Chapter 9

The Passover

1 Thus 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.”

4 So Moses 1told the sons of Israel to observe the Passover.

5 aThey 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.

6 But 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.

7 Those 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?”

8 Moses therefore said to them, “1aWait, and I will listen to what the Lord will command concerning you.”

9 Then 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

15 Now 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.

16 So it was continuously; athe cloud would cover it by day, and the appearance of fire by night.

17 aWhenever 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.

18 At the 1command of the Lord the sons of Israel would set out, and at the 1command of the Lord they would camp; aas long as the cloud settled over the tabernacle, they remained camped.

19 Even when the cloud lingered over the tabernacle for many days, 1the sons of Israel would keep the Lord’s charge and not set out.

20 If 1sometimes the cloud remained a few days over the tabernacle, aaccording to the 2command of the Lord they remained camped. Then according to the 2command of the Lord they set out.

21 If 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.

22 Whether 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.

23 aAt the 1command of the Lord they camped, and at the 1command of the Lord they set out; they kept the Lord’s charge, according to the 1command of the Lord through Moses.