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Lord spoke to Moses in the Wilderness of Sinai in the first month of the second year after they came out of the land of Egypt. He said, 2 “Have the Israelites keep the Passover at its appointed time. 3 You are to celebrate it at the appointed time—at twilight on the fourteenth day of this month. You must keep the Passover in accordance with all its statutes and ordinances.”
4 So Moses told the Israelites that they should keep the Passover, 5 and they kept the Passover at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month in the Wilderness of Sinai. The Israelites did everything just as the Lord commanded Moses.
6 But there were some men who could not observe the Passover on that day, because they were made unclean on account of a dead body. So they came to Moses and Aaron that same day 7 and said to him, “We are unclean because of a dead body, but why should we be kept from presenting the Lord’s offering at its appointed time with the other Israelites?”
8 Moses said to them, “Wait here until I find out what the Lord commands concerning you.”
9 Then the Lord said to Moses, 10 “Tell the Israelites: ‘When any of you or your descendants are unclean because of a dead body or are far away on a journey, they may still keep the Lord’s Passover. 11 They are to celebrate it in the second month on the fourteenth day, at twilight. They are to eat the lamb with unleavened bread and bitter herbs, 12 but they must not leave any of it until morning or break any of its bones. When they keep the Passover, they must do so according to all the statutes. 13 But a man who is ceremonially clean and not on a journey yet fails to keep the Passover, that person must be cut off from among his people, because he did not present the Lord’s offering at the appointed time. That man must bear the consequences of his sin.
14 ‘If a foreign resident living among you wants to observe the Lord’s Passover, he must do so according to the Passover statute and ordinances. You are to apply the same statute for both the foreign resident and the native-born’.”
15 On the day the tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, the Tent of the Testimony; and in the evening it had the appearance of fire over the tabernacle until the morning. 16 That was how it continued to be; the cloud covered it by day, and at night it had the appearance of fire. 17 Whenever the cloud lifted from above the Tent, the Israelites would set out; and at the place where the cloud settled, there the Israelites would pitch their tents. 18 At the Lord’s command the Israelites set out, and at the Lord’s command they would camp. As long as the cloud stayed over the tabernacle, they would remain in camp.
19 Even when the cloud remained over the tabernacle a long time, the Israelites obeyed the Lord’s requirement and did not set out. 20 Sometimes the cloud remained over the tabernacle only a few days; at the Lord’s command they remained encamped, and at the Lord’s command they would set out. 21 Sometimes the cloud remained only from evening until morning, and when the cloud lifted in the morning, they would set out. Or if the cloud remained for a day and a night then it lifted, they set out when the cloud lifted. 22 Whether the cloud remained over the tabernacle for two days or a month or longer, the Israelites remained in camp and would not set out. But when it lifted, they would set out. 23 At the Lord’s command they camped, and at the Lord’s command they set out. They carried out the requirements of the Lord, in accordance with His command through Moses.