Números 15

ARC · Chapter 15/36

1Depois fallou o Senhor a Moysés, dizendo:

2Falla aos filhos de Israel, e dize-lhes: Quando entrardes na terra das vossas habitações, que eu vos hei de dar;

3E ao Senhor fizerdes offerta queimada, holocausto, ou sacrificio, para lhe separar um voto, ou em offerta voluntaria, ou nas vossas solemnidades, para ao Senhor fazer um cheiro suave de ovelhas ou vaccas;

4Então aquelle que offerecer a sua offerta ao Senhor, por offerta de manjares offerecerá uma decima de flor de farinha misturada com a quarta parte d'um hin de azeite.

5E de vinho para libação preparareis a quarta parte de um hin, para holocausto ou para sacrificio por cada cordeiro:

6E por cada carneiro prepararás uma offerta de manjares de duas decimas de flor de farinha, misturada com a terça parte d'um hin de azeite.

7E de vinho para a libação offerecerás a terça parte de um hin ao Senhor, em cheiro suave.

8E, quando preparares novilho para holocausto ou sacrificio, para separar um voto, ou um sacrificio pacifico ao Senhor,

9Com o novilho offerecerás uma offerta de manjares de tres decimas de flor de farinha misturada com a metade d'um hin de azeite,

10E de vinho para a libação offerecerás a metade de um hin, offerta queimada em cheiro suave ao Senhor.

11Assim se fará com cada boi, ou com cada carneiro, ou com o gado miudo dos cordeiros ou das cabras.

12Segundo o numero que offerecerdes, assim o fareis com cada um, segundo o numero d'elles.

13Todo o natural assim fará estas coisas, offerecendo offerta queimada em cheiro suave ao Senhor.

14Quando tambem peregrinar comvosco algum estrangeiro, ou que estiver no meio de vós nas vossas gerações, e elle offerecer uma offerta queimada de cheiro suave ao Senhor, como vós fizerdes assim fará elle

15Um mesmo estatuto haja para vós, ó congregação, e para o estrangeiro que entre vós peregrina, por estatuto perpetuo nas vossas gerações; como vós, assim será o peregrino perante o Senhor

16Uma mesma lei e um mesmo direito haverá para vós e para o estrangeiro que peregrina comvosco.

17Fallou mais o Senhor a Moysés, dizendo:

18Falla aos filhos de Israel, e dize-lhes: Quando entrardes na terra em que vos hei de metter,

19Acontecerá que, quando comerdes do pão da terra, então offerecereis ao Senhor offerta alçada.

20Das primicias da vossa massa offerecereis um bolo em offerta alçada: como a offerta da eira, assim o offerecereis.

21Das primicias das vossas massas dareis ao Senhor offerta alçada nas vossas gerações.

22E, quando vierdes a errar, e não fizerdes todos estes mandamentos, que o Senhor fallou a Moysés,

23Tudo quanto o Senhor vos tem mandado por mão de Moysés, desde o dia que o Senhor ordenou, e d'ali em diante, nas vossas gerações;

24Será que, quando se fizer alguma coisa por erro, e fôr encoberto aos olhos da congregação, toda a congregação offerecerá um novilho para holocausto em cheiro suave ao Senhor, com a sua offerta de manjares e libação conforme ao estatuto, e um bode para expiação do peccado

25E o sacerdote fará propiciação por toda a congregação dos filhos de Israel, e lhes será perdoado, porquanto foi erro: e trouxeram a sua offerta, offerta queimada ao Senhor, e a sua expiação do peccado perante o Senhor, por causa do seu erro.

26Será pois perdoado a toda a congregação dos filhos de Israel, e mais ao estrangeiro que peregrina no meio d'elles, porquanto por erro sobreveiu a todo o povo.

27E, se alguma alma peccar por erro, para expiação do peccado offerecerá uma cabra d'um anno.

28E o sacerdote fará expiação pela alma errante, quando peccar por erro, perante o Senhor, fazendo expiação por ella, e lhe será perdoado.

29Para o natural dos filhos de Israel, e para o estrangeiro que no meio d'elles peregrina, uma mesma lei vos será, para aquelle que isso fizer por erro.

30Mas a alma que fizer alguma coisa á mão levantada, quer seja dos naturaes quer dos estrangeiros, injuria ao Senhor: e tal alma será extirpada do meio do seu povo,

31Pois desprezou a palavra do Senhor, e annulou o seu mandamento: totalmente será extirpada aquella alma, a sua iniquidade será sobre ella.

32Estando pois os filhos de Israel no deserto, acharam um homem apanhando lenha no dia de sabbado.

33E os que o acharam apanhando lenha o trouxeram a Moysés e a Aarão, e a toda a congregação.

34E o pozeram em guarda; porquanto ainda não estava declarado o que se lhe devia fazer.

35Disse pois o Senhor a Moysés: Certamente morrerá o tal homem; toda a congregação com pedras o apedrejará para fóra do arraial.

36Então toda a congregação o tirou para fóra do arraial, e com pedras o apedrejaram, e morreu, como o Senhor ordenara a Moysés.

37E fallou o Senhor a Moysés, dizendo:

38Falla aos filhos de Israel, e dize-lhes: Que nas bordas dos seus vestidos façam franjas pelas suas gerações: e nas franjas das bordas porão um cordão de azul

39E nas franjas vos estará, para que o vejaes, e vos lembreis de todos os mandamentos do Senhor, e os façaes: e não seguireis após o vosso coração, nem após os vossos olhos, após os quaes andaes fornicando.

40Para que vos lembreis de todos os meus mandamentos, e os façaes, e sanctos sejaes a vosso Deus.

41Eu sou o Senhor vosso Deus, que vos tirei da terra do Egypto, para vos ser por Deus: Eu sou o Senhor vosso Deus.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Despite the announced judgment, God gives detailed instructions about offerings for when the people finally enter the land, distinguishes sins of error from deliberate sins, recounts the case of a man stoned for working on the Sabbath, and institutes the wearing of tassels on garments as a reminder of the commandments.

Explanation

It is remarkable that, right after announcing 40 years of discipline, God continues giving instructions about life in the promised land — a clear sign that the discipline did not cancel the promise itself, only postponed its fulfillment to the next generation. The distinction between sin committed in error (which had a sacrifice of forgiveness) and sin done 'with a high hand' (deliberate and defiant, with no sacrifice available) shows that the attitude of the heart mattered as much as the act itself. The case of the man executed for gathering wood on the Sabbath concretely illustrates the seriousness with which the intentional, public violation of a clear commandment was treated. The tassels on the garments ('tzitzit', still worn by observant Jews today) served as constant visual reminders of God's commandments in daily life.

Fun facts

  • The tassels with a 'blue cord' (tekhelet) mentioned here are the origin of the Jewish prayer shawl (tallit) still used today, and the hem of Jesus' garment touched by the woman with the issue of blood (Matthew 9:20) was likely one of these same ritual tassels.
  • The case of the Sabbath violator is one of the few examples in the Bible where the penalty for a specific crime had not been previously defined and had to be revealed directly by God through Moses, showing how the law was also developed through concrete cases, not only abstract principles.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Números 15:1Right after the sentence of the forty years, the Lord speaks to Moses again — but now with laws about a future the current generation will not live to see: entering the promised land.
  2. Números 15:2The instruction already assumes the arrival in the land: “When ye be come into the land” is the phrase that opens these laws, a sign of hope right after the announcement of the punishment.
  3. Números 15:3The law deals with offerings made by fire to the Lord — burnt offerings or sacrifices, whether to fulfill a vow, as a freewill offering, or at a feast — made with sheep or oxen.
  4. Números 15:4Along with the animal, whoever made the offering also had to bring a grain offering: a tenth part of an ephah mixed with a quarter of a hin of oil.
  5. Números 15:5To complete the offering of a lamb, wine for a drink offering was also added, in the same measure of a quarter of a hin.
  6. Números 15:6If the animal was a ram, the amount of flour for the offering rose to two tenth parts, mixed with a third of a hin of oil.
  7. Números 15:7And the wine for the drink offering, in the case of the ram, also rose to a third of a hin.
  8. Números 15:8If the animal offered was a young bull, whether for a burnt offering, to fulfill a vow, or as a peace offering,
  9. Números 15:9The amount of flour rose even further: three tenth parts, mixed with half a hin of oil.
  10. Números 15:10And the wine for the drink offering, in that case, came to half a hin — the proportions grew along with the size of the animal.
  11. Números 15:11This same growing proportion applied to any ox, ram, lamb, or kid offered.
  12. Números 15:12If someone offered more than one animal, the same proportion of flour, oil, and wine had to be multiplied for each one.
  13. Números 15:13Every native-born Israelite had to follow exactly these proportions when making an offering by fire to the Lord.
  14. Números 15:14The same rule applied equally to the stranger living among the people who wanted to make a similar offering.
  15. Números 15:15There was no separate law for native and stranger: the same rule would apply forever, generation after generation, before the Lord.
  16. Números 15:16The text repeats this for emphasis: one single law and one single right applied both to the people of Israel and to those living among them.
  17. Números 15:17The Lord speaks once more to Moses, now to introduce a different law about dough.
  18. Números 15:18Again the law is tied to the arrival in the promised land: “when ye come into the land whither I bring you.”
  19. Números 15:19As soon as the people began eating bread made from that land’s produce, they were to set apart a portion as an offering to the Lord.
  20. Números 15:20From the first batches of dough prepared, a cake was to be set apart as an offering, the same way a portion of the harvest was set apart at the threshing floor.
  21. Números 15:21This offering of the first dough was to continue being made to the Lord throughout all the generations to come.
  22. Números 15:22The text shifts subject to deal with what to do when the people, without meaning to, failed to keep one of these commands.
  23. Números 15:23The rule applies to anything the Lord had commanded through Moses, from the beginning and for all future generations.
  24. Números 15:24If the mistake was made without the congregation noticing, the whole community was to offer a young bull as a burnt offering and a goat as a sin offering for the wrongdoing, in addition to the regular offerings.
  25. Números 15:25The priest would make atonement for the whole congregation, and the people would be forgiven, since the wrong had not been intentional.
  26. Números 15:26This collective forgiveness applied both to the Israelites and to the strangers living among them, since the mistake had affected everyone alike.
  27. Números 15:27But if it was only one person who made the mistake unintentionally, that person was to offer a one-year-old goat as a sin offering.
  28. Números 15:28The priest would make atonement for that person individually, and they would be forgiven.
  29. Números 15:29This same law, for unintentional wrongs, applied equally to the native-born Israelite and to the stranger.
  30. Números 15:30But whoever sinned defiantly, openly challenging the law, whether native or stranger, was insulting the Lord Himself and was to be cut off from among the people.
  31. Números 15:31The justification is clear: that person despised the word of God and knowingly broke His commandment, and so would bear that consequence alone.
  32. Números 15:32A man was caught gathering wood on the Sabbath, a day when any work was forbidden, and the case was brought to Moses because it was not yet clear what the punishment should be. The penalty God sets shows just how seriously keeping the Sabbath was taken at that particular moment, right after the great rebellion of the previous chapter.
  33. Números 15:33Those who found the man gathering wood on the Sabbath brought him to Moses, Aaron, and the whole congregation, not yet knowing what to do with him.
  34. Números 15:34He is kept in custody because the punishment for this particular case had not yet been defined.
  35. Números 15:35The Lord tells Moses that the man was to die, stoned by the whole congregation, outside the camp.
  36. Números 15:36The congregation carries out the sentence: they take the man outside the camp and stone him to death, exactly as the Lord had commanded.
  37. Números 15:37The Lord speaks once more to Moses, this time about a permanent sign to remind the people of the commandments.
  38. Números 15:38God commands the people to put fringes with a blue cord on the borders of their garments, to serve as a constant visual reminder of the commandments. It was a practical way to keep the law always in view, day to day, without needing a book nearby.
  39. Números 15:39The fringes were meant to work as a constant visual reminder, keeping the people from following their own desires and straying from God.
  40. Números 15:40The practical purpose was simple: to remember all the commandments and put them into practice, keeping the people set apart for God.
  41. Números 15:41The chapter closes with God presenting Himself once again as the One who brought the people out of Egypt precisely to be their God.

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