Chapter 16
1; And Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, took also Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, the sons of Reuben;
2; and they rose up before Moses, with certain of the sons of Israel, two hundred and fifty rulers of the congregation, elect men of the assembly, men of name.
3; And they were assembled against Moses and against Aaron, and said to them, You take too much! For all the congregation, all of them are set-apart, and YAHWEH is among them. Why then do you lift up yourselves above the assembly of YAHWEH?
4; And Moses heard and fell on his face.
5; And he spoke to Korah, and to all his company, saying, In the morning YAHWEH will know who are His, and him who is set-apart, and shall cause him to come near Him; even him whom He may choose, He will cause to come near to Him.
6; Do this: take fire-pans for your- selves, Korah, and all his company,
7; and put fire in them, and put incense on them before YAHWEH tomorrow; and it shall be, the man whom YAHWEH chooses, he shall be the set-apart one. You take too much, sons of Levi!
8; And Moses said to Korah, Hear now, you sons of Levi,
9; is it too little a thing to you that the Elohim of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel to bring you near to Himself, to do the service of the tabernacle of YAHWEH, and to stand before the congregation to minister to them?
10; Yea, He has brought you near, and all your brothers, the sons of Levi, with you. And will you seek the priesthood also?
11; Therefore, you and all your company that have gathered against YAHWEH, What is Aaron that you murmur against him?
12; And Moses sent to call for Dathan and for Abiram, the sons of Eliab; and they said, We will not come up.
13; Is it a small thing that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, but must you also seize dominion over us?
14; Yea, you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, nor given us inheritance in fields and vineyards; will you put out the eyes of these men? We will not come up!
15; And Moses was very angry, and said to YAHWEH, Do not respect their offering; I have not taken one donkey from them, nor have I done evil to one of them.
16; And Moses said to Korah, You and all your company, you be there before YAHWEH, you and they, and Aaron tomorrow.
17; And each one take his fire-pan, and you shall put incense on them, and shall offer before YAHWEH, each his fire-pan, two hundred and fifty fire-pans; even you and Aaron, each his fire-pan.
18; And they each took his fire-pan, and put fire on them, and lay incense on them, and they stood at the door of the tent of meeting, with Moses and Aaron.
19; And Korah assembled all the congregation against them, to the door of the tent of meeting, and the glory of YAHWEH was seen by all the congregation.
20; And YAHWEH spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,
21; Separate yourselves from the midst of this company, and I will consume them in a moment.
22; And they fell on their faces, and said, O Elohim, Elohim of the spirits of all flesh; shall one man sin, and will You be angry with all the congregation?
23; And YAHWEH spoke to Moses, saying,
24; Speak to the congregation, saying, You get away from around the tent of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.
25; And Moses rose up and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel went after him.
26; And he spoke to the congregation, saying, Please turn away from the tents of these wicked men, and do not touch anything that they have, lest you be consumed in all their sins.
27; And they got away from around the tent of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram; and Dathan and Abiram came out, standing at the door of their tents, and their wives, their sons, and their infants.
28; And Moses said, By this you shall know that YAHWEH has sent me to do all these works, and that not from my own heart.
29; If these die according to the death of all men, and are visited according to the visitation of all men, then YAHWEH has not sent me.
30; And if YAHWEH makes a new thing, and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them, and all that they have, and they go down alive to Sheol, then you shall know that these men have despised YAHWEH.
31; And it happened, as he made an end of speaking all these words, the ground which was under them split apart,
32; and the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them, and their houses, and all the men who were for Korah, and all their possessions.
33; And they went down, they and all that they had, alive to Sheol, and the earth covered over them; and they perished from the midst of the assembly.
34; And all Israel who were around them fled at their cry; for they said, Lest the earth swallow us up.
35; And fire came forth from YAHWEH and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered the incense.
36; And YAHWEH spoke to Moses, saying,
37; Speak to Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, and he shall lift up the fire-pans from the midst of the burning, and shall scatter the fire yonder, for they have become set-apart,
38; the fire-pans of these sinners against their own souls. And they shall make of them spread out plates, a covering for the altar, for they have brought them near before YAHWEH, and they are set-apart. And they shall become a sign to the sons of Israel.
39; And Eleazar the priest took the bronze fire-pans, which they who were burned had brought near, and they spread them out, a covering for the altar,
40; a memorial to the sons of Israel, so that an alien who is not of the seed of Aaron shall not draw near to offer incense before YAHWEH, and shall not be as Korah, and as his company; as YAHWEH had spoken by the hand of Moses to him.
41; And all the congregation of the sons of Israel murmured on the next day against Moses and against Aaron, saying, You have killed the people of YAHWEH.
42; And it happened, as the company was called together against Moses and against Aaron, that they turned toward the tent of meeting. And, behold, the cloud had covered it, and the glory of YAHWEH appeared!
43; And Moses and Aaron came to the front of the tabernacle of the congregation.
44; And YAHWEH spoke to Moses, saying,
45; Get away from the midst of this company, and I shall consume them in a moment; and they fell on their faces.
46; And Moses said to Aaron, Take the fire-pan, and put fire on it from the altar, and lay on incense, and go, hurry to the congregation, and atone for them, for the wrath has gone out from the presence of YAHWEH; the plague has begun.
47; And Aaron did as Moses had spoken, and ran into the midst of the assembly. And, behold, the plague had begun among the people! And he laid on the incense and atoned for the people,
48; and stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stayed.
49; And those who died by the plague were fourteen thousand and seven hundred, besides those who died for the matter of Korah.
50; And Aaron turned back to Moses, to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation; and the plague was stayed.
Chapter 17
1; And YAHWEH spoke to Moses, saying,
2; Speak to the sons of Israel, and take from each of them a rod, for a father's house, from all their rulers, for the house of their fathers, twelve rods. You shall write the name of each on his rod.
3; And you shall write Aaron's name on the staff of the tribe of Levi; for one rod shall be for the head of their fathers' house.
4; And you shall place them in the tent of meeting, before the testimony, where I shall meet with you.
5; And it shall be that the man's rod which I choose shall blossom. And I shall cause the murmurings of the sons of Israel, which they are murmuring against you, to stop from Me.
6; And Moses spoke to the sons of Israel, and all their rulers gave to him one rod for each ruler, one rod for a ruler, for their fathers' house, twelve rods; and the rod of Aaron was among the rods.
7; And Moses placed the rods before YAHWEH, in the tent of the testimony.
8; And it happened on the next day, Moses went into the tent of the testimony, and, behold! The rod of Aaron for the house of Levi had budded, and put forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and bore ripe almonds.
9; And Moses brought out all the rods from before YAHWEH to all the sons of Israel. And they looked, and each one took his rod.
10; And YAHWEH said to Moses, Put back the rod of Aaron, before the testimony, to be kept as a token to the sons of rebellion. And you shall end their murmurings from Me; and they shall not die.
11; And Moses did as YAHWEH had commanded him; so he did.
12; And the sons of Israel spoke to Moses, saying, Behold, we die, we perish, we all perish.
13; Anyone who draws near to the tabernacle of YAHWEH shall die; shall we be consumed to die?
Chapter 18
1; And YAHWEH said to Aaron, You, and your sons, and your father's house with you shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary. And you, and your sons with you, shall bear the iniquity of your priesthood;
2; and also your brothers, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, you shall bring near with you, that they may be joined to you and may minister to you, you and your sons in your being before the tent of the testimony.
3; And they shall keep your charge and the charge of all the tabernacle; only, they shall not go near to the vessels of the sanctuary and to the altar. And they shall not die, either they or you.
4; And they shall be joined to you, and shall keep the charge of the tent of meeting, for all the service of the tabernacle, and a foreigner shall not go near to you.
5; And you shall keep the charge of the sanctuary, and the charge of the altar, and there shall be no more wrath against the sons of Israel.
6; And I, behold, I have taken your brothers the Levites from the midst of the sons of Israel; as a gift they are given to you by YAHWEH, to do the service of the tent of meeting.
7; And you, and your sons with you, shall keep your priesthood, in everything that pertains to the altar, and to that inside the veil. And you shall serve; I have given you the priesthood as a service of gift; and the stranger who comes near shall be caused to die.
8; And YAHWEH spoke to Aaron, saying, And I, behold, I have given to you the charge of My heave offerings, of all the devoted things of the sons of Israel. I have given them to you for the anointing, and to your sons, by a perpetual statute.
9; This shall be yours of the most set-apart things, from the fire: every offering of theirs, even every food offering of theirs, and every sin offering of theirs, and every guilt offering of theirs, which they may render to Me; it shall be most set-apart to you, and to your sons.
10; You shall eat it in the set-apart of set-apart; every male shall eat it; it shall be set-apart to you.
11; And this is yours, the heave offering of their gift with all the wave offerings of the sons of Israel. I have given them to you, and to your sons, and to your daughters with you, by a never ending statute; every clean one in your house shall eat it.
12; All the best of the oil, and all the best of the new wine, and wheat, the first fruits of them which they give to YAHWEH, I have given to you.
13; The first-fruits of all that is in their land, which they bring in to YAHWEH shall be yours; every clean one in your house shall eat it;
14; every devoted thing in Israel shall be yours;
15; every one opening a womb of all flesh which they offer to YAHWEH, among man and among animal, shall be yours. Only, you shall certainly redeem the first-born of man, and you shall redeem the firstling of the unclean beasts.
16; And their redeemed ones, from a month old, you shall redeem with your valuation of silver, five shekels, by the shekel of the sanctuary; it is twenty gerahs.
17; But the firstling of an ox, or the firstling of a sheep, or the firstling of a goat, you shall not redeem; they are set-apart. You shall sprinkle their blood on the altar, and you shall burn their fat as incense, a fire offering of soothing fragrance to YAHWEH.
18; And their flesh shall be yours, as the breast of the wave offering, and as the right leg; it shall be yours.
19; All the heave offerings of the set-apart things which the sons of Israel shall lift up to YAHWEH, I have given to you and to your sons, and to your daughters with you, by a never ending statute, a covenant of salt, it shall be forever before YAHWEH to you and to your seed with you.
20; And YAHWEH said to Aaron, You shall have no inheritance in their land, nor shall you have any portion among them; I am your portion and your inheritance among the sons of Israel.
21; And, behold, I have given all the tithe in Israel to the sons of Levi for an inheritance, in return for their service which they are serving, the service of the tent of meeting.
22; And the sons of Israel shall not come near to the tent of meeting any more, lest they bear sin, and die.
23; But the Levites shall do the service of the tent of meeting, and they shall bear their iniquity; it shall be a never ending statute throughout your generations, that in the midst of the sons of Israel they shall have no inheritance;
24; but the tithes of the sons of Israel which they shall lift up to YAHWEH, a heave offering, I have given to the Levites for inheritance; therefore I have said to them, They shall have no inheritance among the sons of Israel.
25; And YAHWEH spoke to Moses, saying,
26; And you shall say to the Levites; and you shall speak to them, When you take the tithe from the sons of Israel, which I have given to you from them, for your inheritance, then you shall lift from it a heave offering of
YAHWEH, a tithe of the tithe.
27; And your heave offering shall be counted to you as grain from the threshing floor, and as fullness from the winepress.
28; So you also shall lift up the heave offering of YAHWEH from all your tithes which you receive from the sons of Israel. And you shall give from it the heave offering of YAHWEH to Aaron the priest.
29; You shall lift up the whole heave offering of YAHWEH out of all your gifts, out of all its fat, its set-apart part, out of it.
30; And you shall say to them, When you lift up its fat out of it, then it shall be counted to the Levites as increase of a threshing floor, and as increase of a winepress.
31; And you shall eat it in every place, you and your households, for it is your reward in return for your service in the tabernacle of the congregation.
32; And you shall bear no sin because of it, since you have lifted up from it the best of it. And you shall not profane the set-apart things of the sons of Israel so that you may not die.
Chapter 19
1; And YAHWEH spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,
2; This is the statute of the law which YAHWEH has commanded, saying, Speak to the sons of Israel, that they bring you a red heifer, without blemish, in which there is no blemish, on which no yoke ever came.
3; And you shall give her to Eleazar the priest, and she shall be brought forth outside the camp; and she shall be slaughtered before his face.
4; And Eleazar the priest shall take of her blood with his finger, and shall sprinkle of her blood toward the front of the tent of meeting seven times.
5; And the heifer shall be burned before his eyes; her skin, and her flesh, and her blood with her dung, shall be burned.
6; And the priest shall take cedar wood, and hyssop and scarlet, and shall cast it into the midst of the burning of the heifer.
7; Then the priest shall wash his clothes, and he shall bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he may come into the camp; and the priest shall be unclean until the evening.
8; And he that burned her shall wash his clothes in water, and shall bathe his flesh in water, and shall be unclean until the evening.
9; And a man that is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and shall lay them up outside the camp in a clean place. And it shall be kept for the congregation of the sons of Israel for a water of impurity; it is a sin offering.
10; And he that gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes, and shall be unclean until the evening; and it shall be to the sons of Israel, and to the stranger that lives among them, for a never ending statute.
11; He that touches the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days.
12; He shall cleanse himself for it on the third day, and on the seventh day he shall be clean. And if he does not cleanse himself on the third day, then on the seventh day he shall not be clean.
13; Anyone who touches the dead body, the body of a man who dies, and does not cleanse himself, he shall have defiled the tabernacle of YAHWEH; and that person shall be cut off from Israel, for the water of impurity shall not be sprinkled upon him. He shall be unclean; his uncleanness shall be still on him.
14; This is the law when a man dies in a tent: Everyone who comes into the tent, and all that is in the tent, shall be unclean seven days.
15; And every open vessel which has no covering of thread on it shall be unclean.
16; And whoever in the open field touches one that has been pierced with a sword, or one that has died of himself, or the bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days.
17; And for the unclean they shall take the ashes of the burning of the sin offering, and living water in a vessel shall be put on it.
18; And a clean person shall take hyssop, and shall dip it in the water, and shall sprinkle it upon the tent, and upon all the vessels, and upon the persons that were there, and upon him that touched the bone, or the slain, or the dead, or the grave.
19; And the clean person shall sprinkle on the unclean on the third day, and on the seventh day; and on the seventh day he shall purify himself; and he shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and shall be clean at evening.
20; But the man that shall be unclean, and shall not purify himself, that soul shall be cut off from the midst of the congregation, because he has defiled the sanctuary of YAHWEH; the water for impurity has not been sprinkled on him; he shall be unclean.
21; And it shall be a continual statute to them; and he that sprinkles the water of impurity shall wash his clothes; and he that touches the water of sprinkling shall be unclean until evening.
22; And whatever the unclean person touches shall be unclean; and the soul that touches it shall be unclean until evening.
Chapter 20
1; And the sons of Israel, even the whole congregation, came into the wilderness of Zin in the first month; and the people remained in Kadesh. And Miriam died there, and was buried there.
2; And there was no water for the congregation, and they were gathered against Moses, and against Aaron.
3; And the people contended with Moses, and spoke, saying, Oh that we had died when our brothers died before YAHWEH!
4; And, why have you brought the assembly of YAHWEH to this wilderness to die there, we and our animals?
5; And, why have you brought us up out of Egypt to bring us to this evil place, not a place of seed, nor fig, nor vine, nor pomegranate; and there is no water to drink?
6; And Moses and Aaron went in from the eyes of the assembly, to the door of the tent of meeting; and fell on their faces. And the glory of YAHWEH appeared to them.
7; And YAHWEH spoke to Moses, saying,
8; Take the rod, and assemble the congregation, you and your brother Aaron. And speak to the rock before their eyes. And it shall give forth its water; and you shall bring water out of the rock to them; so you shall water the congregation and their animals.
9; And Moses took the rod from before YAHWEH, as He commanded him.
10; And Moses and Aaron assembled the congregation before the rock. And he said to them, Hear now, you rebels, shall we bring forth water to you out of this rock?
11; And Moses lifted up his hand and smote the rock with his rod twice; and much water came out; and the congregation and their animals drank.
12; And YAHWEH said to Moses and Aaron, Because you did not believe in Me, to sanctify Me before the eyes of the sons of Israel, therefore you shall not bring in this congregation to the land which I have given to them.
13; These are the Waters of Meribah, because the sons of Israel contended with YAHWEH, and He was sanctified among them.
14; And Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom: So says your brother Israel, You surely have known all the travail which has found us;
15; that our fathers went down to Egypt, and we lived in Egypt many days, and the Egyptians did evil to us and to our fathers.
16; And we cried to YAHWEH, and He heard our voice, and sent a messenger, and is bringing us out of Egypt; and, behold, we are in Kadesh, a city on the edge of your border.
17; Please let us pass over, through your land; we shall not pass over through a field, nor through a vineyard, nor shall we drink water of a well; we shall go along the king's highway. We will not turn aside to the right hand or to the left, until we have passed your border.
18; And Edom said to him, You shall not pass through me, lest I come out with the sword against you.
19; And the sons of Israel said to him, We shall go in the highway; and if we drink of your waters, our cattle and us, then I shall give their price. Only let me pass through on my feet; there shall be no speech.
20; And he said, You shall not pass through. And Edom came out against him with many people, and with a strong hand.
21; And Edom refused to allow Israel to pass over through his border. And Israel turned away from him.
22; And the sons of Israel, the whole congregation, pulled up stakes from Kadesh and came in to Mount Hor.
23; And YAHWEH spoke to Moses and Aaron in Mount Hor, on the edge of the land of Edom, saying,
24; Aaron shall be gathered to his people, for he shall not go into the land which I have given to the sons of Israel, because you rebelled against My mouth at the Waters of Strife.
25; Take Aaron and his son Eleazar, and cause them to go up to Mount Hor;
26; and strip Aaron of his garments, and you shall put them on his son Eleazar. And Aaron shall be gathered and shall die there.
27; And Moses did as YAHWEH had commanded; and they went up to Mount Hor before the eyes of all the congregation.
28; And Moses stripped Aaron of his garments, and clothed his son Eleazar with them. And Aaron died there on the top of the mountain. And Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain.
29; And all the congregation saw that Aaron had died, and they mourned Aaron thirty days, all the house of Israel.