The Silver Trumpets

¹The Lord said to Moses,

²“Make two trumpets of hammered silver to use for calling the people together and for breaking camp.

³When long blasts are sounded on both trumpets, the whole community is to gather around you at the entrance to the Tent of my presence.

⁴But when only one trumpet is sounded, then only the leaders of the clans are to gather around you.

⁵When short blasts are sounded, the tribes camped on the east will move out.

⁶When short blasts are sounded a second time, the tribes on the south will move out. So short blasts are to be sounded to break camp,

⁷but in order to call the community together, long blasts are to be sounded.

⁸The trumpets are to be blown by Aaron's sons, the priests. “The following rule is to be observed for all time to come.

⁹When you are at war in your land, defending yourselves against an enemy who has attacked you, sound the signal for battle on these trumpets. I, the Lord your God, will help you and save you from your enemies.

¹⁰Also on joyful occasions—at your New Moon Festivals and your other religious festivals—you are to blow the trumpets when you present your burnt offerings and your fellowship offerings. Then I will help you. I am the Lord your God.”

The Israelites Break Camp

¹¹On the twentieth day of the second month in the second year after the people left Egypt, the cloud over the Tent of the Lord's presence lifted,

¹²and the Israelites started on their journey out of the Sinai Desert. The cloud came to rest in the wilderness of Paran.

¹³They began to march at the command of the Lord through Moses,

¹⁴and each time they moved, they were in the same order. Those under the banner of the division led by the tribe of Judah started out first, company by company, with Nahshon son of Amminadab in command.

¹⁵Nethanel son of Zuar was in command of the tribe of Issachar,

¹⁶and Eliab son of Helon was in command of the tribe of Zebulun.

¹⁷Then the Tent would be taken down, and the clans of Gershon and Merari, who carried it, would start out.

¹⁸Next, those under the banner of the division led by the tribe of Reuben would start out, company by company, with Elizur son of Shedeur in command.

¹⁹Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai was in command of the tribe of Simeon,

²⁰and Eliasaph son of Deuel was in command of the tribe of Gad.

²¹Then the Levite clan of Kohath would start out, carrying the sacred objects. By the time they arrived at the next camp, the Tent had been set up again.

²²Next, those under the banner of the division led by the tribe of Ephraim would start out, company by company, with Elishama son of Ammihud in command.

²³Gamaliel son of Pedahzur was in command of the tribe of Manasseh,

²⁴and Abidan son of Gideoni was in command of the tribe of Benjamin.

²⁵Finally, those under the banner of the division led by the tribe of Dan, serving as the rear guard of all the divisions, would start out, company by company, with Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai in command.

²⁶Pagiel son of Ochran was in command of the tribe of Asher,

²⁷and Ahira son of Enan was in command of the tribe of Naphtali.

²⁸This, then, was the order of march, company by company, whenever the Israelites broke camp and set out.

²⁹Moses said to his brother-in-law Hobab son of Jethro the Midianite, “We are about to start out for the place which the Lord said he would give us. He has promised to make Israel prosperous, so come with us, and we will share our prosperity with you.”

³⁰Hobab answered, “No, I am going back to my native land.”

³¹“Please don't leave us,” Moses said. “You know where we can camp in the wilderness, and you can be our guide.

³²If you come with us, we will share with you all the blessings that the Lord gives us.”

The People Set Out

³³When the people left Sinai, the holy mountain, they traveled three days. The Lord's Covenant Box always went ahead of them to find a place for them to camp.

³⁴As they moved on from each camp, the cloud of the Lord was over them by day.

³⁵Whenever the Covenant Box started out, Moses would say, “Arise, Lord; scatter your enemies and put to flight those who hate you!”

³⁶And whenever it stopped, he would say, “Return, Lord, to the thousands of families of Israel.”

The People's Disobedience

¹“Listen, people of Israel! Today you are about to cross the Jordan River and occupy the land belonging to nations greater and more powerful than you. Their cities are large, with walls that reach the sky.

²The people themselves are tall and strong; they are giants, and you have heard it said that no one can stand against them.

³But now you will see for yourselves that the Lord your God will go ahead of you like a raging fire. He will defeat them as you advance, so that you will drive them out and destroy them quickly, as he promised.

⁴“After the Lord your God has driven them out for you, do not say to yourselves that he brought you in to possess this land because you deserved it. No, the Lord is going to drive these people out for you because they are wicked.

⁵It is not because you are good and do what is right that the Lord is letting you take their land. He will drive them out because they are wicked and because he intends to keep the promise that he made to your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

⁶You can be sure that the Lord is not giving you this fertile land because you deserve it. No, you are a stubborn people.

⁷“Never forget how you made the Lord your God angry in the desert. From the day that you left Egypt until the day you arrived here, you have rebelled against him.

⁸Even at Mount Sinai you made the Lord angry—angry enough to destroy you.

⁹I went up the mountain to receive the stone tablets on which was written the covenant that the Lord had made with you. I stayed there forty days and nights and did not eat or drink anything.

¹⁰Then the Lord gave me the two stone tablets on which he had written with his own hand what he had said to you from the fire on the day that you were gathered there at the mountain.

¹¹Yes, after those forty days and nights the Lord gave me the two stone tablets on which he had written the covenant.

¹²“Then the Lord said to me, ‘Go down the mountain at once, because your people, whom you led out of Egypt, have become corrupt and have done evil. They have already turned away from what I commanded them to do, and they have made an idol for themselves.’

¹³“The Lord also said to me, ‘I know how stubborn these people are.

¹⁴Don't try to stop me. I intend to destroy them so that no one will remember them any longer. Then I will make you the father of a nation larger and more powerful than they are.’

¹⁵“So I turned and went down the mountain, carrying the two stone tablets on which the covenant was written. Flames of fire were coming from the mountain.

¹⁶I saw that you had already disobeyed the command that the Lord your God had given you, and that you had sinned against him by making yourselves a metal idol in the form of a bull-calf.

¹⁷So there in front of you I threw the stone tablets down and broke them to pieces.

¹⁸Then once again I lay face downward in the Lord's presence for forty days and nights and did not eat or drink anything. I did this because you had sinned against the Lord and had made him angry.

¹⁹I was afraid of the Lord's fierce anger, because he was furious enough to destroy you; but once again the Lord listened to me.

²⁰The Lord was also angry enough with Aaron to kill him, so I prayed for Aaron at the same time.

²¹I took that sinful thing that you had made—that metal bull-calf—and threw it into the fire. Then I broke it in pieces, ground it to dust, and threw the dust into the stream that flowed down the mountain.

²²“You also made the Lord your God angry when you were at Taberah, Massah, and Kibroth Hattaavah.

²³And when he sent you from Kadesh Barnea with orders to go and take possession of the land that he was giving you, you rebelled against him; you did not trust him or obey him.

²⁴Ever since I have known you, you have rebelled against the Lord.

²⁵“So I lay face downward in the Lord's presence those forty days and nights, because I knew that he was determined to destroy you.

²⁶And I prayed, ‘Sovereign Lord, don't destroy your own people, the people you rescued and brought out of Egypt by your great strength and power.

²⁷Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and do not pay any attention to the stubbornness, wickedness, and sin of this people.

²⁸Otherwise, the Egyptians will say that you were unable to take your people into the land that you had promised them. They will say that you took your people out into the desert to kill them, because you hated them.

²⁹After all, these are the people whom you chose to be your own and whom you brought out of Egypt by your great power and might.’

A Prayer for Justice

¹Why are you so far away, O Lord? Why do you hide yourself when we are in trouble?

²The wicked are proud and persecute the poor; catch them in the traps they have made.

³The wicked are proud of their evil desires; the greedy curse and reject the Lord.

⁴The wicked do not care about the Lord; in their pride they think that God doesn't matter.

⁵The wicked succeed in everything. They cannot understand God's judgments; they sneer at their enemies.

⁶They say to themselves, “We will never fail; we will never be in trouble.”

⁷Their speech is filled with curses, lies, and threats; they are quick to speak hateful, evil words.

⁸They hide themselves in the villages, waiting to murder innocent people. They spy on their helpless victims;

⁹they wait in their hiding place like lions. They lie in wait for the poor; they catch them in their traps and drag them away.

¹⁰The helpless victims lie crushed; brute strength has defeated them.

¹¹The wicked say to themselves, “God doesn't care! He has closed his eyes and will never see me!”

¹²O Lord, punish those wicked people! Remember those who are suffering!

¹³How can the wicked despise God and say to themselves, “He will not punish me”?

¹⁴But you do see; you take notice of trouble and suffering and are always ready to help. The helpless commit themselves to you; you have always helped the needy.

¹⁵Break the power of wicked and evil people; punish them for the wrong they have done until they do it no more.

¹⁶The Lord is king forever and ever. Those who worship other gods will vanish from his land.

¹⁷You will listen, O Lord, to the prayers of the lowly; you will give them courage.

¹⁸You will hear the cries of the oppressed and the orphans; you will judge in their favor, so that mortal men may cause terror no more.