Numbers 4:21-5:31

Tree of Life Version

Parashat Naso

²¹ Again Adonai spoke to Moses saying, ²² “Take a census also of the sons of Gershon, by their ancestral households and by their families. ²³ Count all the males from 30 to 50 years of age, everyone coming to work in the service of the Tent of Meeting. ²⁴ This is the task of the Gershonite families in working and carrying burdens. ²⁵ They are to carry the curtains of the Tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting, its covering, the outer covering of porpoise hide, the curtains for the entrance for the Tent of Meeting, ²⁶ the curtains surrounding the courtyard and the altar, the curtain for the entrance, the ropes and all the equipment used in its operations. They are to do all that needs to be done with these things.

²⁷ The sons of the Gershonites are to do all their tasks, whether carrying or doing other work, according to the word of Aaron and his sons. You are to assign to them all that is their responsibility to carry. ²⁸ This is the duty of the families of the sons of the Gershonites regarding the Tent of Meeting. Their duty will be under the direction of Ithamar son of Aaron the kohen.

²⁹ Next, count the sons of Merari, according to their families and their ancestral houses, ³⁰ sons 30 years old and upward to 50, everyone coming to work in the service of the Tent of Meeting. ³¹ This is their task in the service of the Tent of Meeting: the frames of the Tabernacle, its crossbars, posts and bases, ³² as well as the posts of the surrounding courtyard, plus their bases, tent pegs, ropes, and all their paraphernalia with everything related to their operation. Assign to them by name their duties and tasks. ³³ This is the service of the families of the sons of Merari as they work under the direction of Ithamar son of Aaron the kohen.”

³⁴ So Moses, Aaron and the princes of the community counted the sons of the Kohathites according to their families and their ancestral households. ³⁵ All the men who came to do the service of the Tent of Meeting, from 30 to 50 years of age, ³⁶ were counted by families—2,750. ³⁷ This was the total of those in the families of the Kohathites, every one serving in the Tent of Meeting—Moses and Aaron counted them according to the mouth of Adonai by Moses’s hand.

³⁸ The sons of Gershon were counted according to their families and their ancestral households. ³⁹ Males from 30 years old and upward to 50, all those coming into the work of the service of the Tent of Meeting, ⁴⁰ numbered according to their families and ancestral households 2,630. ⁴¹ These were those counted from the families of the sons of Gershon, each serving in the Tent of Meeting—Moses and Aaron counted according to the mouth of Adonai.

⁴² Those were counted from the families and ancestral households of the sons of Merari, ⁴³ from 30 years of age upward to 50, who came to the work of the service of the Tent of Meeting. ⁴⁴ Numbered by their families, they were 3,200. ⁴⁵ These were those numbered from the families of the sons of Merari by Moses and Aaron in accordance with the mouth of Adonai by Moses’s hand.

⁴⁶ Thus Moses, Aaron and the princes of Israel counted all the Levites by their families and by their ancestral houses. ⁴⁷ All the men from 30 to 50 years old who came to do the work of the service and of carrying the Tent of Meeting ⁴⁸ numbered 8,580.

⁴⁹ From the mouth of Adonai by Moses’s hand, each man was assigned his work and his burden to carry. So they were counted, as Adonai commanded Moses.

Purity in the Camp

5 Adonai spoke to Moses saying, ² “Command Bnei-Yisrael to send out from the camp everyone with tza’arat, who has some kind of discharge, or any contaminated by a dead body. ³ Whether male or female, you are to send them outside the camp so as not to defile the camp where I am dwelling among them.” ⁴ This Bnei-Yisrael did, sending them outside the camp. Just as Adonai spoke to Moses, so Bnei-Yisrael did.

⁵ Adonai spoke to Moses saying, ⁶ “Say to Bnei-Yisrael: Whenever a man or woman commits any sins against any person, thus breaking faith with Adonai, that soul bears guilt. ⁷ That person is to confess the sin he has committed, make full restitution for his wrong, add one fifth to it and give it to the one he wronged. ^{[a] 8} But if that person has no close relative to whom to pay the restitution, the restitution belongs to Adonai. It is to be given to the kohen along with the ram of atonement with which he is to make atonement for him.

⁹ “Every contribution from all the sacred things that Bnei-Yisrael brings to the kohen will belong to him. ¹⁰ Each one’s sacred holy gifts are his own, but whatever each man gives to the kohen belongs to that kohen.”

Jealousy Ritual

¹¹ Adonai spoke to Moses saying, ¹² “Speak to Bnei-Yisrael and say to them: Suppose some man’s wife goes astray and is unfaithful to him, ¹³ and another man has sexual relations with her, but it is hidden from her husband’s eyes and her impurity is not detected. Yet there was no witness against her and she was not caught in the act. ¹⁴ Then a spirit of jealousy overcomes him and he is suspicious of his wife, when she is impure. Or a spirit of jealousy overcomes him and he suspects his wife, yet she is not impure.

¹⁵ “Then he should take his wife to the kohen. He must also bring a tenth of an ephah of barley flour as an offering for her. He is not to pour oil or put incense on it, because it is an offering for jealousy, a reminder offering drawing attention to guiltiness.

¹⁶ “The kohen is to bring her near and have her stand before Adonai. ¹⁷ Then the kohen is to take some holy water in a clay jar and take some dust from the floor of the Tabernacle and put it into the water. ¹⁸ Then the kohen will have the woman stand before Adonai, loosen the woman’s hair, put into her hands the reminder offering, the offering for jealousy, while in the kohen’s own hands are the bitter waters that bring a curse. ¹⁹ Then the kohen will have her swear under oath, then say to the woman, ‘If no man other than your husband has slept with you, and if you have not gone astray into impurity from your husband, may this bitter water that brings a curse not harm you. ²⁰ If, however, you have gone astray from your husband and if you became impure and had sexual relations with a man other than your husband’— ²¹ Then the kohen is to have the woman swear under this oath of a curse, and say to the woman—‘then let Adonai cause you to be cursed and denounced among your people when Adonai causes your thigh to rot and your belly to swell. ²² “May this water which brings a curse enter your body and cause your belly to swell and your thigh to rot.’

“The woman is to say, ‘Amen, amen!’

²³ “Then the kohen is to write these curses on a scroll and wash them into the waters of bitterness. ²⁴ The kohen will then have the woman drink the bitter water bearing curses, so that the water of the curses of bitterness enters her. ²⁵ The kohen is to take the jealousy offering from the woman’s hand, wave the offering before Adonai and bring it to the altar. ²⁶ The kohen is to take a handful of the grain offering and burn it up in smoke on the altar as a memorial offering. The kohen will then have the woman drink the water.

²⁷ “When she is made to drink the water that carries the curse, if she has defiled herself and been unfaithful to her husband, it will enter her and cause bitterness—her abdomen will swell and her thigh will waste away. She will be accursed among her people. ²⁸ If, however, the woman has not defiled herself and is clean, she will be free from guilt and be able to have children.

²⁹ “This is the Torah regarding jealousy, when a woman goes astray from her husband and defiles herself, ³⁰ or when a spirit of jealousy comes over a man and he jealously suspects his wife. The kohen is to have her stand before Adonai and apply this entire Torah to her. ³¹ The husband will be free of guilt, but that woman will bear her guilt.”