“Take a census of the entire Israelite community by their clans and their ancestral houses, counting the names of every male one by one.

So all the Israelites 20 years old or more, everyone who could serve in Israel’s army, were registered by their ancestral houses.

“Do not register or take a census of the tribe of Levi with the other Israelites.

“The Israelites are to camp by their military divisions, each man with his encampment and under his banner.

The Levites are to camp around the tabernacle of the testimony and watch over it, so that no wrath will fall on the Israelite community.”

The Israelites did everything just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

“The Israelites are to camp under their respective banners beside the flags of their ancestral houses. They are to camp around the tent of meeting at a distance from it:

These are the Israelites registered by their ancestral houses. The total number in the camps by their military divisions is 603,550.

But the Levites were not registered among the Israelites, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

The Israelites did everything the Lord commanded Moses; they camped by their banners in this way and moved out the same way, each man by his clan and by his ancestral house.

They are to take care of all the furnishings of the tent of meeting and perform duties for the Israelites by attending to the service of the tabernacle.

Assign the Levites to Aaron and his sons; they have been assigned exclusively to him from the Israelites.

“See, I have taken the Levites from the Israelites in place of every firstborn Israelite from the womb. The Levites belong to Me,

Moses, Aaron, and his sons, who performed the duties of the sanctuary as a service on behalf of the Israelites, camped in front of the tabernacle on the east, in front of the tent of meeting toward the sunrise. Any unauthorized person who came near it was to be put to death.

The Lord told Moses: “Register every firstborn male of the Israelites one month old or more, and list their names.

You are to take the Levites for Me—I am Yahweh—in place of every firstborn among the Israelites, and the Levites’ cattle in place of every firstborn among the Israelites’ cattle.”

So Moses registered every firstborn among the Israelites, as the Lord commanded him.

“Take the Levites in place of every firstborn among the Israelites, and the Levites’ cattle in place of their cattle. The Levites belong to Me; I am Yahweh.

As the redemption price for the 273 firstborn Israelites who outnumber the Levites,

Give the money to Aaron and his sons as the redemption price for those who are in excess among the Israelites.”

He collected the money from the firstborn Israelites: 1,365 shekels measured by the standard sanctuary shekel.

“Command the Israelites to send away anyone from the camp who is afflicted with a skin disease, anyone who has a bodily discharge, or anyone who is defiled because of a corpse.

The Israelites did this, sending them outside the camp. The Israelites did as the Lord instructed Moses.

“Tell the Israelites: When a man or woman commits any sin against another, that person acts unfaithfully toward the Lord and is guilty.

Every holy contribution the Israelites present to the priest will be his.

“Speak to the Israelites and tell them: If any man’s wife goes astray, is unfaithful to him,

“Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When a man or woman makes a special vow, a Nazirite vow, to consecrate himself to the Lord,

“Tell Aaron and his sons how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them:

In this way they will pronounce My name over the Israelites, and I will bless them.”

“Take the Levites from among the Israelites and ceremonially cleanse them.

Bring the Levites before the tent of meeting and assemble the entire Israelite community.

Then present the Levites before the Lord, and have the Israelites lay their hands on them.

Aaron is to present the Levites before the Lord as a presentation offering from the Israelites, so that they may perform the Lord’s work.

In this way you are to separate the Levites from the rest of the Israelites so that the Levites will belong to Me.

For they have been exclusively assigned to Me from the Israelites. I have taken them for Myself in place of all who come first from the womb, every Israelite firstborn.

For every firstborn among the Israelites is Mine, both man and animal. I consecrated them to Myself on the day I struck down every firstborn in the land of Egypt.

But I have taken the Levites in place of every firstborn among the Israelites.

From the Israelites, I have given the Levites exclusively to Aaron and his sons to perform the work for the Israelites at the tent of meeting and to make atonement on their behalf, so that no plague will come against the Israelites when they approach the sanctuary.”

Moses, Aaron, and the entire Israelite community did this to the Levites. The Israelites did everything to them the Lord commanded Moses regarding the Levites.

“The Israelites are to observe the Passover at its appointed time.

So Moses told the Israelites to observe the Passover,

and they observed it in the first month on the fourteenth day at twilight in the Wilderness of Sinai. The Israelites did everything as the Lord had commanded Moses.

and said to him, “We are unclean because of a human corpse. Why should we be excluded from presenting the Lord’s offering at its appointed time with the other Israelites?”

“Tell the Israelites: When any one of you or your descendants is unclean because of a corpse or is on a distant journey, he may still observe the Passover to the Lord.

Whenever the cloud was lifted up above the tent, the Israelites would set out; at the place where the cloud stopped, there the Israelites camped.

At the Lord’s command the Israelites set out, and at the Lord’s command they camped. As long as the cloud stayed over the tabernacle, they camped.

Even when the cloud stayed over the tabernacle many days, the Israelites carried out the Lord’s requirement and did not set out.

Whether it was two days, a month, or longer, the Israelites camped and did not set out as long as the cloud stayed over the tabernacle. But when it was lifted, they set out.

The Israelites traveled on from the Wilderness of Sinai, moving from one place to the next until the cloud stopped in the Wilderness of Paran.

This was the order of march for the Israelites by their military divisions as they set out.

Contemptible people among them had a strong craving for other food. The Israelites cried again and said, “Who will feed us meat?

“Send men to scout out the land of Canaan I am giving to the Israelites. Send one man who is a leader among them from each of their ancestral tribes.”

That place was called the Valley of Eshcol because of the cluster of grapes the Israelites cut there.

The men went back to Moses, Aaron, and the entire Israelite community in the Wilderness of Paran at Kadesh. They brought back a report for them and the whole community, and they showed them the fruit of the land.

So they gave a negative report to the Israelites about the land they had scouted: “The land we passed through to explore is one that devours its inhabitants, and all the people we saw in it are men of great size.

All the Israelites complained about Moses and Aaron, and the whole community told them, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt, or if only we had died in this wilderness!

Then Moses and Aaron fell down with their faces to the ground in front of the whole assembly of the Israelite community.

and said to the entire Israelite community: “The land we passed through and explored is an extremely good land.

While the whole community threatened to stone them, the glory of the Lord appeared to all the Israelites at the tent of meeting.

“How long must I endure this evil community that keeps complaining about Me? I have heard the Israelites’ complaints that they make against Me.

When Moses reported these words to all the Israelites, the people were overcome with grief.

“Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When you enter the land I am giving you to settle in,

“Every Israelite is to prepare these things in this way when he presents a fire offering as a pleasing aroma to the Lord.

“Speak to the Israelites and tell them: After you enter the land where I am bringing you,

The priest must then make atonement for the entire Israelite community so that they may be forgiven, for the sin was unintentional. They are to bring their offering, one made by fire to the Lord, and their sin offering before the Lord for their unintentional sin.

The entire Israelite community and the foreigner who resides among them will be forgiven, since it happened to all the people unintentionally.

You are to have the same law for the person who acts in error, whether he is an Israelite or a foreigner who lives among you.

While the Israelites were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering wood on the Sabbath day.

“Speak to the Israelites and tell them that throughout their generations they are to make tassels for the corners of their garments, and put a blue cord on the tassel at each corner.

250 prominent Israelite men who were leaders of the community and representatives in the assembly, and they rebelled against Moses.

Isn’t it enough for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the Israelite community to bring you near to Himself, to perform the work at the Lord’s tabernacle, and to stand before the community to minister to them?

As for the firepans of those who sinned at the cost of their own lives, make them into hammered sheets as plating for the altar, for they presented them before the Lord, and the firepans are holy. They will be a sign to the Israelites.”

just as the Lord commanded him through Moses. It was to be a reminder for the Israelites that no unauthorized person outside the lineage of Aaron should approach to offer incense before the Lord and become like Korah and his followers.

The next day the entire Israelite community complained about Moses and Aaron, saying, “You have killed the Lord’s people!”

“Speak to the Israelites and take one staff from them for each ancestral house, 12 staffs from all the leaders of their ancestral houses. Write each man’s name on his staff.

The staff of the man I choose will sprout, and I will rid Myself of the Israelites’ complaints that they have been making about you.”

So Moses spoke to the Israelites, and each of their leaders gave him a staff, one for each of the leaders of their ancestral houses, 12 staffs in all. Aaron’s staff was among them.

Moses then brought out all the staffs from the Lord’s presence to all the Israelites. They saw them, and each man took his own staff.

Then the Israelites declared to Moses, “Look, we’re perishing! We’re lost; we’re all lost!

“You are to guard the sanctuary and the altar so that wrath may not fall on the Israelites again.

Look, I have selected your fellow Levites from the Israelites as a gift for you, assigned by the Lord to work at the tent of meeting.

Then the Lord spoke to Aaron, “Look, I have put you in charge of the contributions brought to Me. As for all the holy offerings of the Israelites, I have given them to you and your sons as a portion and a permanent statute.

“The contribution of their gifts also belongs to you. I have given all the Israelites’ presentation offerings to you and to your sons and daughters as a permanent statute. Every ceremonially clean person in your house may eat it.

I am giving you all the best of the fresh olive oil, new wine, and grain, which the Israelites give to the Lord as their firstfruits.

“I give to you and to your sons and daughters all the holy contributions that the Israelites present to the Lord as a permanent statute. It is a permanent covenant of salt before the Lord for you as well as your offspring.”

The Lord told Aaron, “You will not have an inheritance in their land; there will be no portion among them for you. I am your portion and your inheritance among the Israelites.

The Israelites must never again come near the tent of meeting, or they will incur guilt and die.

The Levites will do the work of the tent of meeting, and they will bear the consequences of their sin. The Levites will not receive an inheritance among the Israelites; this is a permanent statute throughout your generations.

For I have given them the tenth that the Israelites present to the Lord as a contribution for their inheritance. That is why I told them that they would not receive an inheritance among the Israelites.”

“Speak to the Levites and tell them: When you receive from the Israelites the tenth that I have given you as your inheritance, you must present part of it as an offering to the Lord—a tenth of the tenth.

You are to present an offering to the Lord from every tenth you receive from the Israelites. Give some of it to Aaron the priest as an offering to the Lord.

You will not incur guilt because of it once you have presented the best part of it, but you must not defile the Israelites’ holy offerings, so that you will not die.”

“This is the legal statute that the Lord has commanded: Instruct the Israelites to bring you an unblemished red cow that has no defect and has never been yoked.

“A man who is clean is to gather up the cow’s ashes and deposit them outside the camp in a ceremonially clean place. The ashes must be kept by the Israelite community for preparing the water to remove impurity; it is a sin offering.

Then the one who gathers up the cow’s ashes must wash his clothes, and he will remain unclean until evening. This is a permanent statute for the Israelites and for the foreigner who resides among them.

The entire Israelite community entered the Wilderness of Zin in the first month, and they settled in Kadesh. Miriam died and was buried there.

But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust Me to show My holiness in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this assembly into the land I have given them.”

These are the waters of Meribah, where the Israelites quarreled with the Lord, and He showed His holiness to them.

“We will go on the main road,” the Israelites replied to them, “and if we or our herds drink your water, we will pay its price. There will be no problem; only let us travel through on foot.”

After they set out from Kadesh, the entire Israelite community came to Mount Hor.