Old/New Testament

Parashah 34: B’midbar (In the desert) 1:1–4:20

1 Adonai spoke to Moshe in the Sinai Desert, in the tent of meeting, on the first day of the second month of the second year after they had left the land of Egypt. He said, ² “Take a census of the entire assembly of the people of Isra’el, by clans and families. Record the names of all the men ³ twenty years old and over who are subject to military service in Isra’el. You and Aharon are to enumerate them company by company.

⁴ Take with you from each tribe someone who is head of a clan. ⁵ These are the men to take with you:

¹⁶ These were the ones called from the assembly, the chiefs of their fathers’ clans and heads of thousands in Isra’el. ¹⁷ So Moshe and Aharon took these men who had been designated by name; ¹⁸ and, on the first day of the second month, they gathered the whole assembly to state their genealogies by families and clans and recorded the names of all those twenty years old and over, as well as their total numbers. ¹⁹ Moshe counted them in the Sinai Desert, just as Adonai had ordered him.

(ii) ²⁰ The men twenty years old and over who were subject to military service were recorded by name, family and clan, starting with the descendants of Re’uven, Isra’el’s firstborn. Here are the totals:

⁴⁴ Moshe, Aharon and the twelve leaders of Isra’el, each from a clan, ⁴⁵ counted the people of Isra’el by their clans, those twenty years old and over, eligible for military service in Isra’el; ⁴⁶ and the grand total came to 603,550.

⁴⁷ But those who were L’vi’im, according to the clan of their fathers, were not counted in this census; ⁴⁸ because Adonai had told Moshe, ⁴⁹ “Do not include the clan of Levi when you take the census of the people of Isra’el. ⁵⁰ Instead, give the L’vi’im charge over the tabernacle of the testimony, its equipment and everything else connected with it. They are to carry the tabernacle and all its equipment, serve in it and set up their camp around it. ⁵¹ When the tabernacle is to be moved onward, it is the L’vi’im who are to take it down and set it up in the new location; anyone else who involves himself is to be put to death. ⁵² The rest of Isra’el are to set up camp, company by company, each man with his own banner. ⁵³ But the L’vi’im are to camp around the tabernacle of the testimony, so that no anger will come upon the assembly of the people of Isra’el. The L’vi’im are to be in charge of the tabernacle of the testimony.”

⁵⁴ This is what the people of Isra’el did — they did everything that Adonai had ordered Moshe.

2 (iii) Adonai said to Moshe and Aharon, ² “The people of Isra’el are to set up camp by clans, each man with his own banner and under his clan’s symbol; they are to camp around the tent of meeting, but at a distance.

^3-9 “Those camping on the east side toward the sunrise are to be under the banner of the camp of Y’hudah; they are to camp according to companies; by tribe and leader they are as follows:

“This group is to set out first.

^10-16 “Those camping on the south are to be under the banner of the camp of Re’uven; they are to camp according to companies; by tribe and leader they are as follows:

“This group is to set out second.

¹⁷ “Then the tent of meeting, with the camp of the L’vi’im, will set out, with the other camps in front and behind. They will go in the same order as their camps are set up — each man will go forward in his position, under his banner.

^18-24 “Those camping on the west are to be under the banner of the camp of Efrayim; they are to camp according to companies; by tribe and leader they are as follows:

“This group is to set out third.

^25-31 “Those camping on the north are to be under the banner of the camp of Dan; they are to camp according to companies; by tribe and leader they are as follows:

“This group is to set out last with their banners.”

³² These are the ones counted from the people of Isra’el by clans; the total number recorded in the camps, company by company, was 603,550. ³³ But, as Adonai ordered Moshe, the L’vi’im were not counted with the rest of Isra’el.

³⁴ The people of Isra’el did everything Adonai had ordered Moshe: they set up camp under their banners, and they set out, each according to his family and clan.

3 Yeshua went again into a synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. ² Looking for a reason to accuse him of something, people watched him carefully to see if he would heal him on Shabbat. ³ He said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Come up where we can see you!” ⁴ Then to them he said, “What is permitted on Shabbat? Doing good or doing evil? Saving life or killing?” But they said nothing. ⁵ Then, looking them over and feeling both anger with them and sympathy for them at the stoniness of their hearts, he said to the man, “Hold out your hand.” As he held it out, it became restored. ⁶ The P’rushim went out and immediately began plotting with some members of Herod’s party how to do away with him.

⁷ Yeshua went off with his talmidim to the lake, and great numbers followed him from the Galil. ⁸ When they heard what he was doing, great numbers also followed him from Y’hudah, Yerushalayim, Idumea, the territory beyond the Yarden, and the Tzor-Tzidon area. ⁹ He told his talmidim to have a boat ready for him, so that he could escape the crush of the crowd if necessary, ¹⁰ for he had healed many people, and all the sick kept pressing forward to touch him. ¹¹ Whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they would fall down in front of him and scream, “You are the Son of God!” ¹² But he warned them strictly not to make him known.

¹³ Then he went up into the hill country and summoned to himself those he wanted, and they came to him. ¹⁴ He appointed twelve to be with him, to be sent out to preach ¹⁵ and to have authority to expel demons:

¹⁶ Shim‘on, to whom he gave another name, “Kefa”;

¹⁷ Ya‘akov Ben-Zavdai and Yochanan, Ya‘akov’s brother — to them he gave the name “B’nei-Regesh” (that is, “Thunderers”);

¹⁸ Andrew, Philip, Bar-Talmai, Mattityahu, T’oma, Ya‘akov Ben-Halfai, Taddai, Shim‘on the Zealot,

¹⁹ and Y’hudah from K’riot, the one who betrayed him.

Then he entered a house;