Regulations for Celebrating Passover

¹During the first month of Israel's second year in the Sinai Desert, the Lord had told Moses[#Ex 12.1-13.; #9.1 The book of Numbers begins in the second month of the second year (see 1.1), so 9.1-5 refers to a Passover celebration that had already taken place.]

²to say to the people, “Celebrate Passover

³in the evening of the fourteenth day of this month and do it by following all the regulations.”[#9.3 Abib (also called Nisan), the first month of the Hebrew calendar, from about mid-March to mid-April.]

^4-5Moses told the people what the Lord had said, and they celebrated Passover there in the desert in the evening of the fourteenth day of the first month.

⁶Some people in Israel's camp had touched a dead body and had become unfit to worship the Lord , and they could not celebrate Passover. But they asked Moses and Aaron,

⁷“Even though we have touched a dead body, why can't we celebrate Passover and offer sacrifices to the Lord at the same time as everyone else?”

⁸Moses said, “Wait here while I go into the sacred tent and find out what the Lord says about this.”

⁹The Lord then told Moses

¹⁰to say to the community of Israel:

The Cloud over the Sacred Tent

^15-16As soon as the sacred tent was set up, a thick cloud appeared and covered it. The cloud was there each day, and during the night, a fire could be seen in it.[#9.15,16 According to Exodus 40.17, this took place “on the first day of the first month of the second year” of the Israelites' stay in the desert.]

^17-18-19The Lord used this cloud to tell the Israelites when to move their camp and where to set it up again. As long as the cloud covered the tent, the Israelites did not break camp. But when the cloud moved, they followed it, and wherever it stopped, they camped and stayed there,

^20-21-22whether it was only one night, a few days, a month, or even a year. As long as the cloud remained over the tent, the Israelites stayed where they were. But when the cloud moved, so did the Israelites.

²³They obeyed the Lord 's commands and went wherever he directed Moses.