Placing the Lamps

¹The Lord said to Moses,

²“Tell Aaron that when he puts the seven lamps on the lampstand, he should place them so that the light shines toward the front.”

³Aaron obeyed and placed the lamps facing the front of the lampstand.

⁴From top to bottom the lampstand was made of hammered gold, according to the pattern that the Lord had shown Moses.

The Purification and Dedication of the Levites

⁵The Lord said to Moses,

⁶“Separate the Levites from the rest of the people of Israel and purify them

⁷in the following way: sprinkle them with the water of purification and have them shave their whole bodies and have them wash their clothes. Then they will be ritually clean.

⁸Then they are to take a young bull and the required grain offering of flour mixed with olive oil; and you are to take another bull for the sin offering.

⁹Then assemble the whole community of Israel and have the Levites stand in front of the Tent of my presence.

¹⁰The people of Israel are to place their hands on the heads of the Levites,

¹¹and then Aaron shall dedicate the Levites to me as a special gift from the Israelites, so that they may do my work.

¹²The Levites shall then put their hands on the heads of the two bulls; one is to be offered as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering, in order to perform the ritual of purification for the Levites.

¹³“Dedicate the Levites as a special gift to me, and put Aaron and his sons in charge of them.

¹⁴Separate the Levites in this way from the rest of the Israelites, so that they will belong to me.

¹⁵After you have purified and dedicated the Levites, they will be qualified to work in the Tent.

¹⁶I have claimed them in the place of all the first-born sons of the Israelites, and they belong to me alone.

¹⁷When I killed all the first-born in Egypt, I consecrated as my own the oldest son of each Israelite family and the first-born of every animal.

¹⁸I am now taking the Levites instead of all the first-born of the Israelites,

¹⁹and I assign the Levites to Aaron and his sons, as a gift from the Israelites, to work in the Tent for the people of Israel and to protect the Israelites from the disaster that would strike them if they came too near the Holy Place.”

²⁰So Moses, Aaron, and all the people of Israel dedicated the Levites, as the Lord commanded Moses.

²¹The Levites purified themselves and washed their clothes, and Aaron dedicated them as a special gift to the Lord. He also performed the ritual of purification for them.

²²The people did everything the Lord had commanded Moses concerning the Levites. And so the Levites were qualified to work in the Tent under Aaron and his sons.

²³The Lord said to Moses,

²⁴“From the age of twenty-five each Levite shall perform his duties in the Tent of my presence,

²⁵and at the age of fifty he shall retire.

²⁶After that, he may help his fellow Levites in performing their duties in the Tent, but he must not perform any service by himself. This is how you are to regulate the duties of the Levites.”

The Second Passover

¹The Lord spoke to Moses in the Sinai Desert in the first month of the second year after the people of Israel had left Egypt. He said,

^2-3“On the fourteenth day of this month, beginning at sunset, the people of Israel are to observe the Passover according to all the rules and regulations for it.”

⁴So Moses told the people to observe the Passover,

⁵and on the evening of the fourteenth day of the first month they did so in the Sinai Desert. The people did everything just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

⁶But there were some people who were ritually unclean because they had touched a corpse, and they were not able to keep the Passover on that day. They went to Moses and Aaron

⁷and said, “We are unclean because we have touched a corpse, but why should we be excluded from presenting the Lord's offering with the rest of the Israelites?”

⁸Moses answered, “Wait until I receive instructions from the Lord.”

⁹The Lord told Moses

¹⁰to say to the people of Israel, “When any of you or your descendants are unclean from touching a corpse or are far away on a journey, but still want to keep the Passover,

¹¹you are permitted to observe it one month later instead, on the evening of the fourteenth day of the second month. Celebrate it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.

¹²Do not leave any of the food until the following morning and do not break any of the animal's bones. Observe the Passover according to all the regulations.

¹³But if any of you are ritually clean and not away on a journey and do not observe the Passover, you shall no longer be considered my people, because you did not present the offering to me at the appointed time. You must suffer the consequences of your sin.

¹⁴“If foreigners living among you want to keep the Passover, they must observe it according to all the rules and regulations. The same law applies to everyone, whether native or foreigner.”

The Fiery Cloud

^15-16On the day the Tent of the Lord's presence was set up, a cloud came and covered it. At night the cloud looked like fire.

¹⁷Whenever the cloud lifted, the people of Israel broke camp, and they set up camp again in the place where the cloud came down.

¹⁸The people broke camp at the command of the Lord, and at his command they set up camp. As long as the cloud stayed over the Tent, they stayed in the same camp.

¹⁹When the cloud stayed over the Tent for a long time, they obeyed the Lord and did not move on.

²⁰Sometimes the cloud remained over the Tent for only a few days; in any case, they remained in camp or moved, according to the command of the Lord.

²¹Sometimes the cloud remained only from evening until morning, and they moved on as soon as the cloud lifted. Whenever the cloud lifted, they moved on.

²²Whether it was two days, a month, a year, or longer, as long as the cloud remained over the Tent, they did not move on; but when it lifted, they moved.

²³They set up camp and broke camp in obedience to the commands which the Lord gave through Moses.

A Good Land to Be Possessed

¹“Obey faithfully all the laws that I have given you today, so that you may live, increase in number, and occupy the land that the Lord promised to your ancestors.

²Remember how the Lord your God led you on this long journey through the desert these past forty years, sending hardships to test you, so that he might know what you intended to do and whether you would obey his commands.

³He made you go hungry, and then he gave you manna to eat, food that you and your ancestors had never eaten before. He did this to teach you that you must not depend on bread alone to sustain you, but on everything that the Lord says.

⁴During these forty years your clothes have not worn out, nor have your feet swollen up.

⁵Remember that the Lord your God corrects and punishes you just as parents discipline their children.

⁶So then, do as the Lord has commanded you: live according to his laws and obey him.

⁷The Lord your God is bringing you into a fertile land—a land that has rivers and springs, and underground streams gushing out into the valleys and hills;

⁸a land that produces wheat and barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives, and honey.

⁹There you will never go hungry or ever be in need. Its rocks have iron in them, and from its hills you can mine copper.

¹⁰You will have all you want to eat, and you will give thanks to the Lord your God for the fertile land that he has given you.

Warnings against Forgetting the Lord

¹¹“Make certain that you do not forget the Lord your God; do not fail to obey any of his laws that I am giving you today.

¹²When you have all you want to eat and have built good houses to live in

¹³and when your cattle and sheep, your silver and gold, and all your other possessions have increased,

¹⁴be sure that you do not become proud and forget the Lord your God who rescued you from Egypt, where you were slaves.

¹⁵He led you through that vast and terrifying desert where there were poisonous snakes and scorpions. In that dry and waterless land he made water flow out of solid rock for you.

¹⁶In the desert he gave you manna to eat, food that your ancestors had never eaten. He sent hardships on you to test you, so that in the end he could bless you with good things.

¹⁷So then, you must never think that you have made yourselves wealthy by your own power and strength.

¹⁸Remember that it is the Lord your God who gives you the power to become rich. He does this because he is still faithful today to the covenant that he made with your ancestors.

¹⁹Never forget the Lord your God or turn to other gods to worship and serve them. If you do, then I warn you today that you will certainly be destroyed.

²⁰If you do not obey the Lord, then you will be destroyed just like those nations that he is going to destroy as you advance.

God the King

¹The Lord is king. He is clothed with majesty and strength. The earth is set firmly in place and cannot be moved.

²Your throne, O Lord, has been firm from the beginning, and you existed before time began.

³The ocean depths raise their voice, O Lord; they raise their voice and roar.

⁴The Lord rules supreme in heaven, greater than the roar of the ocean, more powerful than the waves of the sea.

⁵Your laws are eternal, Lord, and your Temple is holy indeed, forever and ever.