Numbers 9–11

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

The Silver Trumpets

10Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ²“Make yourself two silver trumpets; make them of hammered-work. You will use them^a for calling the community and for breaking the camp. ³You will blow them, and all the community will assemble to the doorway of the tent of assembly. ⁴But if they blow only one, the leaders, the heads of the thousands of Israel, will assemble to you. ⁵When you will blow a blast, the camps that are camping on the east will set out; ⁶when you blow a second blast, the camps that are camping on the south will set out; they will blow a blast for their journeys. ⁷But when summoning the assembly, you will blow, but you will not signal with a loud noise. ⁸The sons of Aaron, the priests, will blow on the trumpets; this will be an eternal decree for your generations. ⁹If you go to war in your land against the enemy who attacks you, you will signal with a loud noise on the trumpets. You will be remembered before^b Yahweh your God, and you will be rescued from your enemies.

¹⁰“And on the day of your joy and in your appointed times, at the beginning of your months, you will blow on the trumpets in addition to your burnt offerings and in addition to the sacrifices of your fellowship offerings. And they will be as a memorial for you before^c your God; I am Yahweh your God.”

The Israelites Depart from Sinai

¹¹And it happened, in the second year, in the second month, on the twentieth of the month the cloud was lifted from upon the tabernacle of the testimony.^{d 12}And the Israelites^e set out for their journey^f from the desert of Sinai, and the cloud dwelled in the desert of Paran. ¹³They set out for the first time^g on the command of Yahweh in the hand of Moses.^{h 14}The standard of the camp of the descendantsⁱ of Judah set out for the first time according to their divisions, with Nahshon son of Amminadab over its division. ¹⁵And Nathanel son of Zuar was over the division of the descendants^j of Issachar; ¹⁶Eliab son of Helon was over the division of the tribe of the descendants^k of Zebulun.

¹⁷The tabernacle was taken down, and the sons of Gershon and the sons of Merari, the bearers of the tabernacle, set out. ¹⁸And the standard of the camp of Reuben according to their divisions; Elizur son of Shedeur was over their division. ¹⁹Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai was over the division of the sons of the tribe of Simeon. ²⁰Eliasaph son of Deuel was over the division of the tribe of the descendants^l of Gad.

²¹The Kohathites, the bearers of the sanctuary, set out, and they set up the tabernacle before they arrived. ²²And the stand of the camp of the descendants^m of Ephraim set out according to their divisions; Elishama son of Ammihud was over its division. ²³Gamaliel son of Pedahzur was over the division of the tribe of the descendantsⁿ of Manasseh. ²⁴Abidan son of Gideoni was over the division of the tribe of the descendants^o of Benjamin.

²⁵Then the standard of the camp of the descendants^p of Dan, who formed a rear guard for all the camps, set out according to their divisions; Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai was over its division. ²⁶Pagiel son of Ocran was over the division of the tribe of the descendants^q of Asher. ²⁷Ahira son of Enan was over the division of the tribe of the descendants^r of Naphtali. ²⁸These were the departures of the Israelites^s according to their divisions; and so they set out.

²⁹Moses said to Hobab son of Reuel the Midianite, the father-in-law of Moses, “We are setting out to the place that Yahweh said, ‘I will give it to you’; go with us, and we will treat you well^t because Yahweh promised^u good concerning Israel.” ³⁰But he said to him, “I will not go. I will only go to my land and to my family.” ³¹He^v said, “Please, do not abandon us because you know our encampment in the desert, and you should be our guide.^{w 32}Moreover, if you go with us, the good that Yahweh will do to us we will do to you.”

³³And so they set out from the mountain of Yahweh a journey of three days, with the ark of the covenant of Yahweh setting out ahead of them^x three days’ journey to search out a resting place for them; ³⁴and the cloud of Yahweh was over them by day when they set out from the camp.

³⁵And whenever the ark was setting out Moses would say,

“Rise up, Yahweh!

May your enemies be scattered;

may the ones that hate you flee from your presence.”

³⁶And when it rested he would say,

“Return, Yahweh,

to the countless thousands of Israel.”

The Israelites Complain

11And it happened, the people were like those who complain of hardship^a in the hearing^b of Yahweh, and Yahweh became angry,^c and the fire of Yahweh burned among them, and it consumed the edge of the camp. ²Then the people cried out to Moses, and Moses prayed to Yahweh, and the fire died down. ³And he called the name of that place Taberah^d because the fire of Yahweh burned among them.

⁴The riff-raff that were in their midst had a strong desire;^e and the Israelites^f turned back and also wept, and they said, “Who will feed us meat? ⁵We remember the fish that we ate in Egypt for nothing, the cucumber, melon, leek, the onions, and the garlic. ⁶But now our strength is dried up;^g there is nothing whatsoever except for the manna before us.”^h

⁷Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its outward appearance was like that of bdellium-gum. ⁸The people went about and gathered it, and they ground it with mills or crushed it with mortar. Then they boiled it in a pot and made it into bread-cakes; and it tasted like olive oil cakes. ⁹When the dew came down on the camp at night, the manna came down with it.

¹⁰Moses heard the people weeping according to theirⁱ clans, each at the doorway of their tents. Then Yahweh became very angry,^j and in the eyes of Moses it was bad. ¹¹And Moses said to Yahweh, “Why have you brought trouble to your servant? Why have I not found favor in your eyes, that the burdens of all these people have been placed on me? ¹²Did I conceive all these people? If I have fathered them,^k that you could say to me, ‘Carry them^l in your lap, just as a foster-father carries the suckling on the land that you swore an oath to their ancestors?’^{m 13}From where do I have meat to give all these people? They weep before me, saying, ‘Give us meat and let us eat!’ ¹⁴I am not able to carry all these people along alone; they are too heavy for me. ¹⁵If this is how you are going to treat me, please kill me immediately if I find favor in your eyes, and do not let me see my misery.”

¹⁶And…