Numbers 9

¹ Yahweh spoke to Moses, in the wilderness of Sinai, in the second year after the exodus from Egypt, in the first month. He said:

² ‘Let the sons of Israel keep the Passover at its appointed time.

³ The fourteenth day of this month, between the two evenings, is the appointed time for you to keep it. You must keep it with all the laws and customs proper to it.’

⁴ Moses gave orders for the sons of Israel to keep the Passover.

⁵ They kept it, in tile wilderness of Sinai, in the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, between the two evenings. The sons of Israel did exactly as Yahweh had ordered Moses.

⁶ It happened that certain men had become unclean by touching a dead body; they could not keep the Passover that day. They came the same day to Moses and Aaron,

⁷ and said to them, ‘We have become unclean by touching a dead body. Why should we be forbidden to bring an offering to Yahweh at the proper time with the rest of the sons of Israel?’

⁸ Moses answered them, ‘Wait there till I learn what orders Yahweh gives about you’.

⁹ Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,

¹⁰ ‘Say this to the sons of Israel: “If anyone, among you or your descendants, becomes unclean by touching a dead body or is on a journey abroad, he can still keep a Passover for Yahweh.

¹¹ Such persons shall keep it in the second month, on the fourteenth day, between the two evenings. They are to eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs;

¹² nothing of it must be left over until morning, nor must they break any of its bones: they must keep this Passover exactly according to the paschal ritual.

¹³ But if anyone who is clean, or who has not had to go on a journey, fails to keep the Passover, he shall be outlawed from his people. He has not brought the offering to Yahweh at its appointed time, and he must bear the burden of his sin.

¹⁴ “If a stranger is living among you and keeps a Passover for Yahweh, he must keep it in accordance with the laws and customs of the Passover. There is to be only one law among you, for settler and native alike.”‘

¹⁵ On the day the tabernacle was set up, the Cloud covered the tabernacle, the Tent of the Testimony. From nightfall until morning, it remained over the tabernacle under the appearance of fire.

¹⁶ So the Cloud covered it continually, at night taking the appearance of fire.

¹⁷ Whenever the Cloud lifted above the Tent, the sons of Israel broke camp; whenever the Cloud halted, there the sons of Israel pitched camp.

¹⁸ The sons of Israel set out at the command of Yahweh, and at his command they pitched camp. The people remained encamped as long as the Cloud rested on the tabernacle.

¹⁹ If the Cloud stayed for many days above the tabernacle, the sons of Israel paid worship to Yahweh and did not break camp.

²⁰ But if the Cloud happened to stay for only a few days above the tabernacle, they pitched camp at Yahweh’s command and broke camp at Yahweh’s command.

²¹ If the Cloud happened to remain only from evening to morning, they set out when it lifted the next morning. Or, if it stayed for a whole day and night, they set out only when it lifted.

²² Sometimes it stayed there for two days, a month, or a year; however long the Cloud stayed, above the tabernacle, the sons of Israel remained in camp in the same place, and when it lifted they set out.

²³ At Yahweh’s command they pitched camp, and at Yahweh’s command they broke camp. They paid worship to Yahweh, according to the orders which Yahweh had given through Moses.