Numbers 9

9 ¹ Our Father spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying,

² Let the people of Israel keep the Passover at its appointed time. ³ On the fourteenth day of this month, at twilight, you shall keep it at its appointed time; you shall follow all its statutes and rules.

⁴ So Moses told the people of Israel that they should keep the Passover. ⁵ They kept the Passover in the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, at twilight, in the wilderness of Sinai, just as our Father had commanded Moses. ⁶ And there were certain men who were unclean through touching a dead body, so that they could not keep the Passover on that day, and they came to Moses and Aaron. ⁷ And those men said to him, "We are unclean through touching a dead body. Why are we kept from bringing the offering of our Father at its appointed time among the people of Israel?"

⁸ And Moses said to them, "Wait here until I hear what our Father will command about this."

⁹ Our Father spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁰ Speak to the people of Israel, saying, If any one of you or of your descendants is unclean through touching a dead body, or is on a long journey, he may still keep the Passover to our Father. ¹¹ In the second month on the fourteenth day, at twilight, they shall keep it. They shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. ¹² They shall leave none of it until the morning, nor break any of its bones; they shall follow all the statutes of the Passover. ¹³ But the man who is clean and is not on a journey, yet fails to keep the Passover, that person shall be cut off from his people, because he did not bring the offering of our Father at its appointed time; that man shall bear his sin. ¹ 1 v13 Being 'cut off from his people' meant formal exclusion from Israel's covenant community.

¹⁴ And if a foreigner living among you wants to keep the Passover to our Father, he must follow the statute and rule of the Passover. You shall have one statute, both for the foreigner and for the native of the land.

The Cloud Leads the Way

¹⁵ On the day that the tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the testimony. And at evening it was over the tabernacle like fire until morning. ¹⁶ So it was continually: the cloud covered it by day, and the appearance of fire by night. ¹⁷ Whenever the cloud lifted from over the tent, the people of Israel set out; and wherever the cloud settled, they camped. ¹⁸ At the command of our Father the people of Israel set out, and at the command of our Father they camped. As long as the cloud rested over the tabernacle, they remained in camp. ¹⁹ Even when the cloud continued over the tabernacle many days, the people of Israel kept the charge of our Father and did not set out. ²⁰ Sometimes the cloud was a few days over the tabernacle, and according to the command of our Father they remained in camp; then according to the command of our Father they set out. ²¹ And sometimes the cloud remained from evening until morning, and when the cloud lifted in the morning, they set out; whether by day or by night, when the cloud lifted they set out. ²² Whether it was two days, or a month, or a longer time that the cloud continued over the tabernacle, the people of Israel remained in camp and did not set out; but when it lifted they set out. ²³ At the command of our Father they camped, and at his command they set out. They kept his charge, at the command of our Father given through Moses.