Study Desk

So Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the Lord commanded Moses.

So we have brought as an offering to the Lord the gold articles each of us acquired—armlets, bracelets, signet rings, earrings and necklaces—to make atonement for ourselves before the Lord ."

So they came to Moses and Eleazar the priest and to the leaders of the community, and said,

So Moses gave Gilead to the Makirites, the descendants of Manasseh, and they settled there.

They will be places of refuge from the avenger, so that anyone accused of murder may not die before they stand trial before the assembly.

These six towns will be a place of refuge for Israelites and for foreigners residing among them, so that anyone who has killed another accidentally can flee there.

If anyone with malice aforethought shoves another or throws something at them intentionally so that they die

or if out of enmity one person hits another with their fist so that the other dies, that person is to be put to death; that person is a murderer. The avenger of blood shall put the murderer to death when they meet.

"‘Do not accept a ransom for anyone who has fled to a city of refuge and so allow them to go back and live on their own land before the death of the high priest.

Now suppose they marry men from other Israelite tribes; then their inheritance will be taken from our ancestral inheritance and added to that of the tribe they marry into. And so part of the inheritance allotted to us will be taken away.

Every daughter who inherits land in any Israelite tribe must marry someone in her father's tribal clan, so that every Israelite will possess the inheritance of their ancestors.

So Zelophehad's daughters did as the Lord commanded Moses.

The Lord your God has increased your numbers so that today you are as numerous as the stars in the sky.

So I took the leading men of your tribes, wise and respected men, and appointed them to have authority over you—as commanders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens and as tribal officials.

Then, as the Lord our God commanded us, we set out from Horeb and went toward the hill country of the Amorites through all that vast and dreadful wilderness that you have seen, and so we reached Kadesh Barnea.

The idea seemed good to me; so I selected twelve of you, one man from each tribe.

You grumbled in your tents and said, "The Lord hates us; so he brought us out of Egypt to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us.

Then you replied, "We have sinned against the Lord . We will go up and fight, as the Lord our God commanded us." So every one of you put on his weapons, thinking it easy to go up into the hill country.

So I told you, but you would not listen. You rebelled against the Lord 's command and in your arrogance you marched up into the hill country.

And so you stayed in Kadesh many days—all the time you spent there.