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

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Numbers 9

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

2 "The Israelites must celebrate the Passover at the same time every year.

3 You must celebrate it on the fourteenth day of this month at dusk. Follow all the rules and regulations for the celebration of the Passover."

4 So Moses told the Israelites to celebrate the Passover,

5 and they celebrated it on the fourteenth day of the first month at dusk while they were in the Desert of Sinai. The Israelites did everything as the LORD had commanded Moses.

6 But there were some men who had become unclean from touching a dead body, and they couldn't celebrate the Passover that day. They came to Moses and Aaron

7 and said, "We are unclean because we touched a dead body. Why won't you let us bring our offerings to the LORD at the same time the rest of the Israelites bring their offerings?"

8 Moses answered them, "Wait here until I find out what the LORD commands you to do."

9 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Tell the Israelites:

10 Suppose you or any of your descendants is unclean from touching a dead body or is away on a long trip. You may still celebrate the Passover.

11 You will celebrate it on the fourteenth day of the second month at dusk. You must eat the Passover animal along with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.

12 You must never leave any of the meat until morning or break any of the animal's bones. You must follow all the rules for the Passover when you celebrate it.

13 But if you are clean and not on a trip and yet don't bother to celebrate the Passover, you must be excluded from the people. You didn't bring your offering to the LORD at the right time. You must suffer the consequences for your sin.

14 "Foreigners living with you may want to celebrate the LORD's Passover. They must follow these same rules and regulations. The same rules will apply to foreigners and native-born Israelites."

15 On the day the tent of the words of God's promise was set up, the [column of] smoke covered it. From evening until morning, the smoke over the tent glowed like fire.

16 The smoke always glowed this way. At night the smoke covering the tent glowed like fire.

17 Whenever the smoke moved from the tent, the Israelites would break camp, and wherever it stopped, the Israelites would set up camp.

18 At the LORD's command the Israelites would break camp, and at his command they would set up camp. As long as the [column of] smoke stayed over the tent, they would stay in the same place.

19 When the smoke stayed over the tent for a long time, the Israelites obeyed the LORD's command and wouldn't break camp.

20 The same thing happened when the smoke stayed only a few days over the tent: At the LORD's command they would set up camp, and at his command they would break camp.

21 Sometimes the [column of] smoke stayed only from evening until morning. When the smoke moved in the morning, they broke camp. Day or night, when the smoke moved, they broke camp.

22 Whether it was two days, a month, or a year, as long as the [column of] smoke stayed over the tent, the Israelites would stay in the same place and not break camp. But when the smoke moved, they would break camp.

23 At the LORD's command they set up camp, and at his command they broke camp. They obeyed the command that the LORD had given through Moses.

Numbers 10

1 The LORD said to Moses,

2 "Make two trumpets out of hammered silver. Use them to call the community together and as a signal to break camp.

3 When you blow both trumpets, the whole community will meet with you at the entrance to the tent of meeting.

4 If only one trumpet blows, the leaders, the heads of the divisions of Israel, will meet with you.

5 When they hear the trumpet fanfare, the tribes that are camped on the east side will break camp first.

6 When the trumpets sound a second fanfare, the tribes that are camped on the south will break camp. The fanfare is the signal to break camp.

7 But when you gather the assembly, the trumpets will blow without sounding a fanfare.

8 The sons of Aaron, the priests, will blow the trumpets. This will be a permanent law for you and your descendants.

9 "When you go to war in your own country against an enemy who is oppressing you, the trumpets will sound a fanfare. Then the LORD your God will remember you and rescue you from your enemies.

10 Also, on your festival days and on the first day of the month, blow the trumpets when you sacrifice your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. The trumpets will be a reminder for you in God's presence. I am the LORD your God."

11 On the twentieth day of the second month of the second year, the [column of] smoke left the tent of the words of God's promise.

12 So the Israelites moved from the Desert of Sinai and traveled from place to place until the [column of] smoke stopped in the Desert of Paran.

13 This was the first time they moved, following the command that the LORD had given through Moses.

14 With their flag in front, the armies led by Judah's descendants broke camp first. Nahshon, son of Amminadab, was in command.

15 Nethanel, son of Zuar, commanded the army of Issachar.

16 Eliab, son of Helon, commanded the army of Zebulun.

17 Then the tent [of meeting] was taken down, and the Gershonites and Merarites, who carried it, broke camp.

18 With their flag in front, the armies led by Reuben's descendants broke camp next. Elizur, son of Shedeur, was in command.

19 Shelumiel, son of Zurishaddai, commanded the army of Simeon.

20 Eliasaph, son of Deuel, commanded the army of Gad.

21 Then the Kohathites, who carried the holy things, broke camp. By the time they arrived, the tent [of meeting] would already be set up.

22 With their flag in front, the armies led by Ephraim's descendants broke camp next. Elisha, son of Ammihud, was in command.

23 Gamaliel, son of Pedahzur, commanded the army of Manasseh.

24 Abidan, son of Gideoni, commanded the army of Benjamin.

25 As a rear guard for the whole camp, the armies led by Dan's descendants broke camp last with their flag in front. Ahiezer, son of Ammishaddai, was in command.

26 Pagiel, son of Ochran, commanded the army of Asher.

27 Ahira, son of Enan, commanded the army of Naphtali.

28 This was the order in which the Israelite armies broke camp when they went from place to place.

29 Moses said to his brother-in-law Hobab, son of Reuel the Midianite, "We are going to the place the LORD promised to give us. Come with us. We will be good to you, because the LORD has promised good things to Israel."

30 Hobab answered, "No, I won't go. I want to go back to my own country where my relatives are."

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

32 If you 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 promise went ahead of them a distance of three days' journey to find them a place to rest.

34 The LORD's [column of] smoke was over them by day when they moved the camp.

35 Whenever the ark started to move, Moses would say, "Arise, O LORD! Scatter your enemies! Make those who hate you run away from you!"

36 And whenever it stopped, he would say, "Return, O LORD, to the countless thousands of Israel!"

Numbers 11

1 The people began complaining out loud to the LORD about their troubles. When the LORD heard them, he became angry, and fire from the LORD began to burn among them. It destroyed some people on the outskirts of the camp.

2 The people cried out to Moses, Moses prayed to the LORD, and the fire died down.

3 That place was called Taberah [Fire] because fire from the LORD burned among them there.

4 Some foreigners among the Israelites had a strong craving for [other kinds of] food. Even the Israelites started crying again and said, "If only we had meat to eat!

5 Remember all the free fish we ate in Egypt and the cucumbers, watermelons, leeks, onions, and garlic we had?

6 But now we've lost our appetite! Everywhere we look there's nothing but manna!"

7 (Manna was [small] like coriander seeds and looked like resin.

8 The people would go around and gather it, then grind it in a handmill or crush it in a mortar. They would cook it in a pot or make round loaves of bread out of it. It tasted like rich pastry made with olive oil.

9 When dew fell on the camp at night, manna fell with it.)

10 Moses heard people from every family crying at the entrance to their tents. The LORD became very angry, and Moses didn't like it either.

11 So he asked, "LORD, why have you brought me this trouble? How have I displeased you that you put the burden of all these people on me?

12 Am I their mother? Did I give birth to them? Are you really asking me to carry them in my arms--as a nurse carries a baby--all the way to the land you promised their ancestors with an oath?

13 Where can I get meat for all these people? They keep crying for me to give them meat to eat.

14 I can't take care of all these people by myself. This is too much work for me!

15 If this is how you're going to treat me, why don't you just kill me? I can't face this trouble anymore."

16 The LORD answered Moses, "Bring me 70 Israelite men who you know are leaders and officers of the people. Take them to the tent of meeting, and have them stand with you.

17 I'll come down and speak with you there. I'll take some of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them. They will help you take care of the people. You won't have to take care of the people alone.

18 Tell the people to get ready for tomorrow. They must be set apart as holy. Then they will eat meat. I, the LORD, heard them crying and saying, 'If only we had meat to eat! We were better off in Egypt!' So I will give them meat.

19 They won't eat it just for one or two days, or five, or ten, or twenty days,

20 but for a whole month, until it comes out of their ears and they're sick of it. This is because they rejected the LORD who is here among them and cried in front of him, asking, 'Why did we ever leave Egypt?'"

21 But Moses said, "Here I am with 600,000 foot soldiers around me. Yet, you say, 'I will give them meat to eat for a whole month!'

22 Would they have enough if all the flocks and herds were butchered for them? Would they have enough if all the fish in the sea were caught for them?"

23 The LORD asked Moses, "Is there a limit to the LORD's power? Now you will see whether or not my words come true."

24 Moses went out and told the people what the LORD said. He gathered 70 of the leaders of the people and had them stand around the tent.

25 Then the LORD came down in the [column of] smoke and spoke with him. He took some of the Spirit that was on Moses and put it on the 70 leaders. When the Spirit came to rest on them, they prophesied, but they never prophesied again.

26 Two men, named Eldad and Medad, had stayed in the camp. They were on the list with the other leaders but hadn't gone with them to the tent. The Spirit came to rest on them, too, and they prophesied in the camp.

27 Then a young man ran and told Moses, "Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp."

28 So Joshua, son of Nun, who had been Moses' assistant ever since he was a young man, spoke up and said, "Stop them, sir!"

29 But Moses asked him, "Do you think you need to stand up for me? I wish all the LORD's people were prophets and that the LORD would put his Spirit on them."

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

31 The LORD sent a wind from the sea that brought quails and dropped them all around the camp. There were quails on the ground about three feet deep as far as you could walk in a day in any direction.

32 All that day and night and all the next day the people went out and gathered the quails. No one gathered less than 60 bushels. Then they spread the quails out all around the camp.

33 While the meat was still in their mouths--before they had even had a chance to chew it--the LORD became angry with the people and struck them with a severe plague.

34 That place was called Kibroth Hattaavah [Graves of Those Who Craved [Meat]] because there they buried the people who had a strong craving [for meat].

35 From Kibroth Hattaavah the people moved to Hazeroth, and they stayed there.

Mark 5:1-20

1 They arrived in the territory of the Gerasenes on the other side of the Sea of Galilee.

2 As Jesus stepped out of the boat, a man came out of the tombs and met him. The man was controlled by an evil spirit

3 and lived among the tombs. No one could restrain him any longer, not even with a chain.

4 He had often been chained hand and foot. However, he snapped the chains off his hands and broke the chains from his feet. No one could control him.

5 Night and day he was among the tombs and on the mountainsides screaming and cutting himself with stones.

6 The man saw Jesus at a distance. So he ran [to Jesus], bowed down in front of him,

7 and shouted, "Why are you bothering me now, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Swear to God that you won't torture me."

8 He shouted this because Jesus said, "You evil spirit, come out of the man."

9 Jesus asked him, "What is your name?" He told Jesus, "My name is Legion [Six Thousand], because there are many of us."

10 He begged Jesus not to send them out of the territory.

11 A large herd of pigs was feeding on a mountainside nearby.

12 The demons begged him, "Send us into the pigs! Let us enter them!"

13 Jesus let them do this. The evil spirits came out of the man and went into the pigs. The herd of about two thousand pigs rushed down the cliff into the sea and drowned.

14 Those who took care of the pigs ran away. In the city and countryside they reported everything that had happened. So the people came to see what had happened.

15 They came to Jesus and saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons. The man was sitting there dressed and in his right mind. The people were frightened.

16 Those who saw this told what had happened to the demon-possessed man and the pigs.

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

18 As Jesus stepped into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged him, "Let me stay with you."

19 But Jesus would not allow it. Instead, he told the man, "Go home to your family, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and how merciful he has been to you."

20 So the man left. He began to tell how much Jesus had done for him in the Ten Cities. Everyone was amazed.