Beginning

The special lampstand

8 Then the Lord said to Moses, ² ‘Speak to Aaron and say to him, “When you put the lamps on the lampstand, the seven lamps must give light in front of the lampstand.” ’

³ So Aaron did that. He put its lamps at the front of the lampstand, as the Lord had said to Moses. ⁴ A worker had made the lampstand from one piece of gold that he had made flat with a hammer. From its base to the flowers at the top, he had made it in that way. It was completely like the lampstand that the Lord had shown to Moses.^[a]

The Levites must be ready to serve God

⁵ Again the Lord spoke to Moses and he said, ⁶ ‘Take the Levites from among the Israelites and make them clean. ⁷ You will make them clean like this: Put on them the special water that makes people clean. They must remove all the hair from their whole body, and they must wash their clothes. Then they will be clean. ⁸ Then they must take a bull with the proper grain offering and oil. And you must take another bull for a sin offering. ⁹ Then you must bring the Levites in front of the Tent of Meeting. You must also bring all the Israelites there. ¹⁰ You must bring the Levites in front of the Lord. Then the Israelites must put their hands on the Levites' heads. ¹¹ Aaron must give the Levites to the Lord as a special offering from the Israelites. Then they will be ready to do the Lord's work.

¹² Then the Levites must put their hands on the heads of the bulls. Then offer one bull for a sin offering and the other one for a burnt offering to the Lord.^[b] That will make peace with the Lord for the Levites sin. ¹³ And you must cause the Levites to stand in front of Aaron and his sons. So they will be a special gift to the Lord. ¹⁴ That is how you will make the Levites separate from the other Israelites. And then the Levites will be mine.

¹⁵ Then after that the Levites can go in to work in the Tent of Meeting. But you must make them clean and you must bring them to me as a special gift. ¹⁶ That is because all the Levites among the Israelites are mine. All the Israelites' firstborn sons are mine. But I have taken the Levites for myself instead. ¹⁷ Every firstborn son among the Israelites is mine. And all the firstborn male animals are mine too. On the day that I killed all the firstborn sons in Egypt I made them special for myself. ¹⁸ But now I have not taken all the firstborn sons among the Israelites. I have taken the Levites instead. ¹⁹ And I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and to his sons from among the Israelites. They will work at the Tent of Meeting on behalf of the Israelites. And they will make peace with me on behalf of the Israelites. So there will not be a bad disease among the Israelites when they go near to God's Holy Tent.’

²⁰ So Moses and Aaron and all the Israelites did those things to the Levites. The Israelites did everything that the Lord had said to Moses about the Levites. ²¹ The Levites, too, made themselves clean and they washed their clothes. And Aaron brought them in front of Lord as a special gift. Aaron also burnt sacrifices to make them clean. ²² After that, the Levites went in to do their work in the Tent of Meeting. They helped Aaron and his sons. The Israelites did everything with the Levites that the Lord had said to Moses about them.

²³ Then the Lord spoke to Moses again and he said, ²⁴ ‘These are the rules about the Levites: The men who are 25 years old or older must go in to work in the Tent of Meeting. ²⁵ But they must stop that work when they are 50 years old. And they must not do that work after that. ²⁶ But they can help the other Levites in the Tent of Meeting. They can help them to do their jobs. But they themselves must not have any jobs. Those are the rules about the Levites and about their jobs.’

The Passover feast

9 The Lord spoke to Moses in the Sinai desert. The Israelites had left Egypt. It was the second year after the Israelites had left that country. It was the first month during that year. The Lord said, ² ‘The Israelites must eat the Passover meal at the proper time. They must eat it as the rules about it say. ³ The proper time is during the evening of the 14th day of this month. It is when it starts to become dark. That is when you must eat it. You must obey all its rules and its laws.’

⁴ So Moses told the Israelites that they should eat the Passover. ⁵ So they ate the Passover in the first month, on the 14th day when it started to become dark. That was in the Sinai desert. The Israelites did everything that the Lord had said to Moses about it.

⁶ But there were some people who were not clean. That was because they had touched a dead body. So they could not eat the Passover on that day. So they came to Moses and Aaron on that day. ⁷ And those people said to Moses, ‘We are not clean because of the dead body that we touched. But we would like to bring our gift to the Lord at the proper time with the other Israelites.’

⁸ So Moses said to them, ‘Wait here. Then I will ask the Lord about this.’

⁹ Then the Lord said to Moses, ¹⁰ ‘Say to the Israelites, “Anyone among you or your descendants may become not clean because of a dead body. Or they may be away because they are travelling. They can still eat the Passover meal to thank the Lord. ¹¹ They must eat it during the evening of the 14th day of the second month. They must eat it when it starts to become dark. They must eat it with bread and with bitter herbs. The bread must not have yeast in it. ¹² They must not keep any of the food until the next morning. And they must not break any of the bones of the lamb. And they must obey all the rules about the Passover. ¹³ But perhaps a clean person who is at home chooses not to eat the Passover meal. You must make that person separate from his people. That is because he did not offer the proper sacrifices to the Lord at the proper time. So that person must receive the punishment for his sin.

¹⁴ People from foreign countries may also eat the Lord's Passover meal, if they are living among you. But they must obey all the rules about the Passover festival. The rules are the same for a foreign person and for an Israelite.” ’

The cloud above the Tent of Meeting

¹⁵ On the day that Moses put up the Tent of Meeting, a cloud covered it. In the evening it became something like a fire over the Tent, until morning. ¹⁶ It was like that all the time. The cloud covered it during the day. But at night, the cloud seemed to have fire in it. ¹⁷ When the cloud went up from God's Tent, the Israelites started to travel. And when the cloud came down, the Israelites made their camp in that place. ¹⁸ The Lord decided when the Israelites should start to travel. And the Lord decided where they should stop and make their camp. During all the time that the cloud was over the tabernacle, they stayed in their camp. ¹⁹ Even when the cloud stayed over the tabernacle for many days, the Israelites obeyed the Lord. They did not start to travel. ²⁰ Sometimes the cloud stayed over God's Tent for a few days. Then they remained in their camp. When the Lord showed them that they should travel, they started to travel. ²¹ Sometimes the cloud stayed there from evening until morning. But, when the cloud went up in the morning, they started to travel. But sometimes it stayed for one day and one night. Then when the cloud went up, they started to travel again. ²² Sometimes the cloud continued to be over God's Tent for two days or for a month or for a year. It stayed above it. Then, the Israelites stayed in their camp. They did not start to travel. But when it went up, they did start to travel. ²³ The Lord decided when they should make their camp. And the Lord decided when they should start to travel. So they obeyed the Lord about everything that the Lord said to Moses.

The silver trumpets

10 The Lord said to Moses, ² ‘Make two trumpets from one piece of silver. Use a hammer to make them in the right shape. Make a noise with them to tell the people that they must come together. Also, use the trumpets to tell the people that they must move the camp. ³ When the people hear the sound from both trumpets, all the people must meet you. They must meet you at the door of the Tent of Meeting. ⁴ But you may want only the leaders of Israel's tribes to meet you. If you want that, a priest should make the sound from only one trumpet. ⁵ But when the sound is one short sound, the tribes on the east side of the camp must start to travel. ⁶ When they hear the next short sound, the tribes on the south side of the camp must start to travel. Short sounds from the trumpet will tell the people that they must start to travel. ⁷ But when you want everyone to meet together, make a different sound with the trumpet.

⁸ The priests, the sons of Aaron, must use the trumpets to make a noise. This is a rule for you and for all your descendants. ⁹ Use the trumpets to tell everyone when an enemy is attacking you in your own land. Make a sound with the trumpets to tell the people that they must fight the enemy. Then the Lord your God will hear and he will save you from your enemies. ¹⁰ You must make sounds with the trumpets on your happy days, too. And you must make sounds with the trumpets at your regular festivals and on the first days of your months. And you must make sounds with the trumpets over your burnt offerings, and over your friendship offerings. God will hear and he will remember you. I am the Lord your God.’

The Israelites leave the Sinai desert

¹¹ In the second year, in the second month, on the 20th day of the month, the cloud went up. It went away from God's Tent of Meeting. ¹² So the Israelites started to travel on their journey away from the Sinai desert.^[c] Then the cloud stopped in the desert called Paran. ¹³ They started to travel for the first time, in the way that the Lord had told them to do, through Moses.

¹⁴ The flag of the camp of Judah's tribe, started to travel first, with all their armies. And Nahshon the son of Amminadab was over all their armies. ¹⁵ Nethanel, the son of Zuar, was over the army of the tribe of Issachar. ¹⁶ Eliab, the son of Helon, was over the army of the tribe of Zebulun. ¹⁷ Then the Levites packed God's Tent. Then Gershon's clan and Merari's clan, who were carrying God's Tent, started to travel.

¹⁸ Next the flag of the camp of Reuben started to travel, with all their armies. Elizur, the son of Shedeur, was over all their armies. ¹⁹ Shelumiel, the son of Zurishaddai, was over the army of the tribe of Simeon. ²⁰ Eliasaph, the son of Deuel, was over the army of the tribe of Gad. ²¹ Then Kohath's clan started to travel. They were carrying the holy things. Before they arrived at the new camp, the other Levites would put up God's Tent.

²² Next the flag of the camp of the tribe of Ephraim started to travel, with all their armies. Elishama the son of Ammihud was over all their armies. ²³ And Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur was over the army of the tribe of Manasseh. ²⁴ And Abidan the son of Gideoni was over the army of the tribe of Benjamin.

²⁵ Then the flag of the camp of the tribe of Dan started to travel last, with all their armies. They could keep the Israelites safe if an enemy attacked them from behind them. Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai was over all their armies. ²⁶ And Pagiel the son of Ocran was over the army of the tribe of Asher. ²⁷ And Ahira the son of Enan was over the army of the tribe of Naphtali. ²⁸ The Israelites marched out like that every time that they started to travel.

²⁹ Moses spoke to Reuel's son, Hobab. He was the brother of Moses' wife. He was a Midianite. Moses said to Hobab, ‘We are leaving here now to go to another place. The Lord has said to us, “I will give that place to you.” The Lord has promised to help Israel's people with good things. So come with us and we will take care of you.’

³⁰ But Hobab said to him, ‘I will not come. Instead, I will return to my own country and to my family there.’

³¹ Moses said, ‘Please do not leave us. You know good places for us to put up our tents in the desert. So you can be our guide. ³² And if you come with us, we will share with you the good things that the Lord gives to us.’

³³ So the Israelites left the Lord's mountain. They travelled for three days. During that time, the Levites carried the Lord's Covenant Box in front of them. That was so that the Lord could show them where to make their camp. ³⁴ And the Lord's cloud was over them during the day, whenever they started to travel from the camp.

³⁵ Each time that the Covenant Box started to travel Moses said, ‘Be ready, Lord! Cause your enemies to run away in every direction!’ ³⁶ When they stopped travelling, Moses said, ‘Return, Lord, to be near to the thousands of Israel's people.’