But even in the desert they defied me. They broke my laws and rejected my commands, which bring life to anyone who obeys them. They completely profaned the Sabbath. I was ready to let them feel the force of my anger there in the desert and to destroy them.

"But that generation also defied me. They broke my laws and did not keep my commands, which bring life to anyone who obeys them. They profaned the Sabbath. I was ready to let them feel the force of my anger there in the desert and to kill them all.

The LORD said to Moses, "Hurry and go back down, because your people, whom you led out of Egypt, have sinned and rejected me.

I know how stubborn these people are.

But Moses pleaded with the LORD his God and said, " LORD, why should you be so angry with your people, whom you rescued from Egypt with great might and power?

Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Remember the solemn promise you made to them to give them as many descendants as there are stars in the sky and to give their descendants all that land you promised would be their possession forever."

Moses went back down the mountain, carrying the two stone tablets with the commandments written on both sides.

Joshua heard the people shouting and said to Moses, "I hear the sound of battle in the camp."

When Moses came close enough to the camp to see the bull-calf and to see the people dancing, he became furious. There at the foot of the mountain, he threw down the tablets he was carrying and broke them.

He said to Aaron, "What did these people do to you, that you have made them commit such a terrible sin?"

They said to me, 'We don't know what has happened to this man Moses, who brought us out of Egypt; so make us a god to lead us.'

Moses saw that Aaron had let the people get out of control and make fools of themselves in front of their enemies.

and he said to them, "The LORD God of Israel commands every one of you to put on your sword and go through the camp from this gate to the other and kill your brothers, your friends, and your neighbors."

Moses said to the Levites, "Today you have consecrated yourselves as priests in the service of the LORD by killing your sons and brothers, so the LORD has given you his blessing."

Moses then returned to the LORD and said, "These people have committed a terrible sin. They have made a god out of gold and worshiped it.

The LORD answered, "It is those who have sinned against me whose names I will remove from my book.

So the LORD sent a disease on the people, because they had caused Aaron to make the gold bull-calf.

The people began to complain to the LORD about their troubles. When the LORD heard them, he became angry and sent fire on the people. It burned among them and destroyed one end of the camp.

So the place was named Taberah, because there the fire of the LORD burned among them.

In Egypt we used to eat all the fish we wanted, and it cost us nothing. Remember the cucumbers, the watermelons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic we had?

(Manna was like small seeds, whitish yellow in color.

(SEE 11:8)

and he said to the LORD, "Why have you treated me so badly? Why are you displeased with me? Why have you given me the responsibility for all these people?

Where could I get enough meat for all these people? They keep whining and asking for meat.

If you are going to treat me like this, have pity on me and kill me, so that I won't have to endure your cruelty any longer."

I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take some of the spirit I have given you and give it to them. Then they can help you bear the responsibility for these people, and you will not have to bear it alone.

You will have to eat it not just for one or two days, or five, or ten, or even twenty days,

Moses said to the LORD, "Here I am leading 600,000 people, and you say that you will give them enough meat for a month?

"Is there a limit to my power?" the LORD answered. "You will soon see whether what I have said will happen or not!"

Then the LORD came down in the cloud and spoke to him. He took some of the spirit he had given to Moses and gave it to the seventy leaders. When the spirit came on them, they began to shout like prophets, but not for long.

A young man ran out to tell Moses what Eldad and Medad were doing.

Moses answered, "Are you concerned about my interests? I wish that the LORD would give his spirit to all his people and make all of them shout like prophets!"

Suddenly the LORD sent a wind that brought quails from the sea, flying three feet above the ground. They settled on the camp and all around it for miles and miles in every direction.

While there was still plenty of meat for them to eat, the LORD became angry with the people and caused an epidemic to break out among them.

From there the people moved to Hazeroth, where they made camp.

All night long the people cried out in distress.

Why is the LORD taking us into that land? We will be killed in battle, and our wives and children will be captured. Wouldn't it be better to go back to Egypt?"

Then Moses and Aaron bowed to the ground in front of all the people.

and said to the people, "The land we explored is an excellent land.

Do not rebel against the LORD and don't be afraid of the people who live there. We will conquer them easily. The LORD is with us and has defeated the gods who protected them; so don't be afraid."

The LORD said to Moses, "How much longer will these people reject me? How much longer will they refuse to trust in me, even though I have performed so many miracles among them?

But Moses said to the LORD, "You brought these people out of Egypt by your power. When the Egyptians hear what you have done to your people,

Now if you kill all your people, the nations who have heard of your fame will say

So now, LORD, I pray, show us your power and do what you promised when you said,

And now, LORD, according to the greatness of your unchanging love, forgive, I pray, the sin of these people, just as you have forgiven them ever since they left Egypt."

But I promise that as surely as I live and as surely as my presence fills the earth,

They will never enter the land which I promised to their ancestors. None of those who have rejected me will ever enter it.

in whose valleys the Amalekites and the Canaanites now live. Turn back tomorrow and go into the wilderness in the direction of the Gulf of Aqaba."

"How much longer are these wicked people going to complain against me? I have heard enough of these complaints!

You will die and your corpses will be scattered across this wilderness. Because you have complained against me, none of you over twenty years of age will enter that land.

You said that your children would be captured, but I will bring them into the land that you rejected, and it will be their home.

Your children will wander in the wilderness for forty years, suffering for your unfaithfulness, until the last one of you dies.

I swear that I will do this to you wicked people who have gathered together against me. Here in the wilderness every one of you will die. I, the LORD, have spoken.' "

(SEE 14:36)

When Moses told the Israelites what the LORD had said, they mourned bitterly.

But Moses said, "Then why are you disobeying the LORD now? You will not succeed!

When you face the Amalekites and the Canaanites, you will die in battle; the LORD will not be with you, because you have refused to follow him."

Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived there attacked and defeated them, and pursued them as far as Hormah.

Korah son of Izhar, from the Levite clan of Kohath, rebelled against the leadership of Moses. He was joined by three members of the tribe of Reuben---Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth---and by 250 other Israelites, well-known leaders chosen by the community.

They assembled before Moses and Aaron and said to them, "You have gone too far! All the members of the community belong to the LORD, and the LORD is with all of us. Why, then, Moses, do you set yourself above the LORD's community?"

Then he said to Korah and his followers, "Tomorrow morning the LORD will show us who belongs to him; he will let the one who belongs to him, that is, the one he has chosen, approach him at the altar.

(SEE 16:6)

Do you consider it a small matter that the God of Israel has set you apart from the rest of the community, so that you can approach him, perform your service in the LORD's Tent, and minister to the community and serve them?

When you complain against Aaron, it is really against the LORD that you and your followers are rebelling."

Isn't it enough that you have brought us out of the fertile land of Egypt to kill us here in the wilderness? Do you also have to lord it over us?

Moses became angry and said to the LORD, "Do not accept any offerings these men bring. I have not wronged any of them; I have not even taken one of their donkeys."

Each of you will take his fire pan, put incense on it, and then present it at the altar."

Then Korah gathered the whole community, and they stood facing Moses and Aaron at the entrance of the Tent. Suddenly the dazzling light of the LORD's presence appeared to the whole community,

"Move back from these people, and I will destroy them immediately."

The LORD said to Moses,

Then Moses, accompanied by the leaders of Israel, went to Dathan and Abiram.

So they moved away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram had come out and were standing at the entrance of their tents, with their wives and children.

If these men die a natural death without some punishment from God, then the LORD did not send me.

As soon as he had finished speaking, the ground under Dathan and Abiram split open

So they went down alive to the world of the dead, with their possessions. The earth closed over them, and they vanished.

Then the LORD sent a fire that blazed out and burned up the 250 men who had presented the incense.

"Tell Eleazar son of Aaron the priest to remove the bronze fire pans from the remains of those who have been burned, and scatter the coals from the fire pans somewhere else, because the fire pans are holy.

So Eleazar the priest took the fire pans and had them beaten into thin plates to make a covering for the altar.

The next day the whole community complained against Moses and Aaron and said, "You have killed some of the LORD's people."

Moses and Aaron went and stood in front of the Tent,

"Move back from these people, and I will destroy them on the spot!" The two of them bowed down with their faces to the ground,

Aaron obeyed, took his fire pan and ran into the middle of the assembled people. When he saw that the plague had already begun, he put the incense on the coals and performed the ritual of purification for the people.

The number of people who died was 14,700, not counting those who died in Korah's rebellion.

When the Israelites were camped at Acacia Valley, the men began to have sexual intercourse with the Moabite women who were there.

Baal of Peor. So the LORD was angry with them

Moses said to the officials, "Each of you is to kill every man in your tribe who has become a worshiper of Baal of Peor."

When Phinehas, the son of Eleazar and grandson of Aaron the priest, saw this, he got up and left the assembly. He took a spear,

but it had already killed twenty-four thousand people.

"Because of what Phinehas has done, I am no longer angry with the people of Israel. He refused to tolerate the worship of any god but me, and that is why I did not destroy them in my anger.

He and his descendants are permanently established as priests, because he did not tolerate any rivals to me and brought about forgiveness for the people's sin."

The woman's name was Cozbi. Zur, her father, was chief of a group of Midianite clans.

"Attack the Midianites and destroy them,

so he gave them what they asked for, but also sent a terrible disease among them.

Then the earth opened up and swallowed Dathan and buried Abiram and his family;

They made a gold bull-calf at Sinai and worshiped that idol;

They forgot the God who had saved them by his mighty acts in Egypt.

When God said that he would destroy his people, his chosen servant, Moses, stood up against God and kept his anger from destroying them.

They stayed in their tents and grumbled and would not listen to the LORD.

and scatter their descendants among the heathen, letting them die in foreign countries.

They stirred up the LORD's anger by their actions, and a terrible disease broke out among them.

This has been remembered in his favor ever since and will be for all time to come.

They made him so bitter that he spoke without stopping to think.

but they intermarried with them and adopted their pagan ways.

They offered their own sons and daughters as sacrifices to the idols of Canaan.

They made themselves impure by their actions and were unfaithful to God.

He abandoned them to the power of the heathen, and their enemies ruled over them.

Many times the LORD rescued his people, but they chose to rebel against him and sank deeper into sin.

For their sake he remembered his covenant, and because of his great love he relented.

Save us, O LORD our God, and bring us back from among the nations, so that we may be thankful and praise your holy name.

But even then God was not pleased with most of them, and so their dead bodies were scattered over the desert.

nor to worship idols, as some of them did. As the scripture says, "The people sat down to a feast which turned into an orgy of drinking and sex."

We must not put the Lord to the test, as some of them did---and they were killed by snakes.