Study Desk

"‘If anyone dedicates their house as something holy to the Lord , the priest will judge its quality as good or bad. Whatever value the priest then sets, so it will remain.

"‘But nothing that a person owns and devotes to the Lord —whether a human being or an animal or family land—may be sold or redeemed; everything so devoted is most holy to the Lord .

as the Lord commanded Moses. And so he counted them in the Desert of Sinai:

The Levites, however, are to set up their tents around the tabernacle of the covenant law so that my wrath will not fall on the Israelite community. The Levites are to be responsible for the care of the tabernacle of the covenant law."

So the Israelites did everything the Lord commanded Moses; that is the way they encamped under their standards, and that is the way they set out, each of them with their clan and family.

Nadab and Abihu, however, died before the Lord when they made an offering with unauthorized fire before him in the Desert of Sinai. They had no sons, so Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests during the lifetime of their father Aaron.

So Moses counted them, as he was commanded by the word of the Lord .

So Moses counted all the firstborn of the Israelites, as the Lord commanded him.

So Moses collected the redemption money from those who exceeded the number redeemed by the Levites.

So that they may live and not die when they come near the most holy things, do this for them: Aaron and his sons are to go into the sanctuary and assign to each man his work and what he is to carry.

So Moses, Aaron and the leaders of Israel counted all the Levites by their clans and families.

Send away male and female alike; send them outside the camp so they will not defile their camp, where I dwell among them."

The Israelites did so; they sent them outside the camp. They did just as the Lord had instructed Moses.

"Say to the Israelites: ‘Any man or woman who wrongs another in any way and so is unfaithful to the Lord is guilty

so that another man has sexual relations with her, and this is hidden from her husband and her impurity is undetected (since there is no witness against her and she has not been caught in the act),

May this water that brings a curse enter your body so that your abdomen swells or your womb miscarries." "‘Then the woman is to say, "Amen. So be it."

"So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them."

So Moses took the carts and oxen and gave them to the Levites.

Aaron did so; he set up the lamps so that they faced forward on the lampstand, just as the Lord commanded Moses.

To purify them, do this: Sprinkle the water of cleansing on them; then have them shave their whole bodies and wash their clothes. And so they will purify themselves.