Who Put You in Charge?

¹The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

²“Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘When you have come into the land of your habitations, which I give to you,

³and will make an offering by fire to the LORD—a burnt offering, or a sacrifice, to accomplish a vow, or as a free will offering, or in your set feasts, to make a pleasant aroma to the LORD, of the herd, or of the flock—

⁴then he who offers his offering shall offer to the LORD a meal offering of one tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with one fourth of a hin of oil.

⁵You shall prepare wine for the drink offering, one fourth of a hin, with the burnt offering or for the sacrifice, for each lamb.

⁶“‘For a ram, you shall prepare for a meal offering two tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with the third part of a hin of oil;

⁷and for the drink offering you shall offer the third part of a hin of wine, of a pleasant aroma to the LORD.

⁸When you prepare a bull for a burnt offering or for a sacrifice, to accomplish a vow, or for peace offerings to the LORD,

⁹then he shall offer with the bull a meal offering of three tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with half a hin of oil;

¹⁰and you shall offer for the drink offering half a hin of wine, for an offering made by fire, of a pleasant aroma to the LORD.

¹¹Thus it shall be done for each bull, for each ram, for each of the male lambs, or of the young goats.

¹²According to the number that you shall prepare, so you shall do to everyone according to their number.

¹³“‘All who are native-born shall do these things in this way, in offering an offering made by fire, of a pleasant aroma to the LORD.

¹⁴If a stranger lives as a foreigner with you, or whoever may be among you throughout your generations, and will offer an offering made by fire, of a pleasant aroma to the LORD, as you do, so he shall do.

¹⁵For the assembly, there shall be one statute for you and for the stranger who lives as a foreigner, a statute forever throughout your generations. As you are, so the foreigner shall be before the LORD.

¹⁶One law and one ordinance shall be for you and for the stranger who lives as a foreigner with you.’”

¹⁷The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

¹⁸“Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘When you come into the land where I bring you,

¹⁹then it shall be that when you eat of the bread of the land, you shall offer up a wave offering to the LORD.

²⁰Of the first of your dough you shall offer up a cake for a wave offering. As the wave offering of the threshing floor, so you shall heave it.

²¹Of the first of your dough, you shall give to the LORD a wave offering throughout your generations.

²²“‘When you err, and don’t observe all these commandments which the LORD has spoken to Moses—

²³even all that the LORD has commanded you by Moses, from the day that the LORD gave commandment and onward throughout your generations—

²⁴then it shall be, if it was done unwittingly, without the knowledge of the congregation, that all the congregation shall offer one young bull for a burnt offering, for a pleasant aroma to the LORD, with its meal offering and its drink offering, according to the ordinance, and one male goat for a sin offering.

²⁵The priest shall make atonement for all the congregation of the children of Israel, and they shall be forgiven; for it was an error, and they have brought their offering, an offering made by fire to the LORD, and their sin offering before the LORD, for their error.

²⁶All the congregation of the children of Israel shall be forgiven, as well as the stranger who lives as a foreigner among them; for with regard to all the people, it was done unwittingly.

²⁷“‘If a person sins unwittingly, then he shall offer a female goat a year old for a sin offering.

²⁸The priest shall make atonement for the soul who errs when he sins unwittingly before the LORD. He shall make atonement for him; and he shall be forgiven.

²⁹You shall have one law for him who does anything unwittingly, for him who is native-born among the children of Israel, and for the stranger who lives as a foreigner among them.

³⁰“‘But the soul who does anything with a high hand, whether he is native-born or a foreigner, blasphemes the LORD. That soul shall be cut off from among his people.

³¹Because he has despised the LORD’s word, and has broken his commandment, that soul shall be utterly cut off. His iniquity shall be on him.’”

³²While the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering sticks on the Sabbath day.

³³Those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron, and to all the congregation.

³⁴They put him in custody, because it had not been declared what should be done to him.

³⁵The LORD said to Moses, “The man shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall stone him with stones outside of the camp.”

³⁶All the congregation brought him outside of the camp, and stoned him to death with stones, as the LORD commanded Moses.

³⁷The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

³⁸“Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them that they should make themselves fringes on the borders of their garments throughout their generations, and that they put on the fringe of each border a cord of blue.

³⁹It shall be to you for a fringe, that you may see it, and remember all the LORD’s commandments, and do them; and that you don’t follow your own heart and your own eyes, after which you used to play the prostitute;

⁴⁰so that you may remember and do all my commandments, and be holy to your God.

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

¹Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, with Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took some men.

²They rose up before Moses, with some of the children of Israel, two hundred fifty princes of the congregation, called to the assembly, men of renown.

³They assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said to them, “You take too much on yourself, since all the congregation are holy, everyone of them, and the LORD is among them! Why do you lift yourselves up above the LORD’s assembly?”

⁴When Moses heard it, he fell on his face.

⁵He said to Korah and to all his company, “In the morning, the LORD will show who are his, and who is holy, and will cause him to come near to him. Even him whom he shall choose, he will cause to come near to him.

⁶Do this: have Korah and all his company take censers,

⁷put fire in them, and put incense on them before the LORD tomorrow. It shall be that the man whom the LORD chooses, he shall be holy. You have gone too far, you sons of Levi!”

⁸Moses said to Korah, “Hear now, you sons of Levi!

⁹Is it a small thing to you that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself, to do the service of the LORD’s tabernacle, and to stand before the congregation to minister to them;

¹⁰and that he has brought you near, and all your brothers the sons of Levi with you? Do you seek the priesthood also?

¹¹Therefore you and all your company have gathered together against the LORD! What is Aaron that you complain against him?”

¹²Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab; and they said, “We won’t come up!

¹³Is it a small thing that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, but you must also make yourself a prince over us?

¹⁴Moreover you haven’t brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, nor given us inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you put out the eyes of these men? We won’t come up.”

¹⁵Moses was very angry, and said to the LORD, “Don’t respect their offering. I have not taken one donkey from them, neither have I hurt one of them.”

¹⁶Moses said to Korah, “You and all your company go before the LORD, you, and they, and Aaron, tomorrow.

¹⁷Each man take his censer and put incense on it, and each man bring before the LORD his censer, two hundred fifty censers; you also, and Aaron, each with his censer.”

¹⁸They each took his censer, and put fire in it, and laid incense on it, and stood at the door of the Tent of Meeting with Moses and Aaron.

¹⁹Korah assembled all the congregation opposite them to the door of the Tent of Meeting. The LORD’s glory appeared to all the congregation.

²⁰The LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,

²¹“Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment!”

²²They fell on their faces, and said, “God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and will you be angry with all the congregation?”

²³The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

²⁴“Speak to the congregation, saying, ‘Get away from around the tent of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram!’”

²⁵Moses rose up and went to Dathan and Abiram; and the elders of Israel followed him.

²⁶He spoke to the congregation, saying, “Depart, please, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest you be consumed in all their sins!”

²⁷So they went away from the tent of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, on every side. Dathan and Abiram came out, and stood at the door of their tents with their wives, their sons, and their little ones.

²⁸Moses said, “Hereby you shall know that the LORD has sent me to do all these works; for they are not from my own mind.

²⁹If these men die the common death of all men, or if they experience what all men experience, then the LORD hasn’t sent me.

³⁰But if the LORD makes a new thing, and the ground opens its mouth, and swallows them up with all that belong to them, and they go down alive into Sheol, then you shall understand that these men have despised the LORD.”

³¹As he finished speaking all these words, the ground that was under them split apart.

³²The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up with their households, all of Korah’s men, and all their goods.

³³So they, and all that belonged to them went down alive into Sheol. The earth closed on them, and they perished from among the assembly.

³⁴All Israel that were around them fled at their cry; for they said, “Lest the earth swallow us up!”

³⁵Fire came out from the LORD, and devoured the two hundred fifty men who offered the incense.

³⁶The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

³⁷“Speak to Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest, that he take up the censers out of the burning, and scatter the fire away from the camp; for they are holy,

³⁸even the censers of those who sinned against their own lives. Let them be beaten into plates for a covering of the altar, for they offered them before the LORD. Therefore they are holy. They shall be a sign to the children of Israel.”

³⁹Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers which those who were burned had offered; and they beat them out for a covering of the altar,

⁴⁰to be a memorial to the children of Israel, to the end that no stranger who isn’t of the offspring of Aaron, would come near to burn incense before the LORD, that he not be as Korah and as his company; as the LORD spoke to him by Moses.

⁴¹But on the next day all the congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and against Aaron, saying, “You have killed the LORD’s people!”

⁴²When the congregation was assembled against Moses and against Aaron, they looked toward the Tent of Meeting. Behold, the cloud covered it, and the LORD’s glory appeared.

⁴³Moses and Aaron came to the front of the Tent of Meeting.

⁴⁴The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

⁴⁵“Get away from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment!” They fell on their faces.

⁴⁶Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer, put fire from the altar in it, lay incense on it, carry it quickly to the congregation, and make atonement for them; for wrath has gone out from the LORD! The plague has begun.”

⁴⁷Aaron did as Moses said, and ran into the middle of the assembly. The plague had already begun among the people. He put on the incense, and made atonement for the people.

⁴⁸He stood between the dead and the living; and the plague was stayed.

⁴⁹Now those who died by the plague were fourteen thousand seven hundred, in addition to those who died about the matter of Korah.

⁵⁰Aaron returned to Moses to the door of the Tent of Meeting, and the plague was stopped.

¹The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

²“Speak to the children of Israel, and take rods from them, one for each fathers’ house, of all their princes according to their fathers’ houses, twelve rods. Write each man’s name on his rod.

³You shall write Aaron’s name on Levi’s rod. There shall be one rod for each head of their fathers’ houses.

⁴You shall lay them up in the Tent of Meeting before the covenant, where I meet with you.

⁵It shall happen that the rod of the man whom I shall choose shall bud. I will make the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against you, cease from me.”

⁶Moses spoke to the children of Israel; and all their princes gave him rods, for each prince one, according to their fathers’ houses, a total of twelve rods. Aaron’s rod was among their rods.

⁷Moses laid up the rods before the LORD in the Tent of the Testimony.

⁸On the next day, Moses went into the Tent of the Testimony; and behold, Aaron’s rod for the house of Levi had sprouted, budded, produced blossoms, and bore ripe almonds.

⁹Moses brought out all the rods from before the LORD to all the children of Israel. They looked, and each man took his rod.

¹⁰The LORD said to Moses, “Put back the rod of Aaron before the covenant, to be kept for a token against the children of rebellion; that you may make an end of their complaining against me, that they not die.”

¹¹Moses did so. As the LORD commanded him, so he did.

¹²The children of Israel spoke to Moses, saying, “Behold, we perish! We are undone! We are all undone!

¹³Everyone who keeps approaching the LORD’s tabernacle, dies! Will we all perish?”

¹The LORD said to Aaron, “You and your sons and your fathers’ house with you shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary; and you and your sons with you shall bear the iniquity of your priesthood.

²Bring your brothers also, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, near with you, that they may be joined to you, and minister to you; but you and your sons with you shall be before the Tent of the Testimony.

³They shall keep your commands and the duty of the whole Tent; only they shall not come near to the vessels of the sanctuary and to the altar, that they not die, neither they nor you.

⁴They shall be joined to you and keep the responsibility of the Tent of Meeting, for all the service of the Tent. A stranger shall not come near to you.

⁵“You shall perform the duty of the sanctuary and the duty of the altar, that there be no more wrath on the children of Israel.

⁶Behold, I myself have taken your brothers the Levites from among the children of Israel. They are a gift to you, dedicated to the LORD, to do the service of the Tent of Meeting.

⁷You and your sons with you shall keep your priesthood for everything of the altar, and for that within the veil. You shall serve. I give you the service of the priesthood as a gift. The stranger who comes near shall be put to death.”

⁸The LORD spoke to Aaron, “Behold, I myself have given you the command of my wave offerings, even all the holy things of the children of Israel. I have given them to you by reason of the anointing, and to your sons, as a portion forever.

⁹This shall be yours of the most holy things from the fire: every offering of theirs, even every meal offering of theirs, and every sin offering of theirs, and every trespass offering of theirs, which they shall give to me, shall be most holy for you and for your sons.

¹⁰You shall eat of it like the most holy things. Every male shall eat of it. It shall be holy to you.

¹¹“This is yours, too: the wave offering of their gift, even all the wave offerings of the children of Israel. I have given them to you, and to your sons and to your daughters with you, as a portion forever. Everyone who is clean in your house shall eat of it.

¹²“I have given to you all the best of the oil, all the best of the vintage, and of the grain, the first fruits of them which they give to the LORD.

¹³The first-ripe fruits of all that is in their land, which they bring to the LORD, shall be yours. Everyone who is clean in your house shall eat of it.

¹⁴“Everything devoted in Israel shall be yours.

¹⁵Everything that opens the womb, of all flesh which they offer to the LORD, both of man and animal, shall be yours. Nevertheless, you shall surely redeem the firstborn of man, and you shall redeem the firstborn of unclean animals.

¹⁶You shall redeem those who are to be redeemed of them from a month old, according to your estimation, for five shekels of money, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, which weighs twenty gerahs.

¹⁷“But you shall not redeem the firstborn of a cow, or the firstborn of a sheep, or the firstborn of a goat. They are holy. You shall sprinkle their blood on the altar, and shall burn their fat for an offering made by fire, for a pleasant aroma to the LORD.

¹⁸Their meat shall be yours, as the wave offering breast and as the right thigh, it shall be yours.

¹⁹All the wave offerings of the holy things which the children of Israel offer to the LORD, I have given you and your sons and your daughters with you, as a portion forever. It is a covenant of salt forever before the LORD to you and to your offspring with you.”

²⁰The LORD said to Aaron, “You shall have no inheritance in their land, neither shall you have any portion among them. I am your portion and your inheritance among the children of Israel.

²¹“To the children of Levi, behold, I have given all the tithe in Israel for an inheritance, in return for their service which they serve, even the service of the Tent of Meeting.

²²Henceforth the children of Israel shall not come near the Tent of Meeting, lest they bear sin, and die.

²³But the Levites shall do the service of the Tent of Meeting, and they shall bear their iniquity. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations. Among the children of Israel, they shall have no inheritance.

²⁴For the tithe of the children of Israel, which they offer as a wave offering to the LORD, I have given to the Levites for an inheritance. Therefore I have said to them, ‘Among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance.’”

²⁵The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

²⁶“Moreover you shall speak to the Levites, and tell them, ‘When you take of the children of Israel the tithe which I have given you from them for your inheritance, then you shall offer up a wave offering of it for the LORD, a tithe of the tithe.

²⁷Your wave offering shall be credited to you, as though it were the grain of the threshing floor, and as the fullness of the wine press.

²⁸Thus you also shall offer a wave offering to the LORD of all your tithes, which you receive of the children of Israel; and of it you shall give the LORD’s wave offering to Aaron the priest.

²⁹Out of all your gifts, you shall offer every wave offering to the LORD, of all its best parts, even the holy part of it.’

³⁰“Therefore you shall tell them, ‘When you heave its best from it, then it shall be credited to the Levites as the increase of the threshing floor, and as the increase of the wine press.

³¹You may eat it anywhere, you and your households, for it is your reward in return for your service in the Tent of Meeting.

³²You shall bear no sin by reason of it, when you have heaved from it its best. You shall not profane the holy things of the children of Israel, that you not die.’”

¹The LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,

²“This is the statute of the law which the LORD has commanded. Tell the children of Israel to bring you a red heifer without spot, in which is no defect, and which was never yoked.

³You shall give her to Eleazar the priest, and he shall bring her outside of the camp, and one shall kill her before his face.

⁴Eleazar the priest shall take some of her blood with his finger, and sprinkle her blood toward the front of the Tent of Meeting seven times.

⁵One shall burn the heifer in his sight; her skin, and her meat, and her blood, with her dung, shall he burn.

⁶The priest shall take cedar wood, hyssop, and scarlet, and cast it into the middle of the burning of the heifer.

⁷Then the priest shall wash his clothes, and he shall bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp, and the priest shall be unclean until the evening.

⁸He who burns her shall wash his clothes in water, and bathe his flesh in water, and shall be unclean until the evening.

⁹“A man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and lay them up outside of the camp in a clean place; and it shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel for use in water for cleansing impurity. It is a sin offering.

¹⁰He who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the evening. It shall be to the children of Israel, and to the stranger who lives as a foreigner among them, for a statute forever.

¹¹“He who touches the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days.

¹²He shall purify himself with water on the third day, and on the seventh day he shall be clean; but if he doesn’t purify himself the third day, then the seventh day he shall not be clean.

¹³Whoever touches a dead person, the body of a man who has died, and doesn’t purify himself, defiles the LORD’s tabernacle; and that soul shall be cut off from Israel; because the water for impurity was not sprinkled on him, he shall be unclean. His uncleanness is yet on him.

¹⁴“This is the law when a man dies in a tent: everyone who comes into the tent, and everyone who is in the tent, shall be unclean seven days.

¹⁵Every open vessel, which has no covering bound on it, is unclean.

¹⁶“Whoever in the open field touches one who is slain with a sword, or a dead body, or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days.

¹⁷“For the unclean, they shall take of the ashes of the burning of the sin offering; and running water shall be poured on them in a vessel.

¹⁸A clean person shall take hyssop, dip it in the water, and sprinkle it on the tent, on all the vessels, on the persons who were there, and on him who touched the bone, or the slain, or the dead, or the grave.

¹⁹The clean person shall sprinkle on the unclean on the third day, and on the seventh day. On the seventh day, he shall purify him. He shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and shall be clean at evening.

²⁰But the man who shall be unclean, and shall not purify himself, that soul shall be cut off from among the assembly, because he has defiled the sanctuary of the LORD. The water for impurity has not been sprinkled on him. He is unclean.

²¹It shall be a perpetual statute to them. He who sprinkles the water for impurity shall wash his clothes, and he who touches the water for impurity shall be unclean until evening.

²²“Whatever the unclean person touches shall be unclean; and the soul that touches it shall be unclean until evening.”