And Moses said to the Lord, “Why have you afflicted ¹  your servant? Why have I not found favor in your sight, that ²  you lay the burden of this entire people on me?

¹ The Lord said to Moses, “Gather to me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know are elders of the people and officials ²  over them, and bring them to the tent of meeting; let them take their position there with you.

but a whole month, ¹  until it comes out your nostrils and makes you sick, ²  because you have despised ³  the Lord who is among you and have wept before him, saying, “Why ⁴  did we ever come out of Egypt?”’”

And the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to them, and he took some of the Spirit that was on Moses ¹  and put it on the seventy elders. When the Spirit rested on them, ²  they prophesied, ³  but did not do so again. ⁴ 

Now a wind ¹  went out ²  from the Lord and brought quail ³  from the sea, and let them fall ⁴  near the camp, about a day’s journey on this side, and about a day’s journey on the other side, all around the camp, and about three feet ⁵  high on the surface of the ground.

The Lord said to Moses, “If her father had only spit ¹  in her face, would she not have been disgraced for seven days? Shut her out from the camp seven days, and afterward she can be brought back in again.”

The Lord said to Moses, “How long will this people despise ¹  me, and how long will they not believe ²  in me, in spite of the signs that I have done among them?

‘The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in loyal love, ¹  forgiving iniquity and transgression, ²  but by no means clearing ³  the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children until the third and fourth generations.’ ⁴ 

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.

You must have this tassel so that you may look at it and remember all the commandments of the Lord and obey them and so that you do not follow ¹  after your own heart and your own eyes that lead you to unfaithfulness. ² 

Then he said to Korah and to all his company, “In the morning the Lord will make known who are his, and who is holy. He will cause that person ¹  to approach him; the person he has chosen he will cause to approach him.

Does it seem too small a thing to you that the God of Israel has separated you from the community of Israel to bring you near to himself, to perform the service of the tabernacle of the Lord, and to stand before the community to minister to them?

Moses was very angry, and he said to the Lord, “Have no respect ¹  for their offering! I have not taken so much as one donkey from them, nor have I harmed any one of them!”

As for the censers of these men who sinned at the cost of their lives, ¹  they must be made ²  into hammered sheets for covering the altar, because they presented them before the Lord and sanctified them. They will become a sign to the Israelites.”

Then Moses said to Aaron, “Take the censer, put burning coals from the altar in it, place incense on it, and go quickly into the assembly and make atonement for them, for wrath has gone out from the Lord – the plague has begun!”

The Lord said to Moses, “Bring Aaron’s staff back before the testimony to be preserved for a sign to the rebels, so that you may bring their murmurings to an end ¹  before me, that they will not die.” ² 

¹ The Lord said to Aaron, “You and your sons and your tribe ²  with you must bear the iniquity of the sanctuary, ³  and you and your sons with you must bear the iniquity of your priesthood.

The Lord spoke to Aaron, “See, I have given you the responsibility for my raised offerings; I have given all the holy things of the Israelites to you as your priestly portion ¹  and to your sons as a perpetual ordinance.

All the raised offerings of the holy things that the Israelites offer to the Lord, I have given to you, and to your sons and daughters with you, as a perpetual ordinance. It is a covenant of salt ¹  forever before the Lord for you and for your descendants with you.”

“You are to speak to the Levites, and you must tell them, ‘When you receive from the Israelites the tithe that I have given you from them as your inheritance, then you are to offer up ¹  from it as a raised offering to the Lord a tenth of the tithe.