight, let this land be given to your servants for our inheritance. Do not have us cross the Jordan River."

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,

but we will maintain ourselves in armed readiness and go before the Israelites until whenever we have brought them to their place. Our descendants will be living in fortified towns as a protection against the inhabitants of the land.

"But if you do not do this, then look, you will have sinned against the Lord. And know that your sin will find you out.

So build cities for your descendants and pens for your sheep, but do what you have said you would do."