Counting every male one month old or more, there were 8,600 responsible for the duties of the sanctuary.

and sleeps with another, but it is concealed from her husband, and she is undetected, even though she has defiled herself, since there is no witness against her, and she wasn’t caught in the act;

But there were some men who were unclean because of a human corpse, so they could not observe the Passover on that day. These men came before Moses and Aaron the same day

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.

But now our appetite is gone; there’s nothing to look at but this manna!”

The Lord answered Moses, “Bring Me 70 men from Israel known to you as elders and officers of the people. Take them to the tent of meeting and have them stand there with you.

Then I will come down and speak with you there. I will take some of the Spirit who is on you and put the Spirit on them. They will help you bear the burden of the people, so that you do not have to bear it by yourself.

So they named that place Kibroth-hattaavah, because there they buried the people who had craved the meat.

From Kibroth-hattaavah the people moved on to Hazeroth and remained there.

He said:

“Listen to what I say:
If there is a prophet among you from the Lord,
I make Myself known to him in a vision;
I speak with him in a dream.

See what the land is like, and whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many.

Is the land fertile or unproductive? Are there trees in it or not? Be courageous. Bring back some fruit from the land.” It was the season for the first ripe grapes.

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

However, the people living in the land are strong, and the cities are large and fortified. We also saw the descendants of Anak there.

We even saw the Nephilim there—the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim! To ourselves we seemed like grasshoppers, and we must have seemed the same to them.”

I, Yahweh, have spoken. I swear that I will do this to the entire evil community that has conspired against Me. They will come to an end in the wilderness, and there they will die.”

Write Aaron’s name on Levi’s staff, because there must be one staff for the head of each ancestral house.

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.

A person who is clean is to take hyssop, dip it in the water, and sprinkle the tent, all the furnishings, and the people who were there. He is also to sprinkle the one who touched a bone, a grave, a corpse, or a person who had been killed.

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

There was no water for the community, so they assembled against Moses and Aaron.

Why have you led us up from Egypt to bring us to this evil place? It’s not a place of grain, figs, vines, and pomegranates, and there is no water to drink!”

“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.”

Remove Aaron’s garments and put them on his son Eleazar. Aaron will be gathered to his people and die there.”

After Moses removed Aaron’s garments and put them on his son Eleazar, Aaron died there on top of the mountain. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain.

The people spoke against God and Moses: “Why have you led us up from Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread or water, and we detest this wretched food!”

From there they went and camped at Zered Valley.

They set out from there and camped on the other side of the Arnon River, in the wilderness that extends from the Amorite border, because the Arnon was the Moabite border between Moab and the Amorites.

From there they went to Beer, the well the Lord told Moses about, “Gather the people so I may give them water.”

After Moses sent spies to Jazer, Israel captured its villages and drove out the Amorites who were there.

The Angel of the Lord went ahead and stood in a narrow place where there was no room to turn to the right or the left.

In the morning, Balak took Balaam and brought him to Bamoth-baal. From there he saw the outskirts of the people’s camp.

So he returned to Balak, who was standing there by his burnt offering with all the officials of Moab.

I see them from the top of rocky cliffs,
and I watch them from the hills.
There is a people living alone;
it does not consider itself among the nations.

Then Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place where you can see them. You will only see the outskirts of their camp; you won’t see all of them. From there, put a curse on them for me.”

Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here by your burnt offering while I seek the Lord over there.”

So he returned to Balak, who was standing there by his burnt offering with the officials of Moab. Balak asked him, “What did the Lord say?”

He considers no disaster for Jacob;
He sees no trouble for Israel.
The Lord their God is with them,
and there is rejoicing over the King among them.

There is no magic curse against Jacob
and no divination against Israel.
It will now be said about Jacob and Israel,
“What great things God has done!”

Again Balak said to Balaam, “Please come. I will take you to another place. Maybe it will be agreeable to God that you can put a curse on them for me there.”

But among them there was not one of those who had been registered by Moses and Aaron the priest when they registered the Israelites in the Wilderness of Sinai.

On the fifteenth day of this month there will be a festival; unleavened bread is to be eaten for seven days.

On the first day there is to be a sacred assembly; you are not to do any daily work.

The descendants of Machir son of Manasseh went to Gilead, captured it, and drove out the Amorites who were there.

They departed from Marah and came to Elim. There were 12 springs of water and 70 date palms at Elim, so they camped there.

They departed from Alush and camped at Rephidim, where there was no water for the people to drink.

At the Lord’s command, Aaron the priest climbed Mount Hor and died there on the first day of the fifth month in the fortieth year after the Israelites went out of the land of Egypt.

“The cities you give the Levites will include six cities of refuge, which you must provide so that the one who kills someone may flee there; in addition to these, give 42 other cities.

designate cities to serve as cities of refuge for you, so that a person who kills someone unintentionally may flee there.

These six cities will serve as a refuge for the Israelites and for the foreigner or temporary resident among them, so that anyone who kills a person unintentionally may flee there.

The assembly is to protect the one who kills someone from the hand of the avenger of blood. Then the assembly will return him to the city of refuge he fled to, and he must live there until the death of the high priest who was anointed with the holy oil.

“Do not defile the land where you are, for bloodshed defiles the land, and there can be no atonement for the land because of the blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of the person who shed it.