My teaching will fall like drops of rain and form on the earth like dew. My words will fall like showers on young plants, like gentle rain on tender grass.

With his many thousands of mighty chariots the Lord comes from Sinai into the holy place.

You are the ones who received God's law, that was handed down by angels---yet you have not obeyed it!"

What, then, was the purpose of the Law? It was added in order to show what wrongdoing is, and it was meant to last until the coming of Abraham's descendant, to whom the promise was made. The Law was handed down by angels, with a man acting as a go-between.

Anyone who disobeys the Law of Moses is put to death without any mercy when judged guilty from the evidence of two or more witnesses.

and he said to them, "The LORD God of Israel commands every one of you to put on your sword and go through the camp from this gate to the other and kill your brothers, your friends, and your neighbors."

The Levites obeyed, and killed about three thousand men that day.

Aaron's sons, Nadab and Abihu, each took his fire pan, put live coals in it, added incense, and presented it to the LORD. But this fire was not holy, because the LORD had not commanded them to present it.

Suddenly the LORD sent fire, and it burned them to death there in the presence of the LORD.

"Take that man out of the camp. Everyone who heard him curse shall put his hands on the man's head to testify that he is guilty, and then the whole community shall stone him to death.

and be put to death. Any Israelite or any foreigner living in Israel who curses the LORD shall be stoned to death by the whole community.

While there was still plenty of meat for them to eat, the LORD became angry with the people and caused an epidemic to break out among them.

Now give them this answer: 'I swear that as surely as I live, I will do to you just what you have asked. I, the LORD, have spoken.

I promised to let you live there, but not one of you will, except Caleb and Joshua.

You will die here in this wilderness.

You will suffer the consequences of your sin for forty years, one year for each of the forty days you spent exploring the land. You will know what it means to have me against you!

The men Moses had sent to explore the land brought back a false report which caused the people to complain against the LORD. And so the LORD struck them with a disease, and they died.

But any who sin deliberately, whether they are natives or foreigners, are guilty of treating the LORD with contempt, and they shall be put to death,

Once, while the Israelites were still in the wilderness, a man was found gathering firewood on the Sabbath.

and was put under guard, because it was not clear what should be done with him.

So the whole community took him outside the camp and stoned him to death, as the LORD had commanded.

As soon as he had finished speaking, the ground under Dathan and Abiram split open

So they went down alive to the world of the dead, with their possessions. The earth closed over them, and they vanished.

Then the LORD sent a fire that blazed out and burned up the 250 men who had presented the incense.

Then Moses raised the stick and struck the rock twice with it, and a great stream of water gushed out, and all the people and animals drank.

But the LORD reprimanded Moses and Aaron. He said, "Because you did not have enough faith to acknowledge my holy power before the people of Israel, you will not lead them into the land that I promised to give them."

Then the LORD sent poisonous snakes among the people, and many Israelites were bitten and died.

but it had already killed twenty-four thousand people.

You yourselves saw what the LORD did at Mount Peor. He destroyed everyone who worshiped Baal there,

but those of you who were faithful to the LORD your God are still alive today.

"Suppose you hear that in one of your towns some men or women have sinned against the LORD and broken his covenant

then take them outside the town and stone them to death.

Anyone who dares to disobey either the judge or the priest on duty is to be put to death; in this way you will remove this evil from Israel.

" 'God's curse on anyone who does not obey all of God's laws and teachings.' "And all the people will answer, 'Amen!'

But even then God was not pleased with most of them, and so their dead bodies were scattered over the desert.

nor to worship idols, as some of them did. As the scripture says, "The people sat down to a feast which turned into an orgy of drinking and sex."

We must not put the Lord to the test, as some of them did---and they were killed by snakes.

All these things happened to them as examples for others, and they were written down as a warning for us. For we live at a time when the end is about to come.

For even though you know all this, I want to remind you of how the Lord once rescued the people of Israel from Egypt, but afterward destroyed those who did not believe.

Do not lose your courage, then, because it brings with it a great reward.

No one can please God without faith, for whoever comes to God must have faith that God exists and rewards those who seek him.

He reckoned that to suffer scorn for the Messiah was worth far more than all the treasures of Egypt, for he kept his eyes on the future reward.