Numbers 8–9

The Lighting in the Tabernacle

8The Lord spoke to Moses: ²“Speak to Aaron and tell him: When you set up the lamps, the seven lamps are to give light in front of the lampstand.” ³So Aaron did this; he set up its lamps to give light in front of the lampstand just as the Lord had commanded Moses. ⁴This is the way the lampstand was made: it was a hammered work of gold, hammered from its base to its flower petals. The lampstand was made according to the pattern the Lord had shown Moses. ^t

Consecration of the Levites

⁵The Lord spoke to Moses: ⁶“Take the Levites from among the Israelites and ceremonially cleanse them. ⁷This is what you must do to them for their purification: Sprinkle them with the purification water. ^uHave them shave their entire bodies and wash their clothes, and so purify themselves. ^v

⁸“They are to take a young bull and its grain offering of fine flour mixed with oil, and you are to take a second young bull for a sin offering. ⁹Bring the Levites before the tent of meeting and assemble the entire Israelite community. ^w10Then present the Levites before the Lord, and have the Israelites lay their hands on them. ¹¹Aaron is to present the Levites before the Lord as a presentation offering from the Israelites, so that they may perform the Lord’s work. ^x12Next the Levites are to lay their hands on the heads of the bulls. Sacrifice one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering to the Lord, to make atonement for the Levites. ^y

¹³“You are to have the Levites stand before Aaron and his sons, and you are to present them before the Lord as a presentation offering. ¹⁴In this way you are to separate the Levites from the rest of the Israelites so that the Levites will belong to Me. ^z15After that the Levites may come to serve at the tent of meeting, once you have ceremonially cleansed them and presented them as a presentation offering. ^a16For they have been exclusively assigned to Me from the Israelites. ^bI have taken them for Myself in place of all who come first from the womb, every Israelite firstborn. ^c17For every firstborn among the Israelites is Mine, both man and animal. I consecrated them to Myself ^don the day I struck down every firstborn in the land of Egypt. ¹⁸But I have taken the Levites in place of every firstborn among the Israelites. ¹⁹From the Israelites, I have given the Levites exclusively to Aaron and his sons to perform the work for the Israelites at the tent of meeting and to make atonement on their behalf, so that no plague will come against the Israelites when they approach the sanctuary.” ^e

²⁰Moses, Aaron, and the entire Israelite community did this to the Levites. The Israelites did everything to them the Lord commanded Moses regarding the Levites. ²¹The Levites purified themselves and washed their clothes; then Aaron presented ^fthem before the Lord as a presentation offering. Aaron also made atonement for them to ceremonially cleanse them. ²²After that, the Levites came to do their work at the tent of meeting in the presence of Aaron and his sons. So they did to them as the Lord had commanded Moses concerning the Levites.

²³The Lord spoke to Moses: ²⁴“In regard to the Levites: From 25 years old or more, a man enters the service in the work at the tent of meeting. ^g25But at 50 years old he is to retire from his service in the work and no longer serve. ²⁶He may assist his brothers to fulfill responsibilities ^hat the tent of meeting, ⁱbut he must not do the work. This is how you are to deal with the Levites regarding their duties.”

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: ^j2“The Israelites are to observe the Passover at its appointed time. ^k3You 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.” ^l4So 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. ^mThese 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 ⁿor 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; ^o12they may not leave any of it until morning or break any of its bones. ^pThey 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 a foreigner resides with you and wants to observe the Passover to the Lord, ^qhe is to do so according to the Passover statute and its ordinances. You are to apply the same statute to both the foreign resident and the native of the land.” ^r

Guidance by the Cloud

¹⁵On the day the tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the testimony, ^sand it appeared like fire above the tabernacle from evening until morning. ¹⁶It remained that way continuously: the cloud would cover it, ^tappearing like fire at night. ^u17Whenever the cloud was lifted up above the tent, the Israelites would set out; at the place where the cloud stopped, there the Israelites camped. ^v18At 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, ^wthe 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.