9The Lord spoke to Moses in the Desert of Sinai in the first month of the second year after the Israelites left Egypt. He said, ²“Tell the Israelites to celebrate the Passover at the appointed time. ³That appointed time is the fourteenth day of this month at twilight; they must obey all the rules about it.”

⁴So Moses told the Israelites to celebrate the Passover, ⁵and they did; it was in the Desert of Sinai at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month. The Israelites did everything just as the Lord commanded Moses.

⁶But some of the people could not celebrate the Passover on that day because they were unclean from touching a dead body. So they went to Moses and Aaron that day and ⁷said to Moses, “We are unclean because of touching a dead body. But why should we be kept from offering gifts to the Lord at this appointed time? Why can’t we join the other Israelites?”

⁸Moses said to them, “Wait, and I will find out what the Lord says about you.”

⁹Then the Lord said to Moses, ¹⁰“Tell the Israelites this: ‘If you or your descendants become unclean because of a dead body, or if you are away on a trip during the Passover, you must still celebrate the Lord’s Passover. ¹¹But celebrate it at twilight on the fourteenth day of the second month. Eat the lamb with bitter herbs and bread made without yeast. ¹²Don’t leave any of it until the next morning or break any of its bones. When you celebrate the Passover, follow all the rules. ¹³Anyone who is clean and is not away on a trip but does not eat the Passover must be cut off from the people. That person did not give an offering to the Lord at the appointed time and must be punished for the sin.

¹⁴“ ‘Foreigners among you may celebrate the Lord’s Passover, but they must follow all the rules. You must have the same rules for foreigners as you have for yourselves.’ ”

The Cloud Above the Tent

¹⁵On the day the Holy Tent, the Tent of the Agreement, was set up, a cloud covered it. From dusk until dawn the cloud above the Tent looked like fire. ¹⁶The cloud stayed above the Tent, and at night it looked like fire. ¹⁷When the cloud moved from its place over the Tent, the Israelites moved, and wherever the cloud stopped, the Israelites camped. ¹⁸So the Israelites moved at the Lord’s command, and they camped at his command. While the cloud stayed over the Tent, they remained camped. ¹⁹Sometimes the cloud stayed over the Tent for a long time, but the Israelites obeyed the Lord and did not move. ²⁰Sometimes the cloud was over it only a few days. At the Lord’s command the people camped, and at his command they moved. ²¹Sometimes the cloud stayed only from dusk until dawn; when the cloud lifted the next morning, the people moved. When the cloud lifted, day or night, the people moved. ²²The cloud might stay over the Tent for two days, a month, or a year. As long as it stayed, the people camped, but when it lifted, they moved. ²³At the Lord’s command the people camped, and at his command they moved. They obeyed the Lord’s order that he commanded through Moses.

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