Beginning

Setting Up the Lamps

8 The Lord said to Moses, ² “Say to Aaron, ‘When you put the seven lamps on the lamp-stand, they should give light in front of the lamp-stand.’” ³ And Aaron did so. He put the lamps so they would give light in front of the lamp-stand, as the Lord had told Moses. ⁴ Now this is the way the lamp-stand was made. It was made of beaten gold from the base to its flowers. He made the lamp-stand the way the Lord had shown Moses.

The Levites Are Set Apart

⁵ Then the Lord said to Moses, ⁶ “Take the Levites from among the people of Israel, and make them clean. ⁷ To make them clean, put holy water on them that takes away sin. Let them cut all the hair from their body, and wash their clothes, and they shall be clean. ⁸ Then let them take a young bull and its grain gift of fine flour mixed with oil. Take another young bull for a sin gift. ⁹ Bring the Levites in front of the meeting tent and gather together all the people of Israel also. ¹⁰ Bring the Levites before the Lord and the people of Israel will lay their hands on the Levites. ¹¹ Aaron will give the Levites to the Lord as a wave gift from the people of Israel so they will be able to do the work of the Lord. ¹² The Levites will lay their hands on the heads of the bulls. They will give one for a sin gift and the other for a burnt gift to the Lord, to pay for the sins of the Levites. ¹³ Then have the Levites stand in front of Aaron and his sons, to give them as a wave gift to the Lord.

¹⁴ “So you will divide the Levites from the people of Israel. And the Levites will be Mine. ¹⁵ After that the Levites may go in to work in the meeting tent. But you must make them clean and give them as a wave gift. ¹⁶ For they are all given to Me from among the people of Israel. I have taken them for Myself instead of every first child to be born, the first-born of all the people of Israel. ¹⁷ For every first-born among the people of Israel is Mine, both of man and animal. I set them apart for Myself on the day that I killed all the first-born in the land of Egypt. ¹⁸ But I have taken the Levites instead of every 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. They will do the work of the people of Israel at the meeting tent. By this they take away the sins of the people of Israel. So no trouble will come upon the people of Israel if they come near the meeting tent.”

²⁰ Moses and Aaron and all the people of Israel did this to the Levites. The people of Israel did to them all the things the Lord had told Moses about the Levites. ²¹ The Levites made themselves pure, putting away their sin. And they washed their clothes. Aaron gave them as a wave gift before the Lord. He did what had to be done to pay for their sin so they would be clean. ²² After that the Levites went in to do their work in the meeting tent in front of Aaron and his sons. So they did to the Levites just what the Lord had told Moses to do.

²³ The Lord said to Moses, ²⁴ “This is the rule for the Levites. Those who are twenty-five years old and older will go in to do the work of the meeting tent. ²⁵ But when they are fifty years old they will stop these duties and not work any more. ²⁶ They may help their brothers in the meeting tent to do what needs to be done but they themselves must not do the work. These are the rules for the Levites when giving them their duties.”

The Passover

9 The Lord spoke to Moses in the Sinai desert, in the first month of the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt. The Lord said, ² “Let the people of Israel keep the Passover at the time given for it. ³ Keep it at its given time, in the evening of the fourteenth day of this month. Keep it by obeying all its Laws.” ⁴ So Moses told the people of Israel to keep the Passover. ⁵ And they kept the Passover in the evening of the fourteenth day of the first month, in the Sinai desert. The people of Israel did all that the Lord had told Moses. ⁶ But there were some men who were unclean because they had touched a dead person. So they could not keep the Passover on that day. They came to Moses and Aaron that day ⁷ and said to Moses, “We are unclean because we touched a dead person. But why are we kept from giving the Lord’s gift at its given time among the people of Israel?” ⁸ Moses said to them, “Wait, and I will listen to what the Lord will tell me to do with you.”

⁹ Then the Lord said to Moses, ¹⁰ “Say to the people of Israel, ‘If anyone of you or your children touch a dead person and become unclean, or if you are traveling far away, even so, he may still keep the Passover to the Lord. ¹¹ They will keep it in the evening of the fourteenth day of the second month. They will eat it with bread without yeast and with bitter tasting plants. ¹² They must not leave any of it until morning. And they must not break a bone of the lamb. They must obey all of the Law of the Passover. ¹³ But if a man is clean and is not away traveling, yet does not keep the Passover, he must be cut off from his people. For he did not give the Lord’s gift at the time he was to do so. That man will be guilty of his sin. ¹⁴ If a stranger staying with you wants to keep the Passover to the Lord and obey the Law of the Passover, he may do so. You will have one law, both for the stranger and for the one who was born in the land.’”

The Cloud of Fire

¹⁵ On the day that the meeting tent was set up, the cloud covered the meeting tent, the tent of the law. In the evening it was over the meeting tent. It looked like fire until morning. ¹⁶ It was like this always. The cloud would cover it during the day. What looked like fire would cover it during the night. ¹⁷ When the cloud was lifted from over the meeting tent, the people of Israel would move on. Where the cloud rested, there the people of Israel would set up their tents. ¹⁸ The people of Israel would move on as the Lord told them. And they would set up their tents as the Lord told them. They stayed in one place as long as the cloud rested over the meeting tent. ¹⁹ Even when the cloud rested over the meeting tent for many days, the people of Israel would obey the Lord and not leave. ²⁰ Sometimes the cloud stayed a few days over the meeting tent. But they obeyed the Lord and stayed in that place. Then they would leave when the Lord told them. ²¹ Sometimes the cloud stayed from evening until morning. When the cloud lifted in the morning, they would leave. If the cloud stayed during the day and the night, when it was lifted, they would leave that place. ²² Even when the cloud stayed over the meeting tent for two days, or a month, or a year the people of Israel would stay in that place and not leave. They would leave when it was lifted. ²³ They set up their tents as the Lord told them. And they moved on as the Lord told them. They obeyed what the Lord had told them to do through Moses.

The Silver Horns

10 The Lord said to Moses, ² “Make two silver horns of beaten silver. Use them for calling the people together and for having the people move on. ³ When both horns sound, all the people will gather in front of you at the door of the meeting tent. ⁴ If only one horn sounds, then the leaders, the heads of the families of Israel, will gather in front of you. ⁵ When you blow the horn to tell of danger, the people whose tents are on the east side will leave. ⁶ When you blow the horn to tell of danger a second time, the people whose tents are on the south side will leave. A horn telling of danger will be blown when they are to move on. ⁷ But when the people are to be gathered together, you will blow the horn without the sound of danger. ⁸ Aaron’s sons, the religious leaders, will blow the horns. This will be a Law for all your people forever. ⁹ When you go to war in your land against those who fight you, then sound the horns to tell of war. That way you will be remembered before the Lord your God, and be saved from those who hate you. ¹⁰ On the days you are glad and at the time of your special suppers and on the first days of your months, blow the horns. Blow the horns over your burnt gifts and over your peace gifts. Then you will be remembered before your God. I am the Lord your God.”

The Children of Israel Leave Sinai

¹¹ On the twentieth day of the second month in the second year, the cloud was lifted from over the meeting tent of the Law. ¹² The people of Israel moved on from the Desert of Sinai. Then the cloud came down and rested in the desert of Paran. ¹³ So they moved for the first time as the Lord had told them through Moses. ¹⁴ The flag of the people of Judah left first, by their armies. Amminadab’s son Nahshon was the head of their army. ¹⁵ Zuar’s son Nethanel was the head of the men of Issachar. ¹⁶ And Helon’s son Eliab was the head of the men of Zebulun.

¹⁷ When the meeting tent was taken down, the sons of Gershon and Merari left carrying it. ¹⁸ Next the flag of the people of Reuben left, by their armies. Shedeur’s son Elizur was the head over this army. ¹⁹ Zurishaddai’s son Shelumiel was the head of the men of Simeon. ²⁰ Deuel’s son Eliasaph was the head of the men of Gad. ²¹ Then the Kohathites left, carrying the holy objects. The meeting tent was set up before they came to the next place. ²² Next the flag of the people of Ephraim left, by their armies. Ammihud’s son Elishama was the head over this army. ²³ Pedahzur’s son Gamaliel was the head of the men of Manasseh. ²⁴ Gideoni’s son Abidan was the head of the men of Benjamin.

²⁵ Then the flag of the people of Dan left, by their armies. They followed behind all the people of Israel, to watch for danger. Ammishaddai’s son Ahiezer was the head over this army. ²⁶ Ochran’s son Pagiel was the head of the men of Asher. ²⁷ And Enan’s son Ahira was the head of the men of Naphtali. ²⁸ This was how the people of Israel moved on by their armies.

²⁹ Then Moses said to Hobab the son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses’ father-in-law, “We are going to the place the Lord said He will give to us. Come with us and we will do you good. For the Lord has promised good to Israel.” ³⁰ But Hobab said to him, “I will not come. I will go to my own land and family.” ³¹ Moses said, “I beg you, do not leave us. For you know where we should stay in the desert. You will be like eyes for us. ³² If you go with us, we will do for you whatever good the Lord does for us.”

³³ So they traveled for three days from the mountain of the Lord with the special box with the Law of the Lord in front of them looking for a place for them to rest. ³⁴ The cloud of the Lord was over them during the day, when they moved on.

³⁵ When the special box of the Lord moved on, Moses said, “Rise up, O Lord! Let those who hate You be divided. Let those who hate You run away before You.” ³⁶ And when it rested, he said, “Return, O Lord, to the many thousands of Israel.”