1. יהוה spoke to Moses , saying,
2. Send men, that they may spy out the land of Canaan, which I give to the children of Israel: of every tribe of their fathers shall you send a man, everyone a prince among them.
3. Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran according to the commandment of יהוה: all of them men who were heads of the children of Israel.
4. These were their names: Of the tribe of Reuben , Shammua, the son of Zaccur.
5. Of the tribe of Simeon , Shaphat, the son of Hori.
6. Of the tribe of Judah , Caleb , the son of Jephunneh .
7. Of the tribe of Issachar , Igal, the son of Joseph.
8. Of the tribe of Ephraim , Hoshea, the son of Nun .
9. Of the tribe of Benjamin , Palti, the son of Raphu.
10. Of the tribe of Zebulun , Gaddiel, the son of Sodi.
11. Of the tribe of Joseph , namely, of the tribe of Manasseh , Gaddi, the son of Susi.
12. Of the tribe of Dan , Ammiel, the son of Gemalli.
13. Of the tribe of Asher , Sethur, the son of Michael.
14. Of the tribe of Naphtali , Nahbi, the son of Vophsi.
15. Of the tribe of Gad , Geuel, the son of Machi.
16. These are the names of the men who Moses sent to spy out the land. Moses called Hoshea, the son of Nun , Joshua .
17. Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said to them, Go up this way by the South, and go up into the hill country:
18. And see the land, what it is; and the people who dwell there, whether they are strong or weak, whether they are few or many;
19. And what the land is that they dwell in, whether it is good or bad; and what cities they are that they dwell in, whether in camps, or in strongholds;
20. And what the land is, whether it is fat or lean, whether there is wood therein, or not. Be of good courage, and bring of the first fruit of the land. Now the time was the time of the first-ripe grapes.
21. So they went up, and spied out the land from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob, to the entrance of Hamath.
22. They went up by the South, and came to Hebron; and Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, were there. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)
23. They came to the valley of Eshcol, and cut down from there a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bore it on a staff between two; they brought also of the pomegranates, and of the figs.
24. That place was called the valley of Eshcol, because of the cluster which the children of Israel cut down from there.
25. They returned from spying out the land at the end of forty days.
26. They went and came to Moses , and to Aaron , and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, to the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word to them, and to all the congregation, and shown them the fruit of the land.
27. They told him, and said, We came to the land where you sent us; and surely it flows with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it.
28. However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there.
29. Amalek dwells in the land of the South: and the Hittite, and the Jebusite, and the Amorite, dwell in the hill country; and the Canaanite dwells by the sea, and along by the side of the Jordan.
30. Caleb stilled the people before Moses , and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.
31. But the men who went up with him said, We aren’t able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we.
32. They brought up an evil report of the land which they had spied out to the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that eats up the inhabitants of it; and all the people who we saw in it are men of great stature.
33. There we saw the Nephilim, the sons of Anak, who come of the Nephilim: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.
Chapter 14
1. All the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night.
2. All the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron : and the whole congregation said to them, Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would that we had died in this wilderness!
3. Why does יהוה bring us to this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will be a prey: wouldn’t it be better for us to return to Egypt?
4. They said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.
5. Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel.
6. Joshua , the son of Nun , and Caleb , the son of Jephunneh , who were of those who spied out the land, tore their clothes:
7. And they spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceeding good land.
8. If יהוה delights in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it to us; a land which flows with milk and honey.
9. Only don’t rebel against יהוה, neither fear the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defense is removed from over them, and יהוה is with us: don’t fear them.
10. But all the congregation bade stone them with stones. The glory of יהוה appeared in the tent of meeting to all the children of Israel.
11. יהוה said to Moses , How long will this people despise me? and how long will they not believe in me, for all the signs which I have worked among them?
12. I will strike them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.
13. Moses said to יהוה, Then the Egyptians will hear it; for you brought up this people in your might from among them;
14. And they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that you יהוה are in the midst of this people; for you יהוה are seen face to face, and your cloud stands over them, and you go before them, in a pillar of cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night.
15. Now if you shall kill this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of you will speak, saying,
16. Because יהוה was not able to bring this people into the land which he swore to them, therefore he has slain them in the wilderness.
17. Now please let the power of the Lord be great, according as you have spoken, saying,
18. יהוה is slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, forgiving iniquity and disobedience; and that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and on the fourth generation.
19. Pardon, Please, the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of your loving kindness, and according as you have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.
20. יהוה said, I have pardoned according to your word:
21. But in very deed, as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of יהוה;
22. Because all those men who have seen my glory, and my signs, which I worked in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have tempted me these ten times, and have not listened to my voice;
23. Surely they shall not see the land which I swore to their fathers, neither shall any of those who despised me see it:
24. But my servant, Caleb , because he had another spirit with him, and has followed me fully, him will I bring into the land into which he went; and his seed shall possess it.
25. Now the Amalekite and the Canaanite dwell in the valley: tomorrow turn and get into the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea.
26. יהוה spoke to Moses and to Aaron , saying,
27. How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, that murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me.
28. Tell them, As I live, says יהוה, surely as you have spoken in my ears, so will I do to you:
29. Your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness; and all who were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, who have murmured against me,
30. Surely you shall not come into the land, concerning which I swore that I would make you dwell therein, save Caleb , the son of Jephunneh , and Joshua , the son of Nun .
31. But your little ones, that you said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which you have rejected.
32. But as for you, your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness.
33. Your children shall be wanderers in the wilderness forty years, and shall bear your prostitution, until your dead bodies be consumed in the wilderness.
34. After the number of the days in which you spied out the land, even forty days, for every day a year, shall you bear your iniquities, even forty years, and you shall know my alienation.
35. I, יהוה, have spoken, surely this will I do to all this evil congregation, who are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die.
36. The men, whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned, and made all the congregation to murmur against him, by bringing up an evil report against the land,
37. Even those men who did bring up an evil report of the land, died by the plague before יהוה.
38. But Joshua , the son of Nun , and Caleb , the son of Jephunneh , remained alive of those men who went to spy out the land.
39. Moses told these words to all the children of Israel: and the people mourned greatly.
40. They rose up early in the morning, and got them up to the top of the mountain, saying, Behold, we are here, and will go up to the place which יהוה has promised: for we have sinned.
41. Moses said, Why now do you disobey the commandment of יהוה, seeing it shall not prosper?
42. Don’t go up, for יהוה isn’t among you; that you not be struck down before your enemies.
43. For there the Amalekite and the Canaanite are before you, and you shall fall by the sword: because you are turned back from following יהוה, therefore יהוה will not be with you.
44. But they presumed to go up to the top of the mountain: nevertheless the ark of the covenant of יהוה, and Moses , didn’t depart out of the camp.
45. Then the Amalekite came down, and the Canaanite who lived in that mountain, and struck them and beat them down, even to Hormah.
Chapter 15
1. יהוה spoke to Moses , saying,
2. Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them, When you are come into the land of your habitations, which I give to you,
3. And will make an offering by fire to יהוה, a burnt offering, or a sacrifice, to accomplish a vow, or as a freewill offering, or in your set feasts, to make a sweet savor to יהוה, of the herd, or of the flock;
4. Then shall he who offers his offering offer to יהוה a meal offering of a tenth part of an ephah of fine flour mixed with the fourth part of a hin of oil:
5. And wine for the drink offering, the fourth part of a hin, shall you prepare with the burnt offering, or for the sacrifice, for each lamb.
6. Or for a ram, you shall prepare for a meal offering two tenth parts of an ephah of fine flour mixed with the third part of a hin of oil:
7. And for the drink offering you shall offer the third part of a hin of wine, of a sweet savor to יהוה.
8. When you prepare a bull for a burnt offering, or for a sacrifice, to accomplish a vow, or for peace offerings to יהוה;
9. Then shall he offer with the bull a meal offering of three tenth parts of an ephah of fine flour mixed with half a hin of oil:
10. And you shall offer for the drink offering half a hin of wine, for an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor to יהוה.
11. Thus shall it be done for each bull, or for each ram, or for each of the he lambs, or of the kids.
12. According to the number that you shall prepare, so shall you do to everyone according to their number.
13. All who are home-born shall do these things after this manner, in offering an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor to יהוה.
14. If a stranger lives as a foreigner with you, or whoever may be among you throughout your generations, and will offer an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor to יהוה; as you do, so he shall do.
15. For the assembly, there shall be one statute for you, and for the stranger who lives as a foreigner with you, a statute forever throughout your generations: as you are, so shall the foreigner be before יהוה.
16. One law and one ordinance shall be for you, and for the stranger who lives as a foreigner with you.
17. יהוה spoke to Moses , saying,
18. Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them, When you come into the land where I bring you,
19. Then it shall be that when you eat of the bread of the land, you shall offer up a heave offering to יהוה.
20. Of the first of your dough you shall offer up a cake for a heave offering: as the heave offering of the threshing floor, so shall you heave it.
21. Of the first of your dough you shall give to יהוה a heave offering throughout your generations.
22. When you shall err, and not observe all these commandments, which יהוה has spoken to Moses ,
23. Even all that יהוה has commanded you by Moses , from the day that יהוה gave commandment, and onward throughout your generations;
24. Then it shall be, if it be done unwittingly, without the knowledge of the congregation, that all the congregation shall offer one young bull for a burnt offering, for a sweet savor to יהוה, with the meal offering of it, and the drink offering of it, according to the ordinance, and one male goat for a sin offering.
25. The priest shall make atonement for all the congregation of the children of Israel, and they shall be forgiven; for it was an error, and they have brought their offering, an offering made by fire to יהוה, and their sin offering before יהוה, for their error:
26. And all the congregation of the children of Israel shall be forgiven, and the stranger who lives as a foreigner among them; for in respect of all the people it was done unwittingly.
27. If one person sins unwittingly, then he shall offer a female goat a year old for a sin offering.
28. The priest shall make atonement for the soul who errs, when he sins unwittingly, before יהוה, to make atonement for him; and he shall be forgiven.
29. You shall have one law for him who does anything unwittingly, for him who is home-born among the children of Israel, and for the stranger who lives as a foreigner among them.
30. But the soul who does anything with a high hand, whether he is home -born or a foreigner, the same blasphemes יהוה; and that soul shall be cut off from among his people.
31. Because he has despised the word of יהוה, and has broken his commandment, that soul shall utterly be cut off; his iniquity shall be on him.
32. While the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering sticks on the Sabbath day.
33. Those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron , and to all the congregation.
34. They put him in custody, because it had not been declared what should be done to him.
35. יהוה said to Moses , The man shall surely be put to death: all the congregation shall stone him with stones outside of the camp.
36. All the congregation brought him outside of the camp, and stoned him to death with stones; as יהוה commanded Moses .
37. יהוה spoke to Moses , saying,
38. Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them to make them fringes in the borders of their garments throughout their generations, and that they put on the fringe of each border a cord of blue:
39. And it shall be to you for a fringe, that you may look on it, and remember all the commandments of יהוה, and do them; and that you not follow after your own heart and your own eyes, after which you used to play the prostitute;
40. That you may remember and do all my commandments, and be holy to your God.
41. I am יהוה your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: I am יהוה your God.
Haftarah - Joshua 2:1-2:24
1. Joshua , the son of Nun sent two men out of Shittim as spies, secretly saying, “Go, view the land, including Jericho.” They went and came into the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab, and lay there.
2. It was told the king of Jericho saying, “Behold, there came men in here tonight of the children of Israel to search out the land.”
3. The king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, “Bring forth the men who are come to you, who have entered into your house; for they have come to search out all the land.”
4. The woman took the two men and hid them. And she said, “Yes, the men came to me, but I didn’t know where they were from.
5. And it happened about the time of the shutting of the gate, when it was dark, that the men went out. Where the men went out, I don’t know. Pursue after them quickly for you will overtake them.”
6. But she had brought them up to the roof, and hid them with the stalks of flax which she had laid in order on the roof.
7. The men pursued after them all the way to the Jordan to the fords. And as soon as those who pursued after them had gone out, they shut the gate.
8. Before they were laid down, she came up to them on the roof.
9. And she said to the men, “I know that יהוה has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen on us, and that all of the inhabitants of the land melt away before you.
10. For we have heard how יהוה dried up the water of the Red Sea before you, when you came out of Egypt; and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites, who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and to Og, whom you utterly destroyed.
11. As soon as we had heard it, our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more spirit in any man, because of you: for יהוה your God, he is God in heaven above, and on earth beneath.
12. Now therefore, please swear to me by יהוה, since I have dealt kindly with you, that you also will deal kindly with my father’s house, and give me a true token;
13. And that you will save alive my father, and my mother, and my brothers, and my sisters, and all that they have, and will deliver our lives from death.”
14. The men said to her, “Our life for yours, if you don’t utter this our business; and it shall be, when יהוה gives us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with you.”
15. Then she let them down by a cord through the window; for her house was on the side of the wall, and she lived on the wall.
16. She said to them, “Go to the mountain, lest the pursuers find you. And hide yourselves there three days, until the pursuers come back. Afterward, you may go your way.”
17. The men said to her, “We will be guiltless of this your oath which you’ve made us to swear.
18. Behold, when we come into the land, you shall bind this line of scarlet thread in the window which you let us down by. And you shall gather to you into the house your father, and your mother, and your brothers, and all your father’s household.
19. It will be that whoever goes out of the doors of your house into the street, his blood will be on his head, and we will be guiltless. And whoever is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head, if any hand is on him.
20. But if you utter this our business, then we will be guiltless of your oath which you have made us to swear.”
21. She said, “According to your word, so be it.” She sent them away, and they departed. Then she bound the scarlet line in the window.
22. They went, and came to the mountain, and abode there three days, until the pursuers were returned. And the pursuers sought them throughout all the way, but didn’t find them.
23. Then the two men returned, and descended from the mountain, and passed over and came to Joshua , the son of Nun . And they told him all that had happened to them.
24. They said to Joshua , “Truly יהוה has delivered into our hands all the land. And moreover, all the inhabitants of the land do melt away before us.”