The Offerings of the Leaders

¹On the day Moses finished setting up the Tent of the Lord's presence, he anointed and dedicated the Tent and all its equipment, and the altar and all its equipment.

²Then the clan chiefs who were leaders in the tribes of Israel, the same men who were in charge of the census,

³brought their offerings to the Lord: six wagons and twelve oxen, a wagon for every two leaders and an ox for each leader. After they had presented them,

⁴the Lord said to Moses,

⁵“Accept these gifts for use in the work to be done for the Tent; give them to the Levites according to the work they have to do.”

⁶So Moses gave the wagons and the oxen to the Levites.

⁷He gave two wagons and four oxen to the Gershonites,

⁸and four wagons and eight oxen to the Merarites. All their work was to be done under the direction of Ithamar son of Aaron.

⁹But Moses gave no wagons or oxen to the Kohathites, because the sacred objects they took care of had to be carried on their shoulders.

¹⁰The leaders also brought offerings to celebrate the dedication of the altar. When they were ready to present their gifts at the altar,

¹¹the Lord said to Moses, “Tell them that each day for a period of twelve days one of the leaders is to present his gifts for the dedication of the altar.”

^12-83They presented their offerings in the following order: Day Tribe Leader 1st Judah Nahshon son of Amminadab 2nd Issachar Nethanel son of Zuar 3rd Zebulun Eliab son of Helon 4th Reuben Elizur son of Shedeur 5th Simeon Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai 6th Gad Eliasaph son of Deuel 7th Ephraim Elishama son of Ammihud 8th Manasseh Gamaliel son of Pedahzur 9th Benjamin Abidan son of Gideoni 10th Dan Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai 11th Asher Pagiel son of Ochran 12th Naphtali Ahira son of Enan The offerings each one brought were identical: one silver bowl weighing 50 ounces and one silver basin weighing 30 ounces, by the official standard, both of them full of flour mixed with oil for the grain offering; one gold dish weighing 4 ounces, full of incense; one young bull, one ram, and a one-year-old lamb, for the burnt offering; one goat for the sin offering; and two bulls, five rams, five goats, and five one-year-old lambs, for the fellowship offering.

^84-88The totals of the offerings brought by the twelve leaders for the dedication of the altar were as follows: twelve silver bowls and twelve silver basins weighing a total of 60 pounds twelve gold dishes weighing a total of 48 ounces, filled with incense twelve bulls, twelve rams, and twelve one-year-old lambs, plus the grain offerings that go with them, for the burnt offerings twelve goats for the sin offerings twenty-four bulls, sixty rams, sixty goats, sixty one-year-old lambs, for the fellowship offerings

⁸⁹When Moses went into the Tent to talk with the Lord, he heard the Lord speaking to him from above the lid on the Covenant Box, between the two winged creatures.

The Lord's Own People

¹“The Lord your God will bring you into the land that you are going to occupy, and he will drive many nations out of it. As you advance, he will drive out seven nations larger and more powerful than you: the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

²When the Lord your God places these people in your power and you defeat them, you must put them all to death. Do not make an alliance with them or show them any mercy.

³Do not marry any of them, and do not let your children marry any of them,

⁴because then they would lead your children away from the Lord to worship other gods. If that happens, the Lord will be angry with you and destroy you at once.

⁵So then, tear down their altars, break their sacred stone pillars in pieces, cut down their symbols of the goddess Asherah, and burn their idols.

⁶Do this because you belong to the Lord your God. From all the peoples on earth he chose you to be his own special people.

⁷“The Lord did not love you and choose you because you outnumbered other peoples; you were the smallest nation on earth.

⁸But the Lord loved you and wanted to keep the promise that he made to your ancestors. That is why he saved you by his great might and set you free from slavery to the king of Egypt.

⁹Remember that the Lord your God is the only God and that he is faithful. He will keep his covenant and show his constant love to a thousand generations of those who love him and obey his commands,

¹⁰but he will not hesitate to punish those who hate him.

¹¹Now then, obey what you have been taught; obey all the laws that I have given you today.

The Blessings of Obedience

¹²“If you listen to these commands and obey them faithfully, then the Lord your God will continue to keep his covenant with you and will show you his constant love, as he promised your ancestors.

¹³He will love you and bless you, so that you will increase in number and have many children; he will bless your fields, so that you will have grain, wine, and olive oil; and he will bless you by giving you many cattle and sheep. He will give you all these blessings in the land that he promised your ancestors he would give to you.

¹⁴No people in the world will be as richly blessed as you. None of you nor any of your livestock will be sterile.

¹⁵The Lord will protect you from all sickness, and he will not bring on you any of the dreadful diseases that you experienced in Egypt, but he will bring them on all your enemies.

¹⁶Destroy every nation that the Lord your God places in your power, and do not show them any mercy. Do not worship their gods, for that would be fatal.

¹⁷“Do not tell yourselves that these peoples outnumber you and that you cannot drive them out.

¹⁸Do not be afraid of them; remember what the Lord your God did to the king of Egypt and to all his people.

¹⁹Remember the terrible plagues that you saw with your own eyes, the miracles and wonders, and the great power and strength by which the Lord your God set you free. In the same way that he destroyed the Egyptians, he will destroy all these people that you now fear.

²⁰He will even cause panic among them and will destroy those who escape and go into hiding.

²¹So do not be afraid of these people. The Lord your God is with you; he is a great God and one to be feared.

²²Little by little he will drive out these nations as you advance. You will not be able to destroy them all at once, for, if you did, the number of wild animals would increase and be a threat to you.

²³The Lord will put your enemies in your power and make them panic until they are destroyed.

²⁴He will put their kings in your power. You will kill them, and they will be forgotten. No one will be able to stop you; you will destroy everyone.

²⁵Burn their idols. Do not desire the silver or gold that is on them, and do not take it for yourselves. If you do, that will be fatal, because the Lord hates idolatry.

²⁶Do not bring any of these idols into your homes, or the same curse will be on you that is on them. You must hate and despise these idols, because they are under the Lord's curse.

A Song of Praise

¹How good it is to give thanks to you, O Lord, to sing in your honor, O Most High God,

²to proclaim your constant love every morning and your faithfulness every night,

³with the music of stringed instruments and with melody on the harp.

⁴Your mighty deeds, O Lord, make me glad; because of what you have done, I sing for joy.

⁵How great are your actions, Lord! How deep are your thoughts!

⁶This is something a fool cannot know; someone who is stupid cannot understand:

⁷the wicked may grow like weeds, those who do wrong may prosper; yet they will be totally destroyed,

⁸because you, Lord, are supreme forever.

⁹We know that your enemies will die, and all the wicked will be defeated.

¹⁰You have made me as strong as a wild ox; you have blessed me with happiness.

¹¹I have seen the defeat of my enemies and heard the cries of the wicked.

¹²The righteous will flourish like palm trees; they will grow like the cedars of Lebanon.

¹³They are like trees planted in the house of the Lord, that flourish in the Temple of our God,

¹⁴that still bear fruit in old age and are always green and strong.

¹⁵This shows that the Lord is just, that there is no wrong in my protector.