The Oil for the Lamps

¹Then the LORD said to Moses,

²“Command the Israelites to bring you pure oil of pressed olives for the light, to keep the lamps burning continually.

³Outside the veil of the Testimonyin the Tent of Meeting, Aaron is to tend the lamps continually before the LORD from evening until morning. This is to be a permanent statute for the generations to come.

⁴He shall tend the lamps on the pure gold lampstand before the LORD continually.

The Showbread

⁵You are also to take fine flour and bake twelve loaves, using two-tenths of an ephah for each loaf,

⁶and set them in two rows—six per row—on the table of pure gold before the LORD.

⁷And you are to place pure frankincense near each row, so that it may serve as a memorial portion for the bread, a food offering to the LORD.

⁸Every Sabbath day the bread is to be set out before the LORD on behalf of the Israelites as a permanent covenant.

⁹It belongs to Aaron and his sons, who are to eat it in a holy place; for it is to him a most holy part of the food offerings to the LORD—his portion forever.”

Punishment for Blasphemy

¹⁰Now the son of an Israelite mother and an Egyptian father went out among the Israelites, and a fight broke out in the camp between him and an Israelite.

¹¹The son of the Israelite woman blasphemed the Name with a curse. So they brought him to Moses. (His mother’s name was Shelomith daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan.)

¹²They placed him in custody until the will of the LORD should be made clear to them.

¹³Then the LORD said to Moses,

¹⁴“Take the blasphemeroutside the camp, and have all who heard him lay their hands on his head; then have the whole assembly stone him.

¹⁵And you are to tell the Israelites, ‘If anyone curses his God, he shall bear the consequences of his sin.

¹⁶Whoever blasphemes the name of the LORD must surely be put to death; the whole assembly must surely stone him, whether he is a foreign resident or native; if he blasphemes the Name, he must be put to death.

An Eye for an Eye

¹⁷And if a man takes the life of anyone else, he must surely be put to death.

¹⁸Whoever kills an animal must make restitution—life for life.

¹⁹If anyone injures his neighbor, whatever he has done must be done to him:

²⁰fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth.Just as he injured the other person, the same must be inflicted on him.

²¹Whoever kills an animal must make restitution, but whoever kills a man must be put to death.

²²You are to have the same standard of law for the foreign resident and the native; for I am the LORD your God.’”

²³Then Moses spoke to the Israelites, and they took the blasphemer outside the camp and stoned him. So the Israelites did as the LORD had commanded Moses.

Korah’s Rebellion

¹Now Korah son of Izhar, the son of Kohath son of Levi, along with some Reubenites—Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth—conducted

²a rebellion against Moses, along with 250 men of Israel renowned as leaders of the congregation and representatives in the assembly.

³They came together against Moses and Aaron and told them, “You have taken too much upon yourselves!For everyone in the entire congregation is holy, and the LORD is in their midst. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the LORD?”

⁴When Moses heard this, he fell facedown.

⁵Then he said to Korah and all his followers, “Tomorrow morning the LORD will reveal who belongs to Himand who is holy, and He will bring that person near to Himself. The one He chooses He will bring near to Himself.

⁶You, Korah, and all your followers are to do as follows: Take censers,

⁷and tomorrow you are to place fire and incense in them in the presence of the LORD. Then the man the LORD chooses will be the one who is holy. It is you sons of Levi who have taken too much upon yourselves!”

⁸Moses also said to Korah, “Now listen, you sons of Levi!

⁹Is it not enough for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel and brought you near to Himself to perform the work at the LORD’s tabernacle, and to stand before the congregation to minister to them?

¹⁰He has brought you near, you and all your fellow Levites, but you are seeking the priesthood as well.

¹¹Therefore, it is you and all your followers who have conspired against the LORD! As for Aaron, who is he that you should grumble against him?”

¹²Then Moses summoned Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, but they said, “We will not come!

¹³Is it not enough that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness? Must you also appoint yourself as ruler over us?

¹⁴Moreover, you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey or given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you gouge out the eyes of these men? No, we will not come!”

¹⁵Then Moses became very angry and said to the LORD, “Do not regard their offering. I have not taken one donkey from them or mistreated a single one of them.”

¹⁶And Moses said to Korah, “You and all your followers are to appear before the LORD tomorrow—you and they and Aaron.

¹⁷Each man is to take his censer, place incense in it, and present it before the LORD—250 censers. You and Aaron are to present your censers as well.”

¹⁸So each man took his censer, put fire and incense in it, and stood with Moses and Aaron at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.

¹⁹When Korah had gathered his whole assembly against them at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, the glory of the LORD appeared to the whole congregation.

²⁰And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron,

²¹“Separate yourselves from this congregation so that I may consume them in an instant.”

²²But Moses and Aaron fell facedown and said, “O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, when one man sins, will You be angry with the whole congregation?”

Moses Separates the People

²³Then the LORD said to Moses,

²⁴“Tell the congregation to move away from the dwellings of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.”

²⁵So Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him.

²⁶And he warned the congregation, “Move away now from the tents of these wicked men. Do not touch anything that belongs to them, or you will be swept away because of all their sins.”

²⁷So they moved away from the dwellings of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Meanwhile, Dathan and Abiram had come out and stood at the entrances to their tents with their wives and children and infants.

The Earth Swallows Korah

²⁸Then Moses said, “This is how you will know that the LORD has sent me to do all these things, for it was not my own doing:

²⁹If these men die a natural death, or if they suffer the fate of all men, then the LORD has not sent me.

³⁰But if the LORD brings about something unprecedented, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them and all that belongs to them so that they go down alive into Sheol, then you will know that these men have treated the LORD with contempt.”

³¹As soon as Moses had finished saying all this, the ground beneath them split open,

³²and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their households—all Korah’s men and all their possessions.

³³They went down alive into Sheol with all they owned. The earth closed over them, and they vanished from the assembly.

³⁴At their cries, all the people of Israel who were around them fled, saying, “The earth may swallow us too!”

³⁵And fire came forth from the LORD and consumed the 250 men who were offering the incense.

The Censers Reserved for Holy Use

³⁶Then the LORD said to Moses,

³⁷“Tell Eleazar son of Aaron the priest to remove the censers from the flames and to scatter the coals far away, because the censers are holy.

³⁸As for the censers of those who sinned at the cost of their own lives, hammer them into sheets to overlay the altar, for these were presented before the LORD, and so have become holy. They will serve as a sign to the Israelites.”

³⁹So Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers brought by those who had been burned up, and he had them hammered out to overlay the altar,

⁴⁰just as the LORD commanded him through Moses. This was to be a reminder to the Israelites that no outsider who is not a descendant of Aaron should approach to offer incense before the LORD, lest he become like Korah and his followers.

Murmuring and Plague

⁴¹The next day the whole congregation of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron, saying, “You have killed the LORD’s people!”

⁴²But when the congregation gathered against them, Moses and Aaron turned toward the Tent of Meeting, and suddenly the cloud covered it and the glory of the LORD appeared.

⁴³Then Moses and Aaron went to the front of the Tent of Meeting,

⁴⁴and the LORD said to Moses,

⁴⁵“Get away from this congregation so that I may consume them in an instant.” And Moses and Aaron fell facedown.

⁴⁶Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer, place fire from the altar in it, and add incense. Go quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them, because wrath has come out from the LORD; the plague has begun.”

⁴⁷So Aaron took the censer as Moses had ordered and ran into the midst of the assembly. And seeing that the plague had begun among the people, he offered the incense and made atonement for the people.

⁴⁸He stood between the living and the dead, and the plague was halted.

⁴⁹But those who died from the plague numbered 14,700, in addition to those who had died on account of Korah.

⁵⁰Then Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, since the plague had been halted.

The Nazirite Vow

¹And the LORD said to Moses,

²“Speak to the Israelites and tell them that if a man or woman makes a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite,to separate himself to the LORD,

³he is to abstain from wine and strong drink. He must not drink vinegar made from wine or strong drink, and he must not drink any grape juice or eat fresh grapes or raisins.

⁴All the days of his separation, he is not to eat anything that comes from the grapevine, not even the seeds or skins.

⁵For the entire period of his vow of separation, no razor shall touch his head. He must be holy until the time of his separation to the LORD is complete; he must let the hair of his head grow long.

⁶Throughout the days of his separation to the LORD, he must not go near a dead body.

⁷Even if his father or mother or brother or sister should die, he is not to defile himself, because the symbol of consecration to his God is upon his head.

⁸Throughout the time of his separation, he is holy to the LORD.

⁹If someone suddenly dies in his presence and defiles his consecrated head of hair, he must shave his head on the day of his cleansing—the seventh day.

¹⁰On the eighth day he must bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons to the priest at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.

¹¹And the priest is to offer one as a sin offeringand the other as a burnt offering to make atonement for him, because he has sinned by being in the presence of the dead body. On that day he must consecrate his head again.

¹²He must rededicate his time of separation to the LORD and bring a year-old male lamb as a guilt offering. But the preceding days shall not be counted, because his separation was defiled.

¹³Now this is the law of the Nazirite when his time of separation is complete: He must be brought to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting,

¹⁴and he is to present an offering to the LORD of an unblemished year-old male lamb as a burnt offering, an unblemished year-old female lamb as a sin offering, and an unblemished ram as a peace offering—

¹⁵together with their grain offerings and drink offerings—and a basket of unleavened cakes made from fine flour mixed with oil and unleavened wafers coated with oil.

¹⁶The priest is to present all these before the LORD and make the sin offering and the burnt offering.

¹⁷He shall also offer the ram as a peace offering to the LORD, along with the basket of unleavened bread. And the priest is to offer the accompanying grain offering and drink offering.

¹⁸Then at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, the Nazirite is to shave his consecrated head, take the hair, and put it on the fire under the peace offering.

¹⁹And the priest is to take the boiled shoulder from the ram, one unleavened cake from the basket, and one unleavened wafer, and put them into the hands of the Nazirite who has just shaved the hair of his consecration.

²⁰The priest shall then wave them as a wave offering before the LORD. This is a holy portion for the priest, in addition to the breast of the wave offering and the thigh that was presented. After that, the Nazirite may drink wine.

²¹This is the law of the Nazirite who vows his offering to the LORD for his separation, in addition to whatever else he can afford; he must fulfill whatever vow he makes, according to the law of his separation.”

Aaron’s Blessing

²²Then the LORD said to Moses,

²³“Tell Aaron and his sons: This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them:

²⁴‘May the LORD bless youand keep you;

²⁵may the LORD cause His face to shine upon youand be gracious to you;

²⁶may the LORD lift up His countenance toward youand give you peace.’

²⁷So they shall put My name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.”

Give Thanks to the LORD, for He Is Good

¹Hallelujah!Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good;His loving devotion endures forever.

²Who can describe the mighty acts of the LORDor fully proclaim His praise?

³Blessed are those who uphold justice,who practice righteousness at all times.

⁴Remember me, O LORD, in Your favor to Your people;visit me with Your salvation,

⁵that I may see the prosperity of Your chosen ones,and rejoice in the gladness of Your nation,and give glory with Your inheritance.

⁶We have sinned like our fathers;we have done wrong and acted wickedly.

⁷Our fathers in Egypt did not grasp Your wondersor remember Your abundant kindness;but they rebelled by the sea,there at the Red Sea.

⁸Yet He saved them for the sake of His name,to make His power known.

⁹He rebuked the Red Sea, and it dried up;He led them through the depths as through a desert.

¹⁰He saved them from the hand that hated them;He redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.

¹¹The waters covered their foes;not one of them remained.

¹²Then they believed His promisesand sang His praise.

¹³Yet they soon forgot His worksand failed to wait for His counsel.

¹⁴They craved intensely in the wildernessand tested God in the desert.

¹⁵So He granted their request,but sent a wasting disease upon them.

¹⁶In the camp they envied Moses,as well as Aaron, the holy one of the LORD.

¹⁷The earth opened up and swallowed Dathan;it covered the assembly of Abiram.

¹⁸Then fire blazed through their company;flames consumed the wicked.

¹⁹At Horebthey made a calfand worshiped a molten image.

²⁰They exchanged their Gloryfor the image of a grass-eating ox.

²¹They forgot God their Savior,who did great things in Egypt,

²²wondrous works in the land of Ham,and awesome deeds by the Red Sea.

²³So He said He would destroy them—had not Moses His chosen onestood before Him in the breachto divert His wrath from destroying them.

²⁴They despised the pleasant land;they did not believe His promise.

²⁵They grumbled in their tentsand did not listen to the voice of the LORD.

²⁶So He raised His hand and sworeto cast them down in the wilderness,

²⁷to dispersetheir offspring among the nationsand scatter them throughout the lands.

²⁸They yoked themselves to Baal of Peorand ate sacrifices offered to lifeless gods.

²⁹So they provoked the LORD to anger with their deeds,and a plague broke out among them.

³⁰But Phinehas stood and intervened,and the plague was restrained.

³¹It was credited to him as righteousnessfor endless generations to come.

³²At the waters of Meribahthey angered the LORD,and trouble came to Moses because of them.

³³For they rebelled against His Spirit,and Moses spoke rashly with his lips.

³⁴They did not destroy the peoplesas the LORD had commanded them,

³⁵but they mingled with the nationsand adopted their customs.

³⁶They worshiped their idols,which became a snare to them.

³⁷They sacrificed their sonsand their daughters to demons.

³⁸They shed innocent blood—the blood of their sons and daughters,whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan,and the land was polluted with blood.

³⁹They defiled themselves by their actionsand prostituted themselves by their deeds.

⁴⁰So the anger of the LORD burned against His people,and He abhorred His own inheritance.

⁴¹He delivered them into the hand of the nations,and those who hated them ruled over them.

⁴²Their enemies oppressed themand subdued them under their hand.

⁴³Many times He rescued them,but they were bent on rebellionand sank down in their iniquity.

⁴⁴Nevertheless He heard their cry;He took note of their distress.

⁴⁵And He remembered His covenant with them,and relented by the abundance of His loving devotion.

⁴⁶He made them objects of compassionto all who held them captive.

⁴⁷Save us, O LORD our God,and gather us from the nations,that we may give thanks to Your holy name,that we may glory in Your praise.

⁴⁸Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel,from everlasting to everlasting.Let all the people say, “Amen!”Hallelujah!