Bible in 90 Days Plan

¹The LORD said to Moses:

²“Make two trumpets of hammered silver, and use them for calling the community together and for having the camps set out.

³When both are sounded, the whole community is to assemble before you at the entrance to the tent of meeting.

⁴If only one is sounded, the leaders—the heads of the clans of Israel—are to assemble before you.

⁵When a trumpet blast is sounded, the tribes camping on the east are to set out.

⁶At the sounding of a second blast, the camps on the south are to set out. The blast will be the signal for setting out.

⁷To gather the assembly, blow the trumpets, but not with the signal for setting out.

⁸“The sons of Aaron, the priests, are to blow the trumpets. This is to be a lasting ordinance for you and the generations to come.

⁹When you go into battle in your own land against an enemy who is oppressing you, sound a blast on the trumpets. Then you will be remembered by the LORD your God and rescued from your enemies.

¹⁰Also at your times of rejoicing—your appointed festivals and New Moon feasts—you are to sound the trumpets over your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, and they will be a memorial for you before your God. I am the LORD your God.”

¹¹On the twentieth day of the second month of the second year, the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle of the covenant law.

¹²Then the Israelites set out from the Desert of Sinai and traveled from place to place until the cloud came to rest in the Desert of Paran.

¹³They set out, this first time, at the LORD’s command through Moses.

¹⁴The divisions of the camp of Judah went first, under their standard. Nahshon son of Amminadab was in command.

¹⁵Nethanel son of Zuar was over the division of the tribe of Issachar,

¹⁶and Eliab son of Helon was over the division of the tribe of Zebulun.

¹⁷Then the tabernacle was taken down, and the Gershonites and Merarites, who carried it, set out.

¹⁸The divisions of the camp of Reuben went next, under their standard. Elizur son of Shedeur was in command.

¹⁹Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai was over the division of the tribe of Simeon,

²⁰and Eliasaph son of Deuel was over the division of the tribe of Gad.

²¹Then the Kohathites set out, carrying the holy things. The tabernacle was to be set up before they arrived.

²²The divisions of the camp of Ephraim went next, under their standard. Elishama son of Ammihud was in command.

²³Gamaliel son of Pedahzur was over the division of the tribe of Manasseh,

²⁴and Abidan son of Gideoni was over the division of the tribe of Benjamin.

²⁵Finally, as the rear guard for all the units, the divisions of the camp of Dan set out under their standard. Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai was in command.

²⁶Pagiel son of Okran was over the division of the tribe of Asher,

²⁷and Ahira son of Enan was over the division of the tribe of Naphtali.

²⁸This was the order of march for the Israelite divisions as they set out.

²⁹Now Moses said to Hobab son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses’ father-in-law, “We are setting out for the place about which the LORD said, ‘I will give it to you.’ Come with us and we will treat you well, for the LORD has promised good things to Israel.”

³⁰He answered, “No, I will not go; I am going back to my own land and my own people.”

³¹But Moses said, “Please do not leave us. You know where we should camp in the wilderness, and you can be our eyes.

³²If you come with us, we will share with you whatever good things the LORD gives us.”

³³So they set out from the mountain of the LORD and traveled for three days. The ark of the covenant of the LORD went before them during those three days to find them a place to rest.

³⁴The cloud of the LORD was over them by day when they set out from the camp.

³⁵Whenever the ark set out, Moses said, “Rise up, LORD! May your enemies be scattered; may your foes flee before you.”

³⁶Whenever it came to rest, he said, “Return, LORD, to the countless thousands of Israel.”

¹Now the people complained about their hardships in the hearing of the LORD, and when he heard them his anger was aroused. Then fire from the LORD burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp.

²When the people cried out to Moses, he prayed to the LORD and the fire died down.

³So that place was called Taberah, because fire from the LORD had burned among them.

⁴The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, “If only we had meat to eat!

⁵We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost—also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic.

⁶But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!”

⁷The manna was like coriander seed and looked like resin.

⁸The people went around gathering it, and then ground it in a hand mill or crushed it in a mortar. They cooked it in a pot or made it into loaves. And it tasted like something made with olive oil.

⁹When the dew settled on the camp at night, the manna also came down.

¹⁰Moses heard the people of every family wailing at the entrance to their tents. The LORD became exceedingly angry, and Moses was troubled.

¹¹He asked the LORD, “Why have you brought this trouble on your servant? What have I done to displease you that you put the burden of all these people on me?

¹²Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth? Why do you tell me to carry them in my arms, as a nurse carries an infant, to the land you promised on oath to their ancestors?

¹³Where can I get meat for all these people? They keep wailing to me, ‘Give us meat to eat!’

¹⁴I cannot carry all these people by myself; the burden is too heavy for me.

¹⁵If this is how you are going to treat me, please go ahead and kill me—if I have found favor in your eyes—and do not let me face my own ruin.”

¹⁶The LORD said to Moses: “Bring me seventy of Israel’s elders who are known to you as leaders and officials among the people. Have them come to the tent of meeting, that they may stand there with you.

¹⁷I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take some of the power of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them. They will share the burden of the people with you so that you will not have to carry it alone.

¹⁸“Tell the people: ‘Consecrate yourselves in preparation for tomorrow, when you will eat meat. The LORD heard you when you wailed, “If only we had meat to eat! We were better off in Egypt!” Now the LORD will give you meat, and you will eat it.

¹⁹You will not eat it for just one day, or two days, or five, ten or twenty days,

²⁰but for a whole month—until it comes out of your nostrils and you loathe it—because you have rejected the LORD, who is among you, and have wailed before him, saying, “Why did we ever leave Egypt?” ’ ”

²¹But Moses said, “Here I am among six hundred thousand men on foot, and you say, ‘I will give them meat to eat for a whole month!’

²²Would they have enough if flocks and herds were slaughtered for them? Would they have enough if all the fish in the sea were caught for them?”

²³The LORD answered Moses, “Is the LORD’s arm too short? Now you will see whether or not what I say will come true for you.”

²⁴So Moses went out and told the people what the LORD had said. He brought together seventy of their elders and had them stand around the tent.

²⁵Then the LORD came down in the cloud and spoke with him, and he took some of the power of the Spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders. When the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied—but did not do so again.

²⁶However, two men, whose names were Eldad and Medad, had remained in the camp. They were listed among the elders, but did not go out to the tent. Yet the Spirit also rested on them, and they prophesied in the camp.

²⁷A young man ran and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.”

²⁸Joshua son of Nun, who had been Moses’ aide since youth, spoke up and said, “Moses, my lord, stop them!”

²⁹But Moses replied, “Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the LORD’s people were prophets and that the LORD would put his Spirit on them!”

³⁰Then Moses and the elders of Israel returned to the camp.

³¹Now a wind went out from the LORD and drove quail in from the sea. It scattered them up to two cubits deep all around the camp, as far as a day’s walk in any direction.

³²All that day and night and all the next day the people went out and gathered quail. No one gathered less than ten homers. Then they spread them out all around the camp.

³³But while the meat was still between their teeth and before it could be consumed, the anger of the LORD burned against the people, and he struck them with a severe plague.

³⁴Therefore the place was named Kibroth Hattaavah, because there they buried the people who had craved other food.

³⁵From Kibroth Hattaavah the people traveled to Hazeroth and stayed there.

¹Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife, for he had married a Cushite.

²“Has the LORD spoken only through Moses?” they asked. “Hasn’t he also spoken through us?” And the LORD heard this.

³(Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.)

⁴At once the LORD said to Moses, Aaron and Miriam, “Come out to the tent of meeting, all three of you.” So the three of them went out.

⁵Then the LORD came down in a pillar of cloud; he stood at the entrance to the tent and summoned Aaron and Miriam. When the two of them stepped forward,

⁶he said, “Listen to my words: “When there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD, reveal myself to them in visions, I speak to them in dreams.

⁷But this is not true of my servant Moses; he is faithful in all my house.

⁸With him I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the LORD. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?”

⁹The anger of the LORD burned against them, and he left them.

¹⁰When the cloud lifted from above the tent, Miriam’s skin was leprous—it became as white as snow. Aaron turned toward her and saw that she had a defiling skin disease,

¹¹and he said to Moses, “Please, my lord, I ask you not to hold against us the sin we have so foolishly committed.

¹²Do not let her be like a stillborn infant coming from its mother’s womb with its flesh half eaten away.”

¹³So Moses cried out to the LORD, “Please, God, heal her!”

¹⁴The LORD replied to Moses, “If her father had spit in her face, would she not have been in disgrace for seven days? Confine her outside the camp for seven days; after that she can be brought back.”

¹⁵So Miriam was confined outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not move on till she was brought back.

¹⁶After that, the people left Hazeroth and encamped in the Desert of Paran.

¹The LORD said to Moses,

²“Send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites. From each ancestral tribe send one of its leaders.”

³So at the LORD’s command Moses sent them out from the Desert of Paran. All of them were leaders of the Israelites.

⁴These are their names: from the tribe of Reuben, Shammua son of Zakkur;

⁵from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat son of Hori;

⁶from the tribe of Judah, Caleb son of Jephunneh;

⁷from the tribe of Issachar, Igal son of Joseph;

⁸from the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea son of Nun;

⁹from the tribe of Benjamin, Palti son of Raphu;

¹⁰from the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel son of Sodi;

¹¹from the tribe of Manasseh (a tribe of Joseph), Gaddi son of Susi;

¹²from the tribe of Dan, Ammiel son of Gemalli;

¹³from the tribe of Asher, Sethur son of Michael;

¹⁴from the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi son of Vophsi;

¹⁵from the tribe of Gad, Geuel son of Maki.

¹⁶These are the names of the men Moses sent to explore the land. (Moses gave Hoshea son of Nun the name Joshua.)

¹⁷When Moses sent them to explore Canaan, he said, “Go up through the Negev and on into the hill country.

¹⁸See what the land is like and whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many.

¹⁹What kind of land do they live in? Is it good or bad? What kind of towns do they live in? Are they unwalled or fortified?

²⁰How is the soil? Is it fertile or poor? Are there trees in it or not? Do your best to bring back some of the fruit of the land.” (It was the season for the first ripe grapes.)

²¹So they went up and explored the land from the Desert of Zin as far as Rehob, toward Lebo Hamath.

²²They went up through the Negev and came to Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmai, the descendants of Anak, lived. (Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)

²³When they reached the Valley of Eshkol, they cut off a branch bearing a single cluster of grapes. Two of them carried it on a pole between them, along with some pomegranates and figs.

²⁴That place was called the Valley of Eshkol because of the cluster of grapes the Israelites cut off there.

²⁵At the end of forty days they returned from exploring the land.

²⁶They came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community at Kadesh in the Desert of Paran. There they reported to them and to the whole assembly and showed them the fruit of the land.

²⁷They gave Moses this account: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit.

²⁸But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there.

²⁹The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan.”

³⁰Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.”

³¹But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.”

³²And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size.

³³We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”

¹That night all the members of the community raised their voices and wept aloud.

²All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, “If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this wilderness!

³Why is the LORD bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?”

⁴And they said to each other, “We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”

⁵Then Moses and Aaron fell facedown in front of the whole Israelite assembly gathered there.

⁶Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had explored the land, tore their clothes

⁷and said to the entire Israelite assembly, “The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good.

⁸If the LORD is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us.

⁹Only do not rebel against the LORD. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will devour them. Their protection is gone, but the LORD is with us. Do not be afraid of them.”

¹⁰But the whole assembly talked about stoning them. Then the glory of the LORD appeared at the tent of meeting to all the Israelites.

¹¹The LORD said to Moses, “How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the signs I have performed among them?

¹²I will strike them down with a plague and destroy them, but I will make you into a nation greater and stronger than they.”

¹³Moses said to the LORD, “Then the Egyptians will hear about it! By your power you brought these people up from among them.

¹⁴And they will tell the inhabitants of this land about it. They have already heard that you, LORD, are with these people and that you, LORD, have been seen face to face, that your cloud stays over them, and that you go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.

¹⁵If you put all these people to death, leaving none alive, the nations who have heard this report about you will say,

¹⁶‘The LORD was not able to bring these people into the land he promised them on oath, so he slaughtered them in the wilderness.’

¹⁷“Now may the Lord’s strength be displayed, just as you have declared:

¹⁸‘The LORD is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.’

¹⁹In accordance with your great love, forgive the sin of these people, just as you have pardoned them from the time they left Egypt until now.”

²⁰The LORD replied, “I have forgiven them, as you asked.

²¹Nevertheless, as surely as I live and as surely as the glory of the LORD fills the whole earth,

²²not one of those who saw my glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness but who disobeyed me and tested me ten times—

²³not one of them will ever see the land I promised on oath to their ancestors. No one who has treated me with contempt will ever see it.

²⁴But because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it.

²⁵Since the Amalekites and the Canaanites are living in the valleys, turn back tomorrow and set out toward the desert along the route to the Red Sea.”

²⁶The LORD said to Moses and Aaron:

²⁷“How long will this wicked community grumble against me? I have heard the complaints of these grumbling Israelites.

²⁸So tell them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the LORD, I will do to you the very thing I heard you say:

²⁹In this wilderness your bodies will fall—every one of you twenty years old or more who was counted in the census and who has grumbled against me.

³⁰Not one of you will enter the land I swore with uplifted hand to make your home, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.

³¹As for your children that you said would be taken as plunder, I will bring them in to enjoy the land you have rejected.

³²But as for you, your bodies will fall in this wilderness.

³³Your children will be shepherds here for forty years, suffering for your unfaithfulness, until the last of your bodies lies in the wilderness.

³⁴For forty years—one year for each of the forty days you explored the land—you will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have me against you.’

³⁵I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will surely do these things to this whole wicked community, which has banded together against me. They will meet their end in this wilderness; here they will die.”

³⁶So the men Moses had sent to explore the land, who returned and made the whole community grumble against him by spreading a bad report about it—

³⁷these men who were responsible for spreading the bad report about the land were struck down and died of a plague before the LORD.

³⁸Of the men who went to explore the land, only Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh survived.

³⁹When Moses reported this to all the Israelites, they mourned bitterly.

⁴⁰Early the next morning they set out for the highest point in the hill country, saying, “Now we are ready to go up to the land the LORD promised. Surely we have sinned!”

⁴¹But Moses said, “Why are you disobeying the LORD’s command? This will not succeed!

⁴²Do not go up, because the LORD is not with you. You will be defeated by your enemies,

⁴³for the Amalekites and the Canaanites will face you there. Because you have turned away from the LORD, he will not be with you and you will fall by the sword.”

⁴⁴Nevertheless, in their presumption they went up toward the highest point in the hill country, though neither Moses nor the ark of the LORD’s covenant moved from the camp.

⁴⁵Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down and attacked them and beat them down all the way to Hormah.

¹The LORD said to Moses,

²“Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘After you enter the land I am giving you as a home

³and you present to the LORD food offerings from the herd or the flock, as an aroma pleasing to the LORD—whether burnt offerings or sacrifices, for special vows or freewill offerings or festival offerings—

⁴then the person who brings an offering shall present to the LORD a grain offering of a tenth of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with a quarter of a hin of olive oil.

⁵With each lamb for the burnt offering or the sacrifice, prepare a quarter of a hin of wine as a drink offering.

⁶“ ‘With a ram prepare a grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with a third of a hin of olive oil,

⁷and a third of a hin of wine as a drink offering. Offer it as an aroma pleasing to the LORD.

⁸“ ‘When you prepare a young bull as a burnt offering or sacrifice, for a special vow or a fellowship offering to the LORD,

⁹bring with the bull a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with half a hin of olive oil,

¹⁰and also bring half a hin of wine as a drink offering. This will be a food offering, an aroma pleasing to the LORD.

¹¹Each bull or ram, each lamb or young goat, is to be prepared in this manner.

¹²Do this for each one, for as many as you prepare.

¹³“ ‘Everyone who is native-born must do these things in this way when they present a food offering as an aroma pleasing to the LORD.

¹⁴For the generations to come, whenever a foreigner or anyone else living among you presents a food offering as an aroma pleasing to the LORD, they must do exactly as you do.

¹⁵The community is to have the same rules for you and for the foreigner residing among you; this is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. You and the foreigner shall be the same before the LORD:

¹⁶The same laws and regulations will apply both to you and to the foreigner residing among you.’ ”

¹⁷The LORD said to Moses,

¹⁸“Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you enter the land to which I am taking you

¹⁹and you eat the food of the land, present a portion as an offering to the LORD.

²⁰Present a loaf from the first of your ground meal and present it as an offering from the threshing floor.

²¹Throughout the generations to come you are to give this offering to the LORD from the first of your ground meal.

²²“ ‘Now if you as a community unintentionally fail to keep any of these commands the LORD gave Moses—

²³any of the LORD’s commands to you through him, from the day the LORD gave them and continuing through the generations to come—

²⁴and if this is done unintentionally without the community being aware of it, then the whole community is to offer a young bull for a burnt offering as an aroma pleasing to the LORD, along with its prescribed grain offering and drink offering, and a male goat for a sin offering.

²⁵The priest is to make atonement for the whole Israelite community, and they will be forgiven, for it was not intentional and they have presented to the LORD for their wrong a food offering and a sin offering.

²⁶The whole Israelite community and the foreigners residing among them will be forgiven, because all the people were involved in the unintentional wrong.

²⁷“ ‘But if just one person sins unintentionally, that person must bring a year-old female goat for a sin offering.

²⁸The priest is to make atonement before the LORD for the one who erred by sinning unintentionally, and when atonement has been made, that person will be forgiven.

²⁹One and the same law applies to everyone who sins unintentionally, whether a native-born Israelite or a foreigner residing among you.

³⁰“ ‘But anyone who sins defiantly, whether native-born or foreigner, blasphemes the LORD and must be cut off from the people of Israel.

³¹Because they have despised the LORD’s word and broken his commands, they must surely be cut off; their guilt remains on them.’ ”

³²While the Israelites were in the wilderness, a man was found gathering wood on the Sabbath day.

³³Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron and the whole assembly,

³⁴and they kept him in custody, because it was not clear what should be done to him.

³⁵Then the LORD said to Moses, “The man must die. The whole assembly must stone him outside the camp.”

³⁶So the assembly took him outside the camp and stoned him to death, as the LORD commanded Moses.

³⁷The LORD said to Moses,

³⁸“Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘Throughout the generations to come you are to make tassels on the corners of your garments, with a blue cord on each tassel.

³⁹You will have these tassels to look at and so you will remember all the commands of the LORD, that you may obey them and not prostitute yourselves by chasing after the lusts of your own hearts and eyes.

⁴⁰Then you will remember to obey all my commands and will be consecrated to your God.

⁴¹I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt to be your God. I am the LORD your God.’ ”

¹Korah son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and certain Reubenites—Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth—became insolent

²and rose up against Moses. With them were 250 Israelite men, well-known community leaders who had been appointed members of the council.

³They came as a group to oppose Moses and Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! The whole community is holy, every one of them, and the LORD is with them. Why then do you set yourselves above the LORD’s assembly?”

⁴When Moses heard this, he fell facedown.

⁵Then he said to Korah and all his followers: “In the morning the LORD will show who belongs to him and who is holy, and he will have that person come near him. The man he chooses he will cause to come near him.

⁶You, Korah, and all your followers are to do this: Take censers

⁷and tomorrow put burning coals and incense in them before the LORD. The man the LORD chooses will be the one who is holy. You Levites have gone too far!”

⁸Moses also said to Korah, “Now listen, you Levites!

⁹Isn’t it enough for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the rest of the Israelite community and brought you near himself to do the work at the LORD’s tabernacle and to stand before the community and minister to them?

¹⁰He has brought you and all your fellow Levites near himself, but now you are trying to get the priesthood too.

¹¹It is against the LORD that you and all your followers have banded together. Who is Aaron that you should grumble against him?”

¹²Then Moses summoned Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab. But they said, “We will not come!

¹³Isn’t it enough that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness? And now you also want to lord it over us!

¹⁴Moreover, you haven’t brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey or given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Do you want to treat these men like slaves? No, we will not come!”

¹⁵Then Moses became very angry and said to the LORD, “Do not accept their offering. I have not taken so much as a donkey from them, nor have I wronged any of them.”

¹⁶Moses said to Korah, “You and all your followers are to appear before the LORD tomorrow—you and they and Aaron.

¹⁷Each man is to take his censer and put incense in it—250 censers in all—and present it before the LORD. You and Aaron are to present your censers also.”

¹⁸So each of them took his censer, put burning coals and incense in it, and stood with Moses and Aaron at the entrance to the tent of meeting.

¹⁹When Korah had gathered all his followers in opposition to them at the entrance to the tent of meeting, the glory of the LORD appeared to the entire assembly.

²⁰The LORD said to Moses and Aaron,

²¹“Separate yourselves from this assembly so I can put an end to them at once.”

²²But Moses and Aaron fell facedown and cried out, “O God, the God who gives breath to all living things, will you be angry with the entire assembly when only one man sins?”

²³Then the LORD said to Moses,

²⁴“Say to the assembly, ‘Move away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram.’ ”

²⁵Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him.

²⁶He warned the assembly, “Move back from the tents of these wicked men! Do not touch anything belonging to them, or you will be swept away because of all their sins.”

²⁷So they moved away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram had come out and were standing with their wives, children and little ones at the entrances to their tents.

²⁸Then Moses said, “This is how you will know that the LORD has sent me to do all these things and that it was not my idea:

²⁹If these men die a natural death and suffer the fate of all mankind, then the LORD has not sent me.

³⁰But if the LORD brings about something totally new, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them, with everything that belongs to them, and they go down alive into the realm of the dead, then you will know that these men have treated the LORD with contempt.”

³¹As soon as he finished saying all this, the ground under them split apart

³²and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their households, and all those associated with Korah, together with their possessions.

³³They went down alive into the realm of the dead, with everything they owned; the earth closed over them, and they perished and were gone from the community.

³⁴At their cries, all the Israelites around them fled, shouting, “The earth is going to swallow us too!”

³⁵And fire came out from the LORD and consumed the 250 men who were offering the incense.

³⁶The LORD said to Moses,

³⁷“Tell Eleazar son of Aaron, the priest, to remove the censers from the charred remains and scatter the coals some distance away, for the censers are holy—

³⁸the censers of the men who sinned at the cost of their lives. Hammer the censers into sheets to overlay the altar, for they were presented before the LORD and have become holy. Let them be a sign to the Israelites.”

³⁹So Eleazar the priest collected the bronze censers brought by those who had been burned to death, and he had them hammered out to overlay the altar,

⁴⁰as the LORD directed him through Moses. This was to remind the Israelites that no one except a descendant of Aaron should come to burn incense before the LORD, or he would become like Korah and his followers.

⁴¹The next day the whole Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. “You have killed the LORD’s people,” they said.

⁴²But when the assembly gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron and turned toward the tent of meeting, suddenly the cloud covered it and the glory of the LORD appeared.

⁴³Then Moses and Aaron went to the front of the tent of meeting,

⁴⁴and the LORD said to Moses,

⁴⁵“Get away from this assembly so I can put an end to them at once.” And they fell facedown.

⁴⁶Then Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer and put incense in it, along with burning coals from the altar, and hurry to the assembly to make atonement for them. Wrath has come out from the LORD; the plague has started.”

⁴⁷So Aaron did as Moses said, and ran into the midst of the assembly. The plague had already started among the people, but Aaron offered the incense and made atonement for them.

⁴⁸He stood between the living and the dead, and the plague stopped.

⁴⁹But 14,700 people died from the plague, in addition to those who had died because of Korah.

⁵⁰Then Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance to the tent of meeting, for the plague had stopped.

¹The LORD said to Moses,

²“Speak to the Israelites and get twelve staffs from them, one from the leader of each of their ancestral tribes. Write the name of each man on his staff.

³On the staff of Levi write Aaron’s name, for there must be one staff for the head of each ancestral tribe.

⁴Place them in the tent of meeting in front of the ark of the covenant law, where I meet with you.

⁵The staff belonging to the man I choose will sprout, and I will rid myself of this constant grumbling against you by the Israelites.”

⁶So Moses spoke to the Israelites, and their leaders gave him twelve staffs, one for the leader of each of their ancestral tribes, and Aaron’s staff was among them.

⁷Moses placed the staffs before the LORD in the tent of the covenant law.

⁸The next day Moses entered the tent and saw that Aaron’s staff, which represented the tribe of Levi, had not only sprouted but had budded, blossomed and produced almonds.

⁹Then Moses brought out all the staffs from the LORD’s presence to all the Israelites. They looked at them, and each of the leaders took his own staff.

¹⁰The LORD said to Moses, “Put back Aaron’s staff in front of the ark of the covenant law, to be kept as a sign to the rebellious. This will put an end to their grumbling against me, so that they will not die.”

¹¹Moses did just as the LORD commanded him.

¹²The Israelites said to Moses, “We will die! We are lost, we are all lost!

¹³Anyone who even comes near the tabernacle of the LORD will die. Are we all going to die?”

¹The LORD said to Aaron, “You, your sons and your family are to bear the responsibility for offenses connected with the sanctuary, and you and your sons alone are to bear the responsibility for offenses connected with the priesthood.

²Bring your fellow Levites from your ancestral tribe to join you and assist you when you and your sons minister before the tent of the covenant law.

³They are to be responsible to you and are to perform all the duties of the tent, but they must not go near the furnishings of the sanctuary or the altar. Otherwise both they and you will die.

⁴They are to join you and be responsible for the care of the tent of meeting—all the work at the tent—and no one else may come near where you are.

⁵“You are to be responsible for the care of the sanctuary and the altar, so that my wrath will not fall on the Israelites again.

⁶I myself have selected your fellow Levites from among the Israelites as a gift to you, dedicated to the LORD to do the work at the tent of meeting.

⁷But only you and your sons may serve as priests in connection with everything at the altar and inside the curtain. I am giving you the service of the priesthood as a gift. Anyone else who comes near the sanctuary is to be put to death.”

⁸Then the LORD said to Aaron, “I myself have put you in charge of the offerings presented to me; all the holy offerings the Israelites give me I give to you and your sons as your portion, your perpetual share.

⁹You are to have the part of the most holy offerings that is kept from the fire. From all the gifts they bring me as most holy offerings, whether grain or sin or guilt offerings, that part belongs to you and your sons.

¹⁰Eat it as something most holy; every male shall eat it. You must regard it as holy.

¹¹“This also is yours: whatever is set aside from the gifts of all the wave offerings of the Israelites. I give this to you and your sons and daughters as your perpetual share. Everyone in your household who is ceremonially clean may eat it.

¹²“I give you all the finest olive oil and all the finest new wine and grain they give the LORD as the firstfruits of their harvest.

¹³All the land’s firstfruits that they bring to the LORD will be yours. Everyone in your household who is ceremonially clean may eat it.

¹⁴“Everything in Israel that is devoted to the LORD is yours.

¹⁵The first offspring of every womb, both human and animal, that is offered to the LORD is yours. But you must redeem every firstborn son and every firstborn male of unclean animals.

¹⁶When they are a month old, you must redeem them at the redemption price set at five shekels of silver, according to the sanctuary shekel, which weighs twenty gerahs.

¹⁷“But you must not redeem the firstborn of a cow, a sheep or a goat; they are holy. Splash their blood against the altar and burn their fat as a food offering, an aroma pleasing to the LORD.

¹⁸Their meat is to be yours, just as the breast of the wave offering and the right thigh are yours.

¹⁹Whatever is set aside from the holy offerings the Israelites present to the LORD I give to you and your sons and daughters as your perpetual share. It is an everlasting covenant of salt before the LORD for both you and your offspring.”

²⁰The LORD said to Aaron, “You will have no inheritance in their land, nor will you have any share among them; I am your share and your inheritance among the Israelites.

²¹“I give to the Levites all the tithes in Israel as their inheritance in return for the work they do while serving at the tent of meeting.

²²From now on the Israelites must not go near the tent of meeting, or they will bear the consequences of their sin and will die.

²³It is the Levites who are to do the work at the tent of meeting and bear the responsibility for any offenses they commit against it. This is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. They will receive no inheritance among the Israelites.

²⁴Instead, I give to the Levites as their inheritance the tithes that the Israelites present as an offering to the LORD. That is why I said concerning them: ‘They will have no inheritance among the Israelites.’ ”

²⁵The LORD said to Moses,

²⁶“Speak to the Levites and say to them: ‘When you receive from the Israelites the tithe I give you as your inheritance, you must present a tenth of that tithe as the LORD’s offering.

²⁷Your offering will be reckoned to you as grain from the threshing floor or juice from the winepress.

²⁸In this way you also will present an offering to the LORD from all the tithes you receive from the Israelites. From these tithes you must give the LORD’s portion to Aaron the priest.

²⁹You must present as the LORD’s portion the best and holiest part of everything given to you.’

³⁰“Say to the Levites: ‘When you present the best part, it will be reckoned to you as the product of the threshing floor or the winepress.

³¹You and your households may eat the rest of it anywhere, for it is your wages for your work at the tent of meeting.

³²By presenting the best part of it you will not be guilty in this matter; then you will not defile the holy offerings of the Israelites, and you will not die.’ ”

¹The LORD said to Moses and Aaron:

²“This is a requirement of the law that the LORD has commanded: Tell the Israelites to bring you a red heifer without defect or blemish and that has never been under a yoke.

³Give it to Eleazar the priest; it is to be taken outside the camp and slaughtered in his presence.

⁴Then Eleazar the priest is to take some of its blood on his finger and sprinkle it seven times toward the front of the tent of meeting.

⁵While he watches, the heifer is to be burned—its hide, flesh, blood and intestines.

⁶The priest is to take some cedar wood, hyssop and scarlet wool and throw them onto the burning heifer.

⁷After that, the priest must wash his clothes and bathe himself with water. He may then come into the camp, but he will be ceremonially unclean till evening.

⁸The man who burns it must also wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he too will be unclean till evening.

⁹“A man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and put them in a ceremonially clean place outside the camp. They are to be kept by the Israelite community for use in the water of cleansing; it is for purification from sin.

¹⁰The man who gathers up the ashes of the heifer must also wash his clothes, and he too will be unclean till evening. This will be a lasting ordinance both for the Israelites and for the foreigners residing among them.

¹¹“Whoever touches a human corpse will be unclean for seven days.

¹²They must purify themselves with the water on the third day and on the seventh day; then they will be clean. But if they do not purify themselves on the third and seventh days, they will not be clean.

¹³If they fail to purify themselves after touching a human corpse, they defile the LORD’s tabernacle. They must be cut off from Israel. Because the water of cleansing has not been sprinkled on them, they are unclean; their uncleanness remains on them.

¹⁴“This is the law that applies when a person dies in a tent: Anyone who enters the tent and anyone who is in it will be unclean for seven days,

¹⁵and every open container without a lid fastened on it will be unclean.

¹⁶“Anyone out in the open who touches someone who has been killed with a sword or someone who has died a natural death, or anyone who touches a human bone or a grave, will be unclean for seven days.

¹⁷“For the unclean person, put some ashes from the burned purification offering into a jar and pour fresh water over them.

¹⁸Then a man who is ceremonially clean is to take some hyssop, dip it in the water and sprinkle the tent and all the furnishings and the people who were there. He must also sprinkle anyone who has touched a human bone or a grave or anyone who has been killed or anyone who has died a natural death.

¹⁹The man who is clean is to sprinkle those who are unclean on the third and seventh days, and on the seventh day he is to purify them. Those who are being cleansed must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and that evening they will be clean.

²⁰But if those who are unclean do not purify themselves, they must be cut off from the community, because they have defiled the sanctuary of the LORD. The water of cleansing has not been sprinkled on them, and they are unclean.

²¹This is a lasting ordinance for them. “The man who sprinkles the water of cleansing must also wash his clothes, and anyone who touches the water of cleansing will be unclean till evening.

²²Anything that an unclean person touches becomes unclean, and anyone who touches it becomes unclean till evening.”

¹In the first month the whole Israelite community arrived at the Desert of Zin, and they stayed at Kadesh. There Miriam died and was buried.

²Now there was no water for the community, and the people gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron.

³They quarreled with Moses and said, “If only we had died when our brothers fell dead before the LORD!

⁴Why did you bring the LORD’s community into this wilderness, that we and our livestock should die here?

⁵Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to this terrible place? It has no grain or figs, grapevines or pomegranates. And there is no water to drink!”

⁶Moses and Aaron went from the assembly to the entrance to the tent of meeting and fell facedown, and the glory of the LORD appeared to them.

⁷The LORD said to Moses,

⁸“Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water. You will bring water out of the rock for the community so they and their livestock can drink.”

⁹So Moses took the staff from the LORD’s presence, just as he commanded him.

¹⁰He and Aaron gathered the assembly together in front of the rock and Moses said to them, “Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?”

¹¹Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.

¹²But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.”

¹³These were the waters of Meribah, where the Israelites quarreled with the LORD and where he was proved holy among them.

¹⁴Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom, saying: “This is what your brother Israel says: You know about all the hardships that have come on us.

¹⁵Our ancestors went down into Egypt, and we lived there many years. The Egyptians mistreated us and our ancestors,

¹⁶but when we cried out to the LORD, he heard our cry and sent an angel and brought us out of Egypt. “Now we are here at Kadesh, a town on the edge of your territory.

¹⁷Please let us pass through your country. We will not go through any field or vineyard, or drink water from any well. We will travel along the King’s Highway and not turn to the right or to the left until we have passed through your territory.”

¹⁸But Edom answered: “You may not pass through here; if you try, we will march out and attack you with the sword.”

¹⁹The Israelites replied: “We will go along the main road, and if we or our livestock drink any of your water, we will pay for it. We only want to pass through on foot—nothing else.”

²⁰Again they answered: “You may not pass through.” Then Edom came out against them with a large and powerful army.

²¹Since Edom refused to let them go through their territory, Israel turned away from them.

²²The whole Israelite community set out from Kadesh and came to Mount Hor.

²³At Mount Hor, near the border of Edom, the LORD said to Moses and Aaron,

²⁴“Aaron will be gathered to his people. He will not enter the land I give the Israelites, because both of you rebelled against my command at the waters of Meribah.

²⁵Get Aaron and his son Eleazar and take them up Mount Hor.

²⁶Remove Aaron’s garments and put them on his son Eleazar, for Aaron will be gathered to his people; he will die there.”

²⁷Moses did as the LORD commanded: They went up Mount Hor in the sight of the whole community.

²⁸Moses removed Aaron’s garments and put them on his son Eleazar. And Aaron died there on top of the mountain. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain,

²⁹and when the whole community learned that Aaron had died, all the Israelites mourned for him thirty days.

¹When the Canaanite king of Arad, who lived in the Negev, heard that Israel was coming along the road to Atharim, he attacked the Israelites and captured some of them.

²Then Israel made this vow to the LORD: “If you will deliver these people into our hands, we will totally destroy their cities.”

³The LORD listened to Israel’s plea and gave the Canaanites over to them. They completely destroyed them and their towns; so the place was named Hormah.

⁴They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way;

⁵they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!”

⁶Then the LORD sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died.

⁷The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.

⁸The LORD said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.”

⁹So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived.

¹⁰The Israelites moved on and camped at Oboth.

¹¹Then they set out from Oboth and camped in Iye Abarim, in the wilderness that faces Moab toward the sunrise.

¹²From there they moved on and camped in the Zered Valley.

¹³They set out from there and camped alongside the Arnon, which is in the wilderness extending into Amorite territory. The Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites.

¹⁴That is why the Book of the Wars of the LORD says: “…Zahab in Suphah and the ravines, the Arnon

¹⁵and the slopes of the ravines that lead to the settlement of Ar and lie along the border of Moab.”

¹⁶From there they continued on to Beer, the well where the LORD said to Moses, “Gather the people together and I will give them water.”

¹⁷Then Israel sang this song: “Spring up, O well! Sing about it,

¹⁸about the well that the princes dug, that the nobles of the people sank— the nobles with scepters and staffs.” Then they went from the wilderness to Mattanah,

¹⁹from Mattanah to Nahaliel, from Nahaliel to Bamoth,

²⁰and from Bamoth to the valley in Moab where the top of Pisgah overlooks the wasteland.

²¹Israel sent messengers to say to Sihon king of the Amorites:

²²“Let us pass through your country. We will not turn aside into any field or vineyard, or drink water from any well. We will travel along the King’s Highway until we have passed through your territory.”

²³But Sihon would not let Israel pass through his territory. He mustered his entire army and marched out into the wilderness against Israel. When he reached Jahaz, he fought with Israel.

²⁴Israel, however, put him to the sword and took over his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, but only as far as the Ammonites, because their border was fortified.

²⁵Israel captured all the cities of the Amorites and occupied them, including Heshbon and all its surrounding settlements.

²⁶Heshbon was the city of Sihon king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab and had taken from him all his land as far as the Arnon.

²⁷That is why the poets say: “Come to Heshbon and let it be rebuilt; let Sihon’s city be restored.

²⁸“Fire went out from Heshbon, a blaze from the city of Sihon. It consumed Ar of Moab, the citizens of Arnon’s heights.

²⁹Woe to you, Moab! You are destroyed, people of Chemosh! He has given up his sons as fugitives and his daughters as captives to Sihon king of the Amorites.

³⁰“But we have overthrown them; Heshbon’s dominion has been destroyed all the way to Dibon. We have demolished them as far as Nophah, which extends to Medeba.”

³¹So Israel settled in the land of the Amorites.

³²After Moses had sent spies to Jazer, the Israelites captured its surrounding settlements and drove out the Amorites who were there.

³³Then they turned and went up along the road toward Bashan, and Og king of Bashan and his whole army marched out to meet them in battle at Edrei.

³⁴The LORD said to Moses, “Do not be afraid of him, for I have delivered him into your hands, along with his whole army and his land. Do to him what you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon.”

³⁵So they struck him down, together with his sons and his whole army, leaving them no survivors. And they took possession of his land.

¹Then the Israelites traveled to the plains of Moab and camped along the Jordan across from Jericho.

²Now Balak son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites,

³and Moab was terrified because there were so many people. Indeed, Moab was filled with dread because of the Israelites.

⁴The Moabites said to the elders of Midian, “This horde is going to lick up everything around us, as an ox licks up the grass of the field.” So Balak son of Zippor, who was king of Moab at that time,

⁵sent messengers to summon Balaam son of Beor, who was at Pethor, near the Euphrates River, in his native land. Balak said: “A people has come out of Egypt; they cover the face of the land and have settled next to me.

⁶Now come and put a curse on these people, because they are too powerful for me. Perhaps then I will be able to defeat them and drive them out of the land. For I know that whoever you bless is blessed, and whoever you curse is cursed.”

⁷The elders of Moab and Midian left, taking with them the fee for divination. When they came to Balaam, they told him what Balak had said.

⁸“Spend the night here,” Balaam said to them, “and I will report back to you with the answer the LORD gives me.” So the Moabite officials stayed with him.

⁹God came to Balaam and asked, “Who are these men with you?”

¹⁰Balaam said to God, “Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab, sent me this message:

¹¹‘A people that has come out of Egypt covers the face of the land. Now come and put a curse on them for me. Perhaps then I will be able to fight them and drive them away.’ ”

¹²But God said to Balaam, “Do not go with them. You must not put a curse on those people, because they are blessed.”

¹³The next morning Balaam got up and said to Balak’s officials, “Go back to your own country, for the LORD has refused to let me go with you.”

¹⁴So the Moabite officials returned to Balak and said, “Balaam refused to come with us.”

¹⁵Then Balak sent other officials, more numerous and more distinguished than the first.

¹⁶They came to Balaam and said: “This is what Balak son of Zippor says: Do not let anything keep you from coming to me,

¹⁷because I will reward you handsomely and do whatever you say. Come and put a curse on these people for me.”

¹⁸But Balaam answered them, “Even if Balak gave me all the silver and gold in his palace, I could not do anything great or small to go beyond the command of the LORD my God.

¹⁹Now spend the night here so that I can find out what else the LORD will tell me.”

²⁰That night God came to Balaam and said, “Since these men have come to summon you, go with them, but do only what I tell you.”

²¹Balaam got up in the morning, saddled his donkey and went with the Moabite officials.

²²But God was very angry when he went, and the angel of the LORD stood in the road to oppose him. Balaam was riding on his donkey, and his two servants were with him.

²³When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD standing in the road with a drawn sword in his hand, it turned off the road into a field. Balaam beat it to get it back on the road.

²⁴Then the angel of the LORD stood in a narrow path through the vineyards, with walls on both sides.

²⁵When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD, it pressed close to the wall, crushing Balaam’s foot against it. So he beat the donkey again.

²⁶Then the angel of the LORD moved on ahead and stood in a narrow place where there was no room to turn, either to the right or to the left.

²⁷When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD, it lay down under Balaam, and he was angry and beat it with his staff.

²⁸Then the LORD opened the donkey’s mouth, and it said to Balaam, “What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?”

²⁹Balaam answered the donkey, “You have made a fool of me! If only I had a sword in my hand, I would kill you right now.”

³⁰The donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your own donkey, which you have always ridden, to this day? Have I been in the habit of doing this to you?” “No,” he said.

³¹Then the LORD opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the angel of the LORD standing in the road with his sword drawn. So he bowed low and fell facedown.

³²The angel of the LORD asked him, “Why have you beaten your donkey these three times? I have come here to oppose you because your path is a reckless one before me.

³³The donkey saw me and turned away from me these three times. If it had not turned away, I would certainly have killed you by now, but I would have spared it.”

³⁴Balaam said to the angel of the LORD, “I have sinned. I did not realize you were standing in the road to oppose me. Now if you are displeased, I will go back.”

³⁵The angel of the LORD said to Balaam, “Go with the men, but speak only what I tell you.” So Balaam went with Balak’s officials.

³⁶When Balak heard that Balaam was coming, he went out to meet him at the Moabite town on the Arnon border, at the edge of his territory.

³⁷Balak said to Balaam, “Did I not send you an urgent summons? Why didn’t you come to me? Am I really not able to reward you?”

³⁸“Well, I have come to you now,” Balaam replied. “But I can’t say whatever I please. I must speak only what God puts in my mouth.”

³⁹Then Balaam went with Balak to Kiriath Huzoth.

⁴⁰Balak sacrificed cattle and sheep, and gave some to Balaam and the officials who were with him.

⁴¹The next morning Balak took Balaam up to Bamoth Baal, and from there he could see the outskirts of the Israelite camp.

¹Balaam said, “Build me seven altars here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me.”

²Balak did as Balaam said, and the two of them offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

³Then Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here beside your offering while I go aside. Perhaps the LORD will come to meet with me. Whatever he reveals to me I will tell you.” Then he went off to a barren height.

⁴God met with him, and Balaam said, “I have prepared seven altars, and on each altar I have offered a bull and a ram.”

⁵The LORD put a word in Balaam’s mouth and said, “Go back to Balak and give him this word.”

⁶So he went back to him and found him standing beside his offering, with all the Moabite officials.

⁷Then Balaam spoke his message: “Balak brought me from Aram, the king of Moab from the eastern mountains. ‘Come,’ he said, ‘curse Jacob for me; come, denounce Israel.’

⁸How can I curse those whom God has not cursed? How can I denounce those whom the LORD has not denounced?

⁹From the rocky peaks I see them, from the heights I view them. I see a people who live apart and do not consider themselves one of the nations.

¹⁰Who can count the dust of Jacob or number even a fourth of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and may my final end be like theirs!”

¹¹Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies, but you have done nothing but bless them!”

¹²He answered, “Must I not speak what the LORD puts in my mouth?”

¹³Then Balak said to him, “Come with me to another place where you can see them; you will not see them all but only the outskirts of their camp. And from there, curse them for me.”

¹⁴So he took him to the field of Zophim on the top of Pisgah, and there he built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

¹⁵Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here beside your offering while I meet with him over there.”

¹⁶The LORD met with Balaam and put a word in his mouth and said, “Go back to Balak and give him this word.”

¹⁷So he went to him and found him standing beside his offering, with the Moabite officials. Balak asked him, “What did the LORD say?”

¹⁸Then he spoke his message: “Arise, Balak, and listen; hear me, son of Zippor.

¹⁹God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?

²⁰I have received a command to bless; he has blessed, and I cannot change it.

²¹“No misfortune is seen in Jacob, no misery observed in Israel. The LORD their God is with them; the shout of the King is among them.

²²God brought them out of Egypt; they have the strength of a wild ox.

²³There is no divination against Jacob, no evil omens against Israel. It will now be said of Jacob and of Israel, ‘See what God has done!’

²⁴The people rise like a lioness; they rouse themselves like a lion that does not rest till it devours its prey and drinks the blood of its victims.”

²⁵Then Balak said to Balaam, “Neither curse them at all nor bless them at all!”

²⁶Balaam answered, “Did I not tell you I must do whatever the LORD says?”

²⁷Then Balak said to Balaam, “Come, let me take you to another place. Perhaps it will please God to let you curse them for me from there.”

²⁸And Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, overlooking the wasteland.

²⁹Balaam said, “Build me seven altars here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me.”

³⁰Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.