The Seven Lamps

8 Now the Lord said to Moses, ² “Say to Aaron, When you set up the lamps, the seven lamps shall give light in front of the lampstand.” ³ And Aaron did so; he set up its lamps to give light in front of the lampstand, as the Lord commanded Moses. ⁴ And this was the workmanship of the lampstand, hammered work of gold; from its base to its flowers, it was hammered work; according to the pattern which the Lord had shown Moses, so he made the lampstand.

Consecration and Service of the Levites

⁵ And the Lord said to Moses, ⁶ “Take the Levites from among the people of Israel, and cleanse them. ⁷ And thus you shall do to them, to cleanse them: sprinkle the water of expiation upon them, and let them go with a razor over all their body, and wash their clothes and cleanse themselves. ⁸ Then let them take a young bull and its cereal offering of fine flour mixed with oil, and you shall take another young bull for a sin offering. ⁹ And you shall present the Levites before the tent of meeting, and assemble the whole congregation of the people of Israel. ¹⁰ When you present the Levites before the Lord, the people of Israel shall lay their hands upon the Levites, ¹¹ and Aaron shall offer the Levites before the Lord as a wave offering from the people of Israel, that it may be theirs to do the service of the Lord. ¹² Then the Levites shall lay their hands upon the heads of the bulls; and you shall offer the one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering to the Lord, to make atonement for the Levites. ¹³ And you shall cause the Levites to attend Aaron and his sons, and shall offer them as a wave offering to the Lord.

¹⁴ “Thus you shall separate the Levites from among the people of Israel, and the Levites shall be mine. ¹⁵ And after that the Levites shall go in to do service at the tent of meeting, when you have cleansed them and offered them as a wave offering. ¹⁶ For they are wholly given to me from among the people of Israel; instead of all that open the womb, the first-born of all the people of Israel, I have taken them for myself. ¹⁷ For all the first-born among the people of Israel are mine, both of man and of beast; on the day that I slew all the first-born in the land of Egypt I consecrated them for myself, ¹⁸ and I have taken the Levites instead of all the first-born among the people of Israel. ¹⁹ And I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and his sons from among the people of Israel, to do the service for the people of Israel at the tent of meeting, and to make atonement for the people of Israel, that there may be no plague among the people of Israel in case the people of Israel should come near the sanctuary.”

²⁰ Thus did Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the people of Israel to the Levites; according to all that the Lord commanded Moses concerning the Levites, the people of Israel did to them. ²¹ And the Levites purified themselves from sin, and washed their clothes; and Aaron offered them as a wave offering before the Lord, and Aaron made atonement for them to cleanse them. ²² And after that the Levites went in to do their service in the tent of meeting in attendance upon Aaron and his sons; as the Lord had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so they did to them.

²³ And the Lord said to Moses, ²⁴ “This is what pertains to the Levites: from twenty-five years old and upward they shall go in to perform the work in the service of the tent of meeting; ²⁵ and from the age of fifty years they shall withdraw from the work of the service and serve no more, ²⁶ but minister to their brethren in the tent of meeting, to keep the charge, and they shall do no service. Thus shall you do to the Levites in assigning their duties.”

The Passover at Sinai

9 And 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 people of Israel keep the passover at its appointed time. ³ On the fourteenth day of this month, in the evening, you shall keep it at its appointed time; according to all its statutes and all its ordinances you shall keep it.” ⁴ So Moses told the people of Israel that they should keep the passover. ⁵ And they kept the passover in the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, in the evening, in the wilderness of Sinai; according to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so the people of Israel did. ⁶ And there were certain men who were unclean through touching the dead body of a man, so that they could not keep the passover on that day; and they came before Moses and Aaron on that day; ⁷ and those men said to him, “We are unclean through touching the dead body of a man; why are we kept from offering the Lord’s offering at its appointed time among the people of Israel?” ⁸ And Moses said to them, “Wait, that I may hear what the Lord will command concerning you.”

⁹ The Lord said to Moses, ¹⁰ “Say to the people of Israel, If any man of you or of your descendants is unclean through touching a dead body, or is afar off on a journey, he shall still keep the passover to the Lord. ¹¹ In the second month on the fourteenth day in the evening they shall keep it; they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. ¹² They shall leave none of it until the morning, nor break a bone of it; according to all the statute for the passover they shall keep it. ¹³ But the man who is clean and is not on a journey, yet refrains from keeping the passover, that person shall be cut off from his people, because he did not offer the Lord’s offering at its appointed time; that man shall bear his sin. ¹⁴ And if a stranger sojourns among you, and will keep the passover to the Lord, according to the statute of the passover and according to its ordinance, so shall he do; you shall have one statute, both for the sojourner and for the native.”

The Cloud and the Fire

¹⁵ On the day that the tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the testimony; and at evening it was over the tabernacle like the appearance of fire until morning. ¹⁶ So it was continually; the cloud covered it by day^[a] and the appearance of fire by night. ¹⁷ And whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tent, after that the people of Israel set out; and in the place where the cloud settled down, there the people of Israel encamped. ¹⁸ At the command of the Lord the people of Israel set out, and at the command of the Lord they encamped; as long as the cloud rested over the tabernacle, they remained in camp. ¹⁹ Even when the cloud continued over the tabernacle many days, the people of Israel kept the charge of the Lord, and did not set out. ²⁰ Sometimes the cloud was a few days over the tabernacle, and according to the command of the Lord they remained in camp; then according to the command of the Lord they set out. ²¹ And sometimes the cloud remained from evening until morning; and when the cloud was taken up in the morning, they set out, or if it continued for a day and a night, when the cloud was taken up they set out. ²² Whether it was two days, or a month, or a longer time, that the cloud continued over the tabernacle, abiding there, the people of Israel remained in camp and did not set out; but when it was taken up they set out. ²³ At the command of the Lord they encamped, and at the command of the Lord they set out; they kept the charge of the Lord, at the command of the Lord by Moses.

Plea for Help in Time of National Humiliation

A Maskil of Asaph.

²⁴ And on the following day they entered Caesare′a. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his kinsmen and close friends. ²⁵ When Peter entered, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshiped him. ²⁶ But Peter lifted him up, saying, “Stand up; I too am a man.” ²⁷ And as he talked with him, he went in and found many persons gathered; ²⁸ and he said to them, “You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit any one of another nation; but God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean. ²⁹ So when I was sent for, I came without objection. I ask then why you sent for me.”

³⁰ And Cornelius said, “Four days ago, about this hour, I was keeping the ninth hour of prayer in my house; and behold, a man stood before me in bright apparel, ³¹ saying, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your alms have been remembered before God. ³² Send therefore to Joppa and ask for Simon who is called Peter; he is lodging in the house of Simon, a tanner, by the seaside.’ ³³ So I sent to you at once, and you have been kind enough to come. Now therefore we are all here present in the sight of God, to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord.”

Gentiles Hear the Good News

³⁴ And Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I perceive that God shows no partiality, ³⁵ but in every nation any one who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. ³⁶ You know the word which he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace by Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all), ³⁷ the word which was proclaimed throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism which John preached: ³⁸ how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. ³⁹ And we are witnesses to all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree; ⁴⁰ but God raised him on the third day and made him manifest; ⁴¹ not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. ⁴² And he commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that he is the one ordained by God to be judge of the living and the dead. ⁴³ To him all the prophets bear witness that every one who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

Gentiles Receive the Holy Spirit

⁴⁴ While Peter was still saying this, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. ⁴⁵ And the believers from among the circumcised who came with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles. ⁴⁶ For they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter declared, ⁴⁷ “Can any one forbid water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” ⁴⁸ And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to remain for some days.