The Silver Trumpets

10 The Lord said to Moses, ² “Make two silver trumpets; of hammered work you shall make them; and you shall use them for summoning the congregation, and for breaking camp. ³ And when both are blown, all the congregation shall gather themselves to you at the entrance of the tent of meeting. ⁴ But if they blow only one, then the leaders, the heads of the tribes of Israel, shall gather themselves to you. ⁵ When you blow an alarm, the camps that are on the east side shall set out. ⁶ And when you blow an alarm the second time, the camps that are 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 together, you shall blow, but you shall not sound an alarm. ⁸ And the sons of Aaron, the priests, shall blow the trumpets. The trumpets shall be to you for a perpetual statute throughout your generations. ⁹ And when you go to war in your land against the adversary who oppresses you, then you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets, that you may be remembered before the Lord your God, and you shall be saved from your enemies. ¹⁰ On the day of your gladness also, and at your appointed feasts, and at the beginnings of your months, you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; they shall serve you for remembrance before your God: I am the Lord your God.”

Departure from Sinai

¹¹ In the second year, in the second month, on the twentieth day of the month, the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle of the testimony, ¹² and the people of Israel set out by stages from the wilderness of Sinai; and the cloud settled down in the wilderness of Paran. ¹³ They set out for the first time at the command of the Lord by Moses. ¹⁴ The standard of the camp of the men of Judah set out first by their companies; and over their host was Nahshon the son of Ammin′adab. ¹⁵ And over the host of the tribe of the men of Is′sachar was Nethan′el the son of Zu′ar. ¹⁶ And over the host of the tribe of the men of Zeb′ulun was Eli′ab the son of Helon.

¹⁷ And when the tabernacle was taken down, the sons of Gershon and the sons of Merar′i, who carried the tabernacle, set out. ¹⁸ And the standard of the camp of Reuben set out by their companies; and over their host was Eli′zur the son of Shed′eur. ¹⁹ And over the host of the tribe of the men of Simeon was Shelu′mi-el the son of Zurishad′dai. ²⁰ And over the host of the tribe of the men of Gad was Eli′asaph the son of Deu′el.

²¹ Then the Ko′hathites set out, carrying the holy things, and the tabernacle was set up before their arrival. ²² And the standard of the camp of the men of E′phraim set out by their companies; and over their host was Elish′ama the son of Ammi′hud. ²³ And over the host of the tribe of the men of Manas′seh was Gama′liel the son of Pedah′zur. ²⁴ And over the host of the tribe of the men of Benjamin was Abi′dan the son of Gideo′ni.

²⁵ Then the standard of the camp of the men of Dan, acting as the rear guard of all the camps, set out by their companies; and over their host was Ahi-e′zer the son of Ammishad′dai. ²⁶ And over the host of the tribe of the men of Asher was Pa′giel the son of Ochran. ²⁷ And over the host of the tribe of the men of Naph′tali was Ahi′ra the son of Enan. ²⁸ This was the order of march of the people of Israel according to their hosts, when they set out.

²⁹ And Moses said to Hobab the son of Reu′el the Mid′ianite, Moses’ 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 do you good; for the Lord has promised good to Israel.” ³⁰ But he said to him, “I will not go; I will depart to my own land and to my kindred.” ³¹ And he said, “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 go with us, whatever good the Lord will do to us, the same will we do to you.”

³³ So they set out from the mount of the Lord three days’ journey; and the ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them three days’ journey, to seek out a resting place for them. ³⁴ And the cloud of the Lord was over them by day, whenever they set out from the camp.

³⁵ And whenever the ark set out, Moses said, “Arise, O Lord, and let thy enemies be scattered; and let them that hate thee flee before thee.” ³⁶ And when it rested, he said, “Return, O Lord, to the ten thousand thousands of Israel.”

The Consequences of Rebelling against God

9 “Hear, O Israel; you are to pass over the Jordan this day, to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourselves, cities great and fortified up to heaven, ² a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom you know, and of whom you have heard it said, ‘Who can stand before the sons of Anak?’ ³ Know therefore this day that he who goes over before you as a devouring fire is the Lord your God; he will destroy them and subdue them before you; so you shall drive them out, and make them perish quickly, as the Lord has promised you.

⁴ “Do not say in your heart, after the Lord your God has thrust them out before you, ‘It is because of my righteousness that the Lord has brought me in to possess this land’; whereas it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out before you. ⁵ Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess their land; but because of the wickedness of these nations the Lord your God is driving them out from before you, and that he may confirm the word which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

⁶ “Know therefore, that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness; for you are a stubborn people. ⁷ Remember and do not forget how you provoked the Lord your God to wrath in the wilderness; from the day you came out of the land of Egypt, until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the Lord. ⁸ Even at Horeb you provoked the Lord to wrath, and the Lord was so angry with you that he was ready to destroy you. ⁹ When I went up the mountain to receive the tables of stone, the tables of the covenant which the Lord made with you, I remained on the mountain forty days and forty nights; I neither ate bread nor drank water. ¹⁰ And the Lord gave me the two tables of stone written with the finger of God; and on them were all the words which the Lord had spoken with you on the mountain out of the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly. ¹¹ And at the end of forty days and forty nights the Lord gave me the two tables of stone, the tables of the covenant. ¹² Then the Lord said to me, ‘Arise, go down quickly from here; for your people whom you have brought from Egypt have acted corruptly; they have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them; they have made themselves a molten image.’

¹³ “Furthermore the Lord said to me, ‘I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stubborn people; ¹⁴ let me alone, that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven; and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.’ ¹⁵ So I turned and came down from the mountain, and the mountain was burning with fire; and the two tables of the covenant were in my two hands. ¹⁶ And I looked, and behold, you had sinned against the Lord your God; you had made yourselves a molten calf; you had turned aside quickly from the way which the Lord had commanded you. ¹⁷ So I took hold of the two tables, and cast them out of my two hands, and broke them before your eyes. ¹⁸ Then I lay prostrate before the Lord as before, forty days and forty nights; I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all the sin which you had committed, in doing what was evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger. ¹⁹ For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure which the Lord bore against you, so that he was ready to destroy you. But the Lord hearkened to me that time also. ²⁰ And the Lord was so angry with Aaron that he was ready to destroy him; and I prayed for Aaron also at the same time. ²¹ Then I took the sinful thing, the calf which you had made, and burned it with fire and crushed it, grinding it very small, until it was as fine as dust; and I threw the dust of it into the brook that descended out of the mountain.

²² “At Tab′erah also, and at Massah, and at Kib′roth-hatta′avah, you provoked the Lord to wrath. ²³ And when the Lord sent you from Ka′desh-bar′nea, saying, ‘Go up and take possession of the land which I have given you,’ then you rebelled against the commandment of the Lord your God, and did not believe him or obey his voice. ²⁴ You have been rebellious against the Lord from the day that I knew you.

²⁵ “So I lay prostrate before the Lord for these forty days and forty nights, because the Lord had said he would destroy you. ²⁶ And I prayed to the Lord, ‘O Lord God, destroy not thy people and thy heritage, whom thou hast redeemed through thy greatness, whom thou hast brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand. ²⁷ Remember thy servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; do not regard the stubbornness of this people, or their wickedness, or their sin, ²⁸ lest the land from which thou didst bring us say, “Because the Lord was not able to bring them into the land which he promised them, and because he hated them, he has brought them out to slay them in the wilderness.” ²⁹ For they are thy people and thy heritage, whom thou didst bring out by thy great power and by thy outstretched arm.’

Prayer for Deliverance from Enemies