¹ Now the Lord ²  spoke ³  to Moses in the tent of meeting ⁴  in the wilderness ⁵  of Sinai ⁶  on the first day of the second month of the second year after ⁷  the Israelites ⁸  departed from the land of Egypt. ⁹  He said:

These were the men whom Moses and Aaron numbered ¹  along with the twelve leaders of Israel, each of whom ²  was from his own family.

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Number all the firstborn males of the Israelites from a month old and upward, and take ¹  the number of their names.

These were those numbered from the families of the Gershonites, everyone who served in the tent of meeting, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the word of the Lord.

All who were numbered of the Levites, whom Moses, Aaron, and the leaders of Israel numbered by their families and by their clans,

So the Israelites did so, and expelled them outside the camp. As the Lord had spoken ¹  to Moses, so the Israelites did.

For the Lord said to Moses, “They must present their offering, one leader for each day, ¹  for the dedication of the altar.”

And Aaron did so; he set up the lamps to face toward the front of the lampstand, as the Lord commanded Moses.

¹ The Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of the second year after they had come out ²  of the land of Egypt:

At the commandment of the Lord they camped, and at the commandment of the Lord they traveled on; they kept the instructions of the Lord according to the commandment of the Lord, by the authority ¹  of Moses.

Moses said, “The people around me ¹  are 600,000 on foot; ²  but you say, ‘I will give them meat, ³  that they may eat ⁴  for a whole month.’

And the Lord said to Moses, “Is the Lord’s hand shortened? ¹  Now you will see whether my word to you will come true ²  or not!”

So Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord. He then gathered seventy men of the elders of the people and had them stand around the tabernacle.

Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for me? ¹  I wish that ²  all the Lord’s people were prophets, that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!”

¹ Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against ²  Moses because of the Cushite ³  woman he had married ⁴  (for he had married an Ethiopian woman).

The Lord spoke immediately to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam: “The three of you come to the tent of meeting.” So the three of them went.

With him I will speak face to face, ¹  openly, ²  and not in riddles; and he will see the form ³  of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?”

So Aaron said to Moses, “O my lord, ¹  please do not hold this sin against us, in which we have acted foolishly and have sinned!

So Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran at the command ¹  of the Lord. All of them were leaders ²  of the Israelites.

When Moses sent ¹  them to investigate the land of Canaan, he told them, “Go up through the Negev, ²  and then go up into the hill country