Numbers 20

²¹So they went up and spied out the land from the Wilderness of Zin as far as Rehob, toward Lebo-hamath.

²⁰Then Miriam the prophetess, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women followed her with tambourines and dancing.

³⁶They set out from Ezion-geber and camped at Kadesh in the Wilderness of Zin.

⁵⁹and Amram’s wife was named Jochebed. She was also a daughter of Levi, born to Levi in Egypt. To Amram she bore Aaron, Moses, and their sister Miriam.

¹⁴for when the congregation contended in the Wilderness of Zin, both of you rebelled against My command to show My holiness in their sight regarding the waters.” Those were the waters of Meribah in Kadesh, in the Wilderness of Zin.

¹Then Miriam and Aaron criticized Moses because of the Cushite woman he had married, for he had taken a Cushite wife.

¹⁹When Korah had gathered his whole assembly against them at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, the glory of the Lord appeared to the whole congregation.

⁴²But when the congregation gathered against them, Moses and Aaron turned toward the Tent of Meeting, and suddenly the cloud covered it and the glory of the Lord appeared.

²³And when they came to Marah, they could not drink the water there because it was bitter. (That is why it was named Marah.)

²⁴So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What are we to drink?”

¹²“I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them, ‘At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.’”

³They came together against Moses and Aaron and told them, “You have taken too much upon yourselves! For everyone in the entire congregation is holy, and the Lord is in their midst. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?”

⁵and spoke against God and against Moses: “Why have you led us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread or water, and we detest this wretched food!”

²So the people contended with Moses, “Give us water to drink.” “Why do you contend with me?” Moses replied. “Why do you test the Lord?”

³¹As soon as Moses had finished saying all this, the ground beneath them split open,

³²and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their households—all Korah’s men and all their possessions.

¹Then the whole congregation lifted up their voices and cried out, and that night the people wept.

²All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt, or if only we had died in this wilderness!

²And there in the desert the whole congregation of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron.

³“If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in the land of Egypt!” they said. “There we sat by pots of meat and ate our fill of bread, but you have brought us into this desert to starve this whole assembly to death!”

³³But while the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the anger of the Lord burned against the people, and the Lord struck them with a severe plague.

³⁴So they called that place Kibroth-hattaavah, because there they buried the people who had craved other food.

⁴⁹But those who died from the plague numbered 14,700, in addition to those who had died on account of Korah.

³But the people thirsted for water there, and they grumbled against Moses: “Why have you brought us out of Egypt—to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?”

²¹They forgot God their Savior, who did great things in Egypt,

¹¹They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us into the wilderness to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt?

¹²Did we not say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone so that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”

⁴¹The next day the whole congregation of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron, saying, “You have killed the Lord’s people!”

⁵We remember the fish we ate freely in Egypt, along with the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic.

¹³Is it not enough that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness? Must you also appoint yourself as ruler over us?

¹⁴Moreover, you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey or given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you gouge out the eyes of these men? No, we will not come!”

¹⁴Moreover, you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey or given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you gouge out the eyes of these men? No, we will not come!”

⁶They did not ask, ‘Where is the Lord who brought us up from the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and pits, a land of drought and darkness, a land where no one travels and no one lives?’

³⁶Just as I entered into judgment with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will enter into judgment with you, declares the Lord God.

²“Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem that this is what the Lord says: ‘I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed Me in the wilderness, in a land not sown.

²¹For forty years You sustained them in the wilderness, so that they lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell.

¹⁵He led you through the vast and terrifying wilderness with its venomous snakes and scorpions, a thirsty and waterless land. He brought you water from the rock of flint.

⁵Then Moses and Aaron fell facedown before the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel.

²²But Moses and Aaron fell facedown and said, “O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, when one man sins, will You be angry with the whole congregation?”

¹⁹When Korah had gathered his whole assembly against them at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, the glory of the Lord appeared to the whole congregation.

⁴When Moses heard this, he fell facedown.

⁴⁵“Get away from this congregation so that I may consume them in an instant.” And Moses and Aaron fell facedown.

³They surround me with hateful words and attack me without cause.

⁴In return for my love they accuse me, but I am a man of prayer.

¹⁷But take this staff in your hand so you can perform signs with it.”

²⁰The beasts of the field will honor Me, the jackals and the ostriches, because I provide water in the wilderness and rivers in the desert, to give drink to My chosen people.

⁵And the Lord said to Moses, “Walk on ahead of the people and take some of the elders of Israel with you. Take along in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go.

⁶Behold, I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. And when you strike the rock, water will come out of it for the people to drink.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel.

¹⁷The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” Let the one who hears say, “Come!” And let the one who is thirsty come, and the one who desires the water of life drink freely.

²⁴Until now you have not asked for anything in My name. Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.

²¹They did not thirst when He led them through the deserts; He made water flow for them from the rock; He split the rock, and water gushed out.

¹⁰The Lord said to Moses, “Put Aaron’s staff back in front of the Testimony, to be kept as a sign for the rebellious, so that you may put an end to their grumbling against Me, lest they die.”

³²At the waters of Meribah they angered the Lord, and trouble came to Moses because of them.

³³For they rebelled against His Spirit, and Moses spoke rashly with his lips.

²We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to control his whole body.

²²But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ will be subject to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be subject to the fire of hell.

¹⁶“I myself cannot do it,” Joseph replied, “but God will give Pharaoh a sound answer.”

⁵⁴When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do You want us to call down fire from heaven to consume them?”

⁵⁵But Jesus turned and rebuked them.

²⁴You have been rebelling against the Lord since the day I came to know you.

⁴and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.

⁶Behold, I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. And when you strike the rock, water will come out of it for the people to drink.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel.

¹⁵He led you through the vast and terrifying wilderness with its venomous snakes and scorpions, a thirsty and waterless land. He brought you water from the rock of flint.

⁸“Take the staff and assemble the congregation. You and your brother Aaron are to speak to the rock while they watch, and it will pour out its water. You will bring out water from the rock and provide drink for the congregation and their livestock.”

¹⁶He brought streams from the stone and made water flow down like rivers.

⁵I knew you in the wilderness, in the land of drought.

³⁷The Lord was also angry with me on your account, and He said, “Not even you shall enter the land.

¹⁴for when the congregation contended in the Wilderness of Zin, both of you rebelled against My command to show My holiness in their sight regarding the waters.” Those were the waters of Meribah in Kadesh, in the Wilderness of Zin.

²³I will show the holiness of My great name, which has been profaned among the nations—the name you have profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when I show My holiness in you before their eyes.

²⁴“Aaron will be gathered to his people; he will not enter the land that I have given the Israelites, because both of you rebelled against My command at the waters of Meribah.

²³At that time I also pleaded with the Lord:

²⁴“O Lord God, You have begun to show Your greatness and power to Your servant. For what god in heaven or on earth can perform such works and mighty acts as Yours?

⁴⁹“Go up into the Abarim Range to Mount Nebo, in the land of Moab across from Jericho, and view the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites as their own possession.

⁵⁰And there on the mountain that you climb, you will die and be gathered to your people, just as your brother Aaron died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people.

⁸do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, in the day at Massah in the wilderness,

⁷He named the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarreled, and because they tested the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

⁸Concerning Levi he said: “Give Your Thummim to Levi and Your Urim to Your godly one, whom You tested at Massah and contested at the waters of Meribah.

⁵¹For at the waters of Meribah-kadesh in the Wilderness of Zin, both of you broke faith with Me among the Israelites by failing to treat Me as holy in their presence.

³²At the waters of Meribah they angered the Lord, and trouble came to Moses because of them.

³³For they rebelled against His Spirit, and Moses spoke rashly with his lips.

¹⁶But the Lord of Hosts will be exalted by His justice, and the holy God will show Himself holy in righteousness.

¹⁶But when Israel came up out of Egypt, they traveled through the wilderness to the Red Sea and came to Kadesh.

¹⁷Then Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, ‘Please let us pass through your land,’ but the king of Edom would not listen. They also sent messengers to the king of Moab, but he would not consent. So Israel stayed in Kadesh.

⁷Do not despise an Edomite, for he is your brother. Do not despise an Egyptian, because you lived as a foreigner in his land.

³Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom.

⁴He instructed them, “You are to say to my master Esau, ‘Your servant Jacob says: I have been staying with Laban and have remained there until now.

⁴and command the people: ‘You will pass through the territory of your brothers, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. They will be afraid of you, so you must be very careful.

⁵Do not provoke them, for I will not give you any of their land, not even a footprint, because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as his possession.

¹⁰Because of the violence against your brother Jacob, you will be covered with shame and cut off forever.

¹¹On the day you stood aloof while strangers carried off his wealth and foreigners entered his gate and cast lots for Jerusalem, you were just like one of them.

³¹These are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before any king reigned over the Israelites:

³²Bela son of Beor reigned in Edom; the name of his city was Dinhabah.

⁶They also took the livestock and possessions they had acquired in the land of Canaan, and Jacob and all his offspring went to Egypt.

⁶But the Egyptians mistreated us and afflicted us, putting us to hard labor.

⁴⁰Now the duration of the Israelites’ stay in Egypt was 430 years.

¹⁵So Jacob went down to Egypt, where he and our fathers died.

¹³Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years.

¹⁴Then the Israelite foremen, whom Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over the people, were beaten and asked, “Why have you not fulfilled your quota of bricks yesterday or today, as you did before?”

¹⁹And the angel of God, who had gone before the camp of Israel, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from before them and stood behind them,

²And I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.

²⁰Behold, I am sending an angel before you to protect you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared.

²There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from within a bush. Moses saw the bush ablaze with fire, but it was not consumed.

³So Moses thought, “I must go over and see this marvelous sight. Why is the bush not burning up?”

²³After a long time, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned and cried out under their burden of slavery, and their cry for deliverance from bondage ascended to God.

²⁴So God heard their groaning, and He remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

⁵Furthermore, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered My covenant.

²⁷“Let us pass through your land; we will stay on the main road. We will not turn to the right or to the left.

¹Then we turned back and headed for the wilderness by way of the Red Sea, as the Lord had instructed me, and for many days we wandered around Mount Seir.

²At this time the Lord said to me,

¹When the Canaanite king of Arad, who lived in the Negev, heard that Israel was coming along the road to Atharim, he attacked Israel and captured some prisoners.

²²“Let us pass through your land. We will not turn aside into any field or vineyard, or drink water from any well. We will stay on the King’s Highway until we have passed through your territory.”

²³But Sihon would not let Israel pass through his territory. Instead, he gathered his whole army and went out to confront Israel in the wilderness. When he came to Jahaz, he fought against Israel.

²⁹just as the descendants of Esau who live in Seir and the Moabites who live in Ar did for us, until we cross the Jordan into the land that the Lord our God is giving us.”

²⁸You can sell us food to eat and water to drink in exchange for silver. Only let us pass through on foot,

⁶You are to pay them in silver for the food you eat and the water you drink.’”

³⁸And a mixed multitude also went up with them, along with great droves of livestock, both flocks and herds.

¹¹This is what the Lord says: “For three transgressions of Edom, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because he pursued his brother with the sword and stifled all compassion; his anger raged continually, and his fury flamed incessantly.

¹⁷Then Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, ‘Please let us pass through your land,’ but the king of Edom would not listen. They also sent messengers to the king of Moab, but he would not consent. So Israel stayed in Kadesh.

¹⁸But Edom answered, “You may not travel through our land, or we will come out and confront you with the sword.”

⁶When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, “We went to your brother Esau, and now he is coming to meet you—he and four hundred men with him.”

⁵Because you harbored an ancient hatred and delivered the Israelites over to the sword in the time of their disaster at the final stage of their punishment,

⁶therefore as surely as I live, declares the Lord God, I will give you over to bloodshed and it will pursue you. Since you did not hate bloodshed, it will pursue you.

⁷I am in favor of peace; but when I speak, they want war.

¹⁸Then Israel traveled through the wilderness and bypassed the lands of Edom and Moab. They came to the east side of the land of Moab and camped on the other side of the Arnon. But they did not enter the territory of Moab, since the Arnon was its border.

²⁹just as the descendants of Esau who live in Seir and the Moabites who live in Ar did for us, until we cross the Jordan into the land that the Lord our God is giving us.”

²⁴Do you not possess whatever your god Chemosh grants you? So also, we possess whatever the Lord our God has granted us.

²⁷“Let us pass through your land; we will stay on the main road. We will not turn to the right or to the left.

⁷Do not despise an Edomite, for he is your brother. Do not despise an Egyptian, because you lived as a foreigner in his land.

⁴and command the people: ‘You will pass through the territory of your brothers, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. They will be afraid of you, so you must be very careful.

⁵Do not provoke them, for I will not give you any of their land, not even a footprint, because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as his possession.

¹⁴From Kadesh, Moses sent messengers to tell the king of Edom, “This is what your brother Israel says: You know all the hardship that has befallen us,

⁴Then they set out from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, in order to bypass the land of Edom. But the people grew impatient on the journey

¹In the first month, the whole congregation of Israel entered the Wilderness of Zin and stayed in Kadesh. There Miriam died and was buried.

²⁶and they went back to Moses, Aaron, and the whole congregation of Israel in the Wilderness of Paran at Kadesh. They brought back a report for the whole congregation and showed them the fruit of the land.

⁷Your northern border will run from the Great Sea directly to Mount Hor,

²⁸The southern border of Gad will run from Tamar to the waters of Meribath-kadesh, then along the Brook of Egypt and out to the Great Sea.

³⁷They set out from Kadesh and camped at Mount Hor, on the outskirts of the land of Edom.

⁸And at a ripe old age he breathed his last and died, old and contented, and was gathered to his people.

⁵⁰And there on the mountain that you climb, you will die and be gathered to your people, just as your brother Aaron died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people.

¹³After you have seen it, you too will be gathered to your people, as your brother Aaron was;

¹⁰Then Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly in front of the rock, and Moses said to them, “Listen now, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?”

¹¹Then Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice with his staff, so that a great amount of water gushed out, and the congregation and their livestock were able to drink.

²“Take vengeance on the Midianites for the Israelites. After that, you will be gathered to your people.”

²⁸‘Now I will indeed gather you to your fathers, and you will be gathered to your grave in peace. Your eyes will not see all the calamity that I will bring on this place and on its people.’” So they brought her answer back to the king.

³⁸At the Lord’s command, Aaron the priest climbed Mount Hor and died there on the first day of the fifth month, in the fortieth year after the Israelites had come out of the land of Egypt.

³⁹Aaron was 123 years old when he died on Mount Hor.

²⁴“Aaron will be gathered to his people; he will not enter the land that I have given the Israelites, because both of you rebelled against My command at the waters of Meribah.

²¹I will clothe him with your robe and tie your sash around him. I will put your authority in his hand, and he will be a father to the dwellers of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.

²²I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open.

²⁹The holy garments that belong to Aaron will belong to his sons after him, so they can be anointed and ordained in them.

³⁰The son who succeeds him as priest and enters the Tent of Meeting to minister in the Holy Place must wear them for seven days.

¹¹Now if perfection could have been attained through the Levitical priesthood (for on this basis the people received the law), why was there still need for another priest to appear—one in the order of Melchizedek and not in the order of Aaron?

²³Now there have been many other priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office.

²⁴But because Jesus lives forever, He has a permanent priesthood.

⁶The Israelites traveled from Beeroth Bene-jaakan to Moserah, where Aaron died and was buried, and Eleazar his son succeeded him as priest.

²⁹The holy garments that belong to Aaron will belong to his sons after him, so they can be anointed and ordained in them.

³⁰The son who succeeds him as priest and enters the Tent of Meeting to minister in the Holy Place must wear them for seven days.

⁴⁹“Go up into the Abarim Range to Mount Nebo, in the land of Moab across from Jericho, and view the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites as their own possession.

⁵⁰And there on the mountain that you climb, you will die and be gathered to your people, just as your brother Aaron died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people.

¹¹Now, my son, may the Lord be with you, and may you succeed in building the house of the Lord your God, as He said you would.

¹²Above all, may the Lord give you insight and understanding when He puts you in command over Israel, so that you may keep the Law of the Lord your God.

⁹Now Joshua son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands on him. So the Israelites obeyed him and did as the Lord had commanded Moses.

²⁵Now I know that none of you among whom I have preached the kingdom will see my face again.

²⁶Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men.

⁸The Israelites grieved for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days, until the time of weeping and mourning for Moses came to an end.

¹⁰God called the dry land “earth,” and the gathering of waters He called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.

²⁴So his servants took him out of his chariot, put him in his second chariot, and brought him to Jerusalem, where he died. And Josiah was buried in the tomb of his fathers, and all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for him.

²⁵Then Jeremiah lamented over Josiah, and to this day all the male and female singers recite laments over Josiah. They established them as a statute for Israel, and indeed they are written in the Book of Laments.

²God-fearing men buried Stephen and mourned deeply over him.