Numbers 8:5–9:14
5 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 6 “Take the Levites from the midst of the ⌊Israelites⌋c and purify them. 7 So you will do to them, to purify them: sprinkle on them waters of purification, and ⌊they will shave their whole body⌋d and wash their garments. 8 And they will take a ⌊young bull⌋e and its grain offering of finely milled flour mixed with oil, and you will take a second ⌊young bull⌋f as a sin offering. 9 You will bring the Levites ⌊before⌋g the tent of assembly, and you will summon the entire community of the ⌊Israelites⌋.h 10 And you will bring the Levites ⌊before Yahweh⌋,i and the ⌊Israelites⌋j will lay their hands on the Levites, 11 and ⌊Aaron will offer⌋k the Levites as a wave offering ⌊before Yahweh⌋l from the ⌊Israelites⌋,m and they will do the work of Yahweh. 12 And the Levites will lay their hands on the head of the one bull and offer it as a sin offering and the other one as a burnt offering to Yahweh, to make atonement for the Levites. 13 And you will present the Levites ⌊before⌋n Aaron and ⌊before⌋o his sons, and he ⌊will offer⌋p them as a wave offering to Yahweh.
14 “And you will separate the Levites from the midst of the ⌊Israelites⌋,q and the Levites will be for me. 15 And after this the Levites will come to serve at the tent of assembly, and you will purify them, and you ⌊will offer⌋r them as a wave offering. 16 For they are given to me exclusively from the midst of the ⌊Israelites⌋.s I have taken them for myself in place of the firstborn of every womb, every firstborn from the ⌊Israelites⌋.t 17 For every firstborn among the ⌊Israelites⌋u is mine, both humankind and animal. On the day I destroyed every firstborn in the land of Egypt I consecrated them to me, 18 and I have taken the Levites in the place of every firstborn among the ⌊Israelites⌋.v 19 And I have given the Levites; they are given to Aaron and his sons from the midst of the ⌊Israelites⌋w to do the work of the ⌊Israelites⌋x in the tent of the assembly and to make atonement for the ⌊Israelites⌋,y so a plague will not be among the ⌊Israelites⌋z when the ⌊Israelites⌋a come near the sanctuary.”
20 And Moses and Aaron and the entire community of the ⌊Israelites⌋b did to the Levites; everything that Yahweh commanded Moses concerning the Levites, the ⌊Israelites⌋c did to them. 21 And the Levites purified themselves, and they washed their garments, and ⌊Aaron offered them⌋d as a wave offering ⌊before Yahweh⌋;e and Aaron made atonement for them to purify them. 22 After this the Levites came to do their work in the tent of assembly before Aaron and his sons. Just as Yahweh commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so they did to them.
23 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 24 “This is what is for the Levites: ⌊those twenty-five years old⌋f and above willg come to help with the service in the work of the tent of assembly; 25 and ⌊those fifty years old⌋h willi return from the service of the work and will serve no longer. 26 Theyj can attendk their brothers in the tent of assembly to keep their responsibilities, but theyl will not do work. This is what you will do concerning the Levites and their responsibilities.”
9 Yahweh spoke to Moses in the desert of Sinai, in the second year after they came out from the land of Egypt, in the first month, saying, 2 “Let the ⌊Israelites⌋a observe the Passover at its appointed time. 3 On the fourteenth day of this month ⌊at twilight⌋b you will perform it at its appointed time according to all its decrees; and according to all its stipulations you will observe it.” 4 So Moses spoke to the ⌊Israelites⌋c to observe the Passover. 5 And they observed the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month ⌊at twilight⌋d in the desert of Sinai. According to all that Yahweh commanded Moses, thus the ⌊Israelites⌋e did.
6 And it happened, men who were unclean ⌊by a dead person⌋f were not able to perform the Passover on that day. And they came ⌊before⌋g Moses and Aaron on that day. 7 And those men said to him, “Although we are unclean ⌊by a dead person⌋,h why are we hindered from presenting the offering of Yahweh at its appointed time in the midst of the ⌊Israelites⌋?”i 8 Moses said to them, “Stay. I will hear what Yahweh commands to you.”
9 And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 10 “Speak to the ⌊Israelites⌋,j saying, ‘Each man that is unclean ⌊by a dead person⌋k or is on a far journey, you or your ⌊descendants⌋,l he will observe the Passover of Yahweh. 11 On the second month on the fourteenth day ⌊at twilight⌋m they will observe it; they will eat it with unleavened bread and bitter plants. 12 They will leave none of it until morning, and they will not break a bone in it; they will observe it according to every decree of the Passover. 13 But the man who is clean and not on a journey, and he fails to observe the Passover, that person will be cut off from the people because he did not present the offering of Yahweh on its appointed time. That man will bear his guilt. 14 If an alien dwells with you he will observe the Passover of Yahweh according to the decree of the Passover and according to its stipulation; thus you will have one decree for you, for the alien and for the native of the land.’ ”