Through the Bible – Day 48

₁The LORD told Moses:

₁₁On the twentieth day of the second month of that same year, the cloud over the sacred tent moved on. ₁₂So the Israelites broke camp and left the Sinai Desert. And some time later, the cloud stopped in the Paran Desert. ₁₃This was the first time the LORD had told Moses to command the people of Israel to move on.

₁₄Judah and the tribes that camped beside it marched out first, carrying their banner. Nahshon son of Amminadab was the leader of the Judah tribe, ₁₅Nethanel son of Zuar was the leader of the Issachar tribe, ₁₆and Eliab son of Helon was the leader of the Zebulun tribe.

₁₇The sacred tent had been taken down, and the Gershonites and the Merarites carried it, marching behind the Judah camp.

₁₈Reuben and the tribes that camped beside it marched out second, carrying their banner. Elizur son of Shedeur was the leader of the Reuben tribe, ₁₉Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai was the leader of the Simeon tribe, ₂₀and Eliasaph son of Deuel was the leader of the Gad tribe.

₂₁Next were the Kohathites, carrying the objects for the sacred tent, which was to be set up before they arrived at the new camp.

₂₂Ephraim and the tribes that camped beside it marched next, carrying their banner. Elishama son of Ammihud was the leader of the Ephraim tribe, ₂₃Gamaliel son of Pedahzur was the leader of the Manasseh tribe, ₂₄and Abidan son of Gideoni was the leader of the Benjamin tribe.

₂₅Dan and the tribes that camped beside it were to protect the Israelites against an attack from behind, and so they marched last, carrying their banner. Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai was the leader of the tribe of Dan, ₂₆Pagiel son of Ochran was the leader of the Asher tribe, ₂₇and Ahira son of Enan was the leader of the Naphtali tribe.

₂₈This was the order in which the Israelites marched each time they moved their camp.

₂₉Hobab the Midianite, the father-in-law of Moses, was there. And Moses said to him, “We're leaving for the place the LORD has promised us. He has said that all will go well for us. So come along, and we will make sure that all goes well for you.”

₃₀“No, I won't go,” Hobab answered. “I'm returning home to be with my own people.”

₃₁“Please go with us!” Moses said. “You can be our guide because you know the places to camp in the desert. ₃₂Besides that, if you go, we will give you a share of the good things the LORD gives us.”

₃₃The people of Israel began their journey from Mount Sinai. They travelled three days, and the Levites who carried the sacred chest led the way, so the LORD could show them where to camp. ₃₄And the cloud always stayed with them.

₃₅Each day as the Israelites began their journey, Moses would pray, “Our LORD, defeat your enemies and make them run!” ₃₆And when they stopped to set up camp, he would pray, “Our LORD, stay close to Israel's thousands and thousands of people.”

₁One day the Israelites started complaining about their troubles. The LORD heard them and became so angry that he destroyed the outer edges of their camp with fire.

₂When the people begged Moses to help, he prayed, and the fire went out. ₃They named the place “Burning”, because in his anger the LORD had set their camp on fire.

₄One day some worthless foreigners among the Israelites became greedy for food, and even the Israelites themselves began moaning, “We don't have any meat! ₅In Egypt we could eat all the fish we wanted, and there were cucumbers, melons, onions, and garlic. ₆But we're starving out here, and the only food we have is this manna.”

₇The manna was like small whitish seeds _8-9and tasted like something baked with sweet olive oil. It appeared at night with the dew. In the morning the people would collect the manna, grind or crush it into flour, then boil it and make it into thin wafers.

₁₀The Israelites stood around their tents complaining. Moses heard them and was upset that they had made the LORD angry. ₁₁He prayed:

₁₆The LORD said to Moses:

₂₁Moses replied, “At least six hundred thousand grown men are here with me. How can you say there will be enough meat to feed them and their families for a whole month? ₂₂Even if we butchered all our sheep and cattle, or caught every fish in the sea, we wouldn't have enough to feed them.”

₂₃The LORD answered, “I can do anything! Watch and you'll see my words come true.”

₂₄Moses told the people what the LORD had said. Then he chose seventy respected leaders and went with them to the sacred tent. While the leaders stood in a circle around the tent, Moses went inside, ₂₅and the LORD spoke with him. Then the LORD took some authority from Moses and gave it to the seventy leaders. And when the LORD's Spirit took control of them, they started shouting like prophets. But they did it only this one time.

₂₆Eldad and Medad were two leaders who had not gone to the tent. But when the Spirit took control of them, they began shouting like prophets there in camp. ₂₇A boy ran to Moses and told him about Eldad and Medad.

₂₈Joshua was there helping Moses, as he had done since he was young. And he said to Moses, “Sir, you must stop them!”

₂₉But Moses replied, “Are you concerned what this might do to me? I wish the LORD would give his Spirit to all his people so everyone could be a prophet.” ₃₀Then Moses and the seventy leaders went back to camp.

₃₁Some time later the LORD sent a strong wind that blew quails in from the sea until Israel's camp was completely surrounded with birds, piled up about a metre high for miles in every direction. ₃₂The people picked up quails for two days—each person collected at least a thousand kilogrammes. Then they spread them out to dry. ₃₃But before the meat could be eaten, the LORD became angry and sent a disease through the camp.

₃₄After they had buried the people who had been so greedy for meat, they called the place “Graves for the Greedy”.

₃₅Israel then broke camp and travelled to Hazeroth.

_1-3Although Moses was the most humble person in all the world, Miriam and Aaron started complaining, “Moses had no right to marry that woman from Ethiopia! Who does he think he is? The LORD has spoken to us, not just to him.”

The LORD heard their complaint ₄and told Moses, Aaron, and Miriam to come to the entrance of the sacred tent. ₅There the LORD appeared in a cloud and told Aaron and Miriam to come closer. ₆Then after commanding them to listen carefully, he said:

₉The LORD became angry with Aaron and Miriam. And after the LORD left ₁₀and the cloud disappeared from over the sacred tent, Miriam's skin turned white with leprosy. When Aaron saw what had happened to her, ₁₁he said to Moses, “Sir, please don't punish us for doing such a foolish thing. ₁₂Don't let Miriam's flesh rot away like a child born dead!”

₁₃Moses prayed, “LORD God, please heal her.”

₁₄But the LORD replied, “Miriam would be disgraced for seven days if her father had punished her by spitting in her face. So make her stay outside the camp for seven days, before coming back.”

₁₅The people of Israel did not move their camp until Miriam returned seven days later. ₁₆Then they left Hazeroth and set up camp in the Paran Desert.

₂₇The governor's soldiers led Jesus into the fortress and brought together the rest of the troops. ₂₈They stripped off Jesus' clothes and put a scarlet robe on him. ₂₉They made a crown out of thorn branches and placed it on his head, and they put a stick in his right hand. The soldiers knelt down and pretended to worship him. They made fun of him and shouted, “Hey, you king of the Jews!” ₃₀Then they spat on him. They took the stick from him and beat him on the head with it.

₃₁When the soldiers had finished making fun of Jesus, they took off the robe. They put his own clothes back on him and led him off to be nailed to a cross. ₃₂On the way they met a man from Cyrene named Simon, and they forced him to carry Jesus' cross.

₃₃They came to a place named Golgotha, which means “Place of a Skull”. ₃₄There they gave Jesus some wine mixed with a drug to ease the pain. But when Jesus tasted what it was, he refused to drink it.

₃₅The soldiers nailed Jesus to a cross and gambled to see who would get his clothes. ₃₆Then they sat down to guard him. ₃₇Above his head they put a sign that told why he was nailed there. It read, “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.” ₃₈The soldiers also nailed two criminals on crosses, one to the right of Jesus and the other to his left.

₃₉People who passed by said terrible things about Jesus. They shook their heads and ₄₀shouted, “So you're the one who claimed you could tear down the temple and build it again in three days! If you are God's Son, save yourself and come down from the cross!”

₄₁The chief priests, the leaders, and the teachers of the Law of Moses also made fun of Jesus. They said, ₄₂“He saved others, but he can't save himself. If he is the king of Israel, he should come down from the cross! Then we will believe him. ₄₃He trusted God, so let God save him, if he wants to. He even said he was God's Son.” ₄₄The two criminals also said cruel things to Jesus.

₄₅At midday the sky turned dark and stayed that way until three o'clock. ₄₆Then about that time Jesus shouted, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you deserted me?”

₄₇Some of the people standing there heard Jesus and said, “He's calling for Elijah.” ₄₈One of them at once ran and grabbed a sponge. He soaked it in wine, then put it on a stick and held it up to Jesus.

₄₉Others said, “Wait! Let's see if Elijah will come and save him.” ₅₀Once again Jesus shouted, and then he died.

₅₁At once the curtain in the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, and rocks split apart. ₅₂Graves opened, and many of God's people were raised to life. ₅₃Then after Jesus had risen to life, they came out of their graves and went into the holy city, where they were seen by many people.

₅₄The officer and the soldiers guarding Jesus felt the earthquake and saw everything else that happened. They were frightened and said, “This man really was God's Son!”

₅₅Many women had come with Jesus from Galilee to be of help to him, and they were there, looking on at a distance. ₅₆Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of James and John were some of these women.