Numbers 10:17-34

¹⁷Then they dismantled the Sacred Tent, and the descendants of Gershon and Merari carried it, and they went next.

¹⁸The group from the tribe of Reuben went next, carrying their flag. Elizur, the son of Shedeur, was their leader.

¹⁹The group from the tribe of Simeon was next. Shelumiel, the son of Zurishaddai, was their leader.

²⁰The group from the tribe of Gad was next. Eliasaph, the son of Deuel, was their leader.

²¹The group descended from Kohath was next. They carried the sacred items from the Sacred Tent. The Sacred Tent itself was set up at the new location before they arrived there.

²²The group from the tribe of Ephraim was next, carrying their flag. Elishama, the son of Ammihud, was their leader.

²³The group from the tribe of Manasseh went next. Gamaliel, the son of Pedahzur, was their leader.

²⁴The group from the tribe of Benjamin, went next. Abidan, the son of Gideoni, was their leader.

²⁵The ones who went last were the group from the tribe of Dan, carrying their flag. Ahiezer, the son of Ammishaddai, was their leader.

²⁶The group from the tribe of Asher went next. Pagiel, the son of Ocran, was their leader.

²⁷The group from the tribe of Naphtali went last. Ahira, the son of Enan, was their leader.

²⁸That was the order in which the groups of Israeli tribes traveled.

²⁹One day Moses/I said to his/my brother-in-law Hobab, the son of Reuel from the Midian people-group, “We are on the way to the place that Yahweh promised to give to us. Come with us, and we will take good care of you, because Yahweh has promised to do good things for us Israeli people.”

³⁰But Hobab replied, “No, I will not go with you. I want to return to my own land and to my own family.”

³¹But Moses/I said, “Please do not leave us. You know the places where we can set up our tents in this desert, and you can guide us.

³²Come with us. We will share with you all the good things that Yahweh gives to us.”

³³So Hobab agreed to go with them. The Israelis left Sinai Mountain, which they called Yahweh's Mountain, and they walked for three days. The men carrying the sacred chest went in front of the other people for those three days, and they kept looking for a place to set up their tents.

³⁴The cloud sent by Yahweh was over them every day.