Aaron Lights the Lamps

81 And the Lord said to Moses, 2 Say to Aaron, When you put the lights in their places, the seven lights will give light in front of the support. 3 And Aaron did so; he put the lights in their places so that they gave light in front of the support, as the Lord gave orders to Moses. 4 The support for the lights was of hammered gold work, from its base to its flowers it was of hammered work; from the design which the Lord had given to Moses, he made the support for the lights.

The Cleansing of the Levites

5 And the Lord said to Moses, 6 Take the Levites out from among the children of Israel and make them clean. 7 And this is how you are to make them clean: let the holy water which takes away sin be put on them, and let the hair all over their bodies be cut off with a sharp blade, and let their clothing be washed and their bodies made clean. 8 Then let them take a young ox and its meal offering, crushed grain mixed with oil, and take another ox for a sin-offering. 9 And make the Levites come forward in front of the Tent of meeting, and let all the children of Israel come together: 10 And you are to take the Levites before the Lord: and the children of Israel are to put their hands on them: 11 And Aaron is to give the Levites to the Lord as a wave offering from the children of Israel, so that they may do the Lord's work. 12 And the Levites are to put their hands on the heads of the oxen, and one of the oxen is to be offered for a sin-offering and the other for a burned offering to the Lord to take away the sin of the Levites. 13 Then the Levites are to be put before Aaron and his sons, to be offered as a wave offering to the Lord. 14 So you are to make the Levites separate from the children of Israel, and the Levites will be mine. 15 After that, the Levites will go in to do whatever has to be done in the Tent of meeting; you are to make them clean and give them as a wave offering. 16 For they have been given to me from among the children of Israel; in place of every mother's first son, the first to come to birth in Israel, I have taken them for myself. 17 For every mother's first son among the children of Israel is mine, the first male birth of man or beast: on the day when I sent death on all the first sons in the land of Egypt, I made them mine. 18 And in place of the first sons among the children of Israel, I have taken the Levites. 19 And I have given them to Aaron and to his sons, from among the children of Israel, to undertake for them all the work of the Tent of meeting, and to take away sin from the children of Israel so that no evil may come on them when they come near the holy place. 20 All these things Moses and Aaron and the children of Israel did to the Levites; as the Lord gave orders to Moses about the Levites, so the children of Israel did. 21 And the Levites were made clean from sin, and their clothing was washed, and Aaron gave them for a wave offering before the Lord; and Aaron took away their sin and made them clean. 22 And then the Levites went in to do their work in the Tent of meeting before Aaron and his sons: all the orders which the Lord had given Moses about the Levites were put into effect. 23 And the Lord said to Moses, 24 This is the rule for the Levites: those of twenty-five years old and over are to go in and do the work of the Tent of meeting; 25 But after they are fifty years old, they are to give up their work and do no more; 26 But be with their brothers in the Tent of meeting, taking care of it but doing no work. This is what you are to do in connection with the Levites and their work.

The Observance of the Passover

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.

The Cloud over the Tabernacle

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.

The Silver Trumpets

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.

The Israelites Depart from Sinai

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.