Numbers 15  Easy-to-Read Version

Rules About Sacrifices

15 The Lord said to Moses, ² “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: I am giving you a land to be your home. When you enter that land, ³ you must give special gifts to the Lord. Their smell will please the Lord. You will use your cattle, sheep, and goats for burnt offerings, sacrifices, special promises, special gifts, fellowship offerings, or at your special festivals.

⁴ “At the time someone brings their offering, they must also give a grain offering to the Lord. The grain offering will be 8 cups^[a] of fine flour mixed with 1 quart^[b] of olive oil. ⁵ Each time you offer a lamb as a burnt offering or sacrifice, you must also prepare a quart of wine as a drink offering.

⁶ “If you are giving a ram, you must also prepare a grain offering. This grain offering should be 16 cups^[c] of fine flour mixed with 1 1/4 quarts^[d] of olive oil. ⁷ And you must prepare 1 1/4 quarts of wine as a drink offering. Its smell will please the Lord.

⁸ “You might prepare a young bull as a burnt offering, a sacrifice, a fellowship offering, or to keep a special promise to the Lord. ⁹ At that time you must also bring a grain offering with the bull. That grain offering should be 24 cups^[e] of fine flour mixed with 2 quarts^[f] of olive oil. ¹⁰ Also bring 2 quarts of wine as a drink offering as a sweet-smelling gift to the Lord. ¹¹ Each bull or ram, or lamb or young goat that you give must be prepared in this way. ¹² Do this for every one of these animals that you give.

¹³ “This is the way every citizen of Israel must give gifts to please the Lord. ¹⁴ Foreigners will live among you. If they give gifts to please the Lord, they must offer them the same way you do. ¹⁵ The same rules will be for everyone—the Israelites and the foreigners living among you. This law will continue forever. You and the people living among you will be the same before the Lord. ¹⁶ This means that you must follow the same laws and the same rules. These laws and rules are for you Israelites and for the other people who are living among you.”

¹⁷ The Lord said to Moses, ¹⁸ “Tell the Israelites this: I am taking you to another land. ¹⁹ When you eat the food that grows in that land, you must give part of that food as an offering to the Lord. ²⁰ You will gather grain and grind it into flour to make dough for bread. You must give the first bread from that flour as a gift to the Lord. It will be like the grain offering that comes from the threshing floor. ²¹ You and all your descendants must give part of the first dough you make from that flour as a gift to the Lord.

²² “As you try to obey all the commands that the Lord gave Moses, you might fail and make a mistake. ²³ The Lord gave you those commands through Moses, and they have been in effect from the day they were given throughout the generations until today. ²⁴ If you made this mistake where everyone could see it, the whole community must offer a young bull as a burnt offering, as a sweet-smelling gift to the Lord. You must also offer the grain offering and the drink offering with the bull. And you must also give a male goat as a sin offering.

²⁵ “So the priest will make the whole community of Israel pure, and they will be forgiven for the mistake they made. Since they made the mistake, they must bring a gift and a sin offering to the Lord. ²⁶ Then the whole community of Israel and any foreigners among them will be forgiven for the mistake.

²⁷ “But if only one person makes a mistake and sins, that person must bring a female goat that is one year old. That goat will be the sin offering. ²⁸ The priest will make purification before the Lord for the one who sinned, and that person will be forgiven. ²⁹ This law is for everyone who makes a mistake and sins. The same law is for the people born in the family of Israel and for the foreigners living among you.

³⁰ “If someone sins and knows they are doing wrong, they are rebelling against the Lord. They must be separated from their people. The same law applies to citizens of Israel and to foreigners living among you. ³¹ They thought the Lord’s word was not important, so they broke his commands. That is why they must be separated from their people—they must bear the responsibility for their guilt.”

A Man Works on the Day of Rest

³² While the Israelites were in the desert, some of them saw a man gathering firewood on the Sabbath day. ³³ The people who saw him gathering the wood brought him to Moses and Aaron and the whole community of Israel. ³⁴ They guarded the man carefully because they did not know how they should punish him.

³⁵ Then the Lord said to Moses, “The man must die. All the people must throw stones at him outside the camp.” ³⁶ So the people took him outside the camp and killed him with stones. They did this just as the Lord commanded Moses.

A Way to Remember God’s Commands

³⁷ The Lord said to Moses, ³⁸ “Speak to the Israelites. Tell them this: Tie several pieces of thread together and tie them in the corner of your clothes. Put a piece of blue thread in each one of these tassels. You must wear these things now and forever. ³⁹ You will be able to look at these tassels and remember all the commands that the Lord has given you. Then you will obey the commands. You will not do wrong by forgetting about the commands and doing the things that your own bodies and eyes want. ⁴⁰ You will remember to obey all my commands. Then you will be God’s special people. ⁴¹ I am the Lord your God. I am the one who brought you out of Egypt. I did this to be your God. I am the Lord your God.”