Numbers 9

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.