They also brought the fat portions from the ox and the ram—the fat tail, the fat surrounding the entrails, the kidneys, and the fatty lobe of the liver—

Moses and Aaron then entered the tent of meeting. When they came out, they blessed the people, and the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people.

Fire came from the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the fat portions on the altar. And when all the people saw it, they shouted and fell facedown on the ground.

So they came forward and carried them in their tunics outside the camp, as Moses had said.

You must not go outside the entrance to the tent of meeting or you will die, for the Lord’s anointing oil is on you.” So they did as Moses said.

They are to bring the thigh of the contribution and the breast of the presentation offering, together with the offerings of fat portions made by fire, to wave as a presentation offering before the Lord. It will belong permanently to you and your children, as the Lord commanded.”

But Aaron replied to Moses, “See, today they presented their sin offering and their burnt offering before the Lord. Since these things have happened to me, if I had eaten the sin offering today, would it have been acceptable in the Lord’s sight?”

Do not eat any of their meat or touch their carcasses—they are unclean for you.

They are to remain detestable to you; you must not eat any of their meat, and you must detest their carcasses.

“You are to detest these birds. They must not be eaten because they are detestable:

the eagle, the bearded vulture,
the black vulture,

and anyone who carries their carcasses must wash his clothes and will be unclean until evening. They are unclean for you.

These are unclean for you among all the swarming creatures. Whoever touches them when they are dead will be unclean until evening.

“All the creatures that swarm on the earth are detestable; they must not be eaten.

Do not eat any of the creatures that swarm on the earth, anything that moves on its belly or walks on all fours or on many feet, for they are detestable.

Then they must take different stones to replace the former ones and take additional plaster to replaster the house.

If a man sleeps with a woman and has an emission of semen, both of them are to bathe with water, and they will remain unclean until evening.

“You must keep the Israelites from their uncleanness, so that they do not die by defiling My tabernacle that is among them.

The Lord spoke to Moses after the death of two of Aaron’s sons when they approached the presence of the Lord and died.

This is so the Israelites will bring to the Lord the sacrifices they have been offering in the open country. They are to bring them to the priest at the entrance to the tent of meeting and offer them as fellowship sacrifices to the Lord.

They must no longer offer their sacrifices to the goat-demons that they have prostituted themselves with. This will be a permanent statute for them throughout their generations.

You are not to have sexual intercourse with a woman and her daughter. You are not to marry her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter and have sex with her. They are close relatives; it is depraved.

“If a man has sexual intercourse with a woman who is a slave designated for another man, but she has not been redeemed or given her freedom, there must be punishment. They are not to be put to death, because she had not been freed.

If a man sleeps with his daughter-in-law, both of them must be put to death. They have acted perversely; their blood is on their own hands.

If a man sleeps with a man as with a woman, they have both committed a detestable thing. They must be put to death; their blood is on their own hands.

If a man marries a woman and her mother, it is depraved. Both he and they must be burned with fire, so that there will be no depravity among you.

If a woman comes near any animal and mates with it, you are to kill the woman and the animal. They must be put to death; their own blood is on them.

If a man marries his sister, whether his father’s daughter or his mother’s daughter, and they have sexual relations, it is a disgrace. They must be cut off publicly from their people. He has had sexual intercourse with his sister; he will bear his punishment.

If a man sleeps with his aunt, he has shamed his uncle; they will bear their guilt and die childless.

If a man marries his brother’s wife, it is impurity. He has shamed his brother; they will be childless.

You must not follow the statutes of the nations I am driving out before you, for they did all these things, and I abhorred them.

A man or a woman who is a medium or a spiritist must be put to death. They are to be stoned; their blood is on their own hands.”

They are to be holy to their God and not profane the name of their God. For they present the fire offerings to Yahweh, the food of their God, and they must be holy.

They are not to marry a woman defiled by prostitution. They are not to marry one divorced by her husband, for the priest is holy to his God.

“Tell Aaron and his sons to deal respectfully with the holy offerings of the Israelites that they have consecrated to Me, so they do not profane My holy name; I am Yahweh.

They must keep My instruction, or they will be guilty and die because they profane it; I am Yahweh who sets them apart.

“Speak to Aaron, his sons, and all the Israelites and tell them: Any man of the house of Israel or of the foreign residents in Israel who presents his offering—whether they present freewill gifts or payment of vows to the Lord as burnt offerings—

Neither you nor a foreigner are to present food to your God from any of these animals. They will not be accepted for you because they are deformed and have a defect.”

You are to present with the bread seven unblemished male lambs a year old, one young bull, and two rams. They will be a burnt offering to the Lord, with their grain offerings and drink offerings, a fire offering of a pleasing aroma to the Lord.

Her son cursed and blasphemed the Name, and they brought him to Moses. (His mother’s name was Shelomith, a daughter of Dibri of the tribe of Dan.)

They put him in custody until the Lord’s decision could be made clear to them.

After Moses spoke to the Israelites, they brought the one who had cursed to the outside of the camp and stoned him. So the Israelites did as the Lord had commanded Moses.

But houses in villages that have no walls around them are to be classified as open fields. The right to redeem such houses stays in effect, and they are to be released at the Jubilee.

“Concerning the Levitical cities, the Levites always have the right to redeem houses in the cities they possess.

Whatever property one of the Levites can redeem—a house sold in a city they possess—must be released at the Jubilee, because the houses in the Levitical cities are their possession among the Israelites.

They are not to be sold as slaves, because they are My slaves that I brought out of the land of Egypt.

For the Israelites are My slaves. They are My slaves that I brought out of the land of Egypt; I am Yahweh your God.

You will pursue your enemies, and they will fall before you by the sword.

“I will put anxiety in the hearts of those of you who survive in the lands of their enemies. The sound of a wind-driven leaf will put them to flight, and they will flee as one flees from a sword, and fall though no one is pursuing them.

They will stumble over one another as if fleeing from a sword though no one is pursuing them. You will not be able to stand against your enemies.

Those who survive in the lands of your enemies will waste away because of their sin; they will also waste away because of their fathers’ sins along with theirs.

“But if they will confess their sin and the sin of their fathers—their unfaithfulness that they practiced against Me, and how they acted with hostility toward Me,

and I acted with hostility toward them and brought them into the land of their enemies—and if their uncircumcised hearts will be humbled, and if they will pay the penalty for their sin,

For the land abandoned by them will make up for its Sabbaths by lying desolate without the people, while they pay the penalty for their sin, because they rejected My ordinances and abhorred My statutes.

Yet in spite of this, while they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject or abhor them so as to destroy them and break My covenant with them, since I am Yahweh their God.

He is not to inspect whether it is good or bad, and he is not to make a substitution for it. But if he does make a substitution, both the animal and its substitute will be holy; they cannot be redeemed.”

These are the men called from the community; they are leaders of their ancestral tribes, the heads of Israel’s clans.”

and they assembled the whole community on the first day of the second month. They recorded their ancestry by their clans and their ancestral houses, counting one by one the names of those 20 years old or more,

Appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of the testimony, all its furnishings, and everything in it. They are to transport the tabernacle and all its articles, take care of it, and camp around it.

“The Israelites are to camp under their respective banners beside the flags of their ancestral houses. They are to camp around the tent of meeting at a distance from it:

The total number in their military divisions who belong to Judah’s encampment is 186,400; they will move out first.

The total number in their military divisions who belong to Reuben’s encampment is 151,450; they will move out second.

The tent of meeting is to move out with the Levites’ camp, which is in the middle of the camps. They are to move out just as they camp, each in his place, with their banners.

The total in their military divisions who belong to Ephraim’s encampment number 108,100; they will move out third.

The total number who belong to Dan’s encampment is 157,600; they are to move out last, with their banners.”

The Israelites did everything the Lord commanded Moses; they camped by their banners in this way and moved out the same way, each man by his clan and by his ancestral house.

But Nadab and Abihu died in the Lord’s presence when they presented unauthorized fire before the Lord in the Wilderness of Sinai, and they had no sons. So Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests under the direction of Aaron their father.

They are to perform duties for him and the entire community before the tent of meeting by attending to the service of the tabernacle.

They are to take care of all the furnishings of the tent of meeting and perform duties for the Israelites by attending to the service of the tabernacle.

Assign the Levites to Aaron and his sons; they have been assigned exclusively to him from the Israelites.

because every firstborn belongs to Me. At the time I struck down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, I consecrated every firstborn in Israel to Myself, both man and animal. They are Mine; I am Yahweh.”

The leader of the family of the Merarite clans was Zuriel son of Abihail; they camped on the north side of the tabernacle.

They are to place over this a covering made of manatee skin, spread a solid blue cloth on top, and insert its poles.

“They are to spread a blue cloth over the table of the Presence and place the plates and cups on it, as well as the bowls and pitchers for the drink offering. The regular bread offering is to be on it.

They are to spread a scarlet cloth over them, cover them with a covering made of manatee skin, and insert the poles in the table.

“They are to take a blue cloth and cover the lampstand used for light, with its lamps, snuffers, and firepans, as well as its jars of oil by which they service it.

Then they must place it with all its utensils inside a covering made of manatee skin and put them on the carrying frame.

“They are to spread a blue cloth over the gold altar, cover it with a covering made of manatee skin, and insert its poles.

They are to take all the serving utensils they use in the sanctuary, place them in a blue cloth, cover them with a covering made of manatee skin, and put them on a carrying frame.

“They are to remove the ashes from the bronze altar, spread a purple cloth over it,

and place all the equipment on it that they use in serving: the firepans, meat forks, shovels, and basins—all the equipment of the altar. They are to spread a covering made of manatee skin over it and insert its poles.

“Aaron and his sons are to finish covering the holy objects and all their equipment whenever the camp is to move on. The Kohathites will come and carry them, but they are not to touch the holy objects or they will die. These are the transportation duties of the Kohathites regarding the tent of meeting.

Do this for them so that they may live and not die when they come near the most holy objects: Aaron and his sons are to go in and assign each man his task and transportation duty.

The Kohathites are not to go in and look at the holy objects, even for a moment, or they will die.”

They are to transport the tabernacle curtains, the tent of meeting with its covering and the covering made of manatee skin on top of it, the screen for the entrance to the tent of meeting,

the hangings of the courtyard, the screen for the entrance at the gate of the courtyard that surrounds the tabernacle and the altar, along with their ropes and all the equipment for their service. They will carry out everything that needs to be done with these items.

“All the service of the Gershonites, all their transportation duties and all their other work, is to be done at the command of Aaron and his sons; you are to assign to them all that they are responsible to carry.

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,

the posts of the surrounding courtyard with their bases, tent pegs, and ropes, including all their equipment and all the work related to them. You are to assign by name the items that they are responsible to carry.

At the Lord’s command they were registered under the direction of Moses, each one according to his work and transportation duty, and his assignment was as the Lord commanded Moses.

You must send away both male or female; send them outside the camp, so that they will not defile their camps where I dwell among them.”

He is not to defile himself for his father or mother, or his brother or sister, when they die, because the hair consecrated to his God is on his head.

In this way they will pronounce My name over the Israelites, and I will bless them.”

the leaders of Israel, the heads of their ancestral houses, presented an offering. They were the tribal leaders who supervised the registration.

They brought as their offering before the Lord six covered carts and 12 oxen, a cart from every two leaders and an ox from each one, and presented them in front of the tabernacle.

“They are to take a young bull and its grain offering of fine flour mixed with oil, and you are to take a second young bull for a sin offering.

Aaron is to present the Levites before the Lord as a presentation offering from the Israelites, so that they may perform the Lord’s work.

For they have been exclusively assigned to Me from the Israelites. I have taken them for Myself in place of all who come first from the womb, every Israelite firstborn.

From the Israelites, I have given the Levites exclusively to Aaron and his sons to perform the work for the Israelites at the tent of meeting and to make atonement on their behalf, so that no plague will come against the Israelites when they approach the sanctuary.”

After that, the Levites came to do their work at the tent of meeting in the presence of Aaron and his sons. So they did to them as the Lord had commanded Moses concerning the Levites.

and they observed it in the first month on the fourteenth day at twilight in the Wilderness of Sinai. The Israelites did everything as the Lord had commanded Moses.