Aaron's Walking Stick

¹The Lord said to Moses,

²“Tell the people of Israel to give you twelve walking sticks, one from the leader of each tribe. Write each man's name on his stick

³and then write Aaron's name on the stick representing Levi. There will be one stick for each tribal leader.

⁴Take them to the Tent of my presence and put them in front of the Covenant Box, where I meet you.

⁵Then the stick of the man I have chosen will sprout. In this way I will put a stop to the constant complaining of these Israelites against you.”

⁶So Moses spoke to the Israelites, and each of their leaders gave him a stick, one for each tribe, twelve in all, and Aaron's stick was put with them.

⁷Moses then put all the sticks in the Tent in front of the Lord's Covenant Box.

⁸The next day, when Moses went into the Tent, he saw that Aaron's stick, representing the tribe of Levi, had sprouted. It had budded, blossomed, and produced ripe almonds!

⁹Moses took all the sticks and showed them to the Israelites. They saw what had happened, and each leader took his own stick back.

¹⁰The Lord said to Moses, “Put Aaron's stick back in front of the Covenant Box. It is to be kept as a warning to the rebel Israelites that they will die unless their complaining stops.”

¹¹Moses did as the Lord commanded.

¹²The people of Israel said to Moses, “Then that's the end of us!

¹³If anyone who even comes near the Tent must die, then we are all as good as dead!”

¹“Do not sacrifice to the Lord your God cattle or sheep that have any defects; the Lord hates this.

²“Suppose you hear that in one of your towns some men or women have sinned against the Lord and broken his covenant

³by worshiping and serving other gods or the sun or the moon or the stars, contrary to the Lord's command.

⁴If you hear such a report, then investigate it thoroughly. If it is true that this evil thing has happened in Israel,

⁵then take them outside the town and stone them to death.

⁶However, they may be put to death only if two or more witnesses testify against them; they are not to be put to death if there is only one witness.

⁷The witnesses are to throw the first stones, and then the rest of the people are to stone them; in this way you will get rid of this evil.

⁸“It may be that some cases will be too difficult for the local judges to decide, such as certain cases of property rights or of bodily injury or those cases that involve a distinction between murder and manslaughter. When this happens, go to the one place of worship chosen by the Lord your God,

⁹and present your case to the levitical priests and to the judge who is in office at that time, and let them decide the case.

¹⁰They will give their decision, and you are to do exactly as they tell you.

¹¹Accept their verdict and follow their instructions in every detail.

¹²Anyone who dares to disobey either the judge or the priest on duty is to be put to death; in this way you will remove this evil from Israel.

¹³Then everyone will hear of it and be afraid, and no one else will dare to act in such a way.

Instructions concerning a King

¹⁴“After you have taken possession of the land that the Lord your God is going to give you and have settled there, then you will decide you need a king like all the nations around you.

¹⁵Be sure that the man you choose to be king is the one whom the Lord has chosen. He must be one of your own people; do not make a foreigner your king.

¹⁶The king is not to have a large number of horses for his army, and he is not to send people to Egypt to buy horses, because the Lord has said that his people are never to return there.

¹⁷The king is not to have many wives, because this would make him turn away from the Lord; and he is not to make himself rich with silver and gold.

¹⁸When he becomes king, he is to have a copy of the book of God's laws and teachings made from the original copy kept by the levitical priests.

¹⁹He is to keep this book near him and read from it all his life, so that he will learn to honor the Lord and to obey faithfully everything that is commanded in it.

²⁰This will keep him from thinking that he is better than other Israelites and from disobeying the Lord's commands in any way. Then he will reign for many years, and his descendants will rule Israel for many generations.

The Share of the Priests

¹“The priestly tribe of Levi is not to receive any share of land in Israel; instead, they are to live on the offerings and other sacrifices given to the Lord.

²They are to own no land, as the other tribes do; their share is the privilege of being the Lord's priests, as the Lord has promised.

³“Whenever cattle or sheep are sacrificed, the priests are to be given the shoulder, the jaw, and the stomach.

⁴They are to receive the first share of the grain, wine, olive oil, and wool.

⁵The Lord chose from all your tribes the tribe of Levi to serve him as priests forever.

⁶“Any Levite who wants to may come from any town in Israel to the one place of worship

⁷and may serve there as a priest of the Lord his God, like the other Levites who are serving there.

⁸He is to receive the same amount of food as the other priests, and he may keep whatever his family sends him.

Warning against Pagan Practices

⁹“When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, don't follow the disgusting practices of the nations that are there.

¹⁰Don't sacrifice your children in the fires on your altars; and don't let your people practice divination or look for omens or use spells

¹¹or charms, and don't let them consult the spirits of the dead.

¹²The Lord your God hates people who do these disgusting things, and that is why he is driving those nations out of the land as you advance.

¹³Be completely faithful to the Lord.”

The Promise to Send a Prophet

¹⁴Then Moses said, “In the land you are about to occupy, people follow the advice of those who practice divination and look for omens, but the Lord your God does not allow you to do this.

¹⁵Instead, he will send you a prophet like me from among your own people, and you are to obey him.

¹⁶“On the day that you were gathered at Mount Sinai, you begged not to hear the Lord speak again or to see his fiery presence any more, because you were afraid you would die.

¹⁷So the Lord said to me, ‘They have made a wise request.

¹⁸I will send them a prophet like you from among their own people; I will tell him what to say, and he will tell the people everything I command.

¹⁹He will speak in my name, and I will punish anyone who refuses to obey him.

²⁰But if any prophet dares to speak a message in my name when I did not command him to do so, he must die for it, and so must any prophet who speaks in the name of other gods.’

²¹“You may wonder how you can tell when a prophet's message does not come from the Lord.

²²If a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord and what he says does not come true, then it is not the Lord's message. That prophet has spoken on his own authority, and you are not to fear him.

God the Ruler of the World

¹Sing a new song to the Lord; he has done wonderful things! By his own power and holy strength he has won the victory.

²The Lord announced his victory; he made his saving power known to the nations.

³He kept his promise to the people of Israel with loyalty and constant love for them. All people everywhere have seen the victory of our God.

⁴Sing for joy to the Lord, all the earth; praise him with songs and shouts of joy!

⁵Sing praises to the Lord! Play music on the harps!

⁶Blow trumpets and horns, and shout for joy to the Lord, our king.

⁷Roar, sea, and every creature in you; sing, earth, and all who live on you!

⁸Clap your hands, you rivers; you hills, sing together with joy before the Lord,

⁹because he comes to rule the earth. He will rule the peoples of the world with justice and fairness.