Numbers 8–9

The Seven Lamps

8Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ²“Speak to Aaron, and say to him: ‘When you are setting up the lamps, the seven lamps will give light in front of the face of the lampstand.’ ” ³And Aaron did so; he set up the lampstand in front of the face of its lamps, just as Yahweh commanded Moses. ⁴And this is how the lampstand was made,^a a hammered-work of gold; from its base up to its blossom,^b it was hammered-work according to the pattern that Yahweh showed Moses; so he made the lampstand.

Moses Consecrates the Levites

⁵Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ⁶“Take the Levites from the midst of the Israelites^c and purify them. ⁷So 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. ⁸And 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. ⁹You 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, ¹¹and 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. ¹²And 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. ¹³And you will present the Levites beforeⁿ 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. ¹⁵And 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. ¹⁶For 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, ¹⁸and 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.”

²⁰And 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. ²¹And 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. ²²After 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.

²³Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁴“This is what is for the Levites: those twenty-five years old^f and above will^g come to help with the service in the work of the tent of assembly; ²⁵and those fifty years old^h willⁱ return from the service of the work and will serve no longer. ²⁶They^j can attend^k their brothers in the tent of assembly to keep their responsibilities, but they^l will not do work. This is what you will do concerning the Levites and their responsibilities.”

The Passover

9Yahweh 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. ³On 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.” ⁴So Moses spoke to the Israelites^c to observe the Passover. ⁵And 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.

⁶And 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. ⁷And 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.”

⁹And 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. ¹¹On the second month on the fourteenth day at twilight^m they will observe it; they will eat it with unleavened bread and bitter plants. ¹²They 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. ¹³But 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. ¹⁴If 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.’ ”

The Cloud and the Fire

¹⁵And on a day setting up the tabernacle, the cloud covered the tent of the tabernacle, the tent of the testimony; in the evening it was on the tabernacle as an appearance of fire until morning. ¹⁶So it wasⁿ continually; the cloud would cover it and the appearance of fire by night. ¹⁷Whenever the cloud lifted up from on the tent, after that the Israelites^o would set out, and in the place where the cloud dwelled, there the Israelites^p camped. ¹⁸On the command of Yahweh^q the Israelites^r would set out, and on the command of Yahweh^s they encamped; all the days that the cloud dwelled on the tabernacle they encamped. ¹⁹And when the cloud prolonged on the tabernacle many days the Israelites^t kept the kept requirement of Yahweh and did not set out. ²⁰When the cloud remained^u a number of days on the tabernacle, on the command of Yahweh^v they encamped; and on the command of Yahweh^w they set out. ²¹When the cloud remained^x from evening until morning, and the cloud lifted up in the morning, they would set out, or if it remained in the daytime and at night, when the cloud lifted up they set out. ²²When it was two days, a month, or a year^y that the cloud prolonged to dwell on the tabernacle, the Israelites^z encamped, and they did not set out; when it lifted up they set out. ²³On the command of Yahweh^a they encamped, and on the command of Yahweh^b they set out. They kept the requirement of Yahweh, on the command of Yahweh^c in the hand of Moses.^d