The Wilderness · c. 1445 BC
Chapter 2
The Lord Bless You
‘Yahweh bless you, and keep you.
For parents
This chapter tells the law for a wife whose husband is jealous and suspects her of sleeping with another man (Numbers 5:11–31): she swears an oath and drinks the water of bitterness, and if she is guilty, the curse makes her body swell and her thigh fall away. It is told plainly, with no detail beyond the text’s own words. The Lord also speaks of the day he struck every firstborn in Egypt (8:17).
The spoke to about who could stay in the camp. “Command the ,” he said, “to put out of the camp everyone with , everyone who has a discharge from the body, and everyone who is because of a dead body. Put them outside the camp, men and women alike, so that they don’t make their camp unclean. I live there among them.”
The Israelites did so. They put them outside the camp, as the Lord had told Moses.
Then the Lord told Moses what to say to the Israelites about wrongs people do. A man or a woman might commit any of the sins people commit, and so do wrong against the Lord. That person was guilty, and was to confess the sin. He was to pay back in full what he owed for the wrong, add a fifth more, and give it to the one he had wronged.
But if there was no relative to receive the payment, it was to be given to the Lord. It would belong to the , along with the ram of , the ram offered to make atonement for the guilty person.
Every of all the things the Israelites brought to the priest was to be his. Each man’s holy things were to be his. Whatever anyone gave the priest was to be his.
The Lord told Moses to give the Israelites another law. Suppose a man’s wife went astray and was unfaithful to him, and another man slept with her. Suppose it was kept secret, hidden from her husband. She had made herself unclean, but there was no witness against her, and nobody caught her in the act. And suppose a spirit of jealousy came over her husband, and he was jealous of his wife. Or suppose a spirit of jealousy came over him and he was jealous of his wife, but she had not made herself unclean.
Then the man was to bring his wife to the priest, with an offering for her: a tenth of an of meal, a little over two quarts. He was not to pour oil on it or put on it, because it was a of jealousy, a meal offering for remembering, to bring wrongdoing to mind.
The priest was to bring her near and have her stand in the Lord’s presence. He was to take holy water in a clay pot, take some of the dust from the floor of the , and put it into the water. Then he was to have the woman stand in the Lord’s presence, let her hair hang loose, and put in her hands the meal offering for remembering, the meal offering of jealousy. The priest was to hold in his hand the water of bitterness that brings a curse.
The priest was to have her take an oath. He was to tell her, “If no man has slept with you, and if you haven’t gone astray and made yourself unclean while married to your husband, may you be free from this water of bitterness that brings a curse. But if you have gone astray and made yourself unclean while married to your husband, and some man other than your husband has slept with you—”
Then the priest was to have the woman swear the oath of the curse, and say to her, “May the Lord make you a curse and an oath among your people, when the Lord allows your thigh to fall away and your body to swell. This water that brings a curse will go into your insides, and make your body swell and your thigh fall away.”
The woman was to answer, “Amen, amen,” which means, “So be it.”
The priest was to write these curses down and wipe them off into the water of bitterness. He was to make the woman drink the water of bitterness that causes the curse, and the water that causes the curse would go into her and become bitter.
The priest was to take the meal offering of jealousy out of the woman’s hand, wave it in the Lord’s presence, and bring it to the . He was to take a handful of the meal offering, the part for remembering, and burn it on the altar. After that, he was to make the woman drink the water.
Once he had made her drink the water, this is what would happen. If she had made herself unclean and done wrong against her husband, the water that causes the curse would go into her and become bitter. Her body would swell, and her thigh would fall away, and the woman would be a curse among her people. But if the woman had not made herself unclean, and was clean, she would be free, and she would have children.
This was the law about jealousy. It was for when a wife went astray while she was married to her husband and made herself unclean, or when a spirit of jealousy came over a man and he was jealous of his wife. He was to have the woman stand in the Lord’s presence, and the priest was to carry out all this law on her. The man would be free from guilt, and the woman would bear her guilt.
The Lord told Moses what to say to the Israelites about a special . A man or a woman might make the vow of a , to be set apart for the Lord. Then the Nazirite was to keep away from wine and strong drink. He was not to drink vinegar made from wine or from strong drink, or any grape juice. He was not to eat grapes, fresh or dried. For as long as he was set apart, he was not to eat anything that comes from the grapevine, from the seeds to the skins.
For all the days of his vow, no razor was to touch his head until the days he had set apart for the Lord were over. He was to be holy, and let the hair of his head grow long.
For as long as he was set apart for the Lord, he was not to go near a dead body. Even when his father or his mother, his brother or his sister died, he was not to make himself unclean for them, because the vow that set him apart for God was on his head. All the days he was set apart, he was holy to the Lord.
If someone died very suddenly beside him, the head he had set apart would be made unclean. Then he was to shave his head on the day he was made clean, the seventh day. On the eighth day he was to take two or two young pigeons to the priest, to the door of the . The priest was to offer one for a and the other for a , and make atonement for him. He had sinned because of the dead. His head was to be made holy that same day.
The days before would not count, because his vow had been made unclean. He was to set apart the days of his vow to the Lord, and he was to bring a male lamb a year old for a .
This was the law of the Nazirite for when the days he was set apart were over. He was to be brought to the door of the Tent of Meeting, and bring his offering to the Lord: a male lamb a year old for a burnt offering, a female lamb a year old for a sin offering, and a ram for , each one without defect. He was also to bring a basket of , cakes of fine flour mixed with oil and unleavened wafers with oil spread on them, along with their meal offering and their .
The priest was to bring them into the Lord’s presence and offer the sin offering and the burnt offering. The ram was to be offered to the Lord as a sacrifice of peace offerings, with the basket of unleavened bread, and the priest was to offer its meal offering and its drink offering too.
At the door of the Tent of Meeting, the Nazirite was to shave the head he had set apart, take the hair, and put it on the fire beneath the sacrifice of peace offerings.
Once the Nazirite had shaved his head, the priest was to take the boiled shoulder of the ram, one unleavened cake out of the basket and one unleavened wafer, and put them in the Nazirite’s hands. Then the priest was to wave them in the Lord’s presence as a . They were holy and belonged to the priest, together with the breast that is waved and the thigh that is offered. After that, the Nazirite could drink wine.
That was the law of the Nazirite who makes a vow, and of his offering to the Lord for being set apart, besides whatever else he could afford. He had to do what he had vowed, following the law of his vow.
The Lord spoke to Moses. “Speak to and his sons,” he said, “and say, ‘This is the way you are to bless the people of Israel.’ You are to tell them:
‘The Lord bless you, and keep you.The Lord make his face to shine on you,and be gracious to you.The Lord lift up his face toward you,and give you peace.’
“That is how they are to put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.”
Moses had finished setting up the tabernacle. He had anointed it with oil and made it holy, with all its furnishings, and the altar with all its utensils. On that day the leaders of Israel brought offerings. They were the heads of their families, the leaders of the , the men who had been in charge of those who were counted. They brought their offering into the Lord’s presence: six covered wagons and twelve oxen, one wagon for every two of the leaders, and one ox for each. They brought them in front of the tabernacle.
The Lord spoke to Moses. “Accept these from them,” he said, “so that they can be used for the work of the Tent of Meeting. Give them to the , to each man as his work needs.”
Moses took the wagons and the oxen and gave them to the Levites. He gave two wagons and four oxen to the sons of , as their work needed. He gave four wagons and eight oxen to the sons of , as their work needed, under the direction of , the son of Aaron the priest. But he gave none to the sons of , because the work of the was theirs: they carried it on their shoulders.
On the day the altar was anointed, the leaders gave offerings for its . They gave their offerings in front of the altar. And the Lord said to Moses, “Each leader is to bring his offering on his own day, for the dedication of the altar.”
On the first day, the son of Amminadab, of the tribe of , brought his offering. He brought a silver platter that weighed a hundred and thirty , nearly three pounds, and a silver bowl of seventy shekels, about a pound and a half. Both were weighed by the sanctuary’s standard shekel, and both were full of fine flour mixed with oil for a meal offering. He also brought a gold ladle of ten shekels, about three and a half ounces, full of .
For a burnt offering he brought a young bull, a ram and a male lamb a year old. For a sin offering he brought a male goat. And for the sacrifice of peace offerings he brought two head of cattle, five rams, five male goats and five male lambs a year old. That was the offering of Nahshon the son of Amminadab.
On the second day the leader of brought an offering that was the same in every part. On the third day it was the leader of , and on the fourth, the leader of .
On the fifth day came the leader of , and on the sixth the leader of . On the seventh day came the leader of , and on the eighth the leader of .
The leader of brought his offering on the ninth day, and the leader of on the tenth. On the eleventh day it was the leader of , and on the twelfth, the leader of . Each one of them brought the same offering.
That was the dedication offering of the altar from the leaders of Israel, on the day it was anointed: twelve silver platters, twelve silver bowls and twelve gold ladles. Each silver platter weighed a hundred and thirty shekels, and each bowl seventy. In all, the silver came to two thousand four hundred shekels by the sanctuary’s standard shekel, over fifty pounds. The twelve gold ladles full of incense weighed ten shekels each. In all, the gold came to a hundred and twenty shekels, about two and a half pounds.
For the burnt offering there were twelve each of bulls, rams and male lambs a year old, with their meal offering, and twelve male goats for a sin offering. For the sacrifice of peace offerings there were twenty-four bulls, sixty rams, sixty male goats and sixty male lambs a year old. That was the dedication offering of the altar, after it was anointed.
When Moses went into the Tent of Meeting to talk with the Lord, he heard the Lord’s voice speaking to him from above the , the cover on the of the , from between the two . And he spoke to him.
The Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘When you light the lamps, the seven lamps are to shine their light in front of the .’”
Aaron did so. He lit its lamps to light up the space in front of the lamp stand, as the Lord had commanded Moses.
This was how the lamp stand was made: it was hammered out of gold, from its base to its flower-shaped cups. It was made following the pattern the Lord had shown Moses.
Then the Lord spoke to Moses about the Levites. “Take them from among the Israelites,” he said, “and make them clean. This is what you are to do to make them clean: sprinkle the water of cleansing on them, and have them shave their whole bodies with a razor, wash their clothes, and make themselves clean.
“Then have them take a young bull with its meal offering, fine flour mixed with oil. And take another young bull for a sin offering.
“Bring the Levites in front of the Tent of Meeting, and gather all the people of Israel. Bring the Levites into the Lord’s presence, and the Israelites are to lay their hands on the Levites. Then Aaron is to offer the Levites in the Lord’s presence as a wave offering on behalf of the Israelites, so that the Lord’s work will be theirs to do.
“The Levites are to put their hands on the bulls’ heads. Then you are to offer the one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering to the Lord, to make atonement for the Levites. Place the Levites in front of Aaron and his sons, and offer them to the Lord as a wave offering. That is how you are to set the Levites apart from among the Israelites, and the Levites will be mine.”
“After that,” the Lord went on, “the Levites are to go in to do the work of the Tent of Meeting. You are to make them clean and offer them as a wave offering, because they are given completely to me from among the Israelites. I have taken the Levites to be mine in place of everyone who is born first to a mother, the firstborn of all the Israelites.
“Every firstborn among the Israelites is mine, people and animals alike. On the day I struck every firstborn in the land of , I set them apart as holy for myself. I have taken the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the Israelites.
“I have given the Levites from among the Israelites as a gift to Aaron and to his sons. They are to do the work of the Israelites in the Tent of Meeting and make atonement for them. That way there will be no among the Israelites when they come near the sanctuary.”
Moses and Aaron and all the people of Israel did this to the Levites. The Israelites did to them everything the Lord had commanded Moses about the Levites. The Levites purified themselves from sin, and they washed their clothes. Aaron offered them as a wave offering in the Lord’s presence, and he made atonement for them to make them clean.
After that, the Levites went in to do their work in the Tent of Meeting, serving in the presence of Aaron and his sons. Everything the Lord had commanded Moses about the Levites was done to them.
The Lord said to Moses, “This is the rule for the Levites. From the age of twenty-five on, they are to go in to take their part in the work of the Tent of Meeting. At the age of fifty they are to stop doing the work and serve no more. They are to help their brothers with their duties in the Tent of Meeting, but they are not to do the work. That is how you are to have the Levites do their duties.”