So Aaron and his sons shall put My name upon the children of Israel, and I will bless them.”

Therefore, Moses said to them, “Wait, and I will listen to what the Lord will command concerning you.”

If a stranger lives among you as a resident alien and observes the Passover to the Lord, in accordance with its statutes and its ordinances, so shall he do; you shall have one statute, both for the resident alien and for the native of the land.’”

Then Moses said to Hobab the son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses’ father-in-law, “We are going to the place of which the Lord said, ‘I will give it to you.’ Come with us, and we will be good to you, for the Lord has promised good [things] concerning Israel.”

But Hobab [Moses’ brother-in-law] said to him, “I will not go; I will return to my own land and to my family.”

Then Moses said, “Please do not leave us, for you know how we are to camp in the wilderness, and you will serve as eyes for us [as we make our trek through the desert].

So if you will go with us, it shall be that whatever good the Lord does for us, we will do the same for you.”

The rabble among them [who followed Israel from Egypt] had greedy desires [for familiar and delicious food], and the Israelites wept again and said, “Who will give us meat to eat?

Then I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take away some of the Spirit who is upon you, and will put Him upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, so that you will not have to bear it all alone.

Say to the people, ‘Consecrate (separate as holy) yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat; for you have wept [in self-pity] in the ears of the Lord, saying, “Who will give us meat to eat? For we were well-off in Egypt.” Therefore the Lord will give you meat, and you shall eat.

But Moses said, “The people, among whom I am, are 600,000 [fighting men] on foot [besides all the women and children]; yet You have said, ‘I will give them meat, so that they may eat it for a whole month!’

Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him; and He took some of the Spirit who was upon Moses and put Him upon the seventy elders. When the Spirit rested upon them, they prophesied [praising God and declaring His will], but they did not do it again.

So a young man ran and told Moses and said, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying [extolling the praises of God and declaring His will] in the camp.”

Why is the Lord bringing us to this land [of Canaan], to fall by the sword? Our wives and children will become plunder. Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?”

If the Lord delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land which flows with milk and honey.

The Lord said to Moses, “How long will these people treat me disrespectfully and reject Me? And how long will they not believe in Me, despite all the [miraculous] signs which I have performed among them?

I will strike them with the pestilence (plague) and dispossess them, and will make you into a nation greater and mightier than they.”

But Moses said to the Lord, “Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for by Your strength You brought up these people from among them,

and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that You, Lord, are among these people [of Israel], that You, Lord, are seen face to face, while Your cloud stands over them; and that You go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night.

Now if You kill these people as one man, then the nations (Gentiles) that have heard of Your fame will say,

‘The Lord is slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness, forgiving wickedness and transgression; but He will by no means clear the guilty, visiting (avenging) the wickedness and guilt of the fathers on the children, to the third and fourth generations [that is, calling the children to account for the sins of their fathers].’

But My servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit and has followed Me fully, I will bring into the land into which he entered, and his descendants shall take possession of it.

“How long shall I put up with this evil congregation who murmur [in discontent] against Me? I have heard the complaints of the Israelites, which they are making against Me.

Say to them, ‘As I live,’ says the Lord, ‘just what you have spoken in My hearing I will most certainly do to you;

But your children whom you said would become plunder, I will bring in, and they will know the land which you have despised and rejected.

I, the Lord, have spoken. I will most certainly do this to all this evil congregation who are gathered together against Me. In this wilderness they shall be consumed [by war, disease, and plagues], and here they shall die.’”

But Moses said, “Why then are you transgressing the commandment of the Lord, when it will not succeed?

For the Amalekites and the Canaanites will be there in front of you, and you will fall by the sword, because you have turned away from following the Lord; therefore the Lord will not be with you.”

then make an offering by fire to the Lord, a burnt offering or a sacrifice to fulfill a special vow, or as a freewill offering or in your appointed feasts, to make a sweet and soothing aroma to the Lord, from the herd or from the flock.

and he spoke to Korah and all his company, saying, “In the morning the Lord will show who belongs to Him, and who is holy, and will bring him near to Himself; the one whom He will choose He will bring near to Himself.

Then Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab; but they said [defiantly], “We will not come up.

Indeed, you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, nor given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you gouge out the eyes of these men? We will not come up!”

But they fell on their faces [before the Lord], and said, “O God, God of the spirits of all flesh! When one man sins, will You be angry with the entire congregation?”

It shall be that the rod of the man whom I choose will bud, and I will no longer hear the constant grumblings of the Israelites, who are grumbling against you.”

Please let us pass through your land. We will not pass through a field or through a vineyard; we will not even drink water from a well. We will go along the king’s highway, not turning [off-course] to the right or to the left until we have passed through your territory.’”

Again, the Israelites said to him, “We will go by the highway [trade route], and if I and my livestock drink any of your water, then I will pay for it. Only let me pass through on foot, nothing else.”

So Israel made a vow to the Lord, and said, “If You will indeed hand over these people to me, then I will utterly destroy their cities.”

From there the Israelites went on to Beer, that is the well where the Lord said to Moses, “Gather the people together and I will give them water.”

“Let me pass through your land; we will not turn away [from the road] into field or vineyard; we will not drink the water of the wells. We will go by the king’s highway until we have crossed your border.”

Moab said to the elders of Midian, “Now this horde will lick up all that is around us, just as the ox licks up the grass of the field.” And Balak the son of Zippor was the king of Moab at that time.

Balaam said to them, “Spend the night here and I will bring word back to you as the Lord may speak to me.” So the leaders of Moab stayed with Balaam [that night].

For I will give you a very great honor and I will do whatever you tell me; so please come, curse these people [of Israel] for me.’”

Now please, you also stay here tonight, and I will find out what else the Lord will say to me.”

Balaam said to the Angel of the Lord, “I have sinned, for I did not know that You were standing in the way against me. But now, if my going displeases You, I will turn back.”

Then Balaam said to Balak, “Stand beside your burnt offering and I will go. Perhaps the Lord will come to meet me; and whatever He shows me I will tell you.” So he went to a desolate hill.

Balak said to him, “Come with me, I implore you, to another place from where you can see them, although you will see only the nearest and not all of them; and curse them for me from there.”

“God brought them out of Egypt;
They have the strength of a wild ox.

Then Balak said to Balaam, “Please come; I will take you to another place. Perhaps it will please God to let you curse them for me from there.”

He took up his [third] discourse (oracle) and said:

“The oracle of Balaam the son of Beor,
And the oracle of the man whose eye is opened [at last, to see clearly the purpose and will of God],

“God brought Israel out of Egypt;
Israel has strength like the wild ox;
He will devour [Gentile] nations, his adversaries (enemies),
And will crush their bones in pieces,
And shatter them with his arrows.

‘Even if Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the command of the Lord, to do either good or bad of my own accord. What the Lord speaks, that I will speak?’

And now, look, I am going to my people; come, I will advise you as to what this people [Israel] will do to your people [Moab] in the days to come.”

But if her father disapproves of her [making her vow] on the day that he hears about it, none of her vows or her pledges by which she has bound herself shall stand; and the Lord will forgive her because her father has disapproved of her [making the vow].

But if her husband disapproves of her [making her vow or pledge] on the day that he hears of it, then he shall annul her vow which she is under and the rash statement of her lips by which she bound herself; and the Lord will forgive her.

But if her husband absolutely annuls them on the day he heard them, then whatever proceeds from her lips concerning her vows or concerning her pledge shall not stand. Her husband has annulled them, and the Lord will forgive her.

For if you turn back from following Him [completely], He will once again leave them in the wilderness, and you will destroy all these people.”

But the people of Reuben and Gad approached Moses and said, “We will build sheepfolds here for our flocks and [walled] cities for our children,

but we will be armed and ready to go to war before the [other tribes of the] Israelites, until we have brought them to their place, while our children live in the fortified cities because of the inhabitants of the land.

We will not return to our homes until every one of the [other] sons of Israel has taken possession of his inheritance.

For we will not inherit with them on the west side of the Jordan and beyond, because our inheritance has come to us on this side of the Jordan [River] toward the east.”

Moses replied, “If you will do as you say, if you will arm yourselves before the Lord for war,

and every armed man of yours will cross the Jordan before the Lord until He has driven out His enemies before Him,

But if you do not do this, behold, you will have sinned against the Lord; and be sure that your sin will find you out.

Then the descendants of Gad and of Reuben said to Moses, “Your servants will do just as my lord commands.

But your servants will cross over, every man armed for war, before the Lord to the battle, just as my lord says.”

Moses said to them, “If the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben will cross over the Jordan with you, every man armed for battle before the Lord, and the land is subdued before you, then you shall give them the land of Gilead [east of the Jordan River] as a possession;

but if they will not cross over with you armed, they shall have possessions among you in the land of Canaan [and surrender their right to their land east of the Jordan River].”

The sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben answered, “As the Lord has said to your servants, so will we do.

We will cross over armed before the Lord into the land of Canaan, so that the possession of our inheritance on [the east] side of the Jordan may be ours.”

But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then those you let remain of them will be like pricks in your eyes and like thorns in your sides, and they will attack you in the land in which you live.

And as I [the Lord] planned to do to them, so I will do to you.’”

But if the daughters marry any of the men from any of the other tribes of Israel, then their inheritance will be taken away from that of our fathers (tribal ancestors) and will be added to the inheritance of the tribe to which they belong; so it will be taken away from our allotted inheritance.

When the [year of] Jubilee of the Israelites comes, then their inheritance will be added [permanently] to that of the tribe to which they belong; so their inheritance will be taken away from that of the tribe of our fathers (tribal ancestors).”