Numbers 15 - 16 — Legacy Standard Bible

Offerings When Entering Canaan

15Now Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ²“^aSpeak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When you enter the land of your places of habitation, which I am going to give you, ³then make ^aan offering by fire to Yahweh, a burnt offering or a sacrifice to ¹^,^bfulfill a special vow, or as a freewill offering or in your ^cappointed times, to make a ^dsoothing aroma to Yahweh, from the herd or from the flock. ⁴‘^aAnd the one who brings his offering near shall bring near to Yahweh a grain offering of one-tenth of an ¹ephah of fine flour mixed with one-fourth of a ²hin of oil, ⁵and you shall prepare wine for the drink offering, one-fourth of a hin, with the burnt offering or for the sacrifice, for ^aeach lamb. ⁶‘Or for a ram you shall prepare as a grain offering two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with one-third of a hin of oil; ⁷and for the drink offering you shall bring near one-third of a hin of wine as a soothing aroma to Yahweh. ⁸‘And when you prepare ^aa bull from the herd as a burnt offering or a sacrifice, to ¹fulfill a special vow, or for peace offerings to Yahweh, ⁹then you shall bring near with the bull from the herd a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with one-half a hin of oil; ¹⁰and you shall bring near as the drink offering one-half a hin of wine as an offering by fire, as a soothing aroma to Yahweh.

¹¹‘Thus it shall be done for each ox, or for each ram, or for each of the male lambs, or of the goats. ¹²‘According to the number that you prepare, so you shall do for everyone according to their number. ¹³‘All who are native shall do these things in this manner, in bringing near an offering by fire, as a soothing aroma to Yahweh.

Statute for the Sojourner

¹⁴‘And if a sojourner sojourns with you, or one who may be among you throughout your generations, and he ¹offers an offering by fire as a soothing aroma to Yahweh, just as you do so he shall do. ¹⁵‘As for the assembly, there shall be ^aone statute for you and for the sojourner who sojourns with you, a perpetual statute throughout your generations; as you are, so shall the sojourner be before Yahweh. ¹⁶‘There shall be ^aone law and one judgment for you and for the sojourner who sojourns with you.’”

¹⁷Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁸“Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When you enter the land where I am going to bring you, ¹⁹then it shall be, that when you eat of the ¹^,^afood of the land, you shall ²raise up ³a contribution offering to Yahweh. ²⁰‘^aOf the first of your ¹dough you shall ²raise up a cake as a ³contribution offering; as ^bthe ⁴contribution offering of the threshing floor, so you shall raise it up. ²¹‘From the first of your ¹dough you shall give to Yahweh a ²contribution offering throughout your generations.

²²‘But when you ^aunintentionally fail and do not observe all these commandments, which Yahweh has spoken to Moses, ²³even all that Yahweh has commanded you by the hand of Moses, from the day when Yahweh commanded and onward throughout your generations, ²⁴then it will be, if it is done ^aunintentionally, hidden from the sight of the congregation, that all the congregation shall offer one bull from the herd for a burnt offering as a soothing aroma to Yahweh, ^bwith its grain offering and its drink offering, according to the legal judgment, and one male goat for a sin offering. ²⁵‘Then ^athe priest shall make atonement for all the congregation of the sons of Israel, and they will be pardoned; for it was an error, and they have brought their offering, an offering by fire to Yahweh, and their sin offering before Yahweh, for their error. ²⁶‘So all the congregation of the sons of Israel will be pardoned, with the sojourner who sojourns among them, for it happened to all the people through ^aerror.

²⁷‘Also if one person sins ^aunintentionally, then he shall bring near a one year old female goat for a sin offering. ²⁸‘^aAnd the priest shall make atonement before Yahweh for the person who goes astray when he sins unintentionally, making atonement for him ¹that he may be pardoned. ²⁹‘You shall have one law for him who does anything unintentionally, for him who is native among the sons of Israel and for the sojourner who sojourns among them. ³⁰‘But the person who does anything with a ^ahigh hand, whether he is native or a sojourner, that one is blaspheming Yahweh; and that person shall be cut off from among his people. ³¹‘Because he has ^adespised the word of Yahweh and has broken His commandment, that person shall be completely cut off; ^bhis ¹guilt will be on him.’”

A Sabbath-breaker Put to Death

³²Now the sons of Israel were in the wilderness, and they found a man ^agathering wood on the sabbath day. ³³And those who found him gathering wood brought him near to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation; ³⁴and they put him in ¹custody ^abecause it had not been ²declared what should be done to him. ³⁵Then Yahweh said to Moses, “The man shall surely be put to death; ^aall the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp.” ³⁶So all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him ¹to death with stones, just as Yahweh had commanded Moses.

³⁷Yahweh also spoke to Moses, saying, ³⁸“Speak to the sons of Israel, and tell them that they shall make for themselves ^atassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and that they shall put on the tassel of each corner a cord of blue. ³⁹“And it shall be a tassel for you ¹to look at and ^aremember all the commandments of Yahweh, so as to do them and not ²follow after your own heart and your own eyes, after which you played the harlot, ⁴⁰so that you may remember to do all My commandments and ^abe holy to your God. ⁴¹“I am Yahweh your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt to be your God; I am Yahweh your God.”

Korah Rises Up Against Moses

16Now ^aKorah the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, with ^bDathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took others, ²and they rose up before Moses, ¹together with some of the sons of Israel, 250 leaders of the congregation, ²^,^athose called upon by the assembly, men of renown. ³Then they assembled together ^aagainst Moses and Aaron, and said to them, “¹^,^bYou have gone far enough, for all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and ^cYahweh is in their midst; so why do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of Yahweh?”

⁴And Moses heard this and ^afell on his face; ⁵and he spoke to Korah and all his congregation, saying, “Tomorrow morning Yahweh will show who is His, and ^awho is holy, and will bring him near to Himself; even ^bthe one whom He will choose, He will bring near to Himself. ⁶“Do this: take censers for yourselves, Korah and all ¹your congregation, ⁷and put fire in them, and lay incense upon them in the presence of Yahweh tomorrow; and the man whom Yahweh chooses shall be the one who is holy. ¹^,^aYou have gone far enough, you sons of Levi!”

⁸Then Moses said to Korah, “Hear now, you sons of Levi, ⁹^ais it ¹not enough for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the rest of the congregation of Israel, ^bto bring you near to Himself, to perform the service of the tabernacle of Yahweh, and to stand before the congregation to minister to them; ¹⁰and that He has brought you near, Korah, and all your brothers, sons of Levi, with you? And are you ^aseeking for the priesthood also? ¹¹“Therefore you and all your congregation are gathered together ^aagainst Yahweh; but as for Aaron, ¹who is he that ^byou grumble against him?”

¹²Then Moses sent ¹a summons to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab; but they said, “We will not come up. ¹³“Is it ¹not enough that you have brought us up out of a ^aland flowing with milk and honey ^bto put us to death in the wilderness, but you would also lord it over us? ¹⁴“Indeed, you have not brought us ^ainto a land flowing with milk and honey, nor have you given us an inheritance of ^bfields and vineyards. Would you ¹^,^cput out the eyes of ²these men? We will not come up!”

¹⁵Then Moses became very angry and said to Yahweh, “^aDo not regard their offering! ^bI have not taken a single donkey from them, nor have I done harm to any of them.” ¹⁶And Moses said to Korah, “You and all your congregation be present before Yahweh tomorrow, both you and they along with Aaron. ¹⁷“And each of you take his firepan and put incense on ¹it, and each of you bring his censer near before Yahweh, 250 firepans; also you and Aaron shall each bring his firepan.” ¹⁸So they each took his own censer and put fire on ¹it, and laid incense on ²it; and they stood at the doorway of the tent of meeting, with Moses and Aaron. ¹⁹Thus Korah assembled all the congregation against them at the doorway of the tent of meeting. And ^athe glory of Yahweh appeared to all the congregation.

²⁰Then Yahweh spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, ²¹“^aSeparate yourselves from among this congregation, ^bthat I may consume them instantly.” ²²But they fell on their faces and said, “O God, ^aGod of the spirits of all flesh, ^bwhen one man sins, will You be angry with the entire congregation?”

²³Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁴“Speak to the congregation, saying, ‘^aGet back from around the dwellings of Korah, Dathan and Abiram.’”

²⁵Then Moses arose and went to Dathan and Abiram, with the elders of Israel following him, ²⁶and he spoke to the congregation, saying, “^aTurn aside now from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing that belongs to them, ^blest you be swept away in all their sin.” ²⁷So they got back from around the dwellings of Korah, Dathan and Abiram; but Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the doorway of their tents, along with their wives and ^atheir sons and their little ones. ²⁸And Moses said, “By this you shall know that ^aYahweh has sent me to do all these deeds; for this is not from my heart. ²⁹“If these men die ¹the death of all men or ²if they suffer the ^afate of all men, then Yahweh has not sent me. ³⁰“But ^aif Yahweh creates an entirely new thing and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that is theirs, and they ^bgo down to Sheol alive, then you will know that these men have spurned Yahweh.”

³¹And it happened that as he finished speaking all these words, the ground that was under them split open; ³²and ^athe earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, and their households, and ^ball the men who belonged to Korah with their possessions. ³³So they and all that belonged to them went down to Sheol alive; and the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly. ³⁴Then all Israel who were around them fled at their ¹outcry, for they said, “Lest the earth swallow us up!” ³⁵^aFire also came forth from Yahweh and consumed the ^b250 men who were bringing near the incense.

³⁶¹Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ³⁷“Say to Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, that he shall take up the censers out of the midst of the ¹blaze, and you scatter ²the burning coals abroad; for they are holy. ³⁸“As for the censers of these ¹men who have sinned at the cost of their lives, make them into hammered sheets for a plating of the altar, since they brought them near before Yahweh, and they are holy; and ^athey shall be for a sign to the sons of Israel.” ³⁹So Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers which the men who were burned had brought near, and they hammered them out as a plating for the altar, ⁴⁰as a ¹memorial to the sons of Israel that ^ano ²outsider who is not of the seed of Aaron should come near ^bto burn incense before Yahweh; so that he will not become like Korah and his congregation—just as Yahweh had spoken to him by the hand of Moses.

Grumbling and Plague

⁴¹But on the next day all the congregation of the sons of Israel ^agrumbled against Moses and Aaron, saying, “You are the ones who have caused the death of the people of Yahweh.” ⁴²It came about, however, when the congregation had assembled against Moses and Aaron, that they turned toward the tent of meeting, and behold, the cloud covered it and ^athe glory of Yahweh appeared. ⁴³Then Moses and Aaron came to the front of the tent of meeting, ⁴⁴and Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ⁴⁵“¹^,^aGet away from among this congregation, that I may consume them instantly.” Then they fell on their faces. ⁴⁶And Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer and put in it fire from the altar, and lay incense on it; then bring it quickly to the congregation and ^amake atonement for them, for ^bwrath has gone forth from Yahweh, the plague has begun!” ⁴⁷Then Aaron took it as Moses had spoken, and ran into the midst of the assembly, for behold, the plague had begun among the people. ^aSo he put on the incense and made atonement for the people. ⁴⁸And he took his stand between the dead and the living, so that the plague was checked. ⁴⁹^aBut those who died by the plague were 14,700, besides those who ^bdied on account of Korah. ⁵⁰Then Aaron returned to Moses at the doorway of the tent of meeting, for the plague had been checked.