1. The Lord said to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of the second year following their departure from the land of Egypt:
2. Tell the Israelites to celebrate the Passover at the prescribed time.
3. In the evening twilight of the fourteenth day of this month you shall celebrate it at its prescribed time, in accord with all its statutes and regulations.
4. So Moses told the Israelites to celebrate the Passover,
5. and they did celebrate the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month during the evening twilight in the wilderness of Sinai. Just as the Lord had commanded Moses, so the Israelites did.
6. There were some, however, who were unclean because of a human corpse and so could not celebrate the Passover that day. These men came up to Moses and Aaron that same day
7. and they said to them, “Although we are unclean because of a human corpse, why should we be deprived of presenting the Lord’s offering at its prescribed time along with other Israelites?”
8. Moses answered them, “Wait so that I can learn what the Lord will command in your regard.”
9. The Lord then said to Moses:
10. Speak to the Israelites: “If any one of you or of your descendants is unclean because of a human corpse, or is absent on a journey, you may still celebrate the Lord’s Passover.
11. But you shall celebrate it in the second month, on the fourteenth day of that month during the evening twilight, eating it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs,
12. and not leaving any of it over till morning, nor breaking any of its bones, but observing all the statutes of the Passover.
13. However, anyone who is clean and not away on a journey, who yet fails to celebrate the Passover, shall be cut off from the people, for not presenting the Lord’s offering at the prescribed time. That person shall bear the consequences of this sin.
14. “If an alien who lives among you would celebrate the Lord’s Passover, it shall be celebrated according to the statutes and regulations for the Passover. You shall have the same law for the resident alien as for the native of the land.”
15. On the day when the tabernacle was erected, the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the covenant; but from evening until morning it took on the appearance of fire over the tabernacle.