The People Complain

¹And tthe people complained in the hearing of the Lord about their misfortunes, and when the Lord heard it, uhis anger was kindled, and vthe fire of the Lord burned among them and consumed some outlying parts of the camp. ²Then wthe people cried out to Moses, xand Moses prayed to the Lord, and the fire died down. ³So the name of that place was called yTaberah,1 because the fire of the Lord burned among them.

⁴Now the zrabble that was among them had a strong craving. And the people of Israel also awept again and said, b“Oh that we had meat to eat! ⁵cWe remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. ⁶But now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.”

⁷Now dthe manna was like coriander seed, and its appearance like that of bdellium. ⁸eThe people went about and gathered it and ground it in handmills or beat it in mortars and boiled it in pots and made cakes of it. fAnd the taste of it was like the taste of cakes baked with oil. ⁹gWhen the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell with it.

¹⁰Moses heard the people hweeping throughout their clans, everyone at the door of his tent. And the anger of the Lord blazed hotly, and Moses was displeased. ¹¹iMoses said to the Lord, “Why have you dealt ill with your servant? And why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me? ¹²Did I conceive all this people? Did I give them birth, that you should say to me, j‘Carry them in your bosom, as a knurse carries a nursing child,’ to the land lthat you swore to give their fathers? ¹³mWhere am I to get meat to give to all this people? For they weep before me and say, ‘Give us meat, that we may eat.’ ¹⁴nI am not able to carry all this people alone; the burden is too heavy for me. ¹⁵If you will treat me like this, kill me at once, if I find favor in your sight, that I may not see my wretchedness.”

Elders Appointed to Aid Moses

¹⁶Then the Lord said to Moses, “Gather for me oseventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and pofficers over them, and bring them to the tent of meeting, and let them take their stand there with you. ¹⁷qAnd I will come down and talk with you there. And rI will take some of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them, and sthey shall bear the burden of the people with you, so that you may not bear it yourself alone. ¹⁸And say to the people, t‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat, for you have wept in the hearing of the Lord, saying, “Who will give us meat to eat? uFor it was better for us in Egypt.” Therefore the Lord will give you meat, and you shall eat. ¹⁹You shall not eat just one day, or two days, or five days, or ten days, or twenty days, ²⁰but a whole month, vuntil it comes out at your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you, because you have rejected the Lord who is among you and have wept before him, saying, w“Why did we come out of Egypt?”’” ²¹But Moses said, x“The people among whom I am number six hundred thousand on foot, and you have said, ‘I will give them meat, that they may eat a whole month!’ ²²yShall flocks and herds be slaughtered for them, and be enough for them? Or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, and be enough for them?” ²³And the Lord said to Moses, z“Is the Lord's hand shortened? Now you shall see whether amy word will come true for you or not.”

²⁴So Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord. bAnd he gathered seventy men of the elders of the people and placed them around the tent. ²⁵Then cthe Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him, and took some of the Spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders. And as soon as the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied. But they did not continue doing it.

²⁶Now two men remained in the camp, one named Eldad, and the other named Medad, and the Spirit rested on them. They were among those registered, but they dhad not gone out to the tent, and so they prophesied in the camp. ²⁷And a young man ran and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.” ²⁸And eJoshua the son of Nun, the assistant of Moses from his youth, said, “My lord Moses, fstop them.” ²⁹But Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for my sake? gWould that all the Lord's people were prophets, that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!” ³⁰And Moses and the elders of Israel returned to the camp.

Quail and a Plague

³¹Then a hwind from the Lord sprang up, and it brought quail from the sea and let them fall beside 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 cubits2 above the ground. ³²And the people rose all that day and all night and all the next day, and gathered the quail. Those who gathered least gathered ten ihomers.3 And they spread them out for themselves all around the camp. ³³jWhile the meat was yet between their teeth, before it was consumed, the anger of the Lord was kindled against the people, and kthe Lord struck down the people with a very great plague. ³⁴Therefore the name of that place was called lKibroth-hattaavah,4 because there they buried the people who had the craving. ³⁵mFrom Kibroth-hattaavah the people journeyed to nHazeroth, and they remained at nHazeroth.

Zion, the City of Our God

A Song. A Psalm of kthe Sons of Korah.

¹lGreat is the Lord and greatly to be praised

in mthe city of our God!

His nholy mountain, ²obeautiful in elevation,

is pthe joy of all the earth,

Mount Zion, in the far north,

qthe city of the great King.

³Within her citadels God

has made himself known as a fortress.

⁴For behold, rthe kings assembled;

they came on together.

⁵As soon as they saw it, they were astounded;

they were in panic; they took to flight.

⁶sTrembling took hold of them there,

anguish tas of a woman in labor.

⁷By uthe east wind you vshattered

the ships of wTarshish.

⁸As we have heard, so have we seen

in the city of the Lord of hosts,

in mthe city of our God,

which God will xestablish forever. Selah

⁹We have thought on your ysteadfast love, O God,

in the midst of your temple.

¹⁰As your zname, O God,

so your praise reaches to athe ends of the earth.

Your right hand is filled with righteousness.

¹¹Let Mount bZion be glad!

Let bthe daughters of Judah rejoice

because of your judgments!

¹²Walk about Zion, go around her,

number her towers,

¹³consider well her cramparts,

go through her citadels,

dthat you may tell the next generation

¹⁴that this is God,

our God forever and ever.

He will eguide us forever.1

¹The avision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem bin the days of cUzziah, dJotham, eAhaz, and fHezekiah, kings of Judah.

The Wickedness of Judah

²gHear, O heavens, and give ear, O hearth;

for the Lord has spoken:

“Children1 ihave I reared and brought up,

but they have rebelled against me.

³The ox jknows its owner,

and the donkey its master's crib,

but Israel does jnot know,

my people do not understand.”

⁴Ah, sinful nation,

a people laden with iniquity,

koffspring of evildoers,

children who deal corruptly!

They have forsaken the Lord,

they have ldespised mthe Holy One of Israel,

they are utterly nestranged.

⁵Why will you still be ostruck down?

Why will you pcontinue to rebel?

The whole head is sick,

and the whole heart faint.

⁶qFrom the sole of the foot even to the head,

there is no soundness in it,

but bruises and sores

and raw wounds;

they are rnot pressed out or bound up

or softened with oil.

⁷sYour country lies desolate;

your cities are burned with fire;

in your very presence

foreigners devour your land;

it is desolate, as overthrown by foreigners.

⁸And tthe daughter of Zion is left

like a ubooth in a vineyard,

like a lodge in a cucumber field,

like a besieged city.

⁹vIf the Lord of hosts

had not left us wa few survivors,

we should have been like xSodom,

and become like xGomorrah.

¹⁰Hear the word of the Lord,

you rulers of yzSodom!

Give ear to the teaching2 of our God,

you people of zGomorrah!

¹¹a“What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?

says the Lord;

I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams

and the fat of well-fed beasts;

I do not delight in the blood of bulls,

or of lambs, or of goats.

¹²“When you come to bappear before me,

who has required of you

this trampling of my courts?

¹³Bring no more vain offerings;

incense is an abomination to me.

cNew moon and Sabbath and the dcalling of convocations—

I cannot endure einiquity and fsolemn assembly.

¹⁴Your cnew moons and your appointed feasts

my soul hates;

they have become a burden to me;

I am weary of bearing them.

¹⁵When you gspread out your hands,

I will hide my eyes from you;

heven though you make many prayers,

I will not listen;

iyour hands are full of blood.

¹⁶jWash yourselves; make yourselves clean;

remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes;

kcease to do evil,

¹⁷learn to do good;

lseek justice,

correct oppression;

mbring justice to the fatherless,

plead the widow's cause.

¹⁸“Come now, nlet us reason3 together, says the Lord:

though your sins are like scarlet,

they shall be as owhite as snow;

though they are red like crimson,

they shall become like wool.

¹⁹pIf you are willing and obedient,

you shall eat the good of the land;

²⁰but if you refuse and rebel,

you shall be eaten by the sword;

qfor the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

The Unfaithful City

²¹How the faithful city

rhas become a whore,4

sshe who was full of justice!

Righteousness lodged in her,

but now murderers.

²²tYour silver has become dross,

your best wine mixed with water.

²³Your princes are rebels

and companions of thieves.

Everyone uloves a bribe

and runs after gifts.

vThey do not bring justice to the fatherless,

and the widow's cause does not come to them.

²⁴Therefore the wLord declares,

the Lord of hosts,

the xMighty One of Israel:

“Ah, I will get relief from my enemies

yand avenge myself on my foes.

²⁵zI will turn my hand against you

and will smelt away your adross as with lye

and remove all your alloy.

²⁶And I will restore your judges bas at the first,

and your counselors as at the beginning.

Afterward cyou shall be called the city of righteousness,

the faithful city.”

²⁷dZion shall be redeemed by justice,

and those in her who repent, by righteousness.

²⁸eBut rebels and sinners shall be broken together,

and those who forsake the Lord shall be consumed.

²⁹fFor they5 shall be ashamed of gthe oaks

that you desired;

and you shall blush for hthe gardens

that you have chosen.

³⁰For you shall be ilike an oak

whose leaf withers,

and like a garden without water.

³¹And the strong shall become jtinder,

and his work a spark,

and both of them shall burn together,

with knone to quench them.

The Earthly Holy Place

¹Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and man earthly place of holiness. ²For na tent1 was prepared, the first section, in which were othe lampstand and pthe table and qthe bread of the Presence.2 It is called the Holy Place. ³Behind rthe second curtain was a second section3 called the Most Holy Place, ⁴having the golden saltar of incense and tthe ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was ua golden urn holding the manna, and vAaron's staff that budded, and wthe tablets of the covenant. ⁵Above it were xthe cherubim of glory overshadowing ythe mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail.

⁶These preparations having thus been made, zthe priests go regularly into the first section, performing their ritual duties, ⁷but into the second only athe high priest goes, and he but aonce a year, and not without taking blood, bwhich he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people. ⁸By this the Holy Spirit indicates that cthe way into the holy places is not yet opened as long as the first section is still standing ⁹(which is symbolic for the present age).4 According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered dthat cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, ¹⁰but deal only with efood and drink and fvarious washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation.

Redemption Through the Blood of Christ

¹¹But when Christ appeared as a high priest gof the good things that have come,5 then through hthe greater and more perfect tent (inot made with hands, that is, not of this creation) ¹²he jentered konce for all into the holy places, not by means of lthe blood of goats and calves but mby means of his own blood, nthus securing an eternal redemption. ¹³For if othe blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with pthe ashes of a heifer, sanctify6 for the purification of the flesh, ¹⁴how much more will qthe blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit roffered himself without blemish to God, spurify our7 conscience tfrom dead works uto serve the living God.

¹⁵Therefore he is vthe mediator of a new covenant, so that wthose who are called may xreceive the promised eternal inheritance, ysince a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.8 ¹⁶For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. ¹⁷For za will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive. ¹⁸Therefore not even the first covenant was inaugurated awithout blood. ¹⁹For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took bthe blood of calves and goats, cwith water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, ²⁰saying, d“This is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you.” ²¹And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both ethe tent and all the vessels used in worship. ²²Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and fwithout the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.

²³Thus it was necessary for gthe copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. ²⁴For Christ has entered, not into holy places hmade with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God ion our behalf. ²⁵Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as jthe high priest enters kthe holy places every year with blood not his own, ²⁶for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, lhe has appeared monce for all nat the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. ²⁷And just as oit is appointed for man to die once, and pafter that comes judgment, ²⁸so Christ, having been offered once qto bear the sins of rmany, will appear sa second time, tnot to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly uwaiting for him.