Chapter 10
1Then AO said to Moses,
2“Make two trumpets of hammered silver to be used for calling the congregation and for having the camps set out.
3When both are sounded, the whole congregation is to assemble before you at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.
4But if [only] one is sounded, then the leaders, the heads of the clans of Israel, are to gather before you.
5When you sound short blasts, the camps that lie on the east side are to set out.
6When you sound the short blasts a second time, the camps that lie on the south side are to set out. The blasts are to signal them to set out.
7To convene the assembly you are to sound long blasts not short ones.
8The sons of Aaron the priests are to sound the trumpets. This shall be a permanent statute for you [and] the generations to come.
9When you enter into battle in your land against an adversary who attacks you, sound short blasts on the trumpets and you will be remembered before AO your God and saved from your enemies.
10And on your joyous occasions, your appointed feasts and the beginning of each month, you are to blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to serve as a reminder for you before your God. I am AO your God!”
11On the twentieth day of the second month of the second year, the cloud was lifted from above the tabernacle of the Testimony
12and the Israelites set out from the Wilderness of Sinai traveling from place to place until the cloud settled in the Wilderness of Paran.
13They set out this first time according to AO’s command through Moses.
14First the divisions of the camp of Judah set out under their standard with Nahshon, son of Amminadab, in command.
15Nethanel, son of Zuar, was over the division of the tribe of Issachar
16and Eliab, son of Helon, was over the division of the tribe of Zebulun.
17Then the tabernacle was taken down and the Gershonites and the Merarites set out transporting [it].
18Then the divisions of Reuben set out under their standard with Elizur, son of Shedeur, in command.
19Shelumiel, son of Zurishaddai, was over the division of the tribe of Simeon
20and Eliasaph, son of Deuel, was over the division of the tribe of Gad.
21Then the Kohathites set out transporting the holy objects; before their arrival the tabernacle was to be set up.
22Next, the divisions of the camp of Ephraim set out under their standard with Elishama, son of Ammihud, in command.
23Gamaliel, son of Pedahzur, was over the division of the tribe of Manasseh
24and Abidan, son of Gideoni, was over the division of the tribe of Benjamin.
25Finally, the divisions of the camp of Dan set out under their standard serving as the rear guard for all units with Ahiezer, son of Ammishaddai, in command.
26Pagiel, son of Ocran, was over the division of the tribe of Asher
27and Ahira, son of Enan, was over the division of the tribe of Naphtali.
28This was the order of march for the Israelite divisions as they set out.
29Then Hoses said to Hobab, the son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses’ father-in-law, “We are setting out for the place which AO said: ‘I will give it to you.’ Come with us and we will treat you well for AO has promised good things to Israel.”
30“I will not go,” [Hobab] replied. “Instead I am going back to my own land and my own people.”
31“Please do not leave us,” Moses said, “since you know where we should camp in the wilderness and you can serve as our eyes.
32If you come with us, we will share with you whatever good things AO gives us.”
33So they set out from the mountain of AO on a three-day journey with the ark of the covenant of AO traveling ahead of them for those three days to seek for them a resting place.
34And the cloud of AO was over them by day when they set out from the camp.
35Whenever the ark set out, Moses would say, “Rise up O AO! May Your enemies be scattered, may those who hate You flee before You.”
36And when it came to rest he would say: “Return O AO to the countless thousands of Israel.”