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Numbers 17-19
New American Bible (Revised Edition)

Chapter 17

1 The Lord said to Moses: 2 Tell Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, to remove the censers from the embers; and scatter the fire some distance away, for they have become holy— 3 [a]the censers of those who sinned at the cost of their lives. Have them hammered into plates to cover the altar, because in being presented before the Lord they have become holy. In this way they shall serve as a sign to the Israelites. 4 So taking the bronze censers which had been presented by those who were burned, Eleazar the priest had them hammered into a covering for the altar, 5 just as the Lord had directed him through Moses. This was to be a reminder to the Israelites that no unauthorized person, no one who was not a descendant of Aaron, should draw near to offer incense before the Lord, lest he meet the fate of Korah and his faction.

6 The next day the whole Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron, saying, “You have killed the people of the Lord.” 7 But while the community was assembling against them, Moses and Aaron turned toward the tent of meeting, and the cloud now covered it and the glory of the Lord appeared. 8 Then Moses and Aaron came to the front of the tent of meeting, 9 and the Lord said to Moses: 10 Remove yourselves from this community, that I may consume them at once. But they fell prostrate.

11 Then Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer, put fire from the altar in it, lay incense on it, and bring it quickly to the community to make atonement for them; for wrath has come forth from the Lord and the plague has begun.”(A) 12 Aaron took his censer just as Moses directed and ran in among the assembly, where the plague had already begun among the people. Then he offered the incense and made atonement for the people, 13 while standing there between the living and the dead. And so the scourge was checked. 14 There were fourteen thousand seven hundred dead from the scourge, in addition to those who died because of Korah. 15 When the scourge had been checked, Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance of the tent of meeting.

Aaron’s Staff. 16 The Lord now said to Moses: 17 Speak to the Israelites and get from them a staff[b] for each ancestral house, twelve staffs in all, from all the leaders of their ancestral houses. Write each man’s name on his staff; 18 and write Aaron’s name on Levi’s staff.[c] For each head of an ancestral house shall have a staff. 19 Then deposit them in the tent of meeting, in front of the covenant, where I meet you. 20 The staff of the man whom I choose shall sprout. Thus I will rid myself of the Israelites’ grumbling against you.

21 So Moses spoke to the Israelites, and all their leaders gave him staffs, twelve in all, one from each leader of their ancestral houses; and Aaron’s staff was among them. 22 Then Moses deposited the staffs before the Lord in the tent of the covenant. 23 The next day, when Moses entered the tent of the covenant, Aaron’s staff, representing the house of Levi, had sprouted. It had put forth sprouts, produced blossoms, and borne ripe almonds! 24 So Moses brought out all the staffs from the Lord’s presence to all the Israelites, and each one identified his own staff and took it. 25 Then the Lord said to Moses: Put back Aaron’s staff in front of the covenant, for safe keeping as a sign to the rebellious, so that their grumbling against me may cease and they might not die. 26 Moses did this. Just as the Lord had commanded him, so he did.

Charge of the Sacred Things. 27 [d]Then the Israelites exclaimed to Moses, “We will perish; we are lost, we are all lost! 28 Anyone who approaches the tabernacle of the Lord will die! Will there be no end to our perishing?”

Chapter 18

1 The Lord said to Aaron:[e] You and your sons as well as your ancestral house with you[f] shall be responsible for any sin with respect to the sanctuary; but only you and your sons with you shall be responsible for any sin with respect to your priesthood. 2 You shall also present with you your kinsmen of the tribe of Levi, your ancestral tribe, that they may be joined to you[g] and assist you, while you and your sons with you are in front of the tent of the covenant. 3 They shall discharge your obligations and those with respect to the whole tent; however, they shall not come near the utensils of the sanctuary or the altar, or else both they and you will die. 4 They will be joined to you to perform the duties associated with the tent of meeting, all the labor pertaining to the tent. But no unauthorized person[h] shall come near you. 5 You shall perform the duties of the sanctuary and of the altar, that wrath may not fall again upon the Israelites.

6 I hereby take your kinsmen, the Levites, from among the Israelites; they are a gift to you,(B) dedicated to the Lord for the labor they perform for the tent of meeting. 7 (C)But you and your sons with you must take care to exercise your priesthood in whatever concerns the altar and the area within the veil.[i] I give you your priesthood as a gift. Any unauthorized person who comes near shall be put to death.

The Priests’ Share of the Sacrifices. 8 The Lord said to Aaron:[j] I hereby give to you charge of the contributions made to me, including the various holy offerings of the Israelites;(D) I assign them to you and to your sons as a perquisite, a perpetual due. 9 This is what you shall have from the oblations that are most holy: every offering of theirs—namely, all their grain offerings, purification offerings, and reparation offerings which they must return to me—shall be most holy for you and for your sons. 10 You shall eat them in a most holy place;[k] every male may partake of them. As holy, they belong to you.

11 This also you shall have: the contributions that are their gifts, including the elevated offering[l] of the Israelites; I assign them to you and to your sons and daughters with you as a perpetual due.(E) All in your household who are clean may eat them. 12 I also assign to you all the best(F) of the new oil and of the new wine and grain that they give to the Lord as their first produce that has been processed. 13 The first-ripened fruits of whatever is in their land, which they bring to the Lord, shall be yours; all of your household who are clean may eat them. 14 Whatever is under the ban[m] in Israel shall be yours. 15 Every living thing that opens the womb, human being and beast alike, such as are to be offered to the Lord, shall be yours;(G) but you must redeem the firstborn of human beings, as well as redeem the firstborn of unclean animals. 16 For the redemption price of a son, when he is a month old, you shall pay the equivalent of five silver shekels according to the sanctuary shekel, that is, twenty gerahs. 17 But the firstborn of cattle, or the firstborn of sheep or the firstborn of goats you shall not redeem; they are holy. Their blood you must splash on the altar and their fat you must burn as an oblation of pleasing aroma to the Lord. 18 (H)Their meat, however, shall be yours, just as the brisket of the elevated offering and the right thigh belong to you. 19 As a perpetual due I assign to you and to your sons and daughters with you all the contributions of holy things which the Israelites set aside for the Lord; this is a covenant of salt[n] to last forever before the Lord, for you and for your descendants with you. 20 (I)Then the Lord said to Aaron:[o] You shall not have any heritage in their land nor hold any portion among them; I will be your portion and your heritage among the Israelites.

Tithes Due the Levites. 21 To the Levites, however, I hereby assign all tithes in Israel as their heritage in recompense for the labor they perform, the labor pertaining to the tent of meeting.(J) 22 The Israelites may no longer approach the tent of meeting, thereby incurring the penalty of death. 23 Only the Levites are to perform the labor pertaining to the tent of meeting, and they shall incur the penalty for the Israelites’ sin;[p] this is a permanent statute for all your generations. But they shall not have any heritage among the Israelites, 24 for I have assigned to the Levites as their heritage the tithes which the Israelites put aside as a contribution to the Lord. That is why I have said, they will not have any heritage among the Israelites.

Tithes Paid by the Levites. 25 The Lord said to Moses: 26 Speak to the Levites and say to them: When you take from the Israelites the tithes I have assigned you from them as your heritage, you are to make a contribution from them to the Lord, a tithe of the tithe; 27 and your contribution will be credited to you as if it were grain from the threshing floor or new wine from the vat. 28 Thus you too shall make a contribution to the Lord from all the tithes you take from the Israelites, handing over to Aaron the priest the contribution to the Lord. 29 From all the gifts to you, you shall make every contribution due to the Lord—from their best parts, that is the part to be consecrated from them.

30 Say to them also: Once you have made your contribution from the best part, the rest of the tithe will be credited to the Levites as if it were produce of the threshing floor or the produce of the vat. 31 You and your households may eat it anywhere, since it is your recompense in exchange for labor in the tent of meeting. 32 You will incur no punishment when you contribute the best part of it. But do not profane the holy offerings of the Israelites or else you shall die.

Chapter 19

Ashes of the Red Heifer. 1 The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron: 2 This is the statute for the ritual which the Lord has commanded. Tell the Israelites to procure for you a red heifer without defect and free from every blemish and on which no yoke has ever been laid. 3 You will give it to Eleazar the priest, and it will be led outside the camp[q] and slaughtered in his presence. 4 Eleazar the priest will take some of its blood on his finger and sprinkle it seven times toward the front of the tent of meeting.[r] 5 Then the heifer will be burned in his sight; it will be burned with its hide and flesh, its blood and dung; 6 and the priest will take cedar wood, hyssop and scarlet yarn and throw them into the fire in which the heifer is being burned. 7 The priest shall then wash his garments and bathe his body in water, afterward he may enter the camp. The priest remains unclean until the evening. 8 Likewise, the one who burned the heifer shall wash his garments in water, bathe his body in water, and be unclean until evening. 9 Then somebody who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and deposit them in a clean place outside the camp. There they are to be kept to prepare purification water for the Israelite community. This is a purification offering. 10 The one who has gathered up the ashes of the heifer shall also wash his garments and be unclean until evening. This is a permanent statute, both for the Israelites and for the alien residing among them.

Use of the Ashes. 11 Those who touch the corpse of any human being will be unclean for seven days; 12 they shall purify themselves with the water on the third and on the seventh day, and then be clean. But if they fail to purify themselves on the third and on the seventh day, they will not become clean. 13 (K)Those who touch the corpse of a human being who dies and who fail to purify themselves defile the tabernacle of the Lord and these persons shall be cut off from Israel. Since the purification water has not been splashed over them, they remain unclean: their uncleanness is still on them.

14 This is the ritual: When someone dies in a tent, everyone who enters the tent, as well as everyone already in it, will be unclean for seven days; 15 and every open vessel with its lid unfastened will be unclean. 16 Moreover, everyone who in the open country touches a person who has been slain by the sword or who has died naturally, or who touches a human bone or a grave, will be unclean for seven days. 17 For anyone who is thus unclean, ashes shall be taken from the burnt purification offering, and spring water will be poured on them from a vessel.(L) 18 Then someone who is clean will take hyssop, dip it in this water, and sprinkle it on the tent and on all the vessels and persons that were in it, or on the one who touched the bone, the slain person or the other corpse, or the grave. 19 The clean will sprinkle the unclean on the third and on the seventh day, and thus purify them on the seventh day. Then they will wash their garments and bathe in water, and in the evening be clean. 20 [s]Those who become unclean and fail to purify themselves—those people will be cut off from the assembly, because they defile the sanctuary of the Lord. The purification water has not been splashed over them; they remain unclean. 21 This will be a permanent statute for you.

Those who sprinkle the purification water will wash their garments, and those who come in contact with the purification water will be unclean until evening. 22 Moreover, anything that the unclean person touches becomes unclean itself, and the one who touches such a person becomes unclean until evening.

Footnotes

  1. 17:3 Whatever was brought into intimate contact with something holy shared in its holiness. See note on 19:20.
  2. 17:17 The staff was not merely an article of practical use, but also a symbol of authority; cf. Gn 49:10; Nm 24:17; Jer 48:17. Therefore, the staff of a leader of a tribe was considered the emblem of the tribe; in fact, certain Hebrew words such as matteh, the word for “staff” here, also mean “tribe.” Perhaps for this reason, to avoid confusion, the author here uses the term bet’ab, “ancestral house,” for “tribe” instead of one of the ordinary words for “tribe.”
  3. 17:18 Levi’s staff: it is not clear whether this is considered as one of the twelve mentioned in the preceding verse, or as a thirteenth staff. Sometimes Levi is reckoned as one of the twelve tribes (e.g., Dt 27:12–13), but more often the number twelve is arrived at by counting the two sub-tribes of Joseph, i.e., Ephraim and Manasseh, as distinct tribes. In this passage also it seems probable that the tribe of Levi is considered apart from the other twelve tribes.
  4. 17:27–28 The people’s distress here echoes their panic in 16:34, and may be heightened further by the death of the two hundred and fifty leaders offering incense in 16:35.
  5. 18:1–3 This law, which kept unqualified persons from contact with holy things, is in response to the Israelites’ cry in 17:28. It is followed by other laws concerning priests and Levites.
  6. 18:1 With you: not only in the present but also those of his house in the future.
  7. 18:2 Be joined to you: in Hebrew a pun on the popular etymology of the name “Levi.” Cf. Gn 29:34.
  8. 18:4 Unauthorized person: here, “one who is not a Levite”; in v. 7, “one who is not a priest.”
  9. 18:7 Veil: the outer veil, or “curtain,” is probably meant.
  10. 18:8–10 Two classes of offerings are here distinguished: the most holy offering, which only the male members of the priestly families could eat (vv. 8–10), and the other offerings, which the women of the priestly families could eat (vv. 11–19).
  11. 18:10 In a most holy place: in the court of the tabernacle, according to Lv 6:9, 19.
  12. 18:11 Elevated offering: this included the brisket and right thigh (v. 18), the shoulder of the peace offering (Lv 7:30–34), and portions of the nazirite sacrifice (Nm 6:19–20). With you: see note on v. 1. Aaron had no daughters; see also v. 19.
  13. 18:14 Under the ban: in Hebrew, herem, which means here “set aside from profane use and made sacred to the Lord.” Cf. Lv 27:21, 28.
  14. 18:19 A covenant of salt: cf. 2 Chr 13:5. The reference may perhaps be to the preservative power of salt (cf. Mt 5:13); but more likely the phrase refers to the custom of eating salt together to render a contract unbreakable. See note on Lv 2:13.
  15. 18:20 The priests and Levites were forbidden to own hereditary land such as the other Israelites possessed; therefore in the allotment of the land (chap. 34) they did not receive any portion of it. Certain cities, however, were assigned to them for their residence; cf. 35:1–8.
  16. 18:23 Incur the penalty for the Israelites’ sin: the Levites are responsible for protecting the sanctuary from illegitimate encroachment and in this sense pay the penalty for the Israelites’ iniquity. This responds further to the fears of the people expressed in 17:27–28.
  17. 19:3 Outside the camp: several early Christian writers saw in this a prefiguring of the sacrificial death of Jesus outside the walls of Jerusalem; cf. Jn 19:20; Hb 13:12; in the purifying water, into which the ashes of the red heifer were put, they saw a type of the water of Baptism.
  18. 19:4 Toward the front of the tent of meeting: since the tabernacle faced the east (Ex 26:15–30), the killing of the heifer would take place east of the camp; in later times it was done on the Mount of Olives, east of the Temple.
  19. 19:20 Ritual uncleanness is, as it were, contagious; so also sacredness; see note on 17:3.
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Numbers 16
Numbers 20
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New American Bible (Revised Edition) (NABRE)

Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.