Numbers 9-11

New Life Version

The Passover

9 The Lord spoke to Moses in the Sinai desert, in the first month of the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt. The Lord said, ² “Let the people of Israel keep the Passover at the time given for it. ³ Keep it at its given time, in the evening of the fourteenth day of this month. Keep it by obeying all its Laws.” ⁴ So Moses told the people of Israel to keep the Passover. ⁵ And they kept the Passover in the evening of the fourteenth day of the first month, in the Sinai desert. The people of Israel did all that the Lord had told Moses. ⁶ But there were some men who were unclean because they had touched a dead person. So they could not keep the Passover on that day. They came to Moses and Aaron that day ⁷ and said to Moses, “We are unclean because we touched a dead person. But why are we kept from giving the Lord’s gift at its given time among the people of Israel?” ⁸ Moses said to them, “Wait, and I will listen to what the Lord will tell me to do with you.”

⁹ Then the Lord said to Moses, ¹⁰ “Say to the people of Israel, ‘If anyone of you or your children touch a dead person and become unclean, or if you are traveling far away, even so, he may still keep the Passover to the Lord. ¹¹ They will keep it in the evening of the fourteenth day of the second month. They will eat it with bread without yeast and with bitter tasting plants. ¹² They must not leave any of it until morning. And they must not break a bone of the lamb. They must obey all of the Law of the Passover. ¹³ But if a man is clean and is not away traveling, yet does not keep the Passover, he must be cut off from his people. For he did not give the Lord’s gift at the time he was to do so. That man will be guilty of his sin. ¹⁴ If a stranger staying with you wants to keep the Passover to the Lord and obey the Law of the Passover, he may do so. You will have one law, both for the stranger and for the one who was born in the land.’”

The Cloud of Fire

¹⁵ On the day that the meeting tent was set up, the cloud covered the meeting tent, the tent of the law. In the evening it was over the meeting tent. It looked like fire until morning. ¹⁶ It was like this always. The cloud would cover it during the day. What looked like fire would cover it during the night. ¹⁷ When the cloud was lifted from over the meeting tent, the people of Israel would move on. Where the cloud rested, there the people of Israel would set up their tents. ¹⁸ The people of Israel would move on as the Lord told them. And they would set up their tents as the Lord told them. They stayed in one place as long as the cloud rested over the meeting tent. ¹⁹ Even when the cloud rested over the meeting tent for many days, the people of Israel would obey the Lord and not leave. ²⁰ Sometimes the cloud stayed a few days over the meeting tent. But they obeyed the Lord and stayed in that place. Then they would leave when the Lord told them. ²¹ Sometimes the cloud stayed from evening until morning. When the cloud lifted in the morning, they would leave. If the cloud stayed during the day and the night, when it was lifted, they would leave that place. ²² Even when the cloud stayed over the meeting tent for two days, or a month, or a year the people of Israel would stay in that place and not leave. They would leave when it was lifted. ²³ They set up their tents as the Lord told them. And they moved on as the Lord told them. They obeyed what the Lord had told them to do through Moses.

The Silver Horns

10 The Lord said to Moses, ² “Make two silver horns of beaten silver. Use them for calling the people together and for having the people move on. ³ When both horns sound, all the people will gather in front of you at the door of the meeting tent. ⁴ If only one horn sounds, then the leaders, the heads of the families of Israel, will gather in front of you. ⁵ When you blow the horn to tell of danger, the people whose tents are on the east side will leave. ⁶ When you blow the horn to tell of danger a second time, the people whose tents are on the south side will leave. A horn telling of danger will be blown when they are to move on. ⁷ But when the people are to be gathered together, you will blow the horn without the sound of danger. ⁸ Aaron’s sons, the religious leaders, will blow the horns. This will be a Law for all your people forever. ⁹ When you go to war in your land against those who fight you, then sound the horns to tell of war. That way you will be remembered before the Lord your God, and be saved from those who hate you. ¹⁰ On the days you are glad and at the time of your special suppers and on the first days of your months, blow the horns. Blow the horns over your burnt gifts and over your peace gifts. Then you will be remembered before your God. I am the Lord your God.”

The Children of Israel Leave Sinai

¹¹ On the twentieth day of the second month in the second year, the cloud was lifted from over the meeting tent of the Law. ¹² The people of Israel moved on from the Desert of Sinai. Then the cloud came down and rested in the desert of Paran. ¹³ So they moved for the first time as the Lord had told them through Moses. ¹⁴ The flag of the people of Judah left first, by their armies. Amminadab’s son Nahshon was the head of their army. ¹⁵ Zuar’s son Nethanel was the head of the men of Issachar. ¹⁶ And Helon’s son Eliab was the head of the men of Zebulun.

¹⁷ When the meeting tent was taken down, the sons of Gershon and Merari left carrying it. ¹⁸ Next the flag of the people of Reuben left, by their armies. Shedeur’s son Elizur was the head over this army. ¹⁹ Zurishaddai’s son Shelumiel was the head of the men of Simeon. ²⁰ Deuel’s son Eliasaph was the head of the men of Gad. ²¹ Then the Kohathites left, carrying the holy objects. The meeting tent was set up before they came to the next place. ²² Next the flag of the people of Ephraim left, by their armies. Ammihud’s son Elishama was the head over this army. ²³ Pedahzur’s son Gamaliel was the head of the men of Manasseh. ²⁴ Gideoni’s son Abidan was the head of the men of Benjamin.

²⁵ Then the flag of the people of Dan left, by their armies. They followed behind all the people of Israel, to watch for danger. Ammishaddai’s son Ahiezer was the head over this army. ²⁶ Ochran’s son Pagiel was the head of the men of Asher. ²⁷ And Enan’s son Ahira was the head of the men of Naphtali. ²⁸ This was how the people of Israel moved on by their armies.

²⁹ Then Moses said to Hobab the son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses’ father-in-law, “We are going to the place the Lord said He will give to us. Come with us and we will do you good. For the Lord has promised good to Israel.” ³⁰ But Hobab said to him, “I will not come. I will go to my own land and family.” ³¹ Moses said, “I beg you, do not leave us. For you know where we should stay in the desert. You will be like eyes for us. ³² If you go with us, we will do for you whatever good the Lord does for us.”

³³ So they traveled for three days from the mountain of the Lord with the special box with the Law of the Lord in front of them looking for a place for them to rest. ³⁴ The cloud of the Lord was over them during the day, when they moved on.

³⁵ When the special box of the Lord moved on, Moses said, “Rise up, O Lord! Let those who hate You be divided. Let those who hate You run away before You.” ³⁶ And when it rested, he said, “Return, O Lord, to the many thousands of Israel.”

The Children of Israel Complain

11 Now the people complained about their troubles in the hearing of the Lord. When the Lord heard it, His anger burned. The fire of the Lord burned among them, and destroyed some around the outer parts of the tents. ² Then the people cried to Moses and he prayed to the Lord, and the fire went out. ³ So the name of that place was called Taberah, because the fire of the Lord burned among them.

⁴ The mixed group of people among them had strong desires. The people of Israel cried again and said, “Who will give us meat to eat? ⁵ We remember all the fish we could eat free in Egypt, and all the fruit and vegetables and spices. ⁶ But now our strength is gone. There is nothing at all to look at except this bread from heaven.” ⁷ Now the bread from heaven was like coriander seed, and it looked like bdellium. ⁸ The people would go and gather it and beat it between stones. They boiled it in a pot or made bread with it. It tasted like bread made with oil. ⁹ When the grass became wet around the tents at night, the bread from heaven would fall.

¹⁰ Moses heard all the people crying in every family, each man at the door of his tent. The Lord became very angry with them and Moses was not pleased. ¹¹ So Moses said to the Lord, “Why have You been so hard on Your servant? Why have I not found favor in Your eyes, that You have laid the troubles of all these people on me? ¹² Did I give birth to all these people? Did I bring them out, that You should say to me, ‘Carry them close to your heart as a nurse carries a nursing baby, to the land You promised their fathers’? ¹³ Where am I to get meat to give to all these people? They cry in front of me, saying, ‘Give us meat so we may eat!’ ¹⁴ I am not able to carry all these people alone. The load is too heavy for me. ¹⁵ So if You are going to act this way toward me, I beg You to kill me now, if I have found favor in Your eyes. Do not let me see how bad off I am.”

The Seventy Leaders

¹⁶ The Lord said to Moses, “Gather for Me seventy men from the leaders of Israel, whom you know to be the leaders of the people, the men who rule over them. Bring them to the meeting tent and let them stand there with you. ¹⁷ Then I will come down and speak with you there. I will take of the Spirit Who is upon you, and will put Him upon them. Then they will carry the troubles of the people with you so you will not carry them all alone. ¹⁸ Say to the people, ‘Make yourselves holy for tomorrow, and you will eat meat. The Lord heard you when you cried and said, “If only someone would give us meat to eat! For it was well with us in Egypt.” So the Lord will give you meat and you will eat. ¹⁹ You will not eat it for only one day, or two days, or five days, or ten days, or twenty days. ²⁰ But you will eat it a whole month, until it comes out of your nose and you hate it, because you have turned away from the Lord Who is among you. You have cried before Him, saying, “Why did we ever leave Egypt?”’” ²¹ But Moses said, “The people whom I am among are 600,000 on foot. And You have said, ‘I will give them meat so they may eat for a whole month.’ ²² Will enough flocks and cattle be killed to feed them? Or will enough fish be gathered from the sea to feed them?” ²³ The Lord said to Moses, “Is there an end to the Lord’s power? Now you will see if My Word will come true for you or not.”

²⁴ So Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord. And he gathered seventy men from the leaders of the people, and had them stand around the meeting tent. ²⁵ Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him. He took of the Spirit Who was upon him and put Him upon the seventy leaders. When the Spirit rested upon them, they spoke the word of the Lord. But they did not do it again.

²⁶ But two men had stayed among the tents. Their names were Eldad and Medad, and the Spirit rested upon them. They were among those who had been chosen, but had not gone out to the meeting tent. So they spoke the word of the Lord among the tents. ²⁷ A young man ran and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are speaking the word of the Lord among the tents.” ²⁸ Then Joshua the son of Nun, the helper of Moses since he was young, said, “Moses, my lord, do not let them.” ²⁹ But Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for my good? If only all the Lord’s people would speak for God, that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them!” ³⁰ Then Moses and the leaders of Israel returned to the tents.

The Lord Sends Quails

³¹ Now a wind went out from the Lord. It brought quail from the sea, and let them fall beside the place where the tents were set up. They fell all around the tents, about as far on each side as it takes to travel in a day. They lay on the ground as deep as two cubits. ³² The people worked all day and all night and all the next day gathering the quail. He who gathered the least gathered enough to fill 110 baskets. And they spread them out for themselves all around the tents. ³³ While the meat was still between their teeth and not yet eaten, the Lord became angry with the people. The Lord sent a bad sickness upon the people. ³⁴ So the name of that place was called Kibroth-hattaavah. Because there they buried the people who had wanted meat to eat. ³⁵ The people left Kibroth-hattaavah and went to Hazeroth. And they stayed at Hazeroth.