Numbers 15-16

New American Standard Bible

Laws for Canaan

15 Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “^(A)Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When you enter the land ^[a]where you are going to live, which I am giving you, ³ and you make ^(B)an offering by fire to the Lord, a burnt offering or a sacrifice to ^[b](C)fulfill a special vow, or as a ^[c]voluntary offering or at your ^(D)appointed times, to make a ^(E)soothing aroma to the Lord from the herd or from the flock, ⁴ then ^(F)the one who presents his offering shall present to the Lord a grain offering of a tenth of an ^[d]ephah of fine flour mixed with a fourth of a ^[e]hin of oil, ⁵ and you shall prepare wine for the drink offering, a fourth of a hin, with the burnt offering or for the sacrifice, for ^(G)each lamb. ⁶ Or for a ram you shall prepare as a grain offering two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with a third of a hin of oil; ⁷ and for the drink offering you shall offer a third of a hin of wine as a soothing aroma to the Lord. ⁸ And when you prepare ^(H)a bull as a burnt offering or a sacrifice, to ^[f]fulfill a special vow, or for peace offerings to the Lord, ⁹ then you shall offer with the bull a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with half a hin of oil; ¹⁰ and you shall offer as the drink offering half a hin of wine as an offering by fire, as a soothing aroma to the Lord.

¹¹ ‘This is how it shall be done for each ox, or for each ram, or for each of the male lambs, or of the goats. ¹² According to the number that you prepare, so you shall do for each one according to their number. ¹³ Everyone who is a native shall do these things in this way, in presenting an offering by fire as a soothing aroma to the Lord.

Law for the Stranger

¹⁴ Now if a stranger resides among you, or one who may be among you throughout your generations, and he wants to make an offering by fire, as a soothing aroma to the Lord, just as you do so shall he do. ¹⁵ As for the assembly, there shall be ^(I)one statute for you and for the stranger who resides among you, a permanent statute throughout your generations; as you are, so shall the stranger be before the Lord. ¹⁶ There is to be ^(J)one law and one ordinance for you and for the stranger who resides with you.’”

¹⁷ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁸ “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When you enter the land where I am bringing you, ¹⁹ then it shall be, that when you eat from the ^[g](K)food of the land, you shall lift up an ^[h]offering to the Lord. ^20 (L)Of the first of your ^[i]dough you shall lift up a loaf as an ^[j]offering; as ^(M)an ^[k]offering of the threshing floor, so you shall lift it up. ²¹ From the first of your ^[l]dough you shall give to the Lord an ^[m]offering throughout your generations.

²² ‘But when you ^(N)unintentionally do wrong and fail to ^[n]comply with all these commandments which the Lord has spoken to Moses, ²³ that is, all that the Lord has commanded you ^[o]through Moses from the day that the Lord gave commandments and onward, throughout your generations, ²⁴ then it shall be, if it is done ^(O)unintentionally, ^[p]without the knowledge of the congregation, that all the congregation shall offer one bull as a burnt offering, as a soothing aroma to the Lord, ^(P)with its grain offering and its drink offering, according to the ordinance, and one male goat as a sin offering. ²⁵ Then ^(Q)the priest shall make atonement for all the congregation of the sons of Israel, and they will be forgiven; for it was an unintentional wrong, and they have brought their offering, an offering by fire to the Lord, and their sin offering before the Lord, for their unintentional wrong. ²⁶ So all the congregation of the sons of Israel will be forgiven, as well as the stranger who resides among them, for guilt was attributed to all the people through an ^(R)unintentional wrong.

²⁷ ‘Also, if one person sins ^(S)unintentionally, then he shall offer a one-year-old female goat as a sin offering. ²⁸ And ^(T)the priest shall make atonement before the Lord for the person who goes astray by an unintentional sin, making atonement for him ^[q]so that he may be forgiven. ²⁹ You shall have one law for the native among the sons of Israel and for the stranger who resides among them, for one who does anything wrong unintentionally. ³⁰ But the person who does wrong ^[r](U)defiantly, whether he is a native or a stranger, that one is blaspheming the Lord; and that person shall be cut off from among his people. ³¹ Since he has ^(V)despised the word of the Lord and has broken His commandment, that person shall be completely cut off; ^(W)his ^[s]guilt will be on him.’”

Sabbath-breaking Punished

³² Now while the sons of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man ^(X)gathering wood on the Sabbath day. ³³ And those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron, and to all the congregation; ³⁴ and they placed him in custody, ^(Y)because it had not been decided what should be done to him. ³⁵ Then the Lord said to Moses, “The man must be put to death; ^(Z)all the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp.” ³⁶ So all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him ^[t]to death with stones, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

³⁷ The Lord also spoke to Moses, saying, ³⁸ “Speak to the sons of Israel and tell them that they shall make for themselves ^(AA)tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and that they shall put on the tassel of each corner a ^[u]violet thread. ³⁹ It shall be a tassel for you ^[v]to look at and ^(AB)remember all the commandments of the Lord, so that you will do them and not ^[w]follow your own heart and your own eyes, ^[x]which led you to prostitute yourselves, ⁴⁰ so that you will remember and do all My commandments and ^(AC)be holy to your God. ⁴¹ I am the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt to be your God; I am the Lord your God.”

Korah’s Rebellion

16 Now ^(AD)Korah the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, with ^(AE)Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men, ² and they stood before Moses, ^[y]together with some of the sons of Israel, 250 leaders of the congregation ^[z](AF)chosen in the assembly, men of renown. ³ They assembled together ^(AG)against Moses and Aaron, and said to them, “^[aa](AH)You have gone far enough! For all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and ^(AI)the Lord is in their midst; so why do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?”

⁴ When Moses heard this, ^(AJ)he fell on his face; ⁵ and he spoke to Korah and all his group, saying, “Tomorrow morning the Lord will make known who is His, and ^(AK)who is holy, and will bring that one near to Himself; indeed, ^(AL)the one whom He will choose, He will bring near to Himself. ⁶ Do this: take censers for yourselves, Korah and ^[ab]your whole group, ⁷ and put fire in them, and place incense upon them in the presence of the Lord tomorrow; and the man whom the Lord chooses shall be the one who is holy. ^[ac](AM)You have gone far enough, you sons of Levi!”

⁸ Then Moses said to Korah, “Hear now, you sons of Levi: ^9 (AN)Is it too small an honor for you that the God of Israel has singled you out from the congregation of Israel, ^(AO)to bring you near to Himself, to perform the service of the tabernacle of the Lord, and to stand before the congregation to minister to them; ¹⁰ and that He has brought you near, Korah, and all your brothers, sons of Levi, with you? But are you ^(AP)seeking the priesthood as well? ¹¹ Therefore you and your whole group are the ones gathered together ^(AQ)against the Lord; but as for Aaron, ^[ad]who is he, that ^(AR)you grumble against him?”

¹² Then Moses sent ^[ae]a summons to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab; but they said, “We will not come up. ¹³ Is it ^[af]not enough that you have brought us up out of a ^(AS)land flowing with milk and honey ^(AT)to have us die in the wilderness, but you would also appoint yourself as master over us? ¹⁴ Indeed, you have not brought us ^(AU)into a land flowing with milk and honey, nor have you given us an inheritance of ^(AV)fields and vineyards. Would you ^(AW)gouge out the eyes of ^[ag]these men? We will not come up!”

¹⁵ Then Moses became very angry and said to the Lord, “^(AX)Pay no attention to their offering! ^(AY)I have not taken a single donkey from them, nor have I done harm to any of them.” ¹⁶ Moses said to Korah, “You and all your group be present before the Lord tomorrow, you and they along with Aaron. ¹⁷ And each of you take his censer and put incense on ^[ah]it, and each of you bring his censer before the Lord, 250 censers; also you and Aaron shall each bring his censer.” ¹⁸ So they took, each one his own censer, and put fire on ^[ai]it, and placed incense on ^[aj]it; and they stood at the entrance of the tent of meeting, with Moses and Aaron. ¹⁹ So Korah assembled all the congregation against them at the entrance of the tent of meeting. And ^(AZ)the glory of the Lord appeared to all the congregation.

²⁰ Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, ²¹ “^(BA)Separate yourselves from among this congregation, ^(BB)so that I may consume them instantly.” ²² But they fell on their faces and said, “God, ^(BC)the God of the spirits of ^[ak]humanity, ^(BD)when one person sins, will You be angry with the entire congregation?”

²³ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁴ “Speak to the congregation, saying, ‘^(BE)Get away from the areas around the ^[al]tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.’”

²⁵ Then Moses arose and went to Dathan and Abiram, with the elders of Israel following him, ²⁶ and he spoke to the congregation, saying, “^(BF)Get away now from the tents of these wicked men, and do not touch anything that belongs to them, ^(BG)or you will be swept away in all their sin!” ²⁷ So they moved away from the areas around the ^[am]tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram; and Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the entrances of their tents, along with their wives, ^(BH)their sons, and their little ones. ²⁸ Then Moses said, “By this you shall know that ^(BI)the Lord has sent me to do all these deeds; for it is not ^[an]my doing. ²⁹ If these men die ^[ao]the death of all mankind, or ^[ap]if they suffer the ^(BJ)fate of all mankind, then the Lord has not sent me. ³⁰ But ^(BK)if the Lord ^[aq]brings about an entirely new thing and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them with everything that is theirs, and they ^(BL)descend alive into ^[ar]Sheol, then you will know that these men have been disrespectful to the Lord.”

³¹ And as he finished speaking all these words, the ground that was under them split open; ³² and ^(BM)the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, their households, and ^(BN)all the people who belonged to Korah with all their possessions. ³³ So they and all that belonged to them went down alive to ^[as]Sheol; and the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly. ³⁴ Then all Israel who were around them fled at their ^[at]outcry, for they said, “The earth might swallow us!” ^35 (BO)Fire also came out from the Lord and consumed the ^(BP)250 men who were offering the incense.

^36 [au]Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ³⁷ “Tell Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, that he shall pick up the censers from the midst of the burned area, because they are holy; and you are to scatter the ^[av]burning coals further away. ³⁸ As for the censers of these ^[aw]men who have sinned at the cost of their own lives, have them made into hammered sheets as plating for the altar, since they did present them before the Lord and they are holy; and ^(BQ)they shall ^[ax]serve as a sign to the sons of Israel.” ³⁹ So the priest Eleazar took the bronze censers which the men who were burned had offered, and they hammered them out as plating for the altar, ⁴⁰ as a reminder to the sons of Israel so that ^(BR)no ^[ay]layman, anyone who was not of the ^[az]descendants of Aaron, would approach ^(BS)to burn incense before the Lord; then he would not become like Korah and his group—just as the Lord had spoken to him ^[ba]through Moses.

Murmuring and Plague

⁴¹ But on the next day all the congregation of the sons of Israel ^(BT)grumbled against Moses and Aaron, saying, “You are the ones who have caused the death of the Lord’s people!” ⁴² It came about, however, when the congregation had assembled against Moses and Aaron, that they turned toward the tent of meeting, and behold, the cloud covered it and ^(BU)the glory of the Lord appeared. ⁴³ Then Moses and Aaron came to the front of the tent of meeting, ⁴⁴ and the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ⁴⁵ “^(BV)Get away from among this congregation so that I may consume them instantly.” Then they fell on their faces. ⁴⁶ And Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer and put fire in it from the altar, and place incense on it; then bring it quickly to the congregation and ^(BW)make atonement for them, for ^(BX)wrath has gone out from the Lord, the plague has begun!” ⁴⁷ Then Aaron took it just as Moses had spoken, and he ran into the midst of the assembly; and behold, the plague had begun among the people. ^(BY)So he put on the incense and made atonement for the people. ⁴⁸ And he took his stand between the dead and the living, so that the plague was brought to a halt. ^49 (BZ)But those who died by the plague were 14,700 in number, besides those who ^(CA)died on account of Korah. ⁵⁰ Then Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance of the tent of meeting, for the plague had been brought to a halt.