Isn&#8217;t this what we told you<n id="1" /> in Egypt, &#8216;Leave us alone so that we can serve the Egyptians,<n id="2" /> because it is better for us to serve<n id="3" /> the Egyptians than to die in the desert!&#8217;&#8221;<n id="4" />p>

<t /><n id="1" /><p class="bodytext">Then Moses and the Israelites sang<n id="2" /> this song to the <sc>Lordsc>. They said,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;I will sing<n id="4" /> to the <sc>Lord,sc> for he has triumphed gloriously,<n id="5" />p> <p class="poetry">the horse and its rider<n id="6" /> he has thrown into the sea.p>

&#8220;I have heard the murmurings of the Israelites. Tell them, &#8216;During the evening<n id="1" /> you will eat meat,<n id="2" /> and in the morning you will be satisfied<n id="3" /> with bread, so that you may know<n id="4" /> that I am the <sc>Lordsc> your God.&#8217;&#8221;<n id="5" />p>

<p class="bodytext">He called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the contending of the Israelites and because of their testing the <sc>Lordsc>,<n id="1" /> saying, &#8220;Is the <sc>Lordsc> among us or not?&#8221;p>

<p class="bodytext">Moses said to the <sc>Lordsc>, &#8220;The people are not able to come up to Mount Sinai, because you solemnly warned us,<n id="1" /> &#8216;Set boundaries for the mountain and set it apart.&#8217;&#8221;<n id="2" />

&#8220;Tell the Israelites, &#8216;Surely you must keep my Sabbaths,<n id="1" /> for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the <sc>Lordsc> who sanctifies you.<n id="2" />

Why<n id="1" /> should the Egyptians say,<n id="2" /> &#8216;For evil<n id="3" /> he led them out to kill them in the mountains and to destroy<n id="4" /> them from the face of the earth&#8217;? Turn from your burning anger, and relent<n id="5" /> of this evil against your people.

<p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> said to Moses, &#8220;Go up<n id="1" /> from here, you and the people whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land I promised on oath<n id="2" /> to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, &#8216;I will give it to your descendants.&#8217;<n id="3" />

&#8220;Command Aaron and his sons, &#8216;This is the law of the burnt offering. The burnt offering is to remain on the hearth<n id="1" /> on the altar all night until morning, and the fire of the altar must be kept burning on it.<n id="2" />

&#8220;Tell Aaron and his sons, &#8216;This is the law of the sin offering. In the place where the burnt offering is slaughtered the sin offering must be slaughtered before the <sc>Lordsc>. It is most holy.<n id="1" />

Then Moses said to Aaron and his sons, &#8220;Boil the meat at the entrance of the Meeting Tent, and there you are to eat it and the bread which is in the ordination offering basket, just as I have commanded,<n id="1" /> saying, &#8216;Aaron and his sons are to eat it,&#8217;

&#8220;Tell the Israelites, &#8216;If any<n id="1" /> of you or of your posterity become ceremonially defiled by touching a dead body, or are on a journey far away, then he may<n id="2" /> observe the Passover to the <sc>Lordsc>.

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;And say to the people, &#8216;Sanctify yourselves<n id="1" /> for tomorrow, and you will eat meat, for you have wept in the hearing<n id="2" /> of the <sc>Lordsc>, saying, &#8220;Who will give us meat to eat,<n id="3" /> for life<n id="4" /> was good for us in Egypt?&#8221; Therefore the <sc>Lordsc> will give you meat, and you will eat.

but a whole month,<n id="1" /> until it comes out your nostrils and makes you sick,<n id="2" /> because you have despised<n id="3" /> the <sc>Lordsc> who is among you and have wept before him, saying, &#8220;Why<n id="4" /> did we ever come out of Egypt?&#8221;&#8217;&#8221;p>

Then they presented the Israelites with a discouraging<n id="1" /> report of the land they had investigated, saying, &#8220;The land that we passed through<n id="2" /> to investigate is a land that devours<n id="3" /> its inhabitants.<n id="4" /> All the people we saw there<n id="5" /> are of great stature.

Then he said to Korah and to all his company, &#8220;In the morning the <sc>Lordsc> will make known who are his, and who is holy. He will cause that person<n id="1" /> to approach him; the person he has chosen he will cause to approach him.

And he said to the community, &#8220;Move away from the tents of these wicked<n id="1" /> men, and do not touch anything they have, lest you be destroyed because<n id="2" /> of all their sins.&#8221;<n id="3" />

&#8220;This is the ordinance of the law which the <sc>Lordsc> has commanded: &#8216;Instruct<n id="1" /> the Israelites to bring<n id="2" /> you a red<n id="3" /> heifer<n id="4" /> without blemish, which has no defect<n id="5" /> and has never carried a yoke.

And he sent messengers to Balaam<n id="1" /> son of Beor at Pethor, which is by the Euphrates River<n id="2" /> in the land of Amaw,<n id="3" /> to summon him, saying, &#8220;Look, a nation has come out of Egypt. They cover the face<n id="4" /> of the earth, and they are settling next to me.

<p class="bodytext">Then Moses commanded the Israelites: &#8220;This is the land which you will inherit by lot, which the <sc>Lordsc> has commanded to be given<n id="1" /> to the nine and a half tribes,