我怎样在埃及地的旷野刑罚你们的列祖，也必照样刑罚你们。这是主耶和华说的。

我怎样在埃及地的旷野审判你们的祖先，也必照样审判你们。这是主耶和华说的。

我怎样在埃及地的旷野审判你们的祖先，也必照样审判你们。这是主耶和华说的。

就像我从前在埃及的旷野审判你们的祖先一样。这是主耶和华说的。

我怎样在埃及地的旷野审判你们的祖先，也必怎样审判你们。这是主耶和华的宣告。

我怎樣在埃及地的曠野刑罰你們的列祖，也必照樣刑罰你們。這是主耶和華說的。

我怎樣在埃及地的曠野審判你們的祖先，也必照樣審判你們。這是主耶和華說的。

我怎樣在埃及地的曠野審判你們的祖先，也必照樣審判你們。這是主耶和華說的。

就像我從前在埃及的曠野審判你們的祖先一樣。這是主耶和華說的。

我怎樣在埃及地的曠野審判你們的祖先，也必怎樣審判你們。這是主耶和華的宣告。

我怎樣在埃及地的曠野判罰你們祖先，我也要怎樣判罰你們：這是主永恆主發神諭說的。

我鞫爾、如在埃及曠野鞫爾列祖、主耶和華言之矣、

與昔在埃及曠野、斥爾祖之非無異、我耶和華、已言之矣。

我斥爾非、如昔在伊及曠野斥爾祖之非、或作我必審鞫爾如昔在伊及曠野審鞫爾祖然此乃主天主所言、

As I judged your ancestors in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will judge you, declares the Sovereign Lord.

Long ago, I judged your people in the desert of Egypt. In the same way, I will judge you,” announces the Lord and King.

As I entered into judgment with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will enter into judgment with you, declares the Lord God.

I will judge you there just as I did your ancestors in the wilderness after bringing them out of Egypt, says the Sovereign Lord.

Just as I entered into judgment with your ancestors in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will enter into judgment with you. This is the declaration of the Lord GOD.

Just as I entered into judgment with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will enter into judgment with you,” declares the Lord God.

Just as I pleaded My case with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will plead My case with you,” says the Lord GOD.

Like as I entered into judgment with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I enter into judgment with you, saith the Lord Jehovah.

Just as I entered into judgment with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will enter into judgment with you.” This is the declaration of the Lord God.

Like as I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I plead with you, saith the Lord GOD.

Just as I entered into judgment with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will enter into judgment with you, declares the sovereign LORD.

Just as I entered into judgment with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will enter into judgment with you,” says the Lord Yahweh.

Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did.Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written:“ The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.”We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did— and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died.We should not test Christ, as some of them did— and were killed by snakes.And do not grumble, as some of them did— and were killed by the destroying angel. (niv)

Now the people complained about their hardships in the hearing of the Lord, and when he heard them his anger was aroused. Then fire from the Lord burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp.When the people cried out to Moses, he prayed to the Lord and the fire died down.So that place was called Taberah, because fire from the Lord had burned among them.The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said,“ If only we had meat to eat!We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost— also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic.But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!”The manna was like coriander seed and looked like resin.The people went around gathering it, and then ground it in a hand mill or crushed it in a mortar. They cooked it in a pot or made it into loaves. And it tasted like something made with olive oil.When the dew settled on the camp at night, the manna also came down.Moses heard the people of every family wailing at the entrance to their tents. The Lord became exceedingly angry, and Moses was troubled.He asked the Lord,“ Why have you brought this trouble on your servant? What have I done to displease you that you put the burden of all these people on me?Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth? Why do you tell me to carry them in my arms, as a nurse carries an infant, to the land you promised on oath to their ancestors?Where can I get meat for all these people? They keep wailing to me,‘ Give us meat to eat!’I cannot carry all these people by myself; the burden is too heavy for me.If this is how you are going to treat me, please go ahead and kill me— if I have found favor in your eyes— and do not let me face my own ruin.”The Lord said to Moses:“ Bring me seventy of Israel’s elders who are known to you as leaders and officials among the people. Have them come to the tent of meeting, that they may stand there with you.I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take some of the power of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them. They will share the burden of the people with you so that you will not have to carry it alone.“ Tell the people:‘ Consecrate yourselves in preparation for tomorrow, when you will eat meat. The Lord heard you when you wailed,“ If only we had meat to eat! We were better off in Egypt!” Now the Lord will give you meat, and you will eat it.You will not eat it for just one day, or two days, or five, ten or twenty days,but for a whole month— until it comes out of your nostrils and you loathe it— because you have rejected the Lord, who is among you, and have wailed before him, saying,“ Why did we ever leave Egypt?”’”But Moses said,“ Here I am among six hundred thousand men on foot, and you say,‘ I will give them meat to eat for a whole month!’Would they have enough if flocks and herds were slaughtered for them? Would they have enough if all the fish in the sea were caught for them?”The Lord answered Moses,“ Is the Lord’s arm too short? Now you will see whether or not what I say will come true for you.”So Moses went out and told the people what the Lord had said. He brought together seventy of their elders and had them stand around the tent.Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke with him, and he took some of the power of the Spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders. When the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied— but did not do so again.However, two men, whose names were Eldad and Medad, had remained in the camp. They were listed among the elders, but did not go out to the tent. Yet the Spirit also rested on them, and they prophesied in the camp.A young man ran and told Moses,“ Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.”Joshua son of Nun, who had been Moses’ aide since youth, spoke up and said,“ Moses, my lord, stop them!”But Moses replied,“ Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!”Then Moses and the elders of Israel returned to the camp.Now a wind went out from the Lord and drove quail in from the sea. It scattered them up to two cubits deep all around the camp, as far as a day’s walk in any direction.All that day and night and all the next day the people went out and gathered quail. No one gathered less than ten homers. Then they spread them out all around the camp.But while the meat was still between their teeth and before it could be consumed, the anger of the Lord burned against the people, and he struck them with a severe plague.Therefore the place was named Kibroth Hattaavah, because there they buried the people who had craved other food.From Kibroth Hattaavah the people traveled to Hazeroth and stayed there. (niv)

“‘ Yet the people of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness. They did not follow my decrees but rejected my laws— by which the person who obeys them will live— and they utterly desecrated my Sabbaths. So I said I would pour out my wrath on them and destroy them in the wilderness. (niv)

“‘ But the children rebelled against me: They did not follow my decrees, they were not careful to keep my laws, of which I said,“ The person who obeys them will live by them,” and they desecrated my Sabbaths. So I said I would pour out my wrath on them and spend my anger against them in the wilderness. (niv)

Korah son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and certain Reubenites— Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth— became insolentand rose up against Moses. With them were 250 Israelite men, well-known community leaders who had been appointed members of the council.They came as a group to oppose Moses and Aaron and said to them,“ You have gone too far! The whole community is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is with them. Why then do you set yourselves above the Lord’s assembly?”When Moses heard this, he fell facedown.Then he said to Korah and all his followers:“ In the morning the Lord will show who belongs to him and who is holy, and he will have that person come near him. The man he chooses he will cause to come near him.You, Korah, and all your followers are to do this: Take censersand tomorrow put burning coals and incense in them before the Lord. The man the Lord chooses will be the one who is holy. You Levites have gone too far!”Moses also said to Korah,“ Now listen, you Levites!Isn’t it enough for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the rest of the Israelite community and brought you near himself to do the work at the Lord’s tabernacle and to stand before the community and minister to them?He has brought you and all your fellow Levites near himself, but now you are trying to get the priesthood too.It is against the Lord that you and all your followers have banded together. Who is Aaron that you should grumble against him?”Then Moses summoned Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab. But they said,“ We will not come!Isn’t it enough that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness? And now you also want to lord it over us!Moreover, you haven’t brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey or given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Do you want to treat these men like slaves? No, we will not come!”Then Moses became very angry and said to the Lord,“ Do not accept their offering. I have not taken so much as a donkey from them, nor have I wronged any of them.”Moses said to Korah,“ You and all your followers are to appear before the Lord tomorrow— you and they and Aaron.Each man is to take his censer and put incense in it— 250 censers in all— and present it before the Lord. You and Aaron are to present your censers also.”So each of them took his censer, put burning coals and incense in it, and stood with Moses and Aaron at the entrance to the tent of meeting.When Korah had gathered all his followers in opposition to them at the entrance to the tent of meeting, the glory of the Lord appeared to the entire assembly.The Lord said to Moses and Aaron,“ Separate yourselves from this assembly so I can put an end to them at once.”But Moses and Aaron fell facedown and cried out,“ O God, the God who gives breath to all living things, will you be angry with the entire assembly when only one man sins?”Then the Lord said to Moses,“ Say to the assembly,‘ Move away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram.’”Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him.He warned the assembly,“ Move back from the tents of these wicked men! Do not touch anything belonging to them, or you will be swept away because of all their sins.”So they moved away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram had come out and were standing with their wives, children and little ones at the entrances to their tents.Then Moses said,“ This is how you will know that the Lord has sent me to do all these things and that it was not my idea:If these men die a natural death and suffer the fate of all mankind, then the Lord has not sent me.But if the Lord brings about something totally new, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them, with everything that belongs to them, and they go down alive into the realm of the dead, then you will know that these men have treated the Lord with contempt.”As soon as he finished saying all this, the ground under them split apartand the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their households, and all those associated with Korah, together with their possessions.They went down alive into the realm of the dead, with everything they owned; the earth closed over them, and they perished and were gone from the community.At their cries, all the Israelites around them fled, shouting,“ The earth is going to swallow us too!”And fire came out from the Lord and consumed the 250 men who were offering the incense.The Lord said to Moses,“ Tell Eleazar son of Aaron, the priest, to remove the censers from the charred remains and scatter the coals some distance away, for the censers are holy—the censers of the men who sinned at the cost of their lives. Hammer the censers into sheets to overlay the altar, for they were presented before the Lord and have become holy. Let them be a sign to the Israelites.”So Eleazar the priest collected the bronze censers brought by those who had been burned to death, and he had them hammered out to overlay the altar,as the Lord directed him through Moses. This was to remind the Israelites that no one except a descendant of Aaron should come to burn incense before the Lord, or he would become like Korah and his followers.The next day the whole Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron.“ You have killed the Lord’s people,” they said.But when the assembly gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron and turned toward the tent of meeting, suddenly the cloud covered it and the glory of the Lord appeared.Then Moses and Aaron went to the front of the tent of meeting,and the Lord said to Moses,“ Get away from this assembly so I can put an end to them at once.” And they fell facedown.Then Moses said to Aaron,“ Take your censer and put incense in it, along with burning coals from the altar, and hurry to the assembly to make atonement for them. Wrath has come out from the Lord; the plague has started.”So Aaron did as Moses said, and ran into the midst of the assembly. The plague had already started among the people, but Aaron offered the incense and made atonement for them.He stood between the living and the dead, and the plague stopped.But 14,700 people died from the plague, in addition to those who had died because of Korah.Then Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance to the tent of meeting, for the plague had stopped. (niv)

Then the Lord said to Moses,“ Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt.They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said,‘ These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.’“ I have seen these people,” the Lord said to Moses,“ and they are a stiff-necked people.Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.”But Moses sought the favor of the Lord his God.“ Lord,” he said,“ why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand?Why should the Egyptians say,‘ It was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people.Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self:‘ I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever.’”Then the Lord relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.Moses turned and went down the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands. They were inscribed on both sides, front and back.The tablets were the work of God; the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.When Joshua heard the noise of the people shouting, he said to Moses,“ There is the sound of war in the camp.”Moses replied:“ It is not the sound of victory, it is not the sound of defeat; it is the sound of singing that I hear.”When Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burned and he threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain.And he took the calf the people had made and burned it in the fire; then he ground it to powder, scattered it on the water and made the Israelites drink it.He said to Aaron,“ What did these people do to you, that you led them into such great sin?”“ Do not be angry, my lord,” Aaron answered.“ You know how prone these people are to evil.They said to me,‘ Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.’So I told them,‘ Whoever has any gold jewelry, take it off.’ Then they gave me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!”Moses saw that the people were running wild and that Aaron had let them get out of control and so become a laughingstock to their enemies.So he stood at the entrance to the camp and said,“ Whoever is for the Lord, come to me.” And all the Levites rallied to him.Then he said to them,“ This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says:‘ Each man strap a sword to his side. Go back and forth through the camp from one end to the other, each killing his brother and friend and neighbor.’”The Levites did as Moses commanded, and that day about three thousand of the people died.Then Moses said,“ You have been set apart to the Lord today, for you were against your own sons and brothers, and he has blessed you this day.”The next day Moses said to the people,“ You have committed a great sin. But now I will go up to the Lord; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.”So Moses went back to the Lord and said,“ Oh, what a great sin these people have committed! They have made themselves gods of gold.But now, please forgive their sin— but if not, then blot me out of the book you have written.”The Lord replied to Moses,“ Whoever has sinned against me I will blot out of my book.Now go, lead the people to the place I spoke of, and my angel will go before you. However, when the time comes for me to punish, I will punish them for their sin.”And the Lord struck the people with a plague because of what they did with the calf Aaron had made. (niv)

That night all the members of the community raised their voices and wept aloud.All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them,“ If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this wilderness!Why is the Lord bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?”And they said to each other,“ We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”Then Moses and Aaron fell facedown in front of the whole Israelite assembly gathered there.Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had explored the land, tore their clothesand said to the entire Israelite assembly,“ The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good.If the Lord is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us.Only do not rebel against the Lord. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will devour them. Their protection is gone, but the Lord is with us. Do not be afraid of them.”But the whole assembly talked about stoning them. Then the glory of the Lord appeared at the tent of meeting to all the Israelites.The Lord said to Moses,“ How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the signs I have performed among them?I will strike them down with a plague and destroy them, but I will make you into a nation greater and stronger than they.”Moses said to the Lord,“ Then the Egyptians will hear about it! By your power you brought these people up from among them.And they will tell the inhabitants of this land about it. They have already heard that you, Lord, are with these people and that you, Lord, have been seen face to face, that your cloud stays over them, and that you go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.If you put all these people to death, leaving none alive, the nations who have heard this report about you will say,‘ The Lord was not able to bring these people into the land he promised them on oath, so he slaughtered them in the wilderness.’“ Now may the Lord’s strength be displayed, just as you have declared:‘ The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.’In accordance with your great love, forgive the sin of these people, just as you have pardoned them from the time they left Egypt until now.”The Lord replied,“ I have forgiven them, as you asked.Nevertheless, as surely as I live and as surely as the glory of the Lord fills the whole earth,not one of those who saw my glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness but who disobeyed me and tested me ten times—not one of them will ever see the land I promised on oath to their ancestors. No one who has treated me with contempt will ever see it.But because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it.Since the Amalekites and the Canaanites are living in the valleys, turn back tomorrow and set out toward the desert along the route to the Red Sea.”The Lord said to Moses and Aaron:“ How long will this wicked community grumble against me? I have heard the complaints of these grumbling Israelites.So tell them,‘ As surely as I live, declares the Lord, I will do to you the very thing I heard you say:In this wilderness your bodies will fall— every one of you twenty years old or more who was counted in the census and who has grumbled against me.Not one of you will enter the land I swore with uplifted hand to make your home, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.As for your children that you said would be taken as plunder, I will bring them in to enjoy the land you have rejected.But as for you, your bodies will fall in this wilderness.Your children will be shepherds here for forty years, suffering for your unfaithfulness, until the last of your bodies lies in the wilderness.For forty years— one year for each of the forty days you explored the land— you will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have me against you.’I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will surely do these things to this whole wicked community, which has banded together against me. They will meet their end in this wilderness; here they will die.”So the men Moses had sent to explore the land, who returned and made the whole community grumble against him by spreading a bad report about it—these men who were responsible for spreading the bad report about the land were struck down and died of a plague before the Lord.Of the men who went to explore the land, only Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh survived.When Moses reported this to all the Israelites, they mourned bitterly.Early the next morning they set out for the highest point in the hill country, saying,“ Now we are ready to go up to the land the Lord promised. Surely we have sinned!”But Moses said,“ Why are you disobeying the Lord’s command? This will not succeed!Do not go up, because the Lord is not with you. You will be defeated by your enemies,for the Amalekites and the Canaanites will face you there. Because you have turned away from the Lord, he will not be with you and you will fall by the sword.”Nevertheless, in their presumption they went up toward the highest point in the hill country, though neither Moses nor the ark of the Lord’s covenant moved from the camp.Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down and attacked them and beat them down all the way to Hormah. (niv)

So he gave them what they asked for, but sent a wasting disease among them.In the camp they grew envious of Moses and of Aaron, who was consecrated to the Lord.The earth opened up and swallowed Dathan; it buried the company of Abiram.Fire blazed among their followers; a flame consumed the wicked.At Horeb they made a calf and worshiped an idol cast from metal.They exchanged their glorious God for an image of a bull, which eats grass.They forgot the God who saved them, who had done great things in Egypt,miracles in the land of Ham and awesome deeds by the Red Sea.So he said he would destroy them— had not Moses, his chosen one, stood in the breach before him to keep his wrath from destroying them.Then they despised the pleasant land; they did not believe his promise.They grumbled in their tents and did not obey the Lord.So he swore to them with uplifted hand that he would make them fall in the wilderness,make their descendants fall among the nations and scatter them throughout the lands.They yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor and ate sacrifices offered to lifeless gods;they aroused the Lord’s anger by their wicked deeds, and a plague broke out among them.But Phinehas stood up and intervened, and the plague was checked.This was credited to him as righteousness for endless generations to come.By the waters of Meribah they angered the Lord, and trouble came to Moses because of them;for they rebelled against the Spirit of God, and rash words came from Moses’ lips.They did not destroy the peoples as the Lord had commanded them,but they mingled with the nations and adopted their customs.They worshiped their idols, which became a snare to them.They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to false gods.They shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was desecrated by their blood.They defiled themselves by what they did; by their deeds they prostituted themselves.Therefore the Lord was angry with his people and abhorred his inheritance.He gave them into the hands of the nations, and their foes ruled over them.Their enemies oppressed them and subjected them to their power.Many times he delivered them, but they were bent on rebellion and they wasted away in their sin.Yet he took note of their distress when he heard their cry;for their sake he remembered his covenant and out of his great love he relented.He caused all who held them captive to show them mercy.Save us, Lord our God, and gather us from the nations, that we may give thanks to your holy name and glory in your praise.Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Let all the people say,“ Amen!” Praise the Lord. (niv)

While Israel was staying in Shittim, the men began to indulge in sexual immorality with Moabite women,who invited them to the sacrifices to their gods. The people ate the sacrificial meal and bowed down before these gods.So Israel yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor. And the Lord’s anger burned against them.The Lord said to Moses,“ Take all the leaders of these people, kill them and expose them in broad daylight before the Lord, so that the Lord’s fierce anger may turn away from Israel.”So Moses said to Israel’s judges,“ Each of you must put to death those of your people who have yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor.”Then an Israelite man brought into the camp a Midianite woman right before the eyes of Moses and the whole assembly of Israel while they were weeping at the entrance to the tent of meeting.When Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, saw this, he left the assembly, took a spear in his handand followed the Israelite into the tent. He drove the spear into both of them, right through the Israelite man and into the woman’s stomach. Then the plague against the Israelites was stopped;but those who died in the plague numbered 24,000.The Lord said to Moses,“ Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, has turned my anger away from the Israelites. Since he was as zealous for my honor among them as I am, I did not put an end to them in my zeal.Therefore tell him I am making my covenant of peace with him.He and his descendants will have a covenant of a lasting priesthood, because he was zealous for the honor of his God and made atonement for the Israelites.”The name of the Israelite who was killed with the Midianite woman was Zimri son of Salu, the leader of a Simeonite family.And the name of the Midianite woman who was put to death was Kozbi daughter of Zur, a tribal chief of a Midianite family.The Lord said to Moses,“ Treat the Midianites as enemies and kill them.They treated you as enemies when they deceived you in the Peor incident involving their sister Kozbi, the daughter of a Midianite leader, the woman who was killed when the plague came as a result of that incident.” (niv)