Numbers 14-15

GOD’S WORD Translation

The People Rebel against the Lord

14 Then all the people in the Israelite community raised their voices and cried out loud all that night. ² They complained to Moses and Aaron, “If only we had died in Egypt or this desert! ³ Why is the Lord bringing us to this land—just to have us die in battle? Our wives and children will be taken as prisoners of war! Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?” ⁴ They said to each other, “Let’s choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”

⁵ Immediately, Moses and Aaron bowed with their faces touching the ground in front of the whole community of Israel assembled there. ⁶ At the same time, two of those who had explored the land, Joshua (son of Nun) and Caleb (son of Jephunneh), tore their clothes in despair. ⁷ They said to the whole community of Israel, “The land we explored is very good. ⁸ If the Lord is pleased with us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us. This is a land flowing with milk and honey! ⁹ Don’t rebel against the Lord, and don’t be afraid of the people of the land. We will devour them like bread. They have no protection, and the Lord is with us. So don’t be afraid of them.”

¹⁰ But when the whole community of Israel talked about stoning Moses and Aaron to death, they all saw the glory of the Lord ⌞shining⌟ at the tent of meeting. ¹¹ The Lord said to Moses, “How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to trust me in spite of all the miraculous signs I have done among them? ¹² I’ll strike them with a plague, I’ll destroy them,^[a] and I’ll make you into a nation larger and stronger than they are.”

¹³ But Moses said to the Lord, “What if the Egyptians hear about it? (You used your power to take these people away from them.) ¹⁴ What if the Egyptians tell the people who live in this land? Lord, they have already heard that you are with these people, that they have seen you with their own eyes, that your column of smoke stays over them, and that you go ahead of them in a column of smoke by day and in a column of fire by night. ¹⁵ But if you kill all these people at the same time, then the nations who have heard these reports about you will say, ¹⁶ ‘The Lord wasn’t able to bring these people into the land he promised them, so he slaughtered them in the desert.’

¹⁷ “Lord, let your power be as great as when you said, ¹⁸ ‘The Lord … patient, forever loving…. He forgives wrongdoing and disobedience…. He never lets the guilty go unpunished, punishing children … for their parents’ sins to the third and fourth generation….’ ¹⁹ By your great love, please forgive these people’s sins, as you have been forgiving them from the time they left Egypt until now.”

²⁰ The Lord said, “I forgive them, as you have asked. ²¹ But as I live and as the glory of the Lord fills the whole earth, I solemnly swear that ²² none of the people who saw my glory and the miraculous signs I did in Egypt and in the desert will see the land which I promised their ancestors. They have tested me now ten times and refused to obey me.^{[b] 23} None of those who treat me with contempt will see it! ²⁴ But because my servant Caleb has a different attitude and has wholeheartedly followed me, I’ll bring him to the land he already explored. His descendants will possess it. ²⁵ (The Amalekites and Canaanites are living in the valleys.) Tomorrow you must turn around, go back into the desert, and follow the road that goes to the Red Sea.”

²⁶ Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ²⁷ “How long must I put up with this wicked community that keeps complaining about me? I’ve heard the complaints the Israelites are making about me. ²⁸ So tell them, ‘As I live, declares the Lord, I solemnly swear I will do everything to you that you said I would do. ²⁹ Your bodies will drop dead in this desert. All of you who are at least 20 years old, who were registered and listed, and who complained about me will die. ³⁰ I raised my hand and swore an oath to give you this land to live in. But none of you will enter it except Caleb (son of Jephunneh) and Joshua (son of Nun). ³¹ You said your children would be taken as prisoners of war. Instead, I will bring them into the land you rejected, and they will enjoy it. ³² However, your bodies will drop dead in this desert. ³³ Your children will be shepherds in the desert for 40 years. They will suffer for your unfaithfulness until the last of your bodies lies dead in the desert. ³⁴ For 40 days you explored the land. So for 40 years—one year for each day—you will suffer for your sins and know what it means for me to be against you.’ ³⁵ I, the Lord, have spoken. I swear I will do these things to all the people in this whole wicked community who have joined forces against me. They will meet their end in this desert. Here they will die!”

³⁶ So the men Moses sent to explore the land died in front of the Lord from a plague. ³⁷ They died because they had returned and made the whole community complain about Moses by spreading lies about the land.^{[c] 38} Of all the men who went to explore the land, only Joshua (son of Nun) and Caleb (son of Jephunneh) survived.

The Amalekites and Canaanites Defeat Israel

³⁹ When Moses told these things to all the Israelites, the people mourned bitterly, as if someone had died. ⁴⁰ Early the next morning they headed into the mountain region. They said, “We have sinned. Now we’ll go to the place the Lord promised.”

⁴¹ But Moses asked, “Why are you disobeying the Lord’s command? Your plan won’t work! ⁴² Don’t go! You will be defeated by your enemies because the Lord is not with you. ⁴³ The Amalekites and Canaanites are there, and you will die in battle. Now that you have turned away from the Lord, the Lord will not be with you.”

⁴⁴ But they headed into the mountain region anyway, even though the ark of the Lord’s promise and Moses stayed in the camp. ⁴⁵ The Amalekites and Canaanites who lived there came down from those mountains, attacked the Israelites, and defeated them at Hormah.^[d]

Grain and Wine Made Part of the Sacrifices to the Lord

15 The Lord said to Moses, ² “Speak to the Israelites and tell them: Once you’re settled in the land I’m giving you, ³ you may bring offerings by fire to the Lord. They may be burnt offerings or any other kind of sacrifice. They may be offered to fulfill a vow, as a freewill offering, or as one of your festival offerings. They may be cattle, sheep, or goats—offerings that are a soothing aroma to the Lord. ⁴ Whoever brings the offering must also give the Lord a grain offering of eight cups of flour mixed with one quart of olive oil. ⁵ With each sheep or goat for the burnt offering or any other sacrifice, also give an offering of one quart of wine.

⁶ “With a ram, give a grain offering of 16 cups of flour mixed with 1¼ quarts of oil ⁷ and an offering of 1¼ quarts of wine. Offer them as a soothing aroma to the Lord.

⁸ “Suppose you sacrifice a young bull as a burnt offering to the Lord or make any other kind of sacrifice—to keep a vow or as a fellowship offering. ⁹ Offer with the young bull a grain offering of 24 cups of flour mixed with two quarts of olive oil. ¹⁰ Also give an offering of two quarts of wine. It is an offering by fire, a soothing aroma to the Lord. ¹¹ Do this for each bull, each ram, and each sheep or goat. ¹² Do it for each animal, however many you sacrifice. ¹³ All native-born Israelites must do it this way when they bring an offering by fire, a soothing aroma to the Lord.

¹⁴ “Suppose foreigners are visiting you or living among you in future generations. If they bring an offering by fire, a soothing aroma to the Lord, they must do as you do. ¹⁵ There is one law for the whole assembly: for you and foreigners who are living with you. It is a permanent law for future generations. As far as the Lord is concerned, you and foreigners are the same. ¹⁶ The instructions and rules are the same for you as well as foreigners who are living with you.”

Offering the First Bread Dough to the Lord

¹⁷ The Lord said to Moses, ¹⁸ “Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When you enter the land where I’m taking you ¹⁹ and eat any of the food from the land, give some of it as a contribution to the Lord. ²⁰ Shape one part of your dough into a ring the same way you do with the contribution you make from the threshing floor.^{[e] 21} For generations to come, you must give one part of your dough as a contribution to the Lord.

What Is to Be Done about Unintentional and Intentional Wrongdoings

²² “Suppose you unintentionally do something wrong by not obeying all these commands the Lord gave Moses. ²³ (Everything the Lord commanded you through Moses holds as true for generations to come as it did the day the Lord gave the commands.) ²⁴ If it was unintentional and no one else knows about it, the whole community must sacrifice a young bull as a burnt offering, a soothing aroma to the Lord, along with the proper grain and wine offerings, and a male goat as an offering for sin. ²⁵ The priest will make peace with the Lord for the whole community of Israel. Then they will be forgiven because the wrongdoing was unintentional and they brought these two offerings to the Lord for their sin: an offering by fire and an offering for sin. ²⁶ So the whole community of Israel will be forgiven, including foreigners who are living among them, since all the people were involved in the unintentional wrongdoing.

²⁷ “If one person unintentionally does something wrong, a one-year-old female goat must be sacrificed as an offering for sin. ²⁸ The priest will offer the sacrifice to make peace with the Lord for that person, and that person will be forgiven. ²⁹ You must give the same instructions to everyone who does something wrong unintentionally, whether they are native-born Israelites or not.

³⁰ “But any native-born Israelite or foreigner who deliberately does something wrong insults the Lord and must be excluded from the people. ³¹ That person has despised the Lord’s word and broken the Lord’s command. He must be excluded completely. He remains guilty.”

A Man Breaks the Rules for the Day of Rest

³² While the Israelites were in the desert, they found a man gathering wood on the day of rest—a holy day. ³³ Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron and the whole community. ³⁴ They kept him in custody until they decided what to do with him.

³⁵ Then the Lord said to Moses, “This man must be put to death. The whole community must take him outside the camp and stone him.” ³⁶ So the whole community took him outside the camp and stoned him to death, as the Lord commanded Moses.

The Israelites Are Commanded to Wear Tassels

³⁷ The Lord said to Moses, ³⁸ “Speak to the Israelites and tell them: For generations to come they must wear tassels on the corners of their clothes with violet threads in each tassel. ³⁹ Whenever you look at the threads in the tassel, you will remember all the Lord’s commands and obey them. Then you won’t do whatever you want and go after whatever you see, as if you were chasing after prostitutes. ⁴⁰ You will remember to obey all my commands, and you will be holy to your God. ⁴¹ I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord your God.”