<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.

<t /><p class="bodytext">This was the dedication for the altar from the leaders of Israel, when it was anointed: twelve silver platters, twelve silver sprinkling bowls, and twelve gold pans.

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>

And those men said to him, &#8220;We are ceremonially defiled by the dead body of a man; why are we kept back from offering the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s offering at its appointed time among the Israelites?&#8221;

&#8220;Tell the Israelites, &#8216;If any<n id="1" /> of you or of your posterity become ceremonially defiled by touching a dead body, or are on a journey far away, then he may<n id="2" /> observe the Passover to the <sc>Lordsc>.

Whether it was for two days, or a month, or a year,<n id="1" /> that the cloud prolonged its stay<n id="2" /> over the tabernacle, the Israelites remained camped without traveling;<n id="3" /> but when it was taken up, they traveled on.

<t /><n id="1" /><p class="bodytext">Moses said to Hobab son of Reuel, the Midianite, Moses&#8217; father-in-law,<n id="2" /> &#8220;We are journeying to the place about which the <sc>Lordsc> said, &#8216;I will give it to you.&#8217; Come with us and we will treat you well,<n id="3" /> for the <sc>Lordsc> has promised good things<n id="4" /> for Israel.&#8221;

<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.

&#8220;Send out men to investigate<n id="1" /> the land of Canaan, which I am giving<n id="2" /> to the Israelites. You are to send one man from each ancestral tribe,<n id="3" /> each one a leader among them.&#8221;

<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.

Then they presented the Israelites with a discouraging<n id="1" /> report of the land they had investigated, saying, &#8220;The land that we passed through<n id="2" /> to investigate is a land that devours<n id="3" /> its inhabitants.<n id="4" /> All the people we saw there<n id="5" /> are of great stature.

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!

And the priest is to make atonement<n id="1" /> for the whole community of the Israelites, and they will be forgiven,<n id="2" /> because it was unintentional and they have brought their offering, an offering made by fire to the <sc>Lordsc>, and their purification offering before the <sc>Lordsc>, for their unintentional offense.

&#8220;Speak to the Israelites and tell them to make<n id="1" /> tassels<n id="2" /> for themselves on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and put a blue thread<n id="3" /> on the tassel of the corners.

As for the censers of these men who sinned at the cost of their lives,<n id="1" /> they must be made<n id="2" /> into hammered sheets for covering the altar, because they presented them before the <sc>Lordsc> and sanctified them. They will become a sign to the Israelites.&#8221;

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.

&#8220;Speak to the Israelites, and receive from them a staff from each tribe,<n id="1" /> one from every tribal leader,<n id="2" /> twelve staffs; you must write each man&#8217;s name on his staff.

<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.

<t /><p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> spoke to Aaron, &#8220;See, I have given you the responsibility for my raised offerings; I have given all the holy things of the Israelites to you as your priestly portion<n id="1" /> and to your sons as a perpetual ordinance.

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;And this is yours: the raised offering of their gift, along with all the wave offerings of the Israelites. I have given them to you and to your sons and daughters with you as a perpetual ordinance. Everyone who is ceremonially clean in your household may eat of it.p>