The Lampstand

¹Then the LORD said to Moses,

²“Speak to Aaron and tell him: ‘When you set up the seven lamps, they are to light the area in front of the lampstand.’”

³And Aaron did so; he set up the lamps facing toward the front of the lampstand, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.

⁴This is how the lampstand was constructed: it was made of hammered gold from its base to its blossoms, fashioned according to the pattern the LORD had shown Moses.

Cleansing the Levites

⁵Again the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

⁶“Take the Levites from among the Israelites and make them ceremonially clean.

⁷This is what you must do to cleanse them: Sprinkle them with the water of purification. Have them shave their whole bodies and wash their clothes, and so purify themselves.

⁸Then have them take a young bull with its grain offering of fine flour mixed with oil, and you are to take a second young bull for a sin offering.

⁹Bring the Levites before the Tent of Meeting and assemble the whole congregation of Israel.

¹⁰You are to present the Levites before the LORD and have the Israelites lay their hands upon them.

¹¹Aaron is to present the Levites before the LORD as a wave offering from the sons of Israel, so that they may perform the service of the LORD.

¹²And the Levites are to lay their hands on the heads of the bulls, and offer to the LORD one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering, to make atonement for the Levites.

¹³You are to have the Levites stand before Aaron and his sons and then present them before the LORD as a wave offering.

¹⁴In this way you shall separate the Levites from the rest of the Israelites, and the Levites will belong to Me.

¹⁵After you have cleansed them and presented them as a wave offering, they may come to serve at the Tent of Meeting.

¹⁶For the Levites have been wholly given to Me from among the sons of Israel. I have taken them for Myself in place of all who come first from the womb, the firstborn of all the sons of Israel.

¹⁷For every firstborn male in Israel is Mine, both man and beast. I set them apart for Myself on the day I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt.

¹⁸But I have taken the Levites in place of all the firstborn among the sons of Israel.

¹⁹And I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and his sons from among the Israelites, to perform the service for the Israelites at the Tent of Meeting and to make atonement on their behalf, so that no plague will come against the Israelites when they approach the sanctuary.”

²⁰So Moses, Aaron, and the whole congregation of Israel did with the Levites everything that the LORD had commanded Moses they should do.

²¹The Levites purified themselves and washed their clothes, and Aaron presented them as a wave offering before the LORD. Aaron also made atonement for them to cleanse them.

²²After that, the Levites came to perform their service at the Tent of Meeting in the presence of Aaron and his sons. Thus they did with the Levites just as the LORD had commanded Moses.

Retirement for Levites

²³And the LORD said to Moses,

²⁴“This applies to the Levites: Men twenty-five years of age or older shall enter to perform the service in the work at the Tent of Meeting.

²⁵But at the age of fifty, they must retire from performing the work and no longer serve.

²⁶After that, they may assist their brothers in fulfilling their duties at the Tent of Meeting, but they themselves are not to do the work. This is how you are to assign responsibilities to the Levites.”

Laws about Offerings

¹Then the LORD said to Moses,

²“Speak to the Israelites and tell them: After you enter the land that I am giving you as a home

³and you present a food offering to the LORD from the herd or flock to produce a pleasing aroma to the LORD—either a burnt offering or a sacrifice, for a special vow or freewill offering or appointed feast—

⁴then the one presenting his offering to the LORD shall also present a grain offering of a tenth of an ephah of fine flourmixed with a quarter hin of olive oil.

⁵With the burnt offering or sacrifice of each lamb, you are to prepare a quarter hin of wine as a drink offering.

⁶With a ram you are to prepare a grain offering of two-tenths of an ephahof fine flour mixed with a third of a hin of olive oil,

⁷and a third of a hin of wine as a drink offering, a pleasing aroma to the LORD.

⁸When you prepare a young bull as a burnt offering or sacrifice to fulfill a vow or as a peace offering to the LORD,

⁹present with the bull a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of fine flourmixed with half a hin of olive oil.

¹⁰Also present half a hin of wine as a drink offering. It is a food offering, a pleasing aroma to the LORD.

¹¹This is to be done for each bull, ram, lamb, or goat.

¹²This is how you must prepare each one, no matter how many.

¹³Everyone who is native-born shall prepare these things in this way when he presents a food offering as a pleasing aroma to the LORD.

¹⁴And for the generations to come, if a foreigner residing with you or someone else among you wants to prepare a food offering as a pleasing aroma to the LORD, he is to do exactly as you do.

¹⁵The assembly is to have the same statute both for you and for the foreign resident; it is a permanent statute for the generations to come. You and the foreigner shall be the same before the LORD.

¹⁶The same law and the same ordinance will apply both to you and to the foreigner residing with you.”

¹⁷Then the LORD said to Moses,

¹⁸“Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When you enter the land to which I am bringing you

¹⁹and you eat the food of the land, you shall lift up an offering to the LORD.

²⁰From the first of your dough, you are to lift up a cake as a contribution; offer it just like an offering from the threshing floor.

²¹Throughout your generations, you are to give the LORD an offering from the first of your dough.

Offerings for Unintentional Sins

²²Now if you stray unintentionally and do not obey all these commandments that the LORD has spoken to Moses—

²³all that the LORD has commanded you through Moses from the day the LORD gave them and continuing through the generations to come—

²⁴and if it was done unintentionally without the knowledge of the congregation, then the whole congregation is to prepare one young bull as a burnt offering, a pleasing aroma to the LORD, with its grain offering and drink offering according to the regulation, and one male goat as a sin offering.

²⁵The priest is to make atonement for the whole congregation of Israel, so that they may be forgiven; for the sin was unintentional and they have brought to the LORD a food offering and a sin offering, presented before the LORD for their unintentional sin.

²⁶Then the whole congregation of Israel and the foreigners residing among them will be forgiven, since it happened to all the people unintentionally.

²⁷Also, if one person sins unintentionally, he is to present a year-old female goat as a sin offering.

²⁸And the priest shall make atonement before the LORD on behalf of the person who erred by sinning unintentionally; and when atonement has been made for him, he will be forgiven.

²⁹You shall have the same law for the one who acts in error, whether he is a native-born Israelite or a foreigner residing among you.

³⁰But the person who sins defiantly, whether a native or foreigner, blasphemes the LORD. That person shall be cut off from among his people.

³¹He shall certainly be cut off, because he has despised the word of the LORD and broken His commandment; his guilt remains on him.”

A Sabbath-Breaker Stoned

³²While the Israelites were in the wilderness, a man was found gathering wood on the Sabbath day.

³³Those who found the man gathering wood brought him to Moses, Aaron, and the whole congregation,

³⁴and because it had not been declared what should be done to him, they placed him in custody.

³⁵And the LORD said to Moses, “The man must surely be put to death. The whole congregation is to stone him outside the camp.”

³⁶So the whole congregation took the man outside the camp and stoned him to death, as the LORD had commanded Moses.

The Law of Tassels

³⁷And the LORD said to Moses,

³⁸“Speak to the Israelites and tell them that throughout the generations to come they are to make for themselves tassels for the corners of their garments, with a blue cord on each tassel.

³⁹These will serve as tassels for you to look at, so that you may remember all the commandments of the LORD, that you may obey them and not prostitute yourselves by following your own heart and your own eyes.

⁴⁰Then you will remember and obey all My commandments, and you will 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.”

The Boundaries of Canaan

¹Then the LORD said to Moses,

²“Command the Israelites and say to them: When you enter the land of Canaan, it will be allotted to you as an inheritance with these boundaries:

³Your southern border will extend from the Wilderness of Zin along the border of Edom. On the east, your southern border will run from the end of the Salt Sea,

⁴cross south of the Ascent of Akrabbim,continue to Zin, and go south of Kadesh-barnea. Then it will go on to Hazar-addar and proceed to Azmon,

⁵where it will turn from Azmon, join the Brook of Egypt, and end at the Sea.

⁶Your western border will be the coastline of the Great Sea; this will be your boundary on the west.

⁷Your northern border will run from the Great Sea directly to Mount Hor,

⁸and from Mount Hor to Lebo-hamath, then extend to Zedad,

⁹continue to Ziphron, and end at Hazar-enan. This will be your boundary on the north.

¹⁰And your eastern border will run straight from Hazar-enan to Shepham,

¹¹then go down from Shepham to Riblah on the east side of Ain and continue along the slopes east of the Sea of Chinnereth.

¹²Then the border will go down along the Jordan and end at the Salt Sea.This will be your land, defined by its borders on all sides.”

¹³So Moses commanded the Israelites, “Apportion this land by lot as an inheritance. The LORD has commanded that it be given to the nine and a half tribes.

¹⁴For the tribes of the Reubenites and Gadites, along with the half-tribe of Manasseh, have already received their inheritance.

¹⁵These two and a half tribes have received their inheritance across the Jordan from Jericho, toward the sunrise.”

Leaders to Divide the Land

¹⁶Then the LORD said to Moses,

¹⁷“These are the names of the men who are to assign the land as an inheritance for you: Eleazar the priest and Joshua son of Nun.

¹⁸Appoint one leader from each tribe to distribute the land.

¹⁹These are their names:Caleb son of Jephunneh from the tribe of Judah;

²⁰Shemuel son of Ammihud from the tribe of Simeon;

²¹Elidad son of Chislon from the tribe of Benjamin;

²²Bukki son of Jogli, a leader from the tribe of Dan;

²³Hanniel son of Ephod, a leader from the tribe of Manasseh son of Joseph;

²⁴Kemuel son of Shiphtan, a leader from the tribe of Ephraim;

²⁵Eli-zaphan son of Parnach, a leader from the tribe of Zebulun;

²⁶Paltiel son of Azzan, a leader from the tribe of Issachar;

²⁷Ahihud son of Shelomi, a leader from the tribe of Asher;

²⁸and Pedahel son of Ammihud, a leader from the tribe of Naphtali.”

²⁹These are the ones whom the LORD commanded to apportion the inheritance to the Israelites in the land of Canaan.

Sing for Joy to God Our Strength

¹Sing for joy to God our strength;make a joyful noise to the God of Jacob.

²Lift up a song, strike the tambourine,play the sweet-sounding harp and lyre.

³Sound the ram’s horn at the New Moon,and at the full moon on the day of our Feast.

⁴For this is a statute for Israel,an ordinance of the God of Jacob.

⁵He ordained it as a testimony for Josephwhen he went out over the land of Egypt,where I heard an unfamiliar language:

⁶“I relieved his shoulder of the burden;his hands were freed from the basket.

⁷You called out in distress, and I rescued you;I answered you from the cloud of thunder;I tested you at the waters of Meribah.Selah

⁸Hear, O My people, and I will warn you:O Israel, if only you would listen to Me!

⁹There must be no strange god among you,nor shall you bow to a foreign god.

¹⁰I am the LORD your God,who brought you up out of Egypt.Open wide your mouth,and I will fill it.

¹¹But My people would not listen to Me,and Israel would not obey Me.

¹²So I gave them up to their stubborn heartsto follow their own devices.

¹³If only My people would listen to Me,if Israel would follow My ways,

¹⁴how soon I would subdue their enemiesand turn My hand against their foes!

¹⁵Those who hate the LORD would feign obedience,and their doom would last forever.

¹⁶But I would feed you the finest wheat;with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”