The LORD spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the Tent of Meeting, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying,

These are those who were called of the congregation, the leaders of the tribes of their fathers; they were the heads of the thousands of Israel.

They assembled all the congregation together on the first day of the second month; and they declared their ancestry by their families, by their fathers' houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, one by one.

These are those who were numbered, whom Moses and Aaron numbered, and the leaders of Israel, being twelve men: they were each one for his fathers' house.

but appoint the Levites over the Tabernacle of the Testimony, and over all its furnishings, and over all that belongs to it. They shall carry the tabernacle, and all its furnishings; and they shall take care of it, and shall encamp around it.

Thus the children of Israel did. According to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so they did.

"The children of Israel shall encamp every man by his own standard, with the banners of their fathers' houses: at a distance from the Tent of Meeting shall they encamp around it."

All who were numbered of the camp of Judah were one hundred eighty-six thousand four hundred, according to their divisions. They shall set out first.

"All who were numbered of the camp of Reuben were one hundred fifty-one thousand four hundred fifty, according to their armies. They shall set out second.

"Then the Tent of Meeting shall set out, with the camp of the Levites in the midst of the camps. As they encamp, so shall they set out, every man in his place, by their standards.

"All who were numbered of the camp of Ephraim were one hundred eight thousand one hundred, according to their divisions. They shall set out third.

"All who were numbered of the camp of Dan were one hundred fifty-seven thousand six hundred. They shall set out last by their standards."

Thus the children of Israel did. According to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so they encamped by their standards, and so they set out, everyone by their families, according to their fathers' houses.

Nadab and Abihu died before the LORD, when they offered strange fire before the LORD, in the wilderness of Sinai, and they had no children. Eleazar and Ithamar ministered in the priest's office in the presence of Aaron their father.

"Bring the tribe of Levi near, and set them before Aaron the priest, that they may minister to him.

They shall keep his requirements, and the requirements of the whole congregation before the Tent of Meeting, to do the service of the tabernacle.

They shall keep all the furnishings of the Tent of Meeting, and the obligations of the children of Israel, to do the service of the tabernacle.

You shall give the Levites to Aaron and to his sons. They are wholly given to him on the behalf of the children of Israel.

And you shall appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall attend to their priesthood. The stranger who comes near shall be put to death."

for all the firstborn are mine. On the day that I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I made holy to me all the firstborn in Israel, both man and animal. They shall be mine. I am the LORD."

Their duty shall be the ark, the table, the lamp stand, the altars, the vessels of the sanctuary with which they minister, and the screen, and all its service.

The prince of the fathers' house of the families of Merari was Zuriel the son of Abihail. They shall encamp on the north side of the tabernacle.

When the camp moves forward, Aaron shall go in, and his sons, and they shall take down the veil of the screen, and cover the ark of the Testimony with it,

On the table of show bread they shall spread a blue cloth, and put on it the dishes, the spoons, the bowls, and the cups with which to pour out; and the continual bread shall be on it.

They shall spread on them a scarlet cloth, and cover the same with a covering of sealskin, and shall put in its poles.

They shall take a blue cloth, and cover the lampstand of the light, and its lamps, and its snuffers, and its snuff dishes, and all its oil vessels, with which they minister to it.

They shall put it and all its vessels within a covering of sealskin, and shall put it on the frame.

On the golden altar they shall spread a blue cloth, and cover it with a covering of sealskin, and shall put in its poles.

They shall take all the vessels of ministry, with which they minister in the sanctuary, and put them in a blue cloth, and cover them with a covering of sealskin, and shall put them on the frame.

They shall take away the ashes from the altar, and spread a purple cloth on it.

They shall put on it all its vessels, with which they minister about it, the fire pans, the flesh hooks, the shovels, and the basins; all the vessels of the altar; and they shall spread on it a covering of sealskin, and put in its poles.

"When Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary, and all the furniture of the sanctuary, as the camp moves forward; after that, the sons of Kohath shall come to carry it: but they shall not touch the sanctuary, lest they die. These things are the burden of the sons of Kohath in the Tent of Meeting.

but thus do to them, that they may live, and not die, when they approach to the most holy things: Aaron and his sons shall go in, and appoint them everyone to his service and to his burden;

but they shall not go in to see the sanctuary even for a moment, lest they die."

they shall carry the curtains of the tabernacle, and the Tent of Meeting, its covering, and the covering of sealskin that is above on it, and the screen for the door of the Tent of Meeting,

and the tapestries of the court, and the screen for the door of the gate of the court, which is by the tabernacle and around the altar, and their cords, and all the instruments of their service, and whatever shall be done with them. Therein shall they serve.

According to the commandment of the LORD they were numbered by Moses, everyone according to his service, and according to his burden. Thus were they numbered by him, as the LORD commanded Moses.

"Command the children of Israel that they put out of the camp every leper, and everyone who has an issue, and whoever is unclean by the dead.

Both you shall put male and female outside of the camp; that they not defile their camp, in the midst of which I dwell."

Every heave offering of all the holy things of the children of Israel, which they present to the priest, shall be his.

He shall not make himself unclean for his father, or for his mother, for his brother, or for his sister, when they die; because his separation to God is on his head.

"So they shall put my name on the children of Israel; and I will bless them."

that the leaders of Israel, the heads of their ancestral houses, offered. These were the leaders of the tribes. These are they who were over those who were numbered:

and they brought their offering before the LORD, six covered wagons, and twelve oxen; a wagon for every two of the leaders, and for each one an ox: and they presented them before the tabernacle.

"Accept these from them, that they may be used in doing the service of the Tent of Meeting; and you shall give them to the Levites, to every man according to his service."

But to the sons of Kohath he gave none, because the service of the sanctuary belonged to them; they carried it on their shoulders.

The LORD said to Moses, "They shall offer their offering, each prince on his day, for the dedication of the altar."

For they are wholly given to me from among the children of Israel; instead of all who open the womb, even the firstborn of all the children of Israel, I have taken them to me.

The Levites purified themselves from sin, and they washed their clothes; and Aaron offered them for a wave offering before the LORD; and Aaron made atonement for them to cleanse them.

After that, the Levites went in to do their service in the Tent of Meeting before Aaron, and before his sons: as the LORD had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so they did to them.

"This is that which belongs to the Levites: from twenty-five years old and upward they shall go in to wait on the service in the work of the Tent of Meeting;

and from the age of fifty years they shall cease waiting on the work, and shall serve no more,

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,

Moses spoke to the children of Israel, that they should keep the Passover.

They kept the Passover in the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, at evening, in the wilderness of Sinai. According to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so the children of Israel did.

There were certain men, who were unclean because of the dead body of a man, so that they could not keep the Passover on that day, and they came before Moses and before Aaron on that day.

In the second month, on the fourteenth day at evening they shall keep it; they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.

They shall leave none of it until the morning, nor break a bone of it. According to all the statute of the Passover they shall keep it.

At the commandment of the LORD, the children of Israel traveled, and at the commandment of the LORD they encamped. As long as the cloud remained on the tabernacle they remained encamped.

Sometimes the cloud was a few days on the tabernacle; then according to the commandment of the LORD they remained encamped, and according to the commandment of the LORD they traveled.

Sometimes the cloud was from evening until morning; and when the cloud was taken up in the morning, they traveled: or by day and by night, when the cloud was taken up, they traveled.

Whether it was two days, or a month, or a year that the cloud stayed on the tabernacle, remaining on it, the children of Israel remained encamped, and did not travel; but when it was taken up, they traveled.

At the commandment of the LORD they encamped, and at the commandment of the LORD they traveled. They kept the LORD's command, at the commandment of the LORD by Moses.

When they blow them, all the congregation shall gather themselves to you at the door of the Tent of Meeting.

But if they blow just one, then the leaders, the heads of the thousands of Israel, shall gather themselves to you.

When you blow an alarm the second time, the camps that lie on the south side shall go forward. They shall blow an alarm for their journeys.

"Also in the day of your gladness, and in your set feasts, and in the beginnings of your months, you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings, and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; and they shall be to you for a memorial before your God. I am the LORD your God."

They first went forward according to the commandment of the LORD by Moses.

The Kohathites set forward, bearing the sanctuary. The others set up the tabernacle before they arrived.

Thus were the travels of the children of Israel according to their armies; and they went forward.

They set forward from the Mount of the LORD three days' journey. The ark of the covenant of the LORD went before them three days' journey, to seek out a resting place for them.

The cloud of the LORD was over them by day, when they set forward from the camp.

Where could I get meat to give to all this people? For they weep to me, saying, 'Give us meat, that we may eat.'

The LORD said to Moses, "Gather to me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people, and officers over them; and bring them to the Tent of Meeting, that they may stand there with you.

I will come down and talk with you there. I will take of the Spirit which is on you, and will put it on them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, that you not bear it yourself alone.

Moses said, "The people, among whom I am, are six hundred thousand men on foot; and you have said, 'I will give them flesh, that they may eat a whole month.'

The LORD came down in the cloud, and spoke to him, and took of the Spirit that was on him, and put it on the seventy elders: and it happened that when the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied, but they did so no more.

But two men remained in the camp. The name of one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad: and the Spirit rested on them; and they were of those who were written, but had not gone out to the Tent; and they prophesied in the camp.

The people rose up all that day, and all the night, and all the next day, and gathered the quails. He who gathered least gathered ten homers; and they spread them all abroad for themselves around the camp.

The name of that place was called Kibroth Hattaavah, because there they buried the people who lusted.

From Kibroth Hattaavah the people traveled to Hazeroth; and they stayed at Hazeroth.

They said, "Has the LORD indeed spoken only with Moses? Hasn't he spoken also with us?" And the LORD heard it.

The LORD came down in a pillar of cloud, and stood at the door of the Tent, and called Aaron and Miriam; and they both came forward.

"Send men, that they may spy out the land of Canaan, which I give to the children of Israel. Of every tribe of their fathers, you shall send a man, every one a prince among them."

and see the land, what it is; and the people who dwell therein, whether they are strong or weak, whether they are few or many;

and what the land is that they dwell in, whether it is good or bad; and what cities they are that they dwell in, whether in camps, or in strongholds;

So they went up, and spied out the land from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob, to the entrance of Hamath.

They went up by the Negev, and came to Hebron; and Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, were there. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)

They came to the valley of Eshcol, and cut down from there a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bore it on a staff between two. They also brought some of the pomegranates and figs.

They returned from spying out the land at the end of forty days.

They went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, to the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word to them, and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land.

They told him, and said, "We came to the land where you sent us; and surely it flows with milk and honey; and this is its fruit.

But the men who went up with him said, "We aren't able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we."

They brought up an evil report of the land which they had spied out to the children of Israel, saying, "The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that eats up its inhabitants; and all the people who we saw in it are men of great stature.

They said one to another, "Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt."

and they spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, "The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceeding good land.

Only do not rebel against the LORD, neither fear the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defense is removed from over them, and the LORD is with us. Do not fear them."

The LORD said to Moses, "How long will this people despise me? and how long will they not believe in me, for all the signs which I have worked among them?

I will strike them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they."

and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that you LORD are in the midst of this people; for you LORD are seen face to face, and your cloud stands over them, and you go before them, in a pillar of cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night.