Numbers 9:1-14

The Second Passover

1 In the first month of the second year after their departure from the land of Egypt, the Lord told Moses in the Wilderness of Sinai:[a]
2 "The Israelites are to observe the Passover at its appointed time.[b]
3 You must observe it at its appointed time on the fourteenth day of this month at twilight; you are to observe it according to all its statutes and ordinances."[c]
4 So Moses told the Israelites to observe the Passover,
5 and they observed it in the first month on the fourteenth day at twilight in the Wilderness of Sinai. The Israelites did everything as the Lord had commanded Moses.
6 But there were [some] men who were unclean because of a human corpse, so they could not observe the Passover on that day.[d] These men came before Moses and Aaron the same day
7 and said to him, "We are unclean because of a human corpse. Why should we be excluded from presenting the Lord's offering at its appointed time with the [other] Israelites?"
8 Moses replied to them, "Wait here until I hear what the Lord commands for you."
9 Then the Lord spoke to Moses:
10 "Tell the Israelites: When any one of you or your descendants is unclean because of a corpse[e] or is on a distant journey, he may still observe the Passover to the Lord.
11 Such people are to observe it in the second month, on the fourteenth day at twilight. They are to eat the animal with unleavened bread and bitter herbs;[f]
12 they may not leave any of it until morning or break any of its bones.[g] They must observe the Passover according to all its statutes.
13 "But the man who is ceremonially clean, is not on a journey, and yet fails to observe the Passover is to be cut off from his people, because he did not present the Lord's offering at its appointed time. That man will bear the consequences of his sin.
14 "If a foreigner resides with you and wants to observe the Passover to the Lord,[h] he is to do so according to the Passover statute and its ordinances. You are to apply the same statute to both the foreign resident and the native of the land."[i]

Numbers 9:1-14 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO NUMBERS 9

In this chapter the command for keeping the passover is repeated, and it was accordingly kept, Nu 9:1-5; but some persons being defiled and disqualified for observing it, Moses inquires of the Lord, on their solicitation, what should be done in such a case, Nu 9:6-8; when it was ordered to be kept by such, and those on journeys, on the fourteenth day of the second month, but not by others, who were to observe it according to its first appointment, Nu 9:9-14; and an account is given of the appearance of the cloud by day, and fire by night, upon the tabernacle, which directed the children of Israel when to journey, and when to pitch their tents, Nu 9:15-23.

Footnotes 9

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