Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to Aaron, and say to him: ‘When you are setting up the lamps, the seven lamps will give light in front of the face of the lampstand.'” And Aaron did so; he set up the lampstand in front of the face of its lamps, just as Yahweh commanded Moses. And this is how the lampstand was made, a hammered-work of gold; from its base up to its blossom, it was hammered-work according to the pattern that Yahweh showed Moses; so he made the lampstand.

Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, “Take the Levites from the midst of the Israelites and purify them. So you will do to them, to purify them: sprinkle on them waters of purification, and they will shave their whole body and wash their garments. And they will take a young bull and its grain offering of finely milled flour mixed with oil, and you will take a second young bull as a sin offering. You will bring the Levites before the tent of assembly, and you will summon the entire community of the Israelites. And you will bring the Levites before Yahweh, and the Israelites will lay their hands on the Levites, and Aaron will offer the Levites as a wave offering before Yahweh from the Israelites, and they will do the work of Yahweh. And the Levites will lay their hands on the head of the one bull and offer it as a sin offering and the other one as a burnt offering to Yahweh, to make atonement for the Levites. And you will present the Levites before Aaron and before his sons, and he will offer them as a wave offering to Yahweh.

“And you will separate the Levites from the midst of the Israelites, and the Levites will be for me. And after this the Levites will come to serve at the tent of assembly, and you will purify them, and you will offer them as a wave offering. For they are given to me exclusively from the midst of the Israelites. I have taken them for myself in place of the firstborn of every womb, every firstborn from the Israelites. For every firstborn among the Israelites is mine, both humankind and animal. On the day I destroyed every firstborn in the land of Egypt I consecrated them to me, and I have taken the Levites in the place of every firstborn among the Israelites. And I have given the Levites; they are given to Aaron and his sons from the midst of the Israelites to do the work of the Israelites in the tent of the assembly and to make atonement for the Israelites, so a plague will not be among the Israelites when the Israelites come near the sanctuary.”

And Moses and Aaron and the entire community of the Israelites did to the Levites; everything that Yahweh commanded Moses concerning the Levites, the Israelites did to them. And the Levites purified themselves, and they washed their garments, and Aaron offered them as a wave offering before Yahweh; and Aaron made atonement for them to purify them. After this the Levites came to do their work in the tent of assembly before Aaron and his sons. Just as Yahweh commanded Moses concerning the Levities, so they did to them.

Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, “This is what is for the Levites: those twenty-five years old and above will come to help with the service in the work of the tent of assembly; and those fifty years old will return from the service of the work and will serve no longer. They can attend their brothers in the tent of assembly to keep their responsibilities, but they will not do work. This is what you will do concerning the Levities and their responsibilities.”

Yahweh spoke to Moses in the desert of Sinai, in the second year after they came out from the land of Egypt, in the first month, saying, “Let the Israelites observe the Passover at its appointed time. On the fourteenth day of this month at twilight you will perform it at its appointed time according to all its decrees; and according to all its stipulations you will observe it.” So Moses spoke to the Israelites to observe the Passover. And they observed the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight in the desert of Sinai. According to all that Yahweh commanded Moses, thus the Israelites did.

And it happened, men who were unclean by a dead person were not able to perform the Passover on that day. And they came before Moses and Aaron on that day. And those men said to him, “Although we are unclean by a dead person, why are we hindered from presenting the offering of Yahweh at its appointed time in the midst of the Israelites?” Moses said to them, “Stay. I will hear what Yahweh commands to you.”

And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the Israelites, saying, ‘Each man that is unclean by a dead person or is on a far journey, you or your descendants, he will observe the Passover of Yahweh. On the second month on the fourteenth day at twilight they will observe it; they will eat it with unleavened bread and bitter plants. They will leave none of it until morning, and they will not break a bone in it; they will observe it according to every decree of the Passover. But the man who is clean and not on a journey, and he fails to observe the Passover, that person will be cut off from the people because he did not present the offering of Yahweh on its appointed time. That man will bear his guilt. If an alien dwells with you he will observe the Passover of Yahweh according to the decree of the Passover and according to its stipulation; thus you will have one decree for you, for the alien and for the native of the land.'”

And on a day setting up the tabernacle, the cloud covered the tent of the tabernacle, the tent of the testimony; in the evening it was on the tabernacle as an appearance of fire until morning. So it was continually; the cloud would cover it and the appearance of fire by night. Whenever the cloud lifted up from on the tent, after that the Israelites would set out, and in the place where the cloud dwelled, there the Israelites camped. On the command of Yahweh the Israelites would set out, and on the command of Yahweh they encamped; all the days that the cloud dwelled on the tabernacle they encamped. And when the cloud prolonged on the tabernacle many days the Israelites kept the kept requirement of Yahweh and did not set out. When the cloud remained a number of days on the tabernacle, on the command of Yahweh they encamped; and on the command of Yahweh they set out. When the cloud remained from evening until morning, and the cloud lifted up in the morning, they would set out, or if it remained in the daytime and at night, when the cloud lifted up they set out. When it was two days, a month, or a year that the cloud prolonged to dwell on the tabernacle, the Israelites encamped, and they did not set out; when it lifted up they set out. On the command of Yahweh they encamped, and on the command of Yahweh they set out. They kept the requirement of Yahweh, on the command of Yahweh in the hand of Moses.

Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, “Make yourself two silver trumpets; make them of hammered-work. You will use them for calling the community and for breaking the camp. You will blow them, and all the community will assemble to the doorway of the tent of assembly. But if they blow only one, the leaders, the heads of the thousands of Israel, will assemble to you. When you will blow a blast, the camps that are camping on the east will set out; when you blow a second blast, the camps that are camping on the south will set out; they will blow a blast for their journeys. But when summoning the assembly, you will blow, but you will not signal with a loud noise. The sons of Aaron, the priests, will blow on the trumpets; this will be an eternal decree for your generations. If you go to war in your land against the enemy who attacks you, you will signal with a loud noise on the trumpets. You will be remembered before Yahweh your God, and you will be rescued from your enemies.

“And on the day of your joy and in your appointed times, at the beginning of your months, you will blow on the trumpets in addition to your burnt offerings and in addition to the sacrifices of your fellowship offerings. And they will be as a memorial for you before your God; I am Yahweh your God.”

And it happened, in the second year, in the second month, on the twentieth of the month the cloud was lifted from upon the tabernacle of the testimony. And the Israelites set out for their journey from the desert of Sinai, and the cloud dwelled in the desert of Paran. They set out for the first time on the command of Yahweh in the hand of Moses. The standard of the camp of the descendants of Judah set out for the first time according to their divisions, with Nahshon son of Amminadab over its division. And Nathanel son of Zuar was over the division of the descendants of Issachar; Eliab son of Helon was over the division of the tribe of the descendants of Zebulun.

The tabernacle was taken down, and the sons of Gershon and the sons of Merari, the bearers of the tabernacle, set out. And the standard of the camp of Reuben according to their divisions; Elizur son of Shedeur was over their division. Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai was over the division of the sons of the tribe of Simeon. Eliasaph son of Deuel was over the division of the tribe of the descendants of Gad.

The Kohathites, the bearers of the sanctuary, set out, and they set up the tabernacle before they arrived. And the stand of the camp of the descendants of Ephraim set out according to their divisions; Elishama son of Ammihud was over its division. Gamaliel son of Pedahzur was over the division of the tribe of the descendants of Manasseh. Abidan son of Gideoni was over the division of the tribe of the descendants of Benjamin.

Then the standard of the camp of the descendants of Dan, who formed a rear guard for all the camps, set out according to their divisions; Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai was over its division. Pagiel son of Ocran was over the division of the tribe of the descendants of Asher. Ahira son of Enan was over the division of the tribe of the descendants of Naphtali. These were the departures of the Israelites according to their divisions; and so they set out.

Moses said to Hobab son of Reuel the Midianite, the father-in-law of Moses, “We are setting out to the place that Yahweh said, ‘I will give it to you'; go with us, and we will treat you well because Yahweh promised good concerning Israel.” But he said to him, “I will not go. I will only go to my land and to my family.” He said, “Please, do not abandon us because you know our encampment in the desert, and you should be our guide. Moreover, if you go with us, the good that Yahweh will do to us we will do to you.”

And so they set out from the mountain of Yahweh a journey of three days, with the ark of the covenant of Yahweh setting out ahead of them three days’ journey to search out a resting place for them; and the cloud of Yahweh was over them by day when they set out from the camp.

And whenever the ark was setting out Moses would say,

“Rise up, Yahweh!

May your enemies be scattered;

may the ones that hate you flee from your presence.”

And when it rested he would say,

“Return, Yahweh,

to the countless thousands of Israel.”

And it happened, the people were like those who complain of hardship in the hearing of Yahweh, and Yahweh became angry, and the fire of Yahweh burned among them, and it consumed the edge of the camp. Then the people cried out to Moses, and Moses prayed to Yahweh, and the fire died down. And he called the name of that place Taberah because the fire of Yahweh burned among them.

The riff-raff that were in their midst had a strong desire; and the Israelites turned back and also wept, and they said, “Who will feed us meat? We remember the fish that we ate in Egypt for nothing, the cucumber, melon, leek, the onions, and the garlic. But now our strength is dried up; there is nothing whatsoever except for the manna before us.”

Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its outward appearance was like that of bdellium-gum. The people went about and gathered it, and they ground it with mills or crushed it with mortar. Then they boiled it in a pot and made it into bread-cakes; and it tasted like olive oil cakes. When the dew came down on the camp at night, the manna came down with it.

Moses heard the people weeping according to their clans, each at the doorway of their tents. Then Yahweh became very angry, and in the eyes of Moses it was bad. And Moses said to Yahweh, “Why have you brought trouble to your servant? Why have I not found favor in your eyes, that the burdens of all these people have been placed on me? Did I conceive all these people? If I have fathered them, that you could say to me, ‘Carry them in your lap, just as a foster-father carries the suckling on the land that you swore an oath to their ancestors?’ From where do I have meat to give all these people? They weep before me, saying, ‘Give us meat and let us eat!’ I am not able to carry all these people along alone; they are too heavy for me. If this is how you are going to treat me, please kill me immediately if I find favor in your eyes, and do not let me see my misery.”

And Yahweh said to Moses, “Gather for me seventy men from the elders of Israel whom you know are elders of the people and their officials; take them to the tent of assembly, and they will stand there with you. I will come down and speak with you there; I will take away from the spirit that is on you, and I will place it on them; and they will bear the burdens of the people with you; you will not bear it alone. And you will say to the people, ‘Sanctify yourselves tomorrow, for you will eat meat because you have wept in the ears of Yahweh, saying, “Who will feed us good meat? It was good for us in Egypt.” Yahweh will give to you meat, and you will eat. You will eat, not one day, or two days, or five days, or ten days, or twenty days, but for a whole month, until it comes out from your nose and becomes as nausea to you; because you have rejected Yahweh, who is in your midst, and you wept before his presence, saying, “Why did we ever leave Egypt?”‘” But Moses said, “There are six hundred thousand on foot, among whom I am in the midst, and you yourself said, ‘I will give meat to them, and they will eat for a whole month.’ Should flocks and cattle be slaughtered for them? Should all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to be enough for them?” And Yahweh said to Moses, “Is Yahweh’s power limited? Now you will see if my word will happen or not.”

So Moses went out, and he spoke the words of Yahweh to the people, and he gathered together seventy men from the elders of the people, and he made them stand all around the tent. Then Yahweh went down in the cloud and spoke to him, and he took away the spirit that was on him, and he put it on the seventy elders. And as soon as the spirit was resting on them they prophesied, but they did not do it again.

But two men were left in the camp; the name of one was Eldad, and the name of the second was Medad, and the spirit rested on them; they were among those who were written down, but they did not go out to the tent, so they prophesied in the camp. So a boy ran and told Moses and said, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.” And Joshua son of Nun, the assistant of Moses from time of his youth, answered, “Moses, my lord, stop them.” But Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for my sake? Would that he give all Yahweh’s people prophets, that Yahweh put his spirit on them!” Then Moses and the elders of Israel were gathered to the camp.

Then a wind set out from Yahweh, and it drove quails from the west, and he spread them out on the camp about a day’s journey on one side and about a day’s journey on the other, all around the camp, about two cubits on the surface of the land. And so the people worked all day and all night and all the next day, and they gathered the quail (the least of the ones collecting gathered ten homers). While the meat was still between their teeth, before it was consumed, Yahweh was angry with the people, and Yahweh struck a very great plague among the people. And he called the name of that place Kibroth Hattaavah because they buried the people that were greedy. From Kibroth Hattaavah the people set out to Hazeroth; and they stayed in Hazeroth.

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to the saints and faithful brothers in Christ in Colossae. Grace to you and peace from God our Father.

We give thanks always to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ when we pray for you, since we heard about your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope reserved for you in heaven, which you have heard about beforehand in the word of truth, the gospel, that has come to you, just as also in all the world it is bearing fruit and increasing, just as also among you from the day you heard about and understood the grace of God in truth, just as you learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow slave who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, who also made clear to us your love in the Spirit.

Because of this also we, from the day we heard about it, did not cease praying for you, and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual insight, so that you may live in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good deed and increasing in the knowledge of God, enabled with all power, according to his glorious might, for all steadfastness and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you for a share of the inheritance of the saints in light, who has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have the redemption, the forgiveness of sins, who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation, because all things in the heavens and on the earth were created by him, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers, all things were created through him and for him, and he himself is before all things, and in him all things are held together, and he himself is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he himself may become first in everything, because he was well pleased for all the fullness to dwell in him, and through him to reconcile all things to himself, by making peace through the blood of his cross, through him, whether things on earth or things in heaven.

And although you were formerly alienated and enemies in attitude, because of your evil deeds, but now you have been reconciled by his physical body through death, to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you remain in the faith, established and steadfast and not shifted away from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister.

Now I rejoice in my sufferings on behalf of you, and I fill up in my flesh what is lacking of the afflictions of Christ, on behalf of his body which is the church, of which I became a minister, according to God’s stewardship which was given to me for you, to complete the word of God, the mystery which has been hidden from the ages and from the generations, but has now been revealed to his saints, to whom God wanted to make known what is the glorious wealth of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory, whom we proclaim, by admonishing every person and teaching every person with all wisdom, in order that we may present every person mature in Christ, for which purpose also I labor, striving according to his working which is at work powerfully in me.

Until next time, keep meditating on the word of God.

Scripture quotations are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.