Numbers 9

1In the second year after they came out of the land of Egypt, in its first month, the LORD spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai and said, 2“The Israelites are to keep the Passover at its appointed time. 3On the fourteenth day of this month, at dusk, you are to keep it at its appointed time, following all its statutes and rulings.” 4So Moses told the Israelites to keep the Passover. 5They kept the Passover in the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at dusk, in the wilderness of Sinai. Everything the LORD had commanded Moses, the Israelites did. 6But there were some men who were unclean from contact with a dead body, and so they could not keep the Passover on that day. That same day they came before Moses and Aaron. 7Those men said to him, “We are unclean because of a dead body. Must we be shut out, then, and not bring the offering of the LORD at its appointed time with the rest of the Israelites?” 8Moses said to them, “Stay here, and let me hear what the LORD will command for you.”

9Then the LORD spoke to Moses. He said, 10“Tell the Israelites: ‘Any of you, now or in generations to come, who is unclean because of a dead body or is away on a distant journey may still keep a Passover for the LORD. 11In the second month, at dusk on the fourteenth day, they are to keep it, eating it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. 12None of it is to be left over until morning, and no bone of it is to be broken. They are to keep it by every statute of the Passover. 13But anyone who is clean and is not on a journey, and yet holds back from keeping the Passover, is to be cut off from their people. They did not present the offering of the LORD at its appointed time, and they will bear the guilt of their sin. 14If a foreigner living among you wants to keep a Passover for the LORD, it must be kept by the statute and the ruling for the Passover. There is to be one statute for you all, for the foreigner and for the one born in the land.’”

15The day the tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the testimony, and from evening until morning it hung over the tabernacle with the look of fire. 16This went on all the time: the cloud covered it, and by night there was what looked like fire. 17Each time the cloud was lifted from over the tent, the Israelites would then set out, and at the place where the cloud came to rest, there they made their camp. 18The Israelites set out when the LORD commanded and camped when the LORD commanded. They stayed in camp for as long as the cloud remained over the tabernacle. 19If the cloud stayed on over the tabernacle for many days, the Israelites kept the charge of the LORD and did not move on. 20At times the cloud remained over the tabernacle for just a few days. They camped when the LORD commanded and set out when the LORD commanded. 21There were times when the cloud remained only from evening to morning; when it was lifted at daybreak, they moved on. Or if it remained a day and a night, they moved on when the cloud was lifted. 22Two days, a month or longer: however long the cloud lingered over the tabernacle, resting on it, the Israelites stayed in camp and did not move on; but once it was lifted, they moved on. 23They camped when the LORD commanded and set out when the LORD commanded. They kept the charge of the LORD, as the LORD commanded through Moses.