Numbers 33
(1) Record of Israel’s Desert Wanderings
Here’s a record of all the journeys made by Israel and its armies after they left Egypt under the leadership of Moses and Aaron. Moses recorded their travels because the Existing One had asked him to.
(3) Israel Leaves Egypt
They left Rameses on the 15th of the first month. [Rameses was a city in northern Egypt built by Israelite slaves; its name means “child of the sun.”] It was the day after Passover when Israel left Egypt. It was bold of them to leave, because all the Egyptians were watching as they were burying their oldest sons who had been killed by the Existing One. The Existing One has also executed judgments on their gods.
(5) Israel’s Campsites—Part 1
Here are the next places they went in order:
Succoth [east of the Jordan, where Jacob built a house].
Etham, which is on the edge of the desert.
They went back to Pi-hahiroth, which faces Baal-zephon. [Baal-zephon was the place in Egypt where Pharoah’s army got destroyed in the Red Sea]. Israel camped there in front of Migdol [a fortified city on the Egyptian border].
They left Hahiroth, passing through the sea, and went into the desert. They journeyed for three days through the Etham wilderness and camped at Marah [the spring with the bitter water].
Elim [“palms”] which had 12 springs of water and 70 palm trees. They set up camp there
Sea of reeds
Sin desert [Sin means “thorns” or “clay.”]
Dophkah
Alush
Rephidim [“resting place.”] That’s the place where they didn’t have any water.
Sinai desert
Kibroth-hattaavah [which means “graves on lust” and is near the Gulf of Aquaba].
(17) Israel’s Campsites—Part 2
Here are the next places they went in order:
Hazeroth [which means “settlement”]
Rithmah [“heath”]
Rimmon-perez [“pomegranate off the breach “]
Libnah [“pavement,” a royal Canaanite city]
Rissah [“ruin”]
Kehelathah [“assembly”]
Mount Shepher [“beauty”]
Haradah [“fear”]
Makheloth [“assembly place”]
Tahath [“station”]
Terah [“station”]
Mithkah [“sweetness”]
Hashmonah [“fatness”]
Moseroth [“bonds,” where Aaron died]
Bene-jaakan [“sons of twisting”]
Hor-haggidgad [“Gilead’s cavern”]
Jotbathah [“pleasantness”]
Abronah [“passage”]
Ezion-geber [“man’s backbone”]
Zin wilderness, which is also known as Kadesh [Zin means “flat, and Kadesh means “holy”]
Mount Hor at the edge of Edom [Edom means “red;” where Esau’s descendants lived, southeast of Palestine.
(38) Aaron Dies
Then Aaron went up to Mount Hor like the Existing One asked him to, and he died there in the 40th year after the Israelites left Egypt. He died at age 123 on the first day of the fifth month.
(40) Arad Hears About Israel
The king of Arad who lived in the Negev heard that the Israelites were approaching. [Arad was a royal Canaanite city, and the Negev was the southern region.]
(41) Israel’s Campsites–Part 3
Then Israel continued their journey and went to these places after leaving Mount Hor:
Zalmonah [“shady”]
Punon [“darkness”]
Oboth [“waterskins”]
Iye-abarim [“Abarim’s ruins”] on the border of Moab [descendants of one of Lot’s sons]
Dibon-gad [“wasting troop”]
Almon-diblathaim [“hiding the two cakes”] where they camped in the mountains of Abiram [“region beyond”] in front of Nebo [a Moabite city]
Plains of Moab by there Jordan across from Jericho
Then they camped along the Jordan ranging from Beth-jeshimoth [a place in Moab given to Reuben’s tribe] to Abel-shittim [“meadow of acacias”]
(50) Israel to Drive Out the Locals
Then the Existing One told Moses something in Moab’s plains by the Jordan near Jericho. He said,
“Tell the Israelites that when they cross the Jordan to enter Canaan, they’ll need to drive out all the locals and destroy the locals’ idols. Destroy their stone idols, their metal ones, and their places of worship. Seize the land and live in it, because I’m giving it to you.
“The land you get will correlate with your tribes: the larger tribes will get more land, while the smaller ones will get less. Whatever land everyone ends up getting will be theirs. The land everyone gets will correlate with their patriarch.
“If you don’t drive out the locals, they’ll end up becoming like a needle in your eye or a thorn in your side, and they’ll treat you with hostility. If that happens, I’ll do the same thing to you that I plan to do to them.”
