Numbers 8–9

Arrangement of the Lamps

8And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²“Speak to Aaron, and say to him, ‘When you ^aarrange the lamps, the seven ^blamps shall give light in front of the lampstand.’ ” ³And Aaron did so; he arranged the lamps to face toward the front of the lampstand, as the Lord commanded Moses. ^4cNow this workmanship of the lampstand was hammered gold; from its shaft to its flowers it was ^dhammered work. ^eAccording to the pattern which the Lord had shown Moses, so he made the lampstand.

Cleansing and Dedication of the Levites

⁵Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ⁶“Take the Levites from among the children of Israel and cleanse them ceremonially. ⁷Thus you shall do to them to cleanse them: Sprinkle ^fwater of purification on them, and ^glet ¹them shave all their body, and let them wash their clothes, and so make themselves clean. ⁸Then let them take a young bull with ^hits grain offering of fine flour mixed with oil, and you shall take another young bull as a sin offering. ⁹ⁱAnd you shall bring the Levites before the tabernacle of meeting, ^jand you shall gather together the whole congregation of the children of Israel. ¹⁰So you shall bring the Levites before the Lord and the children of Israel ^kshall lay their hands on the Levites; ¹¹and Aaron shall ²offer the Levites before the Lord, like a ^lwave offering from the children of Israel, that they may perform the work of the Lord. ^12mThen the Levites shall lay their hands on the heads of the young bulls, and you shall offer one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering to the Lord, to make atonement for the Levites.

¹³“And you shall stand the Levites before Aaron and his sons, and then offer them like a wave offering to the Lord. ¹⁴Thus you shall ⁿseparate the Levites from among the children of Israel, and the Levites shall be ^oMine. ¹⁵After that the Levites shall go in to service the tabernacle of meeting. So you shall cleanse them and ^poffer them like a wave offering. ¹⁶For they are ^qwholly given to Me from among the children of Israel; I have taken them for Myself ^rinstead of all who open the womb, the firstborn of all the children of Israel. ^17sFor all the firstborn among the children of Israel are Mine, both man and beast; on the day that I struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I ³sanctified them to Myself. ¹⁸I have taken the Levites instead of all the firstborn of the children of Israel. ¹⁹And ^tI have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and his sons from among the children of Israel, to do the work for the children of Israel in the tabernacle of meeting, and to make atonement for the children of Israel, ^uthat there be no plague among the children of Israel when the children of Israel come near the sanctuary.”

²⁰Thus Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the children of Israel did to the Levites; according to all that the Lord commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so the children of Israel did to them. ^21vAnd the Levites purified themselves and washed their clothes; then Aaron presented them like a wave offering before the Lord, and Aaron made atonement for them to cleanse them. ^22wAfter that the Levites went in to do their work in the tabernacle of meeting before Aaron and his sons; ^xas the Lord commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so they did to them.

²³Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁴“This is what pertains to the Levites: ^yFrom twenty-five years old and above one may enter to perform service in the work of the tabernacle of meeting; ²⁵and at the age of fifty years they must cease performing this work, and shall work no more. ²⁶They may minister with their brethren in the tabernacle of meeting, ^zto attend to needs, but they themselves shall do no work. Thus you shall do to the Levites regarding their duties.”

The Second Passover

9Now the Lord spoke to Moses in the Wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying: ²“Let the children of Israel keep ^athe Passover at its appointed ^btime. ³On the fourteenth day of this month, ¹at twilight, you shall ²keep it at its appointed time. According to all its ³rites and ceremonies you shall keep it.” ⁴So Moses told the children of Israel that they should keep the Passover. ⁵And ^cthey kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month, at twilight, in the Wilderness of Sinai; according to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so the children of Israel did.

⁶Now there were certain men who were ^ddefiled by a human corpse, so that they could not keep the Passover on that day; ^eand they came before Moses and Aaron that day. ⁷And those men said to him, “We became defiled by a human corpse. Why are we kept from presenting the offering of the Lord at its appointed time among the children of Israel?”

⁸And Moses said to them, “Stand still, that ^fI may hear what the Lord will command concerning you.”

⁹Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁰“Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘If anyone of you or your ⁴posterity is unclean because of a corpse, or is far away on a journey, he may still keep the Lord’s Passover. ¹¹On ^gthe fourteenth day of the second month, at twilight, they may keep it. They shall ^heat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. ¹²ⁱThey shall leave none of it until morning, ^jnor break one of its bones. ^kAccording to all the ⁵ordinances of the Passover they shall keep it. ¹³But the man who is clean and is not on a journey, and ceases to keep the Passover, that same person ^lshall be cut off from among his people, because he ^mdid not bring the offering of the Lord at its appointed time; that man shall ⁿbear his sin.

¹⁴‘And if a stranger ⁶dwells among you, and would keep the Lord’s Passover, he must do so according to the rite of the Passover and according to its ceremony; ^oyou shall have one ⁷ordinance, both for the stranger and the native of the land.’ ”

The Cloud and the Fire

¹⁵Now ^pon the day that the tabernacle was raised up, the cloud ^qcovered the tabernacle, the tent of the Testimony; ^rfrom evening until morning it was above the tabernacle like the appearance of fire. ¹⁶So it was always: the cloud covered it by day, and the appearance of fire by night. ¹⁷Whenever the cloud ^swas ⁸taken up from above the tabernacle, after that the children of Israel would journey; and in the place where the cloud settled, there the children of Israel would pitch their tents. ¹⁸At the ⁹command of the Lord the children of Israel would journey, and at the command of the Lord they would camp; ^tas long as the cloud stayed above the tabernacle they remained encamped. ¹⁹Even when the cloud continued long, many days above the tabernacle, the children of Israel ^ukept the charge of the Lord and did not journey. ²⁰So it was, when the cloud was above the tabernacle a few days: according to the command of the Lord they would remain encamped, and according to the command of the Lord they would journey. ²¹So it was, when the cloud remained only from evening until morning: when the cloud was taken up in the morning, then they would journey; whether by day or by night, whenever the cloud was taken up, they would journey. ²²Whether it was two days, a month, or a year that the cloud remained above the tabernacle, the children of Israel ^vwould remain encamped and not journey; but when it was taken up, they would journey. ²³At the command of the Lord they remained encamped, and at the command of the Lord they journeyed; they ^wkept the charge of the Lord, at the command of the Lord by the hand of Moses.