Numbers 9
1 One year after the Israelis left Egypt, during the month of March, while they were in the Sinai Desert, Yahweh said to Moses/me,
The Lord spoke to Moses in the desert of Sinai, the second year after they were come out of the land of Egypt, in the first month, saying:
2 “Tell the Israeli people that they must celebrate the Passover [Festival again].
Let the children of Israel make the phase in its due time,
3 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].”
The fourteenth day of this month in the evening, according to all the ceremonies and justifications thereof.
4 So Moses/I told the people what Yahweh had said about celebrating the Passover.
And Moses commanded the children of Israel that they should make the phase.
5 The people celebrated it, there in the Sinai Desert, in the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, just as Yahweh had commanded Moses/me.
And they made it in its proper time: the fourteenth day of the month at evening, in mount Sinai. The children of Israel did according to all things that the Lord had commanded Moses.
6 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,
But behold some who were unclean by occasion of the soul of a man, who could not make the phase on that day, coming to Moses and Aaron,
7 “It is true that we have touched a corpse. But why should that prevent us from celebrating the Passover Festival and offering sacrifices to Yahweh like everyone else [RHQ]?”
Said to them: We are unclean by occasion of the soul of a man. Why are we kept back that we may not offer in its season the offering to the Lord among the children of Israel?
8 Moses/I replied, “Wait here until I go into the Sacred Tent and find out what Yahweh says about it.”
And Moses answered them: Stay that I may consult the Lord what he will ordain concerning you.
9 [So Moses/I went into the tent and asked Yahweh what he/I should tell the people], and this is what Yahweh said:
And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
10 “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.
Say to the children of Israel: The man that shall be unclean by occasion of one that is dead, or shall be in a journey afar off in your nation, let him make the phase to the Lord.
11 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.
In the second month, on the fourteenth day of the month in the evening, they shall eat it with unleavened bread and wild lettuce:
12 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.
They shall not leave any thing thereof until morning, a nor break a bone thereof, they shall observe all the ceremonies of the phase.
13 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).
But if any man is clean, and was not on a journey, and did not make the phase, that soul shall be cut off from among his people, because he offered not sacrifice to the Lord in due season: he shall bear his sin.
14 Foreigners who live among you may also celebrate the Passover Festival, if they obey all my commands concerning it.”
The sojourner also and the stranger if they be among you, shall make the phase to the Lord according to the ceremonies and justifications thereof. The same ordinance shall be with you both for the stranger, and for him that was born in the land.
15 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].
Now on the day that the tabernacle was reared up, a cloud covered it. But from the evening there was over the tabernacle, as it were, the appearance of fire until the morning.
So it was always: by day the cloud covered it, and by night as it were the appearance of fire.
17 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.
And when the cloud that covered the tabernacle was taken up, then the children of Israel marched forward: and in the place where the cloud stood still, there they camped.
18 We/They traveled when Yahweh, [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.
At the commandment of the Lord they marched, and at his commandment they pitched the tabernacle. All the days that the cloud abode over the tabernacle, they remained in the same place:
19 Sometimes the cloud stayed over the tent for a long time, so when that happened, we/they did not travel.
And if it was so that it continued over it a long time, the children of Israel kept the watches of the Lord, and marched not,
20 Sometimes the cloud remained over the tent for only a few days. We/The people stopped and set up our/their tents as Yahweh commanded us/them, and we/they traveled [to a new location] when Yahweh commanded us/them to do that.
For as many days soever as the cloud stayed over the tabernacle. At the commandment of the Lord they pitched their tents, and at his commandment they took them down.
21 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 tarried from evening until morning, and immediately at break of day left the tabernacle, they marched forward: and if it departed after a day and a night, they took down their tents.
22 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.
But if it remained over the tabernacle for two days or a month or a longer time, the children of Israel remained in the same place, and marched not: but immediately as soon as it departed, they removed the camp.
23 When Yahweh 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 Yahweh told Moses/me that we/they should do.
By the word of the Lord they pitched their tents, and by his word they marched: and kept the watches of the Lord according to his commandment by the hand of Moses.
