This is what they are responsible to carry as the whole of their service at the tent of meeting: the supports of the tabernacle, with its crossbars, posts, and bases,

Each one’s holy contribution is his to give; what each one gives to the priest will be his.”

This is what you must do to them for their purification: Sprinkle them with the purification water. Have them shave their entire bodies and wash their clothes, and so purify themselves.

Moses replied to them, “Wait here until I hear what the Lord commands for you.”

The Lord answered Moses, “Is the Lord’s power limited? You will see whether or not what I have promised will happen to you.”

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.

They placed him in custody because it had not been decided what should be done to him.

But you and your sons will carry out your priestly responsibilities for everything concerning the altar and for what is inside the veil, and you will do that work. I am giving you the work of the priesthood as a gift, but an unauthorized person who comes near the sanctuary will be put to death.”

Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom, “This is what your brother Israel says, ‘You know all the hardships that have overtaken us.

They came to Balaam and said to him, “This is what Balak son of Zippor says: ‘Let nothing keep you from coming to me,

Please stay here overnight as the others did, so that I may find out what else the Lord has to tell me.”

God came to Balaam at night and said to him, “Since these men have come to summon you, get up and go with them, but you must only do what I tell you.”

Then the Lord opened the donkey’s mouth, and she asked Balaam, “What have I done to you that you have beaten me these three times?”

The Angel of the Lord asked him, “Why have you beaten your donkey these three times? Look, I came out to oppose you, because what you are doing is evil in My sight.

Then the Angel of the Lord said to Balaam, “Go with the men, but you are to say only what I tell you.” So Balaam went with Balak’s officials.

Then the Lord put a message in Balaam’s mouth and said, “Return to Balak and say what I tell you.”

“What have you done to me?” Balak asked Balaam. “I brought you to curse my enemies, but look, you have only blessed them!”

He answered, “Shouldn’t I say exactly what the Lord puts in my mouth?”

The Lord met with Balaam and put a message in his mouth. Then He said, “Return to Balak and say what I tell you.”

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?”

Balaam proclaimed his poem:

Balak, get up and listen;
son of Zippor, pay attention to what I say!

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!”

Now I am going back to my people, but first, let me warn you what these people will do to your people in the future.”

“What Zelophehad’s daughters say is correct. You are to give them hereditary property among their father’s brothers and transfer their father’s inheritance to them.

Moses told the leaders of the Israelite tribes, “This is what the Lord has commanded:

“You, Eleazar the priest, and the family leaders of the community are to take a count of what was captured, man and beast.

Set aside a tribute for the Lord from what belongs to the fighting men who went out to war: one out of every 500 humans, cattle, donkeys, sheep, and goats.

That’s what your fathers did when I sent them from Kadesh-barnea to see the land.

The Lord’s anger burned against Israel, and He made them wander in the wilderness 40 years until the whole generation that had done what was evil in the Lord’s sight was gone.

Build cities for your dependents and folds for your flocks, but do what you have promised.”

The Gadites and Reubenites replied, “What the Lord has spoken to your servants is what we will do.

And what I had planned to do to them, I will do to you.”

So Moses commanded the Israelites at the word of the Lord, “What the tribe of Joseph’s descendants says is right.

This is what the Lord has commanded concerning Zelophehad’s daughters: They may marry anyone they like provided they marry within a clan of their ancestral tribe.