Numbers 33

WILDERNESS TRAVELS REVIEWED
These were the stages of the Israelites’ journey when they went out of the land of Egypt by their military divisions under the leadership of Moses and Aaron.
2 At the Lord’s command, Moses wrote down the starting points for the stages of their journey; these are the stages listed by their starting points:

3 They traveled from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the month. On the day after the Passover the Israelites went out defiantly in the sight of all the Egyptians. 4 Meanwhile, the Egyptians were burying every firstborn male the Lord had struck down among them, for the Lord had executed judgment against their gods. 5 The Israelites traveled from Rameses and camped at Succoth.
6 They traveled from Succoth and camped at Etham, which is on the edge of the wilderness.
7 They traveled from Etham and turned back to Pi-hahiroth, which faces Baal-zephon, and they camped before Migdol.
8 They traveled from Pi-hahiroth and crossed through the middle of the sea into the wilderness. They took a three-day journey into the Wilderness of Etham and camped at Marah.
9 They traveled from Marah and came to Elim. There were twelve springs and seventy date palms at Elim, so they camped there.
10 They traveled from Elim and camped by the Red Sea.
11 They traveled from the Red Sea and camped in the Wilderness of Sin.
12 They traveled from the Wilderness of Sin and camped in Dophkah.
13 They traveled from Dophkah and camped at Alush.
14 They traveled from Alush and camped at Rephidim, where there was no water for the people to drink.
15 They traveled from Rephidim and camped in the Wilderness of Sinai.
16 They traveled from the Wilderness of Sinai and camped at Kibroth-hattaavah.
17 They traveled from Kibroth-hattaavah and camped at Hazeroth.
18 They traveled from Hazeroth and camped at Rithmah.
19 They traveled from Rithmah and camped at Rimmon-perez.
20 They traveled from Rimmon-perez and camped at Libnah.
21 They traveled from Libnah and camped at Rissah.
22 They traveled from Rissah and camped at Kehelathah.
23 They traveled from Kehelathah and camped at Mount Shepher.
24 They traveled from Mount Shepher and camped at Haradah.
25 They traveled from Haradah and camped at Makheloth.
26 They traveled from Makheloth and camped at Tahath.
27 They traveled from Tahath and camped at Terah.
28 They traveled from Terah and camped at Mithkah.
29 They traveled from Mithkah and camped at Hashmonah.
30 They traveled from Hashmonah and camped at Moseroth.
31 They traveled from Moseroth and camped at Bene-jaakan.
32 They traveled from Bene-jaakan and camped at Hor-haggidgad.
33 They traveled from Hor-haggidgad and camped at Jotbathah.
34 They traveled from Jotbathah and camped at Abronah.
35 They traveled from Abronah and camped at Ezion-geber.
36 They traveled from Ezion-geber and camped in the Wilderness of Zin (that is, Kadesh).
37 They traveled from Kadesh and camped at Mount Hor on the edge of the land of Edom. 38 At the Lord’s command, the priest Aaron climbed Mount Hor and died there on the first day of the fifth month in the fortieth year after the Israelites went out of the land of Egypt. 39 Aaron was 123 years old when he died on Mount Hor. 40 At that time the Canaanite king of Arad, who lived in the Negev in the land of Canaan, heard the Israelites were coming.
41 They traveled from Mount Hor and camped at Zalmonah.
42 They traveled from Zalmonah and camped at Punon.
43 They traveled from Punon and camped at Oboth.
44 They traveled from Oboth and camped at Iye-abarim on the border of Moab.
45 They traveled from Iyim and camped at Dibon-gad.
46 They traveled from Dibon-gad and camped at Almon-diblathaim.
47 They traveled from Almon-diblathaim and camped in the Abarim range facing Nebo.
48 They traveled from the Abarim range and camped on the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho. 49 They camped by the Jordan from Beth-jeshimoth to the Acacia Meadow on the plains of Moab.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR OCCUPYING CANAAN
50 The Lord spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho, 51 “Tell the Israelites: When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, 52 you must drive out all the inhabitants of the land before you, destroy all their stone images and cast images, and demolish all their high places. 53 You are to take possession of the land and settle in it because I have given you the land to possess. 54 You are to receive the land as an inheritance by lot according to your clans. Increase the inheritance for a large clan and decrease it for a small one. Whatever place the lot indicates for someone will be his. You will receive an inheritance according to your ancestral tribes. 55 But if you don’t drive out the inhabitants of the land before you, those you allow to remain will become barbs for your eyes and thorns for your sides; they will harass you in the land where you will live. 56 And what I had planned to do to them, I will do to you.”

Numbers 34

BOUNDARIES OF THE PROMISED LAND
The Lord spoke to Moses,
2 “Command the Israelites and say to them: When you enter the land of Canaan, it will be allotted to you as an inheritance with these borders:

3 Your southern side will be from the Wilderness of Zin along the boundary of Edom. Your southern border on the east will begin at the east end of the Dead Sea. 4 Your border will turn south of the Scorpions’ Ascent, proceed to Zin, and end south of Kadesh-barnea. It will go to Hazar-addar and proceed to Azmon. 5 The border will turn from Azmon to the Brook of Egypt, where it will end at the Mediterranean Sea.

6 Your western border will be the coastline of the Mediterranean Sea; this will be your western border.

7 This will be your northern border: From the Mediterranean Sea draw a line to Mount Hor; 8 from Mount Hor draw a line to the entrance of Hamath, and the border will reach Zedad. 9 Then the border will go to Ziphron and end at Hazar-enan. This will be your northern border.

10 For your eastern border, draw a line from Hazar-enan to Shepham. 11 The border will go down from Shepham to Riblah east of Ain. It will continue down and reach the eastern slope of the Sea of Chinnereth. 12 Then the border will go down to the Jordan and end at the Dead Sea. This will be your land defined by its borders on all sides.”

13 So Moses commanded the Israelites, “This is the land you are to receive by lot as an inheritance, which the Lord commanded to be given to the nine and a half tribes. 14 For the tribe of Reuben’s descendants and the tribe of Gad’s descendants have received their inheritance according to their ancestral families, and half the tribe of Manasseh has received its inheritance. 15 The two and a half tribes have received their inheritance across the Jordan east of Jericho, toward the sunrise.”

LEADERS FOR DISTRIBUTING THE LAND
16 The Lord spoke to Moses, 17 “These are the names of the men who are to distribute the land as an inheritance for you: the priest Eleazar and Joshua son of Nun. 18 Take one leader from each tribe to distribute the land. 19 These are the names of the men:

Caleb son of Jephunneh from the tribe of Judah;
20 Shemuel son of Ammihud from the tribe of Simeon’s descendants;
21 Elidad son of Chislon from the tribe of Benjamin;
22 Bukki son of Jogli, a leader from the tribe of Dan’s descendants;
23 from the sons of Joseph:
Hanniel son of Ephod, a leader from the tribe of Manasseh’s descendants,
24 Kemuel son of Shiphtan, a leader from the tribe of Ephraim’s descendants;
25 Eli-zaphan son of Parnach, a leader from the tribe of Zebulun’s descendants;
26 Paltiel son of Azzan, a leader from the tribe of Issachar’s descendants;
27 Ahihud son of Shelomi, a leader from the tribe of Asher’s descendants;
28 Pedahel son of Ammihud, a leader from the tribe of Naphtali’s descendants.”
29 These are the ones the Lord commanded to distribute the inheritance to the Israelites in the land of Canaan.

Numbers 35

CITIES FOR THE LEVITES
The Lord again spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho:
2 “Command the Israelites to give cities out of their hereditary property for the Levites to live in and pastureland around the cities. 3 The cities will be for them to live in, and their pasturelands will be for their herds, flocks, and all their other animals. 4 The pasturelands of the cities you are to give the Levites will extend from the city wall five hundred yards on every side. 5 Measure a thousand yards outside the city for the east side, a thousand yards for the south side, a thousand yards for the west side, and a thousand yards for the north side, with the city in the center. This will belong to them as pasturelands for the cities.

6 “The cities you give the Levites will include six cities of refuge, which you will provide so that the one who kills someone may flee there; in addition to these, give forty-two other cities. 7 The total number of cities you give the Levites will be forty-eight, along with their pasturelands. 8 Of the cities that you give from the Israelites’ territory, you should take more from a larger tribe and less from a smaller one. Each tribe is to give some of its cities to the Levites in proportion to the inheritance it receives.”

CITIES OF REFUGE
9 The Lord said to Moses, 10 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, 11 designate cities to serve as cities of refuge for you, so that a person who kills someone unintentionally may flee there. 12 You will have the cities as a refuge from the avenger, so that the one who kills someone will not die until he stands trial before the assembly. 13 The cities you select will be your six cities of refuge. 14 Select three cities across the Jordan and three cities in the land of Canaan to be cities of refuge. 15 These six cities will serve as a refuge for the Israelites and for the alien or temporary resident among them, so that anyone who kills a person unintentionally may flee there.

16 “If anyone strikes a person with an iron object and death results, he is a murderer; the murderer must be put to death. 17 If anyone has in his hand a stone capable of causing death and strikes another person and he dies, the murderer must be put to death. 18 If anyone has in his hand a wooden object capable of causing death and strikes another person and he dies, the murderer must be put to death. 19 The avenger of blood himself is to kill the murderer; when he finds him, he is to kill him. 20 Likewise, if anyone in hatred pushes a person or throws an object at him with malicious intent and he dies, 21 or if in hostility he strikes him with his hand and he dies, the one who struck him must be put to death; he is a murderer. The avenger of blood is to kill the murderer when he finds him.

22 “But if anyone suddenly pushes a person without hostility or throws any object at him without malicious intent 23 or without looking drops a stone that could kill a person and he dies, but he was not his enemy and didn’t intend to harm him, 24 the assembly is to judge between the person who kills someone and the avenger of blood according to these ordinances. 25 The assembly is to protect the one who kills someone from the avenger of blood. Then the assembly will return him to the city of refuge he fled to, and he must live there until the death of the high priest who was anointed with the holy oil.

26 “If the one who kills someone ever goes outside the border of the city of refuge he fled to, 27 and the avenger of blood finds him outside the border of his city of refuge and kills him, the avenger will not be guilty of bloodshed, 28 for the one who killed a person was supposed to live in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest. Only after the death of the high priest may the one who has killed a person return to the land he possesses. 29 These instructions will be a statutory ordinance for you throughout your generations wherever you live.

30 “If anyone kills a person, the murderer is to be put to death based on the word of witnesses. But no one is to be put to death based on the testimony of one witness. 31 You are not to accept a ransom for the life of someone who is guilty of murder; he must be put to death. 32 Neither should you accept a ransom for the person who flees to his city of refuge, allowing him to return and live in the land before the death of the high priest.

33 “Do not defile the land where you live, for bloodshed defiles the land, and there can be no atonement for the land because of the blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of the person who shed it. 34 Do not make the land unclean where you live and where I dwell; for I, the Lord, reside among the Israelites.”

Numbers 36

THE INHERITANCE OF ZELOPHEHAD’S DAUGHTERS
The family heads from the clan of the descendants of Gilead ​— ​the son of Machir, son of Manasseh ​— ​who were from the clans of the sons of Joseph, approached and addressed Moses and the leaders who were heads of the Israelite families.
2 They said, “The Lord commanded my lord to give the land as an inheritance by lot to the Israelites. My lord was further commanded by the Lord to give our brother Zelophehad’s inheritance to his daughters. 3 If they marry any of the men from the other Israelite tribes, their inheritance will be taken away from our fathers’ inheritance and added to that of the tribe into which they marry. Therefore, part of our allotted inheritance would be taken away. 4 When the Jubilee comes for the Israelites, their inheritance will be added to that of the tribe into which they marry, and their inheritance will be taken away from the inheritance of our ancestral tribe.”

5 So Moses commanded the Israelites at the word of the Lord, “What the tribe of Joseph’s descendants says is right. 6 This is what the Lord has commanded concerning Zelophehad’s daughters: They may marry anyone they like provided they marry within a clan of their ancestral tribe. 7 No inheritance belonging to the Israelites is to transfer from tribe to tribe, because each of the Israelites is to retain the inheritance of his ancestral tribe. 8 Any daughter who possesses an inheritance from an Israelite tribe must marry someone from the clan of her ancestral tribe, so that each of the Israelites will possess the inheritance of his fathers. 9 No inheritance is to transfer from one tribe to another, because each of the Israelite tribes is to retain its inheritance.”

10 The daughters of Zelophehad did as the Lord commanded Moses. 11 Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad, married cousins on their father’s side. 12 They married men from the clans of the descendants of Manasseh son of Joseph, and their inheritance remained within the tribe of their father’s clan.

13 These are the commands and ordinances the Lord commanded the Israelites through Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho.

— Numbers 33:1-36:13 (CSB)