Numbers 15
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 15
Additional Offerings. 1 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them: ‘When you come into the land of your dwelling that I will give you 3 and you make an offering by fire to the Lord, either a burnt offering or a sacrifice, whether to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering or on your appointed feast days, whether it be from the herd or the flock, in order to make a pleasing fragrance to the Lord, 4 then the person bringing his offering to the Lord should bring a cereal offering of a tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with a fourth of a hin of oil.[a] 5 With each burnt offering or sacrifice of a lamb you are to make a drink offering of a quarter of a hin of wine. 6 For a ram, you are to make a cereal offering of two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with a third of a hin of oil, 7 and for a drink offering you are to offer a third of a hin of wine, a pleasing fragrance to the Lord.
8 “ ‘When you prepare a young bull as a burnt offering or a sacrifice, whether to fulfill a vow or to make a peace offering to the Lord, 9 you will offer a cereal offering of three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour, mixed with half a hin of oil along with the young bull, 10 and you will bring a drink offering of half a hin of wine. It will be an offering made by fire, a pleasing fragrance to the Lord. 11 Each young bull or each ram, each lamb or each kid goat is to be prepared in this way. 12 Whatever number you prepare, you shall do this with each one.
13 “ ‘All who were born in the land will do things this way when they present an offering by fire, a pleasing fragrance to the Lord. 14 If there is a foreigner living among you or a person living among you for generations, and he wishes to make an offering by fire, a pleasing fragrance to the Lord, let him do it as you have done it. 15 For the community, there is one ordinance for you and for the foreigner living in your midst, it is a perpetual ordinance for all your generations. Thus, you and the foreigner are the same before the Lord. 16 The same laws and statutes apply to you and the foreigner who is living in your midst.’ ”
17 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 18 “Speak to the people of Israel and tell them, ‘When you enter into the land to which I am bringing you, 19 then when you eat the food of the land, you shall lift up an offering to the Lord. 20 You shall lift up a cake from the first[b] of your dough as an offering just as you present an offering from your threshing floor. 21 You shall give an offering to the Lord from the first of your dough for all your generations.
22 Atonement Offerings.“ ‘If by mistake you have not observed all the commandments that the Lord proclaimed through Moses, 23 all that the Lord commanded through Moses, from the day that the Lord gave the commandments and onward through all your generations, 24 this is what will be done: if the action was committed unintentionally and without the knowledge of the assembly, then the whole assembly is to offer up one young bull as a burnt offering, a pleasing fragrance to the Lord, along with its cereal and drink offerings, according to custom, as well as one kid goat as a sin offering. 25 The priest shall make atonement for the whole assembly of the people of Israel, and it will be forgiven them, for it was unintentional. They will have brought a sacrifice by fire to the Lord, a sin offering to the Lord for their mistake. 26 All of the assembly of the people of Israel and even the foreigner living among them shall be forgiven, for all the people participated in the mistake.
27 “ ‘If a person sins unintentionally, then he is to offer up a year-old she-goat as a sin offering. 28 The priest is to make atonement before the Lord for the one who has sinned unintentionally. When atonement has been made for him, he will be forgiven. 29 You shall have one law for those who sin unintentionally, whether they were born among the people of Israel or they are foreigners living in your midst.
30 “ ‘But if someone does anything defiantly, whether he be native born or a foreigner, then that person blasphemes the Lord and is to be cut off from among his people. 31 Because he has despised the word of the Lord and has broken his commandment, let that person be completely cut off, and let his guilt remain upon him.’ ”
32 Sabbath-breaker Punished.[c] Now, while the people of Israel were in the desert, they came upon a man gathering wood on the Sabbath. 33 Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron and to the whole assembly 34 and they put him under guard, for it had not yet been established what was to be done to him. 35 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Surely the man is to be put to death! Let the whole assembly stone him outside of the camp!” 36 So the whole assembly took him outside of the camp, and they stoned him to death, as the Lord had commanded Moses.
37 Tassels on Garments.[d] The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 38 “Speak to the people of Israel and tell them to have tassels on the corners of their garments throughout all their generations. Let them put a blue cord on the tassels of each corner. 39 When you look at the tassels, you will remember the commandments of the Lord and keep them. Thus you will not prostitute yourselves by following after the lusts in your own heart or your own eyes. 40 Then you will remember to obey all the commandments and you will be holy to your God. 41 I am the Lord, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord, your God.”
Footnotes
- Numbers 15:4 About four and a half liters of flour in about six and a half liters of oil.
- Numbers 15:20 Lift up a cake from the first: taking the first of the grain to make a cake for the Lord reflects the rule of firstfruits. Everything belongs to the Lord and the best is offered back to him in thanksgiving.
- Numbers 15:32 This fault is punished by death because it represents contempt of God, who has made his children a free people (Ex 20:8-11).
- Numbers 15:37 These tassels are not simply ornaments but a symbol that calls to mind the commandments of God. That is why Jews attach so much importance to them (Mt 9:20; 23:5).
Numbers 15
Tree of Life Version
Fragrant Aromas to Adonai
15 Again Adonai spoke to Moses saying, 2 “Speak to Bnei-Yisrael and say to them: When you enter the land that I am giving you where you will make your homes, 3 and you are presenting a fire offering to Adonai—a burnt offering or a sacrifice to mark fulfilling a vow, a freewill offering, or during moadim[a]—to present a pleasing aroma to Adonai, from the herd or from the flock, 4 the one bringing the offering is to present a grain offering of a tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with a fourth of a hin of oil.
5 “Now with each lamb for the burnt offering or sacrifice, you are to prepare a fourth of a hin of wine as a drink offering. 6 With a ram, you are to prepare two tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with a third of a hin of oil, 7 and a third of a hin of wine as a drink offering. You are to offer it as a pleasing aroma to Adonai.
8 “Whenever you are to prepare a young bull for a burnt offering, a special vow offering, or a fellowship offering to Adonai, 9 bring with the young bull a grain offering of three tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with half a hin of oil. 10 You are to also offer as the drink offering half a hin of wine as a fire offering, a pleasing aroma to Adonai. 11 This is to be done for each bull or ram, for each young goat or lamb. 12 Do this for each one, for as many as you prepare.
13 “Everyone native-born is to do these things like so when bringing a fire offering as a pleasant aroma to Adonai. 14 Whenever an outsider resides with you, or whoever is among you for your generations to come, and he is to present a fire offering as a fragrant aroma to Adonai, as you do, he must do exactly the same as you are doing.
15 “The community will have the same rule for you as well as for the resident outsider. It will be a lasting statute throughout your generations. As for you, so for the outsider will it be before Adonai. 16 The same Torah and the same regulations will apply to both you and the outsider residing among you.”
17 Adonai spoke to Moses saying, 18 “Speak to Bnei-Yisrael. Say to them: When you enter the land to which I am taking you, 19 and you eat some of the food of the land, you are to offer a portion to Adonai. 20 You are to offer a cake from the first of your ground-up meal as an offering from your threshing floor—so you are to lift it up. 21 Throughout your generations to come, you are to give this offering from the first of your ground-up meal.
Unintentional Versus Defiant Sin
22 “If you unintentionally fail, not keeping any of these mitzvot that Adonai related to Moses 23 —that is, anything that Adonai commanded you through Moses’s hand, from the day Adonai commanded and onward throughout your generations— 24 and it is done unintentionally out of sight of the community, then the entire community is to offer one young bull from the herd for a burnt offering as a pleasing aroma to Adonai, along with its appropriate grain offering and drink offering, and one male goat as a sin offering. 25 So the kohen will make atonement for the entire community of Bnei-Yisrael, and they will be forgiven, for it was unintentional and they brought a fire offering and their sin offering to Adonai for their error. 26 So the whole community of Bnei-Yisrael along with the outsider residing among them will be forgiven, for all the people were involved in unintentional wrongdoing.
27 “If but one person should sin unintentionally, he is to bring a year-old female goat for a sin offering. 28 The kohen is to make atonement before Adonai for that person who erred by sinning without intent, and he is to be forgiven when atonement has been made for him. 29 Whether a native-born of Bnei-Yisrael or an outsider living among them, one Torah applies to you for the one sinning unintentionally.
30 “But the person who sins defiantly, whether native or outsider, reviles Adonai and that person is to be cut off from his people. 31 Because he has despised the word of Adonai and has broken His commandment, that person will certainly be cut off—his guilt will remain on him.”
32 While Bnei-Yisrael were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering wood on the Shabbat.
33 Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses, Aaron and the entire assembly. 34 They kept him under arrest, not being clear what was to be done to him.
35 Adonai said to Moses, “The man has to die. The whole assembly is to stone him with stones outside the camp.” 36 So the whole assembly took him outside the camp. They stoned him with stones. He died just as Adonai commanded Moses.
Tzitzit for Holiness
37 Adonai spoke to Moses saying, 38 “Speak to Bnei-Yisrael. Say to them that they are to make for themselves tzitzit on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and they are to put a blue cord on each tzitzit. [b] 39 It will be your own tzitzit—so whenever you look at them, you will remember all the mitzvot of Adonai and do them and not go spying out after your own hearts and your own eyes, prostituting yourselves. 40 This way you will remember and obey all My mitzvot and you will be holy to your God. 41 I am Adonai your God. I brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God. I am Adonai your God.”
Footnotes
- Numbers 15:3 Moed: appointed times.
- Numbers 15:39 cf. Matt. 9:20.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.