The Second Passover

(Exodus 12:1-13)

1The Lord spoke to Moses in the desert of Sinai, the second year after they were come out of the land of Egypt, in the first month, saying: 2Let the children of Israel make the phase in its due time, 3The fourteenth day of this month in the evening, according to all the ceremonies and justifications thereof. 4And Moses commanded the children of Israel that they should make the phase. 5And they made it in its proper time: the fourteenth day of the month at evening, in mount Sinai. The children of Israel did according to all things that the Lord had commanded Moses. 6But behold some who were unclean by occasion of the soul of a men, who could not make the phase on that day, coming to Moses and Aaron, 7Said to them: We are unclean by occasion of the soul of a man. Why are we kept back that we may not offer in its season the offering to the Lord among the children of Israel? 8And Moses answered them: Stay that I may consult the Lord what he will ordain concerning you.

9And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 10Say to the children of Israel: The man that shall be unclean by occasion of one that is dead, or shall be in a journey afar off in your nation, let him make the phase to the Lord. 11In the second month, on the fourteenth day of the month in the evening, they shall eat it with unleavened bread and wild lettuce: 12They shall not leave any thing thereof until morning, nor break a bone thereof, they shall observe all the ceremonies of the phase. 13But if any man is clean, and was not on a journey, and did not make the phase, that soul shall be cut off from among his people, because he offered not sacrifice to the Lord in due season: he shall bear his sin. 14The sojourner also and the stranger if they be among you, shall make the phase to the Lord according to the ceremonies and justifications thereof. The same ordinance shall be with you both for the stranger, and for him that was born in the land.

The Cloud above the Tabernacle

(Exodus 40:34-38)

15Now on the day that the tabernacle was reared up, a cloud covered it. But from the evening there was over the tabernacle, as it were, the appearance of fire until the morning. 16So it was always: by day the cloud covered it, and by night as it were the appearance of fire. 17And when the cloud that covered the tabernacle was taken up, then the children of Israel marched forward: and in the place where the cloud stood still, there they camped. 18At the commandment of the Lord they marched, and at his commandment they pitched the tabernacle. All the days that the cloud abode over the tabernacle, they remained in the same place: 19And if it was so that it continued over it a long time, the children of Israel kept the watches of the Lord, and marched not, 20For as many days soever as the cloud stayed over the tabernacle. At the commandment of the Lord they pitched their tents, and at his commandment they took them down. 21If the cloud tarried from evening until morning, and immediately at break of day left the tabernacle, they marched forward: and if it departed after a day and a night, they took down their tents. 22But if it remained over the tabernacle for two days or a month or a longer time, the children of Israel remained in the same place, and marched not: but immediately as soon as it departed, they removed the camp. 23By the word of the Lord they pitched their tents, and by his word they marched: and kept the watches of the Lord according to his commandment by the hand of Moses.