• Torah (T): Bemidbar (Numbers) 19:1 – 20:13
• Prophets (P): Ezekiel 36:16-36
• Apostolic (A): Hebrews 9:8-14; 1 Corinthians 10:1-6
• Additional (ADD): Wisdom of Solomon 11:1-26

RELATED SCRIPTURES

• Leviticus 4:1-12 (T)
• Hebrews 13:8-16 (T)
• Hebrews 10:1-39 (T)
• 2 Corinthians 6:14-18 (T)
• Ephesians 5:25-27 (T)
• Psalms 51:1-19 (T)
• Numbers 31:13-24 (T)
• John 19:38-42 (T)
• Haggai 2:10-17 (T)
• Numbers 33:36-39 (T)
• Psalms 95:1-11 (T)
• Numbers 16:23-50 (T)
• Nehemiah 9:1-21 (T)
• Psalms 78:1-22 (T)
• Psalms 105:37-45 (T)
• Psalms 114:1-8 (T)
• Exodus 17:1-7 (T)
• Deuteronomy 8:1-18 (T)
• Psalms 74:1-19 (T)
• Isaiah 43:15-28 (T)
• Isaiah 48:1-22 (T)
• Deuteronomy 32:48-52; Psalms 106:32-33 (T)
• Numbers 27:12-14; Deuteronomy 1:34-37 (T)
• Romans 2:17-24 (P)

RELATED ADDITIONAL REA.D.INGS

• Numbers 19:1 – 20:13 from the Jerusalem Targum aka Targum Pseudo-Jonathan (T)
• Antiquities of the Jews by Flavius Josephus 4.4.5-6 (T)

Note: (T) means the verse relates to that week’s Torah portion. (P) means the verse relates to that week’s Prophets portion. (A) means the verse relates to that week’s Apostolic portion. (ADD) means the verse relates to that week’s Additional portion.

Torah Portion (T)

19:1 YHWH spoke to [them]^(DSS) and to Aaron, saying, 2 “This is the statute of the Torah which YHWH has commanded. Tell the sons of Israel to bring you a red heifer, a perfect one, in which is no blemish, and which was never yoked. 3 You will give her to Eleazar the priest, and they will bring her outside of the camp, and [they]^(DSS) will kill her before his face. 4 Eleazar the priest will take some of her blood with his finger, and sprinkle her blood toward the [door]^(DSS) of the Appointed Tent seven times. 5 One will burn the heifer in his sight; her skin, and her meat, and her blood, with her dung, will he burn. 6 The priest will take cedar wood, hyssop, and scarlet, and cast it into the middle of the burning of the heifer. 7 Then the priest will wash his clothes, and he will bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he will come into the camp, and the priest will be unclean until the evening. 8 He who burns her will wash his clothes in water, and bathe his flesh in water, and will be unclean until the evening. 9 A man who is clean will gather up the ashes of the heifer, and lay them up outside of the camp in a clean place; and it will be kept for the congregation of the sons of Israel for use in water for cleansing impurity. It is a sin offering. 10 He who gathers the ashes of the heifer will wash his clothes, and be unclean until the evening. It will be to the sons of Israel, and to the stranger who sojourns among them, for a statute forever. 11 He who touches the dead body of any man will be unclean seven days. 12 He will purify himself with water on the third day, and on the seventh day he will be clean; but if he doesn’t purify himself the third day, then the seventh day he will not be clean. 13 Whoever touches a dead person, the body of a man who has died, and doesn’t purify himself, defiles the tabernacle of YHWH; and that soul will be cut off from Israel; because the water for impurity was not sprinkled on him, he will be unclean. His uncleanness is yet on him. 14 This is the Torah when a man dies in a tent: everyone who comes into the tent, and everyone who is in the tent, will be unclean seven days. 15 Every open vessel, which has no covering bound on it, is unclean. 16 Whoever in the open field touches one who is slain with a sword, or a dead body, or a bone of a man, or a grave, will be unclean seven days. 17 For the unclean, they will take of the ashes of the burning of the sin offering; and running water will be poured on them in a vessel. 18 A clean person will take hyssop, dip it in the water, and sprinkle it on the tent, on all^(LXX)(SP) the vessels, on the persons who were there, and on him who touched the bone, or the slain, or the dead, or the grave. 19 The clean person will sprinkle on the unclean on the third day, and on the seventh day. On the seventh day, he will purify him. He will wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and will be clean at evening. 20 But the man who will be unclean, and will not purify himself, that soul will be cut off from among the assembly, because he has defiled the sanctuary of YHWH. The water for impurity has not been sprinkled on him. He is unclean. 21 It will be a perpetual statute to them. He who sprinkles the water for impurity will wash his clothes, and he who touches the water for impurity will be unclean until evening. 22 Whatever the unclean person touches will be unclean; and the soul that touches it will be unclean until evening.”

20:1 The sons of Israel, the whole congregation, came into the wilderness of Zin in the first new moon. The people stayed in Kadesh. Miriam died there, and was buried there. 2 There was no water for the congregation; and they assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. 3 The people quarreled with Moses, and spoke, saying, “We wish that we had died when our brothers died before YHWH! 4 Why have you brought the assembly of YHWH into this wilderness, that we should die there, we and our animals? 5 Why have you made us to come up out of Egypt, to bring us in to this evil place? It is no place of seed, or of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates; neither is there any water to drink.” 6 Moses and Aaron went from the face of the assembly to the door of the Appointed Tent, and fell on their faces. the glory of YHWH appeared to them. 7 YHWH spoke to Moses, saying, 8 “Take the staff, and assemble the congregation, you, and Aaron your brother, and speak to the rock before their eyes, that it pour out its water. You will bring water to them out of the rock; so you will give the congregation and their livestock drink.” 9 Moses took the staff from before YHWH, as he commanded him. 10 Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, “Hear now, you rebels! Shall we bring water out of this rock for you?” 11 Moses lifted up his hand, and struck the rock with his staff twice, and water came out abundantly. The congregation and their livestock drank. 12 YHWH said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you didn’t believe in me, to sanctify me in the eyes of the sons of Israel, therefore you will not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.” 13 These are the waters of Meribah; because the sons of Israel strove with YHWH, and he was sanctified in them. [And Moses said, “Lord YHWH, you have begun to show your servant your greatness, and your strong hand. For what elohim is there in the heavens or in the earth that can do works like yours, and mighty acts like yours? Please let me go over and see the good land that is beyond the Jordan, that fine mountain, and Lebanon.” But YHWH said to me, “Enough! Speak no more to me of this word. Go up to the top of Pisgah, and lift up your eyes westward, and northward, and southward, and eastward, and see with your eyes; for you will not go over this Jordan.] (cf. Deuteronomy 3:24-27)^(DSS)

Prophets Portion (P)

36:16 Moreover the word of YHWH came to me, saying, 17 “Son of man, when the house of Israel lived in their own land, they defiled it by their ways and by their deeds. Their way before me was as the uncleanness of a woman in her seperation. 18 Therefore I poured out my wrath on them for the blood which they had poured out on the land, and because they had defiled it with their idols. 19 I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed through the countries. I judged them according to their way and according to their deeds. 20 When they came to the nations where they went, they profaned my holy name, in that men said of them, ‘These are the people of YHWH, and have left his land.’ 21 But I had respect for my holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations where they went. 22 Therefore tell the house of Israel, ‘The Lord YHWH says: “I don’t do this for your sake, house of Israel, but for my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went. 23 I will sanctify my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I am [YHWH],^(mss)(LXX) when I am proven holy in you before their eyes. 24 For I will take you from among the nations and gather you out of all the countries, and will bring you into your own land. 25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. 26 I will also give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. 27 I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes. You will guard my judgments and do them. 28 You will dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers. You will be my people, and I will be your Elohim. 29 I will save you from all your uncleanness. I will call for the grain and will multiply it, and lay no famine on you. 30 I will multiply the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field, that you may receive no more the reproach of famine among the nations. 31 Then you will remember your evil ways, and your deeds that were not good; and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations. 32 I don’t do this for your sake,” says [YHWH].^(LXX) “Let it be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, house of Israel.” 33 [YHWH]^(LXX) says: “In the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause the cities to be inhabited and the waste places will be built. 34 The land that was desolate will be tilled instead of being a desolation in the sight of all who passed by. 35 They will say, ‘This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden. The waste, desolate, and ruined cities are fortified and inhabited.’ 36 Then the nations that are left around you will know that I, YHWH, have built the ruined places and planted that which was desolate. I, YHWH, have spoken it, and I will do it.”

Apostolic Portion (A)

Hebrews 9:8 The Holy Spirit is indicating this, that the way into the Holy Place wasn’t yet revealed while the first tabernacle was still standing. 9 This is a symbol of the present age, where gifts and slaughters are offered that are incapable, concerning the conscience, of making the worshiper perfect, 10 being only, with foods and drinks, and various washings, fleshly ordinances, imposed until a time of reformation. 11 But Messiah having come as a high priest of [the good things that have come],^(mss) through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation, 12 nor yet through the blood of goats and calves, but through his own blood, entered in once for all into the Holy Place, having obtained eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled, sanctify to the cleanness of the flesh, 14 how much more will the blood of Messiah, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to Elohim, cleanse [your]^(mss) conscience from dead works to serve the living Elohim?

1 Corinthians 10:1 Now I would not have you ignorant, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; 2 and were all immersed into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; 3 and all ate the same spiritual food; 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of a spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Messiah. 5 However with most of them, Elohim was not well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. 6 Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not covet after evil things as they also coveted.

Additional Portion (ADD)

The Wisdom of Solomon or Book of Wisdom is a Jewish work, written in Greek, and most likely composed in Alexandria, Egypt. Generally dated to the mid first century B.C. It is uncertain whether the book has a single author or comes from a school of writers, but recent scholarship has favored regarding it as a unified work.

11:1 Wisdom prospered their works in the hand of a holy prophet. 2 They traveled through a desert without inhabitant, and they pitched their tents in trackless regions. 3 They withstood enemies and repelled foes. 4 They thirsted, and they called upon you, and water was given to them out of the flinty rock, and healing of their thirst out of the hard stone. 5 For by what things their foes were punished, by these they in their need were benefited. 6 When enemies were troubled with clotted blood instead of a river’s ever-flowing fountain, 7 to rebuke the decree for the slaying of babies, you gave them abundant water beyond all hope, 8 having shown by the thirst which they had suffered how you punished the adversaries. 9 For when they were tried, although chastened in mercy, they learned how the impious were tormented, being judged with wrath. 10 For you tested these as a father admonishing them; but you searched out those as a stern king condemning them. 11 Yes and whether they were far off or near, they were equally distressed; 12 for a double grief seized them, and a groaning at the memory of things past. 13 For when they heard that through their own punishments the others benefited, they recognized the Lord. 14 For him who long before was thrown out and exposed they stopped mocking. In the end of what happened, they marveled, having thirsted in another manner than the righteous. 15 But in return for the senseless imaginings of their unrighteousness, wherein they were led astray to worship irrational reptiles and wretched vermin, you sent upon them a multitude of irrational creatures to punish them, 16 that they might learn that by what things a man sins, by these he is punished. 17 For your all-powerful hand that created the world out of formless matter didn’t lack means to send upon them a multitude of bears, fierce lions, 18 or newly-created and unknown wild beasts, full of rage, either breathing out a blast of fiery breath, or belching out smoke, or flashing dreadful sparks from their eyes; 19 which had power not only to consume them by their violence, but to destroy them even by the terror of their sight. 20 Yes and without these they might have fallen by a single breath, being pursued by Justice, and scattered abroad by the breath of your power; but you arranged all things by measure, number, and weight. 21 For to be greatly strong is yours at all times. Who could withstand the might of your arm? 22 Because the whole world before you is as a grain in a balance, and as a drop of dew that comes down upon the earth in the morning. 23 But you have mercy on all men, because you have power to do all things, and you overlook the sins of men to the end that they may repent. 24 For you love all things that are, and abhor none of the things which you made; For you never would have formed anything if you hated it. 25 How would anything have endured unless you had willed it? Or that which was not called by you, how would it have been preserved? 26 But you spare all things, because they are yours, O Sovereign Lord, you who love the living.

Related Scriptures

4:1 YHWH spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, When a soul will sin in error from all the commands of YHWH which will not be done, and he will do from one of them. 3 If the anointed priest sins so as to bring guilt on the people, then let him bring for his sin which he has sinned a young bull [of the herd]^(LXX), a perfect one, to YHWH for a sin offering. 4 He will [lead in]^(LXX) the bull to the door of the Appointed Tent before YHWH; and he will lay his hand on the head of the bull [before YHWH]^(LXX), and kill the bull before YHWH. 5 The anointed priest will take some of the blood of the bull, and bring it to the Appointed Tent. 6 The priest will dip his finger in the blood, and sprinkle some of the blood seven times [with his finger]^(LXX) before YHWH, before the veil of the sanctuary. 7 The priest will put some of the blood [of the bull]^(LXX) on the horns of the altar of sweet incense before YHWH, which is in the Appointed Tent; and he will pour out the rest of the blood of the bull at the base of the altar of  [offering]^(LXX), which is at the door of the Appointed Tent. 8 He will take all the fat of the bull of the sin offering from it: the fat that covers the innards, and all the fat that is on the innards, 9 and the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, which is by the hips, and the cover on the liver, with the kidneys, he will remove, 10 as it is removed from the bull of the slaughter of peace offerings. The priest will burn them on the altar of burnt offering. 11 He will carry the bull’s skin, all its flesh, with its head, and with its legs, its innards, and its dung 12 —all the rest of the bull—outside of the camp to a clean place where the ashes are poured out, and burn it on wood with fire. It will be burned where the ashes are poured out.

13:8 Yeshua the Messiah is the same yesterday, today, and forever. 9 Don’t be carried away by various and strange teachings, for it is good that the heart be established by grace, not by foods, through which those who were so occupied were not benefited. 10 We have an altar from which those who serve the holy tabernacle have no right to eat. 11 For the bodies of those animals, whose blood is brought into the holy place by the high priest as an offering for sin, are burned outside of the camp. 12 Therefore Yeshua also, that he might sanctify the people through his own blood, suffered outside of the gate. 13 Let’s therefore go out to him outside of the camp, bearing his reproach. 14 For we don’t have here an enduring city, but we seek that which is to come. 15 Through him, then, let’s offer up a slaughter of praise to Elohim continually, that is, the fruit of lips which proclaim allegiance to his name. 16 But don’t forget to be doing good and sharing, for with such slaughters Elohim is well pleased.

10:1 For the law, having a shadow of the good to come, not the very image of the things, can never with the same slaughters year by year, which they offer continually, make perfect those who draw near. 2 Or else wouldn’t they have ceased to be offered, because the worshipers, having been once cleansed, would have had no more consciousness of sins? 3 But in those slaughters there is a yearly reminder of sins. 4 For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins. 5 Therefore when he comes into the world, he says, “You didn’t desire slaughter and offering, but you prepared a body for me. 6 You had no pleasure in whole burnt offerings and slaughters for sin. 7 Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come, in the scroll of the book it is written of me, to do your will, O Elohim.’ ” 8 Previously saying, “slaughters and offerings and whole burnt offerings and slaughters for sin you didn’t desire, neither had pleasure in them”, those which are offered according to the law, 9 then he has said, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He takes away the first, that he may establish the second, 10 by which will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Yeshua the Messiah once for all. 11 Every priest indeed stands day by day serving and offering often the same slaughters, which can never take away sins, 12 but he, when he had offered one slaughter for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of Elohim, 13 from that time waiting until his enemies are made the footstool of his feet. 14 For by one offering he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. 15 The Holy Spirit also testifies to us, for after saying, 16 “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days,” says YHWH, “I will put my Torah on their heart, I will also write them on their mind;” then he says, 17 “I will remember their sins and their iniquities no more.” 18 Now where forgiveness of these is, there is no more offering for sin. 19 Having therefore, brothers, boldness to enter into the holy place by the blood of Yeshua, 20 by the way which he dedicated for us, a new and living way, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh, 21 and having a great priest over Elohim’s house, 22 let’s draw near with a true heart in fullness of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and having our body washed with pure water, 23 let’s hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering; for he who promised is faithful. 24 Let’s consider how to provoke one another to love and good works, 25 not forsaking our own assembling together, as the custom of some is, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. 26 For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more a slaughter for sins, 27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a fierceness of fire which will devour the adversaries. 28 A man who disregards the Torah of Moses dies without compassion on the word of two or three witnesses. 29 How much worse punishment do you think he will be judged worthy of who has trodden under foot the Son of Elohim, and has counted the blood of the covenant with which he was sanctified an unholy, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know him who said, “Vengeance belongs to me. I will repay,” says the Lord. Again, “The Lord will judge his people.” 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living Elohim. 32 But remember the former days, in which, after you were enlightened, you endured a great struggle with sufferings: 33 partly, being exposed to both reproaches and oppressions, and partly, becoming partakers with those who were treated so. 34 For you both had compassion on me in my chains and joyfully accepted the plundering of your possessions, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and an enduring one in the heavens. 35 Therefore don’t throw away your boldness, which has a great reward. 36 For you need endurance so that, having done the will of Elohim, you may receive the promise. 37 “In a very little while, he who comes will come and will not wait. 38 But the righteous one will live by faith. If he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.” 39 But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the procurement of the soul.

2 Corinthians 6:14-18 (T)

6:14 Don’t be unequally yoked with unbelievers, for what fellowship do righteousness and iniquity have? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness? 15 What agreement does Messiah have with Belial? Or what portion does a believer have with an unbeliever? 16 What agreement does a temple of Elohim have with idols? For [we](mss) are a temple of the living God. Even as Elohim said, “I will dwell in them and walk in them. I will be their Elohim and they will be my people.” (cf. Leviticus 26:12; Jeremiah 32:38; Ezekiel 37:27; Zechariah 2:10) 17 Therefore “ ‘Come out from among them, and be separate,’ says the Lord. ‘Touch no unclean thing. I will receive you. (cf. Isaiah 52:11; Ezekiel 20:34; Ezekiel 20:41) 18 I will be to you a Father. You will be to me sons and daughters,’ says YHWH Almighty.” (cf. 2 Samuel 7:14; Isaiah 43:6; Jeremiah 31:1)

Ephesians 5:25-27 (T)

5:25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Messiah also loved the assembly and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 that he might present the assembly to himself gloriously, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without defect.

For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David, when Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.

51:1 Have mercy on me, Elohim, according to your loving kindness. According to the multitude of your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity. Cleanse me from my sin. 3 For I know my transgressions. My sin is constantly before me. 4 Against you, and you only, I have sinned, and done that which is evil in your sight, so you may be proved right when you speak, and justified when you judge. 5 Behold, I was born in iniquity. My mother conceived me in sin. 6 Behold, you desire truth in the inward parts. You teach me wisdom in the inmost place. 7 Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean. Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. 8 Let me hear joy and gladness, that the bones which you have broken may rejoice. 9 Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all of my iniquities. 10 Create in me a clean heart, O Elohim. Renew a right spirit within me. 11 Don’t throw me from your face, and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation. Uphold me with a willing spirit. 13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways. Sinners will be converted to you. 14 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O Elohim, the Elohim of my salvation. My tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness. 15 Lord, open my lips. My mouth will declare your praise. 16 For you don’t delight in slaughter, or else I would give it. You have no pleasure in burnt offering. 17 The slaughters of Elohim are a broken spirit. O Elohim, you will not despise a broken and contrite heart. 18 Do well in your good pleasure to Zion. Build the walls of Jerusalem. 19 Then you will delight in the slaughters of righteousness, in burnt offerings and in whole burnt offerings. Then they will offer bulls on your altar.

13:13 Moses and Eleazar the priest, with all the princes of the congregation, went out to meet them outside of the camp. 14 Moses was angry with the officers of the army, the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds, who came from the service of the war. 15 Moses said to them, “Have you saved all the women alive? 16 Behold, these caused the sons of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against YHWH in the word of Peor, and so the plague was among the congregation of YHWH. 17 Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known man by lying with him. 18 But all the girls, who have not known man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves. 19 “Encamp outside of the camp for seven days. Whoever has killed any person, and whoever has touched any slain, purify yourselves on the third day and on the seventh day, you and your captives. 20 You will purify every garment, and all that is made of skin, and all work of goats’ hair, and all things made of wood.” 21 Eleazar the priest said to the men of war who went to the battle, “This is the statute of the Torah which YHWH has commanded Moses. 22 However the gold, and the silver, the bronze, the iron, the tin, and the lead, 23 everything that may withstand the fire, you will make to go through the fire, and it will be clean; nevertheless it will be purified with the water for impurity. All that doesn’t withstand the fire you will make to go through the water. 24 You will wash your clothes on the seventh day, and you will be clean. Afterward you will come into the camp.”

19:38 After these things, Joseph of Arimathaea, being a disciple of Yeshua, but secretly for fear of the Judeans, asked of Pilate that he might take away Yeshua’s body. Pilate gave him permission. He came therefore and took away his body. 39 Nicodemus, who at first came to Yeshua by night, also came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred Roman pounds. 40 So they took Yeshua’s body, and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as the custom of the Judeans is to bury. 41 Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden. In the garden was a new tomb in which no man had ever yet been laid. 42 Then, because of the Judeans’ Preparation Day, for the tomb was near at hand, they laid Yeshua there.

2:10 In the twenty-fourth day of the ninth new moon, in the second year of Darius, the word of YHWH came by Haggai the prophet, saying, 11 “YHWH of Armies says: Ask now the priests the Torah, saying, 12 ‘If someone carries holy meat in the fold of his garment, and with his fold touches bread, stew, wine, oil, or any food, will it become holy?’ ” The priests answered, “No.” 13 Then Haggai said, “If one who is unclean by reason of a dead body touch any of these, will it be unclean?” The priests answered, “It will be unclean.” 14 Then Haggai answered, So is this people, and so is this nation before me,’ says YHWH; ‘and so is every work of their hands. That which they offer there is unclean. 15 Now, please consider from this day and backward, before a stone was laid on a stone in the temple of YHWH. 16 Through all that time, when one came to a heap of twenty measures, there were only ten. When one came to the wine vat to draw out fifty, there were only twenty. 17 I struck you with blight, mildew, and hail in all the work of your hands; yet you didn’t turn to me,’ says YHWH.

33:36 They traveled from Ezion Geber, and encamped at Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin. 37 They traveled from Kadesh, and encamped in Mount Hor, in the edge of the land of Edom. 38 Aaron the priest went up into Mount Hor at the commandment of YHWH and died there, in the fortieth year after the sons of Israel had come out of the land of Egypt, in the fifth new moon, on the first day of the new moon. 39 Aaron was one hundred twenty-three years old when he died in Mount Hor.

95:1 Oh come, let’s sing to YHWH. Let’s shout aloud to the rock of our salvation! 2 Let’s come before his face with thanksgiving. Let’s extol him with songs! 3 For YHWH is a great Elohim, a great King above all elohim. 4 In his hand are the deep places of the earth. The heights of the mountains are also his. 5 The sea is his, and he made it. His hands formed the dry land. 6 Oh come, let’s worship and bow down. Let’s kneel before YHWH, our Maker, 7 for he is our Elohim. We are the people of his pasture, and the sheep in his care. Today, oh that you would hear his voice! 8 Don’t harden your heart, as at Meribah, as in the day of Massah in the wilderness, 9 when your fathers tested me, tested me, and saw my work. 10 Forty long years I was grieved with that generation, and said, “They are a people who err in their heart. They have not known my ways.” 11 Therefore I swore in my wrath, “They won’t enter into my rest.”

16:23 YHWH spoke to Moses, saying, 24 “Speak to the congregation, saying, ‘Get away from around the tent of Qorach, Dathan, and Abiram!’ ” 25 Moses rose up and went to Dathan and Abiram; and the elders of Israel followed him. 26 He spoke to the congregation, saying, “Depart, please, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest you be consumed in all their sins!” 27 So they went away from the tent of Qorach, Dathan, and Abiram, on every side. Dathan and Abiram came out, and stood at the door of their tents with their wives, their sons, and their little ones. 28 Moses said, “Hereby you will know that YHWH has sent me to do all these works; for they are not from my own mind. 29 If these men die the common death of all men, or if they experience what all men experience, then YHWH hasn’t sent me. 30 But if YHWH makes a new thing, and the ground opens its mouth, and swallows them up with all that belong to them, and they go down alive into Sheol, then you will understand that these men have despised YHWH.” 31 As he finished speaking all these words, the ground that was under them split apart. 32 The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up with their households, all of Qorach’s men, and all their goods. 33 So they, and all that belonged to them went down alive into Sheol.† The earth closed on them, and they perished from among the assembly. 34 All Israel that were around them fled at their cry; for they said, “Lest the earth swallow us up!” 35 Fire came out from YHWH, and devoured the two hundred fifty men who offered the incense. 36 YHWH spoke to Moses, saying, 37 “Speak to Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest, that he take up the censers out of the burning, and scatter the fire away from the camp; for they are holy, 38 even the censers of those who sinned against their own lives. Let them be beaten into plates for a covering of the altar, for they offered them before YHWH. Therefore they are holy. They will be a sign to the sons of Israel.” 39 Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers which those who were burned had offered; and they beat them out for a covering of the altar, 40 to be a memorial to the sons of Israel, to the end that no stranger who isn’t of the seed of Aaron, would come near to burn incense before YHWH, that he not be as Qorach and as his company; as YHWH spoke to him by Moses. 41 But on the next day all the congregation of the sons of Israel complained against Moses and against Aaron, saying, “You have killed the people of YHWH!” 42 When the congregation was assembled against Moses and against Aaron, they looked toward the Appointed Tent. Behold, the cloud covered it, and the glory of YHWH appeared. 43 Moses and Aaron came to the front of the Appointed Tent. 44 YHWH spoke to Moses, saying, 45 “Get away from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment!” They fell on their faces. 46 Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer, put fire from the altar in it, lay incense on it, carry it quickly to the congregation, and make atonement for them; for wrath has gone out from YHWH! The plague has begun.” 47 Aaron did as Moses said, and ran into the middle of the assembly. The plague had already begun among the people. He put on the incense, and made atonement for the people. 48 He stood between the dead and the living; and the plague was stayed. 49 Now those who died by the plague were fourteen thousand seven hundred, in addition to those who died about the word of Qorach. 50 Aaron returned to Moses to the door of the Appointed Tent, and the plague was stopped.

9:1 Now in the twenty-fourth day of this new moon the sons of Israel were assembled with fasting, with sackcloth, and dirt on them. 2 The seed of Israel separated themselves from all foreigners and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. 3 They stood up in their place, and read in the book of the Torah of YHWH their Elohim a fourth part of the day; and a fourth part they confessed and did bow down to YHWH their Elohim. 4 Then Yeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani of the Levites stood up on the stairs, and cried with a loud voice to YHWH their Elohim. 5 Then the Levites, Yeshua, and Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said, “Stand up and bless YHWH your Elohim from everlasting to everlasting! Blessed be your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise! 6 You are YHWH, even you alone. You have made the heavens, the heavens of the heavens, with all their army, the earth and all things that are on it, the seas and all that is in them, and you preserve them all. The army of the heavens worships you. 7 You are YHWH, the Elohim who chose Abram, brought him out of Ur of the Chaldees, gave him the name of Abraham, 8 found his heart faithful before you, and cut a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite, and the Girgashite, to give it to his seed, and have performed your words, for you are righteous. 9 You saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, and heard their cry by the Red Sea, 10 and showed signs and wonders against Pharaoh, against all his servants, and against all the people of his land, for you knew that they dealt proudly against them, and made a name for yourself, as it is today. 11 You divided the sea before them, so that they went through the middle of the sea on the dry land; and you cast their pursuers into the depths, as a stone into the mighty waters. 12 Moreover, in a pillar of cloud you led them by day; and in a pillar of fire by night, to give them light in the way in which they should go. 13 You also came down on Mount Sinai, and spoke with them from the heavens, and gave them right judgments and true Torot, good statutes and commandments, 14 and made known to them your holy Sabbath, and commanded them commandments, statutes, and a Torah, by Moses your servant, 15 and gave them bread from the heavens for their hunger, and brought water out of the rock for them for their thirst, and commanded them that they should go in to possess the land which you had sworn to give them. 16 But they and our fathers behaved proudly, hardened their neck, didn’t listen to your commandments, 17 and refused to obey. They weren’t mindful of your wonders that you did among them, but hardened their neck, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage. But you are an Elohim ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and didn’t forsake them. 18 Yes, when they had made themselves a molded calf, and said, ‘This is your Elohim who brought you up out of Egypt,’ and had committed awful blasphemies, 19 yet you in your manifold mercies didn’t forsake them in the wilderness. The pillar of cloud didn’t depart from over them by day, to lead them in the way; neither did the pillar of fire by night, to show them light, and the way in which they should go. 20 You gave also your good Spirit to instruct them, and didn’t withhold your manna from their mouth, and gave them water for their thirst. 21 Yes, forty years you sustained them in the wilderness. They lacked nothing. Their clothes didn’t grow old, and their feet didn’t swell.”

78:1 Hear my teaching, my people. Turn your ears to the words of my mouth. 2 I will open my mouth in a parable. I will utter dark sayings of old, 3 which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. 4 We will not hide them from their sons, telling to the generation to come the praises of YHWH, his strength, and his wondrous deeds that he has done. 5 For he established a covenant in Jacob, and appointed a teaching in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their sons; 6 that the generation to come might know, even the sons who should be born; who should arise and tell their sons, 7 that they might set their hope in Elohim, and not forget Elohim’s deeds, but guard his commandments, 8 and might not be as their fathers— a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that didn’t make their hearts loyal, whose spirit was not steadfast with Elohim. 9 The sons of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle. 10 They didn’t keep Elohim’s covenant, and refused to walk in his Torah. 11 They forgot his doings, his wondrous deeds that he had shown them. 12 He did marvelous things in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan. 13 He split the sea, and caused them to pass through. He made the waters stand as a heap. 14 In the daytime he also led them with a cloud, and all night with a light of fire. 15 He split rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink abundantly as out of the depths. 16 He brought streams also out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers. 17 Yet they still went on to sin against him, to rebel against the Most High in the desert. 18 They tested Elohim in their heart by asking food according to their desire. 19 Yes, they spoke against Elohim. They said, “Can Elohim prepare a table in the wilderness? 20 Behold, he struck the rock, so that waters gushed out, and streams overflowed. Can he give bread also? Will he provide meat for his people?” 21 Therefore YHWH heard, and was angry. A fire was kindled against Jacob, anger also went up against Israel, 22 because they didn’t believe in Elohim, and didn’t trust in his salvation.

105:37 He brought them out with silver and gold. There was not one feeble person among his tribes. 38 Egypt was glad when they departed, for the fear of them had fallen on them. 39 He spread a cloud for a covering, fire to give light in the night. 40 They asked, and he brought quails, and satisfied them with the bread of the heavens. 41 He opened the rock, and waters gushed out. They ran as a river in the dry places. 42 For he remembered his holy word, and Abraham, his servant. 43 He brought his people out with joy, his chosen with singing. 44 He gave them the lands of the nations. They took the labor of the peoples in possession, 45 that they might guard his statutes, and observe his Torot. Halleluyah!

114:1 When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of foreign language, 2 Judah became his sanctuary, Israel his dominion. 3 The sea saw it, and fled. The Jordan was driven back. 4 The mountains skipped like rams, the little hills like lambs. 5 What was it, you sea, that you fled? You Jordan, that you turned back? 6 You mountains, that you skipped like rams? You little hills, like lambs? 7 Tremble, you earth, at the face of the Lord, at the face of the Elohim of Jacob, 8 who turned the rock into a pool of water, the flint into a spring of waters.

17:1 All the congregation of the sons of Israel traveled from the wilderness of Sin, starting according to the commandment of YHWH, and encamped in Rephidim; but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 Therefore the people quarreled with Moses, and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test YHWH?” 3 The people were thirsty for water there; so the people murmured against Moses, and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us, our sons, and our livestock with thirst?” 4 Moses cried to YHWH, saying, “What will I do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me.” 5 YHWH said to Moses, “Walk on before the people, and take the elders of Israel with you, and take the rod in your hand with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6 Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb. You will strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.” Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 He called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because the sons of Israel quarreled, and because they tested YHWH, saying, “Is YHWH among us, or not?”

8:1 You will observe to do all the commandments which I command you today, that you may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which YHWH swore to your fathers. 2 You will remember all the way which YHWH your Elohim has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, to test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would guard his commandments or not. 3 He humbled you, allowed you to be hungry, and fed you with manna, which you didn’t know, neither did your fathers know, that he might teach you that man does not live by bread only, but man lives by every word that proceeds out of YHWH’s mouth. 4 Your clothing didn’t grow old on you, neither did your foot swell, these forty years. 5 You will consider in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so YHWH your Elohim disciplines you. 6 You will guard the commandments of YHWH your Elohim, to walk in his ways, and to fear him. 7 For YHWH your Elohim brings you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of springs, and underground water flowing into valleys and hills; 8 a land of wheat, barley, vines, fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of olive trees and honey; 9 a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, you will not lack anything in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you may dig copper. 10 You will eat and be full, and you will bless YHWH your Elohim for the good land which he has given you. 11 Beware lest you forget YHWH your Elohim, in not keeping his commandments, his judgments, and his statutes, which I command you today; 12 lest, when you have eaten and are full, and have built fine houses and lived in them; 13 and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied; 14 then your heart might be lifted up, and you forget YHWH your Elohim, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage; 15 who led you through the great and terrible wilderness, with venomous snakes and scorpions, and thirsty ground where there was no water; who poured water for you out of the rock of flint; 16 who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers didn’t know, that he might humble you, and that he might prove you, to do you good at your latter end; 17 and lest you say in your heart, “My power and the might of my hand has gotten me this wealth.” 18 But you will remember YHWH your Elohim, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he swore to your fathers, as it is today.

74:1 Elohim, why have you rejected us forever? Why does your anger smolder against the sheep of your pasture? 2 Remember your congregation, which you purchased of old, which you have redeemed to be the tribe of your inheritance: Mount Zion, in which you have lived. 3 Lift up your feet to the perpetual ruins, all the evil that the enemy has done in the sanctuary. 4 Your adversaries have roared in the middle of your assembly. They have set up their standards as signs. 5 They behaved like men wielding axes, cutting through a thicket of trees. 6 Now they break all its carved work down with hatchet and hammers. 7 They have burned your sanctuary to the ground. They have profaned the dwelling place of your Name. 8 They said in their heart, “We will crush them completely.” They have burned up all the places in the land where Elohim was worshiped. 9 We see no miraculous signs. There is no longer any prophet, neither is there among us anyone who knows how long. 10 How long, Elohim, will the adversary reproach? Shall the enemy blaspheme your name forever? 11 Why do you draw back your hand, even your right hand? Take it from your chest and consume them! 12 Yet Elohim is my King of old, working salvation throughout the earth. 13 You divided the sea by your strength. You broke the heads of the sea monsters in the waters. 14 You broke the heads of Leviathan in pieces. You gave him as food to people and desert creatures. 15 You opened up spring and stream. You dried up mighty rivers. 16 The day is yours, the night is also yours. You have prepared the light and the sun. 17 You have set all the boundaries of the earth. You have made summer and winter. 18 Remember this, that the enemy has mocked you, YHWH. Foolish people have blasphemed your name. 19 Don’t deliver the soul of your dove to wild beasts. Don’t forget the life of your afflicted forever.

43:15 I am YHWH, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King.” 16 YHWH, who makes a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters, 17 who brings out the chariot and horse, the army and the mighty man (they lie down together, they will not rise; they are extinct, they are quenched like a wick) says: 18 “Don’t remember the former things, and don’t consider the things of old. 19 Behold, I will do a new thing. It springs out now. Don’t you know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. 20 The animals of the field, the jackals and the ostriches, will honor me, because I give water in the wilderness and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen, 21 the people which I formed for myself, that they might declare my praise. 22 Yet you have not called on me, Jacob; but you have been weary of me, Israel. 23 You have not brought me any of your sheep for burnt offerings, neither have you honored me with your slaughters. I have not burdened you with offerings, nor wearied you with frankincense. 24 You have bought me no sweet cane with money, nor have you filled me with the fat of your slaughters, but you have burdened me with your sins. You have wearied me with your iniquities. 25 I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake; and I will not remember your sins. 26 Put me in remembrance. Let us plead together. Declare your case, that you may be justified. 27 Your first father sinned, and your teachers have transgressed against me. 28 Therefore I will profane the princes of the sanctuary; and I will make Jacob a curse, and Israel an insult.”

48:1 “Hear this, house of Jacob, you who are called by the name of Israel, and have come out of the waters of Judah. You swear by the name of YHWH, and make mention of the Elohim of Israel, but not in truth, nor in righteousness— 2 for they call themselves citizens of the holy city, and rely on the Elohim of Israel; YHWH of Armies is his name. 3 I have declared the former things from of old. Yes, they went out of my mouth, and I revealed them. I did them suddenly, and they happened. 4 Because I knew that you are obstinate, and your neck is an iron sinew, and your brow bronze; 5 therefore I have declared it to you from of old; before it came to pass I showed it to you; lest you should say, ‘My idol has done them. My engraved image and my molten image has commanded them.’ 6 You have heard it. Now see all this. And you, won’t you declare it? “I have shown you new things from this time, even hidden things, which you have not known. 7 They are created now, and not from of old. Before today, you didn’t hear them, lest you should say, ‘Behold, I knew them.’ 8 Yes, you didn’t hear. Yes, you didn’t know. Yes, from of old your ear was not opened, for I knew that you dealt very treacherously, and were called a transgressor from the womb. 9 For my name’s sake, I will defer my anger, and for my praise, I hold it back for you so that I don’t cut you off. 10 Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver. I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction. 11 For my own sake, for my own sake, I will do it; for how would my name be profaned? I will not give my glory to another. 12 “Listen to me, O Jacob, and Israel my called: I am he. I am the first. I am also the last. 13 Yes, my hand has laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand has spread out the heavens. when I call to them, they stand up together. 14 “Assemble yourselves, all of you, and hear! Who among them has declared these things? He whom YHWH loves will do what he likes to Babylon, and his arm will be against the Kasdim. 15 I, even I, have spoken. Yes, I have called him. I have brought him and he will make his way prosperous. 16 “Come near to me and hear this: “From the beginning I have not spoken in secret; from the time that it happened, I was there.” Now the Lord YHWH has sent me with his Spirit. 17 YHWH, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, says: “I am YHWH your Elohim, who teaches you to profit, who leads you by the way that you should go. 18 Oh that you had listened to my commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river and your righteousness like the waves of the sea. 19 Your seed also would have been as the sand and the descendants of your body like its grains. His name would not be cut off nor destroyed from before me.” 20 Leave Babylon! Flee from the Kasdim! With a voice of singing announce this, tell it even to the end of the earth; say, “YHWH has redeemed his servant Jacob!” 21 They didn’t thirst when he led them through the deserts. He caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them. He also split the rock and the waters gushed out. 22 “There is no peace”, says YHWH, “for the wicked.”

Deuteronomy 32:48 YHWH spoke to Moses that same day, saying, 49 “Go up into this mountain of Abarim, to Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, that is across from Jericho; and see the land of Canaan, which I give to the sons of Israel for a possession. 50 Die on the mountain where you go up, and be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother died on Mount Hor, and was gathered to his people; 51 because you trespassed against me among the sons of Israel at the waters of Meribah of Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; because you didn’t uphold my holiness among the sons of Israel. 52 For you will see the land from a distance; but you will not go there into the land which I give the sons of Israel.”

Psalms 106:32 They angered him also at the waters of Meribah, so that Moses was troubled for their sakes; 33 because they were rebellious against his spirit, he spoke rashly with his lips.

Numbers 27:12 YHWH said to Moses, “Go up into this mountain of Abarim, and see the land which I have given to the sons of Israel. 13 When you have seen it, you also will be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother was gathered; 14 because in the strife of the congregation, you rebelled against my word in the wilderness of Zin, to honor me as holy at the waters before their eyes.” These are the waters of Meribah of Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.

Deuteronomy 1:34 YHWH heard the voice of your words and was angry, and swore, saying, 35 “Surely not one of these men of this evil generation will see the good land which I swore to give to your fathers, 36 except Caleb the son of Jephunneh. He will see it. I will give the land that he has trodden on to him and to his sons, because he has wholly followed YHWH.” 37 Also YHWH was angry with me for your sakes, saying, “You also will not go in there.

2:17 Indeed you bear the name of a Jew, rest on the law, glory in Elohim, 18 know his will, and approve the things that are excellent, being instructed out of the law, 19 and are confident that you yourself are a guide of the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, 20 a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of babies, having in the law the form of knowledge and of the truth. 21 You therefore who teach another, don’t you teach yourself? You who preach that a man shouldn’t steal, do you steal? 22 You who say a man shouldn’t commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? 23 You who glory in the law, do you dishonor Elohim by disobeying the law? 24 For “the name of Elohim is blasphemed among the Nations because of you,” (cf. Ezekiel 36:22) just as it is written.

Related Additional Readings​

Composed in Talmudic Israel (c.150 – c.250 AD). Targum Pseudo-Jonathan is a western targum (translation) of the Torah (Pentateuch) from the land of Israel (as opposed to the eastern Babylonian Targum Onkelos). Its correct title was originally Targum Yerushalmi (Jerusalem Targum), which is how it was known in medieval times. But because of a printer’s mistake it was later labeled Targum Jonathan, in reference to Jonathan ben Uzziel. Some editions of the Pentateuch continue to call it Targum Jonathan to this day. Most scholars refer to the text as Targum Pseudo-Jonathan. This targum is more than a mere translation. It includes much Aggadic material collected from various sources as late as the Midrash Rabbah as well as earlier material from the Talmud. It is effectively a combination of a commentary and a translation. In the portions where it is pure translation, it often agrees with the Targum Onkelos. The date of its composition is disputed. It cannot have been completed before the Arabic conquest as it refers to Mohammad’s wife Fatimah, but might have been initially composed in the 4th Century AD. However, some scholars date it in the 14th Century.

Chapter 19 AND the Lord spake with Mosheh and Aharon, saying: This is the decree, the publication of the law which the Lord hath commanded, saying; Speak to the sons of Israel, that they bring to thee from the separation of the fold a red heifer, two years old, in which there is neither spot nor white hair, on which no male hath come, nor the burden of any work been imposed, neither hurt by the thong, nor grieved by the goad or prick, nor collar (band) or any like yoke. And thou shalt give her unto Elazar, the chief of the priests, who will lead her alone without the camp, and set round about her a railing (border) of the branches of fig trees; and another priest will slay her with the two signs before him, after the manner of other animals, and examine her by the eighteen kinds of divisions. And Elazar, in his priestly dress, will take of her blood with the finger of his right hand, without (first) containing it in a vessel, and will sprinkle the border of fig branches, and (afterwards) from the midst of a vessel on one side towards the tabernacle of ordinance, with one dipping, seven times (will he sprinkle). And they will bring her out from the midst of the railing and another priest, while Elazar looketh on, will burn the heifer, her skin, flesh, and blood, with her dung will he burn. And another priest will take a piece of cedar wood and hyssop, and (wool) whose colour hath been changed to scarlet, and throw them into the midst of the burning of the heifer; and he will enlarge the burning, that the ashes may be increased. And the priest who slew the heifer will wash his dress in forty satas of water, and afterwards he may go into the camp; but the priest before his ablution will be unclean until the evening. And the priest who was employed in the burning will wash his dress in forty satas of water, and his flesh in forty satas, and before his ablution will be unclean until the evening. And a man, a priest who is clean, will gather up the ashes of the heifer in an earthenware receptacle, its opening covered round about with clay; and will divide the ashes into three portions, of which one will be placed within the wall (of Jerusalem), another in the Mount of Olives, and the third portion be in the custody of the Levites; and it will be for the congregation of Israel, for the Water of Sprinkling: it is the heifer (immolated) for the forgiveness of sins. And the priest who gathered up the ashes of the heifer will wash his clothes, and before his ablution be unclean till the evening. And this will be for the cleansing of the sons of Israel, a statute for ever. Whoever toucheth the body of a dead man, or of a child of some new moons old, either his body or his blood, will be unclean seven days. He will sprinkle himself with this water of the ashes on the third day, and on the seventh day he will be clean. But if he sprinkle not himself on the third day, his uncleanness will remain upon him, and he will not be clean on the seventh day. Whoever hath touched the body of a dead man, or of a child nine new moons old, either the body or the blood, and will not sprinkle himself, he hath defiled the tabernacle of the Lord, and that man will be cut off from Israel; forasmuch as the water of sprinkling is not sprinkled upon him, he is unclean, his uncleanness is yet on him, until he will sprinkle himself; yet may he sprinkle and make ablution on the seventh evening. This is the indication of the law concerning a man when he hath died under the outspread tent every one who entereth into the tent by the way of the door, but not from its side, when its door is open, (or when one hath opened its door,) and whatever is in the tent, its floor, stone, wood, and vessels, will be unclean seven days. And every vessel of clay which hath no covering fastened upon its mouth, which would have kept it separate from the uncleanness, is defiled by the uncleanness of the air which toucheth its mouth, and its interior, and not the outside of it (only). And whoever will touch not one who hath died in his mother’s womb, but who hath been slain with the sword on the face of the field, or the sword with which he was slain, or the dead man himself, or a bone of his, or the hair, or the bone of a living man which hath been separated from him, or a grave, or a shroud, or the bier, will be unclean seven days. And for him who is unclean, they will take of the ashes of the burnt sin offering, and put spring water upon them in a vessel of clay. And let a man, a priest, who is clean, take three branches of hyssop bound. together, and dip (them) in the water at the time of receiving the uncleanness, and sprinkle the tent and all its vessels, and the men who are in it, or upon him who hath touched the bone of a living man that hath been severed from him, and hath fallen, or him who hath. been slain with the sword, or hath died by the plague, or a grave, or a wrapper, or a bier. And the priest who is clean will sprinkle upon the unclean man on the, third day, and on the seventh day, and will make him clean on the seventh day; and he will sprinkle his clothes, and wash himself with water, and at eventide be clean. But the unclean man who will not be sprinkled, that man will be cut off from among the congregation, because he hath defiled the sanctuary of the Lord; the water of sprinkling hath not been sprinkled upon him, he is unclean. And it will be unto you an everlasting statute. The priest, also, who sprinkleth the water of sprinkling will sprinkle his clothes, and he who toucheth the water of sprinkling will be unclean until evening. And whatever the unclean person hath touched, though he carry it not, will be unclean; and the clean man who toucheth him will be unclean till evening.

Chapter 20 And the whole congregation of the sons of Israel came to the desert of Zin on the tenth day of the new moon Nisan. And Miriam died there, and was buried there. And as on account of the innocency of Miriam a well had been given, so when she died the well was hidden, and the congregation had no water. And they gathered against Mosheh and Aharon, and the people contended with Mosheh, and said, Would that we had died when our brethren died before the Lord! And why hast thou brought the congregation of the Lord into this desert, that we and our cattle may die here? And why didst thou make us come up out of Mizraim., to bring us to this evil place, a place which is not fit for sowing, or for planting fig trees, or vines, or pomegranates, and where there is no water to drink? And Mosheh and Aharon went from the face of the murmuring congregation to the door of the tabernacle of ordinance, and bowed upon their faces, and the Glory of the Lord’s Shekinah was revealed to them. And the Lord spake with Mosheh, saying: Take the rod of the miracles, and gather the congregation, thou, and Aharon thy brother, and both of you adjure the rock, by the Great and manifested Name, while they look on, and it will give forth its waters: but if it refuse to bring forth, smite thou it once with the rod that is in thy hand, and thou wilt bring out water for them from the rock, that the congregation and their cattle may drink. And Mosheh took the rod of the miracles from before the Lord, as he had commanded him. And Mosheh and Aharon gathered the congregation together before the rock. And Mosheh said to them, Hear now, rebels: is it possible for us to bring forth water for you from this rock? And Mosheh lifted up his hand, and with his rod struck the rock two times: at the first time it dropped blood; but at the second time there came forth a multitude of waters. And the congregation and their cattle drank. But the Lord spake to Mosheh and Aharon with the oath, Because ye have not believed in My Word, to sanctify Me in the sight of the sons of Israel, therefore you will not bring this congregation into the land that I will give them. These are the Waters of Contention, where the sons of Israel contended before the Lord on account of the well that had been hidden; and He was sanctified in them, in Mosheh and Aharon, when (the waters) were given to them.

Josephus was born Joseph ben Mattathias in 37 AD in Jerusalem of a priestly and royal family. He excelled in his studies of Jewish law and studied with the Sadducees, Pharisees, and the Essenes, eventually aligning himself with the Pharisees. In 62 AD he went to Rome to free some imprisoned priests. After accomplishing this mission through the intercession of Nero’s wife, Poppaea, he returned to Jerusalem in 65 AD to find the country in revolt against Rome. Josephus shrewdly reinterpreted the Messianic prophecies. He predicted that Vespasian would become the ruler of the ‘entire world’. His prophecy became true in 68 AD when Nero committed suicide and Vespasian became Ceasar. As a result, Josephus was freed; he moved to Rome and became a Roman citizen, taking the Vespasian family name Flavius. Vespasian commissioned Josephus to write a history of the war, which he finished in 78 AD, the Jewish War. His second major work, the Antiquities of the Jews, was completed in 93 AD. The extant manuscripts of the book Antiquities of the Jews contain two references to Yeshua of Nazareth (18.3.3. and 20.9.1.) and one reference to the imprisonment and death of John the Baptist (18.5.2.).

4.4.5. When Moses had made these constitutions, after the sedition was over, he removed, together with the whole army, and came to the borders of Idumea. He then sent ambassadors to the king of the Idumeans, and desired him to give him a passage through his country; and agreed to send him what hostages he should desire, to secure him from an injury. He desired him also, that he would allow his army liberty to buy provisions; and, if he insisted upon it, he would pay down a price for the very water they should drink. But the king was not pleased with this embassage from Moses: nor did he allow a passage for the army, but brought his people armed to meet Moses, and to hinder them, in case they should endeavor to force their passage. Upon which Moses consulted Elohim by the oracle, who would not have him begin the war first; and so he withdrew his forces, and traveled round about through the wilderness.

4.4.6. Then it was that Miriam, the sister of Moses, came to her end, having completed her fortieth year since she left Egypt, on the first day of the lunar new moon Xanthicus. They then made a public funeral for her, at a great expense. She was buried upon a certain mountain, which they call Sin: and when they had mourned for her thirty days, Moses purified the people after this manner: He brought a heifer that had never been used to the plough or to husbandry, that was complete in all its parts, and entirely of a red color, at a little distance from the camp, into a place perfectly clean. This heifer was slain by the high priest, and her blood sprinkled with his finger seven times before the tabernacle of Elohim; after this, the entire heifer was burnt in that state, together with its skin and entrails; and they threw cedarwood, and hyssop, and scarlet wool, into the midst of the fire; then a clean man gathered all her ashes together, and laid them in a place perfectly clean. When therefore any persons were defiled by a dead body, they put a little of these ashes into spring water, with hyssop, and, dipping part of these ashes in it, they sprinkled them with it, both on the third day, and on the seventh, and after that they were clean. This he enjoined them to do also when the tribes should come into their own land.