A. 1  Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men: 2 And they rose up before Moses, with certain of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown: 3 And they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, Ye take too much upon you,

B. seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them: wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the LORD?

C. (4) And when Moses heard it, he fell upon his face: (5) And he spake unto Korah and unto all his company, saying,

D. Even to morrow the LORD will shew who are his, and who is holy; and will cause him to come near unto him: even him whom he hath chosen will he cause to come near unto him.

C’.(6) This do; Take you censers, Korah, and all his company; (7) And put fire therein, and put incense in them before the LORD to morrow:

B’. and it shall be that the man whom the LORD doth choose, he shall be holy:

A’. ye take too much upon you, ye sons of Levi.  8 And Moses said unto Korah, Hear, I pray you, ye sons of Levi: 9 Seemeth it but a small thing unto you, that the God of Israel hath separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself to do the service of the tabernacle of the LORD, and to stand before the congregation to minister unto them? 10 And he hath brought thee near to him, and all thy brethren the sons of Levi with thee: and seek ye the priesthood also? 11 For which cause both thou and all thy company are gathered together against the LORD: and what is Aaron, that ye murmur against him?

A.(5)  And Moses commanded the children of Israel according to the word of the LORD, saying, The tribe of the sons of Joseph hath said well. 6 This is the thing which the LORD doth command concerning the daughters of Zelophehad, saying, Let them marry to whom they think best; only to the family of the tribe of their father shall they marry.

B.(7) So shall not the inheritance of the children of Israel remove from tribe to tribe: for every one of the children of Israel shall keep himself to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers.

C.(8) And every daughter, that possesseth an inheritance in any tribe of the children of Israel, shall be wife unto one of the family of the tribe of her father, that the children of Israel may enjoy every man the inheritance of his fathers.

B’.(9) Neither shall the inheritance remove from one tribe to another tribe; but every one of the tribes of the children of Israel shall keep himself to his own inheritance.

A’.(10) Even as the LORD commanded Moses, so did the daughters of Zelophehad: (11) For Mahlah, Tirzah, and Hoglah, and Milcah, and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad, were married unto their father’s brothers’ sons: (12) And they were married into the families of the sons of Manasseh the son of Joseph, and their inheritance remained in the tribe of the family of their father.

RS

A. (50)  And the LORD spake unto Moses in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho, saying, (51) Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye are passed over Jordan into the land of Canaan; (52) Then ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their pictures, and destroy all their molten images, and quite pluck down all their high places: (53) And ye shall dispossess the inhabitants of the land, and dwell therein: for I have given you the land to possess it.

B.(54) And ye shall divide the land by lot for an inheritance among your families:

C. and to the more ye shall give the more inheritance, and to the fewer ye shall give the less inheritance:

B’. every man’s inheritance shall be in the place where his lot falleth; according to the tribes of your fathers ye shall inherit.

A’.(55) But if ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you; then it shall come to pass, that those which ye let remain of them shall be pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides, and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell. (56) Moreover it shall come to pass, that I shall do unto you, as I thought to do unto them.

A.(18) And the LORD said unto Moses,

B. Take thee Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay thine hand upon him; (19) And set him before Eleazar the priest, and before all the congregation; and give him a charge in their sight.

C.(20) And thou shalt put some of thine honour upon him, that all the congregation of the children of Israel may be obedient.

D.(21) And he shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall ask counsel for him after the judgment of Urim before the LORD: 

C’. at his word shall they go out, and at his word they shall come in, both he, and all the children of Israel with him, even all the congregation.

B’.(22) And Moses did as the LORD commanded him: and he took Joshua, and set him before Eleazar the priest, and before all the congregation: (23) And he laid his hands upon him, and gave him a charge,

A’. as the LORD commanded by the hand of Moses.

A.(1)  And the LORD said unto Aaron, Thou and thy sons and thy father’s house with thee shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary: and thou and thy sons with thee shall bear the iniquity of your priesthood.

B.(2) And thy brethren also of the tribe of Levi, the tribe of thy father, bring thou with thee,that they may be joined unto thee, and minister unto thee: but thou and thy sons with thee shall minister before the tabernacle of witness.

C.(3) And they shall keep thy charge, and the charge of all the tabernacle: only they shall not come nigh the vessels of the sanctuary and the altar, that neither they, nor ye also, die.

D.(4) And they shall be joined unto thee, and keep the charge of the tabernacle of the congregation, for all the service of the tabernacle: and a stranger shall not come nigh unto you.

C’.(5) And ye shall keep the charge of the sanctuary, and the charge of the altar: that there be no wrath any more upon the children of Israel.

B’.(6) And I, behold, I have taken your brethren the Levites from among the children of Israel: to you they are given as a gift for the LORD, to do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation.

A’.(7) Therefore thou and thy sons with thee shall keep your priest’s office for every thing of the altar, and within the vail; and ye shall serve: I have given your priest’s office unto you as a service of gift: and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death.

This is a tentative proposal stimulated by the unexpected parenthesis in verse 25 about the Amalekites and Canaanites who are then mentioned at the end of the chapter. On the basis that these references signal a chiastic pattern here is a suggestion for a large scale pattern. BB’ asks and answers the question of “how long” – 40 years for the nation, but instant judgment for the ten spies. CC’ contrasts those who will not and those who will enter the land, and D draws attention to the faithful two who were exempt from punishment. )

A. (25) (Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwelt in the valley.) To morrow turn you, and get you into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea.

B. (26) And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, (27) How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me. (28) Say unto them, As truly as I live, saith the LORD, as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you: (29) Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me,

C.(30) Doubtless ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein,

D. save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.

C’. (31) But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have despised.

B1’.

a. (32) But as for you, your carcases, they shall fall in this wilderness.

b. (33) And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness.

c. (34) After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities,

b’. even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise.

a’. (35) I the LORD have said, I will surely do it unto all this evil congregation, that are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die. 

B2′.

a. (36) And the men, which Moses sent to search the land, who returned, and made all the congregation to murmur against him, by bringing up a slander upon the land, (37)

b. … died … (Following Hebrew syntax)

c. Even those men that did bring up the evil report upon the land … by the plague before the LORD.

c’. (38) But Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh ...

b’. lived still … (Following Hebrew syntax)

a’. which were of the men that went to search the land…

A’. (39) And Moses told these sayings unto all the children of Israel: and the people mourned greatly. (40) And they rose up early in the morning, and gat them up into the top of the mountain, saying, Lo, we be here, and will go up unto the place which the LORD hath promised: for we have sinned. (41) And Moses said, Wherefore now do ye transgress the commandment of the LORD? but it shall not prosper. (42) Go not up, for the LORD is not among you; that ye be not smitten before your enemies. (43) For the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you, and ye shall fall by the sword: because ye are turned away from the LORD, therefore the LORD will not be with you. (44) But they presumed to go up unto the hill top: nevertheless the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and Moses, departed not out of the camp. (45) Then the Amalekites came down, and the Canaanites which dwelt in that hill, and smote them, and discomfited them, even unto Hormah.

A. 26 And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and shewed them the fruit of the land. 27 And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it.28 Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there.

B. 29 The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south:and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan.

C. 30 And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.

C’. 31 But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we.

B’. 32 And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof;

A’. and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature. 33 And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.

A. Cleansing and Atonement for the Levites

a.5 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 6 Take the Levites from among the children of Israel, and cleanse them. 7 And thus shalt thou do unto them, to cleanse them: Sprinkle water of purifying upon them, and let them shave all their flesh, and let them wash their clothes, and so make themselves clean.

b. 8 Then let them take a young bullock with his meat offering, even fine flour mingled with oil, and another young bullock shalt thou take for a sin offering.

c. 9 And thou shalt bring the Levites before the tabernacle of the congregation: and thou shalt gather the whole assembly of the children of Israel together: 10 And thou shalt bring the Levites before the LORD:

d. and the children of Israel shall put their hands upon the Levites:

c’. 11 And Aaron shall offer the Levites before the LORD for an offering of the children of Israel, that they may execute the service of the LORD.

b’. 12 And the Levites shall lay their hands upon the heads of the bullocks: and thou shalt offer the one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering, unto the LORD, to make an atonement for the Levites.

a’. (13) And thou shalt set the Levites before Aaron, and before his sons, and offer them for an offering unto the LORD. 

B.  (14) Thus shalt thou separate the Levites from among the children of Israel: and the Levites shall be mine. (15) And after that shall the Levites go in to do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation:

C. and thou shalt cleanse them, and offer them for an offering. (16) For they are wholly given unto me from among the children of Israel;

D. instead of such as open every womb, even instead of the firstborn of all the children of Israel, have I taken them unto me.

E.(17) For all the firstborn of the children of Israel are mine, both man and beast: on the day that I smote every firstborn in the land of Egypt I sanctified them for myself.

D’.(18) And I have taken the Levites for all the firstborn of the children of Israel.

C’.(19) And I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and to his sons from among the children of Israel,

B’. to do the service of the children of Israel in the tabernacle of the congregation, and to make an atonement for the children of Israel: that there be no plague among the children of Israel, when the children of Israel come nigh unto the sanctuary.

A’. Atonement and cleansing for the Levites

a. (20) And Moses, and Aaron, and all the congregation of the children of Israel, did to the Levites according unto all that the LORD commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so did the children of Israel unto them.

b. (21) And the Levites were purified, and they washed their clothes; and Aaron offered them as an offering before the LORD;

c. and Aaron made an atonement for them to cleanse them.

b’. 22 And after that went the Levites in to do their service in the tabernacle of the congregation before Aaron, and before his sons:

a’. as the LORD had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so did they unto them.

(From Ruth)

A  (11)  He that toucheth the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days.

B  (12a)  He shall purify himself with it on the third day,

C  (12b)  and on the seventh day he shall be clean:

B’  (12c)  but if he purify not himself the third day,

A’  (12d)  then the seventh day he shall not be clean.