Day 37: Numbers 4-6
The Duties of the Levites, Purity in the Camp, and the Priestly Blessing
Numbers 4
1 Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, 2 “Take a census of the sons of Kohath from among the sons of Levi, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, 3 from thirty years old and upward even to fifty years old, all who enter into the service, to do the work in the Tent of Meeting.
4 “This is the service of the sons of Kohath in the Tent of Meeting, regarding the most holy things. 5 When the camp moves forward, Aaron shall go in with his sons, and shall take down the veil of the screen, and cover the ark of the covenant with it. 6 They shall lay a covering of sealskin on it, and shall spread a cloth all of blue on it, and shall put in its poles.
7 “On the table of showbread they shall spread a cloth of blue, and put on it the dishes, the spoons, the bowls, and the cups for pouring out. The continual bread shall be on it. 8 They shall spread on them a scarlet cloth, cover the same with a covering of sealskin, and shall put in its poles.
9 “They shall take a blue cloth, and cover the lampstand of the light, its lamps, its snuffers, its snuff dishes, and all its oil vessels, with which they minister to it. 10 They shall put it and all its vessels within a covering of sealskin, and shall put it on the frame.
11 “On the golden altar they shall spread a blue cloth, cover it with a covering of sealskin, and shall put in its poles.
12 “They shall take all the vessels of ministry with which they minister in the sanctuary, and put them in a blue cloth, and cover them with a covering of sealskin, and shall put them on the frame.
13 “They shall take away the ashes from the altar, and spread a purple cloth on it. 14 They shall put on it all its vessels with which they minister about it, the fire pans, the forks, the shovels, and the basins, all the vessels of the altar; and they shall spread on it a covering of sealskin, and put in its poles.
15 “When Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary, and all the furnishings of the sanctuary, as the camp moves forward, afterward the sons of Kohath shall come to carry them; but they shall not touch the sanctuary, lest they die. These things are the burden of the sons of Kohath in the Tent of Meeting.
16 “The duty of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest shall be the oil for the light, the sweet incense, the continual meal offering, and the anointing oil, the responsibility of all the tabernacle, and of all that is in it, with the sanctuary and its furnishings.”
17 Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, 18 “Don’t cut off the tribe of the families of the Kohathites from among the Levites; 19 but thus do to them, that they may live, and not die, when they approach the most holy things. Aaron and his sons shall go in and appoint them everyone to his service and to his burden; 20 but they shall not go in to see the sanctuary even for a moment, lest they die.”
21 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 22 “Take a census of the sons of Gershon also, by their fathers’ houses, by their families; 23 from thirty years old and upward even to fifty years old you shall count them, all who enter in to wait on service, to do service in the Tent of Meeting.
24 “This is the service of the families of the Gershonites, in serving and in bearing burdens: 25 they shall bear the curtains of the tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting, its covering, the covering of sealskin that is above it, the screen for the door of the Tent of Meeting, 26 the hangings of the court, the screen for the door of the gate of the court, which is around the tabernacle and the altar, their cords, all the instruments of their service, and whatever is to be done with them. Therein shall they serve. 27 At the commandment of Aaron and his sons shall be all the service of the sons of the Gershonites, in all their burden and in all their service; and you shall appoint to them in charge all their burden. 28 This is the service of the families of the sons of the Gershonites in the Tent of Meeting. Their duty shall be under the hand of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.
29 “As for the sons of Merari, you shall count them by their families, by their fathers’ houses. 30 From thirty years old and upward even to fifty years old you shall count them, everyone who enters into the service, to do the work of the Tent of Meeting.
31 “This is the duty of their burden, according to all their service in the Tent of Meeting: the tabernacle’s boards, its bars, its pillars, its sockets, 32 the pillars of the court around it, their sockets, their pins, their cords, all their instruments, and all their service. By name you shall appoint the instruments of the duty of their burden. 33 This is the service of the families of the sons of Merari, according to all their service in the Tent of Meeting, under the hand of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.”
34 Moses and Aaron and the princes of the congregation counted the sons of the Kohathites by their families, and by their fathers’ houses, 35 from thirty years old and upward even to fifty years old, everyone who entered into the service, for work in the Tent of Meeting. 36 Those who were counted of them by their families were two thousand seven hundred fifty. 37 These were those who were counted of the families of the Kohathites, everyone who served in the Tent of Meeting, whom Moses and Aaron counted according to Yahweh’s commandment by Moses.
38 Those who were counted of the sons of Gershon by their families, and by their fathers’ houses, 39 from thirty years old and upward even to fifty years old, everyone who entered into the service, for work in the Tent of Meeting, 40 those who were counted of them by their families, by their fathers’ houses, were two thousand six hundred thirty. 41 These are those who were counted of the families of the sons of Gershon, everyone who served in the Tent of Meeting, whom Moses and Aaron counted according to Yahweh’s commandment.
42 Those who were counted of the families of the sons of Merari, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, 43 from thirty years old and upward even to fifty years old, everyone who entered into the service, for work in the Tent of Meeting, 44 those who were counted of them by their families were three thousand two hundred. 45 These are those who were counted of the families of the sons of Merari, whom Moses and Aaron counted according to Yahweh’s commandment by Moses.
46 All those who were counted of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron and the princes of Israel counted by their families, and by their fathers’ houses, 47 from thirty years old and upward even to fifty years old, everyone who entered in to do the work of service, and the work of bearing burdens in the Tent of Meeting, 48 those who were counted of them were eight thousand five hundred eighty. 49 According to Yahweh’s commandment they were counted by Moses, each according to his service, and according to his burden. Thus they were counted by him, as Yahweh commanded Moses.
Numbers 5
1 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Command the children of Israel, that they put out of the camp everyone who is leprous, and everyone who has a discharge, and whoever is unclean by a corpse. 3 You shall put both male and female outside of the camp, that they not defile their camp, in the midst of which I dwell.”
4 The children of Israel did so, and put them outside of the camp. As Yahweh spoke to Moses, so the children of Israel did.
5 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 6 “Speak to the children of Israel, ‘When a man or woman commits any sin that men commit, so as to trespass against Yahweh, and that person is guilty, 7 then he shall confess his sin which he has done. He shall make restitution in full for his wrong, and add a fifth part to it, and give it to him in respect of whom he has been guilty. 8 But if the man has no near kinsman to whom restitution may be made for the wrong, the restitution for the wrong shall be to Yahweh, even to the priest, besides the ram of the atonement, by which atonement shall be made for him.
9 “ ‘Every heave offering of all the holy things of the children of Israel, which they present to the priest, shall be his. 10 Every man’s holy things shall be his; whatever any man gives the priest, it shall be his.’”
11 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 12 “Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘If any man’s wife goes astray, and commits a trespass against him, 13 and a man lies with her carnally, and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband, and she is defiled, and there is no witness against her, neither is she taken in the act; 14 and the spirit of jealousy comes on him, and he is jealous of his wife, and she is defiled; or if the spirit of jealousy comes on him, and he is jealous of his wife, and she is not defiled: 15 then the man shall bring his wife to the priest, and shall bring her offering for her, one tenth of an ephah of barley meal. He shall pour no oil on it, nor put frankincense on it; for it is a meal offering of jealousy, a meal offering of memorial, bringing iniquity to memory.
16 “ ‘The priest shall bring her near, and set her before Yahweh. 17 The priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel; and the priest shall take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle, and put it into the water. 18 The priest shall set the woman before Yahweh, and let the hair of the woman’s head go loose, and put the meal offering of memorial in her hands, which is the meal offering of jealousy. The priest shall have in his hand the water of bitterness that brings a curse.
19 The priest shall cause her to swear, and shall tell the woman, “If no man has lain with you, and if you have not gone aside to uncleanness, being under your husband, be free from this water of bitterness that brings a curse. 20 But if you have gone aside, being under your husband, and if you are defiled, and some man has lain with you besides your husband”— 21 then the priest shall cause the woman to swear with the oath of cursing, and the priest shall tell the woman—“Yahweh make you a curse and an oath among your people, when Yahweh makes your thigh fall away, and your body swell; 22 and this water that brings a curse shall go into your bowels, and make your body swell, and your thigh fall away.”
The woman shall say, “Amen, Amen.”
23 “ ‘The priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall blot them out into the water of bitterness. 24 He shall make the woman drink the water of bitterness that brings a curse; and the water that brings a curse shall enter into her and become bitter. 25 The priest shall take the meal offering of jealousy out of the woman’s hand, and shall wave the meal offering before Yahweh, and bring it to the altar. 26 The priest shall take a handful of the meal offering as its memorial portion, and burn it on the altar, and afterward shall make the woman drink the water. 27 When he has made her drink the water, then, if she is defiled and has committed a trespass against her husband, the water that brings a curse shall enter into her and become bitter, and her body shall swell, and her thigh shall fall away. The woman shall be a curse among her people.
28 “ ‘If the woman isn’t defiled, but is clean, then she shall be free, and shall conceive offspring.
29 “ ‘This is the law of jealousy, when a wife, being under her husband, goes aside, and is defiled; 30 or when the spirit of jealousy comes on a man, and he is jealous of his wife; then he shall set the woman before Yahweh, and the priest shall execute on her all this law. 31 The man shall be free from iniquity, and that woman shall bear her iniquity.’”
Numbers 6
1 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘When either man or woman shall vow a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to separate himself to Yahweh, 3 he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink. He shall drink no vinegar made from wine or from strong drink, neither shall he drink any juice of grapes, nor eat fresh grapes or dried. 4 All the days of his separation he shall eat nothing that is made of the grapevine, from the seeds even to the skins.
5 “ ‘All the days of his vow of separation no razor shall come on his head. Until the days are fulfilled in which he separates himself to Yahweh, he shall be holy. He shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow long.
6 “ ‘All the days that he separates himself to Yahweh he shall not go near a dead body. 7 He shall not make himself unclean for his father, or for his mother, for his brother, or for his sister, when they die; because his separation to God is on his head. 8 All the days of his separation he is holy to Yahweh.
9 “ ‘If any man dies very suddenly beside him, and he defiles the head of his separation, then he shall shave his head on the day of his cleansing. He shall shave it on the seventh day. 10 On the eighth day he shall bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons to the priest, to the door of the Tent of Meeting. 11 The priest shall offer one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering, and make atonement for him, because he sinned by reason of the dead, and he shall make holy his head that same day.
12 He shall separate to Yahweh the days of his separation, and shall bring a male lamb a year old for a trespass offering. But the former days shall be void, because his separation was defiled.
13 “ ‘This is the law of the Nazirite: when the days of his separation are fulfilled, he shall be brought to the door of the Tent of Meeting, 14 and he shall offer his offering to Yahweh, one male lamb a year old without defect for a burnt offering, one ewe lamb a year old without defect for a sin offering, one ram without defect for peace offerings, 15 a basket of unleavened bread, cakes of fine flour mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil, and their meal offering, and their drink offerings.
16 The priest shall present them before Yahweh, and shall offer his sin offering, and his burnt offering. 17 He shall offer the ram for a sacrifice of peace offerings to Yahweh, with the basket of unleavened bread. The priest shall offer also its meal offering and its drink offering.
18 The Nazirite shall shave the head of his separation at the door of the Tent of Meeting, and shall take the hair of the head of his separation, and put it on the fire which is under the sacrifice of peace offerings.
19 The priest shall take the boiled shoulder of the ram, one unleavened cake out of the basket, and one unleavened wafer, and shall put them on the hands of the Nazirite, after he has shaved the head of his separation; 20 and the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before Yahweh. They are holy for the priest, together with the breast that is waved and the thigh that is offered. After that the Nazirite may drink wine.
21 “ ‘This is the law of the Nazirite who vows, and of his offering to Yahweh for his separation, in addition to that which his hand is able to get. According to the vow which he vows, so he must do according to the law of his separation.’”
22 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 23 “Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying, ‘This is how you shall bless the children of Israel. You shall tell them,
24 Yahweh bless you,
and keep you.
25 Yahweh make his face to shine on you,
and be gracious to you.
26 Yahweh lift up his face toward you,
and give you peace.’
27 “So they shall put my name on the children of Israel; and I will bless them.”
Scripture: World English Bible (WEB), public domain.
