Chapter 9
1In the first month of the second year after [Israel] had come out of the land of Egypt, AO spoke to Moses in the Wilderness of Sinai:
2“The Israelites are to observe the Passover at its appointed time.
3You are to observe it at the appointed time on the fourteenth day of this month at twilight in accordance with its statutes and ordinances.”
4So Moses told the Israelites to observe the Passover.
5The Israelites did everything just as AO had commanded Moses in the Wilderness of Sinai and they [did so] on the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight.
6But there were some men who were unclean due to a dead body so they could not observe the Passover on that day. And they came before Moses and Aaron that same day
7and said to [Moses], “We are unclean because of a dead body but why should we be excluded from presenting AO’s offering at the appointed time with the other Israelites?”
8Moses replied, “Wait here until I find out what AO commands concerning you.”
9Then AO said to Moses,
10“Tell the Israelites: ‘When any one of you or your descendants is unclean because of a dead body or is away on a journey, he may still observe the Passover to AO.
11Such people are to observe it on the fourteenth day of the second month at twilight. They are to eat [the lamb] together with unleavened bread and bitter herbs;
12they may not leave any of it until morning or break any of its bones. They must observe the Passover according to all its statutes.
13But [if] a man who is ceremonially clean [and] is not on a journey still fails to observe the Passover, he must be cut off from his people because he did not present AO’s offering at its appointed time. That man will bear the consequences of his sin.
14If a foreigner dwelling among you wants to observe the Passover to AO, he is to do so according to the Passover statute and its ordinances. You are to apply the same statute to both the foreigner and the native of the land.’”
15On the day that the tabernacle, the Tent of the Testimony, was set up, the cloud covered [it] and appeared like fire from evening until morning.
16It remained that way continually; the cloud would cover [the tabernacle] [by day] and at night it would appear like fire.
17Whenever the cloud was lifted from above the Tent, the Israelites would set out and wherever the cloud settled, there the Israelites would camp.
18At AO’s command the Israelites set out and at AO’s command they camped. As long as the cloud remained over the tabernacle, they remained encamped.
19Even when the cloud lingered over the tabernacle for many days, the Israelites kept AO’s charge and did not set out.
20Sometimes the cloud remained over the tabernacle for only a few days and they would camp at AO’s command and set out at AO’s command.
21Sometimes the cloud remained only from evening until morning and when [it] lifted in the morning they would set out. Whether [it was] by day or by night, when the cloud was taken up they would set out.
22Whether [the cloud] lingered for two days, a month or longer, as long as the cloud remained over the tabernacle, the Israelites camped and did not set out but when it was lifted they would set out.
23They camped at AO’s command and they set out at AO’s command; they carried out AO’s charge according to His command through Moses.