The People Rebel against the LORD

141 Then all the people gave load cries of grief, and all that night they gave themselves up to weeping. 2 And all the children of Israel, crying out against Moses and Aaron, said, If only we had come to our death in the land of Egypt, or even in this waste land! 3 Why is the Lord taking us into this land to come to our death by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will get into strange hands: would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt? 4 And they said to one another, Let us make a captain over us, and go back to Egypt.

5 Then Moses and Aaron went down on their faces before the meeting of the people. 6 And Joshua, the son of Nun, and Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, two of those who had been to see the land, giving signs of grief, 7 Said to all the children of Israel, This land which we went through to see is a very good land. 8 And if the Lord has delight in us, he will take us into this land and give it to us, a land flowing with milk and honey. 9 Only, do not go against the Lord or go in fear of the people of the land, for they will be our food; their strength has been taken from them and the Lord is with us: have no fear of them. 10 But all the people said they were to be stoned. Then the glory of the Lord was seen in the Tent of meeting, before the eyes of all the children of Israel.

11 And the Lord said to Moses, How long will this people have no respect for me? how long will they be without faith, in the face of all the signs I have done among them? 12 I will send disease on them for their destruction, and take away their heritage, and I will make of you a nation greater and stronger than they. 13 And Moses said to the Lord, Then it will come to the ears of the Egyptians; for by your power you took this people out from among them; 14 And they will give the news to the people of this land: they have had word that you, Lord, are present with this people, letting yourself be seen face to face, and that your cloud is resting over them, and that you go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night. 15 Now if you put to death all this people as one man, then the nations who have had word of your glory will say, 16 Because the Lord was not able to take this people into the land which he made an oath to give them, he sent destruction on them in the waste land. 17 So now, may my prayer come before you, and let the power of the Lord be great, as you said: 18 The Lord is slow to wrath and great in mercy, overlooking wrongdoing and evil, and will not let wrongdoers go free; sending punishment on children for the sins of their fathers, to the third and fourth generation. 19 May the sin of this people have forgiveness, in the measure of your great mercy, as you have had mercy on them from Egypt up till now.

God's Punishment on Israel

20 And the Lord said, I have had mercy, as you say: 21 But truly, as I am living, and as all the earth will be full of the glory of the Lord; 22 Because all these men, having seen my glory and the signs which I have done in Egypt and in the waste land, still have put me to the test ten times, and have not given ear to my voice; 23 They will not see the land about which I made an oath to their fathers; not one of these by whom I have not been honoured will see it. 24 But my servant Caleb, because he had a different spirit in him, and has been true to me with all his heart, him I will take into that land into which he went, and his seed will have it for their heritage. 25 Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites are in the valley; tomorrow, turning round, go into the waste land by the way to the Red Sea. 26 Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 27 How long am I to put up with this evil people and their outcries against me? The words which they say against me have come to my ears. 28 Say to them, By my life, says the Lord, as certainly as your words have come to my ears, so certainly will I do this to you: 29 Your dead bodies will be stretched out in this waste land; and of all your number, all those of twenty years old and over who have been crying out against me, 30 Not one will come into the land which I gave my word you would have for your resting-place, but only Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua, the son of Nun. 31 And your little ones, whom you said would come into strange hands, I will take in, and they will see the land which you would not have. 32 But as for you, your dead bodies will be stretched in this waste land. 33 And your children will be wanderers in the waste land for forty years, undergoing punishment for your false ways, till your bodies become dust in the waste land. 34 And as you went through the land viewing it for forty days, so for forty years, a year for every day, you will undergo punishment for your wrongdoing, and you will see that I am against you. 35 I the Lord have said it, and this I will certainly do to all this evil people who have come together against me: in this waste land destruction will come on them, and death will be their fate.

The Death of the Ten Evil Spies

36 And the men whom Moses sent to see the land, and who, by the bad account they gave of the land, were the cause of the outcry the people made against Moses, 37 Those same men who said evil of the land, came to their death by disease before the Lord. 38 But Joshua, the son of Nun, and Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, of those who went to see the land, were not touched by disease.

The Defeat of Israel at Hormah

39 And when Moses put these words before the children of Israel, the people were full of grief. 40 And early in the morning they got up and went to the top of the mountain, saying, We are here and we will go up to the place which the Lord said he would give us: for we have done wrong. 41 And Moses said, Why are you now acting against the Lord's order, seeing that no good will come of it? 42 Go not up, for the Lord is not with you, and you will be overcome by those who are fighting against you. 43 For the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you, and you will be put to death by their swords: because you have gone back from the way of the Lord, the Lord will not be with you. 44 But they gave no attention to his words and went to the top of the mountain, though Moses and the ark of the Lord's agreement did not go out of the tent-circle. 45 Then the Amalekites came down, and the Canaanites who were living in the hill-country, and overcame them completely, driving them back as far as Hormah.

Laws concerning Offerings

151 And the Lord said to Moses, 2 Say to the children of Israel, When you have come into the land which I am giving to you for your resting-place, 3 And are going to make an offering by fire to the Lord, a burned offering or an offering in connection with an oath, or an offering freely given, or at your regular feasts, an offering for a sweet smell to the Lord, from the herd or the flock: 4 Then let him who is making his offering, give to the Lord a meal offering of a tenth part of a measure of the best meal mixed with a fourth part of a hin of oil: 5 And for the drink offering, you are to give with the burned offering or other offering, the fourth part of a hin of wine for every lamb. 6 Or for a male sheep, give as a meal offering two tenth parts of a measure of the best meal mixed with a third part of a hin of oil: 7 And for the drink offering give a third part of a hin of wine, for a sweet smell to the Lord. 8 And when you make ready a young ox for a burned or other offering, or for the effecting of an oath, or for peace-offerings to the Lord: 9 Then with the ox give a meal offering of three tenth parts of a measure of the best meal mixed with half a hin of oil. 10 And for the drink offering: give half a hin of wine, for an offering made by fire for a sweet smell to the Lord. 11 This is to be done for every young ox and for every male sheep or he-lamb or young goat. 12 Whatever number you make ready, so you are to do for every one. 13 All those who are Israelites by birth are to do these things in this way, when giving an offering made by fire of a sweet smell to the Lord. 14 And if a man from another country or any other person living among you, through all your generations, has the desire to give an offering made by fire of a sweet smell to the Lord, let him do as you do. 15 There is to be one law for you and for the man of another country living with you, one law for ever from generation to generation; as you are, so is he to be before the Lord. 16 The law and the rule are to be the same for you and for those from other lands living with you. 17 And the Lord said to Moses, 18 Say to the children of Israel, When you come into the land where I am guiding you, 19 Then, when you take for your food the produce of the land, you are to give an offering lifted up before the Lord. 20 Of the first of your rough meal you are to give a cake for a lifted offering, lifting it up before the Lord as the offering of the grain-floor is lifted up. 21 From generation to generation you are to give to the Lord a lifted offering from the first of your rough meal.

22 And if in error you go against any of these laws which the Lord has given to Moses, 23 All the laws which the Lord has given you by the hand of Moses, from the day when the Lord gave them, and ever after from generation to generation; 24 Then, if the wrong is done in error, without the knowledge of the meeting of the people, let all the meeting give a young ox as a burned offering, a sweet smell to the Lord, with its meal offering and its drink offering, as is ordered in the law, together with a he-goat for a sin-offering. 25 So the priest will make the people free from sin, and they will have forgiveness; for it was an error, and they have given their offering made by fire to the Lord, and their sin-offering before the Lord, on account of their error: 26 And all the meeting of the children of Israel, as well as those from other lands living among them, will have forgiveness; for it was an error on the part of the people. 27 And if one person does wrong, without being conscious of it, then let him give a she-goat of the first year for a sin-offering. 28 And the priest will take away the sin of the person who has done wrong, if the wrong was done unconsciously, and he will have forgiveness. 29 The law in connection with wrong done unconsciously is to be the same for him who is an Israelite by birth and for the man from another country who is living among them.

30 But the person who does wrong in the pride of his heart, if he is one of you or of another nation by birth, is acting without respect for the Lord, and will be cut off from his people. 31 Because he had no respect for the word of the Lord, and did not keep his law, that man will be cut off without mercy and his sin will be on him.

The Stoning of a Sabbath Breaker

32 Now while the children of Israel were in the waste land, they saw a man who was getting sticks on the Sabbath day. 33 And those who saw him getting sticks took him before Moses and Aaron and all the people. 34 And they had him shut up, because they had no directions about what was to be done with him. 35 Then the Lord said to Moses, Certainly the man is to be put to death: let him be stoned by all the people outside the tent-circle. 36 So all the people took him outside the tent-circle and he was stoned to death there, as the Lord gave orders to Moses.

Fringes on Garments

37 And the Lord said to Moses, 38 Say to the children of Israel that through all their generations they are to put on the edges of their robes an ornament of twisted threads, and in every ornament a blue cord; 39 So that, looking on these ornaments, you may keep in mind the orders of the Lord and do them; and not be guided by the desires of your hearts and eyes, through which you have been untrue to me: 40 And that you may keep in mind all my orders and do them and be holy to your God. 41 I am the Lord your God, who took you out of the land of Egypt, so that I might be your God: I am the Lord your God.