Numbers 9

The LORD spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of the second year after they came out of the land of Egypt, and said, “The Israelites shall observe the Passover at its appointed time. On the fourteenth day of this month, at twilight, you shall observe it at its appointed time. You shall observe it according to all its statutes and all its ordinances.” Moses told the Israelites to observe the Passover. They observed the Passover in the wilderness of Sinai on the fourteenth day of the first month, at twilight. According to all that the LORD had commanded Moses, so the Israelites did. But there were men who were unclean because of a human corpse and could not observe the Passover that day. That day they came before Moses and Aaron. Those men said to him, “We are unclean because of a human corpse. Why should we be kept from presenting the LORD's offering at its appointed time among the Israelites?” Moses said to them, “Wait, and I will hear what the LORD commands concerning you.” The LORD spoke to Moses and said, “Speak to the Israelites and say, ‘If any of you or your descendants is unclean because of a corpse, or is on a distant journey, he shall observe the Passover to the LORD. They shall observe it on the fourteenth day of the second month, at twilight. They shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. They must leave none of it until morning and must not break a bone of it. They shall observe it according to every statute of the Passover. But the man who is clean and not on a journey, yet fails to observe the Passover, that person shall be cut off from his people, because he did not present the LORD's offering at its appointed time. That man shall bear his sin. If a foreigner resides with you and observes the Passover to the LORD, he shall do so according to the statute of the Passover and its ordinance. You shall have one statute, both for the foreigner and for the native of the land.’” On the day the tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the Testimony. From evening until morning there was the appearance of fire over the tabernacle. So it was continually: the cloud covered it, and at night there was the appearance of fire. Whenever the cloud lifted from over the tent, afterward the Israelites set out. In the place where the cloud settled, there the Israelites camped. At the LORD's command the Israelites set out, and at the LORD's command they camped. As long as the cloud remained over the tabernacle, they stayed in camp. When the cloud stayed over the tabernacle many days, the Israelites kept the LORD's charge and did not set out. Sometimes the cloud remained over the tabernacle a few days. At the LORD's command they camped, and at the LORD's command they set out. Sometimes the cloud remained from evening until morning; when the cloud lifted in the morning, they set out. Whether by day or by night, when the cloud lifted, they set out. Whether for two days, a month, or a year, while the cloud prolonged its stay over the tabernacle, resting above it, the Israelites stayed in camp and did not set out. But when it lifted, they set out. At the LORD's command they camped, and at the LORD's command they set out. They kept the LORD's charge, at the LORD's command through Moses.

Rights and attribution