The Torah · Old Testament
Numbers 9
Passover provisions and following the cloud
General context
Israel keeps Passover at Sinai on the fourteenth evening of the first month in the second year after Egypt. Men made unclean through contact with a dead body ask why they must be excluded, and Moses waits for the Lord's instruction. A provision allows those unclean by a dead body or away on a distant journey to keep Passover on the fourteenth evening of the second month. They follow its rules for unleavened bread, bitter herbs and the animal's bones and leftovers. Deliberate omission by someone clean and present carries a penalty. A resident foreigner who keeps Passover follows the same ordinance. The chapter then describes the cloud over the tabernacle and the appearance of fire at night. Israel travels when the cloud rises and remains when it stays, however long the interval.
Cited passages: Numbers 9:1, Numbers 9:2, Numbers 9:3, Numbers 9:4, Numbers 9:5, Numbers 9:6, Numbers 9:7, Numbers 9:8, Numbers 9:9, Numbers 9:10, Numbers 9:11, Numbers 9:12, Numbers 9:13, Numbers 9:14, Numbers 9:15, Numbers 9:16, Numbers 9:17, Numbers 9:18, Numbers 9:19, Numbers 9:20, Numbers 9:21, Numbers 9:22, Numbers 9:23
Numbers 9 (KJV)
1And the Lord spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of the second year after they were come out of the land of Egypt, saying,
2Let the children of Israel also keep the passover at his appointed season.
3In the fourteenth day of this month, at even, ye shall keep it in his appointed season: according to all the rites of it, and according to all the ceremonies thereof, shall ye keep it.
4And Moses spake unto the children of Israel, that they should keep the passover.
5And they kept the passover on the fourteenth day of the first month at even in the wilderness of Sinai: according to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so did the children of Israel.
6And there were certain men, who were defiled by the dead body of a man, that they could not keep the passover on that day: and they came before Moses and before Aaron on that day:
7And those men said unto him, We are defiled by the dead body of a man: wherefore are we kept back, that we may not offer an offering of the Lord in his appointed season among the children of Israel?
8And Moses said unto them, Stand still, and I will hear what the Lord will command concerning you.
9And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
10Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If any man of you or of your posterity shall be unclean by reason of a dead body, or be in a journey afar off, yet he shall keep the passover unto the Lord.
11The fourteenth day of the second month at even they shall keep it, and eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.
12They shall leave none of it unto the morning, nor break any bone of it: according to all the ordinances of the passover they shall keep it.
13But the man that is clean, and is not in a journey, and forbeareth to keep the passover, even the same soul shall be cut off from among his people: because he brought not the offering of the Lord in his appointed season, that man shall bear his sin.
14And if a stranger shall sojourn among you, and will keep the passover unto the Lord; according to the ordinance of the passover, and according to the manner thereof, so shall he do: ye shall have one ordinance, both for the stranger, and for him that was born in the land.
15And on the day that the tabernacle was reared up the cloud covered the tabernacle, namely, the tent of the testimony: and at even there was upon the tabernacle as it were the appearance of fire, until the morning.
16So it was alway: the cloud covered it by day, and the appearance of fire by night.
17And when the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle, then after that the children of Israel journeyed: and in the place where the cloud abode, there the children of Israel pitched their tents.
18At the commandment of the Lord the children of Israel journeyed, and at the commandment of the Lord they pitched: as long as the cloud abode upon the tabernacle they rested in their tents.
19And when the cloud tarried long upon the tabernacle many days, then the children of Israel kept the charge of the Lord, and journeyed not.
20And so it was, when the cloud was a few days upon the tabernacle; according to the commandment of the Lord they abode in their tents, and according to the commandment of the Lord they journeyed.
21And so it was, when the cloud abode from even unto the morning, and that the cloud was taken up in the morning, then they journeyed: whether it was by day or by night that the cloud was taken up, they journeyed.
22Or whether it were two days, or a month, or a year, that the cloud tarried upon the tabernacle, remaining thereon, the children of Israel abode in their tents, and journeyed not: but when it was taken up, they journeyed.
23At the commandment of the Lord they rested in the tents, and at the commandment of the Lord they journeyed: they kept the charge of the Lord, at the commandment of the Lord by the hand of Moses.
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Historical context
The opening date is in the first month, earlier than the census dated in the second month at Numbers 1:1. The book's placement of this account therefore should not be mistaken for a simple sequence of later dates. The delayed Passover is a defined provision for corpse uncleanness or a distant journey, not unrestricted permission to choose another date. The cloud account includes both brief stops and prolonged stays without fixing one standard travel schedule.
Cited passages: Numbers 9:1, Numbers 9:2, Numbers 9:3, Numbers 9:4, Numbers 9:5, Numbers 9:6, Numbers 9:7, Numbers 9:8, Numbers 9:9, Numbers 9:10, Numbers 9:11, Numbers 9:12, Numbers 9:13, Numbers 9:14, Numbers 9:19, Numbers 9:20, Numbers 9:21, Numbers 9:22, Numbers 9:23, Numbers 1:1
Literary context
A question about exclusion leads to a new ruling without discarding the appointed observance. The second part repeatedly links both departure and staying to the Lord's command. The different lengths of waiting make obedience relevant to remaining in place as well as moving forward.
Cited passages: Numbers 9:6, Numbers 9:7, Numbers 9:8, Numbers 9:9, Numbers 9:10, Numbers 9:11, Numbers 9:12, Numbers 9:13, Numbers 9:14, Numbers 9:17, Numbers 9:18, Numbers 9:19, Numbers 9:20, Numbers 9:21, Numbers 9:22, Numbers 9:23
Key moments
- Moses waits for instruction (Numbers 9:8). Moses tells the petitioners that he will hear what the Lord commands concerning them.
- The second-month provision (Numbers 9:11). The delayed Passover is kept on the fourteenth evening of the second month.
- Rest and movement by command (Numbers 9:23). The chapter closes by linking both camping and journeying to the Lord's command.
For reflection
How do the delayed Passover provision and the varied periods under the cloud relate obedience to particular circumstances?
