Ezekiel 20:36

⁵However with most of them, God was not well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.

⁶Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. ⁷Don’t be idolaters, as some of them were. As it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.”⁸Let’s not commit sexual immorality, as some of them committed, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell. ⁹Let’s not test Christ,^[+] as some of them tested, and perished by the serpents. ¹⁰Don’t grumble, as some of them also grumbled, and perished by the destroyer.

¹The people were complaining in the ears of the LORD. When the LORD heard it, his anger burned; and the LORD’s fire burned among them, and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp. ²The people cried to Moses; and Moses prayed to the LORD, and the fire abated. ³The name of that place was called Taberah,^[+] because the LORD’s fire burned among them.

⁴The mixed multitude that was among them lusted exceedingly; and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, “Who will give us meat to eat? ⁵We remember the fish, which we ate in Egypt for nothing; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic; ⁶but now we have lost our appetite. There is nothing at all except this manna to look at.” ⁷The manna was like coriander seed, and it looked like bdellium.^8[+] The people went around, gathered it, and ground it in mills, or beat it in mortars, and boiled it in pots, and made cakes of it. Its taste was like the taste of fresh oil. ⁹When the dew fell on the camp in the night, the manna fell on it.

¹⁰Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, every man at the door of his tent; and the LORD’s anger burned greatly; and Moses was displeased. ¹¹Moses said to the LORD, “Why have you treated your servant so badly? Why haven’t I found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me? ¹²Have I conceived all this people? Have I brought them out, that you should tell me, ‘Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries a nursing infant, to the land which you swore to their fathers’? ¹³Where could I get meat to give all these people? For they weep before me, saying, ‘Give us meat, that we may eat.’ ¹⁴I am not able to bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me. ¹⁵If you treat me this way, please kill me right now, if I have found favor in your sight; and don’t let me see my wretchedness.”

¹⁶The LORD said to Moses, “Gather to me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them; and bring them to the Tent of Meeting, that they may stand there with you. ¹⁷I will come down and talk with you there. I will take of the Spirit which is on you, and will put it on them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, that you don’t bear it yourself alone.

¹⁸“Say to the people, ‘Sanctify yourselves in preparation for tomorrow, and you will eat meat; for you have wept in the ears of the LORD, saying, “Who will give us meat to eat? For it was well with us in Egypt.” Therefore the LORD will give you meat, and you will eat. ¹⁹You will not eat just one day, or two days, or five days, or ten days, or twenty days, ²⁰but a whole month, until it comes out at your nostrils, and it is loathsome to you; because you have rejected the LORD who is among you, and have wept before him, saying, “Why did we come out of Egypt?”’”

²¹Moses said, “The people, among whom I am, are six hundred thousand men on foot; and you have said, ‘I will give them meat, that they may eat a whole month.’ ²²Shall flocks and herds be slaughtered for them, to be sufficient for them? Shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to be sufficient for them?”

²³The LORD said to Moses, “Has the LORD’s hand grown short? Now you will see whether my word will happen to you or not.”

²⁴Moses went out, and told the people the LORD’s words; and he gathered seventy men of the elders of the people, and set them around the Tent. ²⁵The LORD came down in the cloud, and spoke to him, and took of the Spirit that was on him, and put it on the seventy elders. When the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied, but they did so no more. ²⁶But two men remained in the camp. The name of one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad; and the Spirit rested on them. They were of those who were written, but had not gone out to the Tent; and they prophesied in the camp. ²⁷A young man ran, and told Moses, and said, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp!”

²⁸Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Moses, one of his chosen men, answered, “My lord Moses, forbid them!”

²⁹Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the LORD’s people were prophets, that the LORD would put his Spirit on them!”

³⁰Moses went into the camp, he and the elders of Israel. ³¹A wind from the LORD went out and brought quails from the sea, and let them fall by the camp, about a day’s journey on this side, and a day’s journey on the other side, around the camp, and about two cubits^[+] above the surface of the earth. ³²The people rose up all that day, and all of that night, and all the next day, and gathered the quails. He who gathered least gathered ten homers;^[+] and they spread them all out for themselves around the camp. ³³While the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the LORD’s anger burned against the people, and the LORD struck the people with a very great plague. ³⁴The name of that place was called Kibroth Hattaavah,^[+] because there they buried the people who lusted.

³⁵From Kibroth Hattaavah the people traveled to Hazeroth; and they stayed at Hazeroth.

¹³“‘“But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness. They didn’t walk in my statutes and they rejected my ordinances, which if a man keeps, he shall live in them. They greatly profaned my Sabbaths. Then I said I would pour out my wrath on them in the wilderness, to consume them.

²¹“‘“But the children rebelled against me. They didn’t walk in my statutes, and didn’t keep my ordinances to do them, which if a man does, he shall live in them. They profaned my Sabbaths. Then I said I would pour out my wrath on them, to accomplish my anger against them in the wilderness.

¹All the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night. ²All the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “We wish that we had died in the land of Egypt, or that we had died in this wilderness! ³Why does the LORD bring us to this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will be captured or killed! Wouldn’t it be better for us to return into Egypt?” ⁴They said to one another, “Let’s choose a leader, and let’s return into Egypt.”

⁵Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel.

⁶Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were of those who spied out the land, tore their clothes. ⁷They spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, “The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceedingly good land. ⁸If the LORD delights in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it to us: a land which flows with milk and honey. ⁹Only don’t rebel against the LORD, neither fear the people of the land; for they are bread for us. Their defense is removed from over them, and the LORD is with us. Don’t fear them.”

¹⁰But all the congregation threatened to stone them with stones. The LORD’s glory appeared in the Tent of Meeting to all the children of Israel.

¹¹The LORD said to Moses, “How long will this people despise me? How long will they not believe in me, for all the signs which I have worked among them? ¹²I will strike them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.”

¹³Moses said to the LORD, “Then the Egyptians will hear it; for you brought up this people in your might from among them. ¹⁴They will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that you LORD are among this people; for you LORD 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. ¹⁵Now if you killed this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of you will speak, saying, ¹⁶‘Because the LORD was not able to bring this people into the land which he swore to them, therefore he has slain them in the wilderness.’ ¹⁷Now please let the power of the Lord^[+] be great, according as you have spoken, saying, ¹⁸‘The LORD is slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, forgiving iniquity and disobedience; and he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and on the fourth generation.’ ¹⁹Please pardon the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of your loving kindness, and just as you have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.”

²⁰The LORD said, “I have pardoned according to your word; ²¹but in very deed—as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the LORD’s glory— ²²because 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; ²³surely they shall not see the land which I swore to their fathers, neither shall any of those who despised me see it. ²⁴But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and has followed me fully, him I will bring into the land into which he went. His offspring shall possess it. ²⁵Since the Amalekite and the Canaanite dwell in the valley, tomorrow turn and go into the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea.” ²⁶The LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, ²⁷“How long shall I bear with this evil congregation that complain against me? I have heard the complaints of the children of Israel, which they complain against me. ²⁸Tell them, ‘As I live, says the LORD, surely as you have spoken in my ears, so I will do to you. ²⁹Your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness; and all who were counted of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, who have complained against me, ³⁰surely you shall not come into the land concerning which I swore that I would make you dwell therein, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun. ³¹But I will bring in your little ones that you said should be captured or killed, and they shall know the land which you have rejected. ³²But as for you, your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness. ³³Your children shall be wanderers in the wilderness forty years, and shall bear your prostitution, until your dead bodies are consumed in the wilderness. ³⁴After the number of the days in which you spied out the land, even forty days, for every day a year, you will bear your iniquities, even forty years, and you will know my alienation.’ ³⁵I, the LORD, have spoken. I will surely do this to all this evil congregation who are gathered together against me. In this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die.”

³⁶The 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, ³⁷even those men who brought up an evil report of the land, died by the plague before the LORD. ³⁸But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh remained alive of those men who went to spy out the land.

³⁹Moses told these words to all the children of Israel, and the people mourned greatly. ⁴⁰They rose up early in the morning and went up to the top of the mountain, saying, “Behold, we are here, and will go up to the place which the LORD has promised; for we have sinned.”

⁴¹Moses said, “Why now do you disobey the commandment of the LORD, since it shall not prosper? ⁴²Don’t go up, for the LORD isn’t among you; that way you won’t be struck down before your enemies. ⁴³For there the Amalekite and the Canaanite are before you, and you will fall by the sword because you turned back from following the LORD; therefore the LORD will not be with you.”

⁴⁴But they presumed to go up to the top of the mountain. Nevertheless, the ark of the LORD’s covenant and Moses didn’t depart out of the camp. ⁴⁵Then the Amalekites came down, and the Canaanites who lived in that mountain, and struck them and beat them down even to Hormah.

⁷The LORD spoke to Moses, “Go, get down; for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves! ⁸They have turned away quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molded calf, and have worshiped it, and have sacrificed to it, and said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.’”

⁹The LORD said to Moses, “I have seen these people, and behold, they are a stiff-necked people. ¹⁰Now therefore leave me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them, and that I may consume them; and I will make of you a great nation.”

¹¹Moses begged the LORD his God, and said, “LORD, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, that you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? ¹²Why should the Egyptians talk, saying, ‘He brought them out for evil, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the surface of the earth’? Turn from your fierce wrath, and turn away from this evil against your people. ¹³Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your offspring^[+] as the stars of the sky, and all this land that I have spoken of I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’”

¹⁴So the LORD turned away from the evil which he said he would do to his people.

¹⁵Moses turned, and went down from the mountain, with the two tablets of the covenant in his hand; tablets that were written on both their sides. They were written on one side and on the other. ¹⁶The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.

¹⁷When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, “There is the noise of war in the camp.”

¹⁸He said, “It isn’t the voice of those who shout for victory. It is not the voice of those who cry for being overcome; but the noise of those who sing that I hear.” ¹⁹As soon as he came near to the camp, he saw the calf and the dancing. Then Moses’ anger grew hot, and he threw the tablets out of his hands, and broke them beneath the mountain. ²⁰He took the calf which they had made, and burned it with fire, ground it to powder, and scattered it on the water, and made the children of Israel drink it.

²¹Moses said to Aaron, “What did these people do to you, that you have brought a great sin on them?”

²²Aaron said, “Don’t let the anger of my lord grow hot. You know the people, that they are set on evil. ²³For they said to me, ‘Make us gods, which shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we don’t know what has become of him.’ ²⁴I said to them, ‘Whoever has any gold, let them take it off.’ So they gave it to me; and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.”

²⁵When Moses saw that the people were out of control, (for Aaron had let them lose control, causing derision among their enemies), ²⁶then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, “Whoever is on the LORD’s side, come to me!” All the sons of Levi gathered themselves together to him.

²⁷He said to them, “The LORD, the God of Israel, says, ‘Every man put his sword on his thigh, and go back and forth from gate to gate throughout the camp, and every man kill his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbor.’” ²⁸The sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. About three thousand men fell of the people that day. ²⁹Moses said, “Consecrate yourselves today to the LORD, for every man was against his son and against his brother, that he may give you a blessing today.”

³⁰On the next day, Moses said to the people, “You have sinned a great sin. Now I will go up to the LORD. Perhaps I shall make atonement for your sin.”

³¹Moses returned to the LORD, and said, “Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made themselves gods of gold. ³²Yet now, if you will, forgive their sin—and if not, please blot me out of your book which you have written.”

³³The LORD said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot him out of my book. ³⁴Now go, lead the people to the place of which I have spoken to you. Behold, my angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I punish, I will punish them for their sin.” ³⁵The LORD struck the people, because of what they did with the calf, which Aaron made.

¹Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, with Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took some men. ²They rose up before Moses, with some of the children of Israel, two hundred fifty princes of the congregation, called to the assembly, men of renown. ³They assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said to them, “You take too much on yourself, since all the congregation are holy, everyone of them, and the LORD is among them! Why do you lift yourselves up above the LORD’s assembly?”

⁴When Moses heard it, he fell on his face. ⁵He said to Korah and to all his company, “In the morning, the LORD will show who are his, and who is holy, and will cause him to come near to him. Even him whom he shall choose, he will cause to come near to him. ⁶Do this: have Korah and all his company take censers, ⁷put fire in them, and put incense on them before the LORD tomorrow. It shall be that the man whom the LORD chooses, he shall be holy. You have gone too far, you sons of Levi!”

⁸Moses said to Korah, “Hear now, you sons of Levi! ⁹Is it a small thing to you that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself, to do the service of the LORD’s tabernacle, and to stand before the congregation to minister to them; ¹⁰and that he has brought you near, and all your brothers the sons of Levi with you? Do you seek the priesthood also? ¹¹Therefore you and all your company have gathered together against the LORD! What is Aaron that you complain against him?”

¹²Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab; and they said, “We won’t come up! ¹³Is it a small thing that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, but you must also make yourself a prince over us? ¹⁴Moreover you haven’t brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, nor given us inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you put out the eyes of these men? We won’t come up.”

¹⁵Moses was very angry, and said to the LORD, “Don’t respect their offering. I have not taken one donkey from them, neither have I hurt one of them.”

¹⁶Moses said to Korah, “You and all your company go before the LORD, you, and they, and Aaron, tomorrow. ¹⁷Each man take his censer and put incense on it, and each man bring before the LORD his censer, two hundred fifty censers; you also, and Aaron, each with his censer.”

¹⁸They each took his censer, and put fire in it, and laid incense on it, and stood at the door of the Tent of Meeting with Moses and Aaron. ¹⁹Korah assembled all the congregation opposite them to the door of the Tent of Meeting. The LORD’s glory appeared to all the congregation.

²⁰The LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, ²¹“Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment!”

²²They fell on their faces, and said, “God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and will you be angry with all the congregation?”

²³The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁴“Speak to the congregation, saying, ‘Get away from around the tent of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram!’”

²⁵Moses rose up and went to Dathan and Abiram; and the elders of Israel followed him. ²⁶He 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!”

²⁷So they went away from the tent of Korah, 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.

²⁸Moses said, “Hereby you shall know that the LORD has sent me to do all these works; for they are not from my own mind. ²⁹If these men die the common death of all men, or if they experience what all men experience, then the LORD hasn’t sent me. ³⁰But if the LORD 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 shall understand that these men have despised the LORD.”

³¹As he finished speaking all these words, the ground that was under them split apart. ³²The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up with their households, all of Korah’s men, and all their goods. ³³So they, and all that belonged to them went down alive into Sheol.^[+] The earth closed on them, and they perished from among the assembly. ³⁴All Israel that were around them fled at their cry; for they said, “Lest the earth swallow us up!” ³⁵Fire came out from the LORD, and devoured the two hundred fifty men who offered the incense.

³⁶The LORD 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, ³⁸even 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 the LORD. Therefore they are holy. They shall be a sign to the children of Israel.”

³⁹Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers which those who were burned had offered; and they beat them out for a covering of the altar, ⁴⁰to be a memorial to the children of Israel, to the end that no stranger who isn’t of the offspring of Aaron, would come near to burn incense before the LORD, that he not be as Korah and as his company; as the LORD spoke to him by Moses.

⁴¹But on the next day all the congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and against Aaron, saying, “You have killed the LORD’s people!”

⁴²When the congregation was assembled against Moses and against Aaron, they looked toward the Tent of Meeting. Behold, the cloud covered it, and the LORD’s glory appeared. ⁴³Moses and Aaron came to the front of the Tent of Meeting. ⁴⁴The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ⁴⁵“Get away from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment!” They fell on their faces.

⁴⁶Moses 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 the LORD! The plague has begun.”

⁴⁷Aaron 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. ⁴⁸He stood between the dead and the living; and the plague was stayed. ⁴⁹Now those who died by the plague were fourteen thousand seven hundred, in addition to those who died about the matter of Korah. ⁵⁰Aaron returned to Moses to the door of the Tent of Meeting, and the plague was stopped.

¹⁵He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul. ¹⁶They envied Moses also in the camp, and Aaron, the LORD’s saint. ¹⁷The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan, and covered the company of Abiram. ¹⁸A fire was kindled in their company. The flame burned up the wicked. ¹⁹They made a calf in Horeb, and worshiped a molten image. ²⁰Thus they exchanged their glory for an image of a bull that eats grass. ²¹They forgot God, their Savior, who had done great things in Egypt, ²²wondrous works in the land of Ham, and awesome things by the Red Sea. ²³Therefore he said that he would destroy them, had Moses, his chosen, not stood before him in the breach, to turn away his wrath, so that he wouldn’t destroy them. ²⁴Yes, they despised the pleasant land. They didn’t believe his word, ²⁵but murmured in their tents, and didn’t listen to the LORD’s voice. ²⁶Therefore he swore to them that he would overthrow them in the wilderness, ²⁷that he would overthrow their offspring among the nations, and scatter them in the lands. ²⁸They joined themselves also to Baal Peor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead. ²⁹Thus they provoked him to anger with their deeds. The plague broke in on them. ³⁰Then Phinehas stood up and executed judgment, so the plague was stopped. ³¹That was credited to him for righteousness, for all generations to come. ³²They angered him also at the waters of Meribah, so that Moses was troubled for their sakes; ³³because they were rebellious against his spirit, he spoke rashly with his lips. ³⁴They didn’t destroy the peoples, as the LORD commanded them, ³⁵but mixed themselves with the nations, and learned their works. ³⁶They served their idols, which became a snare to them. ³⁷Yes, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons. ³⁸They shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan. The land was polluted with blood. ³⁹Thus they were defiled with their works, and prostituted themselves in their deeds. ⁴⁰Therefore the LORD burned with anger against his people. He abhorred his inheritance. ⁴¹He gave them into the hand of the nations. Those who hated them ruled over them. ⁴²Their enemies also oppressed them. They were brought into subjection under their hand. ⁴³He rescued them many times, but they were rebellious in their counsel, and were brought low in their iniquity. ⁴⁴Nevertheless he regarded their distress, when he heard their cry. ⁴⁵He remembered for them his covenant, and repented according to the multitude of his loving kindnesses. ⁴⁶He made them also to be pitied by all those who carried them captive. ⁴⁷Save us, LORD, our God, gather us from among the nations, to give thanks to your holy name, to triumph in your praise! ⁴⁸Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting even to everlasting! Let all the people say, “Amen.” Praise the LORD!