1. The Lord spoke to Moses in the Sinai Desert in the first month of the second year after the people of Israel had left Egypt. He said,
2-3. “On the fourteenth day of this month, beginning at sunset, the people of Israel are to observe the Passover according to all the rules and regulations for it.”
4. So Moses told the people to observe the Passover,
5. and on the evening of the fourteenth day of the first month they did so in the Sinai Desert. The people did everything just as the Lord had commanded Moses.
6. But there were some people who were ritually unclean because they had touched a corpse, and they were not able to keep the Passover on that day. They went to Moses and Aaron
7. and said, “We are unclean because we have touched a corpse, but why should we be excluded from presenting the Lord's offering with the rest of the Israelites?”
8. Moses answered, “Wait until I receive instructions from the Lord.”
9. The Lord told Moses
10. to say to the people of Israel, “When any of you or your descendants are unclean from touching a corpse or are far away on a journey, but still want to keep the Passover,
11. you are permitted to observe it one month later instead, on the evening of the fourteenth day of the second month. Celebrate it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.
12. Do not leave any of the food until the following morning and do not break any of the animal's bones. Observe the Passover according to all the regulations.
13. But anyone who is ritually clean and not away on a journey and who does not observe the Passover, shall no longer be considered one of my people, because he did not present the offering to me at the appointed time. He must suffer the consequences of his sin.