For from the top of the rocks I see them; ¹  from the hills I watch them. ²  Indeed, a nation that lives alone, and it will not be reckoned ³  among the nations.

“Instruct the Israelites to give ¹  the Levites towns to live in from the inheritance the Israelites ²  will possess. You must also give the Levites grazing land around the towns.

These six towns will be places of refuge for the Israelites, and for the foreigner, and for the settler among them, so that anyone who kills any person accidentally may flee there.

“Now those who will be camping ¹  on the east, toward the sunrise, ²  are the divisions ³  of the camp of Judah under their standard. The leader of the people of Judah is ⁴  Nahshon son of Amminadab.

“Take the Levites instead of all the firstborn males among the Israelites, and the livestock of the Levites instead of their livestock. And the Levites will be mine. I am the Lord.

The firstborn of every womb which they present to the Lord, whether human or animal, will be yours. Nevertheless, the firstborn sons you must redeem, ¹  and the firstborn males of unclean animals you must redeem.

And the priest is to make atonement ¹  for the whole community of the Israelites, and they will be forgiven, ²  because it was unintentional and they have brought their offering, an offering made by fire to the Lord, and their purification offering before the Lord, for their unintentional offense.

So you are to appoint Aaron and his sons, and they will be responsible for their priesthood; ¹  but the unauthorized person ²  who comes near must be put to death.”

“Make ¹  two trumpets of silver; you are to make ²  them from a single hammered piece. ³  You will use them ⁴  for assembling the community and for directing the traveling of the camps.

But if the Lord does something entirely new, ¹  and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them up ²  along with all that they have, and they ³  go down alive to the grave, ⁴  then you will know that these men have despised the Lord!”

The towns you will give must be from the possession of the Israelites. From the larger tribes you must give more; and from the smaller tribes fewer. Each must contribute some of its own towns to the Levites in proportion to the inheritance allocated to each.

One statute must apply ¹  to you who belong to the congregation and to the resident foreigner who is living among you, as a permanent ²  statute for your future generations. You and the resident foreigner will be alike ³  before the Lord.

They must join ¹  with you, and they will be responsible for the care of the tent of meeting, for all the service of the tent, but no unauthorized person ²  may approach you.

God came to Balaam that night, and said to him, “If the men have come to call you, get up and go with them; but the word that I will say to you, that you must do.”

But the angel of the Lord said to Balaam, “Go with the men, but you may only speak ¹  the word that I will speak to you.” ²  So Balaam went with the princes of Balak.

You will say to them, ‘This is the offering made by fire which you must offer to the Lord: two unblemished lambs one year old each day for a continual ¹  burnt offering.

Then Moses commanded the Israelites: “This is the land which you will inherit by lot, which the Lord has commanded to be given ¹  to the nine and a half tribes,

I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and his sons from among the Israelites, to do the work for the Israelites in the tent of meeting, and to make atonement for the Israelites, so there will be no plague among the Israelites when the Israelites come near the sanctuary.” ¹ 

Anyone who touches the corpse of any dead person and does not purify himself defiles the tabernacle of the Lord. And that person must be cut off from Israel, ¹  because the water of purification was not sprinkled on him. He will be unclean; his uncleanness remains on him.

And the clean person must sprinkle the unclean on the third day and on the seventh day; and on the seventh day he must purify him, ¹  and then he must wash his clothes, and bathe in water, and he will be clean in the evening.