Numbers 9

The Second Passover

1 Now the Lord 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 children of Israel keep *Ex. 12:1–16; Lev. 23:5; Num. 28:16; Deut. 16:1, 2the Passover at its appointed *2 Chr. 30:1–15; Luke 22:7; (1 Cor. 5:7, 8)time. 3 On the fourteenth day of this month, at twilight, you shall keep it at its appointed time. According to all its rites and ceremonies you shall keep it." 4 So Moses told the children of Israel that they should keep the Passover. 5 And *Josh. 5:10they kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month, at twilight, in the Wilderness of Sinai; according to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so the children of Israel did.

6 Now there were certain men who were *Num. 5:2; 19:11–22; John 18:28defiled by a human corpse, so that they could not keep the Passover on that day; *Ex. 18:15, 19, 26; Num. 27:2and they came before Moses and Aaron that day. 7 And those men said to him, "We became defiled by a human corpse. Why are we kept from presenting the offering of the Lord at its appointed time among the children of Israel?"

8 And Moses said to them, "Stand still, that *Ex. 18:22; Num. 27:5I may hear what the Lord will command concerning you."

9 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 10 "Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘If anyone of you or your posterity is unclean because of a corpse, or is far away on a journey, he may still keep the Lord’s Passover. 11 On *2 Chr. 30:2, 15the fourteenth day of the second month, at twilight, they may keep it. They shall *Ex. 12:8eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. 12 *Ex. 12:10They shall leave none of it until morning, *Ex. 12:46; (John 19:36)nor break one of its bones. *Ex. 12:43According to all the ordinances of the Passover they shall keep it. 13 But the man who is clean and is not on a journey, and ceases to keep the Passover, that same person *Gen. 17:14; Ex. 12:15, 47shall be cut off from among his people, because he *Num. 9:7did not bring the offering of the Lord at its appointed time; that man shall *Num. 5:31bear his sin.

14 ‘And if a stranger dwells among you, and would keep the Lord’s Passover, he must do so according to the rite of the Passover and according to its ceremony; *Ex. 12:49; Lev. 24:22; Num. 15:15, 16, 29you shall have one ordinance, both for the stranger and the native of the land.’ "

The Cloud and the Fire

15 Now *Ex. 40:33, 34; Neh. 9:12, 19; Ps. 78:14on the day that the tabernacle was raised up, the cloud *Is. 4:5covered the tabernacle, the tent of the Testimony; *Ex. 13:21, 22; 40:38from evening until morning it was above the tabernacle like the appearance of fire. 16 So it was always: the cloud covered it byday, and the appearance of fire by night. 17 Whenever the cloud *Ex. 40:36–38; Num. 10:11, 12, 33, 34; Ps. 80:1was taken up from above the tabernacle, after that the children of Israel would journey; and in the place where the cloud settled, there the children of Israel would pitch their tents. 18 At the command of the Lord the children of Israel would journey, and at the command of the Lord they would camp; *1 Cor. 10:1as long as the cloud stayed above the tabernacle they remained encamped. 19 Even when the cloud continued long, many days above the tabernacle, the children of Israel *Num. 1:53; 3:8kept the charge of the Lord and did not journey. 20 So it was, when the cloud was above the tabernacle a few days: according to the command of the Lord they would remain encamped, and according to the command of the Lord they would journey. 21 So it was, when the cloud remained only from evening until morning: when the cloud was taken up in the morning, then they would journey; whether by day or by night, whenever the cloud was taken up, they would journey. 22 Whetheritwas two days, a month, or a year that the cloud remained above the tabernacle, the children of Israel *Ex. 40:36, 37would remain encamped and not journey; but when it was taken up, they would journey. 23 At the command of the Lord they remained encamped, and at the command of the Lord they journeyed; they *Num. 9:19kept the charge of the Lord, at the command of the Lord by the hand of Moses.