Chapter 26

10:10. If at any time you shall have a banquet, and on your festival days, and on the first days of your months, you shall sound the trumpets over the holocausts, and the sacrifices of peace offerings, that they may be to you for a remembrance of your God. I am the Lord your God.

10:11. The second year, in the second month, the twentieth day of the month, the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle of the covenant.

10:12. And the children of Israel marched by their troops from the desert of Sinai, and the cloud rested in the wilderness of Pharan.

10:13. And the first went forward according to the commandment of the Lord by the hand of Moses.

10:14. The sons of Juda by their troops: whose prince was Nahasson the son of Aminadab.

10:15. In the tribe of the sons of Issachar, the prince was Nathanael the son of Suar.

10:16. In the tribe of Zabulon, the prince was Eliab the son of Helon.

10:17. And the tabernacle was taken down, and the sons of Gerson and Merari set forward, bearing it.

10:18. And the sons of Ruben also marched, by their troops and ranks, whose prince was Helisur the son of Sedeur.

10:19. And in the tribe of Simeon, the prince was Salamiel the son of Surisaddai.

10:20. And in the tribe of Gad, the prince was Eliasaph the son of Duel.

10:21. Then the Caathites also marched carrying the sanctuary. So long was the tabernacle carried, till they came to the place of setting it up.

10:22. The sons of Ephraim also moved their camp by their troops, in whose army the prince was Elisama the son of Ammiud.

10:23. And in the tribe of the sons of Manasses, the prince was Gamaliel the son of Phadassur.

10:24. And in the tribe of Benjamin, the prince was Abidan the son of Gedeon.

10:25. The last of all the camp marched the sons of Dan by their troops, in whose army the prince was Ahiezer the son of Ammisaddai.

10:26. And in the tribe of the sons of Aser, the prince was Phegiel the son of Ochran.

10:27. And in the tribe of the sons of Nephtali, the prince was Ahira the son of Enan.

10:28. This was the order of the camps, and marches of the children of Israel by their troops, when they set forward.

10:29. And Moses said to Hobab the son of Raguel the Madianite, his kinsman: We are going towards the place which the Lord will give us: come with us, that we may do thee good: for the Lord hath promised good things to Israel.

10:30. But he answered him: I will not go with thee, but I will return to my country, wherein I was born.

10:31. And he said: Do not leave us: for thou knowest in what places we should encamp in the wilderness, and thou shalt be our guide.

10:32. And if thou comest with us, we will give thee what is the best of the riches which the Lord shall deliver to us.

10:33. So they marched from the mount of the Lord three days' journey, and the ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them, for three days providing a place for the camp.

10:34. The cloud also of the Lord was over them by day when they marched.

10:35. And when the ark was lifted up, Moses said: Arise, O Lord, and let thy enemies be scattered, and let them that hate thee, flee from before thy face.

10:36. And when it was set down, he said: Return, O Lord, to the multitude of the host of Israel.

Numbers Chapter 11

The people murmur and are punished with fire. God appointeth seventy ancients for assistants to Moses. They prophesy. The people have their fill of flesh, but forthwith many die of the plague.

11:1. In the mean time there arose a murmuring of the people against the Lord, as it were repining at their fatigue. And when the Lord heard it he was angry. And the fire of the Lord being kindled against them, devoured them that were at the uttermost part of the camp.

11:2. And when the people cried to Moses, Moses prayed to the Lord, and the fire was swallowed up.

11:3. And he called the name of that place, The burning: for that the fire of the Lord had been kindled against them.

The burning... Hebrew, Taberah.

11:4. For a mixt multitude of people, that came up with them, burned with desire, sitting and weeping, the children of Israel also being joined with them, and said: Who shall give us flesh to eat?

A mixt multitude... These were people that came with them out of Egypt, who were not of the race of Israel; who, by their murmuring, drew also the children of Israel to murmur: this should teach us the danger of associating ourselves with the children of Egypt, that is, with the lovers and admirers of this wicked world.

11:5. We remember the fish that we ate in Egypt free cost: the cucumbers come into our mind, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic.

11:6. Our soul is dry, our eyes behold nothing else but manna.

11:7. Now the manna was like coriander seed, of the colour of bdellium.

Bdellium... Bdellium, according to Pliny, 1.21, c. 9. was of the colour of a man's nail, white and bright.

11:8. And the people went about, and gathering it, ground it in a mill, or beat it in a mortar, and boiled it in a pot, and made cakes thereof of the taste of bread tempered with oil.

11:9. And when the dew fell in the night upon the camp, the manna also fell with it.

11:10. Now Moses heard the people weeping by their families, every one at the door of his tent. And the wrath of the Lord was exceedingly enkindled: to Moses also the thing seemed insupportable.

11:11. And he said to the Lord: Why hast thou afflicted thy servant? Wherefore do I not find favour before thee? And why hast thou laid the weight of all this people upon me?

11:12. Have I conceived all this multitude, or begotten them, that thou shouldst say to me: Carry them in thy bosom as the nurse is wont to carry the little infant, and bear them into the land, for which thou hast sworn to their fathers?

11:13. Whence should I have flesh to give to so great a multitude? They weep against me, saying: Give us flesh that we may eat.

11:14. I am not able alone to bear all this people, because it is too heavy for me.

11:15. But if it seem unto thee otherwise, I beseech thee to kill me, and let me find grace in thy eyes, that I be not afflicted with so great evils.

11:16. And the Lord said to Moses: Gather unto me seventy men of the ancients of Israel, whom thou knowest to be ancients and masters of the people: and thou shalt bring them to the door of the tabernacle of the covenant, and shalt make them stand there with thee,

Seventy men... This was the first institution of the council or senate, called the Sanhedrin, consisting of seventy or seventy-two senators or counsellors.

11:17. That I may come down and speak with thee: and I will take of thy spirit, and will give to them, that they may bear with thee the burden of the people, and thou mayest not be burthened alone.

11:18. And thou shalt say to the people: Be ye sanctified: to morrow you shall eat flesh: for I have heard you say: Who will give us flesh to eat? It was well with us in Egypt. That the Lord may give you flesh, and you may eat:

11:19. Not for one day, nor two, nor five, nor ten, no nor for twenty.

11:20. But even for a month of days, till it come out at your nostrils, and become loathsome to you, because you have cast off the Lord, who is in the midst of you, and have wept before him, saying: Why came we out of Egypt?

11:21. And Moses said: There are six hundred thousand footmen of this people, and sayest thou: I will give them flesh to eat a whole month?

11:22. Shall then a multitude of sheep and oxen be killed, that it may suffice for their food? or shall the fishes of the sea be gathered together to fill them?

11:23. And the Lord answered him: Is the hand of the Lord unable? Thou shalt presently see whether my word shall come to pass or no.

11:24. Moses therefore came, and told the people the words of the Lord, and assembled seventy men of the ancients of Israel, and made them to stand about the tabernacle.

11:25. And the Lord came down in a cloud, and spoke to him, taking away of the spirit that was in Moses, and giving to the seventy men. And when the spirit had rested on them they prophesied, nor did they cease afterwards.

11:26. Now there remained in the camp two of the men, of whom one was called Eldad, and the other Medad, upon whom the spirit rested; for they also had been enrolled, but were not gone forth to the tabernacle.

11:27. And when they prophesied in the camp, there ran a young man, and told Moses, saying: Eldad and Medad prophesy in the camp.

11:28. Forthwith Josue the son of Nun, the minister of Moses, and chosen out of many, said: My lord Moses forbid them.

11:29. But he said: Why hast thou emulation for me? O that all the people might prophesy, and that the Lord would give them his spirit!

11:30. And Moses returned, with the ancients of Israel, into the camp.

11:31. And a wind going out from the Lord, taking quails up beyond the sea brought them, and cast them into the camp for the space of one day's journey, on every side of the camp round about, and they flew in the air two cubits high above the ground.

11:32. The people therefore rising up all that day, and night, and the next day, gathered together of quails, he that did least, ten cores: and they dried them round about the camp.

11:33. As yet the flesh was between their teeth, neither had that kind of meat failed: when behold the wrath of the Lord being provoked against the people, struck them with an exceeding great plague.

11:34. And that place was called, The graves of lust: for there they buried the people that had lusted. And departing from the graves of lust, they came unto Haseroth, and abode there.

The graves of lust... Or, the sepulchres of concupiscence: so called from their irregular desire of flesh. In Hebrew, Kibroth. Hattaavah.

Numbers Chapter 12

Mary and Aaron murmur against Moses, whom God praiseth above other prophets. Mary being struck with leprosy, Aaron confesseth his fault. Moses prayeth for her, and after seven days' separation from the camp, she is restored.

12:1. And Mary and Aaron spoke against Moses, because of his wife the Ethiopian,

Ethiopian... Sephora the wife of Moses was of Madian, which bordered upon the land of Chus or Ethiopia: where note, that the Ethiopia here spoken of is not that of Africa but that of Arabia.

12:2. And they said: Hath the Lord spoken by Moses only? Hath he not also spoken to us in like manner? And when the Lord heard this,

12:3. (For Moses was a man exceeding meek above all men that dwelt upon earth)

Exceeding meek... Moses being the meekest of men, would not contend for himself; therefore, God inspired him to write here his own defence: and the Holy Spirit, whose dictate he wrote, obliged him to declare the truth, though it was so much to his own praise.

12:4. Immediately he spoke to him, and to Aaron and Mary: Come out you three only to the tabernacle of the covenant. And when they were come out,

12:5. The Lord came down in a pillar of the cloud, and stood in the entry of the tabernacle calling to Aaron and Mary. And when they were come,

12:6. He said to them: Hear my words: if there be among you a prophet of the Lord, I will appear to him in a vision, or I will speak to him in a dream.

12:7. But it is not so with my servant Moses who is most faithful in all my house:

12:8. For I speak to him mouth to mouth: and plainly, and not by riddles and figures doth he see the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak ill of my servant Moses?

12:9. And being angry with them he went away:

12:10. The cloud also that was over the tabernacle departed: and behold Mary appeared white as snow with a leprosy. And when Aaron had looked on her, and saw her all covered with leprosy,

12:11. He said to Moses: I beseech thee, my lord, lay not upon us this sin, which we have foolishly committed:

12:12. Let her not be as one dead, and as an abortive that is cast forth from the mother's womb. Lo, now one half of her flesh is consumed with the leprosy.

12:13. And Moses cried to the Lord, saying O God, I beseech thee heal her.

12:14. And the Lord answered him: If her father had spitten upon her face, ought she not to have been ashamed for seven days at least? Let her be separated seven days without the camp, and afterwards she shall be called again.

12:15. Mary therefore was put out of the camp seven days: and the people moved not from that place until Mary was called again.

Numbers Chapter 13

The twelve spies are sent to view the land. The relation they make of it.

13:1. And the people marched from Haseroth, and pitched their tents in the desert of Pharan.

13:2. And there the Lord spoke to Moses, saying.

13:3. Send men to view the land of Chanaan, which I will give to the children of Israel, one of every tribe, of the rulers.

13:4. Moses did what the Lord had commanded, sending from the desert of Pharan, principal men, whose names are these:

13:5. Of the tribe of Ruben, Sammua the son of Zechur.

13:6. Of the tribe of Simeon, Saphat the son of Huri.

13:7. Of the tribe of Juda, Caleb the son of Jephone.

13:8. Of the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph.

13:9. Of the tribe of Ephraim, Osee the son of Nun.

13:10. Of the tribe of Benjamin, Phalti the son of Raphu.

13:11. Of the tribe of Zabulon, Geddiel the son of Sodi.

13:12. Of the tribe of Joseph, of the sceptre of Manasses, Gaddi the son of Susi.

13:13. Of the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli.

13:14. Of the tribe of Aser, Sthur the son of Michael.

13:15. Of the tribe of Nephtali, Nahabi the son of Vapsi.

13:16. Of the tribe of Gad, Guel the son of Machi.

13:17. These are the names of the men, whom Moses sent to view the land: and he called Osee the son of Nun, Josue.

13:18. And Moses sent them to view the land of Chanaan, and said to them: Go you up by the south side. And when you shall come to the mountains,

13:19. View the land, of what sort it is, and the people that are the inhabitants thereof, whether they be strong or weak: few in number or many:

13:20. The land itself, whether it be good or bad: what manner of cities, walled or without walls:

13:21. The ground, fat or barren, woody or without trees. Be of good courage, and bring us of the fruits of the land. Now it was the time when the firstripe grapes are fit to be eaten.

13:22. And when they were gone up, they viewed the land from the desert of Sin, unto Rohob as you enter into Emath.

13:23. And they went up at the south side, and came to Hebron, where were Achiman and Sisai and Tholmai the sons of Enac. For Hebron was built seven years before Tanis the city of Egypt.

13:24. And forward as far as the torrent of the cluster of grapes, they cut off a branch with its cluster of grapes, which two men carried upon a lever. They took also of the pomegranates and of the figs of that place:

13:25. Which was called Nehelescol, that is to say, the torrent of the cluster of grapes, because from thence the children of Israel had carried a cluster of grapes.

13:26. And they that went to spy out the land returned after forty days, having gone round all the country,

13:27. And came to Moses and Aaron and to all the assembly of the children of Israel to the desert of Pharan, which is in Cades. And speaking to them and to all the multitude, they shewed them the fruits of the land:

13:28. And they related and said: We came into the land to which thou sentest us, which in very deed floweth with milk and honey as may be known by these fruits:

13:29. But it hath very strong inhabitants, and the cities are great and walled. We saw there the race of Enac.

13:30. Amalec dwelleth in the south, the Hethite and the Jebusite and the Amorrhite in the mountains: but the Chanaanite abideth by the sea and near the streams of the Jordan.

13:31. In the mean time Caleb, to still the murmuring of the people that rose against Moses, said: Let us go up and possess the land, for we shall be able to conquer it.

13:32. But the others, that had been with him, said: No, we are not able to go up to this people, because they are stronger than we.

13:33. And they spoke ill of the land, which they had viewed, before the children of Israel, saying: The land which we have viewed, devoureth its inhabitants: the people, that we beheld are of a tall stature.

Spoke ill, etc... These men, who by their misrepresentations of the land of promise, discouraged the Israelites from attempting the conquest of it, were a figure of worldlings, who, by decrying or misrepresenting true devotion, discourage Christians from seeking in earnest and acquiring so great a good, and thereby securing to themselves a happy eternity.

13:34. There we saw certain monsters of the sons of Enac, of the giant kind: in comparison of whom, we seemed like locusts.

Numbers Chapter 14

The people murmur. God threateneth to destroy them. He is appeased by Moses, yet so as to exclude the murmurers from entering the promised land. The authors of the sedition are struck dead. The rest going to fight against the will of God are beaten.

14:1. Therefore the whole multitude crying wept that night.

14:2. And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron, saying:

14:3. Would God that we had died in Egypt: and would God we may die in this vast wilderness, and that the Lord may not bring us into this land, lest we fall by the sword, and our wives and children be led away captives. Is it not better to return into Egypt?

14:4. And they said one to another: Let us appoint a captain, and let us return into Egypt.

14:5. And when Moses and Aaron heard this, they fell down flat upon the ground before the multitude of the children of Israel.

14:6. But Josue the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephone, who themselves also had viewed the land, rent their garments,

14:7. And said to all the multitude of the children of Israel: The land which we have gone round is very good:

14:8. If the Lord be favourable, he will bring us into it, and give us a land flowing with milk and honey.

14:9. Be not rebellious against the Lord: and fear ye not the people of this land, for we are able to eat them up as bread. All aid is gone from them: the Lord is with us, fear ye not.

14:10. And when all the multitude cried out, and would have stoned them, the glory of the Lord appeared over the tabernacle of the covenant to all the children of Israel.

14:11. And the Lord said to Moses: How long will this people detract me? how long will they not believe me for all the signs that I have wrought before them?

14:12. I will strike them therefore with pestilence, and will consume them: but thee I will make a ruler over a great nation, and a mightier than this is.

14:13. And Moses said to the Lord: That the Egyptians, from the midst of whom thou hast brought forth this people,

14:14. And the inhabitants of this land, (who have heard that thou, O Lord, art among this people, and art seen face to face, and thy cloud protecteth them, and thou goest before them in a pillar of a cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night,)

14:15. May hear that thou hast killed so great a multitude as it were one man and may say:

14:16. He could not bring the people into the land for which he had sworn, therefore did he kill them in the wilderness.

14:17. Let then the strength of the Lord be magnified, as thou hast sworn, saying:

14:18. The Lord is patient and full of mercy, by taking away iniquity and wickedness, and leaving no man clear, who visitest the sins of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation.

Clear... i. e., who deserves punishment.

14:19. Forgive, I beseech thee, the sins of this people, according to the greatness of thy mercy, as thou hast been merciful to them from their going out of Egypt unto this place.

14:20. And the Lord said: I have forgiven according to thy word.

14:21. As I live: and the whole earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord.

14:22. But yet all the men that have seen my majesty, and the signs that I have done in Egypt, and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now ten times, and have not obeyed my voice,

14:23. Shall not see the land for which I swore to their fathers, neither shall any one of them that hath detracted me behold it.

14:24. My servant Caleb, who being full of another spirit hath followed me, I will bring into this land which he hath gone round: and his seed shall possess it.

14:25. For the Amalecite and the Chanaanite dwell in the valleys. To morrow remove the camp, and return into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea.

14:26. And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying:

14:27. How long doth this wicked multitude murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel.

14:28. Say therefore to them: As I live, saith the Lord: According as you have spoken in my hearing, so will I do to you.

14:29. In the wilderness shall your carcasses lie. All you that were numbered from twenty years old and upward, and have murmured against me,

14:30. Shall not enter into the land, over which I lifted up my hand to make you dwell therein, except Caleb the son of Jephone, and Josue the son of Nun.

14:31. But your children, of whom you said, that they should be a prey to the enemies, will I bring in: that they may see the land which you have despised.

14:32. Your carcasses shall lie in the wilderness.

14:33. Your children shall wander in the desert forty years, and shall bear your fornication, until the carcasses of their fathers be consumed in the desert,

Shall bear your fornication... That is, shall bear the punishment of your disloyalty to God, which in the scripture language is here called a fornication, in a spiritual sense.

14:34. According to the number of the forty days, wherein you viewed the land: a year shall be counted for a day. And forty years you shall receive your iniquities, and shall know my revenge:

14:35. For as I have spoken, so will I do to all this wicked multitude, that hath risen up together against me: in this wilderness shall it faint away and die.

14:36. Therefore all the men, whom Moses had sent to view the land, and who at their return had made the whole multitude to murmur against him, speaking ill of the land that it was naught,

14:37. Died and were struck in the sight of the Lord.

14:38. But Josue the son of Nun, and Caleb had gone to view the land.

14:39. And Moses spoke all these words to all the children of Israel, and the people mourned exceedingly.

14:40. And behold rising up very early in the morning, they went up to the top of the mountain, and said: We are ready to go up to the place, of which the Lord hath spoken: for we have sinned.

14:41. And Moses said to them: Why transgress you the word of the Lord, which shall not succeed prosperously with you?

14:42. Go not up, for the Lord is not with you: lest you fall before your enemies.

14:43. The Amalecite and the Chanaanite are before you, and by their sword you shall fall, because you would not consent to the Lord, neither will the Lord be with you.

14:44. But they being blinded went up to the top of the mountain. But the ark of the testament of the Lord and Moses departed not from the camp.

14:45. And the Amalecite came down, and the Chanaanite that dwelt in the mountain: and smiting and slaying them pursued them as far as Horma.

Numbers Chapter 15

Certain laws concerning sacrifices. Sabbath breaking is punished with death. The law of fringes on their garments.

15:1. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

15:2. Speak to the children of Israel and thou shalt say to them: When you shall be come unto the land of your habitation, which I will give you,

15:3. And shall make an offering to the Lord, for a holocaust, or a victim, paying your vows, or voluntarily offering gifts, or in your solemnities burning a sweet savour unto the Lord, of oxen or of sheep:

15:4. Whosoever immolateth the victim, shall offer a sacrifice of fine flour, the tenth part of an ephi, tempered with the fourth part of a hin of oil: