But the tents of the Levites are to be round the Tent of meeting, so that wrath may not come on the children of Israel: the Tent of meeting is to be in the care of the Levites.

In order that they may be responsible to him and to all Israel for the care of the Tent of meeting, and to do the work of the House;

Give the Levites to Aaron and his sons; so that they may be his without question from among the children of Israel.

And give to me the Levites (I am the Lord) in place of the first sons of the children of Israel; and the cattle of the Levites in place of the first births among the cattle of the children of Israel.

And after the holy place and all its vessels have been covered up by Aaron and his sons, when the tents of the people go forward, the sons of Kohath are to come and take it up; but the holy things may not be touched by them for fear of death.

But do this to them, so that life and not death may be theirs when they come near the most holy things; let Aaron and his sons go in and give to every one his work and that which he is to take up;

Male or female they are to be put outside the tent-circle, so that they may not make unclean my resting-place among them.

But if the man has no relation to whom the payment may be made, then the payment for sin made to the Lord will be the priest's, in addition to the sheep offered to take away his sin.

Then the priest will put the oath of the curse on the woman, and say to her, May the Lord make you a curse and an oath among your people, sending on you wasting of the legs and disease of the stomach;

All the time he is separate he may take nothing made from the grape-vine, from its seeds to its skin.

All the time he is under his oath let no blade come near his head; till the days while he is separate are ended he is holy and his hair may not be cut.

All the time he is separate he may not come near any dead body.

He may not make himself unclean for his father or his mother, his sister or his brother, if death comes to them; because he is under an oath to keep himself separate for God.

Waving them for a wave offering before the Lord; this is holy for the priest, together with the waved breast and the leg which is lifted up; after that, the man may take wine.

This is the law for him who takes an oath to keep himself separate, and for his offering to the Lord on that account, in addition to what he may be able to get; this is the law of his oath, which he will have to keep.

May the Lord send his blessing on you and keep you:

May the light of the Lord's face be shining on you in grace:

May the Lord's approval be resting on you and may he give you peace.

So they will put my name on the children of Israel, and I will give them my blessing.

And Aaron is to give the Levites to the Lord as a wave offering from the children of Israel, so that they may do the Lord's work.

For they have been given to me from among the children of Israel; in place of every mother's first son, the first to come to birth in Israel, I have taken them for myself.

And I have given them to Aaron and to his sons, from among the children of Israel, to undertake for them all the work of the Tent of meeting, and to take away sin from the children of Israel so that no evil may come on them when they come near the holy place.

And these men said to him, We have been made unclean by the dead body of a man; why may we not make the offering of the Lord at the regular time among the children of Israel?

And Moses said to them, Do nothing till the Lord gives me directions about you.

But he said, I will not go with you, I will go back to the land of my birth and to my relations.

And Moses said to the Lord, Why have you done me this evil? and why have I not grace in your eyes, that you have put on me the care of all this people?

Am I the father of all this people? have I given them birth, that you say to me, Take them in your arms, like a child at the breast, to the land which you gave by an oath to their fathers?

Where am I to get flesh to give to all this people? For they are weeping to me and saying, Give us flesh for our food.

I am not able by myself to take the weight of all this people, for it is more than my strength.

If this is to be my fate, put me to death now in answer to my prayer, if I have grace in your eyes; and let me not see my shame.

Are flocks and herds to be put to death for them? or are all the fish in the sea to be got together so that they may be full?

And the Lord said to Moses, Has the Lord's hand become short? Now you will see if my word comes true for you or not.

Then Joshua, the son of Nun, who had been Moses' servant from the time when he was a child, said, My lord Moses, let them be stopped.

And Moses said to him, Are you moved by envy on my account? If only all the Lord's people were prophets, and the Lord might put his spirit on them!

And he said, Now give ear to my words: if there is a prophet among you I will give him knowledge of myself in a vision and will let my words come to him in a dream.

My servant Moses is not so; he is true to me in all my house:

With him I will have talk mouth to mouth, openly and not in dark sayings; and with his eyes he will see the form of the Lord: why then had you no fear of saying evil against my servant Moses?

Then Aaron said to Moses, O my lord, let not our sin be on our heads, for we have done foolishly and are sinners.

And Moses, crying to the Lord, said, Let my prayer come before you, O God, and make her well.

And the Lord said to Moses, If her father had put a mark of shame on her, would she not be shamed for seven days? Let her be shut up outside the tent-circle for seven days, and after that she may come in again.

And the Lord said to Moses, How long will this people have no respect for me? how long will they be without faith, in the face of all the signs I have done among them?

So now, may my prayer come before you, and let the power of the Lord be great, as you said:

May the sin of this people have forgiveness, in the measure of your great mercy, as you have had mercy on them from Egypt up till now.

Because all these men, having seen my glory and the signs which I have done in Egypt and in the waste land, still have put me to the test ten times, and have not given ear to my voice;

But my servant Caleb, because he had a different spirit in him, and has been true to me with all his heart, him I will take into that land into which he went, and his seed will have it for their heritage.

How long am I to put up with this evil people and their outcries against me? The words which they say against me have come to my ears.

Say to them, By my life, says the Lord, as certainly as your words have come to my ears, so certainly will I do this to you:

Your dead bodies will be stretched out in this waste land; and of all your number, all those of twenty years old and over who have been crying out against me,

Not one will come into the land which I gave my word you would have for your resting-place, but only Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua, the son of Nun.

I the Lord have said it, and this I will certainly do to all this evil people who have come together against me: in this waste land destruction will come on them, and death will be their fate.

So that, looking on these ornaments, you may keep in mind the orders of the Lord and do them; and not be guided by the desires of your hearts and eyes, through which you have been untrue to me:

And that you may keep in mind all my orders and do them and be holy to your God.

And he said to Korah and his band, In the morning the Lord will make clear who are his, and who is holy, and who may come near him: the man of his selection will be caused to come near him.

Come out from among this people, so that I may send sudden destruction on them.

And he said to the people, Come away now from the tents of these evil men, without touching anything of theirs, or you may be taken in the punishment of their sins.

And Moses said, Now you will see that the Lord has sent me to do all these works, and I have not done them of myself.

If these men have the common death of men, or if the natural fate of all men overtakes them, then the Lord has not sent me.

And let the vessels of those men, who with their lives have made payment for their sin, be hammered out into plates as a cover for the altar; for they have been offered before the Lord and are holy; so that they may be a sign to the children of Israel.

To be a sign, kept in memory for ever by the children of Israel, that no man who is not of the seed of Aaron has the right of burning spices before the Lord, so that he may not be like Korah and his band: as the Lord said to him by the mouth of Moses.

Come out from among this people, so that I may send sudden destruction on them. And they went down on their faces.

And the rod of that man who is marked out by me for myself will have buds on it; so I will put a stop to the outcries which the children of Israel make to me against you.

And the Lord said to Moses, Put Aaron's rod back in front of the ark of witness, to be kept for a sign against this false-hearted people, so that you may put a stop to their outcries against me, and death may not overtake them.

Let your brothers, the family of Levi, come near with you, so that they may be joined with you and be your servants: but you and your sons with you are to go in before the ark of witness.

They are to do your orders and be responsible for the work of the Tent; but they may not come near the vessels of the holy place or the altar, so that death may not overtake them or you.

They are to be joined with you in the care of the Tent of meeting, doing whatever is needed for the Tent: and no one of any other family may come near you.

You are to be responsible for the holy place and the altar, so that wrath may never again come on the children of Israel.

And the Lord said to Aaron, See, I have given into your care my lifted offerings; even all the holy things of the children of Israel I have given to you and to your sons as your right for ever, because you have been marked with the holy oil.

And this is yours: the lifted offering which they give and all the wave offerings of the children of Israel I have given to you and to your sons and to your daughters as your right for ever: everyone in your house who is clean may have them for food.

The earliest produce from their land which they take to the Lord is to be yours; everyone in your house who is clean may have it for his food.

But no such payment may be made for the first birth of an ox or a sheep or a goat; these are holy: their blood is to be dropped on the altar, and their fat burned for an offering made by fire, a sweet smell to the Lord.

In future the children of Israel are not to come near the Tent of meeting, so that death may not come to them because of sin.

And no sin will be yours on account of it, when the best of it has been lifted up on high; you are not to make a wrong use of the holy things of the children of Israel, so that death may not overtake you.

And the priest, after washing his clothing and bathing his body in water, may come back to the tent-circle, and will be unclean till evening.

Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, Because you had not enough faith in me to keep my name holy before the children of Israel, you will not take this people into the land which I have given them.

And Edom said, You are not to go through my land, for if you do I will come out against you with the sword.

Aaron will be put to rest with his people; he will not go into the land which I have given to the children of Israel, because you went against my word at the waters of Meribah.

Then Israel made an oath to the Lord, and said, If you will give up this people into my hands, then I will send complete destruction on all their towns.

Let me go through your land: we will not go into field or vine-garden, or take the water of the springs; we will go by the highway till we have gone past the limits of your land.

So he sent men to Balaam, son of Beor, at Pethor by the River in the land of the children of his people, saying to him, See, a people has come out of Egypt, covering all the face of the earth, and they have put up their tents opposite to me:

Come now, in answer to my prayer, and put a curse on this people, for they are greater than I: and then I may be strong enough to overcome them and send them out of the land: for it is clear that good comes to him who has your blessing, but he on whom you put your curse is cursed.

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

See, the people who have come out of Egypt are covering all the earth: now, put a curse on this people for me, so that I may be able to make war on them, driving them out of the land.

And God said to Balaam, You are not to go with them, or put a curse on this people, for they have my blessing.

In the morning Balaam got up and said to the chiefs of Balak, Go back to your land, for the Lord will not let me go with you.

And they came to Balaam and said, Balak, son of Zippor, says, Let nothing keep you from coming to me:

For I will give you a place of very great honour, and whatever you say to me I will do; so come, in answer to my prayer, and put a curse on this people.

But Balaam, in answer; said to the servants of Balak, Even if Balak gave me his house full of silver and gold, it would not be possible for me to do anything more or less than the orders of the Lord my God.

So take your rest here this night, till I have knowledge what more the Lord has to say to me.

Then the Lord gave the ass the power of talking, and opening her mouth she said to Balaam, What have I done to you that you have given me blows these three times?

And Balaam said to the ass, You have made me seem foolish: if only I had a sword in my hand I would put you to death.

And the angel of the Lord said to him, Why have you given your ass blows these three times? See, I have come out against you to keep you back, because your purpose is not pleasing to me.

And the ass saw me, turning to one side from me three times: if she had not gone to one side, I would certainly have put you to death and kept her safe.

And Balaam said to the angel of the Lord, I have done wrong, for I did not see that you were in the way against me: but now, if it is evil in your eyes, I will go back again.

And Balak said to Balaam, Did I not send to you, requesting you with all my heart to come to me? why did you not come? am I not able to give you a place of honour?

Then Balaam said to Balak, Now I have come to you; but have I power to say anything? Only what God puts into my mouth may I say.

And Balaam said to Balak, Make me here seven altars and get ready seven oxen and seven male sheep.

Then Balaam said to Balak, Take your place by your burned offering, and I will go and see if the Lord comes to me: and I will give you word of whatever he says to me. And he went to an open place on a hill.

And in the words which the Lord had given him he said, From Aram Balak has sent for me, the king of Moab from the mountains of the East: come, put curses on Jacob for me and be angry with Israel.

How may I put curses on him who is not cursed by God? how may I be angry with him with whom the Lord is not angry?

Who is able to take the measure of the dust of Jacob or the number of the thousands of Israel? May my death be the death of the upright and my last end like his!