Now when Moses went into ¹  the tent of meeting to speak with the Lord, ²  he heard the voice speaking to him from above the atonement lid ³  that was on the ark of the testimony, from between the two cherubim. ⁴  Thus he spoke to him.

This is how the lampstand was made: ¹  It was beaten work in gold; ²  from its shaft to its flowers it was beaten work. According to the pattern which the Lord had shown Moses, so he made the lampstand.

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

And they observed the Passover ¹  on the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight in the wilderness of Sinai; in accordance with all that the Lord had commanded Moses, so the Israelites did.

It happened that some men ¹  who were ceremonially defiled ²  by the dead body of a man ³  could not keep ⁴  the Passover on that day, so they came before Moses and before Aaron on that day.

And Moses said to the Lord, “Why have you afflicted ¹  your servant? Why have I not found favor in your sight, that ²  you lay the burden of this entire people on me?

¹ The Lord said to Moses, “Gather to me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know are elders of the people and officials ²  over them, and bring them to the tent of meeting; let them take their position there with you.

The Lord said to Moses, “If her father had only spit 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.”

They came back ¹  to Moses and Aaron and to the whole community of the Israelites in the wilderness of Paran at Kadesh. ²  They reported ³  to the whole community and showed the fruit of the land.

And all the Israelites murmured ¹  against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, “If only we had died ²  in the land of Egypt, or if only we had perished ³  in this wilderness!

The Lord said to Moses, “How long will this people despise ¹  me, and how long will they not believe ²  in me, in spite of the signs that I have done among them?

And they assembled against Moses and Aaron, saying to them, “You take too much upon yourselves, ¹  seeing that the whole community is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the community of the Lord?”

It was a memorial for the Israelites, that no outsider who is not a descendant of ¹  Aaron should approach to burn incense before the Lord, that he might not become like Korah and his company – just as the Lord had spoken by the authority ²  of Moses.

Then Moses said to Aaron, “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 Lord – the plague has begun!”

So Aaron did ¹  as Moses commanded 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.

So Moses spoke to the Israelites, and each of their leaders gave him a staff, one for each leader, ¹  according to their tribes ²  – twelve staffs; the staff of Aaron was among their staffs.

On the next day Moses went into the tent of the testimony – and ¹  the staff of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted, and brought forth buds, and produced blossoms, and yielded almonds! ² 

The Lord said to Moses, “Bring Aaron’s staff back before the testimony to be preserved for a sign to the rebels, so that you may bring their murmurings to an end ¹  before me, that they will not die.” ² 

Then Moses and Aaron gathered the community together in front of the rock, and he said to them, “Listen, you rebels, ¹  must we bring ²  water out of this rock for you?”

Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust me enough ¹  to show me as holy ²  before ³  the Israelites, therefore you will not bring this community into the land I have given them.” ⁴