Numbers 9

One year after the Israelis left Egypt, during the month of March, while they were in the Sinai Desert, God said to Moses/me,

“Tell the Israeli people that they must celebrate the Passover Festival again.

They must do it on the fourteenth day of this month, early in the evening, and they must obey all the instructions about it that I gave you previously.”

So Moses/I told the people what God had said about celebrating the Passover.

The people celebrated it, there in the Sinai Desert, in the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, just as God had commanded Moses/me.

But some of the Israeli people had touched a corpse, and as a result they had become unfit to celebrate the Passover. So they asked Aaron and Moses/me,

“It is true that we have touched a corpse. But why should that prevent us from celebrating the Passover Festival and offering sacrifices to God like everyone else [RHQ]?”

Moses/I replied, “Wait here until I go into the Sacred Tent and find out what God says about it.”

So Moses/I went into the tent and asked God what he/I should tell the people, and this is what God said:

“Tell this to the Israeli people: If any of you or your descendants touch a corpse and as a result become unacceptable to me, or if you are away from home on a long trip at the time to celebrate the Passover, you will still be permitted to celebrate it.

But you must celebrate it exactly one month later, early in the evening of the fourteenth day of that month. Eat the meat of the lamb for the Passover Festival with bread that is baked without yeast and eat bitter herbs.

Do not leave any of it until the next morning. And do not break any of the lamb’s bones. Obey all the regulations about celebrating the Passover.

But if any of you has not done anything that would make you unfit to celebrate the Passover Festival, and you are not away from home on a long trip, and you do not sacrifice to me at the proper time, you will no longer be allowed to associate with my people. ◄You will be punished/I will punish you►.

Foreigners who live among you may also celebrate the Passover Festival, if they obey all my commands concerning it.”

On the day that the Sacred Tent was set up, a cloud covered it. From the time that the sun set until the time that the sun rose the next day, the cloud resembled a huge fire. And that is what happened every day that we/the Israelis were in the desert.

When the cloud rose up and started to move to a new location, we/they followed it. When the cloud stopped, we/the Israelis stopped there and set up their tents.

We/They traveled when God, by causing the cloud to move or stop, signaled to us/them when to move and when to stop. When the cloud stayed over the Sacred Tent, we/the Israelis stayed at that place.

Sometimes the cloud stayed over the tent for a long time, so when that happened, we/they did not travel.

Sometimes the cloud remained over the tent for only a few days. We/The people stopped and set up our/their tents as God commanded us/them, and we/they traveled to a new location when God commanded us/them to do that.

Sometimes the cloud stayed in one place for only one day. When that happened, when the cloud rose up into the sky the next morning, then we/they traveled. Whenever the cloud moved, during the day or during the night, we/they traveled.

If the cloud stayed over the Sacred Tent for two days, or for a month, or for a year, during that time we/they stayed where we/they were. But when the cloud rose up into the sky, we/they started to travel.

When God commanded us/them to stop and set up our/their tents, we/they did that. When he told us/them to move, we/they moved. We/They did whatever God told Moses/me that we/they should do.