Numbers 10

• 1. Now the LORD said to Moses,
• 2. "Make two trumpets of beaten silver to be used for summoning the people to assemble and for signaling the breaking of camp.
• 3. When both trumpets are blown, the people will know that they are to gather before you at the entrance of the Tabernacle.
• 4. But if only one is blown, then only the leaders of the tribes of Israel will come to you.
• 5. "When you sound the signal to move on, the tribes on the east side of the Tabernacle will break camp and move forward.
• 6. When you sound the signal a second time, the tribes on the south will follow. You must sound short blasts to signal moving on.
• 7. But when you call the people to an assembly, blow the trumpets using a different signal.
• 8. Only the priests, Aaron's descendants, are allowed to blow the trumpets. This is a permanent law to be followed from generation to generation.
• 9. "When you arrive in your own land and go to war against your enemies, you must sound the alarm with these trumpets so the LORD your God will remember you and rescue you from your enemies.
• 10. Blow the trumpets in times of gladness, too, sounding them at your annual festivals and at the beginning of each month to rejoice over your burnt offerings and peace offerings. The trumpets will remind the LORD your God of his covenant with you. I am the LORD your God."
• 11. One day in midspring, during the second year after Israel's departure from Egypt, the cloud lifted from the Tabernacle of the Covenant.
• 12. So the Israelites set out from the wilderness of Sinai and traveled on in stages until the cloud stopped in the wilderness of Paran.
• 13. When the time to move arrived, the LORD gave the order through Moses.
• 14. The tribes that camped with Judah headed the march with their banner, under the leadership of Nahshon son of Amminadab.
• 15. The tribe of Issachar was led by Nethanel son of Zuar.
• 16. The tribe of Zebulun was led by Eliab son of Helon.
• 17. Then the Tabernacle was taken down, and the Gershonite and Merarite divisions of the Levites were next in the line of march, carrying the Tabernacle with them.
• 18. Then the tribes that camped with Reuben set out with their banner, under the leadership of Elizur son of Shedeur.
• 19. The tribe of Simeon was led by Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai.
• 20. The tribe of Gad was led by Eliasaph son of Deuel.
• 21. Next came the Kohathite division of the Levites, carrying the sacred objects from the Tabernacle. When they arrived at the next camp, the Tabernacle would already be set up at its new location.
• 22. Then the tribes that camped with Ephraim set out with their banner, under the leadership of Elishama son of Ammihud.
• 23. The tribe of Manasseh was led by Gamaliel son of Pedahzur.
• 24. The tribe of Benjamin was led by Abidan son of Gideoni.
• 25. Last of all, the tribes that camped with Dan set out under their banner. They served as the rear guard for all the tribal camps. The tribe of Dan headed this group, under the leadership of Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai.
• 26. The tribe of Asher was led by Pagiel son of Ocran.
• 27. The tribe of Naphtali was led by Ahira son of Enan.
• 28. This was the order in which the tribes marched, division by division.
• 29. One day Moses said to his brother-in-law, Hobab son of Reuel the Midianite, "We are on our way to the Promised Land. Come with us and we will treat you well, for the LORD has given wonderful promises to Israel!"
• 30. But Hobab replied, "No, I will not go. I must return to my own land and family."
• 31. "Please don't leave us," Moses pleaded. "You know the places in the wilderness where we should camp.
• 32. Come, be our guide and we will share with you all the good things that the LORD does for us."
• 33. They marched for three days after leaving the mountain of the LORD, with the Ark of the LORD's covenant moving ahead of them to show them where to stop and rest.
• 34. As they moved on each day, the cloud of the LORD hovered over them.
• 35. And whenever the Ark set out, Moses would cry, "Arise, O LORD, and let your enemies be scattered! Let them flee before you!"
• 36. And when the Ark was set down, he would say, "Return, O LORD, to the countless thousands of Israel!"

Numbers 11

• 1. The people soon began to complain to the LORD about their hardships; and when the LORD heard them, his anger blazed against them. Fire from the LORD raged among them and destroyed the outskirts of the camp.
• 2. The people screamed to Moses for help; and when he prayed to the LORD, the fire stopped.
• 3. After that, the area was known as Taberah--"the place of burning"--because fire from the LORD had burned among them there.
• 4. Then the foreign rabble who were traveling with the Israelites began to crave the good things of Egypt, and the people of Israel also began to complain. "Oh, for some meat!" they exclaimed.
• 5. "We remember all the fish we used to eat for free in Egypt. And we had all the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic that we wanted.
• 6. But now our appetites are gone, and day after day we have nothing to eat but this manna!"
• 7. The manna looked like small coriander seeds, pale yellow in color.
• 8. The people gathered it from the ground and made flour by grinding it with hand mills or pounding it in mortars. Then they boiled it in a pot and made it into flat cakes. These cakes tasted like they had been cooked in olive oil.
• 9. The manna came down on the camp with the dew during the night.
• 10. Moses heard all the families standing in front of their tents weeping, and the LORD became extremely angry. Moses was also very aggravated.
• 11. And Moses said to the LORD, "Why are you treating me, your servant, so miserably? What did I do to deserve the burden of a people like this?
• 12. Are they my children? Am I their father? Is that why you have told me to carry them in my arms--like a nurse carries a baby--to the land you swore to give their ancestors?
• 13. Where am I supposed to get meat for all these people? They keep complaining and saying, `Give us meat!'
• 14. I can't carry all these people by myself! The load is far too heavy!
• 15. I'd rather you killed me than treat me like this. Please spare me this misery!"
• 16. Then the LORD said to Moses, "Summon before me seventy of the leaders of Israel. Bring them to the Tabernacle to stand there with you.
• 17. I will come down and talk to you there. I will take some of the Spirit that is upon you, and I will put the Spirit upon them also. They will bear the burden of the people along with you, so you will not have to carry it alone.
• 18. "And tell the people to purify themselves, for tomorrow they will have meat to eat. Tell them, `The LORD has heard your whining and complaints: "If only we had meat to eat! Surely we were better off in Egypt!" Now the LORD will give you meat, and you will have to eat it.
• 19. And it won't be for just a day or two, or for five or ten or even twenty.
• 20. You will eat it for a whole month until you gag and are sick of it. For you have rejected the LORD, who is here among you, and you have complained to him, "Why did we ever leave Egypt?"'"
• 21. But Moses said, "There are 600,000 foot soldiers here with me, and yet you promise them meat for a whole month!
• 22. Even if we butchered all our flocks and herds, would that satisfy them? Even if we caught all the fish in the sea, would that be enough?"
• 23. Then the LORD said to Moses, "Is there any limit to my power? Now you will see whether or not my word comes true!"
• 24. So Moses went out and reported the LORD's words to the people. Then he gathered the seventy leaders and stationed them around the Tabernacle.
• 25. And the LORD came down in the cloud and spoke to Moses. He took some of the Spirit that was upon Moses and put it upon the seventy leaders. They prophesied as the Spirit rested upon them, but that was the only time this happened.
• 26. Two men, Eldad and Medad, were still in the camp when the Spirit rested upon them. They were listed among the leaders but had not gone out to the Tabernacle, so they prophesied there in the camp.
• 27. A young man ran and reported to Moses, "Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp!"
• 28. Joshua son of Nun, who had been Moses' personal assistant since his youth, protested, "Moses, my master, make them stop!"
• 29. But Moses replied, "Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the LORD's people were prophets, and that the LORD would put his Spirit upon them all!"
• 30. Then Moses returned to the camp with the leaders of Israel.
• 31. Now the LORD sent a wind that brought quail from the sea and let them fall into the camp and all around it! For many miles in every direction from the camp there were quail flying about three feet above the ground.
• 32. So the people went out and caught quail all that day and throughout the night and all the next day, too. No one gathered less than fifty bushels! They spread the quail out all over the camp.
• 33. But while they were still eating the meat, the anger of the LORD blazed against the people, and he caused a severe plague to break out among them.
• 34. So that place was called Kibroth-hattaavah--"the graves of craving"--because they buried the people there who had craved meat from Egypt.
• 35. From there the Israelites traveled to Hazeroth, where they stayed for some time.

Numbers 12

• 1. While they were at Hazeroth, Miriam and Aaron criticized Moses because he had married a Cushite woman.
• 2. They said, "Has the LORD spoken only through Moses? Hasn't he spoken through us, too?" But the LORD heard them.
• 3. Now Moses was more humble than any other person on earth.
• 4. So immediately the LORD called to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam and said, "Go out to the Tabernacle, all three of you!" And the three of them went out.
• 5. Then the LORD descended in the pillar of cloud and stood at the entrance of the Tabernacle. "Aaron and Miriam!" he called, and they stepped forward.
• 6. And the LORD said to them, "Now listen to me! Even with prophets, I the LORD communicate by visions and dreams.
• 7. But that is not how I communicate with my servant Moses. He is entrusted with my entire house.
• 8. I speak to him face to face, directly and not in riddles! He sees the LORD as he is. Should you not be afraid to criticize him?"
• 9. The LORD was furious with them, and he departed.
• 10. As the cloud moved from above the Tabernacle, Miriam suddenly became white as snow with leprosy. When Aaron saw what had happened,
• 11. he cried out to Moses, "Oh, my lord! Please don't punish us for this sin we have so foolishly committed.
• 12. Don't let her be like a stillborn baby, already decayed at birth."
• 13. So Moses cried out to the LORD, "Heal her, O God, I beg you!"
• 14. And the LORD said to Moses, "If her father had spit in her face, wouldn't she have been defiled for seven days? Banish her from the camp for seven days, and after that she may return."
• 15. So Miriam was excluded from the camp for seven days, and the people waited until she was brought back before they traveled again.
• 16. Then they left Hazeroth and camped in the wilderness of Paran.

New Living Translation: 44 of 324 days.