Numbers 13

• 1. The LORD now said to Moses,
• 2. "Send men to explore the land of Canaan, the land I am giving to Israel. Send one leader from each of the twelve ancestral tribes."
• 3. So Moses did as the LORD commanded him. He sent out twelve men, all tribal leaders of Israel, from their camp in the wilderness of Paran.
• 4. These were the tribes and the names of the leaders: Reuben............. Shammua son of Zaccur
• 5. Simeon................. Shaphat son of Hori
• 6. Judah................ Caleb son of Jephunneh
• 7. Issachar................... Igal son of Joseph
• 8. Ephraim................. Hoshea son of Nun
• 9. Benjamin................. Palti son of Raphu
• 10. Zebulun................. Gaddiel son of Sodi
• 11. Manasseh son of Joseph...... Gaddi son of Susi
• 12. Dan................. Ammiel son of Gemalli
• 13. Asher................. Sethur son of Michael
• 14. Naphtali................ Nahbi son of Vophsi
• 15. Gad..................... Geuel son of Maki
• 16. These are the names of the men Moses sent to explore the land. By this time Moses had changed Hoshea's name to Joshua.
• 17. Moses gave the men these instructions as he sent them out to explore the land: "Go northward through the Negev into the hill country.
• 18. See what the land is like and find out whether the people living there are strong or weak, few or many.
• 19. What kind of land do they live in? Is it good or bad? Do their towns have walls or are they unprotected?
• 20. How is the soil? Is it fertile or poor? Are there many trees? Enter the land boldly, and bring back samples of the crops you see." (It happened to be the season for harvesting the first ripe grapes.)
• 21. So they went up and explored the land from the wilderness of Zin as far as Rehob, near Lebo-hamath.
• 22. Going northward, they passed first through the Negev and arrived at Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai--all descendants of Anak--lived. (The ancient town of Hebron was founded seven years before the Egyptian city of Zoan.)
• 23. When they came to what is now known as the valley of Eshcol, they cut down a cluster of grapes so large that it took two of them to carry it on a pole between them! They also took samples of the pomegranates and figs.
• 24. At that time the Israelites renamed the valley Eshcol--"cluster"--because of the cluster of grapes they had cut there.
• 25. After exploring the land for forty days, the men returned
• 26. to Moses, Aaron, and the people of Israel at Kadesh in the wilderness of Paran. They reported to the whole community what they had seen and showed them the fruit they had taken from the land.
• 27. This was their report to Moses: "We arrived in the land you sent us to see, and it is indeed a magnificent country--a land flowing with milk and honey. Here is some of its fruit as proof.
• 28. But the people living there are powerful, and their cities and towns are fortified and very large. We also saw the descendants of Anak who are living there!
• 29. The Amalekites live in the Negev, and the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites live in the hill country. The Canaanites live along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea and along the Jordan Valley."
• 30. But Caleb tried to encourage the people as they stood before Moses. "Let's go at once to take the land," he said. "We can certainly conquer it!"
• 31. But the other men who had explored the land with him answered, "We can't go up against them! They are stronger than we are!"
• 32. So they spread discouraging reports about the land among the Israelites: "The land we explored will swallow up any who go to live there. All the people we saw were huge.
• 33. We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak. We felt like grasshoppers next to them, and that's what we looked like to them!"

Numbers 14

• 1. Then all the people began weeping aloud, and they cried all night.
• 2. Their voices rose in a great chorus of complaint against Moses and Aaron. "We wish we had died in Egypt, or even here in the wilderness!" they wailed.
• 3. "Why is the LORD taking us to this country only to have us die in battle? Our wives and little ones will be carried off as slaves! Let's get out of here and return to Egypt!"
• 4. Then they plotted among themselves, "Let's choose a leader and go back to Egypt!"
• 5. Then Moses and Aaron fell face down on the ground before the people of Israel.
• 6. Two of the men who had explored the land, Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, tore their clothing.
• 7. They said to the community of Israel, "The land we explored is a wonderful land!
• 8. And if the LORD is pleased with us, he will bring us safely into that land and give it to us. It is a rich land flowing with milk and honey, and he will give it to us!
• 9. Do not rebel against the LORD, and don't be afraid of the people of the land. They are only helpless prey to us! They have no protection, but the LORD is with us! Don't be afraid of them!"
• 10. But the whole community began to talk about stoning Joshua and Caleb. Then the glorious presence of the LORD appeared to all the Israelites from above the Tabernacle.
• 11. And the LORD said to Moses, "How long will these people reject me? Will they never believe me, even after all the miraculous signs I have done among them?
• 12. I will disown them and destroy them with a plague. Then I will make you into a nation far greater and mightier than they are!"
• 13. "But what will the Egyptians think when they hear about it?" Moses pleaded with the LORD. "They know full well the power you displayed in rescuing these people from Egypt.
• 14. They will tell this to the inhabitants of this land, who are well aware that you are with this people. They know, LORD, that you have appeared in full view of your people in the pillar of cloud that hovers over them. They know that you go before them in the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night.
• 15. Now if you slaughter all these people, the nations that have heard of your fame will say,
• 16. `The LORD was not able to bring them into the land he swore to give them, so he killed them in the wilderness.'
• 17. "Please, Lord, prove that your power is as great as you have claimed it to be. For you said,
• 18. `The LORD is slow to anger and rich in unfailing love, forgiving every kind of sin and rebellion. Even so he does not leave sin unpunished, but he punishes the children for the sins of their parents to the third and fourth generations.'
• 19. Please pardon the sins of this people because of your magnificent, unfailing love, just as you have forgiven them ever since they left Egypt."
• 20. Then the LORD said, "I will pardon them as you have requested.
• 21. But as surely as I live, and as surely as the earth is filled with the LORD's glory,
• 22. not one of these people will ever enter that land. They have seen my glorious presence and the miraculous signs I performed both in Egypt and in the wilderness, but again and again they tested me by refusing to listen.
• 23. They will never even see the land I swore to give their ancestors. None of those who have treated me with contempt will enter it.
• 24. But my servant Caleb is different from the others. He has remained loyal to me, and I will bring him into the land he explored. His descendants will receive their full share of that land.
• 25. Now turn around and don't go on toward the land where the Amalekites and Canaanites live. Tomorrow you must set out for the wilderness in the direction of the Red Sea. "
• 26. Then the LORD said to Moses and Aaron,
• 27. "How long will this wicked nation complain about me? I have heard everything the Israelites have been saying.
• 28. Now tell them this: `As surely as I live, I will do to you the very things I heard you say. I, the LORD, have spoken!
• 29. You will all die here in this wilderness! Because you complained against me, none of you who are twenty years old or older and were counted in the census
• 30. will enter the land I swore to give you. The only exceptions will be Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.
• 31. " `You said your children would be taken captive. Well, I will bring them safely into the land, and they will enjoy what you have despised.
• 32. But as for you, your dead bodies will fall in this wilderness.
• 33. And your children will be like shepherds, wandering in the wilderness forty years. In this way, they will pay for your faithlessness, until the last of you lies dead in the wilderness.
• 34. " `Because the men who explored the land were there for forty days, you must wander in the wilderness for forty years--a year for each day, suffering the consequences of your sins. You will discover what it is like to have me for an enemy.'
• 35. I, the LORD, have spoken! I will do these things to every member of the community who has conspired against me. They will all die here in this wilderness!"
• 36. Then the ten scouts who had incited the rebellion against the LORD by spreading discouraging reports about the land
• 37. were struck dead with a plague before the LORD.
• 38. Of the twelve who had explored the land, only Joshua and Caleb remained alive.
• 39. When Moses reported the LORD's words to the Israelites, there was much sorrow among the people.
• 40. So they got up early the next morning and set out for the hill country of Canaan. "Let's go," they said. "We realize that we have sinned, but now we are ready to enter the land the LORD has promised us."
• 41. But Moses said, "Why are you now disobeying the LORD's orders to return to the wilderness? It won't work.
• 42. Do not go into the land now. You will only be crushed by your enemies because the LORD is not with you.
• 43. When you face the Amalekites and Canaanites in battle, you will be slaughtered. The LORD will abandon you because you have abandoned the LORD."
• 44. But the people pushed ahead toward the hill country of Canaan, despite the fact that neither Moses nor the Ark of the LORD's covenant left the camp.
• 45. Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in those hills came down and attacked them and chased them as far as Hormah.

Numbers 15

• 1. The LORD told Moses to give these instructions to the people of Israel:
• 2. "When you finally settle in the land I am going to give you,
• 3. and you want to please the LORD with a burnt offering or any other offering given by fire, the sacrifice must be an animal from your flocks of sheep and goats or from your herds of cattle. When it is an ordinary burnt offering, a sacrifice to fulfill a vow, a freewill offering, or a special sacrifice at any of the annual festivals,
• 4. whoever brings it must also give to the LORD a grain offering of two quarts of choice flour mixed with one quart of olive oil.
• 5. For each lamb offered as a whole burnt offering, you must also present one quart of wine for a drink offering.
• 6. "If the sacrifice is a ram, give three quarts of choice flour mixed with two and a half pints of olive oil,
• 7. and give two and a half pints of wine for a drink offering. This sacrifice will be very pleasing to the LORD.
• 8. "When you present a young bull as a burnt offering or a sacrifice in fulfillment of a special vow or as a peace offering to the LORD,
• 9. then the grain offering accompanying it must include five quarts of choice flour mixed with two quarts of olive oil,
• 10. plus two quarts of wine for the drink offering. This will be an offering made by fire, very pleasing to the LORD.
• 11. "These are the instructions for what is to accompany each sacrificial bull, ram, lamb, or young goat.
• 12. Each of you must do this with each offering you present.
• 13. If you native Israelites want to present an offering by fire that is pleasing to the LORD, you must follow all these instructions.
• 14. And if any foreigners living among you want to present an offering by fire, pleasing to the LORD, they must follow the same procedures.
• 15. Native Israelites and foreigners are the same before the LORD and are subject to the same laws. This is a permanent law for you.
• 16. The same instructions and regulations will apply both to you and to the foreigners living among you."
• 17. The LORD also said to Moses at this time,
• 18. "Give the people of Israel the following instructions: When you arrive in the land where I am taking you,
• 19. you will eat from the crops that grow there. But you must set some aside as a gift to the LORD.
• 20. Present a cake from the first of the flour you grind and set it aside as a gift, as you do with the first grain from the threshing floor.
• 21. Throughout the generations to come, you are to present this offering to the LORD each year from the first of your ground flour.
• 22. "But suppose some of you unintentionally fail to carry out all these commands that the LORD has given you through Moses.
• 23. And suppose some of your descendants in the future fail to do everything the LORD has commanded through Moses.
• 24. If the mistake was done unintentionally, and the community was unaware of it, the whole community must present a young bull for a burnt offering. It will be pleasing to the LORD, and it must be offered along with the prescribed grain offering and drink offering and with one male goat for a sin offering.
• 25. With it the priest will make atonement for the whole community of Israel, and they will be forgiven. For it was an unintentional sin, and they have corrected it with their offering given to the LORD by fire and by their sin offering.
• 26. The whole community of Israel will be forgiven, including the foreigners living among you, for the entire population was involved in the sin.
• 27. "If the unintentional sin is committed by an individual, the guilty person must bring a one-year-old female goat for a sin offering.
• 28. The priest will make atonement for the guilty person before the LORD, and that person will be forgiven.
• 29. This same law applies both to native Israelites and the foreigners living among you.
• 30. "But those who brazenly violate the LORD's will, whether native Israelites or foreigners, blaspheme the LORD, and they must be cut off from the community.
• 31. Since they have treated the LORD's word with contempt and deliberately disobeyed his commands, they must be completely cut off and suffer the consequences of their guilt."
• 32. One day while the people of Israel were in the wilderness, they caught a man gathering wood on the Sabbath day.
• 33. He was apprehended and taken before Moses, Aaron, and the rest of the community.
• 34. They held him in custody because they did not know what to do with him.
• 35. Then the LORD said to Moses, "The man must be put to death! The whole community must stone him outside the camp."
• 36. So the whole community took the man outside the camp and stoned him to death, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.
• 37. And the LORD said to Moses,
• 38. "Say to the people of Israel: `Throughout the generations to come you must make tassels for the hems of your clothing and attach the tassels at each corner with a blue cord.
• 39. The tassels will remind you of the commands of the LORD, and that you are to obey his commands instead of following your own desires and going your own ways, as you are prone to do.
• 40. The tassels will help you remember that you must obey all my commands and be holy to your God.
• 41. I am the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt that I might be your God. I am the LORD your God!'"

New Living Translation: 45 of 324 days.