1 T he Lord spoke to Moses in the Sinai desert, in the first month of the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt. The Lord said,

Now 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:

2 “ Let the people of Israel keep the Passover at the time given for it.

“Let the children of Israel keep the Passover at its appointed time.

3 K eep it at its given time, in the evening of the fourteenth day of this month. Keep it by obeying all its Laws.”

On the fourteenth day of this month, at twilight, you shall keep it at its appointed time. According to all its rites and ceremonies you shall keep it.”

4 S o Moses told the people of Israel to keep the Passover.

So Moses told the children of Israel that they should keep the Passover.

5 A nd they kept the Passover in the evening of the fourteenth day of the first month, in the Sinai desert. The people of Israel did all that the Lord had told Moses.

And they kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month, at twilight, in the Wilderness of Sinai; according to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so the children of Israel did.

6 B ut there were some men who were unclean because they had touched a dead person. So they could not keep the Passover on that day. They came to Moses and Aaron that day

Now there were certain men who were defiled by a human corpse, so that they could not keep the Passover on that day; and they came before Moses and Aaron that day.

7 a nd said to Moses, “We are unclean because we touched a dead person. But why are we kept from giving the Lord’s gift at its given time among the people of Israel?”

And those men said to him, “We became defiled by a human corpse. Why are we kept from presenting the offering of the Lord at its appointed time among the children of Israel?”

8 M oses said to them, “Wait, and I will listen to what the Lord will tell me to do with you.”

And Moses said to them, “Stand still, that I may hear what the Lord will command concerning you.”

9 T hen the Lord said to Moses,

Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

10 “ Say to the people of Israel, ‘If anyone of you or your children touch a dead person and become unclean, or if you are traveling far away, even so, he may still keep the Passover to the Lord.

“Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘If anyone of you or your posterity is unclean because of a corpse, or is far away on a journey, he may still keep the Lord ’s Passover.

11 T hey will keep it in the evening of the fourteenth day of the second month. They will eat it with bread without yeast and with bitter tasting plants.

On the fourteenth day of the second month, at twilight, they may keep it. They shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.

12 T hey must not leave any of it until morning. And they must not break a bone of the lamb. They must obey all of the Law of the Passover.

They shall leave none of it until morning, nor break one of its bones. According to all the ordinances of the Passover they shall keep it.

13 B ut if a man is clean and is not away traveling, yet does not keep the Passover, he must be cut off from his people. For he did not give the Lord’s gift at the time he was to do so. That man will be guilty of his sin.

But the man who is clean and is not on a journey, and ceases to keep the Passover, that same person shall be cut off from among his people, because he did not bring the offering of the Lord at its appointed time; that man shall bear his sin.

14 I f a stranger staying with you wants to keep the Passover to the Lord and obey the Law of the Passover, he may do so. You will have one law, both for the stranger and for the one who was born in the land.’” The Cloud of Fire

‘And if a stranger dwells among you, and would keep the Lord ’s Passover, he must do so according to the rite of the Passover and according to its ceremony; you shall have one ordinance, both for the stranger and the native of the land.’” The Cloud and the Fire

15 O n the day that the meeting tent was set up, the cloud covered the meeting tent, the tent of the law. In the evening it was over the meeting tent. It looked like fire until morning.

Now on the day that the tabernacle was raised up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the Testimony; from evening until morning it was above the tabernacle like the appearance of fire.

16 I t was like this always. The cloud would cover it during the day. What looked like fire would cover it during the night.

So it was always: the cloud covered it by day, and the appearance of fire by night.

17 W hen the cloud was lifted from over the meeting tent, the people of Israel would move on. Where the cloud rested, there the people of Israel would set up their tents.

Whenever the cloud was taken up from above the tabernacle, after that the children of Israel would journey; and in the place where the cloud settled, there the children of Israel would pitch their tents.

18 T he people of Israel would move on as the Lord told them. And they would set up their tents as the Lord told them. They stayed in one place as long as the cloud rested over the meeting tent.

At the command of the Lord the children of Israel would journey, and at the command of the Lord they would camp; as long as the cloud stayed above the tabernacle they remained encamped.

19 E ven when the cloud rested over the meeting tent for many days, the people of Israel would obey the Lord and not leave.

Even when the cloud continued long, many days above the tabernacle, the children of Israel kept the charge of the Lord and did not journey.

20 S ometimes the cloud stayed a few days over the meeting tent. But they obeyed the Lord and stayed in that place. Then they would leave when the Lord told them.

So it was, when the cloud was above the tabernacle a few days: according to the command of the Lord they would remain encamped, and according to the command of the Lord they would journey.

21 S ometimes the cloud stayed from evening until morning. When the cloud lifted in the morning, they would leave. If the cloud stayed during the day and the night, when it was lifted, they would leave that place.

So it was, when the cloud remained only from evening until morning: when the cloud was taken up in the morning, then they would journey; whether by day or by night, whenever the cloud was taken up, they would journey.

22 E ven when the cloud stayed over the meeting tent for two days, or a month, or a year the people of Israel would stay in that place and not leave. They would leave when it was lifted.

Whether it was two days, a month, or a year that the cloud remained above the tabernacle, the children of Israel would remain encamped and not journey; but when it was taken up, they would journey.

23 T hey set up their tents as the Lord told them. And they moved on as the Lord told them. They obeyed what the Lord had told them to do through Moses.

At the command of the Lord they remained encamped, and at the command of the Lord they journeyed; they kept the charge of the Lord, at the command of the Lord by the hand of Moses.