“This is what pertains to the Levites: ¹  At the age of twenty-five years ²  and upward one may begin to join the company ³  in the work of the tent of meeting,

Why has the Lord brought us into this land only to be killed by the sword, that our wives and our children should become plunder? Wouldn’t it be better for us to return to Egypt?”

If the Lord delights in us, then he will bring us into this land and give it to us – a land that is flowing with milk and honey. ¹ 

“How long must I bear ¹  with this evil congregation ²  that murmurs against me? I have heard the complaints of the Israelites that they murmured against me.

Then Moses said, “This is how ¹  you will know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works, for I have not done them of my own will. ² 

“‘This is the law: When a man dies ¹  in a tent, anyone who comes into the tent and all who are in the tent will be ceremonially unclean seven days.

For their drink offerings, include ¹  half a hin of wine with each bull, one-third of a hin for the ram, and one-fourth of a hin for each lamb. This is the burnt offering for each month ²  throughout the months of the year.

Then Eleazar the priest said to the men of war who had gone into the battle, “This is the ordinance of the law that the Lord commanded Moses:

So they said, “If we have found favor in your sight, ¹  let this land be given to your servants for our inheritance. Do not have us cross ²  the Jordan River.” ³ 

and the land is subdued before the Lord, then afterward you may return and be free of your obligation to the Lord and to Israel. This land will then be your possession in the Lord’s sight.

Then the border will continue down the Jordan River ¹  and its direction will be to the Salt Sea. This will be your land by its borders that surround it.’”

This is the land we brought under our control at that time: The territory extending from Aroer ¹  by the Wadi Arnon and half the Gilead hill country with its cities I gave to the Reubenites and Gadites. ² 

And what other great nation has statutes and ordinances as just ¹  as this whole law ²  that I am about to share with ³  you today?

He ¹  did not make this covenant with our ancestors ²  but with us, we who are here today, all of us living now.

But now, why should we die, because this intense fire will consume us! If we keep hearing the voice of the Lord our God we will die!

Now these are the commandments, ¹  statutes, and ordinances that the Lord your God instructed me to teach you so that you may carry them out in the land where you are headed ² 

We will be innocent if we carefully keep all these commandments ¹  before the Lord our God, just as he demands.” ² 

Understand, therefore, that it is not because of your righteousness that the Lord your God is about to give you this good land as a possession, for you are a stubborn ¹  people!

You must investigate thoroughly and inquire carefully. If it is indeed true that such a disgraceful thing is being done among you, ¹ 

if you carefully obey ¹  him ²  by keeping ³  all these commandments that I am giving ⁴  you today.