Numbers 8-9

New American Bible (Revised Edition)

Chapter 8

The Menorah. ¹ The Lord said to Moses: ² Speak to Aaron and say: “When you set up the menorah-lamps,^(A) have the seven lamps throw their light in front of the menorah.”^{[a] 3} Aaron did so, setting up the menorah-lamps to face the area in front of the menorah, just as the Lord had commanded Moses. ⁴ This is the construction of the menorah: hammered gold,^(B) from its base to its bowls^[b] it was hammered; according to the pattern which the Lord had shown Moses, so he made the menorah.

Purification of the Levites. ⁵ The Lord said to Moses: ⁶ Take the Levites from among the Israelites and cleanse them.^{[c] 7} This is what you shall do to them to cleanse them. Sprinkle them with the water of purification, have them shave their whole bodies and wash their garments, and so cleanse themselves. ⁸ Then they shall take a bull from the herd, along with its grain offering of bran flour mixed with oil; and you shall take another bull from the herd for a purification offering. ⁹ Bringing the Levites before the tent of meeting, you shall assemble also the whole community of the Israelites. ¹⁰ When you have brought the Levites before the Lord, the Israelites shall lay their hands upon them. ¹¹ Aaron shall then present the Levites before the Lord as an elevated offering from the Israelites, that they may perform the service of the Lord. ¹² The Levites in turn shall lay their hands on the heads of the bulls, offering one as a purification offering and the other as a burnt offering to the Lord, to make atonement for the Levites. ¹³ Then you shall have the Levites stand before Aaron and his sons, and you shall present them as an elevated offering to the Lord; ¹⁴ thus you shall separate the Levites from the rest of the Israelites, and the Levites shall belong to me.^(C)

¹⁵ Only then shall the Levites enter upon their service in the tent of meeting, when you have cleansed them and presented them as an elevated offering. ¹⁶ For they, among the Israelites, are totally dedicated to me; I have taken them for myself in place of everyone that opens the womb, the firstborn of all the Israelites.^{(D) 17} Indeed, all the firstborn among the Israelites, human being and beast alike, belong to me; I consecrated them to myself on the day I killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt.^{(E) 18} But I have taken the Levites in place of all the firstborn Israelites; ¹⁹ and from among the Israelites I have given to Aaron and his sons these Levites, who are to be dedicated,^(F) to perform the service of the Israelites in the tent of meeting and to make atonement for them, so that no plague may strike among the Israelites should they come too near the sanctuary.

²⁰ This, then, is what Moses and Aaron and the whole community of the Israelites did with respect to the Levites; the Israelites did exactly as the Lord had commanded Moses concerning them. ²¹ When the Levites had purified themselves^[d] and washed their garments, Aaron presented them as an elevated offering before the Lord, and made atonement for them to cleanse them. ²² Only then did they enter upon their service in the tent of meeting under the supervision of Aaron and his sons. Exactly as the Lord had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so it was done with regard to them.

Age Limits for Levitical Service. ²³ The Lord said to Moses: ²⁴ This is the rule for the Levites. Everyone twenty-five years old or more shall join the personnel in the service of the tent of meeting.^{(G) 25} But everyone fifty on up shall retire from the work force and serve no more. ²⁶ They shall assist their fellow Levites in the tent of meeting in performing their duties, but they shall not do the work. This, then, is how you are to regulate the duties of the Levites.

Chapter 9

Second Passover. ¹ The Lord said to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of the second year following their departure from the land of Egypt: ² Tell the Israelites to celebrate the Passover at the prescribed time. ³ In the evening twilight of the fourteenth day of this month^(H) you shall celebrate it at its prescribed time, in accord with all its statutes and regulations. ⁴ So Moses told the Israelites to celebrate the Passover, ⁵ and they did celebrate the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month during the evening twilight in the wilderness of Sinai. Just as the Lord had commanded Moses, so the Israelites did.

⁶ There were some, however, who were unclean because of a human corpse and so could not celebrate the Passover that day. These men came up to Moses and Aaron that same day ⁷ and they said to them, “Although we are unclean because of a human corpse, why should we be deprived of presenting the Lord’s offering at its prescribed time along with other Israelites?” ⁸ Moses answered them, “Wait so that I can learn what the Lord will command in your regard.”

⁹ The Lord then said to Moses: ¹⁰ Speak to the Israelites: “If any one of you or of your descendants is unclean because of a human corpse, or is absent on a journey, you may still celebrate the Lord’s Passover. ¹¹ But you shall celebrate it in the second month,^(I) on the fourteenth day of that month during the evening twilight, eating it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs, ¹² and not leaving any of it over till morning, nor breaking any of its bones,^(J) but observing all the statutes of the Passover. ¹³ However, anyone who is clean and not away on a journey, who yet fails to celebrate the Passover, shall be cut off from the people, for not presenting the Lord’s offering at the prescribed time. That person shall bear the consequences of this sin.

¹⁴ “If an alien^[e] who lives among you would celebrate the Lord’s Passover, it shall be celebrated according to the statutes and regulations for the Passover. You shall have the same law for the resident alien as for the native of the land.”^(K)

The Fiery Cloud. ¹⁵ On the day when the tabernacle was erected, the cloud^[f] covered the tabernacle, the tent of the covenant; but from evening until morning it took on the appearance of fire over the tabernacle.^{(L) 16} It was always so: during the day the cloud covered the tabernacle and at night had the appearance of fire. ¹⁷ Whenever the cloud rose from the tent, the Israelites would break camp; wherever the cloud settled, the Israelites would pitch camp.^{(M) 18} At the direction of the Lord the Israelites broke camp, and at the Lord’s direction they pitched camp.^(N) As long as the cloud stayed over the tabernacle, they remained in camp.

¹⁹ Even when the cloud lingered many days over the tabernacle, the Israelites kept the charge of the Lord and would not move on. ²⁰ Yet if it happened the cloud was over the tabernacle only for a few days, at the direction of the Lord they stayed in camp; and at the Lord’s direction they broke camp. ²¹ If it happened the cloud remained there only from evening until morning, when the cloud rose in the morning, they would break camp. Whether the cloud lifted during the day or the night they would then break camp. ²² Whether the cloud lingered over the tabernacle for two days or for a month or longer, the Israelites remained in camp and did not break camp; but when it lifted, they broke camp. ²³ At the direction of the Lord they pitched camp, and at the Lord’s direction they broke camp; they kept the charge of the Lord, as the Lord directed them through Moses.