So Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord. He then gathered seventy men of the elders of the people and had them stand around the tabernacle.

Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for me? ¹  I wish that ²  all the Lord’s people were prophets, that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!”

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 

Then Moses and Aaron gathered the community together in front of the rock, and he said to them, “Listen, you rebels, ¹  must we bring ²  water out of this rock for you?”

Then they turned and went up by the road to Bashan. And King Og of Bashan and all his forces ¹  marched out against them to do battle at Edrei.

He replied to them, “Stay ¹  here tonight, and I will bring back to you whatever word the Lord may speak to me.” So the princes of Moab stayed with Balaam.

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.

These were the families of the Ephraimites, according to those numbered of them, 32,500. ¹  These were the descendants of Joseph by their families.

For all the firstborn males among the Israelites are mine, both humans and animals; when I destroyed ¹  all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I set them apart for myself.

Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust me enough ¹  to show me as holy ²  before ³  the Israelites, therefore you will not bring this community into the land I have given them.” ⁴ 

¹ When the Canaanite king of Arad ²  who lived in the Negev ³  heard that Israel was approaching along the road to Atharim, he fought against Israel and took some of them prisoner.

The Lord said to Moses, “Arrest all the leaders ¹  of the people, and hang them up ²  before the Lord in broad daylight, ³  so that the fierce anger of the Lord may be turned away from Israel.”

“Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned my anger away from the Israelites, when he manifested such zeal ¹  for my sake among them, so that I did not consume the Israelites in my zeal. ² 

Now from these towns that you will give to the Levites you must select six towns of refuge to which a person who has killed someone may flee. ¹  And you must give them forty-two other towns.

So Moses and Aaron and the entire community of the Israelites did this with the Levites. According to all that the Lord commanded Moses concerning the Levites, this is what the Israelites did with them.

And the people stayed up ¹  all that day, all that night, and all the next day, and gathered the quail. The one who gathered the least gathered ten homers, ²  and they spread them out ³  for themselves all around the camp.

The one who gathers the ashes of the heifer must wash his clothes and be ceremonially unclean until evening. This will be a permanent ordinance both for the Israelites and the resident foreigner who lives among them.

And Moses removed Aaron’s garments and put them on his son Eleazar. So Aaron died there on the top of the mountain. And Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain.

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.”

Then Balak became very angry at Balaam, and he struck his hands together. ¹  Balak said to Balaam, “I called you to curse my enemies, and look, you have done nothing but bless ²  them these three times!