14This is the ritual: When a person dies in a tent, whoever enters the tent and whoever is in the tent shall be unclean seven days; 15and every open vessel, with no lid fastened down, shall be unclean. 16And in the open, anyone who touches a person who was killedc or who died naturally, or human bone, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days. 17Some of the ashesd from the fire of cleansing shall be taken for the unclean person, and fresh water shall be added to them in a vessel. 18A person who is clean shall take hyssop, dip it in the water, and sprinkle on the tent and on all the vessels and people who were there, or on him who touched the bones or the person who was killed or died naturally or the grave. 19The clean person shall sprinkle it upon the unclean person on the third day and on the seventh day, thus cleansing him by the seventh day. Hee shall then wash his clothes and bathe in water, and at nightfall he shall be clean. 20If anyone who has become unclean fails to cleanse himself, that person shall be cut off from the congregation, for he has defiled the LORD’s sanctuary. The water of lustration was not dashed on him: he is unclean.
21That shall be for them a law for all time. Further, he who sprinkled the water of lustration shall wash his clothes; and whoever touches the water of lustration shall be unclean until evening. 22Whatever that unclean person touches shall be unclean; and the person who touches him shall be unclean until evening.
20 The Israelites arrived in a body at the wilderness of Zin on the first new moon,a and the people stayed at Kadesh. Miriam died there and was buried there.
2The community was without water, and they joined against Moses and Aaron. 3The people quarreled with Moses, saying, “If only we had per- ished when our brothers perished at the instance of the LORD! 4Why have you brought the LORD’s congregation into this wilderness for us and our beasts to die there? 5Why did you make us leave Egypt to bring us to this wretched place, a place with no grain or figs or vines or pomegranates? There is not even water to drink!”
6Moses and Aaron came away from the congregation to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, and fell on their faces. The Presence of the LORD appeared to them, 7and the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 8“You and your brother Aaron take the rod and assemble the community, and before their very eyes order the rock to yield its water. Thus you shall produce water for them from the rock and provide drink for the congregation and their beasts.”
9Moses took the rod from before the LORD, as He had commanded him. 10Moses and Aaron assembled the congregation in front of the rock; and he said to them, “Listen, you rebels, shall we get water for you out of this rock?” 11And Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod. Out came copious water, and the community and their beasts drank.
12But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust Me enough to affirm My sanctity in the sight of the Israelite people, therefore you shall not lead this congregation into the land that I have given them.” 13Those are the Waters of Meribahb—meaning that the Israelites quarrelled with the LORD—through which He affirmed His sanctity.
14From Kadesh, Moses sent messengers to the king of Edom: “Thus says your brother Israel: You know all the hardships that have befallen us; 15that our ancestors went down to Egypt, that we dwelt in Egypt a long time, and that the Egyptians dealt harshly with us and our ancestors. 16We cried to the LORD and He heard our plea, and He sent a messengerc who freed us from Egypt. Now we are in Kadesh, the town on the border of your territory. 17Allow us, then, to cross your country. We will not pass through fields or vineyards, and we will not drink water from wells. We will follow the king’s highway, turning off neither to the right nor to the left until we have crossed your territory.”
18But Edom answered him, “You shall not pass through us, else we will go out against you with the sword.” 19“We will keep to the beaten track,” the Israelites said to them, “and if we or our cattle drink your water, we will pay for it. We ask only for passage on foot—it is but a small matter.” 20But they replied, “You shall not pass through!” And Edom went out against them in heavy force, strongly armed. 21So Edom would not let Israel cross their territory, and Israel turned away from them.
22Setting out from Kadesh, the Israelites arrived in a body at Mount Hor. 23At Mount Hor, on the boundary of the land of Edom, the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, 24“Let Aaron be gathered to his kin: he is not to enter the land that I have assigned to the Israelite people, because you disobeyed my command about the waters of Meribah. 25Take Aaron and his son Eleazar and bring them up on Mount Hor. 26Strip Aaron of his vestments and put them on his son Eleazar. There Aaron shall be gathered d-unto the dead.”-d
27Moses did as the LORD had commanded. They ascended Mount Hor in the sight of the whole community. 28Moses stripped Aaron of his vestments and put them on his son Eleazar, and Aaron died there on the summit of the mountain. When Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain, 29the whole community knew that Aaron had breathed his last. All the house of Israel bewailed Aaron thirty days.
21 When the Canaanite, king of Arad, who dwelt in the Negeb, learned that Israel was coming by the way of Atharim,a he engaged Israel in battle and took some of them captive. 2Then Israel made a vow to the LORD and said, “If You deliver this people into our hand, we will proscribeb their towns.” 3The LORD heeded Israel’s plea and delivered up the Canaanites; and they and their cities were proscribed. So that place was named Hormah.c
4They set out from Mount Hor by way of the Sea of Reedsd to skirt the land of Edom. But the people grew restive on the journey, 5and the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why did you make us leave Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread and no water, and we have come to loathe this miserable food.” 6The LORD sent seraphe serpents against the people. They bit the people and many of the Israelites died. 7The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned by speaking against the LORD and against you. Intercede with the LORD to take away the serpents from us!” And Moses interceded for the people. 8Then the LORD said to Moses, “Make a seraphe figure and mount it on a standard. And if anyone who is bitten looks at it, he shall recover.” 9Moses made a copper serpent and mounted it on a standard; and when anyone was bitten by a serpent, he would look at the copper serpent and recover.
10The Israelites marched on and encamped at Oboth. 11They set out from Oboth and encamped at Iye-abarim, in the wilderness bordering on Moab to the east. 12From there they set out and encamped at the wadi Zered. 13From there they set out and encamped beyond the Arnon, that is, in the wilderness that extends from the territory of the Amorites. For the Arnon is the boundary of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites.
14Therefore the Book of the Wars of the LORD speaks of ([0-9]+)f“&ldots; Waheb in Suphah, and the wadis: the Arnon 15with its tributary wadis, stretched along the settled country of Ar, hugging the territory of Moab &ldots;”
16And from there to Beer,g which is the well where the LORD said to Moses, “Assemble the people that I may give them water.” 17Then Israel sang this song:
Spring up, O well—sing to it—
18The well which the chieftains dug,
Which the nobles of the people started
With maces, with their own staffs.
And from Midbarh to Mattanah, 19and from Mattanah to Nahaliel, and from Nahaliel to Bamoth, 20and from Bamoth to the valley that is in the country of Moab, at the peak of Pisgah, overlooking the wasteland.i
21Israel now sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, saying, 22“Let me pass through your country. We will not turn off into fields or vineyards, and we will not drink water from wells. We will follow the king’s highway until we have crossed your territory.”
23But Sihon would not let Israel pass through his territory. Sihon gathered all his people and went out against Israel in the wilderness. He came to Jahaz and engaged Israel in battle. 24But Israel put them to the sword, and took possession of their land, from the Arnon to the Jabbok, as far as [Az] of the Ammonites, for Azj marked the boundary of the Ammonites. 25Israel took all those towns. And Israel settled in all the towns of the Amorites, in Heshbon and all its dependencies.
26Now Heshbon was the city of Sihon king of the Amorites, who had fought against a former king of Moab
