Numbers 15

The LORD spoke to Moses. He said:

1And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

2Speak to the people of Israel and tell them: After you come into the land I am giving you to live in,

2Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land of your habitations, which I give unto you,

NoteThese instructions are framed for life after settlement in Canaan (farming, bread, wine, olive oil), rather than for the wandering in the desert where the people currently are. The recipes assume a settled agricultural economy.

3you will make offerings by fire to the LORD from your cattle or your sheep and goats. These may be burnt offerings, or sacrifices to keep a promise you made, or gifts you give freely, or offerings at your set feasts. They are meant to make a smell that pleases the LORD.

3And will make an offering by fire unto the LORD, a burnt offering, or a sacrifice in performing a vow, or in a freewill offering, or in your solemn feasts, to make a sweet savour unto the LORD, of the herd, or of the flock:

Note"Offering by fire" means the portion burned on the altar so the smoke rises. A burnt offering was consumed entirely; other sacrifices were partly burned and partly eaten. A vow was a conditional promise ("if this happens, I will give this"); a freewill offering was voluntary, owed to no promise. "Set feasts" are the fixed annual festivals. "A smell that pleases the LORD" is a standard ancient phrase for a sacrifice that is accepted, not a statement that God is hungry.

4Then whoever brings his offering to the LORD must also bring a grain offering. It is to be four pints of fine flour mixed with about a quart of olive oil.

4Then shall he that offereth his offering unto the LORD bring a meat offering of a tenth deal of flour mingled with the fourth part of an hin of oil.

NoteThe original units: "a tenth deal" is a tenth of an ephah, the standard dry measure, roughly two quarts of flour; a hin was a liquid measure of roughly a gallon, so a quarter hin is about a quart. Ancient measures are known only approximately, so modern equivalents vary between translations. The point of the system is proportion: bigger animal, more flour, oil and wine.

5With each lamb, whether it is a burnt offering or another sacrifice, you must also prepare about a quart of wine to be poured out as a drink offering.

5And the fourth part of an hin of wine for a drink offering shalt thou prepare with the burnt offering or sacrifice, for one lamb.

6With a ram you must prepare a grain offering of about eight pints of fine flour mixed with about a quart and a third of olive oil.

6Or for a ram, thou shalt prepare for a meat offering two tenth deals of flour mingled with the third part of an hin of oil.

7You must also offer about a quart and a third of wine as a drink offering. It makes a smell that pleases the LORD.

7And for a drink offering thou shalt offer the third part of an hin of wine, for a sweet savour unto the LORD.

8When you prepare a young bull as a burnt offering, or as a sacrifice to keep a promise you made, or as a peace offering to the LORD,

8And when thou preparest a bullock for a burnt offering, or for a sacrifice in performing a vow, or peace offerings unto the LORD:

NoteA peace offering (also called a fellowship or well-being offering) was the one sacrifice the worshiper's family ate. Some fat was burned, a portion went to the priests, and the rest became a shared meal.

9then bring with the bull a grain offering of about twelve pints of fine flour mixed with about two quarts of olive oil.

9Then shall he bring with a bullock a meat offering of three tenth deals of flour mingled with half an hin of oil.

10You must also bring about two quarts of wine as a drink offering. It is an offering made by fire, a smell that pleases the LORD.

10And thou shalt bring for a drink offering half an hin of wine, for an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD.

11This is what must be done for each bull, each ram, each lamb, and each young goat.

11Thus shall it be done for one bullock, or for one ram, or for a lamb, or a kid.

12However many animals you prepare, do this for each one, matching the number you bring.

12According to the number that ye shall prepare, so shall ye do to every one according to their number.

13Everyone born in Israel must do these things this way when he brings an offering made by fire, a smell that pleases the LORD.

13All that are born of the country shall do these things after this manner, in offering an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD.

14And if a foreigner is living among you, or anyone else is among you in the years to come, and he wants to make an offering by fire, a smell that pleases the LORD, he must do exactly as you do.

14And if a stranger sojourn with you, or whosoever be among you in your generations, and will offer an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD; as ye do, so he shall do.

Note"Foreigner living among you" translates a Hebrew word for a resident outsider, someone settled long-term in Israel without belonging to an Israelite family, as distinct from a passing traveler or a foreign merchant. The rules here give such a person the same access to worship and the same obligations.

15There is one rule for you in the community and for the foreigner living among you. It is a lasting rule for all your generations. Before the LORD, you and the foreigner are the same.

15One ordinance shall be both for you of the congregation, and also for the stranger that sojourneth with you, an ordinance for ever in your generations: as ye are, so shall the stranger be before the LORD.

16The same law and the same practice will apply to you and to the foreigner living among you.

16One law and one manner shall be for you, and for the stranger that sojourneth with you.

17The LORD spoke to Moses. He said:

17And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

18Speak to the people of Israel and tell them: When you come into the land where I am bringing you,

18Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into the land whither I bring you,

19and you eat the food that the land grows, you must lift up an offering to the LORD.

19Then it shall be, that, when ye eat of the bread of the land, ye shall offer up an heave offering unto the LORD.

Note"Lift up an offering" renders the KJV's "heave offering." The Hebrew word means a contribution raised or set aside out of a larger amount and given over; older English took it as a physical lifting gesture. It is a portion separated off, not a thing waved in the air.

20From the first of your dough you must lift up a cake as an offering. Lift it up the same way you lift up the offering from the grain on your threshing floor.

20Ye shall offer up a cake of the first of your dough for an heave offering: as ye do the heave offering of the threshingfloor, so shall ye heave it.

NoteThe threshing floor was a flat, hard, open area where harvested grain was beaten and tossed in the wind to separate grain from chaff, the place where the year's crop first became usable food, and so where the first portion was set aside. Here the same principle is applied one step later, to the dough made from the flour.

21In all your generations you must give the LORD an offering from the first of your dough.

21Of the first of your dough ye shall give unto the LORD an heave offering in your generations.

22Now suppose you go wrong by accident and fail to keep all these commands that the LORD spoke to Moses

22And if ye have erred, and not observed all these commandments, which the LORD hath spoken unto Moses,

23everything the LORD commanded you through Moses, from the day the LORD gave the commands and on through your generations.

23Even all that the LORD hath commanded you by the hand of Moses, from the day that the LORD commanded Moses, and henceforward among your generations;

24If something was done by accident, without the community knowing about it, then the whole community must offer one young bull as a burnt offering, a smell that pleases the LORD, along with its grain offering and its drink offering as the rule requires, and one male goat as a sin offering.

24Then it shall be, if ought be committed by ignorance without the knowledge of the congregation, that all the congregation shall offer one young bullock for a burnt offering, for a sweet savour unto the LORD, with his meat offering, and his drink offering, according to the manner, and one kid of the goats for a sin offering.

NoteA sin offering (Hebrew *chatta't*) dealt with the pollution that wrongdoing was thought to leave on the sanctuary and the community; "purification offering" is an equally defensible translation. It applies here to accidental breaches, not deliberate ones.

25The priest will make things right for the whole community of Israel, and they will be forgiven. It was an accident, and they have brought their offering to the LORD, an offering made by fire, and their sin offering before the LORD for what they did without meaning to.

25And the priest shall make an atonement for all the congregation of the children of Israel, and it shall be forgiven them; for it is ignorance: and they shall bring their offering, a sacrifice made by fire unto the LORD, and their sin offering before the LORD, for their ignorance:

Note"Make things right" renders the KJV's "make an atonement." The Hebrew verb carries the sense of wiping clean, or of covering over; it describes a ritual act the priest performs on the people's behalf.

26The whole community of Israel will be forgiven, and so will the foreigners living among them, since the whole people did it without meaning to.

26And it shall be forgiven all the congregation of the children of Israel, and the stranger that sojourneth among them; seeing all the people were in ignorance.

27And if one person sins by accident, he must bring a one-year-old female goat as a sin offering.

27And if any soul sin through ignorance, then he shall bring a she goat of the first year for a sin offering.

28The priest will make things right before the LORD for the person who sinned by accident, and that person will be forgiven.

28And the priest shall make an atonement for the soul that sinneth ignorantly, when he sinneth by ignorance before the LORD, to make an atonement for him; and it shall be forgiven him.

29You will have one law for anyone who sins by accident, whether he was born among the people of Israel or is a foreigner living among them.

29Ye shall have one law for him that sinneth through ignorance, both for him that is born among the children of Israel, and for the stranger that sojourneth among them.

30But anyone who does something on purpose, in defiance, whether he was born in the land or is a foreigner, insults the LORD. That person must be cut off from his people.

30But the soul that doeth ought presumptuously, whether he be born in the land, or a stranger, the same reproacheth the LORD; and that soul shall be cut off from among his people.

Note"On purpose, in defiance" translates a Hebrew idiom, literally "with a high hand", acting openly and with raised fist, the opposite of an accident. "Cut off from his people" is a set phrase whose exact force is disputed: it may mean execution by the community, expulsion from it, dying childless, or a penalty left to God. Ancient interpreters argued over which.

31He has treated the word of the LORD as worthless and has broken his command. That person must certainly be cut off. His guilt stays on him.

31Because he hath despised the word of the LORD, and hath broken his commandment, that soul shall utterly be cut off; his iniquity shall be upon him.

Note"His guilt stays on him" translates "his iniquity shall be upon him", the wrongdoing is not transferred to a sacrifice or removed by ritual, but remains attached to the person, who bears its consequences himself.

32While the people of Israel were in the desert, they found a man gathering sticks on the sabbath day.

32And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man that gathered sticks upon the sabbath day.

NoteGathering sticks means collecting firewood. Lighting and feeding a fire counted as work, and the sabbath command forbade work; part of what the episode turns on is that the law stated the prohibition without stating a penalty.

33The people who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron and the whole community.

33And they that found him gathering sticks brought him unto Moses and Aaron, and unto all the congregation.

34They kept him under guard, because it had not been made clear what should be done to him.

34And they put him in ward, because it was not declared what should be done to him.

NoteAncient Israel had no prison system and no imprisonment as a punishment. Holding a man "under guard" meant detaining him until a ruling could be obtained, here, because the existing law gave no specified penalty.

35The LORD said to Moses, The man must be put to death. The whole community is to stone him outside the camp.

35And the LORD said unto Moses, The man shall be surely put to death: all the congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp.

NoteThe camp was arranged around the sanctuary and treated as ritually clean ground; death, burial, disease and executions were kept outside its boundary. Stoning by the whole assembly also spread responsibility across the community rather than placing it on one executioner.

36So the whole community took him outside the camp and stoned him to death, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.

36And all the congregation brought him without the camp, and stoned him with stones, and he died; as the LORD commanded Moses.

37The LORD spoke to Moses. He said:

37And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

38Speak to the people of Israel and tell them that in all their generations they are to make tassels for the corners of their clothes, and to put a blue cord on each tassel.

38Speak unto the children of Israel, and bid them that they make them fringes in the borders of their garments throughout their generations, and that they put upon the fringe of the borders a ribband of blue:

NoteThe tassels are the *tzitzit*. Outer garments were large rectangles of cloth with four corners, and knotted threads were fastened at each corner. Blue dye came from a shellfish, was extremely expensive, and was associated with royal and priestly cloth, so a blue thread marked the garment as something more than ordinary dress.

39The tassels are for you to look at, so you will remember all the commands of the LORD and obey them. Then you will not chase after your own heart and your own eyes, going after them and being unfaithful, as you have done.

39And it shall be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the LORD, and do them; and that ye seek not after your own heart and your own eyes, after which ye use to go a whoring:

Note"Being unfaithful" renders a Hebrew verb meaning to prostitute oneself. Israel's writers routinely used sexual-infidelity language for abandoning loyalty to their God for other gods; the image is of a partner breaking faith, and it is a stock metaphor rather than a description of sexual conduct.

40This way you will remember and obey all my commands, and you will be holy to your God.

40That ye may remember, and do all my commandments, and be holy unto your God.

Note"Holy" in this vocabulary means set apart, reserved for a particular use (as a vessel or a day could be holy), rather than "morally good" in the modern sense.

41I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God. I am the LORD your God.

41I am the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: I am the LORD your God.