Numbers 9; Numbers 10; Numbers 11; Mark 5:1-20

1 The Lord spoke to Moses in the Desert of Sinai in the first month of the second year after the Israelites left Egypt. He said,

2 "Tell the Israelites to celebrate the Passover at the appointed time.

3 That appointed time is the fourteenth day of this month at twilight; they must obey all the rules about it."

4 So Moses told the Israelites to celebrate the Passover,

5 and they did; it was in the Desert of Sinai at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month. The Israelites did everything just as the Lord commanded Moses.

6 But some of the people could not celebrate the Passover on that day because they were unclean from touching a dead body. So they went to Moses and Aaron that day and

7 said to Moses, "We are unclean because of touching a dead body. But why should we be kept from offering gifts to the Lord at this appointed time? Why can't we join the other Israelites?"

8 Moses said to them, "Wait, and I will find out what the Lord says about you."

9 Then the Lord said to Moses,

10 "Tell the Israelites this: 'If you or your descendants become unclean because of a dead body, or if you are away on a trip during the Passover, you must still celebrate the Lord's Passover.

11 But celebrate it at twilight on the fourteenth day of the second month. Eat the lamb with bitter herbs and bread made without yeast.

12 Don't leave any of it until the next morning or break any of its bones. When you celebrate the Passover, follow all the rules.

13 Anyone who is clean and is not away on a trip but does not eat the Passover must be cut off from the people. That person did not give an offering to the Lord at the appointed time and must be punished for the sin.

14 "'Foreigners among you may celebrate the Lord's Passover, but they must follow all the rules. You must have the same rules for foreigners as you have for yourselves.'"

15 On the day the Holy Tent, the Tent of the Agreement, was set up, a cloud covered it. From dusk until dawn the cloud above the Tent looked like fire.

16 The cloud stayed above the Tent, and at night it looked like fire.

17 When the cloud moved from its place over the Tent, the Israelites moved, and wherever the cloud stopped, the Israelites camped.

18 So the Israelites moved at the Lord's command, and they camped at his command. While the cloud stayed over the Tent, they remained camped.

19 Sometimes the cloud stayed over the Tent for a long time, but the Israelites obeyed the Lord and did not move.

20 Sometimes the cloud was over it only a few days. At the Lord's command the people camped, and at his command they moved.

21 Sometimes the cloud stayed only from dusk until dawn; when the cloud lifted the next morning, the people moved. When the cloud lifted, day or night, the people moved.

22 The cloud might stay over the Tent for two days, a month, or a year. As long as it stayed, the people camped, but when it lifted, they moved.

23 At the Lord's command the people camped, and at his command they moved. They obeyed the Lord's order that he commanded through Moses.

1 The Lord said to Moses,

2 "Make two trumpets of hammered silver, and use them to call the people together and to march out of camp.

3 When both trumpets are blown, the people should gather before you at the entrance to the Meeting Tent.

4 If you blow only one trumpet, the leaders, the heads of the family groups of Israel, should meet before you.

5 When you loudly blow the trumpets, the tribes camping on the east should move.

6 When you loudly blow them again, the tribes camping on the south should move; the loud sound will tell them to move.

7 When you want to gather the people, blow the trumpets, but don't blow them as loudly.

8 "Aaron's sons, the priests, should blow the trumpets. This is a law for you and your descendants from now on.

9 When you are fighting an enemy who attacks you in your own land, blow the trumpets loudly. The Lord your God will take notice of you and will save you from your enemies.

10 Also blow your trumpets at happy times and during your feasts and at New Moon festivals. Blow them over your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, because they will help you remember your God. I am the Lord your God."

11 The cloud lifted from the Tent of the Agreement on the twentieth day of the second month of the second year.

12 So the Israelites moved from the Desert of Sinai and continued until the cloud stopped in the Desert of Paran.

13 This was their first time to move, and they did it as the Lord had commanded Moses.

14 The divisions from the camp of Judah moved first under their flag. Nahshon son of Amminadab was the commander.

15 Nethanel son of Zuar was over the division of the tribe of Issachar.

16 Eliab son of Helon was over the division of the tribe of Zebulun.

17 Then the Holy Tent was taken down, and the Gershonites and Merarites, who carried it, moved next.

18 Then came the divisions from the camp of Reuben under their flag, and Elizur son of Shedeur was the commander.

19 Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai was over the division of the tribe of Simeon.

20 Eliasaph son of Deuel was over the division of the tribe of Gad.

21 Then came the Kohathites, who carried the holy things; the Holy Tent was to be set up before they arrived.

22 Next came the divisions from the camp of Ephraim under their flag, and Elishama son of Ammihud was the commander.

23 Gamaliel son of Pedahzur was over the division of the tribe of Manasseh,

24 and Abidan son of Gideoni was over the division of the tribe of Benjamin.

25 The last ones were the rear guard for all the tribes. These were the divisions from the camp of Dan under their flag, and Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai was the commander.

26 Pagiel son of Ocran was over the division of the tribe of Asher;

27 Ahira son of Enan was over the division of the tribe of Naphtali.

28 This was the order the Israelite divisions marched in when they moved.

29 Hobab was the son of Reuel the Midianite, who was Moses' father-in-law. Moses said to Hobab, "We are moving to the land the Lord promised to give us. Come with us and we will be good to you, because the Lord has promised good things to Israel."

30 But Hobab answered, "No, I will not go. I will go back to my own land where I was born."

31 But Moses said, "Please don't leave us. You know where we can camp in the desert, and you can be our guide.

32 Come with us. We will share with you all the good things the Lord gives us."

33 So they left the mountain of the Lord and traveled for three days. The Ark of the Lord's Agreement went in front of the people for those three days, as they looked for a place to camp.

34 The Lord's cloud was over them during the day when they left their camp.

35 When the Ark left the camp, Moses said, "Rise up, Lord! Scatter your enemies: make those who hate you run from you."

36 And when the Ark was set down, Moses said, "Return, Lord, to the thousands of people of Israel."

1 Now the people complained to the Lord about their troubles, and when he heard them, he became angry. Then fire from the Lord burned among the people at the edge of the camp.

2 The people cried out to Moses, and when he prayed to the Lord, the fire stopped burning.

3 So that place was called Taberah, because the Lord's fire had burned among them.

4 Some troublemakers among them wanted better food, and soon all the Israelites began complaining. They said, "We want meat!

5 We remember the fish we ate for free in Egypt. We also had cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic.

6 But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!"

7 The manna was like small white seeds.

8 The people would go to gather it, and then grind it in handmills, or crush it between stones. After they cooked it in a pot or made cakes with it, it tasted like bread baked with olive oil.

9 When the dew fell on the camp each night, so did the manna.

10 Moses heard every family crying as they stood in the entrances of their tents. Then the Lord became very angry, and Moses got upset.

11 He asked the Lord, "Why have you brought me, your servant, this trouble? What have I done wrong that you made me responsible for all these people?

12 I am not the father of all these people, and I didn't give birth to them. So why do you make me carry them to the land you promised to our ancestors? Must I carry them in my arms as a nurse carries a baby?

13 Where can I get meat for all these people? They keep crying to me, 'We want meat!'

14 I can't take care of all these people alone. It is too much for me.

15 If you are going to continue doing this to me, then kill me now. If you care about me, put me to death, and then I won't have any more troubles."

16 The Lord said to Moses, "Bring me seventy of Israel's older leaders, men that you know are leaders among the people. Bring them to the Meeting Tent, and have them stand there with you.

17 I will come down and speak with you there. I will take some of the Spirit that is in you, and I will give it to them. They will help you care for the people so that you will not have to care for them alone.

18 "Tell the people this: 'Make yourselves holy for tomorrow, and you will eat meat. You cried to the Lord, "We want meat! We were better off in Egypt!" So now the Lord will give you meat to eat.

19 You will eat it not for just one, two, five, ten, or even twenty days,

20 but you will eat that meat for a whole month. You will eat it until it comes out your nose, and you will grow to hate it. This is because you have rejected the Lord, who is with you. You have cried to him, saying, "Why did we ever leave Egypt?"' "

21 Moses said, "Lord, here are six hundred thousand people standing around me, and you say, 'I will give them enough meat to eat for a month!'

22 If we killed all the flocks and herds, that would not be enough. If we caught all the fish in the sea, that would not be enough."

23 But the Lord said to Moses, "Do you think I'm weak? Now you will see if I can do what I say."

24 So Moses went out to the people and told them what the Lord had said. He gathered seventy of the older leaders together and had them stand around the Tent.

25 Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to Moses. The Lord took some of the Spirit Moses had, and he gave it to the seventy leaders. With the Spirit in them, they prophesied, but just that one time.

26 Two men named Eldad and Medad were also listed as leaders, but they did not go to the Tent. They stayed in the camp, but the Spirit was also given to them, and they prophesied in the camp.

27 A young man ran to Moses and said, "Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp."

28 Joshua son of Nun said, "Moses, my master, stop them!" (Ever since he was a young boy, Joshua had been Moses' assistant.)

29 But Moses answered, "Are you jealous for me? I wish all the Lord's people could prophesy. I wish the Lord would give his Spirit to all of them!"

30 Then Moses and the leaders of Israel went back to the camp.

31 The Lord sent a strong wind from the sea, and it blew quail into the area all around the camp. The quail were about three feet deep on the ground, and there were quail a day's walk in any direction.

32 The people went out and gathered quail all that day, that night, and the next day. Everyone gathered at least sixty bushels, and they spread them around the camp.

33 But the Lord became very angry, and he gave the people a terrible sickness that came while the meat was still in their mouths.

34 So the people named that place Kibroth Hattaavah, because there they buried those who wanted other food.

35 From Kibroth Hattaavah the people went to stay at Hazeroth.

1 Jesus and his followers went to the other side of the lake to the area of the Gerasene people.

2 When Jesus got out of the boat, instantly a man with an evil spirit came to him from the burial caves.

3 This man lived in the caves, and no one could tie him up, not even with a chain.

4 Many times people had used chains to tie the man's hands and feet, but he always broke them off. No one was strong enough to control him.

5 Day and night he would wander around the burial caves and on the hills, screaming and cutting himself with stones.

6 While Jesus was still far away, the man saw him, ran to him, and fell down before him.

7 The man shouted in a loud voice, "What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I command you in God's name not to torture me!"

8 He said this because Jesus was saying to him, "You evil spirit, come out of the man."

9 Then Jesus asked him, "What is your name?" He answered, "My name is Legion, because we are many spirits."

10 He begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of that area.

11 A large herd of pigs was feeding on a hill near there.

12 The demons begged Jesus, "Send us into the pigs; let us go into them."

13 So Jesus allowed them to do this. The evil spirits left the man and went into the pigs. Then the herd of pigs -- about two thousand of them -- rushed down the hill into the lake and were drowned.

14 The herdsmen ran away and went to the town and to the countryside, telling everyone about this. So people went out to see what had happened.

15 They came to Jesus and saw the man who used to have the many evil spirits, sitting, clothed, and in his right mind. And they were frightened.

16 The people who saw this told the others what had happened to the man who had the demons living in him, and they told about the pigs.

17 Then the people began to beg Jesus to leave their area.

18 As Jesus was getting back into the boat, the man who was freed from the demons begged to go with him.

19 But Jesus would not let him. He said, "Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and how he has had mercy on you."

20 So the man left and began to tell the people in the Ten Townsn about what Jesus had done for him. And everyone was amazed.