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Day 48: Numbers 15–18 · Colossians 3 · Psalm 113 · Commentary · Commentary² · Audio
The Bible text is included for reading continuity; it is accurate in substance, aligned with major modern translations, and may be read alongside any Bible you prefer.1
Special Note about the following Bible text: The following translation uses the Hebrew terms tamé (טָמֵא) and tahor (טָהוֹר) instead of the traditional “unclean” and “clean.” These terms describe ritual status in relation to sanctuary access, not moral fault, shame, or physical dirtiness. A fuller explanation will follow in a dedicated article.
Numbers 15
Jehovah spoke to Moses and said:
Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them:
When you enter the land where you will dwell, which I am giving you, and you present to Jehovah an offering by fire—a burnt offering or a sacrifice—to fulfill a vow, or as a freewill offering, or at your appointed times, to produce a pleasing aroma to Jehovah from the herd or from the flock, then the one who presents his offering to Jehovah shall also bring a grain offering of fine flour, a tenth of an ephah mixed with a quarter of a hin of oil. With the burnt offering or the sacrifice for each lamb, you shall prepare a quarter of a hin of wine as a drink offering.
For a ram, you shall prepare a grain offering of two tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with a third of a hin of oil, and you shall bring a third of a hin of wine as a drink offering, a pleasing aroma to Jehovah.
When you prepare a bull for a burnt offering or a sacrifice, to fulfill a vow or as peace offerings to Jehovah, then with the bull you shall offer a grain offering of three tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with half a hin of oil. You shall bring half a hin of wine as a drink offering, an offering by fire, a pleasing aroma to Jehovah.
This is how it shall be done for each bull, for each ram, and for each lamb or young goat. According to the number you prepare, so you shall do for each one.
All who are native shall do these things in this way when presenting an offering by fire, a pleasing aroma to Jehovah. If a sojourner lives among you, or anyone among you throughout your generations, and wishes to present an offering by fire, a pleasing aroma to Jehovah, he shall do as you do.
One statute shall apply to you and to the sojourner who lives among you, a permanent statute throughout your generations. As you are, so shall the sojourner be before Jehovah. One law and one ordinance shall apply to you and to the sojourner who lives among you.
Jehovah spoke to Moses and said:
Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them:
When you enter the land to which I am bringing you, and you eat of the bread of the land, you shall lift up a contribution to Jehovah. From the first of your dough you shall lift up a cake as a contribution. You shall lift it up just as you lift up the contribution from the threshing floor. From the first of your dough you shall give to Jehovah a contribution throughout your generations.
If you unintentionally fail to keep any of these commands that Jehovah has spoken to Moses—all that Jehovah has commanded you through Moses, from the day Jehovah gave the command onward throughout your generations—then, if it is done unintentionally without the knowledge of the congregation, the whole congregation shall offer one young bull as a burnt offering, a pleasing aroma to Jehovah, with its grain offering and its drink offering according to the ordinance, and one male goat as a sin offering.
The priest shall make atonement for all the congregation of the sons of Israel, and they shall be forgiven, because it was an unintentional error. They shall bring their offering, an offering by fire to Jehovah, and their sin offering before Jehovah for their unintentional error. All the congregation of the sons of Israel shall be forgiven, including the sojourner who lives among them, because the whole people were involved in the unintentional error.
If one person sins unintentionally, he shall offer a female goat a year old as a sin offering. The priest shall make atonement before Jehovah for the one who makes an unintentional error, when he sins unintentionally, to make atonement for him, and he shall be forgiven.
One law shall apply to the native among the sons of Israel and to the sojourner who lives among them, for anyone who acts unintentionally.
But the person who acts with a high hand, whether native or sojourner, reviles Jehovah. That person shall be cut off from among his people. Because he has despised the word of Jehovah and broken his command, that person shall be completely cut off; his guilt shall remain on him.
While the sons of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering wood on the Sabbath day. Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation. They put him in custody, because it had not been declared what should be done to him.
Jehovah said to Moses:
The man must be put to death. All the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp.
So the whole congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him with stones, and he died, as Jehovah commanded Moses.
Jehovah spoke to Moses and said:
Speak to the sons of Israel and tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and to put on each tassel a cord of blue. It shall be a tassel for you to look at, so that you may remember all the commands of Jehovah and do them, and not follow after your own heart and your own eyes, which you pursue in prostitution.
Then you will remember and do all my commands and be holy to your God. I am Jehovah your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God. I am Jehovah your God.
Numbers 16
Korah son of Izhar, son of Kohath, son of Levi, together with Dathan and Abiram sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, rose up. They stood before Moses with two hundred fifty men from the sons of Israel, leaders of the congregation, chosen in the assembly, men of name. They gathered themselves against Moses and against Aaron and said to them:
You have gone too far. All the congregation is holy, every one of them, and Jehovah is among them. Why then do you lift yourselves above the assembly of Jehovah?
When Moses heard this, he fell on his face.
He spoke to Korah and to all his company and said:
In the morning Jehovah will make known who belongs to him and who is holy, and he will bring that one near to himself. The one whom he chooses he will bring near to himself. Do this: take censers, Korah and all your company. Put fire in them and place incense on them before Jehovah tomorrow. The man whom Jehovah chooses shall be the holy one. You have gone too far, sons of Levi.
Moses said to Korah:
Hear now, sons of Levi. Is it too small a thing for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel to bring you near to himself, to perform the service of the dwelling of Jehovah and to stand before the congregation to minister to them? He has brought you near, and all your brothers, the sons of Levi, with you. Are you now seeking the priesthood also? Therefore it is against Jehovah that you and all your company have gathered. What is Aaron, that you grumble against him?
Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram sons of Eliab, but they said:
We will not come. Is it too small a thing that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, that you also make yourself a ruler over us? You have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, nor given us inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you gouge out the eyes of these men? We will not come.
Moses was very angry and said to Jehovah:
Do not regard their offering. I have not taken one donkey from them, nor have I harmed one of them.
Moses said to Korah:
You and all your company shall be present before Jehovah tomorrow—you and they and Aaron. Each of you take his censer, put incense on it, and bring it before Jehovah—two hundred fifty censers. You also and Aaron, each his censer.
So each man took his censer, put fire in it, laid incense on it, and stood at the entrance of the tent of meeting with Moses and Aaron. Korah assembled all the congregation against them at the entrance of the tent of meeting. Then the glory of Jehovah appeared to all the congregation.
Jehovah spoke to Moses and to Aaron:
Separate yourselves from among this congregation, so that I may consume them in a moment.
They fell on their faces and said:
O God, God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and will you be angry with all the congregation?
Jehovah spoke to Moses:
Speak to the congregation, saying: Move away from around the dwelling of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.
Moses rose and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him. He spoke to the congregation:
Turn away now from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing that belongs to them, lest you be swept away in all their sins.
So they moved away from around the dwelling of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the entrance of their tents, with their wives, their sons, and their little ones.
Moses said:
By this you shall know that Jehovah has sent me to do all these works, and that they are not from my own heart. If these men die as all men die, or if they suffer what all mankind suffers, then Jehovah has not sent me. But if Jehovah creates something new, and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into Sheol, then you shall know that these men have despised Jehovah.
As soon as he finished speaking these words, the ground under them split apart. The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, their households, and all the people who belonged to Korah, along with all their goods. They and all that belonged to them went down alive into Sheol. The earth closed over them, and they perished from among the assembly.
All Israel around them fled at their cry, saying, Lest the earth swallow us up.
Fire came out from Jehovah and consumed the two hundred fifty men who were offering the incense.
Jehovah spoke to Moses:
Tell Eleazar son of Aaron the priest to take up the censers out of the blaze and scatter the fire far away, for they have become holy. As for the censers of these men who sinned at the cost of their lives, let them be made into hammered plates as a covering for the altar, because they were presented before Jehovah and have become holy. They shall be a sign to the sons of Israel.
So Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers that those who were burned had offered, and they were hammered out as a covering for the altar, to be a reminder to the sons of Israel that no outsider who is not from the descendants of Aaron should draw near to burn incense before Jehovah, so that he may not become like Korah and his company, just as Jehovah had spoken to him through Moses.
On the next day all the congregation of the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and against Aaron, saying:
You have killed the people of Jehovah.
When the congregation assembled against Moses and against Aaron and turned toward the tent of meeting, the cloud covered it, and the glory of Jehovah appeared. Moses and Aaron came to the front of the tent of meeting.
Jehovah spoke to Moses:
Get away from the midst of this congregation, so that I may consume them in a moment.
They fell on their faces.
Moses said to Aaron:
Take your censer, put fire in it from the altar, lay incense on it, and carry it quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them, for wrath has gone out from Jehovah; the plague has begun.
Aaron did as Moses said and ran into the midst of the assembly. The plague had begun among the people. He placed the incense and made atonement for the people. He stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stopped.
Those who died in the plague were fourteen thousand seven hundred, besides those who died because of Korah. Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance of the tent of meeting, and the plague was stopped.
Numbers 17
Jehovah spoke to Moses:
Speak to the sons of Israel and take from them staffs, one from each father’s house, from all their leaders according to their fathers’ houses—twelve staffs. Write each man’s name on his staff, and write Aaron’s name on the staff of Levi, for there shall be one staff for the head of each father’s house. You shall place them in the tent of meeting before the testimony, where I meet with you.
The staff of the man whom I choose shall sprout. In this way I will put an end to the grumblings of the sons of Israel, which they grumble against you.
Moses spoke to the sons of Israel, and all their leaders gave him staffs, one for each leader according to their fathers’ houses—twelve staffs—and the staff of Aaron was among them. Moses placed the staffs before Jehovah in the tent of the testimony.
On the next day Moses entered the tent of the testimony, and the staff of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted, put forth buds, produced blossoms, and borne ripe almonds. Moses brought out all the staffs from before Jehovah to all the sons of Israel. They looked, and each man took his staff.
Jehovah said to Moses:
Put back the staff of Aaron before the testimony, to be kept as a sign against the rebels, so that you may put an end to their grumblings against me, lest they die.
Moses did so. As Jehovah commanded him, so he did.
The sons of Israel said to Moses:
We perish. We are undone. We are all undone. Everyone who comes near, who comes near to the dwelling of Jehovah, shall die. Are we all to perish?
Numbers 18
Jehovah said to Aaron:
You and your sons and your father’s house with you shall bear responsibility for iniquity connected with the sanctuary. You and your sons with you shall bear responsibility for iniquity connected with your priesthood.
Bring your brothers also, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, near with you, so that they may join you and serve you while you and your sons with you stand before the tent of the testimony. They shall attend to your responsibilities and to the responsibilities of the whole tent. But they shall not come near the furnishings of the sanctuary or to the altar, or they will die, both they and you.
They shall join you and attend to the responsibilities of the tent of meeting, for all the service of the tent. No outsider shall come near you.
You shall attend to the responsibilities of the sanctuary and of the altar, so that wrath may not again come upon the sons of Israel.
Behold, I have taken your brothers the Levites from among the sons of Israel. They are given to you as a gift for Jehovah, to perform the service of the tent of meeting. But you and your sons with you shall guard your priesthood for everything pertaining to the altar and for what is within the veil, and you shall serve. I give your priesthood to you as a gift of service. The outsider who comes near shall be put to death.
Jehovah spoke to Aaron:
Behold, I have given you charge of my contributions, all the holy things of the sons of Israel. I have given them to you as a portion and to your sons as a permanent due.
This shall be yours from the most holy things reserved from the fire: every offering of theirs—every grain offering, every sin offering, and every guilt offering that they render to me—shall be most holy for you and for your sons. You shall eat it in a most holy place. Every male may eat it; it shall be holy to you.
This also is yours: the contribution of their gift, all the wave offerings of the sons of Israel. I have given them to you and to your sons and daughters with you as a permanent due. Everyone in your house who is tahor may eat it.
All the best of the oil, all the best of the wine, and of the grain—the firstfruits of what they give to Jehovah—I give to you. The first ripe fruits of all that is in their land, which they bring to Jehovah, shall be yours. Everyone in your house who is tahor may eat it.
Everything devoted in Israel shall be yours. Everything that opens the womb of all flesh, whether human or animal, which they present to Jehovah, shall be yours.
Nevertheless, the firstborn of a human you shall surely redeem, and the firstborn of a tamé animal you shall redeem. From a month old you shall redeem them according to your valuation, five shekels of silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, which is twenty gerahs.
But the firstborn of a cow, or of a sheep, or of a goat you shall not redeem; they are holy. You shall sprinkle their blood on the altar and burn their fat as an offering by fire, a pleasing aroma to Jehovah. Their flesh shall be yours, as the breast of the wave offering and the right thigh are yours.
All the holy contributions that the sons of Israel lift up to Jehovah I have given to you, and to your sons and daughters with you, as a permanent due. It is a covenant of salt forever before Jehovah for you and for your offspring with you.
Jehovah said to Aaron:
You shall have no inheritance in their land, nor shall you have any portion among them. I am your portion and your inheritance among the sons of Israel.
To the sons of Levi, behold, I have given every tithe in Israel for an inheritance, in return for the service they perform, the service of the tent of meeting. The sons of Israel shall no longer come near the tent of meeting, lest they bear sin and die. The Levites shall perform the service of the tent of meeting, and they shall bear their iniquity. It shall be a permanent statute throughout your generations. Among the sons of Israel they shall have no inheritance.
For the tithe of the sons of Israel, which they lift up as a contribution to Jehovah, I have given to the Levites for an inheritance. Therefore I have said concerning them that they shall have no inheritance among the sons of Israel.
Jehovah spoke to Moses:
You shall speak to the Levites and say to them: When you take from the sons of Israel the tithe that I have given you from them as your inheritance, you shall present a contribution from it to Jehovah, a tithe of the tithe. Your contribution shall be counted to you as though it were grain from the threshing floor and fullness from the winepress.
So you also shall present a contribution to Jehovah from all your tithes, which you receive from the sons of Israel. From it you shall give Jehovah’s contribution to Aaron the priest. From all the gifts given to you, you shall present every contribution due to Jehovah, from the best of them, the holy portion of it.
Therefore you shall say to them: When you have presented the best of it, the rest shall be counted to the Levites as produce of the threshing floor and as produce of the winepress. You may eat it in any place, you and your households, for it is your reward in return for your service in the tent of meeting.
You shall bear no sin because of it, when you have presented the best of it. But you shall not profane the holy things of the sons of Israel, or you will die.
Colossians 3
If then you were raised with Christ, seek the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life has been hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.
So put to death what belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, uncontrolled desire, harmful craving, and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these things the anger of God is coming. In these things you also once walked, when you were living in them.
But now you must put them all away: anger, rage, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you have stripped off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator. In this renewal there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, foreigner, Scythian, slave, or free person, but Christ is all and in all.
So, as God’s chosen people, holy and beloved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving each other if anyone has a complaint against another. Just as the Lord forgave you, so you also must forgive. Above all these things put on love, which binds everything together in perfect unity.
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ live richly among you, teaching and warning one another in all wisdom with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with gratitude in your hearts to God. Whatever you do, in word or action, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Partners, be supportive toward your spouses, as is appropriate in the Lord. Spouses, love your partners and do not be harsh with them. Children, listen to your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. Parents, do not provoke your children, so that they do not lose heart.
Workers, listen to those who are your earthly supervisors in everything, not only when they are watching in order to please people, but with sincerity of heart, respecting the Lord. Whatever you do, work from the heart, as for the Lord and not for people, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. The one who does wrong will be repaid for the wrong done, and there is no favoritism.
Psalm 113
Praise the Lord.
Praise, servants of the Lord;
praise the name of the Lord.
Let the name of the Lord be praised
from this time and forever.
From the rising of the sun to its setting
the name of the Lord is to be praised.
The Lord is high above all nations,
his glory above the heavens.
Who is like the Lord our God,
the one who sits high above,
who looks far down
on the heavens and the earth?
He raises the poor from the dust
and lifts the needy from the ash heap,
to seat them with princes,
with the princes of his people.
He gives the barren woman a home,
a joyful mother of children.
Praise the Lord.
Commentary - Day 48
Numbers 15–18 · Colossians 3 · Psalm 113
Numbers 15 opens not with crisis but with instruction. The wilderness generation has just heard judgment in the preceding chapter, yet the words here begin with an assumption: when you enter the land where you will dwell. The future is spoken of as settled even while the people remain outside it. The commands concerning grain, oil, and wine accompany the sacrifices that will be offered there. The pattern quietly binds worship to ordinary produce—the flour of the field, the oil of pressing, the wine of the vine. What rises on the altar is not detached from daily life but drawn directly from it.
The same pattern extends beyond native birth. The text repeats that the sojourner is governed by the same statute and ordinance. The offering that becomes a pleasing aroma does not recognize a second standard. The law operates in a single form before Jehovah. The boundary between Israelite and resident foreigner does not alter the pattern of approach.
The chapter then turns from deliberate offerings to unintentional failure. Provision appears for mistakes made without awareness, whether by an individual or by the congregation as a whole. A sacrifice is prescribed so that the error may be addressed within the structure already given. Yet the text distinguishes sharply between error and defiance. The person who acts “with a high hand” stands outside that provision. The language changes from atonement to cutting off. The difference lies not in scale but in posture toward the command itself.
The short narrative of the man gathering wood on the Sabbath stands within that distinction. The act is simple and ordinary, yet it occurs within a command that marks sacred time. The people do not initially know what should be done, and the man is kept in custody until the word comes. The final judgment is severe, and the congregation carries it out outside the camp. The event interrupts the legal material with a concrete instance of the boundary just described.
The chapter ends with a quieter practice: tassels on the corners of garments with a cord of blue. The instruction attaches memory to sight. When the garment moves in daily life, the tassel remains visible. The purpose is stated plainly—to remember the commands and not follow the pull of heart and eyes. A small physical marker keeps the command present in the flow of ordinary movement.
Numbers 16 moves from private action to open challenge. Korah and his company gather leaders of the assembly and confront Moses and Aaron. Their accusation appeals to a true statement: the congregation is holy and Jehovah is among them. The dispute turns on whether that shared holiness eliminates distinctions within the community. Moses does not answer by argument but by deferring the matter to the next morning before Jehovah.
Each participant brings a censer with incense. The test concerns proximity: who may draw near. When the glory of Jehovah appears, the congregation gathers around the tent of meeting. The judgment unfolds in stages. The earth opens beneath the households of Dathan and Abiram, swallowing them with their possessions. Fire then consumes the two hundred fifty men offering incense. Two different signs answer the same challenge.
The censers themselves are not discarded. Eleazar gathers them from the blaze and they are hammered into plates to cover the altar. Objects that had been used in rebellion become a permanent reminder attached to the place of sacrifice. The material witness remains visible even after the event passes.
The following day the congregation again turns against Moses and Aaron. A plague begins among the people. Aaron runs into the midst of the assembly with a censer from the altar and stands between the dead and the living until the plague stops. The same instrument that marked the failed challenge becomes the means of halting destruction. Incense again marks proximity, but now in service of preservation.
Numbers 17 addresses the continuing unrest. Twelve staffs representing the tribes are placed before the testimony in the tent of meeting. Aaron’s staff alone produces buds, blossoms, and ripe almonds overnight. The change occurs within the tent, out of sight of the congregation. When the staffs are brought out, each leader retrieves his own, while Aaron’s is returned before the testimony as a sign against future grumbling. Authority is not argued into place but confirmed by a sign that appears where Jehovah meets Moses.
The people respond with fear, saying that anyone who comes near the dwelling of Jehovah will die. Their words reflect the events they have just witnessed. The nearness of the sanctuary appears dangerous rather than sustaining.
Numbers 18 answers that fear with structure. Responsibility for the sanctuary and the priesthood is assigned to Aaron and his sons, while the Levites are brought near to assist them in the service of the tent. The boundaries are defined carefully: the Levites serve, but they do not approach the altar or the inner furnishings. The priests guard the altar and the veil. The arrangement distributes responsibility so that wrath does not again fall on the congregation.
Provision accompanies the responsibility. The offerings and contributions brought by Israel become the portion of the priests and Levites. Oil, wine, grain, firstfruits, and tithes support those whose service keeps the sanctuary functioning. The Levites receive no territorial inheritance among the tribes. Their inheritance is tied instead to the service itself and to the gifts presented before Jehovah.
Colossians 3 shifts from the wilderness assembly to a community addressed after Christ’s resurrection. The opening statement speaks of a life hidden with Christ in God and of a mind directed toward what is above. The language describes a change in orientation rather than a new set of external markers. The old patterns—anger, malice, deceit, uncontrolled desire—are named as practices belonging to a former way of life.
In their place the text names qualities that hold a community together: compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, and forgiveness. Love is described as the bond that gathers these traits into unity. The peace of Christ is said to rule within the shared life of the body. Teaching, song, and gratitude fill the community’s speech.
The closing instructions move through ordinary relationships: spouses, children, parents, and workers. Each setting becomes a place where actions are carried out “in the name of the Lord Jesus.” The text brings the orientation toward Christ into daily labor and household life, just as earlier commands tied offerings to the produce of field and flock.
Psalm 113 frames the day with praise. The psalm begins with the servants of the Lord calling on the name of the Lord from the rising of the sun to its setting. The Lord is described as exalted above the nations and the heavens, yet the next lines turn toward the earth. The one who sits high above also looks down on the lowly. The poor are raised from dust, the needy lifted from the ash heap, and the barren woman given a household filled with children.
The psalm closes where it began, with praise. The movement holds together height and attention: the Lord who is high above also bends low to lift those who are small.
Numbers 15 ties worship to ordinary life. Offerings use the produce of field and flock, and the same law governs both native Israelite and sojourner. The chapter distinguishes between unintentional error, which has provision for atonement, and deliberate defiance. The execution of the man gathering wood on the Sabbath illustrates that boundary. Tassels with a cord of blue serve as a visible reminder to remember the commands. Numbers 16–17 describe Korah’s challenge to Moses and Aaron. The earth swallowing rebels and the fire consuming the incense bearers answer the dispute over who may draw near. Aaron’s staff later budding in the tent confirms the priestly role, and the censers of the rebels become a permanent covering for the altar. Numbers 18 then establishes the structure of priestly and Levitical service, along with the offerings that sustain it.
Colossians 3 turns toward a life oriented to Christ, expressed through humility, patience, forgiveness, and love in everyday relationships. Psalm 113 closes with praise to the Lord who is high above all yet lifts the poor from the dust.
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