So Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers which the men who were burned had offered, and they hammered them out as a plating for the altar,

It came about, however, when the congregation had assembled against Moses and Aaron, that they turned toward the tent of meeting, and behold, the cloud covered it and the glory of the Lord appeared.

“Get away from among this congregation, that I may consume them instantly.” Then they fell on their faces.

Moses then brought out all the rods from the presence of the Lord to all the sons of Israel; and they looked, and each man took his rod.

But the Lord said to Moses, “Put back the rod of Aaron before the testimony to be kept as a sign against the rebels, that you may put an end to their grumblings against Me, so that they will not die.”

But bring with you also your brothers, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, that they may be joined with you and serve you, while you and your sons with you are before the tent of the testimony.

And they shall thus attend to your obligation and the obligation of all the tent, but they shall not come near to the furnishings of the sanctuary and the altar, or both they and you will die.

They shall be joined with you and attend to the obligations of the tent of meeting, for all the service of the tent; but an outsider may not come near you.

Behold, I Myself have taken your fellow Levites from among the sons of Israel; they are a gift to you, dedicated to the Lord, to perform the service for the tent of meeting.

This shall be yours from the most holy gifts reserved from the fire; every offering of theirs, even every grain offering and every sin offering and every guilt offering, which they shall render to Me, shall be most holy for you and for your sons.

All the best of the fresh oil and all the best of the fresh wine and of the grain, the first fruits of those which they give to the Lord, I give them to you.

The first ripe fruits of all that is in their land, which they bring to the Lord, shall be yours; everyone of your household who is clean may eat it.

Every first issue of the womb of all flesh, whether man or animal, which they offer to the Lord, shall be yours; nevertheless the firstborn of man you shall surely redeem, and the firstborn of unclean animals you shall redeem.

But the firstborn of an ox or the firstborn of a sheep or the firstborn of a goat, you shall not redeem; they are holy. You shall sprinkle their blood on the altar and shall offer up their fat in smoke as an offering by fire, for a soothing aroma to the Lord.

“To the sons of Levi, behold, I have given all the tithe in Israel for an inheritance, in return for their service which they perform, the service of the tent of meeting.

The sons of Israel shall not come near the tent of meeting again, or they will bear sin and die.

Only the Levites shall perform the service of the tent of meeting, and they shall bear their iniquity; it shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations, and among the sons of Israel they shall have no inheritance.

For the tithe of the sons of Israel, which they offer as an offering to the Lord, I have given to the Levites for an inheritance; therefore I have said concerning them, ‘They shall have no inheritance among the sons of Israel.’”

“This is the statute of the law which the Lord has commanded, saying, ‘Speak to the sons of Israel that they bring you an unblemished red heifer in which is no defect and on which a yoke has never been placed.

Then for the unclean person they shall take some of the ashes of the burnt purification from sin and flowing water shall be added to them in a vessel.

There was no water for the congregation, and they assembled themselves against Moses and Aaron.

Now when they set out from Kadesh, the sons of Israel, the whole congregation, came to Mount Hor.

So Moses did just as the Lord had commanded, and they went up to Mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation.

The Lord heard the voice of Israel and delivered up the Canaanites; then they utterly destroyed them and their cities. Thus the name of the place was called Hormah.

Then they set out from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the people became impatient because of the journey.

The Lord sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died.

They journeyed from Oboth and camped at Iye-abarim, in the wilderness which is opposite Moab, to the east.

From there they set out and camped in Wadi Zered.

From there they journeyed and camped on the other side of the Arnon, which is in the wilderness that comes out of the border of the Amorites, for the Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites.

From there they continued to Beer, that is the well where the Lord said to Moses, “Assemble the people, that I may give them water.”

“The well, which the leaders sank,
Which the nobles of the people dug,
With the scepter and with their staffs.”
And from the wilderness they continued to Mattanah,

Moses sent to spy out Jazer, and they captured its villages and dispossessed the Amorites who were there.

Then they turned and went up by the way of Bashan, and Og the king of Bashan went out with all his people, for battle at Edrei.

So they killed him and his sons and all his people, until there was no remnant left him; and they possessed his land.

So Moab was in great fear because of the people, for they were numerous; and Moab was in dread of the sons of Israel.

So he sent messengers to Balaam the son of Beor, at Pethor, which is near the River, in the land of the sons of his people, to call him, saying, “Behold, a people came out of Egypt; behold, they cover the surface of the land, and they are living opposite me.

Now, therefore, please come, curse this people for me since they are too mighty for me; perhaps I may be able to defeat them and drive them out of the land. For I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed.”

So the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the fees for divination in their hand; and they came to Balaam and repeated Balak’s words to him.

‘Behold, there is a people who came out of Egypt and they cover the surface of the land; now come, curse them for me; perhaps I may be able to fight against them and drive them out.’”

God said to Balaam, “Do not go with them; you shall not curse the people, for they are blessed.”

They came to Balaam and said to him, “Thus says Balak the son of Zippor, ‘Let nothing, I beg you, hinder you from coming to me;

And Balaam went with Balak, and they came to Kiriath-huzoth.

“But ships shall come from the coast of Kittim,
And they shall afflict Asshur and will afflict Eber;
So they also will come to destruction.”

For they invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods.

Then behold, one of the sons of Israel came and brought to his relatives a Midianite woman, in the sight of Moses and in the sight of all the congregation of the sons of Israel, while they were weeping at the doorway of the tent of meeting.

for they have been hostile to you with their tricks, with which they have deceived you in the affair of Peor and in the affair of Cozbi, the daughter of the leader of Midian, their sister who was slain on the day of the plague because of Peor.”

The sons of Eliab: Nemuel and Dathan and Abiram. These are the Dathan and Abiram who were called by the congregation, who contended against Moses and against Aaron in the company of Korah, when they contended against the Lord,

and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up along with Korah, when that company died, when the fire devoured 250 men, so that they became a warning.

But the land shall be divided by lot. They shall receive their inheritance according to the names of the tribes of their fathers.

But Nadab and Abihu died when they offered strange fire before the Lord.

Those who were numbered of them were 23,000, every male from a month old and upward, for they were not numbered among the sons of Israel since no inheritance was given to them among the sons of Israel.

For the Lord had said of them, “They shall surely die in the wilderness.” And not a man was left of them, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun.

They stood before Moses and before Eleazar the priest and before the leaders and all the congregation, at the doorway of the tent of meeting, saying,

Moreover, he shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall inquire for him by the judgment of the Urim before the Lord. At his command they shall go out and at his command they shall come in, both he and the sons of Israel with him, even all the congregation.”

Besides the continual burnt offering and its grain offering, you shall present them with their drink offerings. They shall be without defect.

Moses spoke to the people, saying, “Arm men from among you for the war, that they may go against Midian to execute the Lord’s vengeance on Midian.

So they made war against Midian, just as the Lord had commanded Moses, and they killed every male.

They killed the kings of Midian along with the rest of their slain: Evi and Rekem and Zur and Hur and Reba, the five kings of Midian; they also killed Balaam the son of Beor with the sword.

The sons of Israel captured the women of Midian and their little ones; and all their cattle and all their flocks and all their goods they plundered.

Then they burned all their cities where they lived and all their camps with fire.

They took all the spoil and all the prey, both of man and of beast.

They brought the captives and the prey and the spoil to Moses, and to Eleazar the priest and to the congregation of the sons of Israel, to the camp at the plains of Moab, which are by the Jordan opposite Jericho.

and they said to Moses, “Your servants have taken a census of men of war who are in our charge, and no man of us is missing.

All the gold of the offering which they offered up to the Lord, from the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds, was 16,750 shekels.

Now the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad had an exceedingly large number of livestock. So when they saw the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead, that it was indeed a place suitable for livestock,

They said, “If we have found favor in your sight, let this land be given to your servants as a possession; do not take us across the Jordan.”

For when they went up to the valley of Eshcol and saw the land, they discouraged the sons of Israel so that they did not go into the land which the Lord had given them.

‘None of the men who came up from Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob; for they did not follow Me fully,

except Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua the son of Nun, for they have followed the Lord fully.’

Then they came near to him and said, “We will build here sheepfolds for our livestock and cities for our little ones;

but if they will not cross over with you armed, they shall have possessions among you in the land of Canaan.”

and Nebo and Baal-meon—their names being changed—and Sibmah, and they gave other names to the cities which they built.

These are the journeys of the sons of Israel, by which they came out from the land of Egypt by their armies, under the leadership of Moses and Aaron.

They journeyed from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the next day after the Passover the sons of Israel started out boldly in the sight of all the Egyptians,

They journeyed from Succoth and camped in Etham, which is on the edge of the wilderness.

They journeyed from Etham and turned back to Pi-hahiroth, which faces Baal-zephon, and they camped before Migdol.

They journeyed from before Hahiroth and passed through the midst of the sea into the wilderness; and they went three days’ journey in the wilderness of Etham and camped at Marah.

They journeyed from Marah and came to Elim; and in Elim there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they camped there.

They journeyed from Elim and camped by the Red Sea.

They journeyed from the Red Sea and camped in the wilderness of Sin.

They journeyed from the wilderness of Sin and camped at Dophkah.

They journeyed from Dophkah and camped at Alush.

They journeyed from Alush and camped at Rephidim; now it was there that the people had no water to drink.

They journeyed from Rephidim and camped in the wilderness of Sinai.

They journeyed from the wilderness of Sinai and camped at Kibroth-hattaavah.

They journeyed from Kibroth-hattaavah and camped at Hazeroth.

They journeyed from Hazeroth and camped at Rithmah.

They journeyed from Rithmah and camped at Rimmon-perez.

They journeyed from Rimmon-perez and camped at Libnah.

They journeyed from Libnah and camped at Rissah.

They journeyed from Rissah and camped in Kehelathah.

They journeyed from Kehelathah and camped at Mount Shepher.

They journeyed from Mount Shepher and camped at Haradah.

They journeyed from Haradah and camped at Makheloth.

They journeyed from Makheloth and camped at Tahath.

They journeyed from Tahath and camped at Terah.

They journeyed from Terah and camped at Mithkah.

They journeyed from Mithkah and camped at Hashmonah.

They journeyed from Hashmonah and camped at Moseroth.

They journeyed from Moseroth and camped at Bene-jaakan.