喬碩諾爸碎碎念

Bible reading note

Numbers 11

Now the people complained about their hardships in the hearing of the Lord, and when he heard them his anger was aroused. Then fire from the Lord burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp. The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, “If only we had meat to eat! Moses heard the people of every family wailing at the entrance to their tents. The Lord became exceedingly angry, and Moses was troubled. Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth? Why do you tell me to carry them in my arms, as a nurse carries an infant, to the land you promised on oath to their ancestors? The Lord said to Moses: “Bring me seventy of Israel’s elders who are known to you as leaders and officials among the people. Have them come to the tent of meeting, that they may stand there with you. You will not eat it for just one day, or two days, or five, ten or twenty days, But Moses said, “Here I am among six hundred thousand men on foot, and you say, ‘I will give them meat to eat for a whole month!’ So Moses went out and told the people what the Lord had said. He brought together seventy of their elders and had them stand around the tent. However, two men, whose names were Eldad and Medad, had remained in the camp. They were listed among the elders, but did not go out to the tent. Yet the Spirit also rested on them, and they prophesied in the camp. Now a wind went out from the Lord and drove quail in from the sea. It scattered them up to two cubits deep all around the camp, as far as a day’s walk in any direction. From Kibroth Hattaavah the people traveled to Hazeroth and stayed there.

Numbers 12

Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife, for he had married a Cushite. “Has the Lord spoken only through Moses?” they asked. “Hasn’t he also spoken through us?” And the Lord heard this. he said, “Listen to my words: “When there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, reveal myself to them in visions, I speak to them in dreams. With him I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?” Do not let her be like a stillborn infant coming from its mother’s womb with its flesh half eaten away.” The Lord replied to Moses, “If her father had spit in her face, would she not have been in disgrace for seven days? Confine her outside the camp for seven days; after that she can be brought back.” After that, the people left Hazeroth and encamped in the Desert of Paran.

Numbers 13

The Lord said to Moses, “Send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites. From each ancestral tribe send one of its leaders.” So at the Lord’s command Moses sent them out from the Desert of Paran. All of them were leaders of the Israelites. These are the names of the men Moses sent to explore the land. (Moses gave Hoshea son of Nun the name Joshua.) See what the land is like and whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many. They went up through the Negev and came to Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmai, the descendants of Anak, lived. (Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) At the end of forty days they returned from exploring the land. They gave Moses this account: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.” We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”

Numbers 14

That night all the members of the community raised their voices and wept aloud. All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, “If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this wilderness! Then Moses and Aaron fell facedown in front of the whole Israelite assembly gathered there. Only do not rebel against the Lord. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will devour them. Their protection is gone, but the Lord is with us. Do not be afraid of them.” I will strike them down with a plague and destroy them, but I will make you into a nation greater and stronger than they.” ‘The Lord was not able to bring these people into the land he promised them on oath, so he slaughtered them in the wilderness.’ ‘The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.’ But because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it. The Lord said to Moses and Aaron: Your children will be shepherds here for forty years, suffering for your unfaithfulness, until the last of your bodies lies in the wilderness. So the men Moses had sent to explore the land, who returned and made the whole community grumble against him by spreading a bad report about it— When Moses reported this to all the Israelites, they mourned bitterly. Nevertheless, in their presumption they went up toward the highest point in the hill country, though neither Moses nor the ark of the Lord’s covenant moved from the camp.

Numbers 15

The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘After you enter the land I am giving you as a home With each lamb for the burnt offering or the sacrifice, prepare a quarter of a hin of wine as a drink offering. “ ‘With a ram prepare a grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with a third of a hin of olive oil, “ ‘Everyone who is native-born must do these things in this way when they present a food offering as an aroma pleasing to the Lord. The community is to have the same rules for you and for the foreigner residing among you; this is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. You and the foreigner shall be the same before the Lord: Present a loaf from the first of your ground meal and present it as an offering from the threshing floor. “ ‘Now if you as a community unintentionally fail to keep any of these commands the Lord gave Moses— The priest is to make atonement for the whole Israelite community, and they will be forgiven, for it was not intentional and they have presented to the Lord for their wrong a food offering and a sin offering. The priest is to make atonement before the Lord for the one who erred by sinning unintentionally, and when atonement has been made, that person will be forgiven. Because they have despised the Lord’s word and broken his commands, they must surely be cut off; their guilt remains on them.’ ” and they kept him in custody, because it was not clear what should be done to him. You will have these tassels to look at and so you will remember all the commands of the Lord, that you may obey them and not prostitute yourselves by chasing after the lusts of your own hearts and eyes. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord your God.’ ”

Numbers 16

Korah son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and certain Reubenites—Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth—became insolent Then he said to Korah and all his followers: “In the morning the Lord will show who belongs to him and who is holy, and he will have that person come near him. The man he chooses he will cause to come near him. Moses also said to Korah, “Now listen, you Levites! Then Moses summoned Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab. But they said, “We will not come! Then Moses became very angry and said to the Lord, “Do not accept their offering. I have not taken so much as a donkey from them, nor have I wronged any of them.” So each of them took his censer, put burning coals and incense in it, and stood with Moses and Aaron at the entrance to the tent of meeting. “Separate yourselves from this assembly so I can put an end to them at once.” Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him. So they moved away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram had come out and were standing with their wives, children and little ones at the entrances to their tents. If these men die a natural death and suffer the fate of all mankind, then the Lord has not sent me. As soon as he finished saying all this, the ground under them split apart At their cries, all the Israelites around them fled, shouting, “The earth is going to swallow us too!” the censers of the men who sinned at the cost of their lives. Hammer the censers into sheets to overlay the altar, for they were presented before the Lord and have become holy. Let them be a sign to the Israelites.” as the Lord directed him through Moses. This was to remind the Israelites that no one except a descendant of Aaron should come to burn incense before the Lord, or he would become like Korah and his followers. Then Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer and put incense in it, along with burning coals from the altar, and hurry to the assembly to make atonement for them. Wrath has come out from the Lord; the plague has started.” He stood between the living and the dead, and the plague stopped. Then Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance to the tent of meeting, for the plague had stopped.

Numbers 17

The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the Israelites and get twelve staffs from them, one from the leader of each of their ancestral tribes. Write the name of each man on his staff. So Moses spoke to the Israelites, and their leaders gave him twelve staffs, one for the leader of each of their ancestral tribes, and Aaron’s staff was among them. The Lord said to Moses, “Put back Aaron’s staff in front of the ark of the covenant law, to be kept as a sign to the rebellious. This will put an end to their grumbling against me, so that they will not die.” Anyone who even comes near the tabernacle of the Lord will die. Are we all going to die?”

Numbers 18

The Lord said to Aaron, “You, your sons and your family are to bear the responsibility for offenses connected with the sanctuary, and you and your sons alone are to bear the responsibility for offenses connected with the priesthood. “You are to be responsible for the care of the sanctuary and the altar, so that my wrath will not fall on the Israelites again. But only you and your sons may serve as priests in connection with everything at the altar and inside the curtain. I am giving you the service of the priesthood as a gift. Anyone else who comes near the sanctuary is to be put to death.” You are to have the part of the most holy offerings that is kept from the fire. From all the gifts they bring me as most holy offerings, whether grain or sin or guilt offerings, that part belongs to you and your sons. “Everything in Israel that is devoted to the Lord is yours. The first offspring of every womb, both human and animal, that is offered to the Lord is yours. But you must redeem every firstborn son and every firstborn male of unclean animals. Whatever is set aside from the holy offerings the Israelites present to the Lord I give to you and your sons and daughters as your perpetual share. It is an everlasting covenant of salt before the Lord for both you and your offspring.” It is the Levites who are to do the work at the tent of meeting and bear the responsibility for any offenses they commit against it. This is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. They will receive no inheritance among the Israelites. In this way you also will present an offering to the Lord from all the tithes you receive from the Israelites. From these tithes you must give the Lord’s portion to Aaron the priest. “Say to the Levites: ‘When you present the best part, it will be reckoned to you as the product of the threshing floor or the winepress. By presenting the best part of it you will not be guilty in this matter; then you will not defile the holy offerings of the Israelites, and you will not die.’ ”

Numbers 19

The Lord said to Moses and Aaron: “This is a requirement of the law that the Lord has commanded: Tell the Israelites to bring you a red heifer without defect or blemish and that has never been under a yoke. After that, the priest must wash his clothes and bathe himself with water. He may then come into the camp, but he will be ceremonially unclean till evening. “A man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and put them in a ceremonially clean place outside the camp. They are to be kept by the Israelite community for use in the water of cleansing; it is for purification from sin. “This is the law that applies when a person dies in a tent: Anyone who enters the tent and anyone who is in it will be unclean for seven days, “For the unclean person, put some ashes from the burned purification offering into a jar and pour fresh water over them. Anything that an unclean person touches becomes unclean, and anyone who touches it becomes unclean till evening.”

Numbers 20

In the first month the whole Israelite community arrived at the Desert of Zin, and they stayed at Kadesh. There Miriam died and was buried. Moses and Aaron went from the assembly to the entrance to the tent of meeting and fell facedown, and the glory of the Lord appeared to them. He and Aaron gathered the assembly together in front of the rock and Moses said to them, “Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?” These were the waters of Meribah, where the Israelites quarreled with the Lord and where he was proved holy among them. But Edom answered: “You may not pass through here; if you try, we will march out and attack you with the sword.” The whole Israelite community set out from Kadesh and came to Mount Hor. Moses did as the Lord commanded: They went up Mount Hor in the sight of the whole community. and when the whole community learned that Aaron had died, all the Israelites mourned for him thirty days.