Now when Moses went into the tent of meeting to speak with the Lord, he heard the voice speaking to him from above the atonement lid that was on the ark of the testimony, from between the two cherubim. Thus he spoke to him.

"Speak to Aaron and tell him, 'When you set up the lamps, the seven lamps are to give light in front of the lampstand.'"

This is how the lampstand was made: It was beaten work in gold; from its shaft to its flowers it was beaten work. According to the pattern which the Lord had shown Moses, so he made the lampstand.

And do this to them to purify them: Sprinkle water of purification on them; then have them shave all their body and wash their clothes, and so purify themselves.

Then you are to bring the Levites before the Lord, and the Israelites are to lay their hands on the Levites;

When the Levites lay their hands on the heads of the bulls, offer the one for a purification offering and the other for a whole burnt offering to the Lord, to make atonement for the Levites.

"After this, the Levites will go in to do the work of the tent of meeting. So you must cleanse them and offer them like a wave offering.

For all the firstborn males among the Israelites are mine, both humans and animals; when I destroyed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I set them apart for myself.

I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and his sons from among the Israelites, to do the work for the Israelites in the tent of meeting, and to make atonement for the Israelites, so there will be no plague among the Israelites when the Israelites come near the sanctuary."

After this, the Levites went in to do their work in the tent of meeting before Aaron and before his sons. As the Lord had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so they did.

"This is what pertains to the Levites: At the age of twenty-five years and upward one may begin to join the company in the work of the tent of meeting,

They may assist their colleagues in the tent of meeting, to attend to needs, but they must do no work. This is the way you must establish the Levites regarding their duties."

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:

In the fourteenth day of this month, at twilight, you are to observe it at its appointed time; you must keep it in accordance with all its statutes and all its customs."

And they observed the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight in the wilderness of Sinai; in accordance with all that the Lord had commanded Moses, so the Israelites did.

It happened that some men who were ceremonially defiled by the dead body of a man could not keep the Passover on that day, so they came before Moses and before Aaron on that day.

"Tell the Israelites, 'If any of you or of your posterity become ceremonially defiled by touching a dead body, or are on a journey far away, then he may observe the Passover to the Lord.

They may observe it on the fourteenth day of the second month at twilight; they are to eat it with bread made without yeast and with bitter herbs.

They must not leave any of it until morning, nor break any of its bones; they must observe it in accordance with every statute of the Passover.

But the man who is ceremonially clean, and was not on a journey, and fails to keep the Passover, that person must be cut off from his people. Because he did not bring the Lord's offering at its appointed time, that man must bear his sin.

If a resident foreigner lives among you and wants to keep the Passover to the Lord, he must do so according to the statute of the Passover, and according to its custom. You must have the same statute for the resident foreigner and for the one who was born in the land.'"

On the day that the tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered the tabernacle -- the tent of the testimony -- and from evening until morning there was a fiery appearance over the tabernacle.

Whenever the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle, then after that the Israelites would begin their journey; and in whatever place the cloud settled, there the Israelites would make camp.

When the cloud remained over the tabernacle many days, then the Israelites obeyed the instructions of the Lord and did not journey.

When the cloud remained over the tabernacle a number of days, they remained camped according to the Lord's commandment, and according to the Lord's commandment they would journey.

And when the cloud remained only from evening until morning, when the cloud was taken up the following morning, then they traveled on. Whether by day or by night, when the cloud was taken up they traveled.

Whether it was for two days, or a month, or a year, that the cloud prolonged its stay over the tabernacle, the Israelites remained camped without traveling; but when it was taken up, they traveled on.

At the commandment of the Lord they camped, and at the commandment of the Lord they traveled on; they kept the instructions of the Lord according to the commandment of the Lord, by the authority of Moses.

When they blow them both, all the community must come to you to the entrance of the tent of meeting.

"But if they blow with one trumpet, then the leaders, the heads of the thousands of Israel, must come to you.

When you blow an alarm, then the camps that are located on the east side must begin to travel.

And when you blow an alarm the second time, then the camps that are located on the south side must begin to travel. An alarm must be sounded for their journeys.

But when you assemble the community, you must blow, but you must not sound an alarm.

The sons of Aaron, the priests, must blow the trumpets; and they will be to you for an eternal ordinance throughout your generations.

If you go to war in your land against an adversary who opposes you, then you must sound an alarm with the trumpets, and you will be remembered before the Lord your God, and you will be saved from your enemies.

"Also in the time when you rejoice, such as on your appointed festivals or at the beginnings of your months, you must blow with your trumpets over your burnt offerings and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings, so that they may become a memorial for you before your God: I am the Lord your God."

On the twentieth day of the second month, in the second year, the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle of the testimony.

So the Israelites set out on their journeys from the wilderness of Sinai; and the cloud settled in the wilderness of Paran.

This was the first time they set out on their journey according to the commandment of the Lord, by the authority of Moses.

These were the traveling arrangements of the Israelites according to their companies when they traveled.

Moses said to Hobab son of Reuel, the Midianite, Moses' father-in-law, "We are journeying to the place about which the Lord said, 'I will give it to you.' Come with us and we will treat you well, for the Lord has promised good things for Israel."

But Hobab said to him, "I will not go, but I will go instead to my own land and to my kindred."

Moses said, "Do not leave us, because you know places for us to camp in the wilderness, and you could be our guide.

And the cloud of the Lord was over them by day, when they traveled from the camp.

And when the ark traveled, Moses would say, "Rise up, O Lord! May your enemies be scattered, and may those who hate you flee before you!"

And when it came to rest he would say, "Return, O Lord, to the many thousands of Israel!"

When the people complained, it displeased the Lord. When the Lord heard it, his anger burned, and so the fire of the Lord burned among them and consumed some of the outer parts of the camp.

When the people cried to Moses, he prayed to the Lord, and the fire died out.

We remember the fish we used to eat freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic.

And the people went about and gathered it, and ground it with mills or pounded it in mortars; they baked it in pans and made cakes of it. It tasted like fresh olive oil.

And when the dew came down on the camp in the night, the manna fell with it.)

Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, everyone at the door of his tent; and when the anger of the Lord was kindled greatly, Moses was also displeased.

And Moses said to the Lord, "Why have you afflicted your servant? Why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of this entire people on me?

Did I conceive this entire people? Did I give birth to them, that you should say to me, 'Carry them in your arms, as a foster father bears a nursing child,' to the land which you swore to their fathers?

But if you are going to deal with me like this, then kill me immediately. If I have found favor in your sight then do not let me see my trouble."

Then I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take part of the spirit that is on you, and will put it on them, and they will bear some of the burden of the people with you, so that you do not bear it all by yourself.

"And say to the people, 'Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow, and you will eat meat, for you have wept in the hearing of the Lord, saying, "Who will give us meat to eat, for life was good for us in Egypt?" Therefore the Lord will give you meat, and you will eat.

You will eat, not just one day, nor two days, nor five days, nor ten days, nor twenty days,

Moses said, "The people around me are 600,000 on foot; but you say, 'I will give them meat, that they may eat for a whole month.'

And the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to them, and he took some of the Spirit that was on Moses and put it on the seventy elders. When the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied, but did not do so again.

But two men remained in the camp; one's name was Eldad, and the other's name was Medad. And the spirit rested on them. (Now they were among those in the registration, but had not gone to the tabernacle.) So they prophesied in the camp.

And a young man ran and told Moses, "Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp!"

Joshua son of Nun, the servant of Moses, one of his choice young men, said, "My lord Moses, stop them!"

Moses said to him, "Are you jealous for me? I wish that all the Lord's people were prophets, that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!"

Now a wind went out from the Lord and brought quail from the sea, and let them fall near the camp, about a day's journey on this side, and about a day's journey on the other side, all around the camp, and about three feet high on the surface of the ground.

And the people stayed up all that day, all that night, and all the next day, and gathered the quail. The one who gathered the least gathered ten homers, and they spread them out for themselves all around the camp.

Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman he had married (for he had married an Ethiopian woman).

(Now the man Moses was very humble, more so than any man on the face of the earth.)

And the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the entrance of the tent; he then called Aaron and Miriam, and they both came forward.

The Lord said, "Hear now my words: If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known to him in a vision; I will speak with him in a dream.

My servant Moses is not like this; he is faithful in all my house.

With him I will speak face to face, openly, and not in riddles; and he will see the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?"

When the cloud departed from above the tent, Miriam became leprous as snow. Then Aaron looked at Miriam, and she was leprous!

So Aaron said to Moses, "O my lord, please do not hold this sin against us, in which we have acted foolishly and have sinned!

Do not let her be like a baby born dead, whose flesh is half-consumed when it comes out of its mother's womb!"

The Lord said to Moses, "If her father had only spit in her face, would she not have been disgraced for seven days? Shut her out from the camp seven days, and afterward she can be brought back in again."

So Miriam was shut outside of the camp for seven days, and the people did not journey on until Miriam was brought back in.

After that the people moved from Hazeroth and camped in the wilderness of Paran.

"Send out men to investigate the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites. You are to send one man from each ancestral tribe, each one a leader among them."

When Moses sent them to investigate the land of Canaan, he told them, "Go up through the Negev, and then go up into the hill country

and see what the land is like, and whether the people who live in it are strong or weak, few or many,

and whether the land they live in is good or bad, and whether the cities they inhabit are like camps or fortified cities,

and whether the land is rich or poor, and whether or not there are forests in it. And be brave, and bring back some of the fruit of the land." Now it was the time of year for the first ripe grapes.

When they went up through the Negev, they came to Hebron where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, descendants of Anak, were living. (Now Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)

When they came to the valley of Eshcol, they cut down from there a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they carried it on a staff between two men, as well as some of the pomegranates and the figs.

They came back to Moses and Aaron and to the whole community of the Israelites in the wilderness of Paran at Kadesh. They reported to the whole community and showed the fruit of the land.

The Amalekites live in the land of the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live by the sea and along the banks of the Jordan."

And all the Israelites murmured against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, "If only we had died in the land of Egypt, or if only we had perished in this wilderness!

So they said to one another, "Let's appoint a leader and return to Egypt."

They said to the whole community of the Israelites, "The land we passed through to investigate is an exceedingly good land.

If the Lord delights in us, then he will bring us into this land and give it to us -- a land that is flowing with milk and honey.

The Lord said to Moses, "How long will this people despise me, and how long will they not believe in me, in spite of the signs that I have done among them?

Moses said to the Lord, "When the Egyptians hear it -- for you brought up this people by your power from among them --

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

Because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the land that he swore to them, he killed them in the wilderness.'

The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in loyal love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children until the third and fourth generations.'

For all the people have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have tempted me now these ten times, and have not obeyed me,

(Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites were living in the valleys.) Tomorrow, turn and journey into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea."

Say to them, 'As I live, says the Lord, I will surely do to you just what you have spoken in my hearing.

Your dead bodies will fall in this wilderness -- all those of you who were numbered, according to your full number, from twenty years old and upward, who have murmured against me.