The Wilderness Years

`For they are certainly given to Me out of the midst of the sons of Israel, instead of him who openeth any womb--the first-born of all--from the sons of Israel I have taken them to Myself;

for Mine is every first-born among the sons of Israel, among man and among beast; in the day of my smiting every first-born in the land of Egypt I sanctified them for Myself;

and I take the Levites instead of every first-born among the sons of Israel:

`And I give the Levites gifts to Aaron and to his sons, from the midst of the sons of Israel, to do the service of the sons of Israel in the tent of meeting, and to make atonement for the sons of Israel, and there is no plague among the sons of Israel in the sons of Israel's drawing nigh unto the sanctuary.'

And Moses doth--Aaron also, and all the company of the sons of Israel--to the Levites according to all that Jehovah hath commanded Moses concerning the Levites; so have the sons of Israel done to them.

And the Levites cleanse themselves, and wash their garments, and Aaron waveth them a wave-offering before Jehovah, and Aaron maketh atonement for them to cleanse them,

and afterwards have the Levites gone in to do their service in the tent of meeting, before Aaron and before his sons; as Jehovah hath commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so they have done to them.

And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, saying,

`This is that which is the Levites': from a son of five and twenty years and upward he doth go in to serve the host in the service of the tent of meeting,

and from a son of fifty years he doth return from the host of the service, and doth not serve any more,

and he hath ministered with his brethren in the tent of meeting, to keep the charge, and doth not do service; thus thou dost to the Levites concerning their charge.'

And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, in the wilderness of Sinai, in the second year of their going out of the land of Egypt, in the first month, saying,

`Also, the sons of Israel prepare the passover in its appointed season;

in the fourteenth day of this month between the evenings ye prepare it in its appointed season; according to all its statutes, and according to all its ordinances ye prepare it.'

And Moses speaketh unto the sons of Israel to prepare the passover,

and they prepare the passover in the first month , on the fourteenth day of the month, between the evenings, in the wilderness of Sinai; according to all that Jehovah hath commanded Moses, so have the sons of Israel done.

And there are men who have been defiled by the body of a man, and they have not been able to prepare the passover on that day, and they come near before Moses, and before Aaron, on that day,

and those men say unto him, `We are defiled by the body of a man; why are we withheld so as not to bring near the offering of Jehovah in its appointed season, in the midst of the sons of Israel?'

And Moses saith unto them, `Stand ye, and I hear what Jehovah hath commanded concerning you.'

And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, saying,

`Speak unto the sons of Israel, saying, Though any man is unclean by a body or in a distant journey (of you or of your generations), yet he hath prepared a passover to Jehovah;

in the second month, on the fourteenth day, between the evenings they prepare it; with unleavened and bitter things they eat it;

they do not leave of till morning; and a bone they do not break in it: according to all the statute of the passover they prepare it.

`And the man who is clean, and hath not been on a journey, and hath ceased to prepare the passover, even that person hath been cut off from his people; because the offering of Jehovah he hath not brought near, in its appointed season, that man doth bear his sin.

`And when a sojourner sojourneth with you, then he hath prepared a passover to Jehovah, according to the statute of the passover, and according to its ordinance, so he doth; one statute is to you, even to a sojourner, and to a native of the land.'