But the Levites shall pitch around the tabernacle of testimony; that there may be no wrath upon the congregation of the children of Israel: and the Levites shall keep the charge of the tabernacle of testimony.

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

Because all the first-born are mine; for on the day that I smote all the first-born in the land of Egypt, I hallowed to me all the first-born in Israel, both man and beast: mine they shall be: I am the LORD.

And thou shalt take the Levites for me (I am the LORD) instead of all the first-born 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 to them, that they may live, and not die, when they approach to 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 of them, that they may be to perform the service of the tabernacle of the congregation; and thou shalt give them to 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 to me from among the children of Israel; instead of such as open every womb, even instead of the first-born of all the children of Israel, have I taken them to me.

And I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and to his sons from among the children of Israel, to do the service of the children of Israel in the tabernacle of the congregation, and to make an atonement for the children of Israel: that there may be no plague among the children of Israel, when the children of Israel come nigh to the sanctuary.

And those men said to 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 season among the children of Israel?

Also in the day of your gladness, and in your solemn days, and in the beginnings of your months, ye 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 to him, I will not go; but I will depart to my own land, and to my kindred.

And Moses said to the LORD, Why hast thou afflicted thy servant? and why have I not found favor in thy sight, that thou layest the burden of all this people upon me?

Have I conceived all this people? have I begotten them, that thou shouldest say to me, Carry them in thy bosom, as a nursing-father beareth the sucking child, to the land which thou sworest to their fathers?

Whence should I have flesh to give to all this people? for they weep to 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 thou dealest thus with me, kill me, I pray thee, out of hand, if I have found favor in thy sight; and let me not see my wretchedness.

And the LORD said to Moses, Gather to me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom thou knowest to be the elders of the people, and officers over them; and bring them to the tabernacle of the congregation, that they may stand there with thee.

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

And the LORD said to Moses, Is the LORD'S hand shortened? thou shalt see now whether my word shall come to pass to thee, 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 to him, Enviest thou for my sake? I would 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 is a prophet among you, I the LORD will make myself known to him in a vision, and will speak to him in a dream.

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

With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the LORD shall he behold: why then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?

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

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

And the LORD said to Moses, How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have shown among them?

And now, I beseech thee, let the power of my Lord be great, according as thou hast 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 tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice;

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

But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land into which he went; and his seed 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 to them, As truly as I live, saith the LORD, as ye 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 ye searched the land, even forty days (each day for a year) shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise.

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

And it shall be to you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the LORD, and do them; and that ye seek not after your own heart and your own eyes, after which ye use to go astray:

That ye may remember, and do all my commandments, and be holy to your God.

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

And Moses said, by this ye shall know that the LORD hath sent me to do all these works: for I have not done them of my own mind.

If these men shall die the common death of all men, or if they be visited after the visitation of all men; then the LORD hath not sent me.

To be a memorial to the children of Israel, that no stranger, who is not of the seed of Aaron, should come near to offer incense before the LORD; that he may not be as Korah, and as his company: as the LORD said to him by the hand of Moses.

Remove 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, by which they murmur against you.

And the LORD said to Moses, Bring Aaron's rod again, before the testimony, to be kept for a token against the rebels; and thou shalt quite take away their murmurings from me, that they die not.

And thy brethren also of the tribe of Levi, the tribe of thy father, bring thou with thee, that they may be joined to thee, and minister to thee: but thou and thy sons with thee shall minister before the tabernacle of witness.

And the LORD spoke to Aaron, Behold, I also have given thee the charge of my heave-offerings of all the hallowed things of the children of Israel; to thee have I given them by reason of the anointing, and to thy sons, by an ordinance for ever.

This shall be thine of the most holy things reserved from the fire: every oblation of theirs, every meat-offering of theirs, and every sin-offering of theirs, and every trespass-offering of theirs, which they shall render to me, shall be most holy for thee and for thy sons.

And ye shall give her to Eleazar the priest, that he may bring her forth without the camp, and one shall slay her before his face:

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

And Edom said to him, Thou shalt not pass by me, lest I come out against thee with the sword.

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

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

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

Let me pass through thy 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 high-way, until we have past thy borders.

He sent messengers therefore to 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 has a people come out from Egypt: behold, they cover the face of the earth, and they abide over against me:

Come now therefore, I pray thee, Curse for me this people; for they are too mighty for me: it may be I shall prevail, that we may smite them, and that I may drive them out of the land: for I know that he whom thou blessest is blessed, and he whom thou cursest is cursed.

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

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

Behold, there has a people come out of Egypt, which covereth the face of the earth: come now, curse them for me: it may be I shall be able to overcome them, and drive them out.

And Balaam rose in the morning, and said to the princes of Balak, Depart into your land: for the LORD refuseth to give me leave to go with you.

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

For I will promote thee to very great honor, and I will do whatever thou sayest to me: come therefore, I pray thee, curse this people for me.

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

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

And the LORD opened the mouth of the ass, and she said to Balaam, What have I done to thee, that thou hast smitten me these three times?

And Balaam said to the ass, Because thou hast mocked me: I would there were a sword in my hand, for now would I kill thee.

And the angel of the LORD said to him, Why hast thou smitten thy ass these three times? behold, I went out to withstand thee, because thy way is perverse before me:

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

And Balaam said to the angel of the LORD, I have sinned; for I knew not that thou stoodest in the way against me: now therefore, if it displeaseth thee, I will return again.

And Balak said to Balaam, Did I not earnestly send to thee to call thee? why camest thou not to me? am I not able indeed to promote thee to honor?

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

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

And Balaam said to Balak, Stand by thy burnt-offering, and I will go: it may be the LORD will come to meet me: and whatever he showeth me I will tell thee. And he went to a high place.

And he took up his parable, and said, Balak the king of Moab hath brought me from Aram, out of the mountains of the east, saying, Come, curse Jacob for me, and come, defy 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 to Balaam, What hast thou done to me? I took thee to curse my enemies, and behold, thou hast blessed them altogether.

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

And Balak said to him, Come, I pray thee, with me to another place, from whence thou mayest see them: thou shalt see but the utmost part of them, and shalt not see them all: and from thence curse them for me.

And he took up his parable, and said, Rise, Balak, and hear; hearken to me, thou son of Zippor:

And Balak said to Balaam, Come, I pray thee, I will bring thee to another place; perhaps it will please God that thou mayest from thence curse them for me.

And Balaam said to 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 smote his hands together: and Balak said to Balaam, I called thee to curse my enemies, and behold, thou hast altogether blessed them these three times.

And Balaam said to Balak, Did I not speak also to thy messengers whom thou sentest to me, saying,

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

And now, behold, I go to my people: come therefore, I will advertise thee what this people will do to thy people in the latter days.

And the LORD said to Moses, Take all the heads of the people, and hang them up before the LORD against 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, hath turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, (while he was zealous for my sake among them,) that I consumed not the children of Israel in my jealousy.

Wherefore say, Behold, I give to him my covenant of peace.

For ye 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 thou shalt put some of thy honor upon him, that all the congregation of the children of Israel may be obedient.

Command the children of Israel, and say to them, My offering, and my bread for my sacrifices made by fire, for a sweet savor to me, shall ye observe to offer to 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.

Every thing that may abide the fire, ye shall make it go through the fire, and it shall be clean: nevertheless it shall be purified with the water of separation: and all that abideth not the fire ye shall make go through the water.

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

And the children of Gad and the children of Reuben spoke to Moses, saying, Thy servants will do as my lord commandeth.