And 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, “Let the people of Israel keep the Passover at
its appointed time. On the fourteenth day of this month, at
twilight, you shall keep it at its appointed time; according to all
its statutes and all its rules you shall keep it.” So Moses told
the people of Israel that they should keep the Passover. And they
kept the Passover in the first month, on the fourteenth day of the
month, at twilight, in the wilderness of Sinai; according to all
that the LORD commanded Moses, so the people of Israel did. And
there were certain men who were unclean through touching a dead
body, so that they could not keep the Passover on that day, and
they came before Moses and Aaron on that day. And those men said to
him, “We are unclean through touching a dead body. Why are we kept
from bringing the LORD's offering at its appointed time among the
people of Israel?” And Moses said to them, “Wait, that I may hear
what the LORD will command concerning you.”
The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel,
saying, If any one of you or of your descendants is unclean through
touching a dead body, or is on a long journey, he shall still keep
the Passover to the LORD. In the second month on the fourteenth day
at twilight 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 any of its bones; according to all the statute
for the Passover they shall keep it. But if anyone who is clean and
is not on a journey fails to keep the Passover, that person shall
be cut off from his people because he did not bring the LORD's
offering at its appointed time; that man shall bear his sin. And if
a stranger sojourns among you and would keep the Passover to the
LORD, according to the statute of the Passover and according to its
rule, so shall he do. You shall have one statute, both for the
sojourner and for the native.”
On the day that the tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered the
tabernacle, the tent of the testimony. And at evening it was over
the tabernacle like the appearance of fire until morning. So it was
always: the cloud covered it by day and the appearance of fire by
night. And whenever the cloud lifted from over the tent, after that
the people of Israel set out, and in the place where the cloud
settled down, there the people of Israel camped. At the command of
the LORD the people of Israel set out, and at the command of the
LORD they camped. As long as the cloud rested over the tabernacle,
they remained in camp. Even when the cloud continued over the
tabernacle many days, the people of Israel kept the charge of the
LORD and did not set out. Sometimes the cloud was a few days over
the tabernacle, and according to the command of the LORD they
remained in camp; then according to the command of the LORD they
set out. And sometimes the cloud remained from evening until
morning. And when the cloud lifted in the morning, they set out, or
if it continued for a day and a night, when the cloud lifted they
set out. Whether it was two days, or a month, or a longer time,
that the cloud continued over the tabernacle, abiding there, the
people of Israel remained in camp and did not set out, but when it
lifted they set out. At the command of the LORD they camped, and at
the command of the LORD they set out. They kept the charge of the
LORD, at the command of the LORD by Moses.
