Then the Lord became angry with ¹  Moses, and he said, “What about ²  your brother Aaron the Levite? ³  I know that he can speak very well. ⁴  Moreover, he is coming ⁵  to meet you, and when he sees you he will be glad in his heart. ⁶ 

¹ So Moses went back ²  to his father-in-law Jethro and said to him, “Let me go, so that I may return ³  to my relatives ⁴  in Egypt and see ⁵  if they are still alive.” Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.”

and he said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Each man fasten ¹  his sword on his side, and go back and forth ²  from entrance to entrance throughout the camp, and each one kill his brother, his friend, and his neighbor.’” ³ 

Then Moses said to Aaron and to Eleazar and Ithamar his other two sons, “Do not ¹  dishevel the hair of your heads ²  and do not tear your garments, so that you do not die and so that wrath does not come on the whole congregation. Your brothers, all the house of Israel, are to mourn the burning which the Lord has caused, ³ 

and the Lord said to Moses: “Tell Aaron your brother that he must not enter at any time into the holy place inside the veil-canopy ¹  in front of the atonement plate ²  that is on the ark so that he may not die, for I will appear in the cloud over the atonement plate.

“Take the staff and assemble the community, you and Aaron your brother, and then speak ¹  to the rock before their eyes. It will pour forth ²  its water, and you will bring water out of the rock for them, and so you will give the community and their beasts water to drink.”

Just then ¹  one of the Israelites came and brought to his brothers ²  a Midianite woman in the plain view of Moses and of ³  the whole community of the Israelites, while they ⁴  were weeping at the entrance of the tent of meeting.

and if his father has no brothers, then you are to give his inheritance to his relative nearest to him from his family, and he will possess it. This will be for the Israelites a legal requirement, ¹  as the Lord commanded Moses.’”

They said, “The Lord commanded my lord to give ¹  the land as an inheritance by lot to the Israelites; and my lord was commanded by the Lord to give the inheritance of our brother Zelophehad to his daughters.

What is going to happen to us? Our brothers have drained away our courage ¹  by describing people who are more numerous ²  and taller than we are, and great cities whose defenses appear to be as high as heaven ³  itself! Moreover, they said they saw ⁴  Anakites ⁵  there.”

You must fight ¹  until the Lord gives your countrymen victory ²  as he did you and they take possession of the land that the Lord your God is giving them on the other side of the Jordan River. Then each of you may return to his own territory that I have given you.”

Suppose your own full brother, ¹  your son, your daughter, your beloved wife, or your closest friend should seduce you secretly and encourage you to go and serve other gods ²  that neither you nor your ancestors ³  have previously known, ⁴ 

This is the nature of the cancellation: Every creditor must remit what he has loaned to another person; ¹  he must not force payment from his fellow Israelite, ²  for it is to be recognized as “the Lord’s cancellation of debts.”

Be careful lest you entertain the wicked thought that the seventh year, the year of cancellation of debts, has almost arrived, and your attitude ¹  be wrong toward your impoverished fellow Israelite ²  and you do not lend ³  him anything; he will cry out to the Lord against you and you will be regarded as having sinned. ⁴ 

Then he will not exalt himself above his fellow citizens or turn from the commandments to the right or left, and he and his descendants will enjoy many years ruling over his kingdom ¹  in Israel.

Your wives, children and cattle may stay in the land that Moses assigned to you east of the Jordan River. But all you warriors must cross over armed for battle ahead of your brothers. ¹  You must help them

until the Lord gives your brothers a place like yours to settle and they conquer the land the Lord your God is ready to hand over to them. Then you may go back to your allotted land and occupy the land Moses the Lord’s servant assigned you east of the Jordan.” ¹ 

When we invade the land ¹ , tie this red rope ²  in the window through which you let us down, and gather together in your house your father, mother, brothers, and all who live in your father’s house. ³ 

So the young spies went and brought out Rahab, her father, mother, brothers, and all who belonged to her. They brought out her whole family and took them to a place outside ¹  the Israelite camp.

Now the Lord your God has made your fellow Israelites secure, ¹  just as he promised them. So now you may turn around and go to your homes ²  in your own land ³  which Moses the Lord’s servant assigned to you east of the Jordan.