The Silver Trumpets

10 The Lord said to Moses, ² “Make two trumpets of hammered silver to use for calling the people together and for breaking camp. ³ When long blasts are sounded on both trumpets, the whole community is to gather around you at the entrance to the Tent of my presence. ⁴ But when only one trumpet is sounded, then only the leaders of the clans are to gather around you. ⁵ When short blasts are sounded, the tribes camped on the east will move out. ⁶ When short blasts are sounded a second time, the tribes on the south will move out. So short blasts are to be sounded to break camp, ⁷ but in order to call the community together, long blasts are to be sounded. ⁸ The trumpets are to be blown by Aaron's sons, the priests.

“The following rule is to be observed for all time to come. ⁹ When you are at war in your land, defending yourselves against an enemy who has attacked you, sound the signal for battle on these trumpets. I, the Lord your God, will help you and save you from your enemies. ¹⁰ Also on joyful occasions—at your New Moon Festivals and your other religious festivals—you are to blow the trumpets when you present your burnt offerings and your fellowship offerings. Then I will help you. I am the Lord your God.”

The Israelites Break Camp

¹¹ On the twentieth day of the second month in the second year after the people left Egypt, the cloud over the Tent of the Lord's presence lifted, ¹² and the Israelites started on their journey out of the Sinai Desert. The cloud came to rest in the wilderness of Paran.

¹³ They began to march at the command of the Lord through Moses, ¹⁴ and each time they moved, they were in the same order. Those under the banner of the division led by the tribe of Judah started out first, company by company, with Nahshon son of Amminadab in command. ¹⁵ Nethanel son of Zuar was in command of the tribe of Issachar, ¹⁶ and Eliab son of Helon was in command of the tribe of Zebulun.

¹⁷ Then the Tent would be taken down, and the clans of Gershon and Merari, who carried it, would start out.

¹⁸ Next, those under the banner of the division led by the tribe of Reuben would start out, company by company, with Elizur son of Shedeur in command. ¹⁹ Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai was in command of the tribe of Simeon, ²⁰ and Eliasaph son of Deuel was in command of the tribe of Gad.

²¹ Then the Levite clan of Kohath would start out, carrying the sacred objects. By the time they arrived at the next camp, the Tent had been set up again.

²² Next, those under the banner of the division led by the tribe of Ephraim would start out, company by company, with Elishama son of Ammihud in command. ²³ Gamaliel son of Pedahzur was in command of the tribe of Manasseh, ²⁴ and Abidan son of Gideoni was in command of the tribe of Benjamin.

²⁵ Finally, those under the banner of the division led by the tribe of Dan, serving as the rear guard of all the divisions, would start out, company by company, with Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai in command. ²⁶ Pagiel son of Ochran was in command of the tribe of Asher, ²⁷ and Ahira son of Enan was in command of the tribe of Naphtali. ²⁸ This, then, was the order of march, company by company, whenever the Israelites broke camp and set out.

²⁹ Moses said to his brother-in-law Hobab son of Jethro the Midianite, “We are about to start out for the place which the Lord said he would give us. He has promised to make Israel prosperous, so come with us, and we will share our prosperity with you.”

³⁰ Hobab answered, “No, I am going back to my native land.”

³¹ “Please don't leave us,” Moses said. “You know where we can camp in the wilderness, and you can be our guide. ³² If you come with us, we will share with you all the blessings that the Lord gives us.”

The People Set Out

³³ When the people left Sinai, the holy mountain, they traveled three days. The Lord's Covenant Box always went ahead of them to find a place for them to camp. ³⁴ As they moved on from each camp, the cloud of the Lord was over them by day.

^35 (A)Whenever the Covenant Box started out, Moses would say, “Arise, Lord; scatter your enemies and put to flight those who hate you!” ³⁶ And whenever it stopped, he would say, “Return, Lord, to the thousands of families of Israel.”^[a]

The Place Named Taberah

11 The people began to complain to the Lord about their troubles. When the Lord heard them, he became angry and sent fire on the people. It burned among them and destroyed one end of the camp. ² The people cried out to Moses for help; he prayed to the Lord, and the fire died down. ³ So the place was named Taberah,^[b] because there the fire of the Lord burned among them.

Moses Chooses Seventy Leaders

⁴ There were foreigners traveling with the Israelites. They had a strong craving for meat, and even the Israelites themselves began to complain: “If only we could have some meat! ⁵ In Egypt we used to eat all the fish we wanted, and it cost us nothing. Remember the cucumbers, the watermelons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic we had? ⁶ But now our strength is gone. There is nothing at all to eat—nothing but this manna day after day!”

(^7 (B)Manna was like small seeds, whitish yellow in color. ^8-9 (C)It fell on the camp at night along with the dew. The next morning the people would go around and gather it, grind it or pound it into flour, and then boil it and make it into flat cakes. It tasted like bread baked with olive oil.)

¹⁰ Moses heard all the people complaining as they stood around in groups at the entrances of their tents. He was distressed because the Lord had become angry with them, ¹¹ and he said to the Lord, “Why have you treated me so badly? Why are you displeased with me? Why have you given me the responsibility for all these people? ¹² I didn't create them or bring them to birth! Why should you ask me to act like a nurse and carry them in my arms like babies all the way to the land you promised to their ancestors? ¹³ Where could I get enough meat for all these people? They keep whining and asking for meat. ¹⁴ I can't be responsible for all these people by myself; it's too much for me! ¹⁵ If you are going to treat me like this, have pity on me and kill me, so that I won't have to endure your cruelty any longer.”

¹⁶ The Lord said to Moses, “Assemble seventy respected men who are recognized as leaders of the people, bring them to me at the Tent of my presence, and tell them to stand there beside you. ¹⁷ I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take some of the spirit I have given you and give it to them. Then they can help you bear the responsibility for these people, and you will not have to bear it alone. ¹⁸ Now tell the people, ‘Purify yourselves for tomorrow; you will have meat to eat. The Lord has heard you whining and saying that you wished you had some meat and that you were better off in Egypt. Now the Lord will give you meat, and you will have to eat it. ¹⁹ You will have to eat it not just for one or two days, or five, or ten, or even twenty days, ²⁰ but for a whole month, until it comes out of your ears, until you are sick of it. This will happen because you have rejected the Lord who is here among you and have complained to him that you should never have left Egypt.’”

²¹ Moses said to the Lord, “Here I am leading 600,000 people, and you say that you will give them enough meat for a month? ²² Could enough cattle and sheep be killed to satisfy them? Are all the fish in the sea enough for them?”

²³ “Is there a limit to my power?” the Lord answered. “You will soon see whether what I have said will happen or not!”

²⁴ So Moses went out and told the people what the Lord had said. He assembled seventy of the leaders and placed them around the Tent. ²⁵ Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him. He took some of the spirit he had given to Moses and gave it to the seventy leaders. When the spirit came on them, they began to shout like prophets, but not for long.

²⁶ Two of the seventy leaders, Eldad and Medad, had stayed in the camp and had not gone out to the Tent. There in the camp the spirit came on them, and they too began to shout like prophets. ²⁷ A young man ran out to tell Moses what Eldad and Medad were doing.

²⁸ Then Joshua son of Nun, who had been Moses' helper since he was a young man, spoke up and said to Moses, “Stop them, sir!”

²⁹ Moses answered, “Are you concerned about my interests? I wish that the Lord would give his spirit to all his people and make all of them shout like prophets!” ³⁰ Then Moses and the seventy leaders of Israel went back to camp.

The Lord Sends Quails

³¹ Suddenly the Lord sent a wind that brought quails from the sea, flying three feet above the ground. They settled on the camp and all around it for miles and miles in every direction.^{[c] 32} So all that day, all night, and all the next day, the people worked catching quails; no one gathered less than fifty bushels. They spread them out to dry all around the camp. ³³ While there was still plenty of meat for them to eat, the Lord became angry with the people and caused an epidemic to break out among them. ³⁴ That place was named Kibroth Hattaavah (which means “Graves of Craving”), because there they buried the people who had craved meat.

³⁵ From there the people moved to Hazeroth, where they made camp.

Miriam Is Punished

12 Moses had married a Cushite^[d] woman, and Miriam and Aaron criticized him for it. ² They said, “Has the Lord spoken only through^[e] Moses? Hasn't he also spoken through^[f] us?” The Lord heard what they said. (^3 (D)Moses was a humble man, more humble than anyone else on earth.)

⁴ Suddenly the Lord said to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, “I want the three of you to come out to the Tent of my presence.” They went, ⁵ and the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud, stood at the entrance of the Tent, and called out, “Aaron! Miriam!” The two of them stepped forward, ⁶ and the Lord said, “Now hear what I have to say! When there are prophets among you,^[g] I reveal myself to them in visions and speak to them in dreams. ^7 (E)It is different when I speak with my servant Moses; I have put him in charge of all my people Israel.^{[h] 8} So I speak to him face-to-face, clearly and not in riddles; he has even seen my form! How dare you speak against my servant Moses?”

⁹ The Lord was angry with them; and so as he departed ¹⁰ and the cloud left the Tent, Miriam's skin was suddenly covered with a dreaded disease and turned as white as snow. When Aaron looked at her and saw that she was covered with the disease, ¹¹ he said to Moses, “Please, sir, do not make us suffer this punishment for our foolish sin. ¹² Don't let her become like something born dead with half its flesh eaten away.”

¹³ So Moses cried out to the Lord, “O God, heal her!”

^14 (F)The Lord answered, “If her father had spit in her face, she would have to bear her disgrace for seven days. So let her be shut out of the camp for a week, and after that she can be brought back in.” ¹⁵ Miriam was shut out of the camp for seven days, and the people did not move on until she was brought back in. ¹⁶ Then they left Hazeroth and set up camp in the wilderness of Paran.

The Spies^(G)

13 The Lord said to Moses, ² “Choose one of the leaders from each of the twelve tribes and send them as spies to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites.” ^3-15 Moses obeyed and from the wilderness of Paran he sent out leaders, as follows:

Tribe	Leader
Reuben	Shammua son of Zaccur
Simeon	Shaphat son of Hori
Judah	Caleb son of Jephunneh
Issachar	Igal son of Joseph
Ephraim	Hoshea son of Nun
Benjamin	Palti son of Raphu
Zebulun	Gaddiel son of Sodi
Manasseh	Gaddi son of Susi
Dan	Ammiel son of Gemalli
Asher	Sethur son of Michael
Naphtali	Nahbi son of Vophsi
Gad	Geuel son of Machi

¹⁶ These are the spies Moses sent to explore the land. He changed the name of Hoshea son of Nun to Joshua.

¹⁷ When Moses sent them out, he said to them, “Go north from here into the southern part of the land of Canaan and then on into the hill country. ¹⁸ Find out what kind of country it is, how many people live there, and how strong they are. ¹⁹ Find out whether the land is good or bad and whether the people live in open towns or in fortified cities. ²⁰ Find out whether the soil is fertile and whether the land is wooded. And be sure to bring back some of the fruit that grows there.” (It was the season when grapes were beginning to ripen.)

²¹ So the men went north and explored the land from the wilderness of Zin in the south all the way to Rehob, near Hamath Pass in the north. ²² They went first into the southern part of the land and came to Hebron, where the clans of Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the descendants of a race of giants called the Anakim, lived. (Hebron was founded seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) ²³ They came to Eshcol Valley, and there they cut off a branch which had one bunch of grapes on it so heavy that it took two men to carry it on a pole between them. They also brought back some pomegranates and figs. (²⁴ That place was named Eshcol^[i] Valley because of the bunch of grapes the Israelites cut off there.)

²⁵ After exploring the land for forty days, the spies returned ²⁶ to Moses, Aaron, and the whole community of Israel at Kadesh in the wilderness of Paran. They reported what they had seen and showed them the fruit they had brought. ²⁷ They told Moses, “We explored the land and found it to be rich and fertile; and here is some of its fruit. ²⁸ But the people who live there are powerful, and their cities are very large and well fortified. Even worse, we saw the descendants of the giants there. ²⁹ Amalekites live in the southern part of the land; Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites live in the hill country; and Canaanites live by the Mediterranean Sea and along the Jordan River.”

³⁰ Caleb silenced the people who were complaining against^[j] Moses, and said, “We should attack now and take the land; we are strong enough to conquer it.”

³¹ But the men who had gone with Caleb said, “No, we are not strong enough to attack them; the people there are more powerful than we are.” ³² So they spread a false report among the Israelites about the land they had explored. They said, “That land doesn't even produce enough to feed the people who live there. Everyone we saw was very tall, ^33 (H)and we even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak. We felt as small as grasshoppers, and that is how we must have looked to them.”

The People Complain

14 All night long the people cried out in distress. ² They complained against Moses and Aaron, and said, “It would have been better to die in Egypt or even here in the wilderness! ³ Why is the Lord taking us into that land? We will be killed in battle, and our wives and children will be captured. Wouldn't it be better to go back to Egypt?” ⁴ So they said to one another, “Let's choose a leader and go back to Egypt!”

⁵ Then Moses and Aaron bowed to the ground in front of all the people. ⁶ And Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, two of the spies, tore their clothes in sorrow ⁷ and said to the people, “The land we explored is an excellent land. ⁸ If the Lord is pleased with us, he will take us there and give us that rich and fertile land. ^9 (I)Do not rebel against the Lord and don't be afraid of the people who live there. We will conquer them easily. The Lord is with us and has defeated the gods who protected them; so don't be afraid.” ¹⁰ The whole community was threatening to stone them to death, but suddenly the people saw the dazzling light of the Lord's presence appear over the Tent.

Moses Prays for the People

¹¹ The Lord said to Moses, “How much longer will these people reject me? How much longer will they refuse to trust in me, even though I have performed so many miracles among them? ¹² I will send an epidemic and destroy them, but I will make you the father of a nation that is larger and more powerful than they are!”

^13 (J)But Moses said to the Lord, “You brought these people out of Egypt by your power. When the Egyptians hear what you have done to your people, ¹⁴ they will tell it to the people who live in this land. These people have already heard that you, Lord, are with us, that you appear in plain sight when your cloud stops over us, and that you go before us in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. ¹⁵ Now if you kill all your people, the nations who have heard of your fame will say ¹⁶ that you killed your people in the wilderness because you were not able to bring them into the land you promised to give them. ¹⁷ So now, Lord, I pray, show us your power and do what you promised when you said, ^18 (K)‘I, the Lord, am not easily angered, and I show great love and faithfulness and forgive sin and rebellion. Yet I will not fail to punish children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation for the sins of their parents.’ ¹⁹ And now, Lord, according to the greatness of your unchanging love, forgive, I pray, the sin of these people, just as you have forgiven them ever since they left Egypt.”

²⁰ The Lord answered, “I will forgive them, as you have asked. ^21 (L)But I promise that as surely as I live and as surely as my presence fills the earth, ²² none of these people will live to enter that land. They have seen the dazzling light of my presence and the miracles that I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, but they have tried my patience over and over again and have refused to obey me. ²³ They will never enter the land which I promised to their ancestors. None of those who have rejected me will ever enter it. ^24 (M)But because my servant Caleb has a different attitude and has remained loyal to me, I will bring him into the land which he explored, and his descendants will possess the land ²⁵ in whose valleys the Amalekites and the Canaanites now live. Turn back tomorrow and go into the wilderness in the direction of the Gulf of Aqaba.”

The Lord Punishes the People for Complaining

²⁶ The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ²⁷ “How much longer are these wicked people going to complain against me? I have heard enough of these complaints! ²⁸ Now give them this answer: ‘I swear that as surely as I live, I will do to you just what you have asked. I, the Lord, have spoken. ^29 (N)You will die and your corpses will be scattered across this wilderness. Because you have complained against me, none of you over twenty years of age will enter that land. ³⁰ I promised to let you live there, but not one of you will, except Caleb and Joshua. ³¹ You said that your children would be captured, but I will bring them into the land that you rejected, and it will be their home. ³² You will die here in this wilderness. ^33 (O)Your children will wander in the wilderness for forty years, suffering for your unfaithfulness, until the last one of you dies. ³⁴ You will suffer the consequences of your sin for forty years, one year for each of the forty days you spent exploring the land. You will know what it means to have me against you! ³⁵ I swear that I will do this to you wicked people who have gathered together against me. Here in the wilderness every one of you will die. I, the Lord, have spoken.’”

^36-37 The men Moses had sent to explore the land brought back a false report which caused the people to complain against the Lord. And so the Lord struck them with a disease, and they died. ³⁸ Of the twelve spies only Joshua and Caleb survived.

The First Attempt to Invade the Land^(P)

³⁹ When Moses told the Israelites what the Lord had said, they mourned bitterly. ⁴⁰ Early the next morning they started out to invade the hill country, saying, “Now we are ready to go to the place which the Lord told us about. We admit that we have sinned.”

⁴¹ But Moses said, “Then why are you disobeying the Lord now? You will not succeed! ⁴² Don't go. The Lord is not with you, and your enemies will defeat you. ⁴³ When you face the Amalekites and the Canaanites, you will die in battle; the Lord will not be with you, because you have refused to follow him.”

⁴⁴ Yet they still dared to go up into the hill country, even though neither the Lord's Covenant Box nor Moses left the camp. ⁴⁵ Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived there attacked and defeated them, and pursued them as far as Hormah.

Events at Kadesh^(A)

20 In the first month the whole community of Israel came to the wilderness of Zin and camped at Kadesh. There Miriam died and was buried.

^2 (B)There was no water where they camped, so the people gathered around Moses and Aaron ³ and complained: “It would have been better if we had died in front of the Lord's Tent along with the other Israelites. ⁴ Why have you brought us out into this wilderness? Just so that we can die here with our animals? ⁵ Why did you bring us out of Egypt into this miserable place where nothing will grow? There's no grain, no figs, no grapes, no pomegranates. There is not even any water to drink!” ⁶ Moses and Aaron moved away from the people and stood at the entrance of the Tent. They bowed down with their faces to the ground, and the dazzling light of the Lord's presence appeared to them.

⁷ The Lord said to Moses, ⁸ “Take the stick that is in front of the Covenant Box, and then you and Aaron assemble the whole community. There in front of them all speak to that rock over there, and water will gush out of it. In this way you will bring water out of the rock for the people, for them and their animals to drink.” ⁹ Moses went and got the stick, as the Lord had commanded.

¹⁰ He and Aaron assembled the whole community in front of the rock, and Moses said, “Listen, you rebels! Do we have to get water out of this rock for you?” ^11 (C)Then Moses raised the stick and struck the rock twice with it, and a great stream of water gushed out, and all the people and animals drank.

¹² But the Lord reprimanded Moses and Aaron. He said, “Because you did not have enough faith to acknowledge my holy power before the people of Israel, you will not lead them into the land that I promised to give them.”

¹³ This happened at Meribah,^[a] where the people of Israel complained against the Lord and where he showed them that he is holy.

The King of Edom Refuses to Let Israel Pass

¹⁴ Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom. They said, “This message is from your kinsmen, the tribes of Israel. You know the hardships we have suffered, ¹⁵ how our ancestors went to Egypt, where we lived many years. The Egyptians mistreated our ancestors and us, ¹⁶ and we cried to the Lord for help. He heard our cry and sent an angel, who led us out of Egypt. Now we are at Kadesh, a town at the border of your territory. ¹⁷ Please permit us to pass through your land. We and our cattle will not leave the road or go into your fields or vineyards, and we will not drink from your wells. We will stay on the main road^[b] until we are out of your territory.”

¹⁸ But the Edomites answered, “We refuse to let you pass through our country! If you try, we will march out and attack you.”

¹⁹ The people of Israel said, “We will stay on the main road, and if we or our animals drink any of your water, we will pay for it—all we want is to pass through.”

²⁰ The Edomites repeated, “We refuse!” and they marched out with a powerful army to attack the people of Israel. ²¹ Because the Edomites would not let the Israelites pass through their territory, the Israelites turned and went another way.

The Death of Aaron

²² The whole community of Israel left Kadesh and arrived at Mount Hor, ²³ on the border of Edom. There the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ²⁴ “Aaron is not going to enter the land which I promised to give to Israel; he is going to die, because the two of you rebelled against my command at Meribah. ²⁵ Take Aaron and his son Eleazar up Mount Hor, ²⁶ and there remove Aaron's priestly robes and put them on Eleazar. Aaron is going to die there.” ²⁷ Moses did what the Lord had commanded. They went up Mount Hor in the sight of the whole community, ^28 (D)and Moses removed Aaron's priestly robes and put them on Eleazar. There on the top of the mountain Aaron died, and Moses and Eleazar came back down. ²⁹ The whole community learned that Aaron had died, and they all mourned for him for thirty days.

Victory over the Canaanites

21 ^(E)When the Canaanite king of Arad in the southern part of Canaan heard that the Israelites were coming by way of Atharim, he attacked them and captured some of them. ² Then the Israelites made a vow to the Lord: “If you will let us conquer these people, we will unconditionally dedicate^[c] them and their cities to you and will destroy them.” ³ The Lord heard them and helped them conquer the Canaanites. So the Israelites completely destroyed them and their cities, and named the place Hormah.^[d]

The Snake Made of Bronze

^4 (F)The Israelites left Mount Hor by the road that leads to the Gulf of Aqaba, in order to go around the territory of Edom. But on the way the people lost their patience ^5 (G)and spoke against God and Moses. They complained, “Why did you bring us out of Egypt to die in this desert, where there is no food or water? We can't stand any more of this miserable food!” ⁶ Then the Lord sent poisonous snakes among the people, and many Israelites were bitten and died. ⁷ The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against the Lord and against you. Now pray to the Lord to take these snakes away.” So Moses prayed for the people. ⁸ Then the Lord told Moses to make a metal snake and put it on a pole, so that anyone who was bitten could look at it and be healed. ^9 (H)So Moses made a bronze snake and put it on a pole. Anyone who had been bitten would look at the bronze snake and be healed.

From Mount Hor to the Valley of the Moabites

¹⁰ The Israelites moved on and camped at Oboth. ¹¹ After leaving that place, they camped at the ruins of Abarim in the wilderness east of Moabite territory. ¹² Then they camped in Zered Valley. ¹³ From there they moved again and camped on the north side of the Arnon River, in the wilderness which extends into Amorite territory. (The Arnon was the border between the Moabites and the Amorites.) ¹⁴ That is why The Book of the Lord's Battles speaks of “… the town of Waheb in the area of Suphah, and the valleys; the Arnon River, ¹⁵ and the slope of the valleys that extend to the town of Ar and toward the border of Moab.”

¹⁶ From there they went on to a place called Wells, where the Lord said to Moses, “Bring the people together, and I will give them water.” ¹⁷ At that time the people of Israel sang this song:

They moved from the wilderness to Mattanah, ¹⁹ and from there they went on to Nahaliel, and from Nahaliel to Bamoth, ²⁰ and from Bamoth to the valley in the territory of the Moabites, below the top of Mount Pisgah, looking out over the desert.

Victory over King Sihon and King Og^(I)

²¹ Then the people of Israel sent messengers to the Amorite king Sihon to say: ²² “Let us pass through your land. We and our cattle will not leave the road and go into your fields or vineyards, and we will not drink water from your wells; we will stay on the main road^[e] until we are out of your territory.” ²³ But Sihon would not permit the people of Israel to pass through his territory. He gathered his army and went out to Jahaz in the wilderness and attacked the Israelites. ²⁴ But the Israelites killed many of the enemy in battle and occupied their land from the Arnon River north to the Jabbok, that is, to the Ammonites, because the Ammonite border was strongly defended.^{[f] 25} So the people of Israel captured all the Amorite cities, including Heshbon and all the surrounding towns, and settled in them. ²⁶ Heshbon was the capital city of the Amorite king Sihon, who had fought against the former king of Moab and had captured all his land as far as the Arnon River. ²⁷ That is why the poets sing,

³¹ So the people of Israel settled in the territory of the Amorites, ³² and Moses sent men to find the best way to attack the city of Jazer. The Israelites captured it and its surrounding towns and drove out the Amorites living there.

³³ Then the Israelites turned and took the road to Bashan, and King Og of Bashan marched out with his army to attack them at Edrei. ³⁴ The Lord said to Moses, “Do not be afraid of him. I will give you victory over him, all his people, and his land. Do to him what you did to Sihon, the Amorite king who ruled at Heshbon.” ³⁵ So the Israelites killed Og, his sons, and all his people, leaving no survivors, and then they occupied his land.

The People of Israel at Peor

25 When the Israelites were camped at Acacia Valley, the men began to have sexual intercourse with the Moabite women who were there. ² These women invited them to sacrificial feasts, where the god of Moab was worshiped. The Israelites ate the food and worshiped the god ³ Baal of Peor. So the Lord was angry with them ⁴ and said to Moses, “Take all the leaders of Israel and, in obedience to me, execute them in broad daylight,^[a] and then I will no longer be angry with the people.” ⁵ Moses said to the officials, “Each of you is to kill every man in your tribe who has become a worshiper of Baal of Peor.”

⁶ One of the Israelites took a Midianite woman into his tent in the sight of Moses and the whole community, while they were mourning at the entrance of the Tent of the Lord's presence. ⁷ When Phinehas, the son of Eleazar and grandson of Aaron the priest, saw this, he got up and left the assembly. He took a spear, ⁸ followed the man and the woman into the tent, and drove the spear through both of them. In this way the epidemic that was destroying Israel was stopped, ⁹ but it had already killed twenty-four thousand people.

¹⁰ The Lord said to Moses, ¹¹ “Because of what Phinehas has done, I am no longer angry with the people of Israel. He refused to tolerate the worship of any god but me, and that is why I did not destroy them in my anger. ¹² So tell him that I am making a covenant with him that is valid for all time to come. ¹³ He and his descendants are permanently established as priests, because he did not tolerate any rivals to me and brought about forgiveness for the people's sin.”

¹⁴ The name of the Israelite who was killed with the Midianite woman was Zimri son of Salu, the head of a family in the tribe of Simeon. ¹⁵ The woman's name was Cozbi. Zur, her father, was chief of a group of Midianite clans.

¹⁶ The Lord commanded Moses, ¹⁷ “Attack the Midianites and destroy them, ¹⁸ because of the evil they did to you when they deceived you at Peor, and because of Cozbi, who was killed at the time of the epidemic at Peor.”

The Daughters of Zelophehad

27 Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah were the daughters of Zelophehad son of Hepher, son of Gilead, son of Machir, son of Manasseh, son of Joseph. ² They went and stood before Moses, Eleazar the priest, the leaders, and the whole community at the entrance of the Tent of the Lord's presence and said, ³ “Our father died in the wilderness without leaving any sons. He was not among the followers of Korah, who rebelled against the Lord; he died because of his own sin. ⁴ Just because he had no sons, why should our father's name disappear from Israel? Give us property among our father's relatives.”

⁵ Moses presented their case to the Lord, ⁶ and the Lord said to him, ^7 (A)“What the daughters of Zelophehad request is right; give them property among their father's relatives. Let his inheritance pass on to them. ⁸ Tell the people of Israel that whenever a man dies without leaving a son, his daughter is to inherit his property. ⁹ If he has no daughter, his brothers are to inherit it. ¹⁰ If he has no brothers, his father's brothers are to inherit it. ¹¹ If he has no brothers or uncles, then his nearest relative is to inherit it and hold it as his own property. The people of Israel are to observe this as a legal requirement, just as I, the Lord, have commanded you.”

Joshua Is Chosen as Successor to Moses^(B)

^12 (C)The Lord said to Moses, “Go up the Abarim Mountains and look out over the land that I am giving to the Israelites. ¹³ After you have seen it, you will die, as your brother Aaron did, ¹⁴ because both of you rebelled against my command in the wilderness of Zin. When the whole community complained against me at Meribah, you refused to acknowledge my holy power before them.” (Meribah is the spring at Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.)

¹⁵ Moses prayed, ¹⁶ “Lord God, source of all life, appoint, I pray, a man who can lead the people ^17 (D)and can command them in battle, so that your community will not be like sheep without a shepherd.”

^18 (E)The Lord said to Moses, “Take Joshua son of Nun, a capable man, and place your hands on his head. ¹⁹ Have him stand in front of Eleazar the priest and the whole community, and there before them all proclaim him as your successor. ²⁰ Give him some of your own authority, so that the whole community of Israel will obey him. ^21 (F)He will depend on Eleazar the priest, who will learn my will by using the Urim and Thummim.^[a] In this way Eleazar will direct Joshua and the whole community of Israel in all their affairs.” ²² Moses did as the Lord had commanded him. He had Joshua stand before Eleazar the priest and the whole community. ^23 (G)As the Lord had commanded, Moses put his hands on Joshua's head and proclaimed him as his successor.

Introduction

1 In this book are the words that Moses spoke to the people of Israel when they were in the wilderness east of the Jordan River. They were in the Jordan Valley near Suph, between the town of Paran on one side and the towns of Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab on the other. (² It takes eleven days to travel from Mount Sinai to Kadesh Barnea by way of the hill country of Edom.) ³ On the first day of the eleventh month of the fortieth year after they had left Egypt, Moses told the people everything the Lord had commanded him to tell them. ^4 (A)This was after the Lord^[a] had defeated King Sihon of the Amorites, who ruled in the town of Heshbon, and King Og of Bashan, who ruled in the towns of Ashtaroth and Edrei. ⁵ It was while the people were east of the Jordan in the territory of Moab that Moses began to explain God's laws and teachings.

He said, ⁶ “When we were at Mount Sinai, the Lord our God said to us, ‘You have stayed long enough at this mountain. ⁷ Break camp and move on. Go to the hill country of the Amorites and to all the surrounding regions—to the Jordan Valley, to the hill country and the lowlands, to the southern region, and to the Mediterranean coast. Go to the land of Canaan and on beyond the Lebanon Mountains as far as the great Euphrates River. ⁸ All of this is the land which I, the Lord, promised to give to your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to their descendants. Go and occupy it.’”

Moses Appoints Judges^(B)

⁹ Moses said to the people, “While we were still at Mount Sinai, I told you, ‘The responsibility for leading you is too much for me. I can't do it alone. ¹⁰ The Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars in the sky. ¹¹ May the Lord, the God of your ancestors, make you increase a thousand times more and make you prosperous, as he promised! ¹² But how can I alone bear the heavy responsibility for settling your disputes? ¹³ Choose some wise, understanding, and experienced men from each tribe, and I will put them in charge of you.’ ¹⁴ And you agreed that this was a good thing to do. ¹⁵ So I took the wise and experienced leaders you chose from your tribes, and I placed them in charge of you. Some were responsible for a thousand people, some for a hundred, some for fifty, and some for ten. I also appointed other officials throughout the tribes.

¹⁶ “At that time I instructed them, ‘Listen to the disputes that come up among your people. Judge every dispute fairly, whether it concerns only your own people or involves foreigners who live among you. ¹⁷ Show no partiality in your decisions; judge everyone on the same basis, no matter who they are. Do not be afraid of anyone, for the decisions you make come from God. If any case is too difficult for you, bring it to me, and I will decide it.’ ¹⁸ At the same time I gave you instructions for everything else you were to do.

The Spies Are Sent Out from Kadesh Barnea^(C)

¹⁹ “We did what the Lord our God commanded us. We left Mount Sinai and went through that vast and fearful desert on the way to the hill country of the Amorites. When we reached Kadesh Barnea, ^20-21 I told you, ‘You have now come to the hill country of the Amorites, which the Lord our God, the God of our ancestors, is giving us. Look, there it is. Go and occupy it as he commanded. Do not hesitate or be afraid.’

²² “But you came to me and said, ‘Let's send men ahead of us to spy out the land, so that they can tell us the best route to take and what kind of cities are there.’

²³ “That seemed like a good thing to do, so I selected twelve men, one from each tribe. ²⁴ They went into the hill country as far as Eshcol Valley and explored it. ²⁵ They brought us back some fruit they found there, and reported that the land which the Lord our God was giving us was very fertile.

^26 (D)“But you rebelled against the command of the Lord your God, and you would not enter the land. ²⁷ You grumbled to one another: ‘The Lord hates us. He brought us out of Egypt just to hand us over to these Amorites, so that they could kill us. ²⁸ Why should we go there? We are afraid. The men we sent tell us that the people there are stronger and taller than we are, and that they live in cities with walls that reach the sky. They saw giants there!’

²⁹ “But I told you, ‘Don't be afraid of those people. ³⁰ The Lord your God will lead you, and he will fight for you, just as you saw him do in Egypt ^31 (E)and in the desert. You saw how he brought you safely all the way to this place, just as a father would carry his son.’ ^32 (F)But in spite of what I said, you still would not trust the Lord, ³³ even though he always went ahead of you to find a place for you to camp. To show you the way, he went in front of you in a pillar of fire by night and in a pillar of cloud by day.

The Lord Punishes Israel^(G)

^34 (H)“The Lord heard your complaints and became angry, and so he solemnly declared, ³⁵ ‘Not one of you from this evil generation will enter the fertile land that I promised to give your ancestors. ³⁶ Only Caleb son of Jephunneh will enter it. He has remained faithful to me, and I will give him and his descendants the land that he has explored.’ ³⁷ Because of you the Lord also became angry with me and said, ‘Not even you, Moses, will enter the land. ³⁸ But strengthen the determination of your helper, Joshua son of Nun. He will lead Israel to occupy the land.’

³⁹ “Then the Lord said to all of us, ‘Your children, who are still too young to know right from wrong, will enter the land—the children you said would be seized by your enemies. I will give the land to them, and they will occupy it. ⁴⁰ But as for you people, turn around and go back into the desert on the road to the Gulf of Aqaba.’

⁴¹ “You replied, ‘Moses, we have sinned against the Lord. But now we will attack, just as the Lord our God commanded us.’ Then each one of you got ready to fight, thinking it would be easy to invade the hill country.

⁴² “But the Lord said to me, ‘Warn them not to attack, for I will not be with them, and their enemies will defeat them.’ ⁴³ I told you what the Lord had said, but you paid no attention. You rebelled against him, and in your pride you marched into the hill country. ⁴⁴ Then the Amorites who lived in those hills came out against you like a swarm of bees. They chased you as far as Hormah and defeated you there in the hill country of Edom. ⁴⁵ So you cried out to the Lord for help, but he would not listen to you or pay any attention to you.

The Years in the Desert

⁴⁶ “So then, after we had stayed at Kadesh for a long time,

2 ^(I)we finally turned and went into the desert, on the road to the Gulf of Aqaba, as the Lord had commanded, and we spent a long time wandering about in the hill country of Edom.

² “Then the Lord told me ³ that we had spent enough time wandering about in those hills and that we should go north. ^4 (J)He told me to give you the following instructions ‘You are about to go through the hill country of Edom, the territory of your distant relatives, the descendants of Esau. They will be afraid of you, ⁵ but you must not start a war with them, because I am not going to give you so much as a square foot of their land. I have given Edom to Esau's descendants. ⁶ You may buy food and water from them.’

⁷ “Remember how the Lord your God has blessed you in everything that you have done. He has taken care of you as you wandered through this vast desert. He has been with you these forty years, and you have had everything you needed.

⁸ “So we moved on and left the road that goes from the towns of Elath and Eziongeber to the Dead Sea, and we turned northeast toward Moab. ^9 (K)The Lord said to me, ‘Don't trouble the people of Moab, the descendants of Lot, or start a war against them. I have given them the city of Ar, and I am not going to give you any of their land.’”

(¹⁰ A mighty race of giants called the Emim used to live in Ar. They were as tall as the Anakim, another race of giants. ¹¹ Like the Anakim they were also known as Rephaim; but the Moabites called them Emim. ¹² The Horites used to live in Edom, but the descendants of Esau chased them out, destroyed their nation, and settled there themselves, just as the Israelites later chased their enemies out of the land that the Lord gave them.)

¹³ “Then we crossed the Zered River as the Lord told us to do. ^14 (L)This was thirty-eight years after we had left Kadesh Barnea. All the fighting men of that generation had died, as the Lord had said they would. ¹⁵ The Lord kept on opposing them until he had destroyed them all.

¹⁶ “After they had all died, ¹⁷ the Lord said to us, ¹⁸ ‘Today you are to pass through the territory of Moab by way of Ar. ^19 (M)You will then be near the land of the Ammonites, the descendants of Lot. Don't trouble them or start a war against them, because I am not going to give you any of the land that I have given them.’”

(²⁰ This territory is also known as the land of the Rephaim, the name of the people who used to live there; the Ammonites called them Zamzummim. ²¹ They were as tall as the Anakim. There were many of them, and they were a mighty race. But the Lord destroyed them, so that the Ammonites took over their land and settled there. ²² The Lord had done the same thing for the Edomites, the descendants of Esau, who live in the hill country of Edom. He destroyed the Horites, so that the Edomites took over their land and settled there, where they still live. ²³ The land along the Mediterranean coast had been settled by people from the island of Crete. They had destroyed the Avvim, the original inhabitants, and had taken over all their land as far south as the city of Gaza.)

²⁴ “After we had passed through Moab, the Lord told us, ‘Now, start out and cross the Arnon River. I am placing in your power Sihon, the Amorite king of Heshbon, along with his land. Attack him, and begin occupying his land. ²⁵ From today on I will make people everywhere afraid of you. Everyone will tremble with fear at the mention of your name.’

Israel Defeats King Sihon^(N)

²⁶ “Then I sent messengers from the desert of Kedemoth to King Sihon of Heshbon with the following offer of peace: ²⁷ ‘Let us pass through your country. We will go straight through and not leave the road. ²⁸ We will pay for the food we eat and the water we drink. All we want to do is to pass through your country, ²⁹ until we cross the Jordan River into the land that the Lord our God is giving us. The descendants of Esau, who live in Edom, and the Moabites, who live in Ar, allowed us to pass through their territory.’

³⁰ “But King Sihon would not let us pass through his country. The Lord your God had made him stubborn and rebellious, so that we could defeat him and take his territory, which we still occupy.

³¹ “Then the Lord said to me, ‘Look, I have made King Sihon and his land helpless before you; take his land and occupy it.’ ³² Sihon came out with all his men to fight us near the town of Jahaz, ³³ but the Lord our God put him in our power, and we killed him, his sons, and all his men. ³⁴ At the same time we captured and destroyed every town, and put everyone to death, men, women, and children. We left no survivors. ³⁵ We took the livestock and plundered the towns. ³⁶ The Lord our God let us capture all the towns from Aroer, on the edge of the Arnon Valley, and the city in the middle of that valley, all the way to Gilead. No town had walls too strong for us. ³⁷ But we did not go near the territory of the Ammonites or to the banks of the Jabbok River or to the towns of the hill country or to any other place where the Lord our God had commanded us not to go.

Moses Urges Israel to Be Obedient

4 Then Moses said to the people, “Obey all the laws that I am teaching you, and you will live and occupy the land which the Lord, the God of your ancestors, is giving you. ^2 (A)Do not add anything to what I command you, and do not take anything away. Obey the commands of the Lord your God that I have given you. ^3 (B)You yourselves saw what the Lord did at Mount Peor. He destroyed everyone who worshiped Baal there, ⁴ but those of you who were faithful to the Lord your God are still alive today.

⁵ “I have taught you all the laws, as the Lord my God told me to do. Obey them in the land that you are about to invade and occupy. ⁶ Obey them faithfully, and this will show the people of other nations how wise you are. When they hear of all these laws, they will say, ‘What wisdom and understanding this great nation has!’

⁷ “No other nation, no matter how great, has a god who is so near when they need him as the Lord our God is to us. He answers us whenever we call for help. ⁸ No other nation, no matter how great, has laws so just as those that I have taught you today. ⁹ Be on your guard! Make certain that you do not forget, as long as you live, what you have seen with your own eyes. Tell your children and your grandchildren ¹⁰ about the day you stood in the presence of the Lord your God at Mount Sinai,^[a] when he said to me, ‘Assemble the people. I want them to hear what I have to say, so that they will learn to obey me as long as they live and so that they will teach their children to do the same.’

^11 (C)“Tell your children how you went and stood at the foot of the mountain which was covered with thick clouds of dark smoke and fire blazing up to the sky. ¹² Tell them how the Lord spoke to you from the fire, how you heard him speaking but did not see him in any form at all. ^13 (D)He told you what you must do to keep the covenant he made with you—you must obey the Ten Commandments, which he wrote on two stone tablets. ^14 (E)The Lord told me to teach you all the laws that you are to obey in the land that you are about to invade and occupy.

Warning against Idolatry

¹⁵ “When the Lord spoke to you from the fire on Mount Sinai, you did not see any form. For your own good, then, make certain ^16 (F)that you do not sin by making for yourselves an idol in any form at all—whether man or woman, ^17 (G)animal or bird, ¹⁸ reptile or fish. ¹⁹ Do not be tempted to worship and serve what you see in the sky—the sun, the moon, and the stars. The Lord your God has given these to all other peoples for them to worship. ^20 (H)But you are the people he rescued from Egypt, that blazing furnace. He brought you out to make you his own people, as you are today. ^21 (I)Because of you the Lord your God was angry with me and solemnly declared that I would not cross the Jordan River to enter the fertile land which he is giving you. ²² I will die in this land and never cross the river, but you are about to go across and occupy that fertile land. ²³ Be certain that you do not forget the covenant that the Lord your God made with you. Obey his command not to make yourselves any kind of idol, ^24 (J)because the Lord your God is like a flaming fire; he tolerates no rivals.

²⁵ “Even when you have been in the land a long time and have children and grandchildren, do not sin by making for yourselves an idol in any form at all. This is evil in the Lord's sight, and it will make him angry. ²⁶ I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that, if you disobey me, you will soon disappear from the land. You will not live very long in the land across the Jordan that you are about to occupy. You will be completely destroyed. ^27 (K)The Lord will scatter you among other nations, where only a few of you will survive. ²⁸ There you will serve gods made by human hands, gods of wood and stone, gods that cannot see or hear, eat or smell. ^29 (L)There you will look for the Lord your God, and if you search for him with all your heart, you will find him. ³⁰ When you are in trouble and all those things happen to you, then you will finally turn to the Lord and obey him. ³¹ He is a merciful God. He will not abandon you or destroy you, and he will not forget the covenant that he himself made with your ancestors.

³² “Search the past, the time before you were born, all the way back to the time when God created human beings on the earth. Search the entire earth. Has anything as great as this ever happened before? Has anyone ever heard of anything like this? ³³ Have any people ever lived after hearing a god speak to them from a fire, as you have? ³⁴ Has any god ever dared to go and take a people from another nation and make them his own, as the Lord your God did for you in Egypt? Before your very eyes he used his great power and strength; he brought plagues and war, worked miracles and wonders, and caused terrifying things to happen. ^35 (M)The Lord has shown you this, to prove to you that he alone is God and that there is no other. ³⁶ He let you hear his voice from heaven so that he could instruct you; and here on earth he let you see his holy fire, and he spoke to you from it. ³⁷ Because he loved your ancestors, he chose you, and by his great power he himself brought you out of Egypt. ³⁸ As you advanced, he drove out nations greater and more powerful than you, so that he might bring you in and give you their land, the land which still belongs to you. ³⁹ So remember today and never forget: the Lord is God in heaven and on earth. There is no other god. ⁴⁰ Obey all his laws that I have given you today, and all will go well with you and your descendants. You will continue to live in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to be yours forever.”

The Cities of Refuge East of the Jordan

^41 (N)Then Moses set aside three cities east of the Jordan River ⁴² to which a man could escape and be safe if he had accidentally killed someone who had not been his enemy. He could escape to one of these cities and not be put to death. ⁴³ For the tribe of Reuben there was the city of Bezer, on the desert plateau; for the tribe of Gad there was Ramoth, in the territory of Gilead; and for the tribe of Manasseh there was Golan, in the territory of Bashan.

Introduction to the Giving of God's Law

⁴⁴ Moses gave God's laws and teachings to the people of Israel. ^45-46 It was after they had come out of Egypt and were in the valley east of the Jordan River, opposite the town of Bethpeor, that he gave them these laws. This was in the territory that had belonged to King Sihon of the Amorites, who had ruled in the town of Heshbon. Moses and the people of Israel defeated him when they came out of Egypt. ⁴⁷ They occupied his land and the land of King Og of Bashan, the other Amorite king who lived east of the Jordan. ⁴⁸ This land extended from the town of Aroer, on the edge of the Arnon River, all the way north to Mount Sirion,^[b] that is, Mount Hermon. ⁴⁹ It also included all the region east of the Jordan River as far south as the Dead Sea and east to the foot of Mount Pisgah.

The Great Commandment

6 “These are all the laws that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you. Obey them in the land that you are about to enter and occupy. ² As long as you live, you and your descendants are to honor the Lord your God and obey all his laws that I am giving you, so that you may live in that land a long time. ³ Listen to them, people of Israel, and obey them! Then all will go well with you, and you will become a mighty nation and live in that rich and fertile land, just as the Lord, the God of our ancestors, has promised.

^4 (A)“Israel, remember this! The Lord—and the Lord alone—is our God.^{[a] 5 (B)}Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. ^6 (C)Never forget these commands that I am giving you today. ⁷ Teach them to your children. Repeat them when you are at home and when you are away, when you are resting and when you are working. ⁸ Tie them on your arms and wear them on your foreheads as a reminder. ⁹ Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates.

Warning against Disobedience

^10 (D)“Just as the Lord your God promised your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, he will give you a land with large and prosperous cities which you did not build. ¹¹ The houses will be full of good things which you did not put in them, and there will be wells that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive orchards that you did not plant. When the Lord brings you into this land and you have all you want to eat, ¹² make certain that you do not forget the Lord who rescued you from Egypt, where you were slaves. ^13 (E)Honor the Lord your God, worship only him, and make your promises in his name alone. ¹⁴ Do not worship other gods, any of the gods of the peoples around you. ¹⁵ If you do worship other gods, the Lord's anger will come against you like fire and will destroy you completely, because the Lord your God, who is present with you, tolerates no rivals.

^16 (F)“Do not put the Lord your God to the test, as you did at Massah. ¹⁷ Be sure that you obey all the laws that he has given you. ¹⁸ Do what the Lord says is right and good, and all will go well with you. You will be able to take possession of the fertile land that the Lord promised your ancestors, ¹⁹ and you will drive out your enemies, as he promised.

²⁰ “In times to come your children will ask you, ‘Why did the Lord our God command us to obey all these laws?’ ²¹ Then tell them, ‘We were slaves of the king of Egypt, and the Lord rescued us by his great power. ²² With our own eyes we saw him work miracles and do terrifying things to the Egyptians and to their king and to all his officials. ²³ He freed us from Egypt to bring us here and give us this land, as he had promised our ancestors he would. ²⁴ Then the Lord our God commanded us to obey all these laws and to honor him. If we do, he will always watch over our nation and keep it prosperous. ²⁵ If we faithfully obey everything that God has commanded us, he will be pleased with us.’^[b]