Study Desk

and write Aaron's name on the rod of Levi [his ancestor]; for there is one rod for the head of each of their fathers' households.

Moses brought out all the rods from the presence of LORD to all the Israelites; and they looked, and each man took his rod.

'You shall give it to Eleazar the priest, and it shall be brought outside the camp and be slaughtered in his presence.

'Next Eleazar the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger and sprinkle some of it toward the front of the Tent of Meeting (tabernacle) seven times.

'Then the heifer shall be burned in his sight; its skin, its flesh, its blood, and its waste, shall be burned (reduced to ash).

'Then the priest shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water; and afterward come into the camp, but he shall be [ceremonially] unclean until evening.

'The one who burns the heifer shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and shall be unclean until evening.

'The one who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until evening. This shall be a perpetual statute to the Israelites and to the stranger who lives as a resident alien among them.

'Whoever touches a corpse, the body of anyone who has died, and does not purify himself, defiles the tabernacle of the LORD; and that person shall be cut off from Israel [that is, excluded from the atonement made for them]. Because the water for impurity was not sprinkled on him, he shall be unclean; his uncleanness is still on him.

'Then the clean person shall sprinkle [the water for purification] on the unclean person on the third day and on the seventh day, and on the seventh day the unclean man shall purify himself, and wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and shall be [ceremonially] clean at evening.

'So it shall be a perpetual statute to them. He who sprinkles the water for impurity [on another] shall wash his clothes, and he who touches the water for impurity shall be unclean until evening.

Then Moses raised his hand [in anger] and with his rod he struck the rock twice [instead of speaking to the rock as the LORD had commanded]. And the water poured out abundantly, and the congregation and their livestock drank [fresh water].

Thus [the king of] Edom refused to give Israel passage through his territory, so Israel turned away from him.

"Aaron will be gathered to his people [in death]; for he shall not enter the land which I have given to the children of Israel, because you [both] rebelled against My command at the waters of Meribah.

"Take Aaron and Eleazar his son and bring them up to Mount Hor;

and strip Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son. So Aaron will be gathered to his fathers, and will die there."

After Moses stripped Aaron of his [priestly] garments and put them on Eleazar his son, Aaron died there on the mountain top. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain.

But Sihon would not allow Israel to pass through his border. Instead Sihon gathered all his people together and went out against Israel into the wilderness, and came to Jahaz, and he fought against Israel.

Then Israel struck the king of the Amorites with the edge of the sword and took possession of his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, as far as the Ammonites, for the boundary of the Ammonites was strong.

For Heshbon was the city of Sihon, king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab and had taken all his land out of his hand, as far as the Arnon.