בהעלותך

In the wilderness, God spoke to Moses about the lampstand inside the Tent of Meeting. Moses told Aaron, “When you mount the lamps, make sure the seven lights shine toward the front.” Aaron carefully set the lamps in place, exactly as God commanded. The lampstand itself was special, hammered from pure gold, from its base up to its flower-like petals, made to match the pattern God had shown Moses.

Then God told Moses to bring the Levites forward and prepare them for holy work. The whole community gathered. The Levites were sprinkled with purifying water, shaved their bodies with razors, and washed their clothes. Two bulls were brought with offerings, and the Israelites laid their hands on the Levites while Aaron presented them before God. The Levites were set apart to serve in the Tent of Meeting so the people would not come too close to the sanctuary. God also set an age for their duties: they began at twenty-five and, at fifty, stepped back from heavy work and stood guard.

On the first new moon of the second year after leaving Egypt, God told Moses that the Israelites must bring the Passover sacrifice at its set time, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight. Moses gave the message, and the people prepared to do it.

But some men came to Moses and Aaron with a hard question. They had become impure because they had been near a dead body. “Why should we be kept back from bringing God’s offering with everyone else?” they asked.

Moses answered, “Stand by, and I will hear what God commands.” God said that anyone who was impure or on a long journey could bring the Passover in the second month, on the fourteenth day at twilight, following the same rules: eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs, leave none until morning, and break no bone. A stranger living among them followed the same law, too.

From then on, the cloud covered the Tabernacle by day and looked like fire by night. When it lifted, the camp moved; when it settled, they stayed.

God told Moses to make two silver trumpets, hammered from metal. The priests, Aaron’s sons, used them: long blasts called everyone to the Tent of Meeting, and short blasts signaled the camp to march. On festivals and new moons, the trumpets sounded over offerings as a reminder before God.

On the twentieth day of the second month, the cloud lifted and Israel left Sinai. They traveled in an ordered march, tribe by tribe, while the Ark went ahead to seek a resting place. Moses asked Hobab, his Midianite relative, to guide them through the wilderness.

Soon the people complained, and a fire from God burned at the edge of the camp until Moses prayed and it died down. Later they cried for meat, remembering Egypt’s food and despising manna. God told Moses to gather seventy elders; God shared Moses’ spirit with them, and even Eldad and Medad spoke in the camp. Then a wind brought quail, but while the meat was still in their mouths, a severe plague struck. The place was called Kibroth-hattaavah, meaning “graves of craving.”

At Hazeroth, Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses. God defended Moses, and Miriam was struck with snow-white scales. Moses prayed, and she stayed outside the camp seven days; the people waited until she returned, then moved on to Paran.