Numbers 9–11

THE SECOND PASSOVER

9In the first month of the second year after their departure from the land of Egypt, the Lord told Moses in the Wilderness of Sinai,^{s 2}“The Israelites are to observe the Passover at its appointed time.^{t 3}You must observe it at its appointed time on the fourteenth day of this month at twilight; you are to observe it according to all its statutes and ordinances.”^{u 4}So Moses told the Israelites to observe the Passover, ⁵and they observed it in the first month on the fourteenth day at twilight in the Wilderness of Sinai. The Israelites did everything as the Lord had commanded Moses.

⁶But there were some men who were unclean because of a human corpse, so they could not observe the Passover on that day.^a These men came before Moses and Aaron the same day ⁷and said to him, “We are unclean because of a human corpse. Why should we be excluded from presenting the Lord’s offering at its appointed time with the other Israelites?”

⁸Moses replied to them, “Wait here until I hear what the Lord commands for you.”

⁹Then the Lord spoke to Moses: ¹⁰“Tell the Israelites: When any one of you or your descendants is unclean because of a corpse^b or is on a distant journey, he may still observe the Passover to the Lord. ¹¹Such people are to observe it in the second month, on the fourteenth day at twilight. They are to eat the animal with unleavened bread and bitter herbs;^{c 12}they may not leave any of it until morning or break any of its bones.^d They must observe the Passover according to all its statutes.

¹³“But the man who is ceremonially clean, is not on a journey, and yet fails to observe the Passover is to be cut off from his people, because he did not present the Lord’s offering at its appointed time. That man will bear the consequences of his sin.

¹⁴“If an alien resides with you and wants to observe the Passover to the Lord,^e he is to do it according to the Passover statute and its ordinances. You are to apply the same statute to both the resident alien and the native of the land.”^f

GUIDANCE BY THE CLOUD

¹⁵On the day the tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the testimony,^g and it appeared like fire above the tabernacle from evening until morning. ¹⁶It remained that way continuously: the cloud would cover it,^B appearing like fire at night.^{h 17}Whenever the cloud was lifted up above the tent, the Israelites would set out; at the place where the cloud stopped, there the Israelites camped.^{i 18}At the Lord’s command the Israelites set out, and at the Lord’s command they camped. As long as the cloud stayed over the tabernacle, they camped.

¹⁹Even when the cloud stayed over the tabernacle many days, the Israelites carried out the Lord’s requirement and did not set out. ²⁰Sometimes the cloud remained over the tabernacle for only a few days. They would camp at the Lord’s command and set out at the Lord’s command. ²¹Sometimes the cloud remained only from evening until morning; when the cloud lifted in the morning, they set out. Or if it remained a day and a night, they moved out when the cloud lifted. ²²Whether it was two days, a month, or longer,^A the Israelites camped and did not set out as long as the cloud stayed over the tabernacle. But when it was lifted, they set out. ²³They camped at the Lord’s command, and they set out at the Lord’s command. They carried out the Lord’s requirement according to his command through Moses.

TWO SILVER TRUMPETS

10The Lord spoke to Moses: ²“Make two trumpets of hammered silver to summon the community^j and have the camps set out. ³When both are sounded in long blasts, the entire community is to gather before you at the entrance to the tent of meeting. ⁴However, if one is sounded, only the leaders, the heads of Israel’s clans,^k are to gather before you.

⁵“When you sound short blasts, the camps pitched on the east^l are to set out. ⁶When you sound short blasts a second time, the camps pitched on the south^m are to set out. Short blasts are to be sounded for them to set out. ⁷When calling the assembly together, you are to sound long blasts, not short ones. ⁸The sons of Aaron, the priests, are to sound the trumpets. Your use of these is a permanent statute throughout your generations.

⁹“When you enter into battle in your land against an adversary who is attacking you, sound short blasts on the trumpets, and you will be remembered before the Lord your God and be saved from your enemies.^{n 10}You are to sound the trumpets over your burnt offerings and your fellowship sacrifices and on your joyous occasions, your appointed festivals, and the beginning of each of your months. They will serve as a reminder for you before your God: I am the Lord your God.”^o

FROM SINAI TO PARAN

¹¹During the second year, in the second month on the twentieth day of the month, the cloud was lifted up above the tabernacle of the testimony. ¹²The Israelites traveled on from the Wilderness of Sinai, moving from one place to the next^a until the cloud stopped in the Wilderness of Paran.^{b 13}They set out for the first time according to the Lord’s command through Moses.^c

¹⁴The military divisions of the camp of Judah’s descendants with their banner set out first, and Nahshon son of Amminadab^d was over their divisions. ¹⁵Nethanel son of Zuar^e was over the division of the tribe of Issachar’s descendants, ¹⁶and Eliab son of Helon was over the division of the tribe of Zebulun’s descendants. ¹⁷The tabernacle was then taken down, and the Gershonites and the Merarites set out, transporting the tabernacle.

¹⁸The military divisions of the camp of Reuben with their banner set out, and Elizur son of Shedeur was over their divisions. ¹⁹Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai^f was over the division of the tribe of Simeon’s descendants, ²⁰and Eliasaph son of Deuel^A was over the division of the tribe of Gad’s descendants. ²¹The Kohathites then set out, transporting the holy objects;^g the tabernacle was to be set up before their arrival.

²²Next the military divisions of the camp of Ephraim’s descendants with their banner set out, and Elishama son of Ammihud^h was over their divisions. ²³Gamaliel son of Pedahzur was over the division of the tribe of Manasseh’s descendants, ²⁴and Abidan son of Gideoni was over the division of the tribe of Benjamin’s descendants.

²⁵The military divisions of the camp of Dan’s descendants with their banner set out, serving as rear guard for all the camps, and Ahiezer son of Ammishaddaiⁱ was over their divisions. ²⁶Pagiel son of Ochran was over the division of the tribe of Asher’s descendants, ²⁷and Ahira son of Enan was over the division of the tribe of Naphtali’s descendants. ²⁸This was the order of march for the Israelites by their military divisions as they set out.

²⁹Moses said to Hobab, descendant of Reuel^j the Midianite and Moses’s relative by marriage, Reuel the Midianite, “We’re setting out for the place the Lord promised, ‘I will give it to you.’^k Come with us, and we will treat you well, for the Lord has promised good things to Israel.”^l

³⁰But he replied to him, “I don’t want to go. Instead, I will go to my own land and my relatives.”

³¹“Please don’t leave us,” Moses said, “since you know where we should camp in the wilderness, and you can serve as our eyes. ³²If you come with us, whatever good the Lord does for us we will do for you.”^m

³³They set out from the mountain of the Lord on a three-day journey with the ark of the Lord’s covenant traveling ahead of them for those three days to seek a resting place for them.^{n 34}Meanwhile, the cloud of the Lord was over them by day when they set out from the camp.

³⁵Whenever the ark set out, Moses would say:

Arise, Lord!

Let your enemies be scattered,

and those who hate you flee from your presence.^o

³⁶When it came to rest, he would say:

Return, Lord,

to the countless thousands of Israel.^p

COMPLAINTS ABOUT HARDSHIP

11Now the people began complaining openly before^B the Lord about hardship. When the Lord heard, his anger burned,^q and fire^r from the Lord blazed among them and consumed the outskirts of the camp. ²Then the people cried out to Moses, and he prayed to the Lord, and the fire died down. ³So that place was named Taberah,^Cs because the Lord’s fire had blazed among them.

COMPLAINTS ABOUT FOOD

⁴The riffraff^A among them^t had a strong craving^u for other food. The Israelites wept again and said, “Who will feed us meat? ⁵We remember the free fish we ate in Egypt,^v along with the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic. ⁶But now our appetite is gone;^B there’s nothing to look at but this manna!”

⁷The manna^w resembled coriander seed, and its appearance was like that of bdellium.^{C 8}The people walked around and gathered it. They ground it on a pair of grinding stones or crushed it in a mortar, then boiled it in a cooking pot and shaped it into cakes. It tasted like a pastry cooked with the finest oil. ⁹When the dew fell on the camp at night, the manna would fall with it.^x

¹⁰Moses heard the people, family after family, weeping at the entrance of their tents. The Lord was very angry;^a Moses was also provoked.^{D 11}So Moses asked the Lord, “Why have you brought such trouble on your servant? Why are you angry with me,^E and why do you burden me with all these people?^{b 12}Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth so you should tell me, ‘Carry them at your breast, as a nursing mother carries a baby,’^c to the land that you swore to give their ancestors?^{d 13}Where can I get meat to give all these people? For they are weeping to me, ‘Give us meat to eat!’ ¹⁴I can’t carry all these people by myself. They are too much for me. ¹⁵If you are going to treat me like this, please kill me right now^e if I have found favor with you, and^f don’t let me see my misery^F anymore.”

SEVENTY ELDERS ANOINTED

¹⁶The Lord answered Moses, “Bring me seventy men from Israel known to you as elders and officers of the people. Take them to the tent of meeting and have them stand there with you. ¹⁷Then I will…