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

Because all the firstborn are mine; for on the day that I struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I hallowed unto me all the firstborn in Israel, both man and animal: mine shall they be: I am the LORD.

And you shall take the Levites for me (I am the LORD) instead of all the firstborn among the children of Israel; and the cattle of the Levites instead of all the firstlings among the cattle of the children of Israel.

But thus do unto them, that they may live, and not die, when they approach unto the most holy things: Aaron and his sons shall go in, and appoint them every one to his service and to his burden:

And the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before the LORD: this is holy for the priest, with the wave breast and heave shoulder: and after that the Nazarite may drink wine.

And they shall put my name upon the children of Israel; and I will bless them.

Take it from them, that they may be used in doing the service of the tabernacle of meeting; and you shall give them unto the Levites, to every man according to his service.

And Aaron shall offer the Levites before the LORD for an offering of the children of Israel, that they may execute the service of the LORD.

For they are wholly given unto me from among the children of Israel; instead of all that open every womb, even instead of the firstborn of all the children of Israel, have I taken them unto me.

And those men said unto him, We are defiled by the dead body of a man: why are we kept back, that we may not offer an offering of the LORD in its appointed time among the children of Israel?

Make you two trumpets of silver; of a whole piece shall you make them: that you may use them for the calling of the assembly, and for the journeying of the camps.

Also in the day of your gladness, and in your solemn days, and in the beginnings of your months, you shall blow with the trumpets over your burnt offerings, and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; that they may be to you for a memorial before your God: I am the LORD your God.

And he said unto him, I will not go; but I will depart to my own land, and to my kindred.

And Moses said unto the LORD, Why have you afflicted your servant? and why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people upon me?

Have I conceived all this people? have I begotten them, that you should say unto me, Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse bears the nursing child, unto the land which you swore to give unto their fathers?

From where should I have flesh to give unto all this people? for they weep unto me, saying, Give us flesh, that we may eat.

I am not able to bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me.

And if you deal thus with me, kill me, I pray you, out of hand, if I have found favor in your sight; and let me not see my wretchedness.

And the LORD said unto Moses, Gather unto me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people, and officers over them; and bring them unto the tabernacle of meeting, that they may stand there with you.

And Moses said, The people, among whom I am, are six hundred thousand footmen; and you have said, I will give them flesh, that they may eat a whole month.

And the LORD said unto Moses, Is the LORD'S hand shortened? you shall see now whether my word shall come to pass unto you or not.

And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Moses, one of his young men, answered and said, My lord Moses, forbid them.

And Moses said unto him, Are you jealous for my sake? would God that all the LORD'S people were prophets, and that the LORD would put his spirit upon them!

And he said, Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I the LORD will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream.

My servant Moses is not thus, who is faithful in all my house.

With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even clearly, and not in dark sayings; and the form of the LORD shall he behold: why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?

And Aaron said unto Moses, Alas, my lord, I beseech you, lay not the sin upon us, in which we have done foolishly, and in which we have sinned.

Send men, that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel: of every tribe of their fathers shall you send a man, every one a leader among them.

And the LORD said unto Moses, How long will this people despise me? and how long will it be before they believe me, with all the signs which I have shown among them?

And now, I beseech you, let the power of my LORD be great, according as you have spoken, saying,

Because all those men who have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have put me to the test now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice;

Surely they shall not see the land which I swore to give unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it:

But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and has followed me fully, him will I bring into the land in which he went; and his descendants shall possess it.

How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me.

Say unto them, As truly as I live, says the LORD, as you have spoken in my ears, so will I do to you:

Your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, who have murmured against me,

After the number of the days in which you searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall you bear your iniquities, even forty years, and you shall know my displeasure.

I the LORD have said, I will surely do it unto all this evil congregation, that are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die.

And it shall be unto you a tassel, that you may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the LORD, and do them; and that you seek not after your own heart and your own eyes, after which you use to follow harlotry:

That you may remember, and do all my commandments, and be holy unto your God.

Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment.

And Moses said, Hereby you shall know that the LORD has sent me to do all these works; for I have not done them of my own will.

If these men die the common death of all men, or if they be visited with the fate of all men; then the LORD has not sent me.

Get away from among this congregation, that I may consume them as in a moment. And they fell upon their faces.

And it shall come to pass, that the man's rod, whom I shall choose, shall blossom: and I will make to cease from me the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against you.

And the LORD said unto Moses, Bring Aaron's rod again before the testimony, to be kept for a sign against the rebels; and you shall put away their murmurings from me, that they die not.

And your brethren also of the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, bring with you, that they may be joined unto you, and minister unto you: but you and your sons with you shall minister before the tabernacle of witness.

And the LORD spoke unto Aaron, Behold, I also have given you the duties of my heave offerings of all the hallowed things of the children of Israel; unto you have I given them as a portion to you, and to your sons, by an ordinance forever.

This shall be yours of the most holy things, reserved from the fire: every offering of theirs, every grain offering of theirs, and every sin offering of theirs, and every trespass offering of theirs, which they shall render unto me, shall be most holy for you and for your sons.

And you shall give her unto Eleazar the priest, that he may bring her forth outside the camp, and one shall slay her before his face:

And the LORD spoke unto Moses and Aaron, Because you believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.

And Edom said unto him, you shall not pass by me, lest I come out against you with the sword.

And the children of Israel said unto him, We will go by the highway: and if I and my cattle drink of your water, then I will pay for it: I will only, without doing anything else, go through on my feet.

Aaron shall be gathered unto his people: for he shall not enter into the land which I have given unto the children of Israel, because you rebelled against my word at the water of Meribah.

And Israel vowed a vow unto the LORD, and said, If you will indeed deliver this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities.

Let me pass through your land: we will not turn into the fields, or into the vineyards; we will not drink of the waters of the well: but we will go along by the king's highway, until we are past your borders.

He sent messengers therefore unto Balaam the son of Beor to Pethor, which is by the river of the land of the children of his people, to call him, saying, Behold, there is a people come out from Egypt: behold, they cover the face of the earth, and they abide over opposite me:

Come now therefore, I pray you, curse for me this people; for they are too mighty for me: perhaps I shall prevail, that we may smite them, and that I may drive them out of the land: for I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed.

And he said unto them, Lodge here this night, and I will bring you word again, as the LORD shall speak unto me: and the leaders of Moab abode with Balaam.

And Balaam said unto God, Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, has sent unto me, saying,

Behold, there is a people come out of Egypt, who cover the face of the earth: come now, curse them for me; perhaps I shall be able to overcome them, and drive them out.

And Balaam rose up in the morning, and said unto the leaders of Balak, Get you into your land: for the LORD refuses to give me permission to go with you.

And they came to Balaam, and said to him, Thus says Balak the son of Zippor, Let nothing, I pray you, hinder you from coming unto me:

For I will promote you unto very great honor, and I will do whatsoever you say unto me: come therefore, I pray you, curse for me this people.

And Balaam answered and said unto the servants of Balak, If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the word of the LORD my God, to do less or more.

Now therefore, I pray you, tarry you also here this night, that I may know what more the LORD will say unto me.

And the LORD opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said unto Balaam, What have I done unto you, that you have smitten me these three times?

And Balaam said unto the donkey, Because you have mocked me: I would there were a sword in my hand, for now would I kill you.

And the angel of the LORD said unto him, Why have you struck your donkey these three times? behold, I went out to withstand you, because your way is perverse before me:

And the donkey saw me, and turned from me these three times: unless she had turned from me, surely now also I would have slain you, and saved her alive.

And Balaam said unto the angel of the LORD, I have sinned; for I knew not that you stood in the way against me: now therefore, if it displease you, I will go back again.

And Balak said unto Balaam, Did I not earnestly send unto you to call you? why came you not unto me? am I not able indeed to promote you to honor?

And Balaam said unto Balak, Lo, I am come unto you: have I now any power at all to say any thing? the word that God puts in my mouth, that shall I speak.

And Balaam said unto Balak, Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven oxen and seven rams.

And Balaam said unto Balak, Stand by your burnt offering, and I will go: perhaps the LORD will come to meet me: and whatsoever he shows me I will tell you. And he went to a high place.

And he took up his oracle, and said, Balak the king of Moab has brought me from Aram, out of the mountains of the east, saying, Come, curse for me Jacob, and come, denounce Israel.

Who can count the dust of Jacob, and the number of the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his!

And Balak said unto Balaam, What have you done unto me? I took you to curse my enemies, and, behold, you have blessed them altogether.

And he answered and said, Must I not take heed to speak that which the LORD has put in my mouth?

And Balak said unto him, Come, I pray you, with me unto another place, from which you may see them: you shall see but the outer part of them, and shall not see them all: and curse them for me from there.

And he took up his oracle, and said, Rise up, Balak, and hear; hearken unto me, you son of Zippor:

And Balak said unto Balaam, Come, I pray you, I will bring you unto another place; perhaps it will please God that you may curse me them from there.

And Balaam said unto Balak, Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven bullocks and seven rams.

And Balak's anger was kindled against Balaam, and he struck his hands together: and Balak said unto Balaam, I called you to curse my enemies, and, behold, you have altogether blessed them these three times.

And Balaam said unto Balak, Spoke I not also to your messengers whom you sent unto me, saying,

If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the commandment of the LORD, to do either good or bad of my own mind; but what the LORD says, that will I speak?

And now, behold, I go unto my people: come therefore, and I will advise you what this people shall do to your people in the latter days.

And the LORD said unto Moses, Take all the heads of the people, and hang them up before the LORD in the sun, that the fierce anger of the LORD may be turned away from Israel.

Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, because he was zealous for my sake among them, that I consumed not the children of Israel in my jealousy.

Therefore say, Behold, I give unto him my covenant of peace:

For you rebelled against my commandment in the desert of Zin, in the strife of the congregation, to sanctify me at the water before their eyes: that is the water of Meribah in Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.

Who may go out before them, and who may go in before them, and who may lead them out, and who may bring them in; that the congregation of the LORD be not as sheep which have no shepherd.

And you shall put some of your honor upon him, that all the congregation of the children of Israel may be obedient.

Command the children of Israel, and say unto them, My offering, and my bread for my sacrifices made by fire, for a sweet aroma unto me, shall you observe to offer unto me in their due season.

Every vow, and every binding oath to afflict the soul, her husband may establish it, or her husband may make it void.

Surely none of the men that came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land which I swore unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob; because they have not wholly followed me:

And the children of Gad and the children of Reuben spoke unto Moses, saying, your servants will do as my lord commands.

But your servants will pass over, every man armed for war, before the LORD to battle, as my lord says.

We will pass over armed before the LORD into the land of Canaan, that the possession of our inheritance on this side of Jordan may be ours.

And among the cities which you shall give unto the Levites there shall be six cities for refuge, which you shall appoint for the manslayer, that he may flee there: and to them you shall add forty and two cities.