Numbers 8–9

Placing the Lamps

8^*The Lord said to Moses, ^2*“Tell Aaron that when he puts the seven lamps on the lamp-stand, he should place them so that the light shines towards the front.” ^3*Aaron obeyed and placed the lamps facing the front of the lamp-stand. ^4*From top to bottom the lamp-stand was made of hammered gold, according to the pattern that the Lord had shown Moses.

The Purification and Dedication of the Levites

⁵The Lord said to Moses, ⁶“Separate the Levites from the rest of the people of Israel and purify them ⁷in the following way: sprinkle them with the water of purification and tell them to shave their whole bodies and to wash their clothes. Then they will be ritually clean. ⁸Then they are to take a young bull and the required grain offering of flour mixed with olive oil; and you are to take another bull for the sin offering. ⁹Then assemble the whole community of Israel and make the Levites stand in front of the Tent of my presence. ¹⁰The people of Israel are to place their hands on the heads of the Levites, ¹¹and then Aaron shall dedicate the Levites to me as a special gift from the Israelites, so that they may do my work. ¹²The Levites shall then put their hands on the heads of the two bulls; one is to be offered as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering, in order to perform the ritual of purification for the Levites.

¹³“Dedicate the Levites as a special gift to me, and put Aaron and his sons in charge of them. ¹⁴Separate the Levites in this way from the rest of the Israelites, so that they will belong to me. ¹⁵After you have purified and dedicated the Levites, they will be qualified to work in the Tent. ¹⁶I have claimed them in the place of all the firstborn sons of the Israelites, and they belong to me alone. ^17*When I killed all the firstborn in Egypt, I consecrated as my own the eldest son of each Israelite family and the firstborn of every animal. ¹⁸I am now taking the Levites instead of all the firstborn of the Israelites, ¹⁹and I assign the Levites to Aaron and his sons, as a gift from the Israelites, to work in the Tent for the people of Israel and to protect the Israelites from the disaster that would strike them if they came too near the Holy Place.”

²⁰So Moses, Aaron, and all the people of Israel dedicated the Levites, as the Lord commanded Moses. ²¹The Levites purified themselves and washed their clothes, and Aaron dedicated them as a special gift to the Lord. He also performed the ritual of purification for them. ²²The people did everything the Lord had commanded Moses concerning the Levites. And so the Levites were qualified to work in the Tent under Aaron and his sons.

²³The Lord said to Moses, ²⁴“From the age of 25 each Levite shall perform his duties in the Tent of my presence, ²⁵and at the age of 50 he shall retire. ²⁶After that, he may help his fellow-Levites in performing their duties in the Tent, but he must not perform any service by himself. This is how you are to regulate the duties of the Levites.”

The Second Passover

9^*The Lord spoke to Moses in the Sinai Desert in the first month of the second year after the people of Israel had left Egypt. He said, ^2–3*“On the fourteenth day of this month, beginning at sunset, the people of Israel are to observe the Passover according to all the rules and regulations for it.” ^4*So Moses told the people to observe the Passover, ^5*and on the evening of the fourteenth day of the first month they did so in the Sinai Desert. The people did everything just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

⁶But there were some people who were ritually unclean because they had touched a corpse, and they were not able to keep the Passover on that day. They went to Moses and Aaron ⁷and said, “We are unclean because we have touched a corpse, but why should we be excluded from presenting the Lord’s offering with the rest of the Israelites?”

⁸Moses answered, “Wait until I receive instructions from the Lord.”

⁹The Lord told Moses ¹⁰to say to the people of Israel, “When any of you or your descendants are unclean from touching a corpse or are far away on a journey, but still want to keep the Passover, ¹¹you are permitted to observe it one month later instead, on the evening of the fourteenth day of the second month. Celebrate it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. ^12*Do not leave any of the food until the following morning and do not break any of the animal’s bones. Observe the Passover according to all the regulations. ¹³But anyone who is ritually clean and not away on a journey and who does not observe the Passover, shall no longer be considered one of my people, because he did not present the offering to me at the appointed time. He must suffer the consequences of his sin.

¹⁴“If foreigners living among you want to keep the Passover, they must observe it according to all the rules and regulations. The same law applies to everyone, whether native or foreigner.”

The Fiery Cloud

^15–16On the day the Tent of the Lord’s presence was set up, a cloud came and covered it. At night the cloud looked like fire. ¹⁷Whenever the cloud lifted, the people of Israel broke camp, and they set up camp again in the place where the cloud came down. ¹⁸The people broke camp at the command of the Lord, and at his command they set up camp. As long as the cloud stayed over the Tent, they stayed in the same camp. ¹⁹When the cloud stayed over the Tent for a long time, they obeyed the Lord and did not move on. ²⁰Sometimes the cloud remained over the Tent for only a few days; in any case, they remained in camp or moved, according to the command of the Lord. ²¹Sometimes the cloud remained only from evening until morning, and they moved on as soon as the cloud lifted. Whenever the cloud lifted, they moved on. ²²Whether it was two days, a month, a year, or longer, as long as the cloud remained over the Tent, they did not move on; but when it lifted, they moved. ²³They set up camp and broke camp in obedience to the commands which the Lord gave through Moses.