9 Then Yahweh spoke to Mosheh (Moses) in the Sinai wilderness, in the first month of the second year after they’d left Egypt, 2 “The Israelis must observe ‘pass-over’ at the appointed time. 3 You all must celebrate it on the evening of the 14th of this month, following all the instructions that you’ve all been given previously.” 4 So Mosheh ordered the Israelis to prepare the ‘pass-over’, 5 and they celebrated it in the Sinai wilderness starting on the evening of the 14th of that first month, following all the instructions that Yahweh had given Mosheh.

6 However, there were some men who were ‘unclean’ (because they’d touched a dead body) and hence they weren’t able to celebrate the ‘pass-over’ that day, so they approached Mosheh and Aharon 7 and asked them, “We were ‘unclean’ because we’d touched a dead body, but how come we’re excluded from presenting an offering to Yahweh along with the other Israelis?”

8 “Wait here,” Mosheh answered, “and I’ll ask Yahweh what he wants you all to do.”

9 Then Yahweh told Mosheh, 10 “Tell the Israelis that for this and future generations, if a person is ‘unclean’ or far from home, then they can still observe Yahweh’s ‘pass-over’. 11 They can start it on the evening of the 14th of the second month, and eat it as usual with flat bread and bitter herbs. 12 They must not break any of the lambs bones, must not leave any of it until the morning, and must observe it following all the normal instructions.[ref] 13 However, any person who isn’t ‘unclean’ or far away, but yet who didn’t celebrate the ‘pass-over’ that first month, must be driven out of the community and will have to bear their own sin.

14 If an outsider is living among you and celebrates the ‘pass-over’, they must also do it according to all the same instructions—there’s only one way to do it whether it’s you all, or a foreigner, or a native of the land.

15 When the sacred tent was dedicated, the cloud covered the inner room of the tent, and every evening it would look like fire above the residence, until morning came. 16 It remained like that continually—the cloud would cover it during the day, and then at night, it would appear like fire. 17 Whenever the cloud would be lifted up from the tent, then the Israelis would leave that place. Then wherever the cloud settled down, that’s where the Israelis would set up camp, 18 so in that way, the Israelis would leave a place whenever Yahweh told them, and would set up camp whenever he told them. As long as the cloud stayed above the residence, they would stay camped in that place. 19 Whenever the cloud remained above the residence for a long time, then the Israelis would follow Yahweh’s guidance and wouldn’t pack up camp. 20 Sometimes the cloud would only remain above the residence for a few days, in which case they’d leave where they’d just camped, and move on as Yahweh commanded. 21 If the cloud was lifted up the next morning, then they’d move on—in fact whether day or night if the cloud was lifted up, then they would move on. 22 Whether it was two days or a month or a year that the cloud stayed above the residence, then the Israeli camp would remain in that place, until eventually moving on when it was lifted up again. 23 In that way, when Yahweh ordered them to camp, they would, and when order to move on, they’d do that—thus they obeyed Yahweh’s instructions to Mosheh.