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

“See, I have taken the Levites from the Israelites in place of every firstborn Israelite from the womb. The Levites belong to Me,

“The priest is to bring her forward and have her stand before the Lord.

The priest will require the woman to take an oath and will say to her, ‘If no man has slept with you, if you have not gone astray and become defiled while under your husband’s authority, be unaffected by this bitter water that brings a curse.

But if you have gone astray while under your husband’s authority, if you have defiled yourself and a man other than your husband has slept with you’—

or when a feeling of jealousy comes over a husband and he becomes jealous of his wife. He is to have the woman stand before the Lord, and the priest will apply this entire ritual to her.

The Lord told Moses, “Each day have one leader present his offering for the dedication of the altar.”

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.

Then present the Levites before the Lord, and have the Israelites lay their hands on them.

“You are to have the Levites stand before Aaron and his sons, and you are to present them before the Lord as a presentation offering.

After that the Levites may come to serve at the tent of meeting, once you have ceremonially cleansed them and presented them as a presentation offering.

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.

But I have taken the Levites in place of every firstborn among the Israelites.

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.”

“Make two trumpets of hammered silver to summon the community and have the camps set out.

So Moses asked the Lord, “Why have You brought such trouble on Your servant? Why are You angry with me, and why do You burden me with all these people?

The Lord answered Moses, “Bring Me 70 men from Israel known to you as elders and officers of the people. Take them to the tent of meeting and have them stand there with you.

Then I will come down and speak with you there. I will take some of the Spirit who is on you and put the Spirit on them. They will help you bear the burden of the people, so that you do not have to bear it by yourself.

but for a whole month—until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes nauseating to you—because you have rejected the Lord who is among you, and cried to Him: ‘Why did we ever leave Egypt?’”

If flocks and herds were slaughtered for them, would they have enough? Or if all the fish in the sea were caught for them, would they have enough?”

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

and said to Moses, “My lord, please don’t hold against us this sin we have so foolishly committed.

We even saw the Nephilim there—the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim! To ourselves we seemed like grasshoppers, and we must have seemed the same to them.”

The Lord said to Moses, “How long will these people despise Me? How long will they not trust in Me despite all the signs I have performed among them?

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

If You kill this people with a single blow, the nations that have heard of Your fame will declare,

“So now, may my Lord’s power be magnified just as You have spoken:

Please pardon the wrongdoing of this people, in keeping with the greatness of Your faithful love, just as You have forgiven them from Egypt until now.”

The Lord responded, “I have pardoned them as you requested.

none of the men who have seen My glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tested Me these 10 times and did not obey Me,

will ever see the land I swore to give their fathers. None of those who have despised Me will see it.

“How long must I endure this evil community that keeps complaining about Me? I have heard the Israelites’ complaints that they make against Me.

Your corpses will fall in this wilderness—all of you who were registered in the census, the entire number of you 20 years old or more—because you have complained about Me.

I, Yahweh, have spoken. I swear that I will do this to the entire evil community that has conspired against Me. They will come to an end in the wilderness, and there they will die.”

The Amalekites and Canaanites are right in front of you, and you will fall by the sword. The Lord won’t be with you, since you have turned from following Him.”

The assembly is to have the same statute for both you and the foreign resident as a permanent statute throughout your generations. You and the foreigner will be alike before the Lord.

You are to have the same law for the person who acts in error, whether he is an Israelite or a foreigner who lives among you.

They came together against Moses and Aaron and told them, “You have gone too far! Everyone in the entire community is holy, and the Lord is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the Lord’s assembly?”

place fire in them and put incense on them before the Lord. Then the man the Lord chooses will be the one who is set apart. It is you Levites who have gone too far!”

Therefore, it is you and all your followers who have conspired against the Lord! As for Aaron, who is he that you should complain about him?”

Is it not enough that you brought us up from a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness? Do you also have to appoint yourself as ruler over us?

Then Moses became angry and said to the Lord, “Don’t respect their offering. I have not taken one donkey from them or mistreated a single one of them.”

But if the Lord brings about something unprecedented, and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them along with all that belongs to them so that they go down alive into Sheol, then you will know that these men have despised the Lord.”

The next day the entire Israelite community complained about Moses and Aaron, saying, “You have killed the Lord’s people!”

The staff of the man I choose will sprout, and I will rid Myself of the Israelites’ complaints that they have been making about you.”

Look, I have selected your fellow Levites from the Israelites as a gift for you, assigned by the Lord to work at the tent of meeting.

Then the Lord spoke to Aaron, “Look, I have put you in charge of the contributions brought to Me. As for all the holy offerings of the Israelites, I have given them to you and your sons as a portion and a permanent statute.

“The contribution of their gifts also belongs to you. I have given all the Israelites’ presentation offerings to you and to your sons and daughters as a permanent statute. Every ceremonially clean person in your house may eat it.

The Lord told Aaron, “You will not have an inheritance in their land; there will be no portion among them for you. I am your portion and your inheritance among the Israelites.

“Look, I have given the Levites every tenth in Israel as an inheritance in return for the work they do, the work of the tent of meeting.

For I have given them the tenth that the Israelites present to the Lord as a contribution for their inheritance. That is why I told them that they would not receive an inheritance among the Israelites.”

“Speak to the Levites and tell them: When you receive from the Israelites the tenth that I have given you as your inheritance, you must present part of it as an offering to the Lord—a tenth of the tenth.

“Tell them further: Once you have presented the best part of the tenth, and it is credited to you Levites as the produce of the threshing floor or the winepress,

You will not incur guilt because of it once you have presented the best part of it, but you must not defile the Israelites’ holy offerings, so that you will not die.”

Give it to Eleazar the priest, and he will have it brought outside the camp and slaughtered in his presence.

Why have you brought the Lord’s assembly into this wilderness for us and our livestock to die here?

Why have you led us up from Egypt to bring us to this evil place? It’s not a place of grain, figs, vines, and pomegranates, and there is no water to drink!”

But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust Me to show My holiness in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this assembly into the land I have given them.”

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.

Please let us travel through your land. We won’t travel through any field or vineyard, or drink any well water. We will travel the King’s Highway; we won’t turn to the right or the left until we have traveled through your territory.’”

“Aaron will be gathered to his people; he will not enter the land I have given the Israelites, because you both rebelled against My command at the waters of Meribah.

The people spoke against God and Moses: “Why have you led us up from Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread or water, and we detest this wretched food!”

The people then came to Moses and said, “We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you. Intercede with the Lord so that He will take the snakes away from us.” And Moses interceded for the people.

“Let us travel through your land. We won’t go into the fields or vineyards. We won’t drink any well water. We will travel the King’s Highway until we have traveled through your territory.”

Woe to you, Moab!
You have been destroyed, people of Chemosh!
He gave up his sons as refugees,
and his daughters into captivity
to Sihon the Amorite king.

But the Lord said to Moses, “Do not fear him, for I have handed him over to you along with his whole army and his land. Do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon.”

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?”

But the donkey said, “Am I not the donkey you’ve ridden all your life until today? Have I ever treated you this way before?”

“No,” he replied.

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.

The donkey saw Me and turned away from Me these three times. If she had not turned away from Me, I would have killed you by now and let her live.”

Balaam said to the Angel of the Lord, “I have sinned, for I did not know that You were standing in the path to confront me. And now, if it is evil in Your sight, I will go back.”

Balaam said to him, “Look, I have come to you, but can I say anything I want? I must speak only the message God puts in my mouth.”

God met with him and Balaam said to Him, “I have arranged seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.”

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

I have indeed received a command to bless;
since He has blessed, I cannot change it.

Then Balak became furious with Balaam, struck his hands together, and said to him, “I summoned you to put a curse on my enemies, but instead, you have blessed them these three times.

While Israel was staying in the Acacia Grove, the people began to have sexual relations with the women of Moab.

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go up this mountain of the Abarim range and see the land that I have given the Israelites.

After you have seen it, you will also be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother was.

Have him stand before Eleazar the priest and the whole community, and commission him in their sight.

“Have you let every female live?” he asked them.

but keep alive for yourselves all the young females who have not had sexual relations.

“You are to remain outside the camp for seven days. All of you and your prisoners who have killed a person or touched the dead are to purify yourselves on the third day and the seventh day.

and told him, “Your servants have taken a census of the fighting men under our command, and not one of us is missing.

So we have presented to the Lord an offering of the gold articles each man found—armlets, bracelets, rings, earrings, and necklaces—to make atonement for ourselves before the Lord.”

They said, “If we have found favor in your sight, let this land be given to your servants as a possession. Don’t make us cross the Jordan.”

But we will arm ourselves and be ready to go ahead of the Israelites until we have brought them into their place. Meanwhile, our dependents will remain in the fortified cities because of the inhabitants of the land.

Yet we will not have an inheritance with them across the Jordan and beyond, because our inheritance will be across the Jordan to the east.”

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

You are to take possession of the land and settle in it because I have given you the land to possess.

For the tribe of the Reubenites and the tribe of the Gadites have received their inheritance according to their ancestral houses, and half the tribe of Manasseh has received its inheritance.

The two and a half tribes have received their inheritance across the Jordan from Jericho, eastward toward the sunrise.”

You will have the cities as a refuge from the avenger, so that the one who kills someone will not die until he stands trial before the assembly.