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Numbers 15

KJV · Chapter 15/36

1And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

2Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land of your habitations, which I give unto you,

3And will make an offering by fire unto the Lord, a burnt offering, or a sacrifice in performing a vow, or in a freewill offering, or in your solemn feasts, to make a sweet savour unto the Lord, of the herd, or of the flock:

4Then shall he that offereth his offering unto the Lord bring a meat offering of a tenth deal of flour mingled with the fourth part of an hin of oil.

5And the fourth part of an hin of wine for a drink offering shalt thou prepare with the burnt offering or sacrifice, for one lamb.

6Or for a ram, thou shalt prepare for a meat offering two tenth deals of flour mingled with the third part of an hin of oil.

7And for a drink offering thou shalt offer the third part of an hin of wine, for a sweet savour unto the Lord.

8And when thou preparest a bullock for a burnt offering, or for a sacrifice in performing a vow, or peace offerings unto the Lord:

9Then shall he bring with a bullock a meat offering of three tenth deals of flour mingled with half an hin of oil.

10And thou shalt bring for a drink offering half an hin of wine, for an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the Lord.

11Thus shall it be done for one bullock, or for one ram, or for a lamb, or a kid.

12According to the number that ye shall prepare, so shall ye do to every one according to their number.

13All that are born of the country shall do these things after this manner, in offering an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the Lord.

14And if a stranger sojourn with you, or whosoever be among you in your generations, and will offer an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the Lord; as ye do, so he shall do.

15One ordinance shall be both for you of the congregation, and also for the stranger that sojourneth with you, an ordinance for ever in your generations: as ye are, so shall the stranger be before the Lord.

16One law and one manner shall be for you, and for the stranger that sojourneth with you.

17And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

18Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into the land whither I bring you,

19Then it shall be, that, when ye eat of the bread of the land, ye shall offer up an heave offering unto the Lord.

20Ye shall offer up a cake of the first of your dough for an heave offering: as ye do the heave offering of the threshingfloor, so shall ye heave it.

21Of the first of your dough ye shall give unto the Lord an heave offering in your generations.

22And if ye have erred, and not observed all these commandments, which the Lord hath spoken unto Moses,

23Even all that the Lord hath commanded you by the hand of Moses, from the day that the Lord commanded Moses, and henceforward among your generations;

24Then it shall be, if ought be committed by ignorance without the knowledge of the congregation, that all the congregation shall offer one young bullock for a burnt offering, for a sweet savour unto the Lord, with his meat offering, and his drink offering, according to the manner, and one kid of the goats for a sin offering.

25And the priest shall make an atonement for all the congregation of the children of Israel, and it shall be forgiven them; for it is ignorance: and they shall bring their offering, a sacrifice made by fire unto the Lord, and their sin offering before the Lord, for their ignorance:

26And it shall be forgiven all the congregation of the children of Israel, and the stranger that sojourneth among them; seeing all the people were in ignorance.

27And if any soul sin through ignorance, then he shall bring a she goat of the first year for a sin offering.

28And the priest shall make an atonement for the soul that sinneth ignorantly, when he sinneth by ignorance before the Lord, to make an atonement for him; and it shall be forgiven him.

29Ye shall have one law for him that sinneth through ignorance, both for him that is born among the children of Israel, and for the stranger that sojourneth among them.

30But the soul that doeth ought presumptuously, whether he be born in the land, or a stranger, the same reproacheth the Lord; and that soul shall be cut off from among his people.

31Because he hath despised the word of the Lord, and hath broken his commandment, that soul shall utterly be cut off; his iniquity shall be upon him.

32And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man that gathered sticks upon the sabbath day.

33And they that found him gathering sticks brought him unto Moses and Aaron, and unto all the congregation.

34And they put him in ward, because it was not declared what should be done to him.

35And the Lord said unto Moses, The man shall be surely put to death: all the congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp.

36And all the congregation brought him without the camp, and stoned him with stones, and he died; as the Lord commanded Moses.

37And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

38Speak unto the children of Israel, and bid them that they make them fringes in the borders of their garments throughout their generations, and that they put upon the fringe of the borders a ribband of blue:

39And it shall be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the Lord, and do them; and that ye seek not after your own heart and your own eyes, after which ye use to go a whoring:

40That ye may remember, and do all my commandments, and be holy unto your God.

41I am the Lord your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: I am the Lord your God.

📖 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. Numbers 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. Numbers 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. Numbers 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. Numbers 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. Numbers 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. Numbers 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. Numbers 15:7And the wine for the drink offering, in the case of the ram, also rose to a third of a hin.
  8. Numbers 15:8If the animal offered was a young bull, whether for a burnt offering, to fulfill a vow, or as a peace offering,
  9. Numbers 15:9The amount of flour rose even further: three tenth parts, mixed with half a hin of oil.
  10. Numbers 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. Numbers 15:11This same growing proportion applied to any ox, ram, lamb, or kid offered.
  12. Numbers 15:12If someone offered more than one animal, the same proportion of flour, oil, and wine had to be multiplied for each one.
  13. Numbers 15:13Every native-born Israelite had to follow exactly these proportions when making an offering by fire to the Lord.
  14. Numbers 15:14The same rule applied equally to the stranger living among the people who wanted to make a similar offering.
  15. Numbers 15:15There was no separate law for native and stranger: the same rule would apply forever, generation after generation, before the Lord.
  16. Numbers 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. Numbers 15:17The Lord speaks once more to Moses, now to introduce a different law about dough.
  18. Numbers 15:18Again the law is tied to the arrival in the promised land: “when ye come into the land whither I bring you.”
  19. Numbers 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. Numbers 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. Numbers 15:21This offering of the first dough was to continue being made to the Lord throughout all the generations to come.
  22. Numbers 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. Numbers 15:23The rule applies to anything the Lord had commanded through Moses, from the beginning and for all future generations.
  24. Numbers 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. Numbers 15:25The priest would make atonement for the whole congregation, and the people would be forgiven, since the wrong had not been intentional.
  26. Numbers 15:26This collective forgiveness applied both to the Israelites and to the strangers living among them, since the mistake had affected everyone alike.
  27. Numbers 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. Numbers 15:28The priest would make atonement for that person individually, and they would be forgiven.
  29. Numbers 15:29This same law, for unintentional wrongs, applied equally to the native-born Israelite and to the stranger.
  30. Numbers 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. Numbers 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. Numbers 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. Numbers 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. Numbers 15:34He is kept in custody because the punishment for this particular case had not yet been defined.
  35. Numbers 15:35The Lord tells Moses that the man was to die, stoned by the whole congregation, outside the camp.
  36. Numbers 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. Numbers 15:37The Lord speaks once more to Moses, this time about a permanent sign to remind the people of the commandments.
  38. Numbers 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. Numbers 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. Numbers 15:40The practical purpose was simple: to remember all the commandments and put them into practice, keeping the people set apart for God.
  41. Numbers 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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