Numbers 8:1 – 9:14

The Light for the Dwelling

Numbers 8

¹ The Lord spoke to Moses: ² “Speak to Aaron and tell him, ‘When you set up the lamps, the seven lamps are to give light in front of the lampstand.’”

³ So that is what Aaron did. He set up the lamps to light the area in front of the lampstand, just as the Lord commanded Moses. ⁴ This was how the lampstand was made: It was a work of hammered gold. From its base to its blossoms, it was one hammered piece. So the lampstand was made according to the pattern that the Lord had shown Moses.

The Purification of the Levites

⁵ The Lord told Moses ⁶ to take the Levites from among the Israelites and to do the following to make them ceremonially clean:

²⁰ Moses, Aaron, and the entire community of the people of Israel did for the Levites just as they had been told. The Israelites did for them everything that the Lord commanded Moses in regard to the Levites. ²¹ The Levites purified themselves and washed their clothing. Aaron offered them as a wave offering before the Lord and made atonement for them to purify them. ²² After that, the Levites went to do their work at the Tent of Meeting in the presence of Aaron and his sons. Just as the Lord had commanded Moses about the Levites, that is exactly what they did for them.

²³ The Lord spoke to Moses: ²⁴ “This applies to the Levites: From twenty-five years of age and up, they are to serve in the work at the Tent of Meeting. ²⁵ But when they are fifty years old, they are to retire from the service and no longer work. ²⁶ They may assist their brothers at the Tent of Meeting in performing their duties, but they are not to do the work. This is exactly what you are to do in regard to the Levites and their duties.”

Regulations for Observing the Passover

Numbers 9

¹ The Lord spoke to Moses in the Wilderness of Sinai, during the first month of the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt. He said, ² “The people of Israel are to observe the Passover at its appointed time. ³ On the fourteenth day of this month, at twilight, ^[2] you will observe it at its appointed time. You will observe it according to all its regulations and all its ordinances.”

⁴ Moses told the Israelites to observe the Passover. ⁵ They observed the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month, at twilight, in the Wilderness of Sinai. The Israelites did everything just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

⁶ There were some men, however, who were unclean because of contact with a dead body. So they were not able to observe the Passover on that day. They went before Moses and Aaron on that same day. ⁷ These men said to him, “We are unclean because of a dead body. Why should we be kept from presenting the offering of the Lord at its appointed time among the people of Israel?”

⁸ So Moses said to them, “Wait and let me hear what the Lord commands concerning you.”

⁹ The Lord spoke to Moses ¹⁰ and told him to tell the Israelites this:

If any one of you or your descendants is unclean because of contact with a dead body or is on a distant journey, he may still observe the Passover to the Lord. ¹¹ Such people are to observe it during the second month, on the fourteenth day, at twilight. They are to eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. ¹² They must not leave any of it until morning. They are not to break a single one of its bones. They are to observe the Passover according to every regulation for it.

¹³ But anyone who is clean and is not on a journey yet fails to observe the Passover will be cut off from his people. He will bear his sin because he did not present the offering of the Lord at its appointed time.

¹⁴ If an alien dwells among you and desires to observe the Passover to the Lord, he is to do so according to the regulation for the Passover and its ordinance. You are to have one regulation, the same for the alien and for the native of the land.