And Aaron did so; he put the lights in their places so that they gave light in front of the support, as the Lord gave orders to Moses.

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.

So you are to make the Levites separate from the children of Israel, and the Levites will be mine.

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.

For every mother's first son among the children of Israel is mine, the first male birth of man or beast: on the day when I sent death on all the first sons in the land of Egypt, I made them mine.

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.

All these things Moses and Aaron and the children of Israel did to the Levites; as the Lord gave orders to Moses about the Levites, so the children of Israel did.

So they kept the Passover in the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, at evening, in the waste land of Sinai: as the Lord gave orders to Moses, so the children of Israel did.

And there were certain men who were unclean because of a dead body, so that they were not able to keep the Passover on that day; and they came before Moses and before Aaron on that day:

Say to the children of Israel, If any one of you or of your families is unclean because of a dead body, or is on a journey far away, still he is to keep the Passover to the Lord:

And so it was at all times: it was covered by the cloud, and by a light as of fire by night.

This was the order in which the children of Israel were journeying by armies; so they went forward.

Then Moses said to Hobab, the son of his father-in-law Reuel the Midianite, We are journeying to that place of which the Lord has said, I will give it to you: so come with us, and it will be for your profit: for the Lord has good things in store for Israel.

So they went forward three days' journey from the mountain of the Lord; and the ark of the Lord's agreement went three days' journey before them, looking for a resting-place for them;

So that place was named Taberah, because of the fire of the Lord which had been burning among them.

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?

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.

And I will come down and have talk with you there: and I will take some of the spirit which is on you and put it on them, and they will take part of the weight of the people off you, so that you do not have to take it by yourself.

And say to the people, Make yourselves clean before tomorrow and you will have flesh for your food: for in the ears of the Lord you have been weeping and saying, Who will give us flesh for food? for we were well off in Egypt: and so the Lord will give you flesh, and it will be your food;

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.

But two men were still in the tent-circle one of them named Eldad and the other Medad: and the spirit came to rest on them; they were among those who had been sent for, but they had not gone out to the Tent: and the prophet's power came on them in the tent-circle.

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!

Then the Lord sent a wind, driving little birds from the sea, so that they came down on the tents, and all round the tent-circle, about a day's journey on this side and on that, in masses about two cubits high over the face of the earth.

So that place was named Kibroth-hattaavah; because there they put in the earth the bodies of the people who had given way to their desires.

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?

And the cloud was moved from over the Tent; and straight away Miriam became a leper, as white as snow: and Aaron, looking at Miriam, saw that she was a leper.

So Miriam was shut up outside the tent-circle for seven days: and the people did not go forward on their journey till Miriam had come in again.

So Moses sent them to have a look at the land of Canaan, and said to them, Go up into the South and into the hill-country;

And see what the land is like; and if the people living in it are strong or feeble, small or great in number;

So they went up and got a view of the land, from the waste land of Zin to Rehob, on the way to Hamath.

And they came back to Moses and Aaron and all the children of Israel, to Kadesh in the waste land of Paran; and gave an account to them and to all the people and let them see the produce of the land.

But the people living in the land are strong, and the towns are walled and very great; further, we saw the children of Anak there.

And the Amalekites are in the South; and the Hittites and the Jebusites and the Amorites are living in the hill-country; and the Canaanites by the sea and by the side of Jordan.

And they gave the children of Israel a bad account of the land they had been to see, saying, This land through which we went is a land causing destruction to those living in it; and all the people we saw there are men of more than common size.

There we saw those great men, the sons of Anak, offspring of the Nephilim: and we seemed to ourselves no more than insects, and so we seemed to them.

And Joshua, the son of Nun, and Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, two of those who had been to see the land, giving signs of grief,

Said to all the children of Israel, This land which we went through to see is a very good land.

Now if you put to death all this people as one man, then the nations who have had word of your glory will say,

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

And the Lord said, I have had mercy, as you say:

They will not see the land about which I made an oath to their fathers; not one of these by whom I have not been honoured will see it.

Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites are in the valley; tomorrow, turning round, go into the waste land by the way to the Red Sea.

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:

And your little ones, whom you said would come into strange hands, I will take in, and they will see the land which you would not have.

And as you went through the land viewing it for forty days, so for forty years, a year for every day, you will undergo punishment for your wrongdoing, and you will see that I am against you.

And the men whom Moses sent to see the land, and who, by the bad account they gave of the land, were the cause of the outcry the people made against Moses,

But Joshua, the son of Nun, and Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, of those who went to see the land, were not touched by disease.

And Moses said, Why are you now acting against the Lord's order, seeing that no good will come of it?

But they gave no attention to his words and went to the top of the mountain, though Moses and the ark of the Lord's agreement did not go out of the tent-circle.

Say to the children of Israel, When you have come into the land which I am giving to you for your resting-place,

Whatever number you make ready, so you are to do for every one.

There is to be one law for you and for the man of another country living with you, one law for ever from generation to generation; as you are, so is he to be before the Lord.

Say to the children of Israel, When you come into the land where I am guiding you,

So the priest will make the people free from sin, and they will have forgiveness; for it was an error, and they have given their offering made by fire to the Lord, and their sin-offering before the Lord, on account of their error:

Now while the children of Israel were in the waste land, they saw a man who was getting sticks on the Sabbath day.

And those who saw him getting sticks took him before Moses and Aaron and all the people.

So all the people took him outside the tent-circle and he was stoned to death there, as the Lord gave orders to Moses.

Say to the children of Israel that through all their generations they are to put on the edges of their robes an ornament of twisted threads, and in every ornament a blue cord;

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:

I am the Lord your God, who took you out of the land of Egypt, so that I might be your God: I am the Lord your God.

So do this: let Korah and all his band take vessels for burning perfumes;

So you and all your band have come together against the Lord; and Aaron, who is he, that you are crying out against him?

So every man took his vessel and they put fire in them, with spices, and came to the door of the Tent of meeting with Moses and Aaron.

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

Then falling down on their faces they said, O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, because of one man's sin will your wrath be moved against all the people?

Say to the people, Come away from the tent of Korah Dathan, and Abiram.

So Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the responsible men of Israel went with him.

So on every side they went away from the tent of Korah Dathan, and Abiram: and Dathan and Abiram came out to the door of their tents, with their wives and their sons and their little ones.

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.

So they and all theirs went down living into the underworld, and the earth was shut over them, and they were cut off from among the meeting of the people.

Say to Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, that he is to take out of the flames the vessels with the perfumes in them, turning the fire out of them, for they are holy;

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.

So Eleazar the priest took the brass vessels which had been offered by those who were burned up, and they were hammered out to make a cover for the altar:

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.

But on the day after, all the children of Israel made an outcry against Moses and against Aaron, saying, You have put to death the Lord's people.

Now when the people had come together against Moses and Aaron, looking in the direction of the Tent of meeting, they saw the cloud covering it, and the glory of the Lord came before their eyes.

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

Say to the children of Israel that they are to give you rods, one for every family, for every chief, the head of his father's house, making twelve rods; let every man's name be placed on his rod.

And let Aaron's name be placed on the rod of Levi: for there is to be one rod for the head of every family.

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.

So Moses gave these orders to the children of Israel, and all their chiefs gave him rods, one for the head of every family, making twelve rods: and Aaron's rod was among them.

Now on the day after, Moses went into the Tent of witness; and he saw that Aaron's rod, the rod of the house of Levi, had put out buds, and was covered with buds and flowers and fruit.

Then Moses took out all the rods from before the Lord, and gave them back to the children of Israel: and they saw them, and every man took his rod.

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.

This Moses did: as the Lord gave orders, so he did.

And the Lord said to Aaron, You and your sons and your father's family are to be responsible for all wrongdoing in relation to the holy place: and you and your sons are to be responsible for the errors which come about in your work as priests.

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.

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

Now, see, I have taken your brothers the Levites from among the children of Israel: they are given to you and to the Lord, to do the work of the Tent of meeting.

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.

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.

For the tenths which the children of Israel give as a lifted offering to the Lord I have given to the Levites as their heritage. and so I have said to them, Among the children of Israel they will have no heritage.

Say to the Levites, When you take from the children of Israel the tenth which I have given to you from them as your heritage, a tenth part of that tenth is to be offered as an offering lifted up before the Lord.

So you are to make an offering lifted up to the Lord from all the tenths which you get from the children of Israel, giving out of it the Lord's lifted offering to Aaron the priest.

Say to them, then, When the best of it is lifted up on high, it is to be put to the account of the Levites as the increase of the grain-floor and of the place where the grapes are crushed.

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.