Mapping Out the Future

¹The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

²“Avenge the children of Israel on the Midianites. Afterward you shall be gathered to your people.”

³Moses spoke to the people, saying, “Arm men from among you for war, that they may go against Midian, to execute the LORD’s vengeance on Midian.

⁴You shall send one thousand out of every tribe, throughout all the tribes of Israel, to the war.”

⁵So there were delivered, out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand from every tribe, twelve thousand armed for war.

⁶Moses sent them, one thousand of every tribe, to the war with Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, to the war, with the vessels of the sanctuary and the trumpets for the alarm in his hand.

⁷They fought against Midian, as the LORD commanded Moses. They killed every male.

⁸They killed the kings of Midian with the rest of their slain: Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian. They also killed Balaam the son of Beor with the sword.

⁹The children of Israel took the women of Midian captive with their little ones; and all their livestock, all their flocks, and all their goods, they took as plunder.

¹⁰All their cities in the places in which they lived, and all their encampments, they burned with fire.

¹¹They took all the captives, and all the plunder, both of man and of animal.

¹²They brought the captives with the prey and the plunder, to Moses, and to Eleazar the priest, and to the congregation of the children of Israel, to the camp at the plains of Moab, which are by the Jordan at Jericho.

¹³Moses and Eleazar the priest, with all the princes of the congregation, went out to meet them outside of the camp.

¹⁴Moses was angry with the officers of the army, the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds, who came from the service of the war.

¹⁵Moses said to them, “Have you saved all the women alive?

¹⁶Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the LORD in the matter of Peor, and so the plague was among the congregation of the LORD.

¹⁷Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known man by lying with him.

¹⁸But all the girls, who have not known man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.

¹⁹“Encamp outside of the camp for seven days. Whoever has killed any person, and whoever has touched any slain, purify yourselves on the third day and on the seventh day, you and your captives.

²⁰You shall purify every garment, and all that is made of skin, and all work of goats’ hair, and all things made of wood.”

²¹Eleazar the priest said to the men of war who went to the battle, “This is the statute of the law which the LORD has commanded Moses.

²²However the gold, and the silver, the bronze, the iron, the tin, and the lead,

²³everything that may withstand the fire, you shall make to go through the fire, and it shall be clean; nevertheless it shall be purified with the water for impurity. All that doesn’t withstand the fire you shall make to go through the water.

²⁴You shall wash your clothes on the seventh day, and you shall be clean. Afterward you shall come into the camp.”

²⁵The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

²⁶“Count the plunder that was taken, both of man and of animal, you, and Eleazar the priest, and the heads of the fathers’ households of the congregation;

²⁷and divide the plunder into two parts: between the men skilled in war, who went out to battle, and all the congregation.

²⁸Levy a tribute to the LORD of the men of war who went out to battle: one soul of five hundred; of the persons, of the cattle, of the donkeys, and of the flocks.

²⁹Take it from their half, and give it to Eleazar the priest, for the LORD’s wave offering.

³⁰Of the children of Israel’s half, you shall take one drawn out of every fifty, of the persons, of the cattle, of the donkeys, and of the flocks, of all the livestock, and give them to the Levites, who perform the duty of the LORD’s tabernacle.”

³¹Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the LORD commanded Moses.

³²Now the plunder, over and above the booty which the men of war took, was six hundred seventy-five thousand sheep,

³³seventy-two thousand head of cattle,

³⁴sixty-one thousand donkeys,

³⁵and thirty-two thousand persons in all, of the women who had not known man by lying with him.

³⁶The half, which was the portion of those who went out to war, was in number three hundred thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep;

³⁷and the LORD’s tribute of the sheep was six hundred seventy-five.

³⁸The cattle were thirty-six thousand, of which the LORD’s tribute was seventy-two.

³⁹The donkeys were thirty thousand five hundred, of which the LORD’s tribute was sixty-one.

⁴⁰The persons were sixteen thousand, of whom the LORD’s tribute was thirty-two persons.

⁴¹Moses gave the tribute, which was the LORD’s wave offering, to Eleazar the priest, as the LORD commanded Moses.

⁴²Of the children of Israel’s half, which Moses divided off from the men who fought

⁴³(now the congregation’s half was three hundred thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep,

⁴⁴thirty-six thousand head of cattle,

⁴⁵thirty thousand five hundred donkeys,

⁴⁶and sixteen thousand persons),

⁴⁷even of the children of Israel’s half, Moses took one drawn out of every fifty, both of man and of animal, and gave them to the Levites, who performed the duty of the LORD’s tabernacle, as the LORD commanded Moses.

⁴⁸The officers who were over the thousands of the army, the captains of thousands, and the captains of hundreds, came near to Moses.

⁴⁹They said to Moses, “Your servants have taken the sum of the men of war who are under our command, and there lacks not one man of us.

⁵⁰We have brought the LORD’s offering, what every man found: gold ornaments, armlets, bracelets, signet rings, earrings, and necklaces, to make atonement for our souls before the LORD.”

⁵¹Moses and Eleazar the priest took their gold, even all worked jewels.

⁵²All the gold of the wave offering that they offered up to the LORD, of the captains of thousands, and of the captains of hundreds, was sixteen thousand seven hundred fifty shekels.

⁵³The men of war had taken booty, every man for himself.

⁵⁴Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold of the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and brought it into the Tent of Meeting for a memorial for the children of Israel before the LORD.

¹Now the children of Reuben and the children of Gad had a very great multitude of livestock. They saw the land of Jazer, and the land of Gilead. Behold, the place was a place for livestock.

²Then the children of Gad and the children of Reuben came and spoke to Moses, and to Eleazar the priest, and to the princes of the congregation, saying,

³“Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo, and Beon,

⁴the land which the LORD struck before the congregation of Israel, is a land for livestock; and your servants have livestock.”

⁵They said, “If we have found favor in your sight, let this land be given to your servants for a possession. Don’t bring us over the Jordan.”

⁶Moses said to the children of Gad, and to the children of Reuben, “Shall your brothers go to war while you sit here?

⁷Why do you discourage the heart of the children of Israel from going over into the land which the LORD has given them?

⁸Your fathers did so when I sent them from Kadesh Barnea to see the land.

⁹For when they went up to the valley of Eshcol, and saw the land, they discouraged the heart of the children of Israel, that they should not go into the land which the LORD had given them.

¹⁰The LORD’s anger burned in that day, and he swore, saying,

¹¹‘Surely none of the men who came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; because they have not wholly followed me,

¹²except Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite, and Joshua the son of Nun, because they have followed the LORD completely.’

¹³The LORD’s anger burned against Israel, and he made them wander back and forth in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation who had done evil in the LORD’s sight was consumed.

¹⁴“Behold, you have risen up in your fathers’ place, an increase of sinful men, to increase the fierce anger of the LORD toward Israel.

¹⁵For if you turn away from after him, he will yet again leave them in the wilderness; and you will destroy all these people.”

¹⁶They came near to him, and said, “We will build sheepfolds here for our livestock, and cities for our little ones;

¹⁷but we ourselves will be ready armed to go before the children of Israel, until we have brought them to their place. Our little ones shall dwell in the fortified cities because of the inhabitants of the land.

¹⁸We will not return to our houses until the children of Israel have all received their inheritance.

¹⁹For we will not inherit with them on the other side of the Jordan and beyond, because our inheritance has come to us on this side of the Jordan eastward.”

²⁰Moses said to them: “If you will do this thing, if you will arm yourselves to go before the LORD to the war,

²¹and every one of your armed men will pass over the Jordan before the LORD until he has driven out his enemies from before him,

²²and the land is subdued before the LORD; then afterward you shall return, and be clear of obligation to the LORD and to Israel. Then this land shall be your possession before the LORD.

²³“But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the LORD; and be sure your sin will find you out.

²⁴Build cities for your little ones, and folds for your sheep; and do that which has proceeded out of your mouth.”

²⁵The children of Gad and the children of Reuben spoke to Moses, saying, “Your servants will do as my lord commands.

²⁶Our little ones, our wives, our flocks, and all our livestock shall be there in the cities of Gilead;

²⁷but your servants will pass over, every man who is armed for war, before the LORD to battle, as my lord says.”

²⁸So Moses commanded concerning them to Eleazar the priest, and to Joshua the son of Nun, and to the heads of the fathers’ households of the tribes of the children of Israel.

²⁹Moses said to them, “If the children of Gad and the children of Reuben will pass with you over the Jordan, every man who is armed to battle before the LORD, and the land is subdued before you, then you shall give them the land of Gilead for a possession;

³⁰but if they will not pass over with you armed, they shall have possessions among you in the land of Canaan.”

³¹The children of Gad and the children of Reuben answered, saying, “As the LORD has said to your servants, so will we do.

³²We will pass over armed before the LORD into the land of Canaan, and the possession of our inheritance shall remain with us beyond the Jordan.”

³³Moses gave to them, even to the children of Gad, and to the children of Reuben, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh the son of Joseph, the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites, and the kingdom of Og king of Bashan; the land, according to its cities and borders, even the cities of the surrounding land.

³⁴The children of Gad built Dibon, Ataroth, Aroer,

³⁵Atroth-shophan, Jazer, Jogbehah,

³⁶Beth Nimrah, and Beth Haran: fortified cities and folds for sheep.

³⁷The children of Reuben built Heshbon, Elealeh, Kiriathaim,

³⁸Nebo, and Baal Meon, (their names being changed), and Sibmah. They gave other names to the cities which they built.

³⁹The children of Machir the son of Manasseh went to Gilead, took it, and dispossessed the Amorites who were therein.

⁴⁰Moses gave Gilead to Machir the son of Manasseh; and he lived therein.

⁴¹Jair the son of Manasseh went and took its villages, and called them Havvoth Jair.

⁴²Nobah went and took Kenath and its villages, and called it Nobah, after his own name.

¹These are the journeys of the children of Israel, when they went out of the land of Egypt by their armies under the hand of Moses and Aaron.

²Moses wrote the starting points of their journeys by the commandment of the LORD. These are their journeys according to their starting points.

³They traveled from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the next day after the Passover, the children of Israel went out with a high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians,

⁴while the Egyptians were burying all their firstborn, whom the LORD had struck among them. The LORD also executed judgments on their gods.

⁵The children of Israel traveled from Rameses, and encamped in Succoth.

⁶They traveled from Succoth, and encamped in Etham, which is in the edge of the wilderness.

⁷They traveled from Etham, and turned back to Pihahiroth, which is before Baal Zephon, and they encamped before Migdol.

⁸They traveled from before Hahiroth, and crossed through the middle of the sea into the wilderness. They went three days’ journey in the wilderness of Etham, and encamped in Marah.

⁹They traveled from Marah, and came to Elim. In Elim, there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they encamped there.

¹⁰They traveled from Elim, and encamped by the Red Sea.

¹¹They traveled from the Red Sea, and encamped in the wilderness of Sin.

¹²They traveled from the wilderness of Sin, and encamped in Dophkah.

¹³They traveled from Dophkah, and encamped in Alush.

¹⁴They traveled from Alush, and encamped in Rephidim, where there was no water for the people to drink.

¹⁵They traveled from Rephidim, and encamped in the wilderness of Sinai.

¹⁶They traveled from the wilderness of Sinai, and encamped in Kibroth Hattaavah.

¹⁷They traveled from Kibroth Hattaavah, and encamped in Hazeroth.

¹⁸They traveled from Hazeroth, and encamped in Rithmah.

¹⁹They traveled from Rithmah, and encamped in Rimmon Perez.

²⁰They traveled from Rimmon Perez, and encamped in Libnah.

²¹They traveled from Libnah, and encamped in Rissah.

²²They traveled from Rissah, and encamped in Kehelathah.

²³They traveled from Kehelathah, and encamped in Mount Shepher.

²⁴They traveled from Mount Shepher, and encamped in Haradah.

²⁵They traveled from Haradah, and encamped in Makheloth.

²⁶They traveled from Makheloth, and encamped in Tahath.

²⁷They traveled from Tahath, and encamped in Terah.

²⁸They traveled from Terah, and encamped in Mithkah.

²⁹They traveled from Mithkah, and encamped in Hashmonah.

³⁰They traveled from Hashmonah, and encamped in Moseroth.

³¹They traveled from Moseroth, and encamped in Bene Jaakan.

³²They traveled from Bene Jaakan, and encamped in Hor Haggidgad.

³³They traveled from Hor Haggidgad, and encamped in Jotbathah.

³⁴They traveled from Jotbathah, and encamped in Abronah.

³⁵They traveled from Abronah, and encamped in Ezion Geber.

³⁶They traveled from Ezion Geber, and encamped at Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.

³⁷They traveled from Kadesh, and encamped in Mount Hor, in the edge of the land of Edom.

³⁸Aaron the priest went up into Mount Hor at the commandment of the LORD and died there, in the fortieth year after the children of Israel had come out of the land of Egypt, in the fifth month, on the first day of the month.

³⁹Aaron was one hundred twenty-three years old when he died in Mount Hor.

⁴⁰The Canaanite king of Arad, who lived in the South in the land of Canaan, heard of the coming of the children of Israel.

⁴¹They traveled from Mount Hor, and encamped in Zalmonah.

⁴²They traveled from Zalmonah, and encamped in Punon.

⁴³They traveled from Punon, and encamped in Oboth.

⁴⁴They traveled from Oboth, and encamped in Iye Abarim, in the border of Moab.

⁴⁵They traveled from Iyim, and encamped in Dibon Gad.

⁴⁶They traveled from Dibon Gad, and encamped in Almon Diblathaim.

⁴⁷They traveled from Almon Diblathaim, and encamped in the mountains of Abarim, before Nebo.

⁴⁸They traveled from the mountains of Abarim, and encamped in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho.

⁴⁹They encamped by the Jordan, from Beth Jeshimoth even to Abel Shittim in the plains of Moab.

⁵⁰The LORD spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, saying,

⁵¹Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them, “When you pass over the Jordan into the land of Canaan,

⁵²then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, destroy all their stone idols, destroy all their molten images, and demolish all their high places.

⁵³You shall take possession of the land, and dwell therein; for I have given the land to you to possess it.

⁵⁴You shall inherit the land by lot according to your families; to the larger groups you shall give a larger inheritance, and to the smaller you shall give a smaller inheritance. Wherever the lot falls to any man, that shall be his. You shall inherit according to the tribes of your fathers.

⁵⁵“But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then those you let remain of them will be like pricks in your eyes and thorns in your sides. They will harass you in the land in which you dwell.

⁵⁶It shall happen that as I thought to do to them, so I will do to you.”

¹The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

²“Command the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘When you come into the land of Canaan (this is the land that shall fall to you for an inheritance, even the land of Canaan according to its borders),

³then your south quarter shall be from the wilderness of Zin along by the side of Edom, and your south border shall be from the end of the Salt Sea eastward.

⁴Your border shall turn about southward of the ascent of Akrabbim, and pass along to Zin; and it shall pass southward of Kadesh Barnea; and it shall go from there to Hazar Addar, and pass along to Azmon.

⁵The border shall turn about from Azmon to the brook of Egypt, and it shall end at the sea.

⁶“‘For the western border, you shall have the great sea and its border. This shall be your west border.

⁷“‘This shall be your north border: from the great sea you shall mark out for yourselves Mount Hor.

⁸From Mount Hor you shall mark out to the entrance of Hamath; and the border shall pass by Zedad.

⁹Then the border shall go to Ziphron, and it shall end at Hazar Enan. This shall be your north border.

¹⁰“‘You shall mark out your east border from Hazar Enan to Shepham.

¹¹The border shall go down from Shepham to Riblah, on the east side of Ain. The border shall go down, and shall reach to the side of the sea of Chinnereth eastward.

¹²The border shall go down to the Jordan, and end at the Salt Sea. This shall be your land according to its borders around it.’”

¹³Moses commanded the children of Israel, saying, “This is the land which you shall inherit by lot, which the LORD has commanded to give to the nine tribes, and to the half-tribe;

¹⁴for the tribe of the children of Reuben according to their fathers’ houses, the tribe of the children of Gad according to their fathers’ houses, and the half-tribe of Manasseh have received their inheritance.

¹⁵The two tribes and the half-tribe have received their inheritance beyond the Jordan at Jericho eastward, toward the sunrise.”

¹⁶The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

¹⁷“These are the names of the men who shall divide the land to you for inheritance: Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun.

¹⁸You shall take one prince of every tribe, to divide the land for inheritance.

¹⁹These are the names of the men: Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh.

²⁰Of the tribe of the children of Simeon, Shemuel the son of Ammihud.

²¹Of the tribe of Benjamin, Elidad the son of Chislon.

²²Of the tribe of the children of Dan a prince, Bukki the son of Jogli.

²³Of the children of Joseph: of the tribe of the children of Manasseh a prince, Hanniel the son of Ephod.

²⁴Of the tribe of the children of Ephraim a prince, Kemuel the son of Shiphtan.

²⁵Of the tribe of the children of Zebulun a prince, Elizaphan the son of Parnach.

²⁶Of the tribe of the children of Issachar a prince, Paltiel the son of Azzan.

²⁷Of the tribe of the children of Asher a prince, Ahihud the son of Shelomi.

²⁸Of the tribe of the children of Naphtali a prince, Pedahel the son of Ammihud.”

²⁹These are they whom the LORD commanded to divide the inheritance to the children of Israel in the land of Canaan.

¹The LORD spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, saying,

²“Command the children of Israel to give to the Levites cities to dwell in out of their inheritance. You shall give pasture lands for the cities around them to the Levites.

³They shall have the cities to dwell in. Their pasture lands shall be for their livestock, and for their possessions, and for all their animals.

⁴“The pasture lands of the cities, which you shall give to the Levites, shall be from the wall of the city and outward one thousand cubits around it.

⁵You shall measure outside of the city for the east side two thousand cubits, and for the south side two thousand cubits, and for the west side two thousand cubits, and for the north side two thousand cubits, the city being in the middle. This shall be the pasture lands of their cities.

⁶“The cities which you shall give to the Levites, they shall be the six cities of refuge, which you shall give for the man slayer to flee to. Besides them you shall give forty-two cities.

⁷All the cities which you shall give to the Levites shall be forty-eight cities together with their pasture lands.

⁸Concerning the cities which you shall give of the possession of the children of Israel, from the many you shall take many, and from the few you shall take few. Everyone according to his inheritance which he inherits shall give some of his cities to the Levites.”

⁹The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

¹⁰“Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘When you pass over the Jordan into the land of Canaan,

¹¹then you shall appoint for yourselves cities to be cities of refuge for you, that the man slayer who kills any person unwittingly may flee there.

¹²The cities shall be for your refuge from the avenger, that the man slayer not die until he stands before the congregation for judgment.

¹³The cities which you shall give shall be for you six cities of refuge.

¹⁴You shall give three cities beyond the Jordan, and you shall give three cities in the land of Canaan. They shall be cities of refuge.

¹⁵These six cities shall be refuge for the children of Israel, for the stranger, and for the foreigner living among them, that everyone who kills any person unwittingly may flee there.

¹⁶“‘But if he struck him with an instrument of iron, so that he died, he is a murderer. The murderer shall surely be put to death.

¹⁷If he struck him with a stone in the hand, by which a man may die, and he died, he is a murderer. The murderer shall surely be put to death.

¹⁸Or if he struck him with a weapon of wood in the hand, by which a man may die, and he died, he is a murderer. The murderer shall surely be put to death.

¹⁹The avenger of blood shall himself put the murderer to death. When he meets him, he shall put him to death.

²⁰If he shoved him out of hatred, or hurled something at him while lying in wait, so that he died,

²¹or in hostility struck him with his hand, so that he died, he who struck him shall surely be put to death. He is a murderer. The avenger of blood shall put the murderer to death when he meets him.

²²“‘But if he shoved him suddenly without hostility, or hurled on him anything without lying in wait,

²³or with any stone, by which a man may die, not seeing him, and cast it on him so that he died, and he was not his enemy and not seeking his harm,

²⁴then the congregation shall judge between the striker and the avenger of blood according to these ordinances.

²⁵The congregation shall deliver the man slayer out of the hand of the avenger of blood, and the congregation shall restore him to his city of refuge, where he had fled. He shall dwell therein until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the holy oil.

²⁶“‘But if the man slayer shall at any time go beyond the border of his city of refuge where he flees,

²⁷and the avenger of blood finds him outside of the border of his city of refuge, and the avenger of blood kills the man slayer, he shall not be guilty of blood,

²⁸because he should have remained in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest. But after the death of the high priest, the man slayer shall return into the land of his possession.

²⁹“‘These things shall be for a statute and ordinance to you throughout your generations in all your dwellings.

³⁰“‘Whoever kills any person, the murderer shall be slain based on the testimony of witnesses; but one witness shall not testify alone against any person so that he dies.

³¹“‘Moreover you shall take no ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death. He shall surely be put to death.

³²“‘You shall take no ransom for him who has fled to his city of refuge, that he may come again to dwell in the land before the death of the priest.

³³“‘So you shall not pollute the land where you live; for blood pollutes the land. No atonement can be made for the land for the blood that is shed in it, but by the blood of him who shed it.

³⁴You shall not defile the land which you inhabit, where I dwell; for I, the LORD, dwell among the children of Israel.’”

¹The heads of the fathers’ households of the family of the children of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of the sons of Joseph, came near and spoke before Moses and before the princes, the heads of the fathers’ households of the children of Israel.

²They said, “The LORD commanded my lord to give the land for inheritance by lot to the children of Israel. My lord was commanded by the LORD to give the inheritance of Zelophehad our brother to his daughters.

³If they are married to any of the sons of the other tribes of the children of Israel, then their inheritance will be taken away from the inheritance of our fathers, and will be added to the inheritance of the tribe to which they shall belong. So it will be taken away from the lot of our inheritance.

⁴When the jubilee of the children of Israel comes, then their inheritance will be added to the inheritance of the tribe to which they shall belong. So their inheritance will be taken away from the inheritance of the tribe of our fathers.”

⁵Moses commanded the children of Israel according to the LORD’s word, saying, “The tribe of the sons of Joseph speak what is right.

⁶This is the thing which the LORD commands concerning the daughters of Zelophehad, saying, ‘Let them be married to whom they think best, only they shall marry into the family of the tribe of their father.

⁷So shall no inheritance of the children of Israel move from tribe to tribe; for the children of Israel shall all keep the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers.

⁸Every daughter who possesses an inheritance in any tribe of the children of Israel shall be wife to one of the family of the tribe of her father, that the children of Israel may each possess the inheritance of his fathers.

⁹So shall no inheritance move from one tribe to another tribe; for the tribes of the children of Israel shall each keep his own inheritance.’”

¹⁰The daughters of Zelophehad did as the LORD commanded Moses:

¹¹for Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad, were married to their father’s brothers’ sons.

¹²They were married into the families of the sons of Manasseh the son of Joseph. Their inheritance remained in the tribe of the family of their father.

¹³These are the commandments and the ordinances which the LORD commanded by Moses to the children of Israel in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho.