91 And the Lord said to Moses, in the waste land of Sinai, in the first month of the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, 2 Let the children of Israel keep the Passover at its regular time. 3 In the fourteenth day of this month, at evening, you are to keep it at the regular time, and in the way ordered in the law. 4 And Moses gave orders to the children of Israel to keep the Passover. 5 So they kept the Passover in the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, at evening, in the waste land of Sinai: as the Lord gave orders to Moses, so the children of Israel did. 6 And there were certain men who were unclean because of a dead body, so that they were not able to keep the Passover on that day; and they came before Moses and before Aaron on that day: 7 And these men said to him, We have been made unclean by the dead body of a man; why may we not make the offering of the Lord at the regular time among the children of Israel? 8 And Moses said to them, Do nothing till the Lord gives me directions about you. 9 And the Lord said to Moses, 10 Say to the children of Israel, If any one of you or of your families is unclean because of a dead body, or is on a journey far away, still he is to keep the Passover to the Lord: 11 In the second month, on the fourteenth day, in the evening, they are to keep it, taking it with unleavened bread and bitter-tasting plants; 12 Nothing of it is to be kept till the morning, and no bone of it is to be broken: they are to keep it by the rules of the Passover. 13 But the man who, not being unclean or on a journey, does not keep the Passover, will be cut off from his people: because he did not make the offering of the Lord at the regular time, his sin will be on him. 14 And if a man from another country is among you and has a desire to keep the Passover to the Lord, let him do as is ordered in the law of the Passover: there is to be the same rule for the man from another nation and for him who had his birth in the land.
15 And on the day when the House was put up, the cloud came down on it, on the Tent of witness; and in the evening there was a light like fire over the House till the morning. 16 And so it was at all times: it was covered by the cloud, and by a light as of fire by night. 17 And whenever the cloud was taken up from over the House, then the children of Israel went journeying on; and in the place where the cloud came to rest, there the children of Israel put up their tents. 18 At the order of the Lord the children of Israel went forward, and at the order of the Lord they put up their tents: as long as the cloud was resting on the House, they did not go away from that place. 19 When the cloud was resting on the House for a long time the children of Israel, waiting for the order of the Lord, did not go on. 20 Sometimes the cloud was resting on the House for two or three days; then, by the order of the Lord, they kept their tents in that place, and when the Lord gave the order they went on. 21 And sometimes the cloud was there only from evening to morning; and when the cloud was taken up in the morning they went on their journey again: or if it was resting there by day and by night, whenever the cloud was taken up they went forward. 22 Or if the cloud came to rest on the House for two days or a month or a year without moving, the children of Israel went on waiting there and did not go on; but whenever it was taken up they went forward on their journey. 23 At the word of the Lord they put up their tents, and at the word of the Lord they went forward on their journey: they kept the orders of the Lord as he gave them by Moses.
101 And the Lord said to Moses, 2 Make two silver horns of hammered work, to be used for getting the people together and to give the sign for the moving of the tents. 3 When they are sounded, all the people are to come together to you at the door of the Tent of meeting. 4 If only one of them is sounded, then the chiefs, the heads of the thousands of Israel, are to come to you. 5 When a loud note is sounded, the tents placed on the east side are to go forward. 6 At the sound of a second loud note, the tents on the south side are to go forward: the loud note will be the sign to go forward. 7 But when all the people are to come together, the horn is to be sounded but not loudly. 8 The horns are to be sounded by the sons of Aaron, the priests; this is to be a law for you for ever, from generation to generation. 9 And if you go to war in your land against any who do you wrong, then let the loud note of the horn be sounded; and the Lord your God will keep you in mind and give you salvation from those who are against you. 10 And on days of joy and on your regular feasts and on the first day of every month, let the horns be sounded over your burned offerings and your peace-offerings; and they will put the Lord in mind of you: I am the Lord your God.
11 Now in the second year, on the twentieth day of the second month, the cloud was taken up from over the Tent of witness. 12 And the children of Israel went on their journey out of the waste land of Sinai; and the cloud came to rest in the waste land of Paran. 13 They went forward for the first time on their journey as the Lord had given orders by the hand of Moses. 14 First the flag of the children of Judah went forward with their armies: and at the head of his army was Nahshon, the son of Amminadab. 15 And at the head of the army of the children of Issachar was Nethanel, the son of Zuar. 16 And at the head of the army of the children of Zebulun was Eliab, the son of Helon. 17 Then the House was taken down; and the sons of Gershon and the sons of Merari, who were responsible for moving the House, went forward. 18 Then the flag of the children of Reuben went forward with their armies: and at the head of his army was Elizur, the son of Shedeur. 19 And at the head of the army of the children of Simeon was Shelumiel, the son of Zurishaddai. 20 At the head of the army of the children of Gad was Eliasaph, the son of Reuel. 21 Then the Kohathites went forward with the holy place; the others put up the House ready for their coming. 22 Then the flag of the children of Ephraim went forward with their armies: and at the head of his army was Elishama, the son of Ammihud. 23 At the head of the army of the children of Manasseh was Gamaliel, the son of Pedahzur. 24 At the head of the army of the children of Benjamin was Abidan, the son of Gideoni. 25 And the flag of the children of Dan, whose tents were moved last of all, went forward with their armies: and at the head of his army was Ahiezer, the son of Ammishaddai. 26 At the head of the army of the children of Asher was Pagiel, the son of Ochran. 27 And at the head of the army of the children of Naphtali was Ahira, the son of Enan. 28 This was the order in which the children of Israel were journeying by armies; so they went forward.
29 Then Moses said to Hobab, the son of his father-in-law Reuel the Midianite, We are journeying to that place of which the Lord has said, I will give it to you: so come with us, and it will be for your profit: for the Lord has good things in store for Israel. 30 But he said, I will not go with you, I will go back to the land of my birth and to my relations. 31 And he said, Do not go from us; for you will be eyes for us, guiding us to the right places in the waste land to put up our tents. 32 And if you come with us, we will give you a part in whatever good the Lord does for us. 33 So they went forward three days' journey from the mountain of the Lord; and the ark of the Lord's agreement went three days' journey before them, looking for a resting-place for them; 34 And by day the cloud of the Lord went over them, when they went forward from the place where they had put up their tents. 35 And when the ark went forward Moses said, Come up, O Lord, and let the armies of those who are against you be broken, and let your haters go in flight before you. 36 And when it came to rest, he said, Take rest, O Lord, and give a blessing to the families of Israel.
111 Now the people were saying evil against the Lord; and the Lord, hearing it, was angry and sent fire on them, burning the outer parts of the tent-circle. 2 And the people made an outcry to Moses, and Moses made prayer to the Lord, and the fire was stopped. 3 So that place was named Taberah, because of the fire of the Lord which had been burning among them.
4 And the mixed band of people who went with them were overcome by desire: and the children of Israel, weeping again, said, Who will give us flesh for our food? 5 Sweet is the memory of the fish we had in Egypt for nothing, and the fruit and green plants of every sort, sharp and pleasing to the taste: 6 But now our soul is wasted away; there is nothing at all: we have nothing but this manna before our eyes. 7 Now the manna was like a seed of grain, like small clear drops. 8 The people went about taking it up from the earth, crushing it between stones or hammering it to powder, and boiling it in pots, and they made cakes of it: its taste was like the taste of cakes cooked with oil. 9 When the dew came down on the tents at night, the manna came down with it. 10 And at the sound of the people weeping, every man at his tent-door, the wrath of the Lord was great, and Moses was very angry. 11 And Moses said to the Lord, Why have you done me this evil? and why have I not grace in your eyes, that you have put on me the care of all this people? 12 Am I the father of all this people? have I given them birth, that you say to me, Take them in your arms, like a child at the breast, to the land which you gave by an oath to their fathers? 13 Where am I to get flesh to give to all this people? For they are weeping to me and saying, Give us flesh for our food. 14 I am not able by myself to take the weight of all this people, for it is more than my strength. 15 If this is to be my fate, put me to death now in answer to my prayer, if I have grace in your eyes; and let me not see my shame.
16 And the Lord said to Moses, Send for seventy of the responsible men of Israel, who are in your opinion men of weight and authority over the people; make them come to the Tent of meeting and be there with you. 17 And I will come down and have talk with you there: and I will take some of the spirit which is on you and put it on them, and they will take part of the weight of the people off you, so that you do not have to take it by yourself. 18 And say to the people, Make yourselves clean before tomorrow and you will have flesh for your food: for in the ears of the Lord you have been weeping and saying, Who will give us flesh for food? for we were well off in Egypt: and so the Lord will give you flesh, and it will be your food; 19 Not for one day only, or even for five or ten or twenty days; 20 But every day for a month, till you are tired of it, turning from it in disgust: because you have gone against the Lord who is with you, and have been weeping before him saying, Why did we come out of Egypt? 21 Then Moses said, The people, among whom I am, are six hundred thousand men on foot; and you have said, I will give them flesh to be their food for a month. 22 Are flocks and herds to be put to death for them? or are all the fish in the sea to be got together so that they may be full? 23 And the Lord said to Moses, Has the Lord's hand become short? Now you will see if my word comes true for you or not.
24 And Moses went out and gave the people the words of the Lord: and he took seventy of the responsible men of the people, placing them round the Tent. 25 Then the Lord came down in the cloud and had talk with him, and put on the seventy men some of the spirit which was on him: now when the spirit came to rest on them, they were like prophets, but only at that time. 26 But two men were still in the tent-circle one of them named Eldad and the other Medad: and the spirit came to rest on them; they were among those who had been sent for, but they had not gone out to the Tent: and the prophet's power came on them in the tent-circle. 27 And a young man went running to Moses and said, Eldad and Medad are acting as prophets in the tent-circle. 28 Then Joshua, the son of Nun, who had been Moses' servant from the time when he was a child, said, My lord Moses, let them be stopped. 29 And Moses said to him, Are you moved by envy on my account? If only all the Lord's people were prophets, and the Lord might put his spirit on them! 30 Then Moses, with the responsible men of Israel, went back to the tent-circle.
31 Then the Lord sent a wind, driving little birds from the sea, so that they came down on the tents, and all round the tent-circle, about a day's journey on this side and on that, in masses about two cubits high over the face of the earth. 32 And all that day and all night and the day after, the people were taking up the birds; the smallest amount which anyone got was ten homers: and they put them out all round the tents. 33 But while the meat was still between their teeth, before it was tasted, the wrath of the Lord was moved against the people and he sent a great outburst of disease on them. 34 So that place was named Kibroth-hattaavah; because there they put in the earth the bodies of the people who had given way to their desires. 35 From Kibroth-hattaavah the people went on to Hazeroth; and there they put up their tents.
51 And they came to the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gerasenes. 2 And when he had got out of the boat, straight away there came to him from the place of the dead a man with an unclean spirit. 3 He was living in the place of the dead: and no man was able to keep him down, no, not with a chain; 4 Because he had frequently been prisoned in chains and iron bands, and the chains had been parted and the bands broken by him: and no man was strong enough to make him quiet. 5 And all the time, by day and by night, in the place of the dead, and in the mountains, he was crying out and cutting himself with stones. 6 And when he saw Jesus from far off, he went quickly to him and gave him worship; 7 And crying out with a loud voice he said, What have I to do with you, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? In God's name, do not be cruel to me. 8 For Jesus had said to him, Come out of the man, you unclean spirit. 9 And Jesus said, What is your name? And he made answer, My name is Legion, because there are a great number of us. 10 And he made strong prayers to him not to send them away out of the country. 11 Now on the mountain side there was a great herd of pigs getting their food. 12 And they said to him, Send us into the pigs, so that we may go into them. 13 And he let them do it. And the unclean spirits came out and went into the pigs; and the herd went rushing down a sharp slope into the sea, about two thousand of them; and they came to their death in the sea. 14 And their keepers went running and gave an account of it in the town and in the country. And people came to see what had taken place. 15 And they came to Jesus, and saw the man in whom had been the evil spirits seated, clothed and with full use of his senses, and they were full of fear. 16 And those who had seen it gave them an account of what had been done to him who had the evil spirits, and of the fate of the pigs. 17 And they made a request to him to go out of their country. 18 And when he was getting into the boat, the man in whom had been the evil spirits had a great desire to come with him. 19 And he would not let him, but said to him, Go to your house, to your friends, and give them news of the great things the Lord has done for you, and how he had mercy on you. 20 And he went on his way, and made public in the country of Decapolis what great things Jesus had done for him: and all men were full of wonder.
(Read Mark 5:1-20)
Some openly wilful sinners are like this madman. The commands of the law are as chains and fetters, to restrain sinners from their wicked courses; but they break those bands in sunder; and it is an evidence of the power of the devil in them. A legion of soldiers consisted of six thousand men, or more. What multitudes of fallen spirits there must be, and all enemies to God and man, when here was a legion in one poor wretched creature! Many there are that rise up against us. We are not a match for our spiritual enemies, in our own strength; but in the Lord, and in the power of his might, we shall be able to stand against them, though there are legions of them. When the vilest transgressor is delivered by the power of Jesus from the bondage of Satan, he will gladly sit at the feet of his Deliverer, and hear his word, who delivers the wretched slaves of Satan, and numbers them among his saints and servants. When the people found that their swine were lost, they had a dislike to Christ. Long-suffering and mercy may be seen, even in the corrections by which men lose their property while their lives are saved, and warning given them to seek the salvation of their souls. The man joyfully proclaimed what great things Jesus had done for him. All men marvelled, but few followed him. Many who cannot but wonder at the works of Christ, yet do not, as they ought, wonder after him.
