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Old Testament

Numbers

36 chapters

Start reading: Numbers 1

About this book

Numbers follows Israel from Mount Sinai toward the edge of the promised land, and its name comes from the two censuses that count the people. The book opens with the tribes organized around the tabernacle, ready to march. Almost at once the journey turns into a story of complaint: the people grumble about food, leaders challenge Moses, and Miriam and Aaron speak against him. At the border, twelve spies explore Canaan. Most report that the land cannot be taken, and the people refuse to go in, so that generation is sentenced to wander in the wilderness for forty years. The middle chapters hold rebellions, a bronze snake that heals the bitten, and Moses' own failure at the waters of Meribah. The final section tells of the strange prophet Balaam, a new census, the appointment of Joshua and preparations to enter the land. Through it all God keeps his promise, disciplining his people yet never abandoning them.

Author
Tradition names Moses; many scholars think the book was shaped from older material over time.
Date
The events span about forty years, usually placed in the 15th or 13th century BC; the writing date is debated.
Audience
Israel, remembering its wilderness years and learning to trust God's promises.

Themes

Faithfulness despite complaintUnbelief and its costGod's presence on the journeyLeadership and rebellionPromise still standing

Outline

  1. 1:1–10:10Counting and preparing at Sinai
  2. 10:11–12:16Setting out and first complaints
  3. 13:1–14:45The spies and the refusal to enter
  4. 15:1–19:22Rebellion and priestly authority
  5. 20:1–21:35Meribah and the bronze snake
  6. 22:1–25:18Balaam and the plains of Moab
  7. 26:1–36:13A new generation prepares

Key verses

Numbers 6:24-26Numbers 14:8-9Numbers 21:8-9

Chapters of Numbers

  1. 1Numbers 1A year after leaving Egypt, the Lord tells Moses in the Sinai desert to take a census of all men twenty and older who are able to serve in the army, tribe by tribe, with a leader from each tribe assisting.
  2. 2Numbers 2God arranges the camp of Israel around the tent of meeting, with each tribe camping under its own banner and standard.
  3. 3Numbers 3The chapter introduces the family of Aaron and his sons, including Nadab and Abihu, who died offering unauthorized fire, and Eleazar and Ithamar, who serve as priests.
  4. 4Numbers 4God assigns the Levite clans their duties for transporting the tabernacle, and counts men from thirty to fifty years old for this service.
  5. 5Numbers 5The Lord commands that those with skin diseases or bodily discharges, or who are unclean from a dead body, be sent outside the camp so it is not defiled, where God dwells among them.
  6. 6Numbers 6The Lord gives the law of the Nazirite, a man or woman who makes a special vow to be set apart to the Lord for a period of time.
  7. 7Numbers 7When Moses finishes setting up the tabernacle, the twelve tribal leaders bring offerings: six covered carts and twelve oxen, which Moses gives to the Levites according to their duties, though none to the Kohathites, who carry sacred items on their shoulders.
  8. 8Numbers 8The Lord instructs Aaron on setting up the seven lamps of the lampstand so that they light the area in front of it, and Aaron does so.
  9. 9Numbers 9In the first month of the second year, the Lord tells Israel to celebrate Passover at twilight on the fourteenth day.
  10. 10Numbers 10The Lord tells Moses to make two silver trumpets to summon the community, signal the breaking of camp, sound alarms in war and mark festivals.
  11. 11Numbers 11The people begin complaining about their hardships, and fire from the Lord burns at the edge of the camp until Moses prays.
  12. 12Numbers 12Miriam and Aaron speak against Moses because of the Cushite woman he had married, and they also ask whether the Lord has spoken only through Moses.
  13. 13Numbers 13Moses sends twelve leaders, one from each tribe, to scout the land of Canaan.
  14. 14Numbers 14The people weep through the night, grumble against Moses and Aaron, and even talk of choosing a leader to take them back to Egypt.
  15. 15Numbers 15After the sentence of wandering, God gives laws looking ahead to life in the land: grain, oil and wine offerings that accompany sacrifices, welcome for foreigners under the same rules, and provision for unintentional sin.
  16. 16Numbers 16Korah, Dathan and Abiram lead a challenge against Moses and Aaron with 250 community leaders, arguing that the whole congregation is holy and no one should stand above the rest.
  17. 17Numbers 17To end the grumbling over who may serve as priest, God tells Moses to collect a staff from each tribe's leader, with Aaron's name on the staff of Levi, and to place them before the ark overnight.
  18. 18Numbers 18God defines the duties and support of the priests and Levites.
  19. 19Numbers 19This chapter gives the law of the red heifer.
  20. 20Numbers 20Miriam dies at Kadesh, and the people again complain about the lack of water.
  21. 21Numbers 21Israel defeats the king of Arad and, growing impatient on the journey, speaks against God and Moses, despising the manna.
  22. 22Numbers 22Balak, king of Moab, fears Israel and sends officials to hire the prophet Balaam to curse them.
  23. 23Numbers 23Balak builds altars and offers sacrifices, hoping Balaam will curse Israel from the heights.
  24. 24Numbers 24Balaam, seeing that God wants to bless Israel, no longer resorts to omens.
  25. 25Numbers 25While Israel is camped at Shittim, men begin sexual relations with Moabite women and join in worship of Baal of Peor.
  26. 26Numbers 26After the plague, God orders a second census of men twenty and older, tribe by tribe, to prepare for entering the land.
  27. 27Numbers 27The five daughters of Zelophehad, whose father died without sons, ask Moses for a share of the land.
  28. 28Numbers 28God gives a calendar of regular offerings so that worship will be steady and orderly in the land.
  29. 29Numbers 29The calendar of offerings continues with the seventh month: the Feast of Trumpets on the first day, the Day of Atonement on the tenth, and the Feast of Tabernacles beginning on the fifteenth and lasting a week, with a closing assembly on the eighth day.
  30. 30Numbers 30This chapter deals with vows and oaths, especially those made by women in different family situations.
  31. 31Numbers 31God tells Moses to take vengeance on Midian for leading Israel into idolatry.
  32. 32Numbers 32The tribes of Reuben and Gad, rich in livestock, ask to settle east of the Jordan in the pastureland already conquered.
  33. 33Numbers 33Moses records the stages of Israel's journey from Egypt to the plains of Moab, forty-two stops in all, at God's command.
  34. 34Numbers 34God outlines the boundaries of the land Israel is about to receive: the southern border from the Dead Sea toward Kadesh, the western border along the Mediterranean, a northern line, and an eastern boundary along the Jordan and the Sea of Galilee.
  35. 35Numbers 35The Levites will receive forty-eight towns scattered through the tribes, with surrounding pastureland, since they have no tribal territory.
  36. 36Numbers 36The heads of Manasseh's clans raise a concern: if Zelophehad's daughters marry outside the tribe, their inherited land will pass to another tribe.
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