Numbers 8-10

Amplified Bible, Classic Edition

8 And the Lord said to Moses,

² Say to Aaron, When you set up and light the lamps, the seven lamps shall be made to give light in front of the lampstand.

³ And Aaron did so; he lighted the lamps of the lampstand to give light in front of it, as the Lord commanded Moses.

⁴ And this was the workmanship of the candlestick: beaten or turned gold, beaten work [of gold] from its base to its flowers; according to the pattern which the Lord had shown Moses, so he made the lampstand.

⁵ And the Lord said to Moses,

⁶ Take the ^[a]Levites from among the Israelites and cleanse them.

⁷ And thus you shall do to them to cleanse them: sprinkle the water of purification [water to be used in case of sin] upon them, and let them pass a razor over all their flesh and wash their clothes and cleanse themselves.^(A)

⁸ Then let them take a young bull and its cereal offering of fine flour mixed with oil, and another young bull you shall take for a sin offering.

⁹ You shall present the Levites before the Tent of Meeting, and you shall assemble the whole Israelite congregation.

¹⁰ And you shall present the Levites before the Lord, and the Israelites shall put their hands upon the Levites,

¹¹ And Aaron shall offer the Levites before the Lord as a wave offering from the Israelites and on their behalf, that they may 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 present the Levites before Aaron and his sons and offer them as a wave offering to the Lord.

¹⁴ Thus you shall separate the Levites from among the Israelites, and the Levites shall be Mine [in a very special sense].

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 Israelites; instead of all who open the womb, the firstborn of all the Israelites, I have taken the Levites for Myself.

¹⁷ For all the firstborn of the Israelites are Mine, both of man and beast; on the day that I smote every firstborn in the land of Egypt [not of Israel], I consecrated them and set them apart for Myself.

¹⁸ And I have taken the Levites instead of all the firstborn of the Israelites.

¹⁹ And I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and to his sons from among the Israelites to do the service of the Israelites at the Tent of Meeting and to make atonement for them, that there may be no plague among the Israelites if they should come near the sanctuary.

²⁰ So Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the Israelites did thus to the Levites; according to all that the Lord commanded Moses concerning [them], so did the Israelites to them.

²¹ The Levites cleansed and purified themselves and they 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 with the attendance of Aaron and his sons; as the Lord had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so did they to them.

²³ And the Lord said to Moses,

²⁴ This is what applies to the Levites: from twenty-five years old and upward they shall go in to perform the work of the service of the Tent of Meeting,

²⁵ And at the age of fifty years, they shall retire from the warfare of the service and serve no more,

²⁶ But shall help their brethren in the Tent of Meeting [attend to protecting the sacred things from being profaned], but shall do no regular or heavy service. Thus shall you direct the Levites in regard to their duties.

9 The Lord said 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,

² Let the Israelites 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 ordinances you shall keep it.

⁴ So Moses told the Israelites they should keep the Passover.

⁵ And they kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month in the evening in the Wilderness of Sinai; according to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so the Israelites did.

⁶ And there were certain men who were defiled by touching the dead body of a man, so they could not keep the Passover on that day; and they came before Moses and Aaron on that day.

⁷ Those men said to [Moses], We are defiled by touching the dead body. Why are we prevented from offering the Lord’s offering at its appointed time among the Israelites?

⁸ And Moses said to them, Stand still, and I will hear what the Lord will command concerning you.

⁹ And the Lord said to Moses,

¹⁰ Say to the Israelites, If any man of you or of your posterity shall be unclean by reason of touching a dead body or is far off on a journey, still he shall keep the Passover to the Lord.

¹¹ On the fourteenth day of the second month in the evening they shall keep it, and eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.

¹² They shall leave none of it until the morning nor break any bone of it; according to all the statutes for the Passover they shall keep it.^(B)

¹³ But the man who is clean and is not on a journey, yet does not keep the Passover, that person shall be cut off from among his people because he did not bring the Lord’s offering at its appointed time; that man shall bear [the penalty of] his sin.

¹⁴ And if a stranger sojourns among you and will keep the Passover to the Lord, according to [its] statutes and its ordinances, so shall he do; you shall have one statute both for the temporary resident and for him who was born in the land.

¹⁵ And on the day that the tabernacle was erected, the cloud [of God’s presence] covered the tabernacle, that is, the Tent of the Testimony; and at evening it was over the tabernacle, having the appearance of [a pillar of] fire until the morning.^(C)

¹⁶ So it was constantly; the cloud covered it by day, and the appearance of fire by night.

¹⁷ Whenever the cloud was taken up from over the Tent, after that the Israelites journeyed; and in the place where the cloud rested, there the Israelites encamped.

¹⁸ At the Lord’s command the Israelites journeyed, and at [His] command they encamped. As long as the cloud rested upon the tabernacle they remained encamped.

¹⁹ Even when the cloud tarried upon the tabernacle many days, the Israelites kept the Lord’s charge and did not set out.

²⁰ And sometimes the cloud was only a few days upon the tabernacle, but according to the command of the Lord they remained encamped, and at His command they journeyed.

²¹ And sometimes the cloud remained [over the tabernacle] from evening only until morning, but when the cloud was taken up, they journeyed; whether it was taken up by day or by night, they journeyed.

²² Whether it was two days or a month or a longer time that the cloud tarried upon the tabernacle, dwelling on it, the Israelites remained encamped; but when it was taken up, they journeyed.

²³ At the command of the Lord they remained encamped, and at [His] command they journeyed; they kept the charge of the Lord, at the command of the Lord through Moses.

10 And the Lord said to Moses,

² Make two trumpets of silver; of hammered or turned work you shall make them, that you may use them to call the congregation and for breaking camp.

³ When they both are blown, all the congregation shall assemble before you at the door of the Tent of Meeting.

⁴ And if one blast on a single trumpet is blown, then the princes or leaders, heads of the tribes of Israel, shall gather themselves to you.

⁵ When you blow an alarm, the camps on the east side [of the tabernacle] shall set out.

⁶ When you blow an alarm the second time, then the camps on the south side shall set out. An alarm shall be blown whenever they are to set out on their journeys.

⁷ When the congregation is to be assembled, you shall blow [the trumpets in short, sharp tones], but not the blast of an alarm.

⁸ And the sons of Aaron, the priests, shall blow the trumpets, and the trumpets shall be to you for a perpetual statute throughout your generations.

⁹ When you go to war in your land against the enemy that oppresses you, then blow an alarm with the trumpets, that you may be remembered before the Lord your God, and you shall be saved from your enemies.

¹⁰ Also in the day of rejoicing, and in your set feasts, and at the beginnings of your months, you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings and your peace offerings; thus they may be a remembrance before your God. I am the Lord your God.

¹¹ On the twentieth day of the second month in the second year [since leaving Egypt], the cloud [of the Lord’s presence] was taken up from over the tabernacle of the Testimony,

¹² And the Israelites took their journey by stages out of the Wilderness of Sinai, and the [guiding] cloud rested in the Wilderness of Paran.

¹³ When the journey was to begin, at the command of the Lord through Moses,

¹⁴ In the first place went the standard of the camp of the sons of Judah by their companies; and over their host was Nahshon son of Amminadab.

¹⁵ And over the host of the tribe of the sons of Issachar was Nethanel son of Zuar.

¹⁶ And over the host of the tribe of the sons of Zebulun was Eliab son of Helon.

¹⁷ When the tabernacle was taken down, the sons of Gershon and Merari, bearing [it] on their shoulders, set out.

¹⁸ The standard of the camp of Reuben set forward by their companies; and over Reuben’s host was Elizur son of Shedeur.

¹⁹ And over the host of the tribe of the sons of Simeon was Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai.

²⁰ And over the host of the tribe of the sons of Gad was Eliasaph son of Deuel.

²¹ Then the Kohathites set forward, bearing the holy things, and the tabernacle was set up before they arrived.

²² And the standard of the camp of the sons of Ephraim set forward according to their companies; and over Ephraim’s host was Elishama son of Ammihud.

²³ Over the host of the tribe of the sons of Manasseh was Gamaliel son of Pedahzur.

²⁴ And over the host of the tribe of the sons of Benjamin was Abidan son of Gideoni.

²⁵ Then the standard of the camp of the sons of Dan, which was the rear guard of all the camps, set forward according to their companies; and over Dan’s host was Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai.

²⁶ And over the host of the tribe of the sons of Asher was Pagiel son of Ochran.

²⁷ And over the host of the tribe of the sons of Naphtali was Ahira son of Enan.

²⁸ This was the Israelites’ order of march by their hosts when they set out.

²⁹ And Moses said to Hobab son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses’ father-in-law, We are journeying to the place of which the Lord said, I will give it to you. Come with us, and we will do you good, for the Lord has promised good concerning Israel.

³⁰ And Hobab said to him, I will not go; I will depart to my own land and to my family.

³¹ And Moses said, ^[b]Do not leave us, I pray you; for you know how we are to encamp in the wilderness, and you will serve as eyes for us.

³² And if you will go with us, it shall be that whatever good the Lord does to us, the same we will do to you.

³³ They departed from the mountain of the Lord [Mount Sinai] three days’ journey; and the ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them during the three days’ journey to seek out a resting-place for them.

³⁴ The cloud of the Lord was over them by day when they went forward from the camp.

³⁵ Whenever the ark set out, Moses said, Rise up, Lord; let Your enemies be scattered; and let those who hate You flee before You.^(D)

³⁶ And when it rested, he said, Return, O Lord, to the ten thousand thousands in Israel.