'Camp' in the Bible

When he saw them, Jacob said, “This is God’s camp.” So he called that place Mahanaim.

He thought, “If Esau comes to one camp and attacks it, the remaining one can escape.”

So the gift was sent on ahead of him while he remained in the camp that night.

“Tell the Israelites to turn back and camp in front of Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea; you must camp in front of Baal-zephon, facing it by the sea.

The Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to Me? Tell the Israelites to break camp.

So at evening quail came and covered the camp. In the morning there was a layer of dew all around the camp.

On the third day, when morning came, there was thunder and lightning, a thick cloud on the mountain, and a loud trumpet sound, so that all the people in the camp shuddered.

Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain.

But burn up the bull’s flesh, its hide, and its dung outside the camp; it is a sin offering.

When Joshua heard the sound of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, “There is a sound of war in the camp.”

As he approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses became enraged and threw the tablets out of his hands, smashing them at the base of the mountain.

He told them, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says, ‘Every man fasten his sword to his side; go back and forth through the camp from entrance to entrance, and each of you kill his brother, his friend, and his neighbor.’”

Now Moses took a tent and set it up outside the camp, far away from the camp; he called it the tent of meeting. Anyone who wanted to consult the Lord would go to the tent of meeting that was outside the camp.

The Lord spoke with Moses face to face, just as a man speaks with his friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his assistant, the young man Joshua son of Nun, would not leave the inside of the tent.

After Moses gave an order, they sent a proclamation throughout the camp: “Let no man or woman make anything else as an offering for the sanctuary.” So the people stopped.

all the rest of the bull—he must bring to a ceremonially clean place outside the camp to the ash heap, and must burn it on a wood fire. It is to be burned at the ash heap.

Then he will bring the bull outside the camp and burn it just as he burned the first bull. It is the sin offering for the assembly.

Then he must take off his garments, put on other clothes, and bring the ashes outside the camp to a ceremonially clean place.

He burned up the bull with its hide, flesh, and dung outside the camp, as the Lord had commanded Moses.

He burned up the flesh and the hide outside the camp.

Moses summoned Mishael and Elzaphan, sons of Aaron’s uncle Uzziel, and said to them, “Come here and carry your relatives away from the front of the sanctuary to a place outside the camp.”

So they came forward and carried them in their tunics outside the camp, as Moses had said.

He will remain unclean as long as he has the infection; he is unclean. He must live alone in a place outside the camp.

who will go outside the camp and examine him. If the skin disease has disappeared from the afflicted person,

The one who is to be cleansed must wash his clothes, shave off all his hair, and bathe with water; he is clean. Afterward he may enter the camp, but he must remain outside his tent for seven days.

The man who released the goat for azazel is to wash his clothes and bathe his body with water; afterward he may reenter the camp.

The bull for the sin offering and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought into the most holy place to make atonement, must be brought outside the camp and their hide, flesh, and dung burned up.

The one who burns them is to wash his clothes and bathe himself with water; afterward he may reenter the camp.

Anyone from the house of Israel who slaughters an ox, sheep, or goat in the camp, or slaughters it outside the camp,

Now the son of an Israelite mother and an Egyptian father was among the Israelites. A fight broke out in the camp between the Israelite woman’s son and an Israelite man.

“Bring the one who has cursed to the outside of the camp and have all who heard him lay their hands on his head; then have the whole community stone him.

After Moses spoke to the Israelites, they brought the one who had cursed to the outside of the camp and stoned him. So the Israelites did as the Lord had commanded Moses.

Appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of the testimony, all its furnishings, and everything in it. They are to transport the tabernacle and all its articles, take care of it, and camp around it.

“The Israelites are to camp by their military divisions, each man with his encampment and under his banner.

The Levites are to camp around the tabernacle of the testimony and watch over it, so that no wrath will fall on the Israelite community.”

“The Israelites are to camp under their respective banners beside the flags of their ancestral houses. They are to camp around the tent of meeting at a distance from it:

Judah’s military divisions will camp on the east side toward the sunrise under their banner. The leader of the descendants of Judah is Nahshon son of Amminadab.

The tribe of Issachar will camp next to it. The leader of the Issacharites is Nethanel son of Zuar.

Reuben’s military divisions will camp on the south side under their banner. The leader of the Reubenites is Elizur son of Shedeur.

The tribe of Simeon will camp next to it. The leader of the Simeonites is Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai.

The tent of meeting is to move out with the Levites’ camp, which is in the middle of the camps. They are to move out just as they camp, each in his place, with their banners.

Ephraim’s military divisions will camp on the west side under their banner. The leader of the Ephraimites is Elishama son of Ammihud.

Dan’s military divisions will camp on the north side under their banner. The leader of the Danites is Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai.

The tribe of Asher will camp next to it. The leader of the Asherites is Pagiel son of Ochran.

Whenever the camp is about to move on, Aaron and his sons are to go in, take down the screening veil, and cover the ark of the testimony with it.

“Aaron and his sons are to finish covering the holy objects and all their equipment whenever the camp is to move on. The Kohathites will come and carry them, but they are not to touch the holy objects or they will die. These are the transportation duties of the Kohathites regarding the tent of meeting.

“Command the Israelites to send away anyone from the camp who is afflicted with a skin disease, anyone who has a bodily discharge, or anyone who is defiled because of a corpse.

You must send away both male or female; send them outside the camp, so that they will not defile their camps where I dwell among them.”

The Israelites did this, sending them outside the camp. The Israelites did as the Lord instructed Moses.

Sometimes the cloud remained over the tabernacle for only a few days. They would camp at the Lord’s command and set out at the Lord’s command.

The military divisions of the camp of Judah with their banner set out first, and Nahshon son of Amminadab was over Judah’s divisions.

The military divisions of the camp of Reuben with their banner set out, and Elizur son of Shedeur was over Reuben’s division.

Next the military divisions of the camp of Ephraim with their banner set out, and Elishama son of Ammihud was over Ephraim’s division.

The military divisions of the camp of Dan with their banner set out, serving as rear guard for all the camps, and Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai was over Dan’s division.

“Please don’t leave us,” Moses said, “since you know where we should camp in the wilderness, and you can serve as our eyes.

Meanwhile, the cloud of the Lord was over them by day when they set out from the camp.

Now the people began complaining openly before the Lord about hardship. When the Lord heard, His anger burned, and fire from the Lord blazed among them and consumed the outskirts of the camp.

When the dew fell on the camp at night, the manna would fall with it.

Two men had remained in the camp, one named Eldad and the other Medad; the Spirit rested on them—they were among those listed, but had not gone out to the tent—and they prophesied in the camp.

A young man ran and reported to Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.”

Then Moses returned to the camp along with the elders of Israel.

A wind sent by the Lord came up and blew quail in from the sea; it dropped them at the camp all around, three feet off the ground, about a day’s journey in every direction.

The people were up all that day and night and all the next day gathering the quail—the one who took the least gathered 50 bushels—and they spread them out all around the camp.

The Lord answered Moses, “If her father had merely spit in her face, wouldn’t she remain in disgrace for seven days? Let her be confined outside the camp for seven days; after that she may be brought back in.”

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

But they dared to go up the ridge of the hill country, even though the ark of the Lord’s covenant and Moses did not leave the camp.

Then the Lord told Moses, “The man is to be put to death. The entire community is to stone him outside the camp.”

So the entire community brought him outside the camp and stoned him to death, as the Lord had commanded Moses.

Give it to Eleazar the priest, and he will have it brought outside the camp and slaughtered in his presence.

Then the priest must wash his clothes and bathe his body in water; after that he may enter the camp, but he will remain ceremonially unclean until evening.

“A man who is clean is to gather up the cow’s ashes and deposit them outside the camp in a ceremonially clean place. The ashes must be kept by the Israelite community for preparing the water to remove impurity; it is a sin offering.

In the morning, Balak took Balaam and brought him to Bamoth-baal. From there he saw the outskirts of the people’s camp.

Then Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place where you can see them. You will only see the outskirts of their camp; you won’t see all of them. From there, put a curse on them for me.”

They brought the prisoners, animals, and spoils of war to Moses, Eleazar the priest, and the Israelite community at the camp on the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho.

Moses, Eleazar the priest, and all the leaders of the community went to meet them outside the camp.

“You are to remain outside the camp for seven days. All of you and your prisoners who have killed a person or touched the dead are to purify yourselves on the third day and the seventh day.

On the seventh day wash your clothes, and you will be clean. After that you may enter the camp.”

who went before you on the journey to seek out a place for you to camp. He went in the fire by night and in the cloud by day to guide you on the road you were to travel.

The time we spent traveling from Kadesh-barnea until we crossed the Zered Valley was 38 years until the entire generation of fighting men had perished from the camp, as the Lord had sworn to them.

Indeed, the Lord’s hand was against them, to eliminate them from the camp until they had all perished.

and what He did to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab the Reubenite, when in the middle of the whole Israelite camp the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, their households, their tents, and every living thing with them.

If there is a man among you who is unclean because of a bodily emission during the night, he must go outside the camp; he may not come anywhere inside the camp.

When evening approaches, he must wash with water, and when the sun sets he may come inside the camp.

You must have a place outside the camp and go there to relieve yourself.

For the Lord your God walks throughout your camp to protect you and deliver your enemies to you; so your encampments must be holy. He must not see anything improper among you or He will turn away from you.

“Go through the camp and tell the people, ‘Get provisions ready for yourselves, for within three days you will be crossing the Jordan to go in and take possession of the land the Lord your God is giving you to inherit.’”

After three days the officers went through the camp

and commanded the people: “When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God carried by the Levitical priests, you must break camp and follow it.

When the people broke camp to cross the Jordan, the priests carried the ark of the covenant ahead of the people.

The Israelites did just as Joshua had commanded them. The 12 men took stones from the middle of the Jordan, one for each of the Israelite tribes, just as the Lord had told Joshua. They carried them to the camp and set them down there.

After the entire nation had been circumcised, they stayed where they were in the camp until they recovered.

So the ark of the Lord was carried around the city, circling it once. They returned to the camp and spent the night there.

On the second day they marched around the city once and returned to the camp. They did this for six days.

But keep yourselves from the things set apart, or you will be set apart for destruction. If you take any of those things, you will set apart the camp of Israel for destruction and bring disaster on it.

So the young men who had scouted went in and brought out Rahab and her father, mother, brothers, and all who belonged to her. They brought out her whole family and settled them outside the camp of Israel.

The military force was stationed in this way: the main camp to the north of the city and its rear guard to the west of the city. And that night Joshua went into the valley.

They went to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal and said to him and the men of Israel, “We have come from a distant land. Please make a treaty with us.”

Then the men of Gibeon sent word to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal: “Don’t abandon your servants. Come quickly and save us! Help us, for all the Amorite kings living in the hill country have joined forces against us.”

Then Joshua and all Israel with him returned to the camp at Gilgal.

The people returned safely to Joshua in the camp at Makkedah. And no one dared to threaten the Israelites.