"Bring the tribe of Levi near, and present them before Aaron the priest, that they may serve him.

You are to assign the Levites to Aaron and his sons; they will be assigned exclusively to him out of all the Israelites.

So Moses numbered all the firstborn males among the Israelites, as the Lord had commanded him.

According to the word of the Lord they were numbered, by the authority of Moses, each according to his service and according to what he was to carry. Thus were they numbered by him, as the Lord had commanded Moses.

But if the individual has no close relative to whom reparation can be made for the wrong, the reparation for the wrong must be paid to the Lord for the priest, in addition to the ram of atonement by which atonement is made for him.

"Speak to the Israelites and tell them, 'If any man's wife goes astray and behaves unfaithfully toward him,

and if jealous feelings come over him and he becomes suspicious of his wife, when she is defiled; or if jealous feelings come over him and he becomes suspicious of his wife, when she is not defiled --

"'If anyone dies very suddenly beside him and he defiles his consecrated head, then he must shave his head on the day of his purification -- on the seventh day he must shave it.

Then the priest will offer one for a purification offering and the other as a burnt offering, and make atonement for him, because of his transgression in regard to the corpse. So he must reconsecrate his head on that day.

Now when Moses went into the tent of meeting to speak with the Lord, he heard the voice speaking to him from above the atonement lid that was on the ark of the testimony, from between the two cherubim. Thus he spoke to him.

"Speak to Aaron and tell him, 'When you set up the lamps, the seven lamps are to give light in front of the lampstand.'"

And those men said to him, "We are ceremonially defiled by the dead body of a man; why are we kept back from offering the Lord's offering at its appointed time among the Israelites?"

But Hobab said to him, "I will not go, but I will go instead to my own land and to my kindred."

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?"'"

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

The Lord 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.

With him I will speak face to face, openly, and not in riddles; and he will see the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?"

But the men who had gone up with him said, "We are not able to go up against these people, because they are stronger than we are!"

Only my servant Caleb, because he had a different spirit and has followed me fully -- I will bring him into the land where he had gone, and his descendants will possess it.

The men whom Moses sent to investigate the land, who returned and made the whole community murmur against him by producing an evil report about the land,

And the priest must make atonement for the person who sins unintentionally -- when he sins unintentionally before the Lord -- to make atonement for him, and he will be forgiven.

Because he has despised the word of the Lord and has broken his commandment, that person must be completely cut off. His iniquity will be on him.'"

Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron and to the whole community.

They put him in custody, because there was no clear instruction about what should be done to him.

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.

Then he said to Korah and to all his company, "In the morning the Lord will make known who are his, and who is holy. He will cause that person to approach him; the person he has chosen he will cause to approach him.

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

Then Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram; and the elders of Israel went after him.

So Moses spoke to the Israelites, and each of their leaders gave him a staff, one for each leader, according to their tribes -- twelve staffs; the staff of Aaron was among their staffs.

So Moses did as the Lord commanded him -- this is what he did.

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

Anyone who touches the corpse of any dead person and does not purify himself defiles the tabernacle of the Lord. And that person must be cut off from Israel, because the water of purification was not sprinkled on him. He will be unclean; his uncleanness remains on him.

And the clean person must sprinkle the unclean on the third day and on the seventh day; and on the seventh day he must purify him, and then he must wash his clothes, and bathe in water, and he will be clean in the evening.

But the man who is unclean and does not purify himself, that person must be cut off from among the community, because he has polluted the sanctuary of the Lord; the water of purification was not sprinkled on him, so he is unclean.

So Moses took the staff from before the Lord, just as he commanded him.

But Edom said to him, "You will not pass through me, or I will come out against you with the sword."

Then the Israelites said to him, "We will go along the highway, and if we or our cattle drink any of your water, we will pay for it. We will only pass through on our feet, without doing anything else."

So Edom refused to give Israel passage through his border; therefore Israel turned away from him.

But the Israelites defeated him in battle and took possession of his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, as far as the Ammonites, for the border of the Ammonites was strongly defended.

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.

And he sent messengers to Balaam son of Beor at Pethor, which is by the Euphrates River in the land of Amaw, to summon him, saying, "Look, a nation has come out of Egypt. They cover the face of the earth, and they are settling next to me.

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 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."

Then God's anger was kindled because he went, and the angel of the Lord stood in the road to oppose him. Now he was riding on his donkey and his two servants were with him.

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.

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."

When Balak heard that Balaam was coming, he went out to meet him at a city of Moab which was on the border of the Arnon at the boundary of his territory.

And Balak sacrificed bulls and sheep, and sent some to Balaam, and to the princes who were with him.

Then on the next morning Balak took Balaam, and brought him up to Bamoth Baal. From there he saw the extent of the nation.

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."

So he returned to him, and he was still standing by his burnt offering, he and all the princes of Moab.

Balak said to him, "Please come with me to another place from which you can observe them. You will see only a part of them, but you will not see all of them. Curse them for me from there."

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.

They crouch and lie down like a lion, and as a lioness, who can stir him? Blessed is the one who blesses you, and cursed is the one who curses you!'"

I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not close at hand. A star will march forth out of Jacob, and a scepter will rise out of Israel. He will crush the skulls of Moab, and the heads of all the sons of Sheth.

Balaam got up and departed and returned to his home, and Balak also went his way.

Therefore, announce: 'I am going to give to him my covenant of peace.

So it will be to him and his descendants after him a covenant of a permanent priesthood, because he has been zealous for his God, and has made atonement for the Israelites.'"

and if his father has no brothers, then you are to give his inheritance to his relative nearest to him from his family, and he will possess it. This will be for the Israelites a legal requirement, as the Lord commanded Moses.'"

The Lord replied to Moses, "Take Joshua son of Nun, a man in whom is such a spirit, and lay your hand on him;

set him before Eleazar the priest and before the whole community, and commission him publicly.

Then you must delegate some of your authority to him, so that the whole community of the Israelites will be obedient.

And he will stand before Eleazar the priest, who will seek counsel for him before the Lord by the decision of the Urim. At his command they will go out, and at his command they will come in, he and all the Israelites with him, the whole community."

So Moses did as the Lord commanded him; he took Joshua and set him before Eleazar the priest and before the whole community.

He laid his hands on him and commissioned him, just as the Lord commanded, by the authority of Moses.

So Moses told the Israelites everything, just as the Lord had commanded him.

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.

For if you turn away from following him, he will once again abandon them in the wilderness, and you will be the reason for their destruction."

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

If he strikes him by throwing a stone large enough that he could die, and he dies, he is a murderer. The murderer must surely be put to death.

Or if he strikes him with a wooden hand weapon so that he could die, and he dies, he is a murderer. The murderer must surely be put to death.

The avenger of blood himself must kill the murderer; when he meets him, he must kill him.

"But if he strikes him out of hatred or throws something at him intentionally so that he dies,

or with enmity he strikes him with his hand and he dies, the one who struck him must surely be put to death, for he is a murderer. The avenger of blood must kill the murderer when he meets him.

"But if he strikes him suddenly, without enmity, or throws anything at him unintentionally,

or with any stone large enough that a man could die, without seeing him, and throws it at him, and he dies, even though he was not his enemy nor sought his harm,

The community must deliver the slayer out of the hand of the avenger of blood, and the community must restore him to the town of refuge to which he fled, and he must live there until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the consecrated oil.

and the avenger of blood finds him outside the borders of the town of refuge, and the avenger of blood kills the slayer, he will not be guilty of blood,

"Whoever kills any person, the murderer must be put to death by the testimony of witnesses; but one witness cannot testify against any person to cause him to be put to death.

And you must not accept a ransom for anyone who has fled to a town of refuge, to allow him to return home and live on his own land before the death of the high priest.