Making Room for the Sacred

¹The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

²“Command the children of Israel that they put out of the camp every leper, everyone who has a discharge, and whoever is unclean by a corpse.

³You shall put both male and female outside of the camp so that they don’t defile their camp, in the midst of which I dwell.”

⁴The children of Israel did so, and put them outside of the camp; as the LORD spoke to Moses, so the children of Israel did.

⁵The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

⁶“Speak to the children of Israel: ‘When a man or woman commits any sin that men commit, so as to trespass against the LORD, and that soul is guilty,

⁷then he shall confess his sin which he has done; and he shall make restitution for his guilt in full, add to it the fifth part of it, and give it to him in respect of whom he has been guilty.

⁸But if the man has no kinsman to whom restitution may be made for the guilt, the restitution for guilt which is made to the LORD shall be the priest’s, in addition to the ram of the atonement, by which atonement shall be made for him.

⁹Every heave offering of all the holy things of the children of Israel, which they present to the priest, shall be his.

¹⁰Every man’s holy things shall be his; whatever any man gives the priest, it shall be his.’”

¹¹The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

¹²“Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them: ‘If any man’s wife goes astray and is unfaithful to him,

¹³and a man lies with her carnally, and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband and this is kept concealed, and she is defiled, there is no witness against her, and she isn’t taken in the act;

¹⁴and the spirit of jealousy comes on him, and he is jealous of his wife and she is defiled; or if the spirit of jealousy comes on him, and he is jealous of his wife and she isn’t defiled;

¹⁵then the man shall bring his wife to the priest, and shall bring her offering for her: one tenth of an ephah of barley meal. He shall pour no oil on it, nor put frankincense on it, for it is a meal offering of jealousy, a meal offering of memorial, bringing iniquity to memory.

¹⁶The priest shall bring her near, and set her before the LORD.

¹⁷The priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel; and the priest shall take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle and put it into the water.

¹⁸The priest shall set the woman before the LORD, and let the hair of the woman’s head go loose, and put the meal offering of memorial in her hands, which is the meal offering of jealousy. The priest shall have in his hand the water of bitterness that brings a curse.

¹⁹The priest shall cause her to take an oath and shall tell the woman, “If no man has lain with you, and if you haven’t gone aside to uncleanness, being under your husband’s authority, be free from this water of bitterness that brings a curse.

²⁰But if you have gone astray, being under your husband’s authority, and if you are defiled, and some man has lain with you besides your husband—”

²¹then the priest shall cause the woman to swear with the oath of cursing, and the priest shall tell the woman, “May the LORD make you a curse and an oath among your people, when the LORD allows your thigh to fall away, and your body to swell;

²²and this water that brings a curse will go into your bowels, and make your body swell, and your thigh fall away.” The woman shall say, “Amen, Amen.”

²³“‘The priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall wipe them into the water of bitterness.

²⁴He shall make the woman drink the water of bitterness that causes the curse; and the water that causes the curse shall enter into her and become bitter.

²⁵The priest shall take the meal offering of jealousy out of the woman’s hand, and shall wave the meal offering before the LORD, and bring it to the altar.

²⁶The priest shall take a handful of the meal offering, as its memorial portion, and burn it on the altar, and afterward shall make the woman drink the water.

²⁷When he has made her drink the water, then it shall happen, if she is defiled and has committed a trespass against her husband, that the water that causes the curse will enter into her and become bitter, and her body will swell, and her thigh will fall away; and the woman will be a curse among her people.

²⁸If the woman isn’t defiled, but is clean; then she shall be free, and shall conceive offspring.

²⁹“‘This is the law of jealousy, when a wife, being under her husband, goes astray, and is defiled,

³⁰or when the spirit of jealousy comes on a man, and he is jealous of his wife; then he shall set the woman before the LORD, and the priest shall execute on her all this law.

³¹The man shall be free from iniquity, and that woman shall bear her iniquity.’”

¹The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

²“Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them: ‘When either man or woman shall make a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to separate himself to the LORD,

³he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink. He shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of fermented drink, neither shall he drink any juice of grapes, nor eat fresh grapes or dried.

⁴All the days of his separation he shall eat nothing that is made of the grapevine, from the seeds even to the skins.

⁵“‘All the days of his vow of separation no razor shall come on his head, until the days are fulfilled in which he separates himself to the LORD. He shall be holy. He shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow long.

⁶“‘All the days that he separates himself to the LORD he shall not go near a dead body.

⁷He shall not make himself unclean for his father, or for his mother, for his brother, or for his sister, when they die, because his separation to God is on his head.

⁸All the days of his separation he is holy to the LORD.

⁹“‘If any man dies very suddenly beside him, and he defiles the head of his separation, then he shall shave his head in the day of his cleansing. On the seventh day he shall shave it.

¹⁰On the eighth day he shall bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons to the priest, to the door of the Tent of Meeting.

¹¹The priest shall offer one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering, and make atonement for him, because he sinned by reason of the dead, and shall make his head holy that same day.

¹²He shall separate to the LORD the days of his separation, and shall bring a male lamb a year old for a trespass offering; but the former days shall be void, because his separation was defiled.

¹³“‘This is the law of the Nazirite: when the days of his separation are fulfilled, he shall be brought to the door of the Tent of Meeting,

¹⁴and he shall offer his offering to the LORD: one male lamb a year old without defect for a burnt offering, one ewe lamb a year old without defect for a sin offering, one ram without defect for peace offerings,

¹⁵a basket of unleavened bread, cakes of fine flour mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil with their meal offering and their drink offerings.

¹⁶The priest shall present them before the LORD, and shall offer his sin offering and his burnt offering.

¹⁷He shall offer the ram for a sacrifice of peace offerings to the LORD, with the basket of unleavened bread. The priest shall offer also its meal offering and its drink offering.

¹⁸The Nazirite shall shave the head of his separation at the door of the Tent of Meeting, take the hair of the head of his separation, and put it on the fire which is under the sacrifice of peace offerings.

¹⁹The priest shall take the boiled shoulder of the ram, one unleavened cake out of the basket, and one unleavened wafer, and shall put them on the hands of the Nazirite after he has shaved the head of his separation;

²⁰and the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before the LORD. They are holy for the priest, together with the breast that is waved and the thigh that is offered. After that the Nazirite may drink wine.

²¹“‘This is the law of the Nazirite who vows and of his offering to the LORD for his separation, in addition to that which he is able to afford. According to his vow which he vows, so he must do after the law of his separation.’”

²²The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

²³“Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying, ‘This is how you shall bless the children of Israel.’ You shall tell them,

²⁴‘The LORD bless you, and keep you.

²⁵The LORD make his face to shine on you, and be gracious to you.

²⁶The LORD lift up his face toward you, and give you peace.’

²⁷“So they shall put my name on the children of Israel; and I will bless them.”

¹On the day that Moses had finished setting up the tabernacle, and had anointed it and sanctified it with all its furniture, and the altar with all its vessels, and had anointed and sanctified them;

²the princes of Israel, the heads of their fathers’ houses, gave offerings. These were the princes of the tribes. These are they who were over those who were counted;

³and they brought their offering before the LORD, six covered wagons and twelve oxen; a wagon for every two of the princes, and for each one an ox. They presented them before the tabernacle.

⁴The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

⁵“Accept these from them, that they may be used in doing the service of the Tent of Meeting; and you shall give them to the Levites, to every man according to his service.”

⁶Moses took the wagons and the oxen, and gave them to the Levites.

⁷He gave two wagons and four oxen to the sons of Gershon, according to their service.

⁸He gave four wagons and eight oxen to the sons of Merari, according to their service, under the direction of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.

⁹But to the sons of Kohath he gave none, because the service of the sanctuary belonged to them; they carried it on their shoulders.

¹⁰The princes gave offerings for the dedication of the altar in the day that it was anointed. The princes gave their offerings before the altar.

¹¹The LORD said to Moses, “They shall offer their offering, each prince on his day, for the dedication of the altar.”

¹²He who offered his offering the first day was Nahshon the son of Amminadab, of the tribe of Judah,

¹³and his offering was: one silver platter, the weight of which was one hundred thirty shekels, one silver bowl of seventy shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a meal offering;

¹⁴one golden ladle of ten shekels, full of incense;

¹⁵one young bull, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering;

¹⁶one male goat for a sin offering;

¹⁷and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two head of cattle, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Nahshon the son of Amminadab.

¹⁸On the second day Nethanel the son of Zuar, prince of Issachar, gave his offering.

¹⁹He offered for his offering: one silver platter, the weight of which was one hundred thirty shekels, one silver bowl of seventy shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a meal offering;

²⁰one golden ladle of ten shekels, full of incense;

²¹one young bull, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering;

²²one male goat for a sin offering;

²³and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two head of cattle, five rams, five male goats, five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Nethanel the son of Zuar.

²⁴On the third day Eliab the son of Helon, prince of the children of Zebulun,

²⁵gave his offering: one silver platter, the weight of which was a hundred and thirty shekels, one silver bowl of seventy shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a meal offering;

²⁶one golden ladle of ten shekels, full of incense;

²⁷one young bull, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering;

²⁸one male goat for a sin offering;

²⁹and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two head of cattle, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Eliab the son of Helon.

³⁰On the fourth day Elizur the son of Shedeur, prince of the children of Reuben,

³¹gave his offering: one silver platter, the weight of which was one hundred thirty shekels, one silver bowl of seventy shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a meal offering;

³²one golden ladle of ten shekels, full of incense;

³³one young bull, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering;

³⁴one male goat for a sin offering;

³⁵and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two head of cattle, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Elizur the son of Shedeur.

³⁶On the fifth day Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai, prince of the children of Simeon,

³⁷gave his offering: one silver platter, the weight of which was one hundred thirty shekels, one silver bowl of seventy shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a meal offering;

³⁸one golden ladle of ten shekels, full of incense;

³⁹one young bull, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering;

⁴⁰one male goat for a sin offering;

⁴¹and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two head of cattle, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old: this was the offering of Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai.

⁴²On the sixth day, Eliasaph the son of Deuel, prince of the children of Gad,

⁴³gave his offering: one silver platter, the weight of which was one hundred thirty shekels, one silver bowl of seventy shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a meal offering;

⁴⁴one golden ladle of ten shekels, full of incense;

⁴⁵one young bull, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering;

⁴⁶one male goat for a sin offering;

⁴⁷and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two head of cattle, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Eliasaph the son of Deuel.

⁴⁸On the seventh day Elishama the son of Ammihud, prince of the children of Ephraim,

⁴⁹gave his offering: one silver platter, the weight of which was one hundred thirty shekels, one silver bowl of seventy shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a meal offering;

⁵⁰one golden ladle of ten shekels, full of incense;

⁵¹one young bull, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering;

⁵²one male goat for a sin offering;

⁵³and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two head of cattle, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Elishama the son of Ammihud.

⁵⁴On the eighth day Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur, prince of the children of Manasseh,

⁵⁵gave his offering: one silver platter, the weight of which was one hundred thirty shekels, one silver bowl of seventy shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a meal offering;

⁵⁶one golden ladle of ten shekels, full of incense;

⁵⁷one young bull, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering;

⁵⁸one male goat for a sin offering;

⁵⁹and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two head of cattle, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur.

⁶⁰On the ninth day Abidan the son of Gideoni, prince of the children of Benjamin,

⁶¹gave his offering: one silver platter, the weight of which was one hundred thirty shekels, one silver bowl of seventy shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a meal offering;

⁶²one golden ladle of ten shekels, full of incense;

⁶³one young bull, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering;

⁶⁴one male goat for a sin offering;

⁶⁵and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two head of cattle, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Abidan the son of Gideoni.

⁶⁶On the tenth day Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai, prince of the children of Dan,

⁶⁷gave his offering: one silver platter, the weight of which was one hundred thirty shekels, one silver bowl of seventy shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a meal offering;

⁶⁸one golden ladle of ten shekels, full of incense;

⁶⁹one young bull, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering;

⁷⁰one male goat for a sin offering;

⁷¹and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two head of cattle, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai.

⁷²On the eleventh day Pagiel the son of Ochran, prince of the children of Asher,

⁷³gave his offering: one silver platter, the weight of which was one hundred thirty shekels, one silver bowl of seventy shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a meal offering;

⁷⁴one golden ladle of ten shekels, full of incense;

⁷⁵one young bull, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering;

⁷⁶one male goat for a sin offering;

⁷⁷and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two head of cattle, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Pagiel the son of Ochran.

⁷⁸On the twelfth day Ahira the son of Enan, prince of the children of Naphtali,

⁷⁹gave his offering: one silver platter, the weight of which was one hundred thirty shekels, one silver bowl of seventy shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a meal offering;

⁸⁰one golden ladle of ten shekels, full of incense;

⁸¹one young bull, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering;

⁸²one male goat for a sin offering;

⁸³and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two head of cattle, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Ahira the son of Enan.

⁸⁴This was the dedication offering of the altar, on the day when it was anointed, by the princes of Israel: twelve silver platters, twelve silver bowls, twelve golden ladles;

⁸⁵each silver platter weighing one hundred thirty shekels, and each bowl seventy; all the silver of the vessels two thousand four hundred shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary;

⁸⁶the twelve golden ladles, full of incense, weighing ten shekels apiece, according to the shekel of the sanctuary; all the gold of the ladles weighed one hundred twenty shekels;

⁸⁷all the cattle for the burnt offering twelve bulls, the rams twelve, the male lambs a year old twelve, and their meal offering; and twelve male goats for a sin offering;

⁸⁸and all the cattle for the sacrifice of peace offerings: twenty-four bulls, sixty rams, sixty male goats, and sixty male lambs a year old. This was the dedication offering of the altar, after it was anointed.

⁸⁹When Moses went into the Tent of Meeting to speak with the LORD, he heard his voice speaking to him from above the mercy seat that was on the ark of the Testimony, from between the two cherubim; and he spoke to him.

¹The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

²“Speak to Aaron, and tell him, ‘When you light the lamps, the seven lamps shall give light in front of the lamp stand.’”

³Aaron did so. He lit its lamps to light the area in front of the lamp stand, as the LORD commanded Moses.

⁴This was the workmanship of the lamp stand, beaten work of gold. From its base to its flowers, it was beaten work. He made the lamp stand according to the pattern which the LORD had shown Moses.

⁵The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

⁶“Take the Levites from among the children of Israel, and cleanse them.

⁷You shall do this to them to cleanse them: sprinkle the water of cleansing on them, let them shave their whole bodies with a razor, let them wash their clothes, and cleanse themselves.

⁸Then let them take a young bull and its meal offering, fine flour mixed with oil; and another young bull you shall take for a sin offering.

⁹You shall present the Levites before the Tent of Meeting. You shall assemble the whole congregation of the children of Israel.

¹⁰You shall present the Levites before the LORD. The children of Israel shall lay their hands on the Levites,

¹¹and Aaron shall offer the Levites before the LORD for a wave offering on the behalf of the children of Israel, that it may be theirs to do the service of the LORD.

¹²“The Levites shall lay their hands on the heads of the bulls, and you shall offer the one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering to the LORD, to make atonement for the Levites.

¹³You shall set the Levites before Aaron and before his sons, and offer them as a wave offering to the LORD.

¹⁴Thus you shall separate the Levites from among the children of Israel, and the Levites shall be mine.

¹⁵“After that, the Levites shall go in to do the service of the Tent of Meeting. You shall cleanse them, and offer them as a wave offering.

¹⁶For they are wholly given to me from among the children of Israel; instead of all who open the womb, even the firstborn of all the children of Israel, I have taken them to me.

¹⁷For all the firstborn among the children of Israel are mine, both man and animal. On the day that I struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I sanctified them for myself.

¹⁸I have taken the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the children of Israel.

¹⁹I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and to his sons from among the children of Israel, to do the service of the children of Israel in the Tent of Meeting, and to make atonement for the children of Israel, so that there will be no plague among the children of Israel when the children of Israel come near to the sanctuary.”

²⁰Moses, and Aaron, and all the congregation of the children of Israel did so to the Levites. According to all that the LORD commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so the children of Israel did to them.

²¹The Levites purified themselves from sin, and they washed their clothes; and Aaron offered them for a wave offering before the LORD and Aaron made atonement for them to cleanse them.

²²After that, the Levites went in to do their service in the Tent of Meeting before Aaron and before his sons: as the LORD had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so they did to them.

²³The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

²⁴“This is what is assigned to the Levites: from twenty-five years old and upward they shall go in to wait on the service in the work of the Tent of Meeting;

²⁵and from the age of fifty years they shall retire from doing the work, and shall serve no more,

²⁶but shall assist their brothers in the Tent of Meeting, to perform the duty, and shall perform no service. This is how you shall have the Levites do their duties.”

¹The LORD spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying,

²“Let the children of Israel keep the Passover in its appointed season.

³On the fourteenth day of this month, at evening, you shall keep it in its appointed season. You shall keep it according to all its statutes and according to all its ordinances.”

⁴Moses told the children of Israel that they should keep the Passover.

⁵They kept the Passover in the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, in the wilderness of Sinai. According to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so the children of Israel did.

⁶There were certain men who were unclean because of the dead body of a man, so that they could not keep the Passover on that day, and they came before Moses and Aaron on that day.

⁷Those men said to him, “We are unclean because of the dead body of a man. Why are we kept back, that we may not offer the offering of the LORD in its appointed season among the children of Israel?”

⁸Moses answered them, “Wait, that I may hear what the LORD will command concerning you.”

⁹The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

¹⁰“Say to the children of Israel, ‘If any man of you or of your generations is unclean by reason of a dead body, or is on a journey far away, he shall still keep the Passover to the LORD.

¹¹In the second month, on the fourteenth day at evening they shall keep it; they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.

¹²They shall leave none of it until the morning, nor break a bone of it. According to all the statute of the Passover they shall keep it.

¹³But the man who is clean, and is not on a journey, and fails to keep the Passover, that soul shall be cut off from his people. Because he didn’t offer the offering of the LORD in its appointed season, that man shall bear his sin.

¹⁴“‘If a foreigner lives among you and desires to keep the Passover to the LORD, then he shall do so according to the statute of the Passover, and according to its ordinance. You shall have one statute, both for the foreigner and for him who is born in the land.’”

¹⁵On the day that the tabernacle was raised up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, even the Tent of the Testimony. At evening it was over the tabernacle, as it were the appearance of fire, until morning.

¹⁶So it was continually. The cloud covered it, and the appearance of fire by night.

¹⁷Whenever the cloud was taken up from over the Tent, then after that the children of Israel traveled; and in the place where the cloud remained, there the children of Israel encamped.

¹⁸At the commandment of the LORD, the children of Israel traveled, and at the commandment of the LORD they encamped. As long as the cloud remained on the tabernacle they remained encamped.

¹⁹When the cloud stayed on the tabernacle many days, then the children of Israel kept the LORD’s command, and didn’t travel.

²⁰Sometimes the cloud was a few days on the tabernacle; then according to the commandment of the LORD they remained encamped, and according to the commandment of the LORD they traveled.

²¹Sometimes the cloud was from evening until morning; and when the cloud was taken up in the morning, they traveled; or by day and by night, when the cloud was taken up, they traveled.

²²Whether it was two days, or a month, or a year that the cloud stayed on the tabernacle, remaining on it, the children of Israel remained encamped, and didn’t travel; but when it was taken up, they traveled.

²³At the commandment of the LORD they encamped, and at the commandment of the LORD they traveled. They kept the LORD’s command, at the commandment of the LORD by Moses.

¹The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

²“Make two trumpets of silver. You shall make them of beaten work. You shall use them for the calling of the congregation and for the journeying of the camps.

³When they blow them, all the congregation shall gather themselves to you at the door of the Tent of Meeting.

⁴If they blow just one, then the princes, the heads of the thousands of Israel, shall gather themselves to you.

⁵When you blow an alarm, the camps that lie on the east side shall go forward.

⁶When you blow an alarm the second time, the camps that lie on the south side shall go forward. They shall blow an alarm for their journeys.

⁷But when the assembly is to be gathered together, you shall blow, but you shall not sound an alarm.

⁸“The sons of Aaron, the priests, shall blow the trumpets. This shall be to you for a statute forever throughout your generations.

⁹When you go to war in your land against the adversary who oppresses you, then you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets. Then you will be remembered before the LORD your God, and you will be saved from your enemies.

¹⁰“Also in the day of your gladness, and in your set feasts, and in the beginnings of your months, you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings, and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; and they shall be to you for a memorial before your God. I am the LORD your God.”