Numbers 8; Numbers 9; Numbers 10

1 The LORD said to Moses,

2 "Speak to Aaron and tell him: When you set up the seven lamps on the lamp stand, they should light up the area in front of it."

3 So Aaron set up the lamps on the lamp stand to light up the area in front of it, as the LORD commanded Moses.

4 This is how the lamp stand was made: The whole lamp stand, from top to bottom, was hammered out of gold. It was made exactly like the one the LORD had shown Moses.

5 The LORD said to Moses,

6 "Separate the Levites from the rest of the Israelites, and make them clean.

7 This is what you must do to make them clean: Sprinkle them with water to take away their sins. Make them shave their whole bodies and wash their clothes. Then they will be clean.

8 Next, they must take a young bull and the grain offering of flour mixed with olive oil that is offered with it. You must take a second young bull as an offering for sin.

9 Bring the Levites to the front of the tent of meeting, and assemble the whole community of Israel.

10 Then bring the Levites into the LORD's presence, and the Israelites will place their hands on them.

11 Aaron will present the Levites to the LORD as an offering from the Israelites. Then they will be ready to do the LORD's work.

12 "The Levites will place their hands on the heads of the young bulls. Sacrifice one of them as an offering for sin and the other one as a burnt offering to the LORD. These sacrifices will make peace with the LORD for the Levites.

13 Make the Levites stand in front of Aaron and his sons, and present them as an offering to the LORD.

14 In this way you will separate the Levites from the other Israelites, and the Levites will be mine.

15 "Once you have made them clean and presented them as an offering, the Levites may come and do their work at the tent of meeting.

16 They will be the only Israelites given to me. I have taken them to be mine as substitutes for every firstborn male offspring of the Israelites.

17 Every firstborn in Israel, whether human or animal, is mine. The day I killed every firstborn male in Egypt, I set them apart as holy to me.

18 So I have taken the Levites as substitutes for all the firstborn sons of the Israelites.

19 The Levites will be the only Israelites I give to Aaron and his sons. They will work for the Israelites at the tent of meeting. They will make peace with the LORD for the Israelites. Then no plague will strike the Israelites when they come near the holy place."

20 Moses, Aaron, and the whole community of Israel did what the LORD commanded Moses to do to the Levites.

21 The Levites performed the ceremonies to take away their sins and washed their clothes. Aaron presented them as an offering to the LORD and made peace with the LORD for them in order to make them clean.

22 After that, the Levites came and did their work at the tent of meeting in the presence of Aaron and his sons. They did as the LORD had commanded Moses.

23 The LORD said to Moses,

24 "These are the instructions for the Levites: Men 25 years old or older are eligible to serve at the tent of meeting.

25 But when they're 50 years old, they must retire from active service and not work anymore.

26 They may assist the other Levites in their duties at the tent of meeting, but they may not do any regular work. This is how you will handle the Levites' duties."

1 In the first month of the second year after the Israelites left Egypt, the LORD spoke to Moses in the Desert of Sinai. He said,

2 "The Israelites must celebrate the Passover at the same time every year.

3 You must celebrate it on the fourteenth day of this month at dusk. Follow all the rules and regulations for the celebration of the Passover."

4 So Moses told the Israelites to celebrate the Passover,

5 and they celebrated it on the fourteenth day of the first month at dusk while they were in the Desert of Sinai. The Israelites did everything as the LORD had commanded Moses.

6 But there were some men who had become unclean from touching a dead body, and they couldn't celebrate the Passover that day. They came to Moses and Aaron

7 and said, "We are unclean because we touched a dead body. Why won't you let us bring our offerings to the LORD at the same time the rest of the Israelites bring their offerings?"

8 Moses answered them, "Wait here until I find out what the LORD commands you to do."

9 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Tell the Israelites:

10 Suppose you or any of your descendants is unclean from touching a dead body or is away on a long trip. You may still celebrate the Passover.

11 You will celebrate it on the fourteenth day of the second month at dusk. You must eat the Passover animal along with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.

12 You must never leave any of the meat until morning or break any of the animal's bones. You must follow all the rules for the Passover when you celebrate it.

13 But if you are clean and not on a trip and yet don't bother to celebrate the Passover, you must be excluded from the people. You didn't bring your offering to the LORD at the right time. You must suffer the consequences for your sin.

14 "Foreigners living with you may want to celebrate the LORD's Passover. They must follow these same rules and regulations. The same rules will apply to foreigners and native-born Israelites."

15 On the day the tent of the words of God's promise was set up, the [column of] smoke covered it. From evening until morning, the smoke over the tent glowed like fire.

16 The smoke always glowed this way. At night the smoke covering the tent glowed like fire.

17 Whenever the smoke moved from the tent, the Israelites would break camp, and wherever it stopped, the Israelites would set up camp.

18 At the LORD's command the Israelites would break camp, and at his command they would set up camp. As long as the [column of] smoke stayed over the tent, they would stay in the same place.

19 When the smoke stayed over the tent for a long time, the Israelites obeyed the LORD's command and wouldn't break camp.

20 The same thing happened when the smoke stayed only a few days over the tent: At the LORD's command they would set up camp, and at his command they would break camp.

21 Sometimes the [column of] smoke stayed only from evening until morning. When the smoke moved in the morning, they broke camp. Day or night, when the smoke moved, they broke camp.

22 Whether it was two days, a month, or a year, as long as the [column of] smoke stayed over the tent, the Israelites would stay in the same place and not break camp. But when the smoke moved, they would break camp.

23 At the LORD's command they set up camp, and at his command they broke camp. They obeyed the command that the LORD had given through Moses.

1 The LORD said to Moses,

2 "Make two trumpets out of hammered silver. Use them to call the community together and as a signal to break camp.

3 When you blow both trumpets, the whole community will meet with you at the entrance to the tent of meeting.

4 If only one trumpet blows, the leaders, the heads of the divisions of Israel, will meet with you.

5 When they hear the trumpet fanfare, the tribes that are camped on the east side will break camp first.

6 When the trumpets sound a second fanfare, the tribes that are camped on the south will break camp. The fanfare is the signal to break camp.

7 But when you gather the assembly, the trumpets will blow without sounding a fanfare.

8 The sons of Aaron, the priests, will blow the trumpets. This will be a permanent law for you and your descendants.

9 "When you go to war in your own country against an enemy who is oppressing you, the trumpets will sound a fanfare. Then the LORD your God will remember you and rescue you from your enemies.

10 Also, on your festival days and on the first day of the month, blow the trumpets when you sacrifice your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. The trumpets will be a reminder for you in God's presence. I am the LORD your God."

11 On the twentieth day of the second month of the second year, the [column of] smoke left the tent of the words of God's promise.

12 So the Israelites moved from the Desert of Sinai and traveled from place to place until the [column of] smoke stopped in the Desert of Paran.

13 This was the first time they moved, following the command that the LORD had given through Moses.

14 With their flag in front, the armies led by Judah's descendants broke camp first. Nahshon, son of Amminadab, was in command.

15 Nethanel, son of Zuar, commanded the army of Issachar.

16 Eliab, son of Helon, commanded the army of Zebulun.

17 Then the tent [of meeting] was taken down, and the Gershonites and Merarites, who carried it, broke camp.

18 With their flag in front, the armies led by Reuben's descendants broke camp next. Elizur, son of Shedeur, was in command.

19 Shelumiel, son of Zurishaddai, commanded the army of Simeon.

20 Eliasaph, son of Deuel, commanded the army of Gad.

21 Then the Kohathites, who carried the holy things, broke camp. By the time they arrived, the tent [of meeting] would already be set up.

22 With their flag in front, the armies led by Ephraim's descendants broke camp next. Elisha, son of Ammihud, was in command.

23 Gamaliel, son of Pedahzur, commanded the army of Manasseh.

24 Abidan, son of Gideoni, commanded the army of Benjamin.

25 As a rear guard for the whole camp, the armies led by Dan's descendants broke camp last with their flag in front. Ahiezer, son of Ammishaddai, was in command.

26 Pagiel, son of Ochran, commanded the army of Asher.

27 Ahira, son of Enan, commanded the army of Naphtali.

28 This was the order in which the Israelite armies broke camp when they went from place to place.

29 Moses said to his brother-in-law Hobab, son of Reuel the Midianite, "We are going to the place the LORD promised to give us. Come with us. We will be good to you, because the LORD has promised good things to Israel."

30 Hobab answered, "No, I won't go. I want to go back to my own country where my relatives are."

31 But Moses said, "Please don't leave us. You know where we can set up camp in the desert, and you could be our guide.

32 If you come with us, we will share with you all the good things the LORD gives us."

33 So they left the mountain of the LORD and traveled for three days. The ark of the LORD's promise went ahead of them a distance of three days' journey to find them a place to rest.

34 The LORD's [column of] smoke was over them by day when they moved the camp.

35 Whenever the ark started to move, Moses would say, "Arise, O LORD! Scatter your enemies! Make those who hate you run away from you!"

36 And whenever it stopped, he would say, "Return, O LORD, to the countless thousands of Israel!"