Numbers 8–9

8TH CHAPTER

The Lamp Stand in the Tent

¹The Lord said to Moses, ²“Speak to Aaron and tell him: When you set up the seven lamps on the lamp stand, they should light up the area in front of it.” 

³So Aaron set up the lamps on the lamp stand to light up the area in front of it, as the Lord commanded Moses. 

⁴This is how the lamp stand was made: The whole lamp stand, from top to bottom, was hammered out of gold. It was made exactly like the one the Lord had shown Moses. 

The Levites Are Made Ready to Do the Lord’s Work

⁵The Lord said to Moses, ⁶“Separate the Levites from the rest of the Israelites, and make them clean.^a7This is what you must do to make them clean: Sprinkle them with water to take away their sins. Make them shave their whole bodies and wash their clothes. Then they will be clean. ⁸Next, they must take a young bull and the grain offering of flour mixed with olive oil that is offered with it. You must take a second young bull as an offering for sin. ⁹Bring the Levites to the front of the tent of meeting, and assemble the whole community of Israel. ¹⁰Then bring the Levites into the Lord’s presence, and the Israelites will place their hands on them. ¹¹Aaron will present the Levites to the Lord as an offering from the Israelites. Then they will be ready to do the Lord’s work. 

¹²“The Levites will place their hands on the heads of the young bulls. Sacrifice one of them as an offering for sin and the other one as a burnt offering to the Lord. These sacrifices will make peace with the Lord for the Levites. ¹³Make the Levites stand in front of Aaron and his sons, and present them as an offering to the Lord. ¹⁴In this way you will separate the Levites from the other Israelites, and the Levites will be mine. 

¹⁵“Once you have made them clean and presented them as an offering, the Levites may come and do their work at the tent of meeting. ¹⁶They will be the only Israelites given to me. I have taken them to be mine as substitutes for every firstborn male offspring of the Israelites. ¹⁷Every firstborn in Israel, whether human or animal, is mine. The day I killed every firstborn male in Egypt, I set them apart as holy to me. ¹⁸So I have taken the Levites as substitutes for all the firstborn sons of the Israelites. ¹⁹The Levites will be the only Israelites I give to Aaron and his sons. They will work for the Israelites at the tent of meeting. They will make peace with the Lord for the Israelites. Then no plague will strike the Israelites when they come near the holy place.” 

²⁰Moses, Aaron, and the whole community of Israel did what the Lord commanded Moses to do to the Levites. ²¹The Levites performed the ceremonies to take away their sins and washed their clothes. Aaron presented them as an offering to the Lord and made peace with the Lord for them in order to make them clean. ²²After that, the Levites came and did their work at the tent of meeting in the presence of Aaron and his sons. They did as the Lord had commanded Moses. 

²³The Lord said to Moses, ²⁴“These are the instructions for the Levites: Men 25 years old or older are eligible to serve at the tent of meeting. ²⁵But when they’re 50 years old, they must retire from active service and not work anymore. ²⁶They may assist the other Levites in their duties at the tent of meeting, but they may not do any regular work. This is how you will handle the Levites’ duties.” 

9TH CHAPTER

The Second Passover

¹In the first month of the second year after the Israelites left Egypt, the Lord spoke to Moses in the Desert of Sinai. He said, ²“The Israelites must celebrate the Passover at the same time every year. ³You must celebrate it on the fourteenth day of this month at dusk. Follow all the rules and regulations for the celebration of the Passover.” 

⁴So Moses told the Israelites to celebrate the Passover, ⁵and they celebrated it on the fourteenth day of the first month at dusk while they were in the Desert of Sinai. The Israelites did everything as the Lord had commanded Moses. 

⁶But there were some men who had become unclean^afrom touching a dead body, and they couldn’t celebrate the Passover that day. They came to Moses and Aaron ⁷and said, “We are unclean because we touched a dead body. Why won’t you let us bring our offerings to the Lord at the same time the rest of the Israelites bring their offerings?” 

⁸Moses answered them, “Wait here until I find out what the Lord commands you to do.” 

⁹Then the Lord said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites: ¹⁰Suppose you or any of your descendants is unclean from touching a dead body or is away on a long trip. You may still celebrate the Passover. ¹¹You will celebrate it on the fourteenth day of the second month at dusk. You must eat the Passover animal along with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. ¹²You must never leave any of the meat until morning or break any of the animal’s bones. You must follow all the rules for the Passover when you celebrate it. ¹³But if you are clean^band not on a trip and yet don’t bother to celebrate the Passover, you must be excluded from the people. You didn’t bring your offering to the Lord at the right time. You must suffer the consequences for your sin. 

¹⁴“Foreigners living with you may want to celebrate the Lord’s Passover. They must follow these same rules and regulations. The same rules will apply to foreigners and native-born Israelites.” 

The Column of Smoke Leads Israel through the Desert

¹⁵On the day the tent of the words of God’s promise was set up, the ⸤column of⸥ smoke covered it. From evening until morning, the smoke over the tent glowed like fire. ¹⁶The smoke always glowed this way. At night the smoke covering the tent glowed like fire. ¹⁷Whenever the smoke moved from the tent, the Israelites would break camp, and wherever it stopped, the Israelites would set up camp. ¹⁸At the Lord’s command the Israelites would break camp, and at his command they would set up camp. As long as the ⸤column of⸥ smoke stayed over the tent, they would stay in the same place. ¹⁹When the smoke stayed over the tent for a long time, the Israelites obeyed the Lord’s command and wouldn’t break camp. ²⁰The same thing happened when the smoke stayed only a few days over the tent: At the Lord’s command they would set up camp, and at his command they would break camp. ²¹Sometimes the ⸤column of⸥ smoke stayed only from evening until morning. When the smoke moved in the morning, they broke camp. Day or night, when the smoke moved, they broke camp. ²²Whether it was two days, a month, or a year, as long as the ⸤column of⸥ smoke stayed over the tent, the Israelites would stay in the same place and not break camp. But when the smoke moved, they would break camp. ²³At the Lord’s command they set up camp, and at his command they broke camp. They obeyed the command that the Lord had given through Moses.