Now the leader of the clan of the families of Merari was Zuriel son of Abihail. These were to camp on the north side of the tabernacle.

Moses gave the redemption money to Aaron and his sons, according to the word of the Lord, as the Lord had commanded Moses.

These were those numbered from the families of the Kohathites, everyone who served in the tent of meeting, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the word of the Lord by the authority of Moses.

These were those numbered from the families of the Gershonites, everyone who served in the tent of meeting, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the word of the Lord.

These are those numbered from the families of the Merarites, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the word of the Lord by the authority of Moses.

He must not defile himself even ¹  for his father or his mother or his brother or his sister if they die, ²  because the separation ³  for ⁴  his God is on his head.

Then the priest will offer one for a purification offering ¹  and the other ²  as a burnt offering, ³  and make atonement ⁴  for him, because of his transgression ⁵  in regard to the corpse. So he must reconsecrate ⁶  his head on that day.

Then he must offer the ram as a peace offering ¹  to the Lord, with the basket of bread made without yeast; the priest must also offer his grain offering and his drink offering.

Then the leaders of Israel, the heads of their clans, ¹  made an offering. They were the leaders of the tribes; they were the ones who had been supervising ²  the numbering.

And do this ¹  to them to purify them: Sprinkle water of purification ²  on them; then have them shave ³  all their body ⁴  and wash ⁵  their clothes, and so purify themselves. ⁶ 

They may observe it on the fourteenth day of the second month ¹  at twilight; they are to eat it with bread made without yeast and with bitter herbs.

¹ On ²  the day that the tabernacle was set up, ³  the cloud ⁴  covered the tabernacle – the tent of the testimony ⁵  – and from evening until morning there was ⁶  a fiery appearance ⁷  over the tabernacle.

When the cloud remained over the tabernacle many days, then the Israelites obeyed the instructions ¹  of the Lord and did not journey.

If you go to war in your land against an adversary who opposes ¹  you, then you must sound an alarm with the trumpets, and you will be remembered before the Lord your God, and you will be saved ²  from your enemies.

Moses ¹  said, “Do not leave us, ²  because you know places for us to camp in the wilderness, and you could be our guide. ³ 

¹ Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against ²  Moses because of the Cushite ³  woman he had married ⁴  (for he had married an Ethiopian woman).

So Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran at the command ¹  of the Lord. All of them were leaders ²  of the Israelites.

That place was called ¹  the Eshcol Valley, ²  because of the cluster ³  of grapes that the Israelites cut from there.

The Amalekites live in the land of the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live by the sea and along the banks ¹  of the Jordan.” ² 

The men whom Moses sent to investigate the land, who returned and made the whole community murmur against him by producing ¹  an evil report about the land,