Numbers 10
1 The LORD spoke to Moses:
2 “Make two silver trumpets for yourself; make them of hammered silver. They will serve you to summon the community and to set the camps moving.
3 When they are sounded, the whole community will gather around you at the entrance to the tent of meeting.
4 If only one is sounded, the leaders, the chiefs of Israel’s thousands, will gather around you.
5 When you sound the alarm, the camps on the east will set out.
6 When you sound the alarm a second time, the camps on the south will set out. The alarm will be sounded for their departures.
7 To gather the assembly, you will sound the trumpets, but you will not sound the alarm.
8 Aaron’s sons, the priests, will sound the trumpets. This will be a lasting rule for you throughout your generations.
9 When you go to war in your land against an enemy who oppresses you, sound the alarm with the trumpets. Then you will be remembered before the LORD your God, and you will be rescued from your enemies.
10 On your days of joy, at your festivals, and at the beginning of your months, you will sound the trumpets over your burnt offerings and your fellowship offerings. They will be a reminder for you before your God. I am the LORD your God.”
11 In the second year, in the second month, on the twentieth day of the month, the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle of the Testimony.
12 The Israelites set out from the wilderness of Sinai, stage by stage, and the cloud settled in the wilderness of Paran.
13 They set out for the first time at the LORD’s command through Moses.
14 The banner of the camp of the descendants of Judah set out first, by their divisions. Nahshon son of Amminadab was over its division.
15 Nathaniel son of Zuar was over the division of the tribe of the descendants of Issachar.
16 Eliab son of Helon was over the division of the tribe of the descendants of Zebulun.
17 The tabernacle was taken down, and the descendants of Gershon and the descendants of Merari set out, carrying the tabernacle.
18 Then the banner of the camp of Reuben set out, by their divisions. Elizur son of Shedeur was over its division.
19 Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai was over the division of the tribe of the descendants of Simeon.
20 Eliasaph son of Deuel was over the division of the tribe of the descendants of Gad.
21 Then the Kohathites set out, carrying the sanctuary, and the tabernacle was set up before they arrived.
22 Then the banner of the camp of the descendants of Ephraim set out, by their divisions. Elishama son of Ammihud was over its division.
23 Gamaliel son of Pedahzur was over the division of the tribe of the descendants of Manasseh.
24 Abidan son of Gideoni was over the division of the tribe of the descendants of Benjamin.
25 Then the banner of the camp of the descendants of Dan set out as the rear guard for all the camps, by their divisions. Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai was over its division.
26 Pagiel son of Ocran was over the division of the tribe of the descendants of Asher.
27 Ahira son of Enan was over the division of the tribe of the descendants of Naphtali.
28 These were the departures of the Israelites, by their divisions, and they set out.
29 Moses said to Hobab son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses’ father-in-law, “We are setting out for the place about which the LORD said, ‘I will give it to you.’ Come with us, and we will treat you well, because the LORD has promised good things for Israel.”
30 He replied, “I will not go. I will go to my own land and my relatives.”
31 Moses said, “Please do not leave us, because you know where we should camp in the wilderness, and you will be our eyes.
32 If you come with us, we will treat you well with the good that the LORD does for us.”
33 They set out from the mountain of the LORD and traveled for three days. The ark of the LORD’s covenant went ahead of them for those three days, seeking a place for them to rest.
34 The cloud of the LORD was over them by day when they set out from the camp.
35 Whenever the ark set out, Moses would say, “Rise up, LORD! May your enemies be scattered; may those who hate you flee from before you.”
36 And whenever it came to rest, he would say, “Return, LORD, to the countless thousands of Israel.”
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