The Second Passover
1Yahweh 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. He said, 2“Let the Israelites keep the Passover at its appointed time. 3On the fourteenth day of this month, at twilight, you shall keep it at its appointed time; you shall keep it according to all its statutes and all its ordinances.” 4So Moses told the Israelites to keep the Passover. 5They kept the Passover in the first month, on the fourteenth day, at twilight, in the wilderness of Sinai. The Israelites did just as Yahweh had commanded Moses. 6Now there were some men who were unclean because of a human corpse and could not keep the Passover on that day. So they came before Moses and Aaron that same day, 7and those men said to him, “We are unclean because of a human corpse. Why should we be kept from presenting Yahweh’s offering at its appointed time among the Israelites?” 8Moses said to them, “Wait, and I will hear what Yahweh commands concerning you.” 9Yahweh spoke to Moses. He said, 10“Speak to the Israelites: If any of you or of your descendants is unclean because of a corpse, or is on a distant journey, he shall still keep the Passover to Yahweh. 11In the second month, on the fourteenth day, at twilight, they shall keep it; they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. 12They shall leave none of it until morning, and they shall not break a bone of it. They shall keep it according to the whole statute of the Passover. 13But the man who is clean and is not on a journey, and yet fails to keep the Passover — that person shall be cut off from his people, because he did not present Yahweh’s offering at its appointed time. That man shall bear his sin. 14If a foreigner resides among you and wants to keep the Passover to Yahweh, he shall keep it according to the statute of the Passover and its ordinance. You shall have one statute, both for the foreigner and for the native of the land.”
The Cloud over the Tabernacle
15On the day the tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the testimony, and from evening until morning it stood over the tabernacle like the appearance of fire. 16So it continued: the cloud covered it, and by night it had the appearance of fire. 17Whenever the cloud lifted from over the tent, the Israelites would set out after it; and in the place where the cloud settled, there the Israelites would camp. 18At the command of Yahweh the Israelites set out, and at the command of Yahweh they camped. As long as the cloud stayed over the tabernacle, they remained in camp. 19When the cloud remained over the tabernacle many days, the Israelites kept Yahweh’s charge and did not set out. 20Sometimes the cloud was over the tabernacle only a few days; at the command of Yahweh they camped, and at the command of Yahweh they set out. 21Sometimes the cloud remained only from evening until morning; when the cloud lifted in the morning, they set out. Whether by day or by night, when the cloud lifted, they set out. 22Whether it was two days, a month, or longer that the cloud lingered over the tabernacle, remaining upon it, the Israelites stayed in camp and did not set out; but when it lifted, they set out. 23At the command of Yahweh they camped, and at the command of Yahweh they set out. They kept Yahweh’s charge, at the command of Yahweh through Moses.
