Bible in Basic English
NUMBERS, 9
Cloud over the tabernacle
9:1 And the Lord said to Moses, in the waste land of Sinai, in the first month of the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt,
2 Let the children of Israel keep the Passover at its regular time.
3 In the fourteenth day of this month, at evening, you are to keep it at the regular time, and in the way ordered in the law.
4 And Moses gave orders to the children of Israel to keep the Passover.
5 So they kept the Passover in the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, at evening, in the waste land of Sinai : as the Lord gave orders to Moses, so the children of Israel did.
6 And there were certain men who were unclean because of a dead body, so that they were not able to keep the Passover on that day ; and they came before Moses and before Aaron on that day :
7 And these men said to him, We have been made unclean by the dead body of a man ; why may we not make the offering of the Lord at the regular time among the children of Israel ?
8 And Moses said to them, Do nothing till the Lord gives me directions about you.
9:9 And the Lord said to Moses,
10 Say to the children of Israel, If any one of you or of your families is unclean because of a dead body, or is on a journey far away, still he is to keep the Passover to the Lord:
11 In the second month, on the fourteenth day, in the evening, they are to keep it, taking it with unleavened bread and bitter-tasting plants ;
12 Nothing of it is to be kept till the morning, and no bone of it is to be broken : they are to keep it by the rules of the Passover.
13 But the man who, not being unclean or on a journey, does not keep the Passover, will be cut off from his people: because he did not make the offering of the Lord at the regular time, his sin will be on him.
14 And if a man from another country is among you and has a desire to keep the Passover to the Lord, let him do as is ordered in the law of the Passover : there is to be the same rule for the man from another nation and for him who had his birth in the land.
9:15 And on the day when the House was put up, the cloud came down on it, on the Tent of witness ; and in the evening there was a light like fire over the House till the morning.
16 And so it was at all times : it was covered by the cloud, and by a light as of fire by night.
17 And whenever the cloud was taken up from over the House, then the children of Israel went journeying on ; and in the place where the cloud came to rest, there the children of Israel put up their tents.
18 At the order of the Lord the children of Israel went forward, and at the order of the Lord they put up their tents : as long as the cloud was resting on the House, they did not go away from that place.
19 When the cloud was resting on the House for a long time the children of Israel, waiting for the order of the Lord, did not go on.
20 Sometimes the cloud was resting on the House for two or three days ; then, by the order of the Lord, they kept their tents in that place, and when the Lord gave the order they went on.
21 And sometimes the cloud was there only from evening to morning ; and when the cloud was taken up in the morning they went on their journey again : or if it was resting there by day and by night, whenever the cloud was taken up they went forward.
22 Or if the cloud came to rest on the House for two days or a month or a year without moving, the children of Israel went on waiting there and did not go on ; but whenever it was taken up they went forward on their journey.
23 At the word of the Lord they put up their tents, and at the word of the Lord they went forward on their journey : they kept the orders of the Lord as he gave them by Moses.
NUMBERS, 10
The tribes leave Sinai
10:1 And the Lord said to Moses,
2 Make two silver horns of hammered work, to be used for getting the people together and to give the sign for the moving of the tents.
3 When they are sounded, all the people are to come together to you at the door of the Tent of meeting.
4 If only one of them is sounded, then the chiefs, the heads of the thousands of Israel, are to come to you.
5 When a loud note is sounded, the tents placed on the east side are to go forward.
6 At the sound of a second loud note, the tents on the south side are to go forward : the loud note will be the sign to go forward.
7 But when all the people are to come together, the horn is to be sounded but not loudly.
8 The horns are to be sounded by the sons of Aaron, the priests ; this is to be a law for you for ever, from generation to generation.
9 And if you go to war in your land against any who do you wrong, then let the loud note of the horn be sounded ; and the Lord your God will keep you in mind and give you salvation from those who are against you.
10 And on days of joy and on your regular feasts and on the first day of every month, let the horns be sounded over your burned offerings and your peace-offerings ; and they will put the Lord in mind of you : I am the Lord your God.
10:11 Now in the second year, on the twentieth day of the second month, the cloud was taken up from over the Tent of witness.
12 And the children of Israel went on their journey out of the waste land of Sinai ; and the cloud came to rest in the waste land of Paran.
13 They went forward for the first time on their journey as the Lord had given orders by the hand of Moses.
14 First the flag of the children of Judah went forward with their armies : and at the head of his army was Nahshon, the son of Amminadab.
15 And at the head of the army of the children of Issachar was Nethanel, the son of Zuar.
16 And at the head of the army of the children of Zebulun was Eliab, the son of Helon.
10:17 Then the House was taken down ; and the sons of Gershon and the sons of Merari, who were responsible for moving the House, went forward.
18 Then the flag of the children of Reuben went forward with their armies : and at the head of his army was Elizur, the son of Shedeur.
19 And at the head of the army of the children of Simeon was Shelumiel, the son of Zurishaddai.
20 At the head of the army of the children of Gad was Eliasaph, the son of Reuel.
10:21 Then the Kohathites went forward with the holy place ; the others put up the House ready for their coming.
22 Then the flag of the children of Ephraim went forward with their armies : and at the head of his army was Elishama, the son of Ammihud.
23 At the head of the army of the children of Manasseh was Gamaliel, the son of Pedahzur.
24 At the head of the army of the children of Benjamin was Abidan, the son of Gideoni.
10:25 And the flag of the children of Dan, whose tents were moved last of all, went forward with their armies : and at the head of his army was Ahiezer, the son of Ammishaddai.
26 At the head of the army of the children of Asher was Pagiel, the son of Ochran.
27 And at the head of the army of the children of Naphtali was Ahira, the son of Enan.
28 This was the order in which the children of Israel were journeying by armies ; so they went forward.
10:29 Then Moses said to Hobab, the son of his father-in-law Reuel the Midianite, We are journeying to that place of which the Lord has said, I will give it to you : so come with us, and it will be for your profit : for the Lord has good things in store for Israel.
30 But he said, I will not go with you, I will go back to the land of my birth and to my relations.
31 And he said, Do not go from us ; for you will be eyes for us, guiding us to the right places in the waste land to put up our tents.
32 And if you come with us, we will give you a part in whatever good the Lord does for us.
10:33 So they went forward three days' journey from the mountain of the Lord ; and the ark of the Lord's agreement went three days' journey before them, looking for a resting-place for them ;
34 And by day the cloud of the Lord went over them, when they went forward from the place where they had put up their tents.
10:35 And when the ark went forward Moses said, Come up, O Lord, and let the armies of those who are against you be broken, and let your haters go in flight before you.
36 And when it came to rest, he said, Take rest, O Lord, and give a blessing to the families of Israel.
NUMBERS, 11
The people want meat
11:1 Now the people were saying evil against the Lord; and the Lord, hearing it, was angry and sent fire on them, burning the outer parts of the tent-circle.
2 And the people made an outcry to Moses, and Moses made prayer to the Lord, and the fire was stopped.
3 So that place was named Taberah, because of the fire of the Lord which had been burning among them.
11:4 And the mixed band of people who went with them were overcome by desire : and the children of Israel, weeping again, said, Who will give us flesh for our food ?
5 Sweet is the memory of the fish we had in Egypt for nothing, and the fruit and green plants of every sort, sharp and pleasing to the taste :
6 But now our soul is wasted away ; there is nothing at all : we have nothing but this manna before our eyes.
11:7 Now the manna was like a seed of grain, like small clear drops.
8 The people went about taking it up from the earth, crushing it between stones or hammering it to powder, and boiling it in pots, and they made cakes of it : its taste was like the taste of cakes cooked with oil.
9 When the dew came down on the tents at night, the manna came down with it.
11:10 And at the sound of the people weeping, every man at his tent-door, the wrath of the Lord was great, and Moses was very angry.
11 And Moses said to the Lord, Why have you done me this evil ? and why have I not grace in your eyes, that you have put on me the care of all this people ?
12 Am I the father of all this people ? have I given them birth, that you say to me, Take them in your arms, like a child at the breast, to the land which you gave by an oath to their fathers ?
13 Where am I to get flesh to give to all this people ? For they are weeping to me and saying, Give us flesh for our food.
14 I am not able by myself to take the weight of all this people, for it is more than my strength.
15 If this is to be my fate, put me to death now in answer to my prayer, if I have grace in your eyes ; and let me not see my shame.
11:16 And the Lord said to Moses, Send for seventy of the responsible men of Israel, who are in your opinion men of weight and authority over the people ; make them come to the Tent of meeting and be there with you.
17 And I will come down and have talk with you there : and I will take some of the spirit which is on you and put it on them, and they will take part of the weight of the people off you, so that you do not have to take it by yourself.
18 And say to the people, Make yourselves clean before tomorrow and you will have flesh for your food : for in the ears of the Lord you have been weeping and saying, Who will give us flesh for food ? for we were well off in Egypt : and so the Lord will give you flesh, and it will be your food ;
19 Not for one day only, or even for five or ten or twenty days ;
20 But every day for a month, till you are tired of it, turning from it in disgust : because you have gone against the Lord who is with you, and have been weeping before him saying, Why did we come out of Egypt ?
21 Then Moses said, The people, among whom I am, are six hundred thousand men on foot ; and you have said, I will give them flesh to be their food for a month.
22 Are flocks and herds to be put to death for them ? or are all the fish in the sea to be got together so that they may be full ?
23 And the Lord said to Moses, Has the Lord's hand become short ? Now you will see if my word comes true for you or not.
11:24 And Moses went out and gave the people the words of the Lord : and he took seventy of the responsible men of the people, placing them round the Tent.
25 Then the Lord came down in the cloud and had talk with him, and put on the seventy men some of the spirit which was on him : now when the spirit came to rest on them, they were like prophets, but only at that time.
11:26 But two men were still in the tent-circle one of them named Eldad and the other Medad: and the spirit came to rest on them ; they were among those who had been sent for, but they had not gone out to the Tent : and the prophet's power came on them in the tent-circle.
27 And a young man went running to Moses and said, Eldad and Medad are acting as prophets in the tent-circle.
28 Then Joshua, the son of Nun, who had been Moses' servant from the time when he was a child, said, My lord Moses, let them be stopped.
29 And Moses said to him, Are you moved by envy on my account ? If only all the Lord's people were prophets, and the Lord might put his spirit on them !
30 Then Moses, with the responsible men of Israel, went back to the tent-circle.
11:31 Then the Lord sent a wind, driving little birds from the sea, so that they came down on the tents, and all round the tent-circle, about a day's journey on this side and on that, in masses about two cubits high over the face of the earth.
32 And all that day and all night and the day after, the people were taking up the birds ; the smallest amount which anyone got was ten homers : and they put them out all round the tents.
33 But while the meat was still between their teeth, before it was tasted, the wrath of the Lord was moved against the people and he sent a great outburst of disease on them.
34 So that place was named Kibroth-hattaavah ; because there they put in the earth the bodies of the people who had given way to their desires.
35 From Kibroth-hattaavah the people went on to Hazeroth ; and there they put up their tents.
NUMBERS, 12
Mariam and Aaron punished
12:1 Now Miriam and Aaron said evil against Moses, because of the Cushite woman to whom he was married, for he had taken a Cushite woman as his wife.
2 And they said, Have the words of the Lord been given to Moses only ? have they not come to us ? And the Lord took note of it.
3 Now the man Moses was more gentle than any other man on earth.
4 And suddenly the Lord said to Moses and Aaron and Miriam, Come out, you three, to the Tent of meeting. And the three of them went out.
5 And the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud, taking his place at the door of the Tent, and made Aaron and Miriam come before him.
6 And he said, Now give ear to my words: if there is a prophet among you I will give him knowledge of myself in a vision and will let my words come to him in a dream.
7 My servant Moses is not so ; he is true to me in all my house :
8 With him I will have talk mouth to mouth, openly and not in dark sayings ; and with his eyes he will see the form of the Lord : why then had you no fear of saying evil against my servant Moses ?
12:9 And burning with wrath against them, the Lord went away.
10 And the cloud was moved from over the Tent; and straight away Miriam became a leper, as white as snow : and Aaron, looking at Miriam, saw that she was a leper.
11 Then Aaron said to Moses, O my lord, let not our sin be on our heads, for we have done foolishly and are sinners.
12 Let her not be as one dead, whose flesh is half wasted when he comes out from the body of his mother.
13 And Moses, crying to the Lord, said, Let my prayer come before you, O God, and make her well.
14 And the Lord said to Moses, If her father had put a mark of shame on her, would she not be shamed for seven days ? Let her be shut up outside the tent-circle for seven days, and after that she may come in again.
15 So Miriam was shut up outside the tent-circle for seven days : and the people did not go forward on their journey till Miriam had come in again.
16 After that, the people went on from Hazeroth and put up their tents in the waste land of Paran.
NUMBERS, 13
Spys sent to Canaan
13:1 And the Lord said to Moses,
2 Send men to get knowledge about the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel ; from every tribe of their fathers you are to send a man, every one a chief among them.
3 And Moses sent them from the waste land of Paran as the Lord gave orders, all of them men who were heads of the children of Israel.
4 And these were their names : of the tribe of Reuben, Shammua, the son of Zaccur.
5 Of the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat, the son of Hori.
6 Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb, the son of Jephunneh.
7 Of the tribe of Issachar, Igal, the son of Joseph.
8 Of the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea, the son of Nun.
9 Of the tribe of Benjamin, Palti, the son of Raphu.
10 Of the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel, the son of Sodi.
11 Of the tribe of Joseph, that is of the family of Manasseh, Gaddi, the son of Susi.
12 Of the tribe of Dan, Ammiel, the son of Gemalli.
13 Of the tribe of Asher, Sethur, the son of Michael
14 Of the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi, the son of Vophsi.
15 Of the tribe of Gad, Gevel, the son of Machi.
16 These are the names of the men whom Moses sent to get knowledge about the land. And Moses gave to Hoshea, the son of Nun, the name of Joshua.
13:17 So Moses sent them to have a look at the land of Canaan, and said to them, Go up into the South and into the hill-country ;
18 And see what the land is like ; and if the people living in it are strong or feeble, small or great in number ;
19 And what sort of land they are living in, if it is good or bad ; and what their living-places are, tent-circles or walled towns ;
20 And if the land is fertile or poor, and if there is wood in it or not. And be of good heart, and come back with some of the produce of the land. Now it was the time when the first grapes were ready.
21 So they went up and got a view of the land, from the waste land of Zin to Rehob, on the way to Hamath.
22 They went up into the South and came to Hebron; and Ahiman and Sheshai and Talmai, the children of Anak, were living there. (Now the building of Hebron took place seven years before that of Zoan in Egypt.)
23 And they came to the valley of Eshcol, and cutting down a vine-branch with its grapes, two of them took it on a rod between them ; and they took some pomegranates and figs.
24 That place was named the valley of Eshcol because of the grapes which the children of Israel took from there.
13:25 At the end of forty days they came back from viewing the land.
26 And they came back to Moses and Aaron and all the children of Israel, to Kadesh in the waste land of Paran ; and gave an account to them and to all the people and let them see the produce of the land.
27 And they said, We came to the land where you sent us, and truly it is flowing with milk and honey : and here is some of the produce of it.
28 But the people living in the land are strong, and the towns are walled and very great; further, we saw the children of Anak there.
29 And the Amalekites are in the South; and the Hittites and the Jebusites and the Amorites are living in the hill-country ; and the Canaanites by the sea and by the side of Jordan.
30 Then Caleb made signs to the people to keep quiet, and said to Moses, Let us go up straight away and take this land ; for we are well able to overcome it.
31 But the men who had gone up with him said, We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.
32 And they gave the children of Israel a bad account of the land they had been to see, saying, This land through which we went is a land causing destruction to those living in it ; and all the people we saw there are men of more than common size.
33 There we saw those great men, the sons of Anak, offspring of the Nephilim: and we seemed to ourselves no more than insects, and so we seemed to them.
NUMBERS, 14
Moses' plea for the people
14:1 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 ?
14:4 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.
14:13 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.
14:20 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.
14:26 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.
14:36 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.
14:39 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.
NUMBERS, 15
Laws concerning offerings
15:1 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.
15:11 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.
15:17 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.
15:22 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.
15:27 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.
15:32 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.
15:37 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.
NUMBERS, 16
Korah's rebellion
16:1 Now 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 Pallu, the son of Reuben, made themselves ready,
16:2 And came before Moses, with certain of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty chiefs of the people, men of good name who had a place in the meeting of the people.
16:3 They came together against Moses and against Aaron, and said to them, You take overmuch on yourselves, seeing that all the people are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them ; why then have you put yourselves in authority over the people of the Lord?
16:4 And Moses, hearing this, went down on his face;
16:5 And he said to Korah and his band, In the morning the Lord will make clear who are his, and who is holy, and who may come near him : the man of his selection will be caused to come near him.
16:6 So do this : let Korah and all his band take vessels for burning perfumes ;
16:7 And put spices on the fire in them before the Lord tomorrow; then the man marked out by the Lord will be holy : you take overmuch on yourselves, you sons of Levi.
16:8 And Moses said to Korah, Give ear now, you sons of Levi :
16:9 Does it seem only a small thing to you that the God of Israel has made you separate from the rest of Israel, letting you come near himself to do the work of the House of the Lord, and to take your place before the people to do what has to be done for them ;
16:10 Letting you, and all your brothers the sons of Levi, come near to him ? and would you now be priests ?
16:11 So you and all your band have come together against the Lord ; and Aaron, who is he, that you are crying out against him ?
16:12 Then Moses sent for Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab : and they said, We will not come up :
16:13 Is it not enough that you have taken us from a land flowing with milk and honey, to put us to death in the waste land, but now you are desiring to make yourself a chief over us ?
16:14 And more than this, you have not taken us into a land flowing with milk and honey, or given us a heritage of fields and vine-gardens : will you put out the eyes of these men ? We will not come up.
16:15 Then Moses was very angry, and said to the Lord, Give no attention to their offering : not one of their asses have I taken, or done wrong to any of them.
16:16 And Moses said to Korah, You and all your band are to come before the Lord tomorrow, you and they and Aaron :
16:17 And let every man take a vessel for burning perfumes, and put sweet spices in them; let every man take his vessel before the Lord, two hundred and fifty vessels ; you and Aaron and everyone with his vessel.
16:18 So every man took his vessel and they put fire in them, with spices, and came to the door of the Tent of meeting with Moses and Aaron.
16:19 And Korah made all the people come together against them to the door of the Tent of meeting : and the glory of the Lord was seen by all the people.
16:20 And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron,
16:21 Come out from among this people, so that I may send sudden destruction on them.
16:22 Then falling down on their faces they said, O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, because of one man's sin will your wrath be moved against all the people ?
16:23 And the Lord said to Moses,
16:24 Say to the people, Come away from the tent of Korah Dathan, and Abiram.
16:25 So Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the responsible men of Israel went with him.
16:26 And he said to the people, Come away now from the tents of these evil men, without touching anything of theirs, or you may be taken in the punishment of their sins.
16:27 So on every side they went away from the tent of Korah Dathan, and Abiram : and Dathan and Abiram came out to the door of their tents, with their wives and their sons and their little ones.
16:28 And Moses said, Now you will see that the Lord has sent me to do all these works, and I have not done them of myself.
16:29 If these men have the common death of men, or if the natural fate of all men overtakes them, then the Lord has not sent me.
16:30 But if the Lord does something new, opening the earth to take them in, with everything which is theirs, and they go down living into the underworld, then it will be clear to you that the Lord has not been honoured by these men.
16:31 And while these words were on his lips, the earth under them was parted in two ;
16:32 And the earth, opening her mouth, took them in, with their families, and all the men who were joined to Korah, and their goods.
16:33 So they and all theirs went down living into the underworld, and the earth was shut over them, and they were cut off from among the meeting of the people.
16:34 And all Israel round about them went in flight at their cry, For fear, said they, that we go down into the heart of the earth.
16:35 Then fire came out from the Lord, burning up the two hundred and fifty men who were offering the perfume.
16:36 And the Lord said to Moses,
16:37 Say to Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, that he is to take out of the flames the vessels with the perfumes in them, turning the fire out of them, for they are holy ;
16:38 And let the vessels of those men, who with their lives have made payment for their sin, be hammered out into plates as a cover for the altar ; for they have been offered before the Lord and are holy ; so that they may be a sign to the children of Israel.
16:39 So Eleazar the priest took the brass vessels which had been offered by those who were burned up, and they were hammered out to make a cover for the altar :
16:40 To be a sign, kept in memory for ever by the children of Israel, that no man who is not of the seed of Aaron has the right of burning spices before the Lord, so that he may not be like Korah and his band : as the Lord said to him by the mouth of Moses.
16:41 But on the day after, all the children of Israel made an outcry against Moses and against Aaron, saying, You have put to death the Lord's people.
16:42 Now when the people had come together against Moses and Aaron, looking in the direction of the Tent of meeting, they saw the cloud covering it, and the glory of the Lord came before their eyes.
16:43 Then Moses and Aaron came to the front of the Tent of meeting.
16:44 And the Lord said to Moses,
16:45 Come out from among this people, so that I may send sudden destruction on them. And they went down on their faces.
16:46 And Moses said to Aaron, Take your vessel and put in it fire from the altar, and sweet spices, and take it quickly into the meeting of the people, and make them free from sin : for wrath has gone out from the Lord, and the disease is starting.
16:47 And at the words of Moses, Aaron took his vessel, and went running among the people ; and even then the disease had made a start among them ; and he put spices in his vessel to take away the sin of the people.
16:48 And he took his place between the dead and the living : and the disease was stopped.
16:49 Now fourteen thousand, seven hundred deaths were caused by that disease, in addition to those who came to their end because of what Korah had done.
16:50 Then Aaron went back to Moses to the door of the Tent of meeting : and the disease came to a stop.
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