Numbers 9–11

The Passover at Sinai

⁹The 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 Israelites keep the Passover at its appointed time.^{* 3}On the fourteenth day of this month, at twilight,^o you shall keep it at its appointed time; according to all its statutes and all its regulations you shall keep it.” ⁴So Moses told the Israelites that they should keep the Passover. ⁵They kept the Passover in the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, at twilight,^p in the wilderness of Sinai. Just as the Lord had commanded Moses, so the Israelites did.^{* 6}Now there were certain people who were unclean through touching a corpse, so that they could not keep the Passover on that day. They came before Moses and Aaron on that day^{* 7}and said to him, “Although we are unclean through touching a corpse, why must we be kept from presenting the Lord’s offering at its appointed time among the Israelites?” ⁸Moses said to them, “Wait, so that I may hear what the Lord will command concerning you.”^*

⁹The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁰“Speak to the Israelites, saying: Anyone of you or your descendants who is unclean through touching a corpse or is away on a journey shall still keep the Passover to the Lord. ¹¹In the second month on the fourteenth day, at twilight,^q they shall keep it; they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.^{* 12}They shall leave none of it until morning nor break a bone of it; according to all the statute for the Passover they shall keep it.^{* 13}But anyone who is clean and is not on a journey and yet refrains from keeping the Passover shall be cut off from the people for not presenting the Lord’s offering at its appointed time; such a one shall bear the consequences for the sin.^{* 14}Any alien residing among you who wishes to keep the Passover to the Lord shall do so according to the statute of the Passover and according to its regulation; you shall have one statute for both the resident alien and the native of the land.”^*

The Cloud and the Fire

¹⁵On the day the tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the covenant, and from evening until morning it was over the tabernacle, having the appearance of fire.^{* 16}It was always so: the cloud covered it by day^r and the appearance of fire by night. ¹⁷Whenever the cloud lifted from over the tent, then the Israelites would set out, and in the place where the cloud settled down, there the Israelites would camp.^{* 18}At the command of the Lord the Israelites would set out, and at the command of the Lord they would camp. As long as the cloud rested over the tabernacle, they would remain in camp.^{* 19}Even when the cloud continued over the tabernacle many days, the Israelites would keep the charge of the Lord and would not set out.^{* 20}Sometimes the cloud would remain a few days over the tabernacle, and according to the command of the Lord they would remain in camp; then according to the command of the Lord they would set out. ²¹Sometimes the cloud would remain from evening until morning, and when the cloud lifted in the morning, they would set out, or if it continued for a day and a night, when the cloud lifted they would set out. ²²Whether it was two days or a month or a longer time that the cloud continued over the tabernacle, resting upon it, the Israelites would remain in camp and would not set out, but when it lifted they would set out.^{* 23}At the command of the Lord they would camp, and at the command of the Lord they would set out. They kept the charge of the Lord, at the command of the Lord by Moses.

The Silver Trumpets

¹⁰The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²“Make two silver trumpets; you shall make them of hammered work, and you shall use them for summoning the congregation and for breaking camp. ³When both are blown, the whole congregation shall assemble before you at the entrance of the tent of meeting.^{* 4}But if only one is blown, then the leaders, the heads of the tribes of Israel, shall assemble before you. ⁵When you blow an alarm, the camps on the east side shall set out;^{* 6}when you blow a second alarm, the camps on the south side shall set out. An alarm is to be blown whenever they are to set out.^{* 7}But when the assembly is to be gathered, you shall blow, but you shall not sound an alarm. ⁸The sons of Aaron, the priests, shall blow the trumpets; this shall be a perpetual institution for you throughout your generations.^{* 9}When you go to war in your land against the adversary who oppresses you, you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets, so that you may be remembered before the Lord your God and be saved from your enemies.^{* 10}Also on your days of rejoicing, at your appointed festivals, and at the beginnings of your months, you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings and over your sacrifices of well-being; they shall serve as a reminder on your behalf before the Lord your God: I am the Lord your God.”^*

Departure from Sinai

¹¹In the second year, in the second month, on the twentieth day of the month, the cloud lifted from over the tabernacle of the covenant.^{* 12}Then the Israelites set out by stages from the wilderness of Sinai, and the cloud settled down in the wilderness of Paran. ¹³They set out for the first time at the command of the Lord by Moses.^{* 14}The standard of the camp of Judah set out first, company by company, and over the whole company was Nahshon son of Amminadab.^{* 15}Over the company of the tribe of Issachar was Nethanel son of Zuar, ¹⁶and over the company of the tribe of Zebulun was Eliab son of Helon.

¹⁷Then the tabernacle was taken down, and the Gershonites and the Merarites, who carried the tabernacle, set out.^{* 18}Next the standard of the camp of Reuben set out, company by company, and over the whole company was Elizur son of Shedeur.^{* 19}Over the company of the tribe of Simeon was Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai, ²⁰and over the company of the tribe of Gad was Eliasaph son of Deuel.

²¹Then the Kohathites, who carried the holy things, set out, and the tabernacle was set up before their arrival.^{* 22}Next the standard of the camp of Ephraim set out, company by company, and over the whole company was Elishama son of Ammihud.^{* 23}Over the company of the tribe of Manasseh was Gamaliel son of Pedahzur, ²⁴and over the company of the tribe of Benjamin was Abidan son of Gideoni.

²⁵Then the standard of the camp of Dan, acting as the rear guard of all the camps, set out, company by company, and over the whole company was Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai.^{* 26}Over the company of the tribe of Asher was Pagiel son of Ochran, ²⁷and over the company of the tribe of Naphtali was Ahira son of Enan. ²⁸This was the order of march of the Israelites, company by company, when they set out.

²⁹Moses said to Hobab son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses’s father-in-law, “We are setting out for the place of which the Lord said, ‘I will give it to you’; come with us, and we will treat you well, for the Lord has promised good to Israel.”^{* 30}But he said to him, “I will not go, but I will go back to my own land and to my kindred.” ³¹He said, “Do not leave us, for you know where we should camp in the wilderness, and you will serve as eyes for us. ³²Moreover, if you go with us, whatever good the Lord does for us, the same we will do for you.”^*

³³So they set out from the mount of the Lord three days’ journey with the ark of the covenant of the Lord going before them three days’ journey, to seek out a resting place for them,^{* 34}the cloud of the Lord being over them by day when they set out from the camp.^*

³⁵Whenever the ark set out, Moses would say,

“Arise, O Lord, let your enemies be scattered

and your foes flee before you.”^*

³⁶And whenever it came to rest, he would say,

“Return, O Lord, to the ten thousand thousands of Israel.”^s

Complaining in the Desert

¹¹Now when the people complained in the hearing of the Lord about their misfortunes, the Lord heard it, and his anger was kindled. Then the fire of the Lord burned against them and consumed some outlying parts of the camp.^{* 2}But the people cried out to Moses, and Moses prayed to the Lord, and the fire abated.^{* 3}So that place was called Taberah,^t because the fire of the Lord burned against them.

⁴The camp followers with them had a strong craving, and the Israelites also wept again and said, “If only we had meat to eat!^{* 5}We remember the fish we used to eat in Egypt for nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic,^{* 6}but now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.”^*

⁷Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its color was like the color of gum resin.^{* 8}The people went around and gathered it, ground it in mills or beat it in mortars, then boiled it in pots and made cakes of it, and the taste of it was like the taste of cakes baked with oil. ⁹When the dew fell on the camp in the night, the manna would fall with it.^*

¹⁰Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, all at the entrances of their tents. Then the Lord became very angry, and Moses was displeased.^{* 11}So Moses said to the Lord, “Why have you treated your servant so badly? Why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me? ¹²Did I conceive all this people? Did I give birth to them, that you should say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom as a wet nurse carries a nursing child, to the land that you promised on oath to their ancestors’?^{* 13}Where am I to get meat to give to all this people? For they come weeping to me, saying, ‘Give us meat to eat!’^{* 14}I am not able to carry all this people alone, for they are too heavy for me.^{* 15}If this is the way you are going to treat me, put me to death at once—if I have found favor in your sight—and do not let me see my misery.”^*

The Seventy Elders

¹⁶So the Lord said to Moses, “Gather for me seventy of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be…