Numbers 9–11

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.

Two Silver Trumpets

10And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²“Make two silver trumpets for yourself; you shall make them of hammered work; you shall use them for ^acalling the congregation and for directing the movement of the camps. ³When ^bthey blow both of them, all the congregation shall gather before you at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. ⁴But if they blow only one, then the leaders, the ^cheads of the divisions of Israel, shall gather to you. ⁵When you sound the ^dadvance, ^ethe camps that lie on the east side shall then begin their journey. ⁶When you sound the advance the second time, then the camps that lie ^fon the south side shall begin their journey; they shall sound the call for them to begin their journeys. ⁷And when the assembly is to be gathered together, ^gyou shall blow, but not ^hsound the advance. ⁸ⁱThe sons of Aaron, the priests, shall blow the trumpets; and these shall be to you as an ¹ordinance forever throughout your generations.

^9j“When you go to war in your land against the enemy who ^koppresses you, then you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets, and you will be ^lremembered before the Lord your God, and you will be saved from your enemies. ¹⁰Also ^min the day of your gladness, in your appointed feasts, and at the beginning of your months, you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; and they shall be ⁿa memorial for you before your God: I am the Lord your God.”

Departure from Sinai

¹¹Now it came to pass on the twentieth day of the second month, in the second year, that the cloud ^owas taken up from above the tabernacle of the Testimony. ¹²And the children of Israel set out from the ^pWilderness of Sinai on ^qtheir journeys; then the cloud settled down in the ^rWilderness of Paran. ¹³So they started out for the first time ^saccording to the command of the Lord by the hand of Moses.

¹⁴The ²standard of the camp of the children of Judah ^tset out first according to their armies; over their army was ^uNahshon the son of Amminadab. ¹⁵Over the army of the tribe of the children of Issachar was Nethanel the son of Zuar. ¹⁶And over the army of the tribe of the children of Zebulun was Eliab the son of Helon.

¹⁷Then ^vthe tabernacle was taken down; and the sons of Gershon and the sons of Merari set out, ^wcarrying the tabernacle.

¹⁸And ^xthe standard of the camp of Reuben set out according to their armies; over their army was Elizur the son of Shedeur. ¹⁹Over the army of the tribe of the children of Simeon was Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai. ²⁰And over the army of the tribe of the children of Gad was Eliasaph the son of Deuel.

²¹Then the Kohathites set out, carrying the ^yholy things. (The tabernacle would be ³prepared for their arrival.)

²²And ^zthe standard of the camp of the children of Ephraim set out according to their armies; over their army was Elishama the son of Ammihud. ²³Over the army of the tribe of the children of Manasseh was Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur. ²⁴And over the army of the tribe of the children of Benjamin was Abidan the son of Gideoni.

²⁵Then ^athe standard of the camp of the children of Dan (the rear guard of all the camps) set out according to their armies; over their army was Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai. ²⁶Over the army of the tribe of the children of Asher was Pagiel the son of Ocran. ²⁷And over the army of the tribe of the children of Naphtali was Ahira the son of Enan.

^28bThus was the order of march of the children of Israel, according to their armies, when they began their journey.

²⁹Now Moses said to ^cHobab the son of ^dReuel ⁴the Midianite, Moses’ father-in-law, “We are setting out for the place of which the Lord said, ^e‘I will give it to you.’ Come with us, and ^fwe will treat you well; for ^gthe Lord has promised good things to Israel.”

³⁰And he said to him, “I will not go, but I will depart to my own land and to my relatives.”

³¹So Moses said, “Please do not leave, inasmuch as you know how we are to camp in the wilderness, and you can ⁵be our ^heyes. ³²And it shall be, if you go with us—indeed it shall be—that ⁱwhatever good the Lord will do to us, the same we will do to you.”

³³So they departed from ^jthe mountain of the Lord on a journey of three days; and the ark of the covenant of the Lord ^kwent before them for the three days’ journey, to search out a resting place for them. ³⁴And ^lthe cloud of the Lord was above them by day when they went out from the camp.

³⁵So it was, whenever the ark set out, that Moses said:

^m“Rise up, O Lord!

Let Your enemies be scattered,

And let those who hate You flee before You.”

³⁶And when it rested, he said:

“Return, O Lord,

To the many thousands of Israel.”

The People Complain

11Now ^awhen the people complained, it displeased the Lord; ^bfor the Lord heard it, and His anger was aroused. So the ^cfire of the Lord burned among them, and consumed some in the outskirts of the camp. ²Then the people ^dcried out to Moses, and when Moses ^eprayed to the Lord, the fire was ¹quenched. ³So he called the name of the place ²Taberah, because the fire of the Lord had burned among them.

⁴Now the ^fmixed multitude who were among them ³yielded to ^gintense craving; so the children of Israel also wept again and said: ^h“Who will give us meat to eat? ⁵ⁱWe remember the fish which we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; ⁶but now ^jour whole being is dried up; there is nothing at all except this manna before our eyes!”

⁷Now ^kthe manna was like coriander seed, and its color like the color of bdellium. ⁸The people went about and gathered it, ground it on millstones or beat it in the mortar, cooked it in pans, and made cakes of it; and ^lits taste was like the taste of pastry prepared with oil. ⁹And ^mwhen the dew fell on the camp in the night, the manna fell on it.

¹⁰Then Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, everyone at the door of his tent; and ⁿthe anger of the Lord was greatly aroused; Moses also was displeased. ^11oSo Moses said to the Lord, “Why have You afflicted Your servant? And why have I not found favor in Your sight, that You have laid the ⁴burden of all these people on me? ¹²Did I conceive all these people? Did I beget them, that You…