Study Desk

This is because the Israelites are my servants. They are the servants who I brought out of slavery in Egypt. I am the Lord your God!

"Don't make idols for yourselves. Don't set up statues or memorial stones in your land to bow down to, because I am the Lord your God!

"The land will be empty. The land will enjoy its time of rest. Then the survivors will accept the punishment for their sins. They will learn that they were punished because they hated my laws and refused to obey my rules.

They have sinned. But if they come to me for help, I will not turn away from them. I will listen to them, even if they are in the land of their enemies. I will not completely destroy them. I will not break my agreement with them, because I am the Lord their God.

If that happens, he must take his wife to the priest. The husband must also take an offering of 8 cups of barley flour. He must not pour oil or incense on the barley flour. This barley flour is a grain offering to the Lord that is given because the husband is jealous. This offering will show that he thinks his wife has been unfaithful to him.

He will force the woman to stand before the Lord . Then he will loosen her hair and put the grain offering in her hand. This is the barley flour that her husband gave because he was jealous. At the same time, he will hold the clay jar of special water. This is the special water that can bring trouble to the woman.

so you must not let yourself become unclean like this—even for your own father or mother, brother or sister when they die. This is because you have the hair that you dedicated to God on your head!

It is holy because you have given yourself fully to the Lord for the full time of that dedication.

This means you must again give yourself to the Lord for another time of dedication. You must bring a one-year-old male lamb to offer as a guilt offering. You must start over from the beginning with a new time of dedication because you touched a dead body during your first time of dedication.

Moses did not give any oxen or wagons to the men in Kohath's group, because their job was to carry the holy things on their shoulders.

Every firstborn in Israel—man or animal—is mine, because I killed all the firstborn children and animals in Egypt. And I chose to take the firstborn sons to belong to me.

But some of the people could not celebrate Passover that day. They were unclean because they had touched a dead body. So they went to Moses and Aaron that day

"Tell the Israelites this: It might happen sometimes that you or your descendants cannot celebrate the Lord 's Passover at the right time. Someone might be unclean because they touched a dead body, or they might be away on a trip. They will still be able to celebrate Passover at another time.

But anyone who is able must celebrate Passover at the right time. If they are clean and they are not away on a trip, there is no excuse for them not to do it. If they don't celebrate Passover at the right time, they must be separated from their people. They are guilty and must be punished, because they did not give the Lord his gift at the right time.

So that place was called Taberah. The people gave the place that name because the Lord caused a fire to burn in their camp.

You will eat that meat for a whole month until you are sick of it. This will happen to you because you complained against the Lord . He lives among you and knows what you need, but you cried and complained to him! You said, ‘Why did we ever leave Egypt?'"

So the people named that place Kibroth Hattaavah, because there they buried those who had the strong desire for meat.

Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses. They criticized him because he married an Ethiopian woman.

That place is called the Eshcol Valley, because there the men of Israel cut off the bunch of grapes.

"‘Your children will wander around like shepherds here in the desert for 40 years. They will suffer because you were not faithful to me. They must suffer until all of you lie dead in the desert.