<p class="bodytext">But those who were to camp in front of the tabernacle on the east, in front of the tent of meeting, were Moses, Aaron,<n id="1" /> and his sons. They were responsible for the needs<n id="2" /> of the sanctuary and for the needs of the Israelites, but the unauthorized person who approached was to be put to death.

All who were numbered of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron numbered by the word<n id="1" /> of the <sc>Lordsc>, according to their families, every male from a month old and upward, were 22,000.<n id="2" />p>

<t /><n id="1" /><p class="bodytext">When Moses had completed setting up the tabernacle,<n id="2" /> he anointed it and consecrated it and all its furnishings, and he anointed and consecrated the altar and all its utensils.

<p class="bodytext">Now when Moses went into<n id="1" /> the tent of meeting to speak with the <sc>Lordsc>,<n id="2" /> he heard the voice speaking to him from above the atonement lid<n id="3" /> that was on the ark of the testimony, from between the two cherubim.<n id="4" /> Thus he spoke to him.p>

This is how the lampstand was made:<n id="1" /> It was beaten work in gold;<n id="2" /> from its shaft to its flowers it was beaten work. According to the pattern which the <sc>Lordsc> had shown Moses, so he made the lampstand.p>

After this, the Levites went in to do their work in the tent of meeting before Aaron and before his sons. As the <sc>Lordsc> had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so they did.p>

And they observed the Passover<n id="1" /> on the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight in the wilderness of Sinai; in accordance with all that the <sc>Lordsc> had commanded Moses, so the Israelites did.p>

<p class="bodytext">It happened that some men<n id="1" /> who were ceremonially defiled<n id="2" /> by the dead body of a man<n id="3" /> could not keep<n id="4" /> the Passover on that day, so they came before Moses and before Aaron on that day.

And Moses said to the <sc>Lordsc>, &#8220;Why have you afflicted<n id="1" /> your servant? Why have I not found favor in your sight, that<n id="2" /> you lay the burden of this entire people on me?

<t /><n id="1" /><p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> said to Moses, &#8220;Gather to me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know are elders of the people and officials<n id="2" /> over them, and bring them to the tent of meeting; let them take their position there with you.

The <sc>Lordsc> said to Moses, &#8220;If her father had only spit<n id="1" /> in her face, would she not have been disgraced for seven days? Shut her out from the camp seven days, and afterward she can be brought back in again.&#8221;p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">They came back<n id="1" /> to Moses and Aaron and to the whole community of the Israelites in the wilderness of Paran at Kadesh.<n id="2" /> They reported<n id="3" /> to the whole community and showed the fruit of the land.

And all the Israelites murmured<n id="1" /> against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, &#8220;If only we had died<n id="2" /> in the land of Egypt, or if only we had perished<n id="3" /> in this wilderness!

<t /><p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> said to Moses, &#8220;How long will this people despise<n id="1" /> me, and how long will they not believe<n id="2" /> in me, in spite of the signs that I have done among them?

And they assembled against Moses and Aaron, saying to them, &#8220;You take too much upon yourselves,<n id="1" /> seeing that the whole community is holy, every one of them, and the <sc>Lordsc> is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the community of the <sc>Lordsc>?&#8221;p>

<p class="bodytext">Moses was very angry, and he said to the <sc>Lordsc>, &#8220;Have no respect<n id="1" /> for their offering! I have not taken so much as one donkey from them, nor have I harmed any one of them!&#8221;p>

It was a memorial for the Israelites, that no outsider who is not a descendant of<n id="1" /> Aaron should approach to burn incense before the <sc>Lordsc>, that he might not become like Korah and his company &#8211; just as the <sc>Lordsc> had spoken by the authority<n id="2" /> of Moses.

Then Moses said to Aaron, &#8220;Take the censer, put burning coals from the altar in it, place incense on it, and go quickly into the assembly and make atonement for them, for wrath has gone out from the <sc>Lordsc> &#8211; the plague has begun!&#8221;

So Aaron did<n id="1" /> as Moses commanded<n id="2" /> and ran into the middle of the assembly, where the plague was just beginning among the people. So he placed incense on the coals and made atonement for the people.

<p class="bodytext">So Moses spoke to the Israelites, and each of their leaders gave him a staff, one for each leader,<n id="1" /> according to their tribes<n id="2" /> &#8211; twelve staffs; the staff of Aaron was among their staffs.