Numbers 8–9

Chapter 8

The Seven Lamps

¹Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

²“Speak to Aaron and say to him, ‘When you ¹mount the lamps, the seven lamps will ^agive light in the front of the lampstand.’ ”

³Aaron therefore did so; he ¹mounted its lamps at the front of the lampstand, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

^4aNow this was the workmanship of the lampstand, hammered work of gold; from its base to its flowers it was hammered work; ^baccording to the pattern which the Lord had shown Moses, so he made the lampstand.

Cleansing the Levites

⁵Again the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

⁶“Take the Levites from among the sons of Israel and ^acleanse them.

⁷“Thus you shall do to them, for their ¹cleansing: sprinkle ²purifying ^awater on them, and let them ^3buse a razor over their whole ⁴body and ^cwash their clothes, and they will be clean.

⁸“Then let them take a ¹bull with ^aits grain offering, fine flour mixed with oil; and a second bull you shall take for a sin offering.

⁹“So ^ayou shall present the Levites before the tent of meeting. ^bYou shall also assemble the whole congregation of the sons of Israel,

¹⁰and present the Levites before the Lord; and the sons of Israel ^ashall lay their hands on the Levites.

¹¹“Aaron then shall ¹present the Levites before the Lord as a ^awave offering from the sons of Israel, that they may ²qualify to perform the service of the Lord.

¹²“Now ^athe Levites shall lay their hands on the heads of the bulls; then offer the one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering to the Lord, to make atonement for the Levites.

¹³“You shall have the Levites stand before Aaron and before his sons so as to present them as a wave offering to the Lord.

¹⁴“Thus you shall separate the Levites from among the sons of Israel, and ^athe Levites shall be Mine.

¹⁵“Then after that the Levites may go in to serve the tent of meeting. But you shall cleanse them and ^apresent them as a wave offering;

¹⁶for they are ^awholly given to Me from among the sons of Israel. I have taken them for Myself ^binstead of every first issue of the womb, the firstborn of all the sons of Israel.

¹⁷“For ^aevery firstborn among the sons of Israel is Mine, among the men and among the animals; on the day that I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I sanctified them for Myself.

¹⁸“But I have taken the Levites instead of every firstborn among the sons of Israel.

¹⁹“^aI have given the Levites as ¹a gift to Aaron and to his sons from among the sons of Israel, to perform the service of the sons of Israel at the tent of meeting and to make atonement on behalf of the sons of Israel, so that there will be no ^bplague among the sons of Israel by ²their coming near to the sanctuary.”

²⁰Thus did Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the sons of Israel to the Levites; according to all that the Lord had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so the sons of Israel did to them.

^21aThe Levites, too, purified themselves from sin and washed their clothes; and Aaron presented them as a wave offering before the Lord. Aaron also made atonement for them to cleanse them.

²²Then after that the Levites went in to perform their service in the tent of meeting before Aaron and before his sons; just as the Lord had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so they did to them.

Retirement

²³Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

²⁴“This is what applies to the Levites: from ^atwenty-five years old and upward ¹they shall enter to perform service in the work of the tent of meeting.

²⁵“But at the age of fifty years they shall ¹retire from service in the work and not work any more.

²⁶“They may, however, ¹assist their brothers in the tent of meeting, ^ato keep an obligation, but they themselves shall do no work. Thus you shall deal with the Levites concerning their obligations.”

Chapter 9

The Passover

¹Thus the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in ^athe first month of the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying,

²“Now, let the sons of Israel observe the Passover at ^aits appointed time.

³“On the fourteenth day of this month, ¹at twilight, you shall observe it at its appointed time; you shall observe it according to all its statutes and according to all its ordinances.”

⁴So Moses ¹told the sons of Israel to observe the Passover.

^5aThey observed the Passover in the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, at twilight, in the wilderness of Sinai; ^baccording to all that the Lord had commanded Moses, so the sons of Israel did.

⁶But there were some men who were ^aunclean because of the ¹dead person, so that they could not observe Passover on that day; so ^bthey came before Moses and Aaron on that day.

⁷Those men said to him, “Though we are unclean because of the ¹dead person, why are we restrained from presenting the offering of the Lord at its appointed time among the sons of Israel?”

⁸Moses therefore said to them, “^1aWait, and I will listen to what the Lord will command concerning you.”

⁹Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

¹⁰“Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘If any one of you or of your generations becomes unclean because of a dead ¹person, or is on a distant journey, he may, however, observe the Passover to the Lord.

¹¹‘In the second month on the ^afourteenth day at twilight, they shall observe it; they ^bshall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.

¹²‘They ^ashall leave none of it until morning, ^bnor break a bone of it; according to all the statute of the Passover they shall observe it.

¹³‘^aBut the man who is clean and is not on a journey, and yet ¹neglects to observe the Passover, that ²person shall then be cut off from his people, for he did not present the offering of the Lord at its appointed time. That man ^bwill bear his sin.

¹⁴‘^aIf an alien sojourns among you and ¹observes the Passover to the Lord, according to the statute of the Passover and according to its ordinance, so he shall do; you shall have ^bone statute, both for the alien and for the native of the land.’ ”

The Cloud on the Tabernacle

¹⁵Now on ^athe day that the tabernacle was erected ^bthe cloud covered the tabernacle, the ^ctent of the testimony, and ^din the evening it was like the appearance of fire over the tabernacle, until morning.

¹⁶So it was continuously; ^athe cloud would cover it by day, and the appearance of fire by night.

^17aWhenever the cloud was lifted from over the tent, afterward the sons of Israel would then set out; and in the place where the cloud settled down, there the sons of Israel would camp.

¹⁸At the ¹command of the Lord the sons of Israel would set out, and at the command of the Lord they would camp; ^aas long as the cloud settled over the tabernacle, they remained camped.

¹⁹Even when the cloud lingered over the tabernacle for many days, ¹the sons of Israel would keep the Lord’s charge and not set out.

²⁰If ¹sometimes the cloud remained a few days over the tabernacle, ^aaccording to the ²command of the Lord they remained camped. Then according to the command of the Lord they set out.

²¹If ¹sometimes the cloud ²remained from evening until morning, when the cloud was lifted in the morning, they would move out; or if it remained in the daytime and at night, whenever the cloud was lifted, they would set out.

²²Whether it was two days or a month or a year that the cloud lingered over the tabernacle, staying above it, the sons of Israel remained camped and did not set out; but ^awhen it was lifted, they did set out.

^23aAt the ¹command of the Lord they camped, and at the command of the Lord they set out; they kept the Lord’s charge, according to the command of the Lord through Moses.