THE BIBLE ACCOUNT OF THE MOVIE, “THE TEN COMMANDMENTS” 

 Foreword

THE TORAH INCLUDES THE BOOKS OF GENESIS, EXODUS, LEVITICUS, NUMBERS AND DEUTERONOMY, WHERE THE MOVIE, “THE TEN COMMANDMENTS” IS MOSTLY CENTERED ON ISRAEL’S EXODUS FROM EGYPT,  A MERE GLIMPSE INTO THE FULL STORY OF A REPENTING ISRAEL.

TODAY, ARCHEOLOGY ARGUES, EVIDENCE DOES NOT SUPPORT THE CONCEPT OF HUMAN SLAVERY AT EGYPTIAN WORK SITES, YET MORE LIKELY WORKER CONTRACTS /COMMITMENTS TO THE PHAROAHS. SLAVE MASTERS PROVING MORE THE TASK MASTERS, A FORM OF SELF BONDAGE ISRAEL WOULD SUFFER, BUT SELF INFLICTED NO DOUBT.

 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS AND A 40 YEAR TREK IN THE WILDERNESS – A SMALL PART OF A FULL STORY THAT SPEAKS TO THE PURIFICATION OF A NATION THAT FELL TO MANS RULE – LEADING TO DISOBEDIENCE TO THEIR CREATOR; BUT YH’S GRACE DID NOT LET-UP.

BELOW ONLY EXODUS AND DEUTERONOMY IS GIVEN IN IT’S ENTIRETY, THAT OF THE ACCOUNT OFAN ISRAEL LEAVING THE BONDAGE OF MAN FOR THE FREEDOM OF YHWH: EXCERPTS OF LEVITICUS, NUMBERS AND JOSHUA INCLUDED.

PLEASE KNOW THE SUMMARY HERE IS NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH A FULL READING OF OUR CREATOR’S MESSAGE, THAT WHICH IN ITS ENTIRETY SPELLS OUT A PIVOTOL LESSON TO MANKIND, THAT OF THE CLEANSING OF A NATION THAT HAD FALLEN AWAY FROM YHWH; THE REACHING OUT OF THE WORD OF ELOHIM TO A STIFF-NECKED NATION; THAT OF OBEDIENCE OVER DISOBEDIENCE; THAT OF INDIVIDUAL SALVATION IN GRACE.

(HEBREW PERSPECTIVE /MEANINGS IN PARENTHESIS)

PLEASE READ THE FULL BIBLE ACCOUNT, YOU WON’T REGRET IT!!!!

HERE,  EXODUS AND DEUTERONOMY (in their entirety) ARE GIVEN IN PARTS SO YOU CAN READ AT YOUR LEASURE.

MAY YHWH BE BLESSED IN ALL OUR EFFORTS, IN YHSHUA, AMEIN!!!!

PART 1

Exodus 1:1 – 5:22

New International Version (NIV)

The Israelites Oppressed

1 These are the names of the sons of Israel who went to Egypt with Jacob, each with his family: ² Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah; ³ Issachar, Zebulun and Benjamin; ⁴ Dan and Naphtali; Gad and Asher. ⁵ The descendants of Jacob numbered seventy^[a] in all; Joseph was already in Egypt.

⁶ Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died, ⁷ but the Israelites were exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly, increased in numbers and became so numerous that the land was filled with them.

⁸ Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt. ⁹ “Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become far too numerous for us. ¹⁰ Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.”

¹¹ So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh. ¹² But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites ¹³ and worked them ruthlessly. ¹⁴ They made their lives bitter with harsh labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their harsh labor the Egyptians worked them ruthlessly.

¹⁵ The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, ¹⁶ “When you are helping the Hebrew women during childbirth on the delivery stool, if you see that the baby is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live.” ¹⁷ The midwives, however, feared God (Elohim) and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live. ¹⁸ Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?”

¹⁹ The midwives answered Pharaoh, “Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive.”

²⁰ So God (Elohim) was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous. ²¹ And because the midwives feared God (Elohim), he gave them families of their own.

²² Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: “Every Hebrew boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live.”

The Birth of Moses

2 Now a man of the tribe of Levi married a Levite woman, ² and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months. ³ But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket^[a] for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile. ⁴ His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him.

⁵ Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the riverbank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her female slave to get it. ⁶ She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. “This is one of the Hebrew babies,” she said.

⁷ Then his sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?”

⁸ “Yes, go,” she answered. So the girl went and got the baby’s mother. ⁹ Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you.” So the woman took the baby and nursed him. ¹⁰ When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses,^[b] saying, “I drew him out of the water.”

Moses Flees to Midian

¹¹ One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. ¹² Looking this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. ¹³ The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?”

¹⁴ The man said, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and thought, “What I did must have become known.”

¹⁵ When Pharaoh heard of this, he tried to kill Moses, but Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian, where he sat down by a well. ¹⁶ Now a priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came to draw water and fill the troughs to water their father’s flock. ¹⁷ Some shepherds came along and drove them away, but Moses got up and came to their rescue and watered their flock.

¹⁸ When the girls returned to Reuel their father, he asked them, “Why have you returned so early today?”

¹⁹ They answered, “An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds. He even drew water for us and watered the flock.”

²⁰ “And where is he?” Reuel asked his daughters. “Why did you leave him? Invite him to have something to eat.”

²¹ Moses agreed to stay with the man, who gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage. ²² Zipporah gave birth to a son, and Moses named him Gershom,^[c] saying, “I have become a foreigner in a foreign land.”

²³ During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God (Elohim). ²⁴ God (Elohim) heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. ²⁵ So God (Elohim) looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.

Moses and the Burning Bush

3 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God (Elohim). ² There the angel of the Lord (YHWH)   appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. ³ So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”

⁴ When the Lord (YHWH)   saw that he had gone over to look, God (Elohim) called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”

And Moses said, “Here I am.”

⁵ “Do not come any closer,” God (Elohim) said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy (set-apart) ground.” ⁶ Then he said, “I am the God (Elohim) of your father,^[d] the God (Elohim) of Abraham, the God (Elohim) of Isaac and the God (Elohim) of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God (Elohim) .

⁷ The Lord (YHWH)   said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. ⁸ So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. ⁹ And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. ¹⁰ So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”

¹¹ But Moses said to God (Elohim), “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”

¹² And God (Elohim) said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you^[e] will worship God (Elohim) on this mountain.”

¹³ Moses said to God (Elohim), “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God (Elohim) of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”

¹⁴ God (Elohim) said to Moses, “I am who I am.^[f] This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’”

¹⁵ God (Elohim) also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord (YHWH)  ,^[g] the God (Elohim) of your fathers—the God (Elohim)  of Abraham, the God (Elohim) of Isaac and the God (Elohim) of Jacob—has sent me to you.’

“This is my name forever,
the name you shall call me
from generation to generation.

¹⁶ “Go, assemble the elders of Israel and say to them, ‘The Lord (YHWH)  , the God (Elohim)   of your fathers—the God (Elohim) of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—appeared to me and said: I have watched over you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt. ¹⁷ And I have promised to bring you up out of your misery in Egypt into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—a land flowing with milk and honey.’

¹⁸ “The elders of Israel will listen to you. Then you and the elders are to go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘The Lord (YHWH) , the God (Elohim) of the Hebrews, has met with us. Let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the Lord (YHWH)   our God (Elohim).’ ¹⁹ But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand compels him. ²⁰ So I will stretch out my hand and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders that I will perform among them. After that, he will let you go.

²¹ “And I will make the Egyptians favorably disposed toward this people, so that when you leave you will not go empty-handed. ²² Every woman is to ask her neighbor and any woman living in her house for articles of silver and gold and for clothing, which you will put on your sons and daughters. And so you will plunder the Egyptians.”

Signs for Moses

4 Moses answered, “What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, ‘The Lord (YHWH)   did not appear to you’?”

² Then the Lord (YHWH)   said to him, “What is that in your hand?”

“A staff,” he replied.

³ The Lord (YHWH)  said, “Throw it on the ground.”

Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake, and he ran from it. ⁴ Then the Lord (YHWH)   said to him, “Reach out your hand and take it by the tail.” So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand. ⁵ “This,” said the Lord (YHWH)  , “is so that they may believe that the Lord (YHWH)  , the God (Elohim) of their fathers—the God (Elohim) of Abraham, the God (Elohim) of Isaac and the God (Elohim) of Jacob—has appeared to you.”

⁶ Then the Lord (YHWH)   said, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” So Moses put his hand into his cloak, and when he took it out, the skin was leprous^[h]—it had become as white as snow.

⁷ “Now put it back into your cloak,” he said. So Moses put his hand back into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored, like the rest of his flesh.

⁸ Then the Lord (YHWH)   said, “If they do not believe you or pay attention to the first sign, they may believe the second. ⁹ But if they do not believe these two signs or listen to you, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. The water you take from the river will become blood on the ground.”

¹⁰ Moses said to the Lord (YHWH)  , “Pardon your servant, Lord (YHWH)  . I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.”

¹¹ The Lord (YHWH)   said to him, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord (YHWH)  ? ¹² Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.”

¹³ But Moses said, “Pardon your servant, Lord (YHWH)  . Please send someone else.”

¹⁴ Then the Lord (YHWH)  ’s anger burned against Moses and he said, “What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you, and he will be glad to see you. ¹⁵ You shall speak to him and put words in his mouth; I will help both of you speak and will teach you what to do. ¹⁶ He will speak to the people for you, and it will be as if he were your mouth and as if you were God (Elohim) to him. ¹⁷ But take this staff in your hand so you can perform the signs with it.”

Moses Returns to Egypt

¹⁸ Then Moses went back to Jethro his father-in-law and said to him, “Let me return to my own people in Egypt to see if any of them are still alive.”

Jethro said, “Go, and I wish you well.”

¹⁹ Now the Lord (YHWH)   had said to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt, for all those who wanted to kill you are dead.” ²⁰ So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey and started back to Egypt. And he took the staff of God (Elohim) in his hand.

²¹ The Lord (YHWH)   said to Moses, “When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you the power to do. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go. ²² Then say to Pharaoh, ‘This is what the Lord (YHWH)   says: Israel is my firstborn son, ²³ and I told you, “Let my son go, so he may worship me.” But you refused to let him go; so I will kill your firstborn son.’”

²⁴ At a lodging place on the way, the Lord (YHWH)   met Moses^[i] and was about to kill him. ²⁵ But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son’s foreskin and touched Moses’ feet with it.^[j] “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me,” she said. ²⁶ So the Lord (YHWH)   let him alone. (At that time she said “bridegroom of blood,” referring to circumcision.)

²⁷ The Lord (YHWH)   said to Aaron, “Go into the wilderness to meet Moses.” So he met Moses at the mountain of God (Elohim) and kissed him. ²⁸ Then Moses told Aaron everything the Lord (YHWH)   had sent him to say, and also about all the signs he had commanded him to perform.

²⁹ Moses and Aaron brought together all the elders of the Israelites, ³⁰ and Aaron told them everything the Lord (YHWH)   had said to Moses. He also performed the signs before the people, ³¹ and they believed. And when they heard that the Lord (YHWH)   was concerned about them and had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshiped.

Bricks Without Straw

5 Afterward Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, “This is what the Lord (YHWH)  , the God (Elohim) of Israel, says: ‘Let my people go, so that they may hold a festival to me in the wilderness.’”

² Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord (YHWH)  , that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord (YHWH)   and I will not let Israel go.”

³ Then they said, “The God (Elohim) of the Hebrews has met with us. Now let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the Lord (YHWH)   our God (Elohim), or he may strike us with plagues or with the sword.”

⁴ But the king of Egypt said, “Moses and Aaron, why are you taking the people away from their labor? Get back to your work!” ⁵ Then Pharaoh said, “Look, the people of the land are now numerous, and you are stopping them from working.”

⁶ That same day Pharaoh gave this order to the slave drivers and overseers in charge of the people: ⁷ “You are no longer to supply the people with straw for making bricks; let them go and gather their own straw. ⁸ But require them to make the same number of bricks as before; don’t reduce the quota. They are lazy; that is why they are crying out, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God (Elohim).’ ⁹ Make the work harder for the people so that they keep working and pay no attention to lies.”

¹⁰ Then the slave drivers and the overseers went out and said to the people, “This is what Pharaoh says: ‘I will not give you any more straw. ¹¹ Go and get your own straw wherever you can find it, but your work will not be reduced at all.’” ¹² So the people scattered all over Egypt to gather stubble to use for straw. ¹³ The slave drivers kept pressing them, saying, “Complete the work required of you for each day, just as when you had straw.” ¹⁴ And Pharaoh’s slave drivers beat the Israelite overseers they had appointed, demanding, “Why haven’t you met your quota of bricks yesterday or today, as before?”

¹⁵ Then the Israelite overseers went and appealed to Pharaoh: “Why have you  treated your servants this way? ¹⁶ Your servants are given no straw, yet we are told, ‘Make bricks!’ Your servants are being beaten, but the fault is with your own people.”

¹⁷ Pharaoh said, “Lazy, that’s what you are—lazy! That is why you keep saying, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord (YHWH)  .’ ¹⁸ Now get to work. You will not be given any straw, yet you must produce your full quota of bricks.”

¹⁹ The Israelite overseers realized they were in trouble when they were told, “You are not to reduce the number of bricks required of you for each day.” ²⁰ When they left Pharaoh, they found Moses and Aaron waiting to meet them, ²¹ and they said, “May the Lord (YHWH)   look on you and judge you! You have made us obnoxious to Pharaoh and his officials and have put a sword in their hand to kill us.”

God (Elohim) Promises Deliverance

²² Moses returned to the Lord (YHWH)   and said, “Why, Lord (YHWH)  , why have you brought trouble on this people? Is this why you sent me?

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PART 2

Exodus 5:23 – 10:29

New International Version (NIV)

6 Then the Lord (YHWH) said to Moses, “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh: Because of my mighty hand he will let them go; because of my mighty hand he will drive them out of his country.”

² God (Elohim) also said to Moses, “I am the Lord (YHWH) . ³ I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as God (Elohim) Almighty,^[a] but by my name the Lord (YHWH) ^[b] I did not make myself fully known to them. ⁴ I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, where they resided as foreigners. ⁵ Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered my covenant.

⁶ “Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the Lord (YHWH) , and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. ⁷ I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God (Elohim). Then you will know that I am the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim), who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. ⁸ And I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the Lord (YHWH) .’”

⁹ Moses reported this to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him because of their discouragement and harsh labor.

¹⁰ Then the Lord (YHWH) said to Moses, ¹¹ “Go, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the Israelites go out of his country.”

¹² But Moses said to the Lord (YHWH) , “If the Israelites will not listen to me, why would Pharaoh listen to me, since I speak with faltering lips^[c]?”

Family Record of Moses and Aaron

¹³ Now the Lord (YHWH) spoke to Moses and Aaron about the Israelites and Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he commanded them to bring the Israelites out of Egypt.

¹⁴ These were the heads of their families^[d]:

The sons of Reuben the firstborn son of Israel were Hanok and Pallu, Hezron and Karmi. These were the clans of Reuben.

¹⁵ The sons of Simeon were Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jakin, Zohar and Shaul the son of a Canaanite woman. These were the clans of Simeon.

¹⁶ These were the names of the sons of Levi according to their records: Gershon, Kohath and Merari. Levi lived 137 years.

¹⁷ The sons of Gershon, by clans, were Libni and Shimei.

¹⁸ The sons of Kohath were Amram, Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel. Kohath lived 133 years.

¹⁹ The sons of Merari were Mahli and Mushi.

These were the clans of Levi according to their records.

²⁰ Amram married his father’s sister Jochebed, who bore him Aaron and Moses. Amram lived 137 years.

²¹ The sons of Izhar were Korah, Nepheg and Zikri.

²² The sons of Uzziel were Mishael, Elzaphan and Sithri.

²³ Aaron married Elisheba, daughter of Amminadab and sister of Nahshon, and she bore him Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.

²⁴ The sons of Korah were Assir, Elkanah and Abiasaph. These were the Korahite clans.

²⁵ Eleazar son of Aaron married one of the daughters of Putiel, and she bore him Phinehas.

These were the heads of the Levite families, clan by clan.

²⁶ It was this Aaron and Moses to whom the Lord (YHWH) said, “Bring the Israelites out of Egypt by their divisions.” ²⁷ They were the ones who spoke to Pharaoh king of Egypt about bringing the Israelites out of Egypt—this same Moses and Aaron.

Aaron to Speak for Moses

²⁸ Now when the Lord (YHWH) spoke to Moses in Egypt, ²⁹ he said to him, “I am the Lord (YHWH) . Tell Pharaoh king of Egypt everything I tell you.”

³⁰ But Moses said to the Lord (YHWH) , “Since I speak with faltering lips, why would Pharaoh listen to me?”

7 Then the Lord (YHWH) said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God (Elohim) to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet. ² You are to say everything I command you, and your brother Aaron is to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his country. ³ But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in Egypt, ⁴ he will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and with mighty acts of judgment I will bring out my divisions, my people the Israelites. ⁵ And the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord (YHWH) when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it.”

⁶ Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord (YHWH) commanded them. ⁷ Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three when they spoke to Pharaoh.

Aaron’s Staff Becomes a Snake

⁸ The Lord (YHWH) said to Moses and Aaron, ⁹ “When Pharaoh says to you, ‘Perform a miracle,’ then say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh,’ and it will become a snake.”

¹⁰ So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord (YHWH) commanded. Aaron threw his staff down in front of Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a snake. ¹¹ Pharaoh then summoned wise men and sorcerers, and the Egyptian magicians also did the same things by their secret arts: ¹² Each one threw down his staff and it became a snake. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs. ¹³ Yet Pharaoh’s heart became hard and he would not listen to them, just as the Lord (YHWH) had said.

The Plague of Blood

¹⁴ Then the Lord (YHWH) said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is unyielding; he refuses to let the people go. ¹⁵ Go to Pharaoh in the morning as he goes out to the river. Confront him on the bank of the Nile, and take in your hand the staff that was changed into a snake. ¹⁶ Then say to him, ‘The Lord (YHWH) , the God (Elohim) of the Hebrews, has sent me to say to you: Let my people go, so that they may worship me in the wilderness. But until now you have not listened. ¹⁷ This is what the Lord (YHWH) says: By this you will know that I am the Lord (YHWH) : With the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water of the Nile, and it will be changed into blood. ¹⁸ The fish in the Nile will die, and the river will stink; the Egyptians will not be able to drink its water.’”

¹⁹ The Lord (YHWH) said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt—over the streams and canals, over the ponds and all the reservoirs—and they will turn to blood.’ Blood will be everywhere in Egypt, even in vessels^[a] of wood and stone.”

²⁰ Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord (YHWH) had commanded. He raised his staff in the presence of Pharaoh and his officials and struck the water of the Nile, and all the water was changed into blood. ²¹ The fish in the Nile died, and the river smelled so bad that the Egyptians could not drink its water. Blood was everywhere in Egypt.

²² But the Egyptian magicians did the same things by their secret arts, and Pharaoh’s heart became hard; he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord (YHWH) had said. ²³ Instead, he turned and went into his palace, and did not take even this to heart. ²⁴ And all the Egyptians dug along the Nile to get drinking water, because they could not drink the water of the river.

The Plague of Frogs

²⁵ Seven days passed after the Lord (YHWH) struck the Nile.

8 ^1 [a]Then the Lord (YHWH) said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord (YHWH) says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me. ² If you refuse to let them go, I will send a plague of frogs on your whole country. ³ The Nile will teem with frogs. They will come up into your palace and your bedroom and onto your bed, into the houses of your officials and on your people, and into your ovens and kneading troughs. ⁴ The frogs will come up on you and your people and all your officials.’”

⁵ Then the Lord (YHWH) said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Stretch out your hand with your staff over the streams and canals and ponds, and make frogs come up on the land of Egypt.’”

⁶ So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up and covered the land. ⁷ But the magicians did the same things by their secret arts; they also made frogs come up on the land of Egypt.

⁸ Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Pray to the Lord (YHWH) to take the frogs away from me and my people, and I will let your people go to offer sacrifices to the Lord (YHWH) .”

⁹ Moses said to Pharaoh, “I leave to you the honor of setting the time for me to pray for you and your officials and your people that you and your houses may be rid of the frogs, except for those that remain in the Nile.”

¹⁰ “Tomorrow,” Pharaoh said.

Moses replied, “It will be as you say, so that you may know there is no one like the Lord (YHWH) our God (Elohim)  . ¹¹ The frogs will leave you and your houses, your officials and your people; they will remain only in the Nile.”

¹² After Moses and Aaron left Pharaoh, Moses cried out to the Lord (YHWH) about the frogs he had brought on Pharaoh. ¹³ And the Lord (YHWH) did what Moses asked. The frogs died in the houses, in the courtyards and in the fields. ¹⁴ They were piled into heaps, and the land reeked of them. ¹⁵ But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord (YHWH) had said.

The Plague of Gnats

¹⁶ Then the Lord (YHWH) said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the ground,’ and throughout the land of Egypt the dust will become gnats.” ¹⁷ They did this, and when Aaron stretched out his hand with the staff and struck the dust of the ground, gnats came on people and animals. All the dust throughout the land of Egypt became gnats. ¹⁸ But when the magicians tried to produce gnats by their secret arts, they could not.

Since the gnats were on people and animals everywhere, ¹⁹ the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God (Elohim).” But Pharaoh’s heart was hard and he would not listen, just as the Lord (YHWH) had said.

The Plague of Flies

²⁰ Then the Lord (YHWH) said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning and confront Pharaoh as he goes to the river and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord (YHWH) says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me. ²¹ If you do not let my people go, I will send swarms of flies on you and your officials, on your people and into your houses. The houses of the Egyptians will be full of flies; even the ground will be covered with them.

²² “‘But on that day I will deal differently with the land of Goshen, where my people live; no swarms of flies will be there, so that you will know that I, the Lord (YHWH) , am in this land. ²³ I will make a distinction^[b] between my people and your people. This sign will occur tomorrow.’”

²⁴ And the Lord (YHWH) did this. Dense swarms of flies poured into Pharaoh’s palace and into the houses of his officials; throughout Egypt the land was ruined by the flies.

²⁵ Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Go, sacrifice to your God (Elohim)   here in the land.”

²⁶ But Moses said, “That would not be right. The sacrifices we offer the Lord (YHWH) our God (Elohim) would be detestable to the Egyptians. And if we offer sacrifices that are detestable in their eyes, will they not stone us? ²⁷ We must take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the Lord (YHWH) our God (Elohim), as he commands us.”

²⁸ Pharaoh said, “I will let you go to offer sacrifices to the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) in the wilderness, but you must not go very far. Now pray for me.”

²⁹ Moses answered, “As soon as I leave you, I will pray to the Lord (YHWH) , and tomorrow the flies will leave Pharaoh and his officials and his people. Only let Pharaoh be sure that he does not act deceitfully again by not letting the people go to offer sacrifices to the Lord (YHWH) .”

³⁰ Then Moses left Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord (YHWH) , ³¹ and the Lord (YHWH) did what Moses asked. The flies left Pharaoh and his officials and his people; not a fly remained. ³² But this time also Pharaoh hardened his heart and would not let the people go.

The Plague on Livestock

9 Then the Lord (YHWH) said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord (YHWH) , the God (Elohim) of the Hebrews, says: “Let my people go, so that they may worship me.” ² If you refuse to let them go and continue to hold them back, ³ the hand of the Lord (YHWH) will bring a terrible plague on your livestock in the field—on your horses, donkeys and camels and on your cattle, sheep and goats. ⁴ But the Lord (YHWH) will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and that of Egypt, so that no animal belonging to the Israelites will die.’”

⁵ The Lord (YHWH) set a time and said, “Tomorrow the Lord (YHWH) will do this in the land.” ⁶ And the next day the Lord (YHWH) did it: All the livestock of the Egyptians died, but not one animal belonging to the Israelites died. ⁷ Pharaoh investigated and found that not even one of the animals of the Israelites had died. Yet his heart was unyielding and he would not let the people go.

The Plague of Boils

⁸ Then the Lord (YHWH) said to Moses and Aaron, “Take handfuls of soot from a furnace and have Moses toss it into the air in the presence of Pharaoh. ⁹ It will become fine dust over the whole land of Egypt, and festering boils will break out on people and animals throughout the land.”

¹⁰ So they took soot from a furnace and stood before Pharaoh. Moses tossed it into the air, and festering boils broke out on people and animals. ¹¹ The magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils that were on them and on all the Egyptians. ¹² But the Lord (YHWH) hardened Pharaoh’s heart and he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord (YHWH) had said to Moses.

The Plague of Hail

¹³ Then the Lord (YHWH) said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning, confront Pharaoh and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord (YHWH) , the God (Elohim) of the Hebrews, says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me, ¹⁴ or this time I will send the full force of my plagues against you and against your officials and your people, so you may know that there is no one like me in all the earth. ¹⁵ For by now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with a plague that would have wiped you off the earth. ¹⁶ But I have raised you up^[a] for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth. ¹⁷ You still set yourself against my people and will not let them go. ¹⁸ Therefore, at this time tomorrow I will send the worst hailstorm that has ever fallen on Egypt, from the day it was founded till now. ¹⁹ Give an order now to bring your livestock and everything you have in the field to a place of shelter, because the hail will fall on every person and animal that has not been brought in and is still out in the field, and they will die.’”

²⁰ Those officials of Pharaoh who feared the word of the Lord (YHWH) hurried to bring their slaves and their livestock inside. ²¹ But those who ignored the word of the Lord (YHWH) left their slaves and livestock in the field.

²² Then the Lord (YHWH) said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the sky so that hail will fall all over Egypt—on people and animals and on everything growing in the fields of Egypt.” ²³ When Moses stretched out his staff toward the sky, the Lord (YHWH) sent thunder and hail, and lightning flashed down to the ground. So the Lord (YHWH) rained hail on the land of Egypt; ²⁴ hail fell and lightning flashed back and forth. It was the worst storm in all the land of Egypt since it had become a nation. ²⁵ Throughout Egypt hail struck everything in the fields—both people and animals; it beat down everything growing in the fields and stripped every tree. ²⁶ The only place it did not hail was the land of Goshen, where the Israelites were.

²⁷ Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron. “This time I have sinned,” he said to them. “The Lord (YHWH) is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong. ²⁸ Pray to the Lord (YHWH) , for we have had enough thunder and hail. I will let you go; you don’t have to stay any longer.”

²⁹ Moses replied, “When I have gone out of the city, I will spread out my hands in prayer to the Lord (YHWH) . The thunder will stop and there will be no more hail, so you may know that the earth is the Lord (YHWH) ’s. ³⁰ But I know that you and your officials still do not fear the Lord (YHWH) God (Elohim)  .”

³¹ (The flax and barley were destroyed, since the barley had headed and the flax was in bloom. ³² The wheat and spelt, however, were not destroyed, because they ripen later.)

³³ Then Moses left Pharaoh and went out of the city. He spread out his hands toward the Lord (YHWH) ; the thunder and hail stopped, and the rain no longer poured down on the land. ³⁴ When Pharaoh saw that the rain and hail and thunder had stopped, he sinned again: He and his officials hardened their hearts. ³⁵ So Pharaoh’s heart was hard and he would not let the Israelites go, just as the Lord (YHWH) had said through Moses.

The Plague of Locusts

10 Then the Lord (YHWH) said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his officials so that I may perform these signs of mine among them ² that you may tell your children and grandchildren how I dealt harshly with the Egyptians and how I performed my signs among them, and that you may know that I am the Lord (YHWH) .”

³ So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him, “This is what the Lord (YHWH) , the God (Elohim) of the Hebrews, says: ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, so that they may worship me. ⁴ If you refuse to let them go, I will bring locusts into your country tomorrow. ⁵ They will cover the face of the ground so that it cannot be seen. They will devour what little you have left after the hail, including every tree that is growing in your fields. ⁶ They will fill your houses and those of all your officials and all the Egyptians—something neither your parents nor your ancestors have ever seen from the day they settled in this land till now.’” Then Moses turned and left Pharaoh.

⁷ Pharaoh’s officials said to him, “How long will this man be a snare to us? Let the people go, so that they may worship the Lord (YHWH) their God (Elohim). Do you not yet realize that Egypt is ruined?”

⁸ Then Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh. “Go, worship the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim),” he said. “But tell me who will be going.”

⁹ Moses answered, “We will go with our young and our old, with our sons and our daughters, and with our flocks and herds, because we are to celebrate a festival to the Lord (YHWH) .”

¹⁰ Pharaoh said, “The Lord (YHWH) be with you—if I let you go, along with your women and children! Clearly you are bent on evil.^{[a] 11} No! Have only the men go and worship the Lord (YHWH) , since that’s what you have been asking for.” Then Moses and Aaron were driven out of Pharaoh’s presence.

¹² And the Lord (YHWH) said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over Egypt so that locusts swarm over the land and devour everything growing in the fields, everything left by the hail.”

¹³ So Moses stretched out his staff over Egypt, and the Lord (YHWH) made an east wind blow across the land all that day and all that night. By morning the wind had brought the locusts; ¹⁴ they invaded all Egypt and settled down in every area of the country in great numbers. Never before had there been such a plague of locusts, nor will there ever be again. ¹⁵ They covered all the ground until it was black. They devoured all that was left after the hail—everything growing in the fields and the fruit on the trees. Nothing green remained on tree or plant in all the land of Egypt.

¹⁶ Pharaoh quickly summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “I have sinned against the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim)   and against you. ¹⁷ Now forgive my sin once more and pray to the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim)   to take this deadly plague away from me.”

¹⁸ Moses then left Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord (YHWH) . ¹⁹ And the Lord (YHWH) changed the wind to a very strong west wind, which caught up the locusts and carried them into the Red Sea.^[b] Not a locust was left anywhere in Egypt. ²⁰ But the Lord (YHWH) hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let the Israelites go.

The Plague of Darkness

²¹ Then the Lord (YHWH) said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the sky so that darkness spreads over Egypt—darkness that can be felt.” ²² So Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, and total darkness covered all Egypt for three days. ²³ No one could see anyone else or move about for three days. Yet all the Israelites had light in the places where they lived.

²⁴ Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and said, “Go, worship the Lord (YHWH). Even your women and children may go with you; only leave your flocks and herds behind.”

²⁵ But Moses said, “You must allow us to have sacrifices and burnt offerings to present to the Lord (YHWH) our God (Elohim). ²⁶ Our livestock too must go with us; not a hoof is to be left behind. We have to use some of them in worshiping the Lord (YHWH) our God (Elohim), and until we get there we will not know what we are to use to worship the Lord (YHWH).”

²⁷ But the Lord (YHWH) hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he was not willing to let them go. ²⁸ Pharaoh said to Moses, “Get out of my sight! Make sure you do not appear before me again! The day you see my face you will die.”

²⁹ “Just as you say,” Moses replied. “I will never appear before you again.”

______________________________________________________________________________

PART 3

Exodus 11 – 15:27

The Plague on the Firstborn

11 Now the Lord (YHWH) had said to Moses, “I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. After that, he will let you go from here, and when he does, he will drive you out completely. ² Tell the people that men and women alike are to ask their neighbors for articles of silver and gold.” ³ (The Lord (YHWH) made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and Moses himself was highly regarded in Egypt by Pharaoh’s officials and by the people.)

⁴ So Moses said, “This is what the Lord (YHWH) says: ‘About midnight I will go throughout Egypt. ⁵ Every firstborn son in Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sits on the throne, to the firstborn son of the female slave, who is at her hand mill, and all the firstborn of the cattle as well. ⁶ There will be loud wailing throughout Egypt—worse than there has ever been or ever will be again. ⁷ But among the Israelites not a dog will bark at any person or animal.’ Then you will know that the Lord (YHWH) makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel. ⁸ All these officials of yours will come to me, bowing down before me and saying, ‘Go, you and all the people who follow you!’ After that I will leave.” Then Moses, hot with anger, left Pharaoh.

⁹ The Lord (YHWH) had said to Moses, “Pharaoh will refuse to listen to you—so that my wonders may be multiplied in Egypt.” ¹⁰ Moses and Aaron performed all these wonders before Pharaoh, but the Lord (YHWH) hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let the Israelites go out of his country.

The Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread

12 The Lord (YHWH) said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, ² “This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year. ³ Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb^[a] for his family, one for each household. ⁴ If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their nearest neighbor, having taken into account the number of people there are. You are to determine the amount of lamb needed in accordance with what each person will eat. ⁵ The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats. ⁶ Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the members of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight. ⁷ Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs. ⁸ That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast. ⁹ Do not eat the meat raw or boiled in water, but roast it over a fire—with the head, legs and internal organs. ¹⁰ Do not leave any of it till morning; if some is left till morning, you must burn it. ¹¹ This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste; it is the Lord’s (YHWH’s) Passover.

¹² “On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the god’s (elohim) of Egypt. I am the Lord (YHWH) . ¹³ The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.

¹⁴ “This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord (YHWH) —a lasting ordinance. ¹⁵ For seven days you are to eat bread made without yeast. On the first day remove the yeast from your houses, for whoever eats anything with yeast in it from the first day through the seventh must be cut off from Israel. ¹⁶ On the first day hold a sacred assembly, and another one on the seventh day. Do no work at all on these days, except to prepare food for everyone to eat; that is all you may do.

¹⁷ “Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread, because it was on this very day that I brought your divisions out of Egypt. Celebrate this day as a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. ¹⁸ In the first month you are to eat bread made without yeast, from the evening of the fourteenth day until the evening of the twenty-first day. ¹⁹ For seven days no yeast is to be found in your houses. And anyone, whether foreigner or native-born, who eats anything with yeast in it must be cut off from the community of Israel. ²⁰ Eat nothing made with yeast. Wherever you live, you must eat unleavened bread.”

²¹ Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go at once and select the animals for your families and slaughter the Passover lamb. ²² Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin and put some of the blood on the top and on both sides of the doorframe. None of you shall go out of the door of your house until morning. ²³ When the Lord (YHWH) goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians, he will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway, and he will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down.

²⁴ “Obey these instructions as a lasting ordinance for you and your descendants. ²⁵ When you enter the land that the Lord (YHWH) will give you as he promised, observe this ceremony. ²⁶ And when your children ask you, ‘What does this ceremony mean to you?’ ²⁷ then tell them, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord (YHWH) , who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when he struck down the Egyptians.’” Then the people bowed down and worshiped. ²⁸ The Israelites did just what the Lord (YHWH) commanded Moses and Aaron.

²⁹ At midnight the Lord (YHWH) struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner, who was in the dungeon, and the firstborn of all the livestock as well. ³⁰ Pharaoh and all his officials and all the Egyptians got up during the night, and there was loud wailing in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone dead.

The Exodus

³¹ During the night Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Up! Leave my people, you and the Israelites! Go, worship the Lord (YHWH) as you have requested. ³² Take your flocks and herds, as you have said, and go. And also bless me.”

³³ The Egyptians urged the people to hurry and leave the country. “For otherwise,” they said, “we will all die!” ³⁴ So the people took their dough before the yeast was added, and carried it on their shoulders in kneading troughs wrapped in clothing. ³⁵ The Israelites did as Moses instructed and asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold and for clothing. ³⁶ The Lord (YHWH) had made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and they gave them what they asked for; so they plundered the Egyptians.

³⁷ The Israelites journeyed from Rameses to Sukkoth. There were about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children. ³⁸ Many other people went up with them, and also large droves of livestock, both flocks and herds. ³⁹ With the dough the Israelites had brought from Egypt, they baked loaves of unleavened bread. The dough was without yeast because they had been driven out of Egypt and did not have time to prepare food for themselves.

⁴⁰ Now the length of time the Israelite people lived in Egypt^[b] was 430 years. ⁴¹ At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, all the Lord’s (YHWH’s) divisions left Egypt. ⁴² Because the Lord (YHWH) kept vigil that night to bring them out of Egypt, on this night all the Israelites are to keep vigil to honor the Lord (YHWH) for the generations to come.

Passover Restrictions

⁴³ The Lord (YHWH) said to Moses and Aaron, “These are the regulations for the Passover meal:

“No foreigner may eat it. ⁴⁴ Any slave you have bought may eat it after you have circumcised him, ⁴⁵ but a temporary resident or a hired worker may not eat it.

⁴⁶ “It must be eaten inside the house; take none of the meat outside the house. Do not break any of the bones. ⁴⁷ The whole community of Israel must celebrate it.

⁴⁸ “A foreigner residing among you who wants to celebrate the Lord’s (YHWH’s)  Passover must have all the males in his household circumcised; then he may take part like one born in the land. No uncircumcised male may eat it. ⁴⁹ The same law applies both to the native-born and to the foreigner residing among you.”

⁵⁰ All the Israelites did just what the Lord (YHWH) had commanded Moses and Aaron. ⁵¹ And on that very day the Lord (YHWH) brought the Israelites out of Egypt by their divisions.

Consecration of the Firstborn

13 The Lord (YHWH) said to Moses, ² “Consecrate to me every firstborn male. The first offspring of every womb among the Israelites belongs to me, whether human or animal.”

³ Then Moses said to the people, “Commemorate this day, the day you came out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery, because the Lord (YHWH) brought you out of it with a mighty hand. Eat nothing containing yeast. ⁴ Today, in the month of Aviv, you are leaving. ⁵ When the Lord (YHWH) brings you into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites and Jebusites—the land he swore to your ancestors to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey—you are to observe this ceremony in this month: ⁶ For seven days eat bread made without yeast and on the seventh day hold a festival to the Lord (YHWH) . ⁷ Eat unleavened bread during those seven days; nothing with yeast in it is to be seen among you, nor shall any yeast be seen anywhere within your borders. ⁸ On that day tell your son, ‘I do this because of what the Lord (YHWH) did for me when I came out of Egypt.’ ⁹ This observance will be for you like a sign on your hand and a reminder on your forehead that this law of the Lord (YHWH) is to be on your lips. For the Lord (YHWH) brought you out of Egypt with his mighty hand. ¹⁰ You must keep this ordinance at the appointed time year after year.

¹¹ “After the Lord (YHWH) brings you into the land of the Canaanites and gives it to you, as he promised on oath to you and your ancestors, ¹² you are to give over to the Lord (YHWH) the first offspring of every womb. All the firstborn males of your livestock belong to the Lord (YHWH). ¹³ Redeem with a lamb every firstborn donkey, but if you do not redeem it, break its neck. Redeem every firstborn among your sons.

¹⁴ “In days to come, when your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ say to him, ‘With a mighty hand the Lord (YHWH) brought us out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. ¹⁵ When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the Lord (YHWH) killed the firstborn of both people and animals in Egypt. This is why I sacrifice to the Lord (YHWH) the first male offspring of every womb and redeem each of my firstborn sons.’ ¹⁶ And it will be like a sign on your hand and a symbol on your forehead that the Lord (YHWH) brought us out of Egypt with his mighty hand.”

Crossing the Sea

¹⁷ When Pharaoh let the people go, God (Elohim)   did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God (Elohim) said, “If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.” ¹⁸ So God (Elohim) led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea.^[a] The Israelites went up out of Egypt ready for battle.

¹⁹ Moses took the bones of Joseph with him because Joseph had made the Israelites swear an oath. He had said, “God (Elohim) will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up with you from this place.”^[b]

²⁰ After leaving Sukkoth they camped at Etham on the edge of the desert. ²¹ By day the Lord (YHWH) went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. ²² Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people.

14 Then the Lord (YHWH) said to Moses, ² “Tell the Israelites to turn back and encamp near Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. They are to encamp by the sea, directly opposite Baal Zephon. ³ Pharaoh will think, ‘The Israelites are wandering around the land in confusion, hemmed in by the desert.’ ⁴ And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them. But I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord (YHWH) .” So the Israelites did this.

⁵ When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds about them and said, “What have we done? We have let the Israelites go and have lost their services!” ⁶ So he had his chariot made ready and took his army with him. ⁷ He took six hundred of the best chariots, along with all the other chariots of Egypt, with officers over all of them. ⁸ The Lord (YHWH) hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, so that he pursued the Israelites, who were marching out boldly. ⁹ The Egyptians—all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots, horsemen^[a] and troops—pursued the Israelites and overtook them as they camped by the sea near Pi Hahiroth, opposite Baal Zephon.

¹⁰ As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the Lord (YHWH). ¹¹ They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? ¹² Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!”

¹³ Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord (YHWH) will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. ¹⁴ The Lord (YHWH) will fight for you; you need only to be still.”

¹⁵ Then the Lord (YHWH) said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. ¹⁶ Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground. ¹⁷ I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them. And I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen. ¹⁸ The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord (YHWH) when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen.”

¹⁹ Then the angel of God (Elohim), who had been traveling in front of Israel’s army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, ²⁰ coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long.

²¹ Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the Lord (YHWH) drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, ²² and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left.

²³ The Egyptians pursued them, and all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and horsemen followed them into the sea. ²⁴ During the last watch of the night the Lord (YHWH) looked down from the pillar of fire and cloud at the Egyptian army and threw it into confusion. ²⁵ He jammed^[b] the wheels of their chariots so that they had difficulty driving. And the Egyptians said, “Let’s get away from the Israelites! The Lord (YHWH) is fighting for them against Egypt.”

²⁶ Then the Lord (YHWH) said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may flow back over the Egyptians and their chariots and horsemen.” ²⁷ Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea went back to its place. The Egyptians were fleeing toward^[c] it, and the Lord (YHWH) swept them into the sea. ²⁸ The water flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen—the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived.

²⁹ But the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. ³⁰ That day the Lord (YHWH) saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore. ³¹ And when the Israelites saw the mighty hand of the Lord (YHWH) displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord (YHWH) and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant.

The Song of Moses and Miriam

15 Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord (YHWH) :

“I will sing to the Lord (YHWH),
for he is highly exalted.
Both horse and driver
he has hurled into the sea.

² “The Lord (YHWH) is my strength and my defense^[a];
he has become my salvation.
He is my God (Elohim), and I will praise him,
my father’s God (Elohim), and I will exalt him.
³ The Lord (YHWH) is a warrior;
the Lord (YHWH) is his name.
⁴ Pharaoh’s chariots and his army
he has hurled into the sea.
The best of Pharaoh’s officers
are drowned in the Red Sea.^[b]
5 The deep waters have covered them;
they sank to the depths like a stone.
⁶ Your right hand, Lord (YHWH) ,
was majestic in power.
Your right hand, Lord (YHWH) ,
shattered the enemy.

⁷ “In the greatness of your majesty
you threw down those who opposed you.
You unleashed your burning anger;
it consumed them like stubble.
⁸ By the blast of your nostrils
the waters piled up.
The surging waters stood up like a wall;
the deep waters congealed in the heart of the sea.
⁹ The enemy boasted,
‘I will pursue, I will overtake them.
I will divide the spoils;
I will gorge myself on them.
I will draw my sword
and my hand will destroy them.’
¹⁰ But you blew with your breath,
and the sea covered them.
They sank like lead
in the mighty waters.
¹¹ Who among the god’s (elohim)
is like you, Lord (YHWH) ?
Who is like you—
majestic in holiness,
awesome in glory,
working wonders?

¹² “You stretch out your right hand,
and the earth swallows your enemies.
¹³ In your unfailing love you will lead
the people you have redeemed.
In your strength you will guide them
to your holy (set-apart) dwelling.
¹⁴ The nations will hear and tremble;
anguish will grip the people of Philistia.
¹⁵ The chiefs of Edom will be terrified,
the leaders of Moab will be seized with trembling,
the people^[c] of Canaan will melt away;
¹⁶     terror and dread will fall on them.
By the power of your arm
they will be as still as a stone—
until your people pass by, Lord (YHWH) ,
until the people you bought^[d] pass by.
¹⁷ You will bring them in and plant them
on the mountain of your inheritance—
the place, Lord (YHWH) , you made for your dwelling,
the sanctuary, Lord (YHWH) , your hands established.

¹⁸ “The Lord (YHWH) reigns for ever and ever.”

¹⁹ When Pharaoh’s horses, chariots and horsemen^[e] went into the sea, the Lord (YHWH) brought the waters of the sea back over them, but the Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground. ²⁰ Then Miriam the prophet, Aaron’s sister, took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women followed her, with timbrels and dancing. ²¹ Miriam sang to them:

“Sing to the Lord (YHWH), for he is highly exalted.
Both horse and driver he has hurled into the sea.”

The Waters of Marah and Elim

²² Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea and they went into the Desert of Shur. For three days they traveled in the desert without finding water. ²³ When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter. (That is why the place is called Marah.^[f]) ²⁴ So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What are we to drink?”

²⁵ Then Moses cried out to the Lord (YHWH) , and the Lord (YHWH) showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became fit to drink.

There the Lord (YHWH) issued a ruling and instruction for them and put them to the test. ²⁶ He said, “If you listen carefully to the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord (YHWH) , who heals you.”

²⁷ Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees, and they camped there near the water.

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PART 4

Exodus 16 – 20:24

Manna and Quail

16 The whole Israelite community set out from Elim and came to the Desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had come out of Egypt. ² In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. ³ The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the Lord’s (YHWH’s) hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.”

⁴ Then the Lord (YHWH) said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions. ⁵ On the sixth day they are to prepare what they bring in, and that is to be twice as much as they gather on the other days.”

⁶ So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, “In the evening you will know that it was the Lord (YHWH) who brought you out of Egypt, ⁷ and in the morning you will see the glory of the Lord (YHWH) , because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we, that you should grumble against us?” ⁸ Moses also said, “You will know that it was the Lord (YHWH) when he gives you meat to eat in the evening and all the bread you want in the morning, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we? You are not grumbling against us, but against the Lord (YHWH) .”

⁹ Then Moses told Aaron, “Say to the entire Israelite community, ‘Come before the Lord (YHWH) , for he has heard your grumbling.’”

¹⁰ While Aaron was speaking to the whole Israelite community, they looked toward the desert, and there was the glory of the Lord (YHWH) appearing in the cloud.

¹¹ The Lord (YHWH) said to Moses, ¹² “I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them, ‘At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim).’”

¹³ That evening quail came and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. ¹⁴ When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost on the ground appeared on the desert floor. ¹⁵ When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was.

Moses said to them, “It is the bread the Lord (YHWH) has given you to eat. ¹⁶ This is what the Lord (YHWH) has commanded: ‘Everyone is to gather as much as they need. Take an omer^[a] for each person you have in your tent.’”

¹⁷ The Israelites did as they were told; some gathered much, some little. ¹⁸ And when they measured it by the omer, the one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little. Everyone had gathered just as much as they needed.

¹⁹ Then Moses said to them, “No one is to keep any of it until morning.”

²⁰ However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell. So Moses was angry with them.

²¹ Each morning everyone gathered as much as they needed, and when the sun grew hot, it melted away. ²² On the sixth day, they gathered twice as much—two omers^[b] for each person—and the leaders of the community came and reported this to Moses. ²³ He said to them, “This is what the Lord (YHWH) commanded: ‘Tomorrow is to be a day of sabbath rest, a holy (set-apart) sabbath to the Lord (YHWH). So bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil. Save whatever is left and keep it until morning.’”

²⁴ So they saved it until morning, as Moses commanded, and it did not stink or get maggots in it. ²⁵ “Eat it today,” Moses said, “because today is a sabbath to the Lord (YHWH) . You will not find any of it on the ground today. ²⁶ Six days you are to gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will not be any.”

²⁷ Nevertheless, some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather it, but they found none. ²⁸ Then the Lord (YHWH) said to Moses, “How long will you^[c] refuse to keep my commands and my instructions? ²⁹ Bear in mind that the Lord (YHWH) has given you the Sabbath; that is why on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Everyone is to stay where they are on the seventh day; no one is to go out.” ³⁰ So the people rested on the seventh day.

³¹ The people of Israel called the bread manna.^[d] It was white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey. ³² Moses said, “This is what the Lord (YHWH) has commanded: ‘Take an omer of manna and keep it for the generations to come, so they can see the bread I gave you to eat in the wilderness when I brought you out of Egypt.’”

³³ So Moses said to Aaron, “Take a jar and put an omer of manna in it. Then place it before the Lord (YHWH) to be kept for the generations to come.”

³⁴ As the Lord (YHWH) commanded Moses, Aaron put the manna with the tablets of the covenant law, so that it might be preserved. ³⁵ The Israelites ate manna forty years, until they came to a land that was settled; they ate manna until they reached the border of Canaan.

³⁶ (An omer is one-tenth of an ephah.)

Water From the Rock

17 The whole Israelite community set out from the Desert of Sin, traveling from place to place as the Lord (YHWH) commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. ² So they quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.”

Moses replied, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the Lord (YHWH) to the test?”

³ But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. They said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?”

⁴ Then Moses cried out to the Lord (YHWH) , “What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me.”

⁵ The Lord (YHWH) answered Moses, “Go out in front of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. ⁶ I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. ⁷ And he called the place Massah^[a] and Meribah^[b] because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the Lord (YHWH) saying, “Is the Lord (YHWH) among us or not?”

The Amalekites Defeated

⁸ The Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim. ⁹ Moses said to Joshua, “Choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God (Elohim) in my hands.”

¹⁰ So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered, and Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill. ¹¹ As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. ¹² When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up—one on one side, one on the other—so that his hands remained steady till sunset. ¹³ So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword.

¹⁴ Then the Lord (YHWH) said to Moses, “Write this on a scroll as something to be remembered and make sure that Joshua hears it, because I will completely blot out the name of Amalek from under heaven.”

¹⁵ Moses built an altar and called it The Lord (YHWH) is my Banner. ¹⁶ He said, “Because hands were lifted up against^[c] the throne of the Lord (YHWH) ,^[d] the Lord (YHWH) will be at war against the Amalekites from generation to generation.”

Jethro Visits Moses

18 Now Jethro, the priest of Midian and father-in-law of Moses, heard of everything God (Elohim)   had done for Moses and for his people Israel, and how the Lord (YHWH) had brought Israel out of Egypt.

² After Moses had sent away his wife Zipporah, his father-in-law Jethro received her ³ and her two sons. One son was named Gershom,^[a] for Moses said, “I have become a foreigner in a foreign land”; ⁴ and the other was named Eliezer,^[b] for he said, “My father’s God (Elohim)   was my helper; he saved me from the sword of Pharaoh.”

⁵ Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, together with Moses’ sons and wife, came to him in the wilderness, where he was camped near the mountain of God (Elohim). ⁶ Jethro had sent word to him, “I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons.”

⁷ So Moses went out to meet his father-in-law and bowed down and kissed him. They greeted each other and then went into the tent. ⁸ Moses told his father-in-law about everything the Lord (YHWH) had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians for Israel’s sake and about all the hardships they had met along the way and how the Lord (YHWH) had saved them.

⁹ Jethro was delighted to hear about all the good things the Lord (YHWH) had done for Israel in rescuing them from the hand of the Egyptians. ¹⁰ He said, “Praise be to the Lord (YHWH) , who rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians and of Pharaoh, and who rescued the people from the hand of the Egyptians. ¹¹ Now I know that the Lord (YHWH) is greater than all other god’s (elohim), for he did this to those who had treated Israel arrogantly.” ¹² Then Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, brought a burnt offering and other sacrifices to God (Elohim), and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat a meal with Moses’ father-in-law in the presence of God (Elohim).

¹³ The next day Moses took his seat to serve as judge for the people, and they stood around him from morning till evening. ¹⁴ When his father-in-law saw all that Moses was doing for the people, he said, “What is this you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge, while all these people stand around you from morning till evening?”

¹⁵ Moses answered him, “Because the people come to me to seek God’s (Elohim) will. ¹⁶ Whenever they have a dispute, it is brought to me, and I decide between the parties and inform them of God ’s (Elohim) decrees and instructions.”

¹⁷ Moses’ father-in-law replied, “What you are doing is not good. ¹⁸ You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone. ¹⁹ Listen now to me and I will give you some advice, and may God (Elohim) be with you. You must be the people’s representative before God (Elohim) and bring their disputes to him. ²⁰ Teach them his decrees and instructions, and show them the way they are to live and how they are to behave. ²¹ But select capable men from all the people—men who fear God (Elohim), trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain—and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. ²² Have them serve as judges for the people at all times, but have them bring every difficult case to you; the simple cases they can decide themselves. That will make your load lighter, because they will share it with you. ²³ If you do this and God (Elohim) so commands, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied.”

²⁴ Moses listened to his father-in-law and did everything he said. ²⁵ He chose capable men from all Israel and made them leaders of the people, officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. ²⁶ They served as judges for the people at all times. The difficult cases they brought to Moses, but the simple ones they decided themselves.

²⁷ Then Moses sent his father-in-law on his way, and Jethro returned to his own country.

At Mount Sinai

19 On the first day of the third month after the Israelites left Egypt—on that very day—they came to the Desert of Sinai. ² After they set out from Rephidim, they entered the Desert of Sinai, and Israel camped there in the desert in front of the mountain.

³ Then Moses went up to God (Elohim)  , and the Lord (YHWH) called to him from the mountain and said, “This is what you are to say to the descendants of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel: ⁴ ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. ⁵ Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, ⁶ you^[a] will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy (set-apart) nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.”

⁷ So Moses went back and summoned the elders of the people and set before them all the words the Lord (YHWH) had commanded him to speak. ⁸ The people all responded together, “We will do everything the Lord (YHWH) has said.” So Moses brought their answer back to the Lord (YHWH) .

⁹ The Lord (YHWH) said to Moses, “I am going to come to you in a dense cloud, so that the people will hear me speaking with you and will always put their trust in you.” Then Moses told the Lord (YHWH) what the people had said.

¹⁰ And the Lord (YHWH) said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. Have them wash their clothes ¹¹ and be ready by the third day, because on that day the Lord (YHWH) will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. ¹² Put limits for the people around the mountain and tell them, ‘Be careful that you do not approach the mountain or touch the foot of it. Whoever touches the mountain is to be put to death. ¹³ They are to be stoned or shot with arrows; not a hand is to be laid on them. No person or animal shall be permitted to live.’ Only when the ram’s horn sounds a long blast may they approach the mountain.”

¹⁴ After Moses had gone down the mountain to the people, he consecrated them, and they washed their clothes. ¹⁵ Then he said to the people, “Prepare yourselves for the third day. Abstain from sexual relations.”

¹⁶ On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled. ¹⁷ Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God (Elohim), and they stood at the foot of the mountain. ¹⁸ Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord (YHWH) descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain^[b] trembled violently. ¹⁹ As the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and the voice of God (Elohim) answered him.^[c]

²⁰ The Lord (YHWH) descended to the top of Mount Sinai and called Moses to the top of the mountain. So Moses went up ²¹ and the Lord (YHWH) said to him, “Go down and warn the people so they do not force their way through to see the Lord (YHWH) and many of them perish. ²² Even the priests, who approach the Lord (YHWH) , must consecrate themselves, or the Lord (YHWH) will break out against them.”

²³ Moses said to the Lord (YHWH) , “The people cannot come up Mount Sinai, because you yourself warned us, ‘Put limits around the mountain and set it apart as holy (set-apart).’”

²⁴ The Lord (YHWH) replied, “Go down and bring Aaron up with you. But the priests and the people must not force their way through to come up to the Lord (YHWH) , or he will break out against them.”

²⁵ So Moses went down to the people and told them.

The Ten Commandments

20 And God (Elohim) spoke all these words:

² “I am the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) , who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

³ “You shall have no other god’s (elohim) before^[a] me.

⁴ “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. ⁵ You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim), am a jealous God (Elohim), punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, ⁶ but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.

⁷ “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim), for the Lord (YHWH) will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.

⁸ “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy (set-apart). ⁹ Six days you shall labor and do all your work, ¹⁰ but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim). On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. ¹¹ For in six days the Lord (YHWH) made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord (YHWH) blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy (set-apart).

¹² “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim)   is giving you.

¹³ “You shall not murder.

¹⁴ “You shall not commit adultery.

¹⁵ “You shall not steal.

¹⁶ “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

¹⁷ “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

¹⁸ When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance ¹⁹ and said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God (Elohim) speak to us or we will die.”

²⁰ Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. God (Elohim) has come to test you, so that the fear of God (Elohim) will be with you to keep you from sinning.”

²¹ The people remained at a distance, while Moses approached the thick darkness where God (Elohim) was.

Idols and Altars

²² Then the Lord (YHWH) said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites this: ‘You have seen for yourselves that I have spoken to you from heaven: ²³ Do not make any God’s (elohim)   to be alongside me; do not make for yourselves God’s (elohim) of silver or God’s (elohim) of gold.

²⁴ “‘Make an altar of earth for me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, your sheep and goats and your cattle. Wherever I cause my name to be honored, I will come to you and bless you. ²⁵ If you make an altar of stones for me, do not build it with dressed stones, for you will defile it if you use a tool on it. ²⁶ And do not go up to my altar on steps, or your private parts may be exposed.’

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Note: In addition to the commandments and laws that YHWH gives Moses to give to Israel on Mt. Sinai, Moses also speaks to Elohim on laws he believes Israel needs; Elohim agrees: YHshua tells us it was Moses who chose certain Torah laws (Mostly in Numbers and Deuteronomy), this to mediate salvation for a hard necked Israel.

Mathew 19 ⁷ “Why then,” they asked, “did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?”⁸ Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning.

PART 5  

Exodus 21 – 25:38

21 “These are the laws you are to set before them:

Hebrew Servants

² “If you buy a Hebrew servant, he is to serve you for six years. But in the seventh year, he shall go free, without paying anything. ³ If he comes alone, he is to go free alone; but if he has a wife when he comes, she is to go with him. ⁴ If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the woman and her children shall belong to her master, and only the man shall go free.

⁵ “But if the servant declares, ‘I love my master and my wife and children and do not want to go free,’ ⁶ then his master must take him before the judges.^[a] He shall take him to the door or the doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl. Then he will be his servant for life.

⁷ “If a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is not to go free as male servants do. ⁸ If she does not please the master who has selected her for himself,^[b] he must let her be redeemed. He has no right to sell her to foreigners, because he has broken faith with her. ⁹ If he selects her for his son, he must grant her the rights of a daughter. ¹⁰ If he marries another woman, he must not deprive the first one of her food, clothing and marital rights. ¹¹ If he does not provide her with these three things, she is to go free, without any payment of money.

Personal Injuries

¹² “Anyone who strikes a person with a fatal blow is to be put to death. ¹³ However, if it is not done intentionally, but God (Elohim) lets it happen, they are to flee to a place I will designate. ¹⁴ But if anyone schemes and kills someone deliberately, that person is to be taken from my altar and put to death.

¹⁵ “Anyone who attacks^[c] their father or mother is to be put to death.

¹⁶ “Anyone who kidnaps someone is to be put to death, whether the victim has been sold or is still in the kidnapper’s possession.

¹⁷ “Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.

¹⁸ “If people quarrel and one person hits another with a stone or with their fist^[d] and the victim does not die but is confined to bed, ¹⁹ the one who struck the blow will not be held liable if the other can get up and walk around outside with a staff; however, the guilty party must pay the injured person for any loss of time and see that the victim is completely healed.

²⁰ “Anyone who beats their male or female slave with a rod must be punished if the slave dies as a direct result, ²¹ but they are not to be punished if the slave recovers after a day or two, since the slave is their property.

²² “If people are fighting and hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely^[e] but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the woman’s husband demands and the court allows. ²³ But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life, ²⁴ eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, ²⁵ burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.

²⁶ “An owner who hits a male or female slave in the eye and destroys it must let the slave go free to compensate for the eye. ²⁷ And an owner who knocks out the tooth of a male or female slave must let the slave go free to compensate for the tooth.

²⁸ “If a bull gores a man or woman to death, the bull is to be stoned to death, and its meat must not be eaten. But the owner of the bull will not be held responsible. ²⁹ If, however, the bull has had the habit of goring and the owner has been warned but has not kept it penned up and it kills a man or woman, the bull is to be stoned and its owner also is to be put to death. ³⁰ However, if payment is demanded, the owner may redeem his life by the payment of whatever is demanded. ³¹ This law also applies if the bull gores a son or daughter. ³² If the bull gores a male or female slave, the owner must pay thirty shekels^[f] of silver to the master of the slave, and the bull is to be stoned to death.

³³ “If anyone uncovers a pit or digs one and fails to cover it and an ox or a donkey falls into it, ³⁴ the one who opened the pit must pay the owner for the loss and take the dead animal in exchange.

³⁵ “If anyone’s bull injures someone else’s bull and it dies, the two parties are to sell the live one and divide both the money and the dead animal equally. ³⁶ However, if it was known that the bull had the habit of goring, yet the owner did not keep it penned up, the owner must pay, animal for animal, and take the dead animal in exchange.

Protection of Property

22 ^[a]“Whoever steals an ox or a sheep and slaughters it or sells it must pay back five head of cattle for the ox and four sheep for the sheep.

² “If a thief is caught breaking in at night and is struck a fatal blow, the defender is not guilty of bloodshed; ³ but if it happens after sunrise, the defender is guilty of bloodshed.

“Anyone who steals must certainly make restitution, but if they have nothing, they must be sold to pay for their theft. ⁴ If the stolen animal is found alive in their possession—whether ox or donkey or sheep—they must pay back double.

⁵ “If anyone grazes their livestock in a field or vineyard and lets them stray and they graze in someone else’s field, the offender must make restitution from the best of their own field or vineyard.

⁶ “If a fire breaks out and spreads into thornbushes so that it burns shocks of grain or standing grain or the whole field, the one who started the fire must make restitution.

⁷ “If anyone gives a neighbor silver or goods for safekeeping and they are stolen from the neighbor’s house, the thief, if caught, must pay back double. ⁸ But if the thief is not found, the owner of the house must appear before the judges, and they must^[b] determine whether the owner of the house has laid hands on the other person’s property. ⁹ In all cases of illegal possession of an ox, a donkey, a sheep, a garment, or any other lost property about which somebody says, ‘This is mine,’ both parties are to bring their cases before the judges.^[c] The one whom the judges declare^[d] guilty must pay back double to the other.

¹⁰ “If anyone gives a donkey, an ox, a sheep or any other animal to their neighbor for safekeeping and it dies or is injured or is taken away while no one is looking, ¹¹ the issue between them will be settled by the taking of an oath before the Lord (YHWH) that the neighbor did not lay hands on the other person’s property. The owner is to accept this, and no restitution is required. ¹² But if the animal was stolen from the neighbor, restitution must be made to the owner. ¹³ If it was torn to pieces by a wild animal, the neighbor shall bring in the remains as evidence and shall not be required to pay for the torn animal.

¹⁴ “If anyone borrows an animal from their neighbor and it is injured or dies while the owner is not present, they must make restitution. ¹⁵ But if the owner is with the animal, the borrower will not have to pay. If the animal was hired, the money paid for the hire covers the loss.

Social Responsibility

¹⁶ “If a man seduces a virgin who is not pledged to be married and sleeps with her, he must pay the bride-price, and she shall be his wife. ¹⁷ If her father absolutely refuses to give her to him, he must still pay the bride-price for virgins.

¹⁸ “Do not allow a sorceress to live.

¹⁹ “Anyone who has sexual relations with an animal is to be put to death.

²⁰ “Whoever sacrifices to any god (elohim) other than the Lord (YHWH) must be destroyed.^[e]

²¹ “Do not mistreat or oppress a foreigner, for you were foreigners in Egypt.

²² “Do not take advantage of the widow or the fatherless. ²³ If you do and they cry out to me, I will certainly hear their cry. ²⁴ My anger will be aroused, and I will kill you with the sword; your wives will become widows and your children fatherless.

²⁵ “If you lend money to one of my people among you who is needy, do not treat it like a business deal; charge no interest. ²⁶ If you take your neighbor’s cloak as a pledge, return it by sunset, ²⁷ because that cloak is the only covering your neighbor has. What else can they sleep in? When they cry out to me, I will hear, for I am compassionate.

²⁸ “Do not blaspheme God (Elohim) ^[f] or curse the ruler of your people.

²⁹ “Do not hold back offerings from your granaries or your vats.^[g]

“You must give me the firstborn of your sons. ³⁰ Do the same with your cattle and your sheep. Let them stay with their mothers for seven days, but give them to me on the eighth day.

³¹ “You are to be my holy (set-apart) people. So do not eat the meat of an animal torn by wild beasts; throw it to the dogs.

Laws of Justice and Mercy

23 “Do not spread false reports. Do not help a guilty person by being a malicious witness.

² “Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong. When you give testimony in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd, ³ and do not show favoritism to a poor person in a lawsuit.

⁴ “If you come across your enemy’s ox or donkey wandering off, be sure to return it. ⁵ If you see the donkey of someone who hates you fallen down under its load, do not leave it there; be sure you help them with it.

⁶ “Do not deny justice to your poor people in their lawsuits. ⁷ Have nothing to do with a false charge and do not put an innocent or honest person to death, for I will not acquit the guilty.

⁸ “Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds those who see and twists the words of the innocent.

⁹ “Do not oppress a foreigner; you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners, because you were foreigners in Egypt.

Sabbath Laws

¹⁰ “For six years you are to sow your fields and harvest the crops, ¹¹ but during the seventh year let the land lie unplowed and unused. Then the poor among your people may get food from it, and the wild animals may eat what is left. Do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove.

¹² “Six days do your work, but on the seventh day do not work, so that your ox and your donkey may rest, and so that the slave born in your household and the foreigner living among you may be refreshed.

¹³ “Be careful to do everything I have said to you. Do not invoke the names of other God’s (elohim); do not let them be heard on your lips.

The Three Annual Festivals

¹⁴ “Three times a year you are to celebrate a festival to me.

¹⁵ “Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread; for seven days eat bread made without yeast, as I commanded you. Do this at the appointed time in the month of Aviv, for in that month you came out of Egypt.

“No one is to appear before me empty-handed.

¹⁶ “Celebrate the Festival of Harvest with the firstfruits of the crops you sow in your field.

“Celebrate the Festival of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in your crops from the field.

¹⁷ “Three times a year all the men are to appear before the Sovereign Lord (YHWH) .

¹⁸ “Do not offer the blood of a sacrifice to me along with anything containing yeast.

“The fat of my festival offerings must not be kept until morning.

¹⁹ “Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim).

“Do not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.

God ’s (Elohim) Angel to Prepare the Way

²⁰ “See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared. ²¹ Pay attention to him and listen to what he says. Do not rebel against him; he will not forgive your rebellion, since my Name is in him. ²² If you listen carefully to what he says and do all that I say, I will be an enemy to your enemies and will oppose those who oppose you. ²³ My angel will go ahead of you and bring you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites and Jebusites, and I will wipe them out. ²⁴ Do not bow down before their God’s (elohim) or worship them or follow their practices. You must demolish them and break their sacred stones to pieces. ²⁵ Worship the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim), and his blessing will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from among you, ²⁶ and none will miscarry or be barren in your land. I will give you a full life span.

²⁷ “I will send my terror ahead of you and throw into confusion every nation you encounter. I will make all your enemies turn their backs and run. ²⁸ I will send the hornet ahead of you to drive the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites out of your way. ²⁹ But I will not drive them out in a single year, because the land would become desolate and the wild animals too numerous for you. ³⁰ Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land.

³¹ “I will establish your borders from the Red Sea^[a] to the Mediterranean Sea,^[b] and from the desert to the Euphrates River. I will give into your hands the people who live in the land, and you will drive them out before you. ³² Do not make a covenant with them or with their God’s (elohim). ³³ Do not let them live in your land or they will cause you to sin against me, because the worship of their God’s (elohim) will certainly be a snare to you.”

The (continued) Covenant Confirmed

24 Then the Lord (YHWH) said to Moses, “Come up to the Lord (YHWH), you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel. You are to worship at a distance, ² but Moses alone is to approach the Lord (YHWH); the others must not come near. And the people may not come up with him.”

³ When Moses went and told the people all the Lord’s (YHWH’s) words and laws, they responded with one voice, “Everything the Lord (YHWH) has said we will do.” ⁴ Moses then wrote down everything the Lord (YHWH) had said.

He got up early the next morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain and set up twelve stone pillars representing the twelve tribes of Israel. ⁵ Then he sent young Israelite men, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as fellowship offerings to the Lord (YHWH) . ⁶ Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and the other half he splashed against the altar. ⁷ Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. They responded, “We will do everything the Lord (YHWH) has said; we will obey.”

⁸ Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, “This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord (YHWH) has made with you in accordance with all these words.”

⁹ Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up ¹⁰ and saw the God (Elohim) of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement made of lapis lazuli, as bright blue as the sky. ¹¹ But God (Elohim) did not raise his hand against these leaders of the Israelites; they saw God (Elohim), and they ate and drank.

¹² The Lord (YHWH) said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and stay here, and I will give you the tablets of stone with the law and commandments I have written for their instruction.”

¹³ Then Moses set out with Joshua his aide, and Moses went up on the mountain of God (Elohim). ¹⁴ He said to the elders, “Wait here for us until we come back to you. Aaron and Hur are with you, and anyone involved in a dispute can go to them.”

¹⁵ When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it, ¹⁶ and the glory of the Lord (YHWH) settled on Mount Sinai. For six days the cloud covered the mountain, and on the seventh day the Lord (YHWH) called to Moses from within the cloud. ¹⁷ To the Israelites the glory of the Lord (YHWH) looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain. ¹⁸ Then Moses entered the cloud as he went on up the mountain. And he stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

Offerings for the Tabernacle

25 The Lord (YHWH) said to Moses, ² “Tell the Israelites to bring me an offering. You are to receive the offering for me from everyone whose heart prompts them to give. ³ These are the offerings you are to receive from them: gold, silver and bronze; ⁴ blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen; goat hair; ⁵ ram skins dyed red and another type of durable leather^[a]; acacia wood; ⁶ olive oil for the light; spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense; ⁷ and onyx stones and other gems to be mounted on the ephod and breastpiece.

⁸ “Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them. ⁹ Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you.

The Ark

¹⁰ “Have them make an ark^[b] of acacia wood—two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high.^{[c] 11} Overlay it with pure gold, both inside and out, and make a gold molding around it. ¹² Cast four gold rings for it and fasten them to its four feet, with two rings on one side and two rings on the other. ¹³ Then make poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. ¹⁴ Insert the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark to carry it. ¹⁵ The poles are to remain in the rings of this ark; they are not to be removed. ¹⁶ Then put in the ark the tablets of the covenant law, which I will give you.

¹⁷ “Make an atonement cover of pure gold—two and a half cubits long and a cubit and a half wide. ¹⁸ And make two cherubim out of hammered gold at the ends of the cover. ¹⁹ Make one cherub on one end and the second cherub on the other; make the cherubim of one piece with the cover, at the two ends. ²⁰ The cherubim are to have their wings spread upward, overshadowing the cover with them. The cherubim are to face each other, looking toward the cover. ²¹ Place the cover on top of the ark and put in the ark the tablets of the covenant law that I will give you. ²² There, above the cover between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the covenant law, I will meet with you and give you all my commands for the Israelites.

The Table

²³ “Make a table of acacia wood—two cubits long, a cubit wide and a cubit and a half high.^{[d] 24} Overlay it with pure gold and make a gold molding around it. ²⁵ Also make around it a rim a handbreadth^[e] wide and put a gold molding on the rim. ²⁶ Make four gold rings for the table and fasten them to the four corners, where the four legs are. ²⁷ The rings are to be close to the rim to hold the poles used in carrying the table. ²⁸ Make the poles of acacia wood, overlay them with gold and carry the table with them. ²⁹ And make its plates and dishes of pure gold, as well as its pitchers and bowls for the pouring out of offerings. ³⁰ Put the bread of the Presence on this table to be before me at all times.

The Lampstand

³¹ “Make a lampstand of pure gold. Hammer out its base and shaft, and make its flowerlike cups, buds and blossoms of one piece with them. ³² Six branches are to extend from the sides of the lampstand—three on one side and three on the other. ³³ Three cups shaped like almond flowers with buds and blossoms are to be on one branch, three on the next branch, and the same for all six branches extending from the lampstand. ³⁴ And on the lampstand there are to be four cups shaped like almond flowers with buds and blossoms. ³⁵ One bud shall be under the first pair of branches extending from the lampstand, a second bud under the second pair, and a third bud under the third pair—six branches in all. ³⁶ The buds and branches shall all be of one piece with the lampstand, hammered out of pure gold.

³⁷ “Then make its seven lamps and set them up on it so that they light the space in front of it. ³⁸ Its wick trimmers and trays are to be of pure gold. ³⁹ A talent^[f] of pure gold is to be used for the lampstand and all these accessories. ⁴⁰ See that you make them according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.

______________________________________________________________________________

PART 6

Exodus 26 – 30:38

The Tabernacle

26 “Make the tabernacle with ten curtains of finely twisted linen and blue, purple and scarlet yarn, with cherubim woven into them by a skilled worker. ² All the curtains are to be the same size—twenty-eight cubits long and four cubits wide.^{[a] 3} Join five of the curtains together, and do the same with the other five. ⁴ Make loops of blue material along the edge of the end curtain in one set, and do the same with the end curtain in the other set. ⁵ Make fifty loops on one curtain and fifty loops on the end curtain of the other set, with the loops opposite each other. ⁶ Then make fifty gold clasps and use them to fasten the curtains together so that the tabernacle is a unit.

⁷ “Make curtains of goat hair for the tent over the tabernacle—eleven altogether. ⁸ All eleven curtains are to be the same size—thirty cubits long and four cubits wide.^{[b] 9} Join five of the curtains together into one set and the other six into another set. Fold the sixth curtain double at the front of the tent. ¹⁰ Make fifty loops along the edge of the end curtain in one set and also along the edge of the end curtain in the other set. ¹¹ Then make fifty bronze clasps and put them in the loops to fasten the tent together as a unit. ¹² As for the additional length of the tent curtains, the half curtain that is left over is to hang down at the rear of the tabernacle. ¹³ The tent curtains will be a cubit^[c] longer on both sides; what is left will hang over the sides of the tabernacle so as to cover it. ¹⁴ Make for the tent a covering of ram skins dyed red, and over that a covering of the other durable leather.^[d]

¹⁵ “Make upright frames of acacia wood for the tabernacle. ¹⁶ Each frame is to be ten cubits long and a cubit and a half wide,^{[e] 17} with two projections set parallel to each other. Make all the frames of the tabernacle in this way. ¹⁸ Make twenty frames for the south side of the tabernacle ¹⁹ and make forty silver bases to go under them—two bases for each frame, one under each projection. ²⁰ For the other side, the north side of the tabernacle, make twenty frames ²¹ and forty silver bases—two under each frame. ²² Make six frames for the far end, that is, the west end of the tabernacle, ²³ and make two frames for the corners at the far end. ²⁴ At these two corners they must be double from the bottom all the way to the top and fitted into a single ring; both shall be like that. ²⁵ So there will be eight frames and sixteen silver bases—two under each frame.

²⁶ “Also make crossbars of acacia wood: five for the frames on one side of the tabernacle, ²⁷ five for those on the other side, and five for the frames on the west, at the far end of the tabernacle. ²⁸ The center crossbar is to extend from end to end at the middle of the frames. ²⁹ Overlay the frames with gold and make gold rings to hold the crossbars. Also overlay the crossbars with gold.

³⁰ “Set up the tabernacle according to the
plan shown you on the mountain.

³¹ “Make a curtain of blue, purple and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen, with cherubim woven into it by a skilled worker. ³² Hang it with gold hooks on four posts of acacia wood overlaid with gold and standing on four silver bases. ³³ Hang the curtain from the clasps and place the ark of the covenant law behind the curtain. The curtain will separate the holy (set-apart) Place from the Most holy (set-apart) Place. ³⁴ Put the atonement cover on the ark of the covenant law in the Most holy (set-apart) Place. ³⁵ Place the table outside the curtain on the north side of the tabernacle and put the lampstand opposite it on the south side.

³⁶ “For the entrance to the tent make a curtain of blue, purple and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen—the work of an embroiderer. ³⁷ Make gold hooks for this curtain and five posts of acacia wood overlaid with gold. And cast five bronze bases for them.

The Altar of Burnt Offering

27 “Build an altar of acacia wood, three cubits^[a] high; it is to be square, five cubits long and five cubits wide.^{[b] 2} Make a horn at each of the four corners, so that the horns and the altar are of one piece, and overlay the altar with bronze. ³ Make all its utensils of bronze—its pots to remove the ashes, and its shovels, sprinkling bowls, meat forks and firepans. ⁴ Make a grating for it, a bronze network, and make a bronze ring at each of the four corners of the network. ⁵ Put it under the ledge of the altar so that it is halfway up the altar. ⁶ Make poles of acacia wood for the altar and overlay them with bronze. ⁷ The poles are to be inserted into the rings so they will be on two sides of the altar when it is carried. ⁸ Make the altar hollow, out of boards. It is to be made just as you were shown on the mountain.

The Courtyard

⁹ “Make a courtyard for the tabernacle. The south side shall be a hundred cubits^[c] long and is to have curtains of finely twisted linen, ¹⁰ with twenty posts and twenty bronze bases and with silver hooks and bands on the posts. ¹¹ The north side shall also be a hundred cubits long and is to have curtains, with twenty posts and twenty bronze bases and with silver hooks and bands on the posts.

¹² “The west end of the courtyard shall be fifty cubits^[d] wide and have curtains, with ten posts and ten bases. ¹³ On the east end, toward the sunrise, the courtyard shall also be fifty cubits wide. ¹⁴ Curtains fifteen cubits^[e] long are to be on one side of the entrance, with three posts and three bases, ¹⁵ and curtains fifteen cubits long are to be on the other side, with three posts and three bases.

¹⁶ “For the entrance to the courtyard, provide a curtain twenty cubits^[f] long, of blue, purple and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen—the work of an embroiderer—with four posts and four bases. ¹⁷ All the posts around the courtyard are to have silver bands and hooks, and bronze bases. ¹⁸ The courtyard shall be a hundred cubits long and fifty cubits wide,^[g] with curtains of finely twisted linen five cubits^[h] high, and with bronze bases. ¹⁹ All the other articles used in the service of the tabernacle, whatever their function, including all the tent pegs for it and those for the courtyard, are to be of bronze.

Oil for the Lampstand

²⁰ “Command the Israelites to bring you clear oil of pressed olives for the light so that the lamps may be kept burning. ²¹ In the tent of meeting, outside the curtain that shields the ark of the covenant law, Aaron and his sons are to keep the lamps burning before the Lord (YHWH) from evening till morning. This is to be a lasting ordinance among the Israelites for the generations to come.

The Priestly Garments

28 “Have Aaron your brother brought to you from among the Israelites, along with his sons Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, so they may serve me as priests. ² Make sacred garments for your brother Aaron to give him dignity and honor. ³ Tell all the skilled workers to whom I have given wisdom in such matters that they are to make garments for Aaron, for his consecration, so he may serve me as priest. ⁴ These are the garments they are to make: a breastpiece, an ephod, a robe, a woven tunic, a turban and a sash. They are to make these sacred garments for your brother Aaron and his sons, so they may serve me as priests. ⁵ Have them use gold, and blue, purple and scarlet yarn, and fine linen.

The Ephod

⁶ “Make the ephod of gold, and of blue, purple and scarlet yarn, and of finely twisted linen—the work of skilled hands. ⁷ It is to have two shoulder pieces attached to two of its corners, so it can be fastened. ⁸ Its skillfully woven waistband is to be like it—of one piece with the ephod and made with gold, and with blue, purple and scarlet yarn, and with finely twisted linen.

⁹ “Take two onyx stones and engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel ¹⁰ in the order of their birth—six names on one stone and the remaining six on the other. ¹¹ Engrave the names of the sons of Israel on the two stones the way a gem cutter engraves a seal. Then mount the stones in gold filigree settings ¹² and fasten them on the shoulder pieces of the ephod as memorial stones for the sons of Israel. Aaron is to bear the names on his shoulders as a memorial before the Lord (YHWH) . ¹³ Make gold filigree settings ¹⁴ and two braided chains of pure gold, like a rope, and attach the chains to the settings.

The Breastpiece

¹⁵ “Fashion a breastpiece for making decisions—the work of skilled hands. Make it like the ephod: of gold, and of blue, purple and scarlet yarn, and of finely twisted linen. ¹⁶ It is to be square—a span^[a] long and a span wide—and folded double. ¹⁷ Then mount four rows of precious stones on it. The first row shall be carnelian, chrysolite and beryl; ¹⁸ the second row shall be turquoise, lapis lazuli and emerald; ¹⁹ the third row shall be jacinth, agate and amethyst; ²⁰ the fourth row shall be topaz, onyx and jasper.^[b] Mount them in gold filigree settings. ²¹ There are to be twelve stones, one for each of the names of the sons of Israel, each engraved like a seal with the name of one of the twelve tribes.

²² “For the breastpiece make braided chains of pure gold, like a rope. ²³ Make two gold rings for it and fasten them to two corners of the breastpiece. ²⁴ Fasten the two gold chains to the rings at the corners of the breastpiece, ²⁵ and the other ends of the chains to the two settings, attaching them to the shoulder pieces of the ephod at the front. ²⁶ Make two gold rings and attach them to the other two corners of the breastpiece on the inside edge next to the ephod. ²⁷ Make two more gold rings and attach them to the bottom of the shoulder pieces on the front of the ephod, close to the seam just above the waistband of the ephod. ²⁸ The rings of the breastpiece are to be tied to the rings of the ephod with blue cord, connecting it to the waistband, so that the breastpiece will not swing out from the ephod.

²⁹ “Whenever Aaron enters the holy (set-apart) Place, he will bear the names of the sons of Israel over his heart on the breastpiece of decision as a continuing memorial before the Lord (YHWH) . ³⁰ Also put the Urim and the Thummim in the breastpiece, so they may be over Aaron’s heart whenever he enters the presence of the Lord (YHWH) . Thus Aaron will always bear the means of making decisions for the Israelites over his heart before the Lord (YHWH) .

Other Priestly Garments

³¹ “Make the robe of the ephod entirely of blue cloth, ³² with an opening for the head in its center. There shall be a woven edge like a collar^[c] around this opening, so that it will not tear. ³³ Make pomegranates of blue, purple and scarlet yarn around the hem of the robe, with gold bells between them. ³⁴ The gold bells and the pomegranates are to alternate around the hem of the robe. ³⁵ Aaron must wear it when he ministers. The sound of the bells will be heard when he enters the holy (set-apart) Place before the Lord (YHWH) and when he comes out, so that he will not die.

³⁶ “Make a plate of pure gold and engrave on it as on a seal: holy (set-apart) to the Lord (YHWH) . ³⁷ Fasten a blue cord to it to attach it to the turban; it is to be on the front of the turban. ³⁸ It will be on Aaron’s forehead, and he will bear the guilt involved in the sacred gifts the Israelites consecrate, whatever their gifts may be. It will be on Aaron’s forehead continually so that they will be acceptable to the Lord (YHWH) .

³⁹ “Weave the tunic of fine linen and make the turban of fine linen. The sash is to be the work of an embroiderer. ⁴⁰ Make tunics, sashes and caps for Aaron’s sons to give them dignity and honor. ⁴¹ After you put these clothes on your brother Aaron and his sons, anoint and ordain them. Consecrate them so they may serve me as priests.

⁴² “Make linen undergarments as a covering for the body, reaching from the waist to the thigh. ⁴³ Aaron and his sons must wear them whenever they enter the tent of meeting or approach the altar to minister in the holy (set-apart) Place, so that they will not incur guilt and die.

“This is to be a lasting ordinance for Aaron and his descendants.

Consecration of the Priests

29 “This is what you are to do to consecrate them, so they may serve me as priests: Take a young bull and two rams without defect. ² And from the finest wheat flour make round loaves without yeast, thick loaves without yeast and with olive oil mixed in, and thin loaves without yeast and brushed with olive oil. ³ Put them in a basket and present them along with the bull and the two rams. ⁴ Then bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance to the tent of meeting and wash them with water. ⁵ Take the garments and dress Aaron with the tunic, the robe of the ephod, the ephod itself and the breastpiece. Fasten the ephod on him by its skillfully woven waistband. ⁶ Put the turban on his head and attach the sacred emblem to the turban. ⁷ Take the anointing oil and anoint him by pouring it on his head. ⁸ Bring his sons and dress them in tunics ⁹ and fasten caps on them. Then tie sashes on Aaron and his sons.^[a] The priesthood is theirs by a lasting ordinance.

“Then you shall ordain Aaron and his sons.

¹⁰ “Bring the bull to the front of the tent of meeting, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on its head. ¹¹ Slaughter it in the Lord’s (YHWH’s)  presence at the entrance to the tent of meeting. ¹² Take some of the bull’s blood and put it on the horns of the altar with your finger, and pour out the rest of it at the base of the altar. ¹³ Then take all the fat on the internal organs, the long lobe of the liver, and both kidneys with the fat on them, and burn them on the altar. ¹⁴ But burn the bull’s flesh and its hide and its intestines outside the camp. It is a sin offering.^[b]

¹⁵ “Take one of the rams, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on its head. ¹⁶ Slaughter it and take the blood and splash it against the sides of the altar. ¹⁷ Cut the ram into pieces and wash the internal organs and the legs, putting them with the head and the other pieces. ¹⁸ Then burn the entire ram on the altar. It is a burnt offering to the Lord (YHWH) , a pleasing aroma, a food offering presented to the Lord (YHWH) .

¹⁹ “Take the other ram, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on its head. ²⁰ Slaughter it, take some of its blood and put it on the lobes of the right ears of Aaron and his sons, on the thumbs of their right hands, and on the big toes of their right feet. Then splash blood against the sides of the altar. ²¹ And take some blood from the altar and some of the anointing oil and sprinkle it on Aaron and his garments and on his sons and their garments. Then he and his sons and their garments will be consecrated.

²² “Take from this ram the fat, the fat tail, the fat on the internal organs, the long lobe of the liver, both kidneys with the fat on them, and the right thigh. (This is the ram for the ordination.) ²³ From the basket of bread made without yeast, which is before the Lord (YHWH) , take one round loaf, one thick loaf with olive oil mixed in, and one thin loaf. ²⁴ Put all these in the hands of Aaron and his sons and have them wave them before the Lord (YHWH) as a wave offering. ²⁵ Then take them from their hands and burn them on the altar along with the burnt offering for a pleasing aroma to the Lord (YHWH) , a food offering presented to the Lord (YHWH) . ²⁶ After you take the breast of the ram for Aaron’s ordination, wave it before the Lord (YHWH) as a wave offering, and it will be your share.

²⁷ “Consecrate those parts of the ordination ram that belong to Aaron and his sons: the breast that was waved and the thigh that was presented. ²⁸ This is always to be the perpetual share from the Israelites for Aaron and his sons. It is the contribution the Israelites are to make to the Lord (YHWH) from their fellowship offerings.

²⁹ “Aaron’s sacred garments will belong to his descendants so that they can be anointed and ordained in them. ³⁰ The son who succeeds him as priest and comes to the tent of meeting to minister in the Holy (Set-apart) Place is to wear them seven days.

³¹ “Take the ram for the ordination and cook the meat in a sacred place. ³² At the entrance to the tent of meeting, Aaron and his sons are to eat the meat of the ram and the bread that is in the basket. ³³ They are to eat these offerings by which atonement was made for their ordination and consecration. But no one else may eat them, because they are sacred. ³⁴ And if any of the meat of the ordination ram or any bread is left over till morning, burn it up. It must not be eaten, because it is sacred.

³⁵ “Do for Aaron and his sons everything I have commanded you, taking seven days to ordain them. ³⁶ Sacrifice a bull each day as a sin offering to make atonement. Purify the altar by making atonement for it, and anoint it to consecrate it. ³⁷ For seven days make atonement for the altar and consecrate it. Then the altar will be most holy (set-apart), and whatever touches it will be holy (set-apart).

³⁸ “This is what you are to offer on the altar regularly each day: two lambs a year old. ³⁹ Offer one in the morning and the other at twilight. ⁴⁰ With the first lamb offer a tenth of an ephah^[c] of the finest flour mixed with a quarter of a hin^[d] of oil from pressed olives, and a quarter of a hin of wine as a drink offering. ⁴¹ Sacrifice the other lamb at twilight with the same grain offering and its drink offering as in the morning—a pleasing aroma, a food offering presented to the Lord (YHWH) .

⁴² “For the generations to come this burnt offering is to be made regularly at the entrance to the tent of meeting, before the Lord (YHWH). There I will meet you and speak to you; ⁴³ there also I will meet with the Israelites, and the place will be consecrated by my glory.

⁴⁴ “So I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar and will consecrate Aaron and his sons to serve me as priests. ⁴⁵ Then I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God (Elohim). ⁴⁶ They will know that I am the Lord (YHWH) their God (Elohim), who brought them out of Egypt so that I might dwell among them. I am the Lord (YHWH) their God (Elohim).

The Altar of Incense

30 “Make an altar of acacia wood for burning incense. ² It is to be square, a cubit long and a cubit wide, and two cubits high^[a]—its horns of one piece with it. ³ Overlay the top and all the sides and the horns with pure gold, and make a gold molding around it. ⁴ Make two gold rings for the altar below the molding—two on each of the opposite sides—to hold the poles used to carry it. ⁵ Make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. ⁶ Put the altar in front of the curtain that shields the ark of the covenant law—before the atonement cover that is over the tablets of the covenant law—where I will meet with you.

⁷ “Aaron must burn fragrant incense on the altar every morning when he tends the lamps. ⁸ He must burn incense again when he lights the lamps at twilight so incense will burn regularly before the Lord (YHWH) for the generations to come. ⁹ Do not offer on this altar any other incense or any burnt offering or grain offering, and do not pour a drink offering on it. ¹⁰ Once a year Aaron shall make atonement on its horns. This annual atonement must be made with the blood of the atoning sin offering^[b] for the generations to come. It is most holy (set-apart) to the Lord (YHWH).”

Atonement Money

¹¹ Then the Lord (YHWH) said to Moses, ¹² “When you take a census of the Israelites to count them, each one must pay the Lord (YHWH) a ransom for his life at the time he is counted. Then no plague will come on them when you number them. ¹³ Each one who crosses over to those already counted is to give a half shekel,^[c] according to the sanctuary shekel, which weighs twenty gerahs. This half shekel is an offering to the Lord (YHWH) . ¹⁴ All who cross over, those twenty years old or more, are to give an offering to the Lord (YHWH) . ¹⁵ The rich are not to give more than a half shekel and the poor are not to give less when you make the offering to the Lord (YHWH) to atone for your lives. ¹⁶ Receive the atonement money from the Israelites and use it for the service of the tent of meeting. It will be a memorial for the Israelites before the Lord (YHWH), making atonement for your lives.”

Basin for Washing

¹⁷ Then the Lord (YHWH) said to Moses, ¹⁸ “Make a bronze basin, with its bronze stand, for washing. Place it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and put water in it. ¹⁹ Aaron and his sons are to wash their hands and feet with water from it. ²⁰ Whenever they enter the tent of meeting, they shall wash with water so that they will not die. Also, when they approach the altar to minister by presenting a food offering to the Lord (YHWH) , ²¹ they shall wash their hands and feet so that they will not die. This is to be a lasting ordinance for Aaron and his descendants for the generations to come.”

Anointing Oil

²² Then the Lord (YHWH) said to Moses, ²³ “Take the following fine spices: 500 shekels^[d] of liquid myrrh, half as much (that is, 250 shekels) of fragrant cinnamon, 250 shekels^[e] of fragrant calamus, ²⁴ 500 shekels of cassia—all according to the sanctuary shekel—and a hin^[f] of olive oil. ²⁵ Make these into a sacred anointing oil, a fragrant blend, the work of a perfumer. It will be the sacred anointing oil. ²⁶ Then use it to anoint the tent of meeting, the ark of the covenant law, ²⁷ the table and all its articles, the lampstand and its accessories, the altar of incense, ²⁸ the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and the basin with its stand. ²⁹ You shall consecrate them so they will be most holy (set-apart), and whatever touches them will be holy (set-apart).

³⁰ “Anoint Aaron and his sons and consecrate them so they may serve me as priests. ³¹ Say to the Israelites, ‘This is to be my sacred anointing oil for the generations to come. ³² Do not pour it on anyone else’s body and do not make any other oil using the same formula. It is sacred, and you are to consider it sacred. ³³ Whoever makes perfume like it and puts it on anyone other than a priest must be cut off from their people.’”

Incense

³⁴ Then the Lord (YHWH) said to Moses, “Take fragrant spices—gum resin, onycha and galbanum—and pure frankincense, all in equal amounts, ³⁵ and make a fragrant blend of incense, the work of a perfumer. It is to be salted and pure and sacred. ³⁶ Grind some of it to powder and place it in front of the ark of the covenant law in the tent of meeting, where I will meet with you. It shall be most holy (set-apart) to you. ³⁷ Do not make any incense with this formula for yourselves; consider it holy (set-apart) to the Lord (YHWH) . ³⁸ Whoever makes incense like it to enjoy its fragrance must be cut off from their people.”

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PART 7

Exodus 31 – 35:30

Bezalel and Oholiab

31 Then the Lord (YHWH) said to Moses, ² “See, I have chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, ³ and I have filled him with the spirit (Manifestation) of God (Elohim), with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills— ⁴ to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, ⁵ to cut and set stones, to work in wood, and to engage in all kinds of crafts. ⁶ Moreover, I have appointed Oholiab son of Ahisamak, of the tribe of Dan, to help him. Also I have given ability to all the skilled workers to make everything I have commanded you: ⁷ the tent of meeting, the ark of the covenant law with the atonement cover on it, and all the other furnishings of the tent— ⁸ the table and its articles, the pure gold lampstand and all its accessories, the altar of incense, ⁹ the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, the basin with its stand— ¹⁰ and also the woven garments, both the sacred garments for Aaron the priest and the garments for his sons when they serve as priests, ¹¹ and the anointing oil and fragrant incense for the holy (set-apart) Place. They are to make them just as I commanded you.”

The Sabbath

¹² Then the Lord (YHWH)  said to Moses, ¹³ “Say to the Israelites, ‘You must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the Lord (YHWH), who makes you holy (set-apart).

¹⁴ “‘Observe the Sabbath, because it is holy (set-apart) to you. Anyone who desecrates it is to be put to death; those who do any work on that day must be cut off from their people. ¹⁵ For six days work is to be done, but the seventh day is a day of sabbath rest, holy (set-apart) to the Lord (YHWH) . Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day is to be put to death. ¹⁶ The Israelites are to observe the Sabbath, celebrating it for the generations to come as a lasting covenant. ¹⁷ It will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever, for in six days the Lord (YHWH) made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.’”

¹⁸ When the Lord (YHWH) finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the two tablets of the covenant law, the tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God (Elohim).

The Golden Calf

32 When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us god’s (elohim) ^[a] who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.”

² Aaron answered them, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.” ³ So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. ⁴ He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, “These are your god’s (elohim),^[b] Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”

⁵ When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, “Tomorrow there will be a festival to the Lord (YHWH).” ⁶ So the next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.

⁷ Then the Lord (YHWH) said to Moses, “Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt. ⁸ They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, ‘These are your God’s (Elohim’s), Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.

⁹ “I have seen these people,” the Lord (YHWH) said to Moses, “and they are a stiff-necked people. ¹⁰ Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.”

¹¹ But Moses sought the favor of the Lord (YHWH) his God (Elohim). “Lord (YHWH),” he said, “why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? ¹² Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people. ¹³ Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self: ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever.” ¹⁴ Then the Lord (YHWH) relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.

¹⁵ Moses turned and went down the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands. They were inscribed on both sides, front and back. ¹⁶ The tablets were the work of God (Elohim); the writing was the writing of God (Elohim), engraved on the tablets.

¹⁷ When Joshua heard the noise of the people shouting, he said to Moses, “There is the sound of war in the camp.”

¹⁸ Moses replied:

“It is not the sound of victory,
it is not the sound of defeat;
it is the sound of singing that I hear.”

¹⁹ When Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burned and he threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain. ²⁰ And he took the calf the people had made and burned it in the fire; then he ground it to powder, scattered it on the water and made the Israelites drink it.

²¹ He said to Aaron, “What did these people do to you, that you led them into such great sin?”

²² “Do not be angry, my Lord  (Maran – my Master),” Aaron answered. “You know how prone these people are to evil. ²³ They said to me, ‘Make us god’s (elohim) who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.’ ²⁴ So I told them, ‘Whoever has any gold jewelry, take it off.’ Then they gave me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!”

²⁵ Moses saw that the people were running wild and that Aaron had let them get out of control and so become a laughingstock to their enemies. ²⁶ So he stood at the entrance to the camp and said, “Whoever is for the Lord (YHWH), come to me.” And all the Levites rallied to him.

²⁷ Then he said to them, “This is what the Lord (YHWH), the God (Elohim) of Israel, says: ‘Each man strap a sword to his side. Go back and forth through the camp from one end to the other, each killing his brother and friend and neighbor.’ ²⁸ The Levites did as Moses commanded, and that day about three thousand of the people died. ²⁹ Then Moses said, “You have been set apart to the Lord (YHWH) today, for you were against your own sons and brothers, and he has blessed you this day.”

³⁰ The next day Moses said to the people, “You have committed a great sin. But now I will go up to the Lord (YHWH); perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.”

³¹ So Moses went back to the Lord (YHWH) and said, “Oh, what a great sin these people have committed! They have made themselves God’s (elohim) of gold. ³² But now, please forgive their sin—but if not, then blot me out of the book you have written.”

³³ The Lord (YHWH) replied to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me I will blot out of my book. ³⁴ Now go, lead the people to the place I spoke of, and my angel will go before you. However, when the time comes for me to punish, I will punish them for their sin.”

³⁵ And the Lord (YHWH)  struck the people with a plague because of what they did with the calf Aaron had made.

33 Then the Lord (YHWH)  said to Moses, “Leave this place, you and the people you brought up out of Egypt, and go up to the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ ² I will send an angel before you and drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. ³ Go up to the land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go with you, because you are a stiff-necked people and I might destroy you on the way.”

⁴ When the people heard these distressing words, they began to mourn and no one put on any ornaments. ⁵ For the Lord (YHWH)  had said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites, ‘You are a stiff-necked people. If I were to go with you even for a moment, I might destroy you. Now take off your ornaments and I will decide what to do with you.’” ⁶ So the Israelites stripped off their ornaments at Mount Horeb.

The Tent of Meeting

⁷ Now Moses used to take a tent and pitch it outside the camp some distance away, calling it the “tent of meeting.” Anyone inquiring of the Lord (YHWH)  would go to the tent of meeting outside the camp. ⁸ And whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people rose and stood at the entrances to their tents, watching Moses until he entered the tent. ⁹ As Moses went into the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and stay at the entrance, while the Lord (YHWH) spoke with Moses. ¹⁰ Whenever the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance to the tent, they all stood and worshiped, each at the entrance to their tent. ¹¹ The Lord (YHWH) would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent.

Moses and the Glory of the Lord (YHWH)

¹² Moses said to the Lord (YHWH) , “You have been telling me, ‘Lead these people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, ‘I know you by name and you have found favor with me.’ ¹³ If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.”

¹⁴ The Lord (YHWH) replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

¹⁵ Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. ¹⁶ How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”

¹⁷ And the Lord (YHWH) said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.”

¹⁸ Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.”

¹⁹ And the Lord (YHWH) said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord (YHWH), in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. ²⁰ But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”

²¹ Then the Lord (YHWH) said, “There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. ²² When  my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. ²³ Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen.”

The New Stone Tablets

34 The Lord (YHWH) said to Moses, “Chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. ² Be ready in the morning, and then come up on Mount Sinai. Present yourself to me there on top of the mountain. ³ No one is to come with you or be seen anywhere on the mountain; not even the flocks and herds may graze in front of the mountain.”

⁴ So Moses chiseled out two stone tablets like the first ones and went up Mount Sinai early in the morning, as the Lord (YHWH) had commanded him; and he carried the two stone tablets in his hands. ⁵ Then the Lord (YHWH) came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the Lord (YHWH) . ⁶ And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord (YHWH) , the Lord (YHWH) , the compassionate and gracious God (Elohim), slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, ⁷ maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.”

⁸ Moses bowed to the ground at once and worshiped. ⁹“Lord (YHWH),” he said, “if I have found favor in your eyes, then let the Lord (YHWH) go with us. Although this is a stiff-necked people, forgive our wickedness and our sin, and take us as your inheritance.”

¹⁰ Then the Lord (YHWH) said: “I am making a covenant with you. Before all your people I will do wonders never before done in any nation in all the world. The people you live among will see how awesome is the work that I, the Lord (YHWH), will do for you. ¹¹ Obey what I command you today. I will drive out before you the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. ¹² Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land where you are going, or they will be a snare among you. ¹³ Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and cut down their Asherah poles.^{[a] 14} Do not worship any other god (elohim), for the Lord (YHWH) , whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God (Elohim).

¹⁵ “Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land; for when they prostitute themselves to their God’s (elohim) and sacrifice to them, they will invite you and you will eat their sacrifices. ¹⁶ And when you choose some of their daughters as wives for your sons and those daughters prostitute themselves to their God’s (elohim)  , they will lead your sons to do the same.

¹⁷ “Do not make any idols.

¹⁸ “Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread. For seven days eat bread made without yeast, as I commanded you. Do this at the appointed time in the month of Aviv, for in that month you came out of Egypt.

¹⁹ “The first offspring of every womb belongs to me, including all the firstborn males of your livestock, whether from herd or flock. ²⁰ Redeem the firstborn donkey with a lamb, but if you do not redeem it, break its neck. Redeem all your firstborn sons.

“No one is to appear before me empty-handed.

²¹ “Six days you shall labor, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during the plowing season and harvest you must rest.

²² “Celebrate the Festival of Weeks with the firstfruits of the wheat harvest, and the Festival of Ingathering at the turn of the year.^{[b] 23} Three times a year all your men are to appear before the Sovereign Lord (YHWH), the God (Elohim)   of Israel. ²⁴ I will drive out nations before you and enlarge your territory, and no one will covet your land when you go up three times each year to appear before the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim)  .

²⁵ “Do not offer the blood of a sacrifice to me along with anything containing yeast, and do not let any of the sacrifice from the Passover Festival remain until morning.

²⁶ “Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim)  .

“Do not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.”

²⁷ Then the Lord (YHWH) said to Moses, “Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.” ²⁸ Moses was there with the Lord (YHWH) forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant—the Ten Commandments.

The Radiant Face of Moses

²⁹ When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord (YHWH). ³⁰ When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was radiant, and they were afraid to come near him. ³¹ But Moses called to them; so Aaron and all the leaders of the community came back to him, and he spoke to them. ³² Afterward all the Israelites came near him, and he gave them all the commands the Lord (YHWH) had given him on Mount Sinai.

³³ When Moses finished speaking to them, he put a veil over his face. ³⁴ But whenever he entered the Lord’s (YHWH’s)  presence to speak with him, he removed the veil until he came out. And when he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, ³⁵ they saw that his face was radiant. Then Moses would put the veil back over his face until he went in to speak with the Lord (YHWH) .

Sabbath Regulations

35 Moses assembled the whole Israelite community and said to them, “These are the things the Lord (YHWH) has commanded you to do: ² For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day shall be your holy (set-apart) day, a day of sabbath rest to the Lord (YHWH). Whoever does any work on it is to be put to death. ³ Do not light a fire in any of your dwellings on the Sabbath day.”

Materials for the Tabernacle

⁴ Moses said to the whole Israelite community, “This is what the Lord (YHWH) has commanded: ⁵ From what you have, take an offering for the Lord (YHWH) . Everyone who is willing is to bring to the Lord (YHWH) an offering of gold, silver and bronze; ⁶ blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen; goat hair; ⁷ ram skins dyed red and another type of durable leather^[a]; acacia wood; ⁸ olive oil for the light; spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense; ⁹ and onyx stones and other gems to be mounted on the ephod and breastpiece.

¹⁰ “All who are skilled among you are to come and make everything the Lord (YHWH) has commanded: ¹¹ the tabernacle with its tent and its covering, clasps, frames, crossbars, posts and bases; ¹² the ark with its poles and the atonement cover and the curtain that shields it; ¹³ the table with its poles and all its articles and the bread of the Presence; ¹⁴ the lampstand that is for light with its accessories, lamps and oil for the light; ¹⁵ the altar of incense with its poles, the anointing oil and the fragrant incense; the curtain for the doorway at the entrance to the tabernacle; ¹⁶ the altar of burnt offering with its bronze grating, its poles and all its utensils; the bronze basin with its stand; ¹⁷ the curtains of the courtyard with its posts and bases, and the curtain for the entrance to the courtyard; ¹⁸ the tent pegs for the tabernacle and for the courtyard, and their ropes; ¹⁹ the woven garments worn for ministering in the sanctuary—both the sacred garments for Aaron the priest and the garments for his sons when they serve as priests.”

²⁰ Then the whole Israelite community withdrew from Moses’ presence, ²¹ and everyone who was willing and whose heart moved them came and brought an offering to the Lord (YHWH) for the work on the tent of meeting, for all its service, and for the sacred garments. ²² All who were willing, men and women alike, came and brought gold jewelry of all kinds: brooches, earrings, rings and ornaments. They all presented their gold as a wave offering to the Lord (YHWH) . ²³ Everyone who had blue, purple or scarlet yarn or fine linen, or goat hair, ram skins dyed red or the other durable leather brought them. ²⁴ Those presenting an offering of silver or bronze brought it as an offering to the Lord (YHWH) , and everyone who had acacia wood for any part of the work brought it. ²⁵ Every skilled woman spun with her hands and brought what she had spun—blue, purple or scarlet yarn or fine linen. ²⁶ And all the women who were willing and had the skill spun the goat hair. ²⁷ The leaders brought onyx stones and other gems to be mounted on the ephod and breastpiece. ²⁸ They also brought spices and olive oil for the light and for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense. ²⁹ All the Israelite men and women who were willing brought to the Lord (YHWH) freewill offerings for all the work the Lord (YHWH) through Moses had commanded them to do.

Bezalel and Oholiab

³⁰ Then Moses said to the Israelites, “See, the Lord (YHWH) has chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, ³¹ and he has filled him with the spirit (Manifestation) of God (Elohim)  , with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills— ³² to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, ³³ to cut and set stones, to work in wood and to engage in all kinds of artistic crafts. ³⁴ And he has given both him and Oholiab son of Ahisamak, of the tribe of Dan, the ability to teach others. ³⁵ He has filled them with skill to do all kinds of work as engravers, designers, embroiderers in blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen, and weavers—all of them skilled workers and designers.

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PART 8

Exodus 36 – 40:38

36 ¹ So Bezalel, Oholiab and every skilled person to whom the Lord (YHWH) has given skill and ability to know how to carry out all the work of constructing the sanctuary are to do the work just as the Lord (YHWH) has commanded.”

² Then Moses summoned Bezalel and Oholiab and every skilled person to whom the Lord (YHWH) had given ability and who was willing to come and do the work. ³ They received from Moses all the offerings the Israelites had brought to carry out the work of constructing the sanctuary. And the people continued to bring freewill offerings morning after morning. ⁴ So all the skilled workers who were doing all the work on the sanctuary left what they were doing ⁵ and said to Moses, “The people are bringing more than enough for doing the work the Lord (YHWH) commanded to be done.”

⁶ Then Moses gave an order and they sent this word throughout the camp: “No man or woman is to make anything else as an offering for the sanctuary.” And so the people were restrained from bringing more, ⁷ because what they already had was more than enough to do all the work.

The Tabernacle

⁸ All those who were skilled among the workers made the tabernacle with ten curtains of finely twisted linen and blue, purple and scarlet yarn, with cherubim woven into them by expert hands. ⁹ All the curtains were the same size—twenty-eight cubits long and four cubits wide.^{[a] 10} They joined five of the curtains together and did the same with the other five. ¹¹ Then they made loops of blue material along the edge of the end curtain in one set, and the same was done with the end curtain in the other set. ¹² They also made fifty loops on one curtain and fifty loops on the end curtain of the other set, with the loops opposite each other. ¹³ Then they made fifty gold clasps and used them to fasten the two sets of curtains together so that the tabernacle was a unit.

¹⁴ They made curtains of goat hair for the tent over the tabernacle—eleven altogether. ¹⁵ All eleven curtains were the same size—thirty cubits long and four cubits wide.^{[b] 16} They joined five of the curtains into one set and the other six into another set. ¹⁷ Then they made fifty loops along the edge of the end curtain in one set and also along the edge of the end curtain in the other set. ¹⁸ They made fifty bronze clasps to fasten the tent together as a unit. ¹⁹ Then they made for the tent a covering of ram skins dyed red, and over that a covering of the other durable leather.^[c]

²⁰ They made upright frames of acacia wood for the tabernacle. ²¹ Each frame was ten cubits long and a cubit and a half wide,^{[d] 22} with two projections set parallel to each other. They made all the frames of the tabernacle in this way. ²³ They made twenty frames for the south side of the tabernacle ²⁴ and made forty silver bases to go under them—two bases for each frame, one under each projection. ²⁵ For the other side, the north side of the tabernacle, they made twenty frames ²⁶ and forty silver bases—two under each frame. ²⁷ They made six frames for the far end, that is, the west end of the tabernacle, ²⁸ and two frames were made for the corners of the tabernacle at the far end. ²⁹ At these two corners the frames were double from the bottom all the way to the top and fitted into a single ring; both were made alike. ³⁰ So there were eight frames and sixteen silver bases—two under each frame.

³¹ They also made crossbars of acacia wood: five for the frames on one side of the tabernacle, ³² five for those on the other side, and five for the frames on the west, at the far end of the tabernacle. ³³ They made the center crossbar so that it extended from end to end at the middle of the frames. ³⁴ They overlaid the frames with gold and made gold rings to hold the crossbars. They also overlaid the crossbars with gold.

³⁵ They made the curtain of blue, purple and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen, with cherubim woven into it by a skilled worker. ³⁶ They made four posts of acacia wood for it and overlaid them with gold. They made gold hooks for them and cast their four silver bases. ³⁷ For the entrance to the tent they made a curtain of blue, purple and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen—the work of an embroiderer; ³⁸ and they made five posts with hooks for them. They overlaid the tops of the posts and their bands with gold and made their five bases of bronze.

The Ark

37 Bezalel made the ark of acacia wood—two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high.^{[a] 2} He overlaid it with pure gold, both inside and out, and made a gold molding around it. ³ He cast four gold rings for it and fastened them to its four feet, with two rings on one side and two rings on the other. ⁴ Then he made poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold. ⁵ And he inserted the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark to carry it.

⁶ He made the atonement cover of pure gold—two and a half cubits long and a cubit and a half wide. ⁷ Then he made two cherubim out of hammered gold at the ends of the cover. ⁸ He made one cherub on one end and the second cherub on the other; at the two ends he made them of one piece with the cover. ⁹ The cherubim had their wings spread upward, overshadowing the cover with them. The cherubim faced each other, looking toward the cover.

The Table

¹⁰ They^[b] made the table of acacia wood—two cubits long, a cubit wide and a cubit and a half high.^{[c] 11} Then they overlaid it with pure gold and made a gold molding around it. ¹² They also made around it a rim a handbreadth^[d] wide and put a gold molding on the rim. ¹³ They cast four gold rings for the table and fastened them to the four corners, where the four legs were. ¹⁴ The rings were put close to the rim to hold the poles used in carrying the table. ¹⁵ The poles for carrying the table were made of acacia wood and were overlaid with gold. ¹⁶ And they made from pure gold the articles for the table—its plates and dishes and bowls and its pitchers for the pouring out of drink offerings.

The Lampstand

¹⁷ They made the lampstand of pure gold. They hammered out its base and shaft, and made its flowerlike cups, buds and blossoms of one piece with them. ¹⁸ Six branches extended from the sides of the lampstand—three on one side and three on the other. ¹⁹ Three cups shaped like almond flowers with buds and blossoms were on one branch, three on the next branch and the same for all six branches extending from the lampstand. ²⁰ And on the lampstand were four cups shaped like almond flowers with buds and blossoms. ²¹ One bud was under the first pair of branches extending from the lampstand, a second bud under the second pair, and a third bud under the third pair—six branches in all. ²² The buds and the branches were all of one piece with the lampstand, hammered out of pure gold.

²³ They made its seven lamps, as well as its wick trimmers and trays, of pure gold. ²⁴ They made the lampstand and all its accessories from one talent^[e] of pure gold.

The Altar of Incense

²⁵ They made the altar of incense out of acacia wood. It was square, a cubit long and a cubit wide and two cubits high^[f]—its horns of one piece with it. ²⁶ They overlaid the top and all the sides and the horns with pure gold, and made a gold molding around it. ²⁷ They made two gold rings below the molding—two on each of the opposite sides—to hold the poles used to carry it. ²⁸ They made the poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold.

²⁹ They also made the sacred anointing oil and the pure, fragrant incense—the work of a perfumer.

The Altar of Burnt Offering

38 They^[a] built the altar of burnt offering of acacia wood, three cubits^[b] high; it was square, five cubits long and five cubits wide.^{[c] 2} They made a horn at each of the four corners, so that the horns and the altar were of one piece, and they overlaid the altar with bronze. ³ They made all its utensils of bronze—its pots, shovels, sprinkling bowls, meat forks and firepans. ⁴ They made a grating for the altar, a bronze network, to be under its ledge, halfway up the altar. ⁵ They cast bronze rings to hold the poles for the four corners of the bronze grating. ⁶ They made the poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with bronze. ⁷ They inserted the poles into the rings so they would be on the sides of the altar for carrying it. They made it hollow, out of boards.

The Basin for Washing

⁸ They made the bronze basin and its bronze stand from the mirrors of the women who served at the entrance to the tent of meeting.

The Courtyard

⁹ Next they made the courtyard. The south side was a hundred cubits^[d] long and had curtains of finely twisted linen, ¹⁰ with twenty posts and twenty bronze bases, and with silver hooks and bands on the posts. ¹¹ The north side was also a hundred cubits long and had twenty posts and twenty bronze bases, with silver hooks and bands on the posts.

¹² The west end was fifty cubits^[e] wide and had curtains, with ten posts and ten bases, with silver hooks and bands on the posts. ¹³ The east end, toward the sunrise, was also fifty cubits wide. ¹⁴ Curtains fifteen cubits^[f] long were on one side of the entrance, with three posts and three bases, ¹⁵ and curtains fifteen cubits long were on the other side of the entrance to the courtyard, with three posts and three bases. ¹⁶ All the curtains around the courtyard were of finely twisted linen. ¹⁷ The bases for the posts were bronze. The hooks and bands on the posts were silver, and their tops were overlaid with silver; so all the posts of the courtyard had silver bands.

¹⁸ The curtain for the entrance to the courtyard was made of blue, purple and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen—the work of an embroiderer. It was twenty cubits^[g] long and, like the curtains of the courtyard, five cubits^[h] high, ¹⁹ with four posts and four bronze bases. Their hooks and bands were silver, and their tops were overlaid with silver. ²⁰ All the tent pegs of the tabernacle and of the surrounding courtyard were bronze.

The Materials Used

²¹ These are the amounts of the materials used for the tabernacle, the tabernacle of the covenant law, which were recorded at Moses’ command by the Levites under the direction of Ithamar son of Aaron, the priest. ²² (Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made everything the Lord (YHWH) commanded Moses; ²³ with him was Oholiab son of Ahisamak, of the tribe of Dan—an engraver and designer, and an embroiderer in blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen.) ²⁴ The total amount of the gold from the wave offering used for all the work on the sanctuary was 29 talents and 730 shekels,^[i] according to the sanctuary shekel.

²⁵ The silver obtained from those of the community who were counted in the census was 100 talents^[j] and 1,775 shekels,^[k] according to the sanctuary shekel— ²⁶ one beka per person, that is, half a shekel,^[l] according to the sanctuary shekel, from everyone who had crossed over to those counted, twenty years old or more, a total of 603,550 men. ²⁷ The 100 talents of silver were used to cast the bases for the sanctuary and for the curtain—100 bases from the 100 talents, one talent for each base. ²⁸ They used the 1,775 shekels to make the hooks for the posts, to overlay the tops of the posts, and to make their bands.

²⁹ The bronze from the wave offering was 70 talents and 2,400 shekels.^{[m] 30} They used it to make the bases for the entrance to the tent of meeting, the bronze altar with its bronze grating and all its utensils, ³¹ the bases for the surrounding courtyard and those for its entrance and all the tent pegs for the tabernacle and those for the surrounding courtyard.

The Priestly Garments

39 From the blue, purple and scarlet yarn they made woven garments for ministering in the sanctuary. They also made sacred garments for Aaron, as the Lord (YHWH) commanded Moses.

The Ephod

² They^[a] made the ephod of gold, and of blue, purple and scarlet yarn, and of finely twisted linen. ³ They hammered out thin sheets of gold and cut strands to be worked into the blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen—the work of skilled hands. ⁴ They made shoulder pieces for the ephod, which were attached to two of its corners, so it could be fastened. ⁵ Its skillfully woven waistband was like it—of one piece with the ephod and made with gold, and with blue, purple and scarlet yarn, and with finely twisted linen, as the Lord (YHWH) commanded Moses.

⁶ They mounted the onyx stones in gold filigree settings and engraved them like a seal with the names of the sons of Israel. ⁷ Then they fastened them on the shoulder pieces of the ephod as memorial stones for the sons of Israel, as the Lord (YHWH) commanded Moses.

The Breastpiece

⁸ They fashioned the breastpiece—the work of a skilled craftsman. They made it like the ephod: of gold, and of blue, purple and scarlet yarn, and of finely twisted linen. ⁹ It was square—a span^[b] long and a span wide—and folded double. ¹⁰ Then they mounted four rows of precious stones on it. The first row was carnelian, chrysolite and beryl; ¹¹ the second row was turquoise, lapis lazuli and emerald; ¹² the third row was jacinth, agate and amethyst; ¹³ the fourth row was topaz, onyx and jasper.^[c] They were mounted in gold filigree settings. ¹⁴ There were twelve stones, one for each of the names of the sons of Israel, each engraved like a seal with the name of one of the twelve tribes.

¹⁵ For the breastpiece they made braided chains of pure gold, like a rope. ¹⁶ They made two gold filigree settings and two gold rings, and fastened the rings to two of the corners of the breastpiece. ¹⁷ They fastened the two gold chains to the rings at the corners of the breastpiece, ¹⁸ and the other ends of the chains to the two settings, attaching them to the shoulder pieces of the ephod at the front. ¹⁹ They made two gold rings and attached them to the other two corners of the breastpiece on the inside edge next to the ephod. ²⁰ Then they made two more gold rings and attached them to the bottom of the shoulder pieces on the front of the ephod, close to the seam just above the waistband of the ephod. ²¹ They tied the rings of the breastpiece to the rings of the ephod with blue cord, connecting it to the waistband so that the breastpiece would not swing out from the ephod—as the Lord (YHWH) commanded Moses.

Other Priestly Garments

²² They made the robe of the ephod entirely of blue cloth—the work of a weaver— ²³ with an opening in the center of the robe like the opening of a collar,^[d] and a band around this opening, so that it would not tear. ²⁴ They made pomegranates of blue, purple and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen around the hem of the robe. ²⁵ And they made bells of pure gold and attached them around the hem between the pomegranates. ²⁶ The bells and pomegranates alternated around the hem of the robe to be worn for ministering, as the Lord (YHWH) commanded Moses.

²⁷ For Aaron and his sons, they made tunics of fine linen—the work of a weaver— ²⁸ and the turban of fine linen, the linen caps and the undergarments of finely twisted linen. ²⁹ The sash was made of finely twisted linen and blue, purple and scarlet yarn—the work of an embroiderer—as the Lord (YHWH) commanded Moses.

³⁰ They made the plate, the sacred emblem, out of pure gold and engraved on it, like an inscription on a seal: holy (set-apart) to the Lord (YHWH). ³¹ Then they fastened a blue cord to it to attach it to the turban, as the Lord (YHWH) commanded Moses.

Moses Inspects the Tabernacle

³² So all the work on the tabernacle, the tent of meeting, was completed. The Israelites did everything just as the Lord (YHWH) commanded Moses. ³³ Then they brought the tabernacle to Moses: the tent and all its furnishings, its clasps, frames, crossbars, posts and bases; ³⁴ the covering of ram skins dyed red and the covering of another durable leather^[e] and the shielding curtain; ³⁵ the ark of the covenant law with its poles and the atonement cover; ³⁶ the table with all its articles and the bread of the Presence; ³⁷ the pure gold lampstand with its row of lamps and all its accessories, and the olive oil for the light; ³⁸ the gold altar, the anointing oil, the fragrant incense, and the curtain for the entrance to the tent; ³⁹ the bronze altar with its bronze grating, its poles and all its utensils; the basin with its stand; ⁴⁰ the curtains of the courtyard with its posts and bases, and the curtain for the entrance to the courtyard; the ropes and tent pegs for the courtyard; all the furnishings for the tabernacle, the tent of meeting; ⁴¹ and the woven garments worn for ministering in the sanctuary, both the sacred garments for Aaron the priest and the garments for his sons when serving as priests.

⁴² The Israelites had done all the work just as the Lord (YHWH) had commanded Moses. ⁴³ Moses inspected the work and saw that they had done it just as the Lord (YHWH) had commanded. So Moses blessed them.

Setting Up the Tabernacle

40 Then the Lord (YHWH) said to Moses: ² “Set up the tabernacle, the tent of meeting, on the first day of the first month. ³ Place the ark of the covenant law in it and shield the ark with the curtain. ⁴ Bring in the table and set out what belongs on it. Then bring in the lampstand and set up its lamps. ⁵ Place the gold altar of incense in front of the ark of the covenant law and put the curtain at the entrance to the tabernacle.

⁶ “Place the altar of burnt offering in front of the entrance to the tabernacle, the tent of meeting; ⁷ place the basin between the tent of meeting and the altar and put water in it. ⁸ Set up the courtyard around it and put the curtain at the entrance to the courtyard.

⁹ “Take the anointing oil and anoint the tabernacle and everything in it; consecrate it and all its furnishings, and it will be holy (set-apart). ¹⁰ Then anoint the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils; consecrate the altar, and it will be most holy (set-apart). ¹¹ Anoint the basin and its stand and consecrate them.

¹² “Bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance to the tent of meeting and wash them with water. ¹³ Then dress Aaron in the sacred garments, anoint him and consecrate him so he may serve me as priest. ¹⁴ Bring his sons and dress them in tunics. ¹⁵ Anoint them just as you anointed their father, so they may serve me as priests. Their anointing will be to a priesthood that will continue throughout their generations.” ¹⁶ Moses did everything just as the Lord (YHWH) commanded him.

¹⁷ So the tabernacle was set up on the first day of the first month in the second year. ¹⁸ When Moses set up the tabernacle, he put the bases in place, erected the frames, inserted the crossbars and set up the posts. ¹⁹ Then he spread the tent over the tabernacle and put the covering over the tent, as the Lord (YHWH) commanded him.

²⁰ He took the tablets of the covenant law and placed them in the ark, attached the poles to the ark and put the atonement cover over it. ²¹ Then he brought the ark into the tabernacle and hung the shielding curtain and shielded the ark of the covenant law, as the Lord (YHWH) commanded him.

²² Moses placed the table in the tent of meeting on the north side of the tabernacle outside the curtain ²³ and set out the bread on it before the Lord (YHWH), as the Lord (YHWH) commanded him.

²⁴ He placed the lampstand in the tent of meeting opposite the table on the south side of the tabernacle ²⁵ and set up the lamps before the Lord (YHWH), as the Lord (YHWH) commanded him.

²⁶ Moses placed the gold altar in the tent of meeting in front of the curtain ²⁷ and burned fragrant incense on it, as the Lord (YHWH) commanded him.

²⁸ Then he put up the curtain at the entrance to the tabernacle. ²⁹ He set the altar of burnt offering near the entrance to the tabernacle, the tent of  meeting, and offered on it burnt offerings and grain offerings, as the Lord (YHWH) commanded him.

³⁰ He placed the basin between the tent of meeting and the altar and put water in it for washing, ³¹ and Moses and Aaron and his sons used it to wash their hands and feet. ³² They washed whenever they entered the tent of meeting or approached the altar, as the Lord (YHWH) commanded Moses.

³³ Then Moses set up the courtyard around the tabernacle and altar and put up the curtain at the entrance to the courtyard. And so Moses finished the work.

The Glory of the Lord (YHWH)

³⁴ Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord (YHWH) filled the tabernacle. ³⁵ Moses could not enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the Lord (YHWH) filled the tabernacle.

³⁶ In all the travels of the Israelites, whenever the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle, they would set out; ³⁷ but if the cloud did not lift, they did not set out—until the day it lifted. ³⁸ So the cloud of the Lord (YHWH) was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the Israelites during all their travels.

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THE BIBLE ACCOUNT OF THE MOVIE, “TEN COMMANDMENTS” CONTINUED

(Numbers 1, 12, 13, 14, 16, 20, and 27)

Numbers 1

New International Version (NIV)

The Census

1 The Lord (YHWH) spoke to Moses in the tent of meeting in the Desert of Sinai on the first day of the second month of the second year after the Israelites came out of Egypt. He said: ² “Take a census of the whole Israelite community by their clans and families, listing every man by name, one by one. ³ You and Aaron are to count according to their divisions all the men in Israel who are twenty years old or more and able to serve in the army. ⁴ One man from each tribe, each of them the head of his family, is to help you.

(And Israel continued from Mt. Sinai through the wilderness towards Canaan. And they continued complaining and Elohim continued to answer Moses’s supplications for a stiff necked nation, a nation that would have to be weaned from 430 years of falling away from YHWH, this while living in the country of Egypt.)

Numbers 12

New International Version (NIV)

Miriam and Aaron Oppose Moses

12 Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife, for he had married a Cushite. ² “Has the Lord (YHWH) spoken only through Moses?” they asked. “Hasn’t he also spoken through us?” And the Lord (YHWH) heard this.

³ (Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.)

⁴ At once the Lord (YHWH) said to Moses, Aaron and Miriam, “Come out to the tent of meeting, all three of you.” So the three of them went out. ⁵ Then the Lord (YHWH) came down in a pillar of cloud; he stood at the entrance to the tent and summoned Aaron and Miriam. When the two of them stepped forward, ⁶ he said, “Listen to my words:

“When there is a prophet among you,
I, the Lord (YHWH), reveal myself to them in visions,
I speak to them in dreams.
⁷ But this is not true of my servant Moses;
he is faithful in all  my house.
⁸ With him I speak face to face,
clearly and not in riddles;
he sees the form of the Lord (YHWH).
Why then were you not afraid
to speak against my servant Moses?”

⁹ The anger of the Lord (YHWH) burned against them, and he left them.

¹⁰ When the cloud lifted from above the tent, Miriam’s skin was leprous^[a]—it became as white as snow. Aaron turned toward her and saw that she had a defiling skin disease, ¹¹ and he said to Moses, “Please, my Lord (Maran – my Master), I ask you not to hold against us the sin we have so foolishly committed. ¹² Do not let her be like a stillborn infant coming from its mother’s womb with its flesh half eaten away.”

¹³ So Moses cried out to the Lord (YHWH), “Please, God (Elohim), heal her!”

¹⁴ The Lord (YHWH) replied to Moses, “If her father had spit in her face, would she not have been in disgrace for seven days? Confine her outside the camp for seven days; after that she can be brought back.” ¹⁵ So Miriam was confined outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not move on till she was brought back.

¹⁶ After that, the people left Hazeroth and encamped in the Desert of Paran.

Numbers 13

New International Version (NIV)

Exploring Canaan

13 The Lord (YHWH) said to Moses, ² “Send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites. From each ancestral tribe send one of its leaders.”

³ So at the Lord (YHWH)’s command Moses sent them out from the Desert of Paran. All of them were leaders of the Israelites. ⁴ These are their names:

from the tribe of Reuben, Shammua son of Zakkur;

⁵ from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat son of Hori;

⁶ from the tribe of Judah, Caleb son of Jephunneh;

⁷ from the tribe of Issachar, Igal son of Joseph;

⁸ from the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea son of Nun;

⁹ from the tribe of Benjamin, Palti son of Raphu;

¹⁰ from the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel son of Sodi;

¹¹ from the tribe of Manasseh (a tribe of Joseph), Gaddi son of Susi;

¹² from the tribe of Dan, Ammiel son of Gemalli;

¹³ from the tribe of Asher, Sethur son of Michael;

¹⁴ from the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi son of Vophsi;

¹⁵ from the tribe of Gad, Geuel son of Maki.

¹⁶ These are the names of the men Moses sent to explore the land. (Moses gave Hoshea son of Nun the name Joshua.)

¹⁷ When Moses sent them to explore Canaan, he said, “Go up through the Negev and on into the hill country. ¹⁸ See what the land is like and whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many. ¹⁹ What kind of land do they live in? Is it good or bad? What kind of towns do they live in? Are they unwalled or fortified? ²⁰ How is the soil? Is it fertile or poor? Are there trees in it or not? Do your best to bring back some of the fruit of the land.” (It was the season for the first ripe grapes.)

²¹ So they went up and explored the land from the Desert of Zin as far as Rehob, toward Lebo Hamath. ²² They went up through the Negev and came to Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmai, the descendants of Anak, lived. (Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) ²³ When they reached the Valley of Eshkol,^[a] they cut off a branch bearing a single cluster of grapes. Two of them carried it on a pole between them, along with some pomegranates and figs. ²⁴ That place was called the Valley of Eshkol because of the cluster of grapes the Israelites cut off there. ²⁵ At the end of forty days they returned from exploring the land.

Report on the Exploration

²⁶ They came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community at Kadesh in the Desert of Paran. There they reported to them and to the whole assembly and showed them the fruit of the land. ²⁷ They gave Moses this account: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. ²⁸ But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there. ²⁹ The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan.”

³⁰ Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.”

³¹ But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” ³² And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. ³³ We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”

Numbers 14

New International Version (NIV)

The People Rebel

14 That night all the members of the community raised their voices and wept aloud. ² All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, “If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this wilderness! ³ Why is the Lord (YHWH) bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?” ⁴ And they said to each other, “We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”

⁵ Then Moses and Aaron fell facedown in front of the whole Israelite assembly gathered there. ⁶ Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had explored the land, tore their clothes ⁷ and said to the entire Israelite assembly, “The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. ⁸ If the Lord (YHWH) is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us. ⁹ Only do not rebel against the Lord (YHWH). And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will devour them. Their protection is gone, but the Lord (YHWH) is with us. Do not be afraid of them.”

¹⁰ But the whole assembly talked about stoning them. Then the glory of the Lord (YHWH) appeared at the tent of meeting to all the Israelites. ¹¹ The Lord (YHWH) said to Moses, “How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the signs I have performed among them? ¹² I will strike them down with a plague and destroy them, but I will make you into a nation greater and stronger than they.”

¹³ Moses said to the Lord (YHWH), “Then the Egyptians will hear about it! By your power you brought these people up from among them. ¹⁴ And they will tell the inhabitants of this land about it. They have already heard that you, Lord (YHWH), are with these people and that you, Lord (YHWH), have been seen face to face, that your cloud stays over them, and that you go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. ¹⁵ If you put all these people to death, leaving none alive, the nations who have heard this report about you will say, ¹⁶ ‘The Lord (YHWH) was not able to bring these people into the land he promised them on oath, so he slaughtered them in the wilderness.’

¹⁷ “Now may the Lord (YHWH)’s strength be displayed, just as you have declared: ¹⁸ ‘The Lord (YHWH) is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.’ ¹⁹ In accordance with your great love, forgive the sin of these people, just as you have pardoned them from the time they left Egypt until now.”

²⁰ The Lord (YHWH) replied, “I have forgiven them, as you asked. ²¹ Nevertheless, as surely as I live and as surely as the glory of the Lord (YHWH) fills the whole earth, ²² not one of those who saw my glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness but who disobeyed me and tested me ten times— ²³ not one of them will ever see the land I promised on oath to their ancestors. No one who has treated me with contempt will ever see it. ²⁴ But because my servant Caleb has a different spirit (Manifestation) and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it. ²⁵ Since the Amalekites and the Canaanites are living in the valleys, turn back tomorrow and set out toward the desert along the route to the Red Sea.^[a]”

²⁶ The Lord (YHWH) said to Moses and Aaron: ²⁷ “How long will this wicked community grumble against me? I have heard the complaints of these grumbling Israelites. ²⁸ So tell them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Lord (YHWH), I will do to you the very thing I heard you say: ²⁹ In this wilderness your bodies will fall—every one of you twenty years old or more who was counted in the census and who has grumbled against me. ³⁰ Not one of you will enter the land I swore with uplifted hand to make your home, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun. ³¹ As for your children that you said would be taken as plunder, I will bring them in to enjoy the land you have rejected. ³² But as for you, your bodies will fall in this wilderness. ³³ Your children will be shepherds here for forty years, suffering for your unfaithfulness, until the last of your bodies lies in the wilderness. ³⁴ For forty years—one year for each of the forty days you explored the land—you will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have me against you.’ ³⁵ I, the Lord (YHWH), have spoken, and I will surely do these things to this whole wicked community, which has banded together against me. They will meet their end in this wilderness; here they will die.”

³⁶ So the men Moses had sent to explore the land, who returned and made the whole community grumble against him by spreading a bad report about it— ³⁷ these men who were responsible for spreading the bad report about the land were struck down and died of a plague before the Lord (YHWH). ³⁸ Of the men who went to explore the land, only Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh survived.

³⁹ When Moses reported this to all the Israelites, they mourned bitterly. ⁴⁰ Early the next morning they set out for the highest point in the hill country, saying, “Now we are ready to go up to the land the Lord (YHWH) promised. Surely we have sinned!”

⁴¹ But Moses said, “Why are you disobeying the Lord (YHWH)’s command? This will not succeed! ⁴² Do not go up, because the Lord (YHWH) is not with you. You will be defeated by your enemies, ⁴³ for the Amalekites and the Canaanites will face you there. Because you have turned away from the Lord (YHWH), he will not be with you and you will fall by the sword.”

⁴⁴ Nevertheless, in their presumption they went up toward the highest point in the hill country, though neither Moses nor the ark of the Lord (YHWH)’s covenant moved from the camp. ⁴⁵ Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down and attacked them and beat them down all the way to Hormah.

Numbers 16

New International Version (NIV)

Korah, Dathan and Abiram

16 Korah son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and certain Reubenites—Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth—became insolent^{[a] 2} and rose up against Moses. With them were 250 Israelite men, well-known community leaders who had been appointed members of the council. ³ They came as a group to oppose Moses and Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! The whole community is holy (set-apart), every one of them, and the Lord (YHWH) is with them. Why then do you set yourselves above the Lord (YHWH)’s assembly?”

⁴ When Moses heard this, he fell facedown. ⁵ Then he said to Korah and all his followers: “In the morning the Lord (YHWH) will show who belongs to him and who is holy (set-apart), and he will have that person come near him. The man he chooses he will cause to come near him. ⁶ You, Korah, and all your followers are to do this: Take censers ⁷ and tomorrow put burning coals and incense in them before the Lord (YHWH). The man the Lord (YHWH) chooses will be the one who is holy (set-apart). You Levites have gone too far!”

⁸ Moses also said to Korah, “Now listen, you Levites! ⁹ Isn’t it enough for you that the God (Elohim)  of Israel has separated you from the rest of the Israelite community and brought you near himself to do the work at the Lord (YHWH)’s tabernacle and to stand before the community and minister to them? ¹⁰ He has brought you and all your fellow Levites near himself, but now you are trying to get the priesthood too. ¹¹ It is against the Lord (YHWH) that you and all your followers have banded together. Who is Aaron that you should grumble against him?”

¹² Then Moses summoned Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab. But they said, “We will not come! ¹³ Isn’t it enough that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness? And now you also want to Lord (YHWH) it over us! ¹⁴ Moreover, you haven’t brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey or given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Do you want to treat these men like slaves^[b]? No, we will not come!”

¹⁵ Then Moses became very angry and said to the Lord (YHWH), “Do not accept their offering. I have not taken so much as a donkey from them, nor have I wronged any of them.”

¹⁶ Moses said to Korah, “You and all your followers are to appear before the Lord (YHWH) tomorrow—you and they and Aaron. ¹⁷ Each man is to take his censer and put incense in it—250 censers in all—and present it before the Lord (YHWH). You and Aaron are to present your censers also.” ¹⁸ So each of them took his censer, put burning coals and incense in it, and stood with Moses and Aaron at the entrance to the tent of meeting. ¹⁹ When Korah had gathered all his followers in opposition to them at the entrance to the tent of meeting, the glory of the Lord (YHWH) appeared to the entire assembly. ²⁰ The Lord (YHWH) said to Moses and Aaron, ²¹ “Separate yourselves from this assembly so I can put an end to them at once.”

²² But Moses and Aaron fell facedown and cried out, “O God (Elohim), the God (Elohim) who gives breath to all living things, will you be angry with the entire assembly when only one man sins?”

²³ Then the Lord (YHWH) said to Moses, ²⁴ “Say to the assembly, ‘Move away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram.’

²⁵ Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him. ²⁶ He warned the assembly, “Move back from the tents of these wicked men! Do not touch anything belonging to them, or you will be swept away because of all their sins.” ²⁷ So they moved away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram had come out and were standing with their wives, children and little ones at the entrances to their tents.

²⁸ Then Moses said, “This is how you will know that the Lord (YHWH) has sent me to do all these things and that it was not my idea: ²⁹ If these men die a natural death and suffer the fate of all mankind, then the Lord (YHWH) has not sent me. ³⁰ But if the Lord (YHWH) brings about something totally new, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them, with everything that belongs to them, and they go down alive into the realm of the dead, then you will know that these men have treated the Lord (YHWH) with contempt.”

³¹ As soon as he finished saying all this, the ground under them split apart ³² and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their households, and all those associated with Korah, together with their possessions. ³³ They went down alive into the realm of the dead, with everything they owned; the earth closed over them, and they perished and were gone from the community. ³⁴ At their cries, all the Israelites around them fled, shouting, “The earth is going to swallow us too!”

³⁵ And fire came out from the Lord (YHWH) and consumed the 250 men who were offering the incense.

³⁶ The Lord (YHWH) said to Moses, ³⁷ “Tell Eleazar son of Aaron, the priest, to remove the censers from the charred remains and scatter the coals some distance away, for the censers are holy (set-apart)— ³⁸ the censers of the men who sinned at the cost of their lives. Hammer the censers into sheets to overlay the altar, for they were presented before the Lord (YHWH) and have become holy (set-apart). Let them be a sign to the Israelites.”

³⁹ So Eleazar the priest collected the bronze censers brought by those who had been burned to death, and he had them hammered out to overlay the altar, ⁴⁰ as the Lord (YHWH) directed him through Moses. This was to remind the Israelites that no one except a descendant of Aaron should come to burn incense before the Lord (YHWH), or he would become like Korah and his followers.

⁴¹ The next day the whole Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. “You have killed the Lord (YHWH)’s people,” they said.

⁴² But when the assembly gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron and turned toward the tent of meeting, suddenly the cloud covered it and the glory of the Lord (YHWH) appeared. ⁴³ Then Moses and Aaron went to the front of the tent of meeting, ⁴⁴ and the Lord (YHWH) said to Moses, ⁴⁵ “Get away from this assembly so I can put an end to them at once.” And they fell facedown.

⁴⁶ Then Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer and put incense in it, along with burning coals from the altar, and hurry to the assembly to make atonement for them. Wrath has come out from the Lord (YHWH); the plague has started.” ⁴⁷ So Aaron did as Moses said, and ran into the midst of the assembly. The plague had already started among the people, but Aaron offered the incense and made atonement for them. ⁴⁸ He stood between the living and the dead, and the plague stopped. ⁴⁹ But 14,700 people died from the plague, in addition to those who had died because of Korah. ⁵⁰ Then Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance to the tent of meeting, for the plague had stopped.^[c]

Numbers 20

New International Version (NIV)

Water From the Rock

20 In the first month the whole Israelite community arrived at the Desert of Zin, and they stayed at Kadesh. There Miriam died and was buried.

² Now there was no water for the community, and the people gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron. ³ They quarreled with Moses and said, “If only we had died when our brothers fell dead before the Lord (YHWH)! ⁴ Why did you bring the Lord (YHWH)’s community into this wilderness, that we and our livestock should die here? ⁵ Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to this terrible place? It has no grain or figs, grapevines or pomegranates. And there is no water to drink!”

⁶ Moses and Aaron went from the assembly to the entrance to the tent of meeting and fell facedown, and the glory of the Lord (YHWH) appeared to them. ⁷ The Lord (YHWH) said to Moses, ⁸ “Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water. You will bring water out of the rock for the community so they and their livestock can drink.”

⁹ So Moses took the staff from the Lord (YHWH)’s presence, just as he commanded him. ¹⁰ He and Aaron gathered the assembly together in front of the rock and Moses said to them, “Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?” ¹¹ Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.

¹² But the Lord (YHWH) said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy (set-apart) in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.”

¹³ These were the waters of Meribah,^[a] where the Israelites quarreled with the Lord (YHWH) and where he was proved holy (set-apart) among them.

Edom Denies Israel Passage

¹⁴ Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom, saying:

“This is what your brother Israel says: You know about all the hardships that have come on us. ¹⁵ Our ancestors went down into Egypt, and we lived there many years. The Egyptians mistreated us and our ancestors, ¹⁶ but when we cried out to the Lord (YHWH), he heard our cry and sent an angel and brought us out of Egypt.

“Now we are here at Kadesh, a town on the edge of your territory. ¹⁷ Please let us pass through your country. We will not go through any field or vineyard, or drink water from any well. We will travel along the King’s Highway and not turn to the right or to the left until we have passed through your territory.”

¹⁸ But Edom answered:

“You may not pass through here; if you try, we will march out and attack you with the sword.”

¹⁹ The Israelites replied:

“We will go along the main road, and if we or our livestock drink any of your water, we will pay for it. We only want to pass through on foot—nothing else.”

²⁰ Again they answered:

“You may not pass through.”

Then Edom came out against them with a large and powerful army. ²¹ Since Edom refused to let them go through their territory, Israel turned away from them.

The Death of Aaron

²² The whole Israelite community set out from Kadesh and came to Mount Hor. ²³ At Mount Hor, near the border of Edom, the Lord (YHWH) said to Moses and Aaron, ²⁴ “Aaron will be gathered to his people. He will not enter the land I give the Israelites, because both of you rebelled against my command at the waters of Meribah. ²⁵ Get Aaron and his son Eleazar and take them up Mount Hor. ²⁶ Remove Aaron’s garments and put them on his son Eleazar, for Aaron will be gathered to his people; he will die there.”

²⁷ Moses did as the Lord (YHWH) commanded: They went up Mount Hor in the sight of the whole community. ²⁸ Moses removed Aaron’s garments and put them on his son Eleazar. And Aaron died there on top of the mountain. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain, ²⁹ and when the whole community learned that Aaron had died, all the Israelites mourned for him thirty days.

Numbers 27

New International Version (NIV)

Zelophehad’s Daughters

27 The daughters of Zelophehad son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Makir, the son of Manasseh, belonged to the clans of Manasseh son of Joseph. The names of the daughters were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milkah and Tirzah. They came forward ² and stood before Moses, Eleazar the priest, the leaders and the whole assembly at the entrance to the tent of meeting and said, ³ “Our father died in the wilderness. He was not among Korah’s followers, who banded together against the Lord (YHWH), but he died for his own sin and left no sons. ⁴ Why should our father’s name disappear from his clan because he had no son? Give us property among our father’s relatives.”

⁵ So Moses brought their case before the Lord (YHWH), ⁶ and the Lord (YHWH) said to him, ⁷ “What Zelophehad’s daughters are saying is right. You must certainly give them property as an inheritance among their father’s relatives and give their father’s inheritance to them.

⁸ “Say to the Israelites, ‘If a man dies and leaves no son, give his inheritance to his daughter. ⁹ If he has no daughter, give his inheritance to his brothers. ¹⁰ If he has no brothers, give his inheritance to his father’s brothers. ¹¹ If his father had no brothers, give his inheritance to the nearest relative in his clan, that he may possess it. This is to have the force of law for the Israelites, as the Lord (YHWH) commanded Moses.’”

Joshua to Succeed Moses

¹² Then the Lord (YHWH) said to Moses, “Go up this mountain in the Abarim Range and see the land I have given the Israelites. ¹³ After you have seen it, you too will be gathered to your people, as your brother Aaron was, ¹⁴ for when the community rebelled at the waters in the Desert of Zin, both of you disobeyed my command to honor me as holy (set-apart) before their eyes.” (These were the waters of Meribah Kadesh, in the Desert of Zin.)

¹⁵ Moses said to the Lord (YHWH), ¹⁶ “May the Lord (YHWH), the God (Elohim) who gives breath to all living things, appoint someone over this community ¹⁷ to go out and come in before them, one who will lead them out and bring them in, so the Lord (YHWH)’s people will not be like sheep without a shepherd.”

¹⁸ So the Lord (YHWH) said to Moses, “Take Joshua son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit (Manifestation) of leadership,^[a] and lay your hand on him. ¹⁹ Have him stand before Eleazar the priest and the entire assembly and commission him in their presence. ²⁰ Give him some of your authority so the whole Israelite community will obey him. ²¹ He is to stand before Eleazar the priest, who will obtain decisions for him by inquiring of the Urim before the Lord (YHWH). At his command he and the entire community of the Israelites will go out, and at his command they will come in.”

²² Moses did as the Lord (YHWH) commanded him. He took Joshua and had him stand before Eleazar the priest and the whole assembly. ²³ Then he laid his hands on him and commissioned him, as the Lord (YHWH) instructed through Moses.

REMINDER NOTE:

BELOW ONLY EXODUS AND DEUTERONOMY IS GIVEN IN IT’S ENTIRETY, A STORY OFAN ISRAEL LEAVING MAN’S BONDAGE FOR THE FREEDOM OF YHWH. LEVITICUS (NOT GIVEN HERE) AND NUMBERS (PARTIAL QUOTES GIVEN): THE STORY OF A STIFF-NECKED NATION.

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THE MOVIE “THE TEN COMMANDMENTS” CONTINUED, DEUTERONOMY

PART 9

Deuteronomy 1 – 5:33

The Command to Leave Horeb

1 These are the words Moses spoke to all Israel in the wilderness east of the Jordan—that is, in the Arabah—opposite Suph, between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth and Dizahab. ² (It takes eleven days to go from Horeb to Kadesh Barnea by the Mount Seir road.)

³ In the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses proclaimed to the Israelites all that the Lord (YHWH) had commanded him concerning them. ⁴ This was after he had defeated Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon, and at Edrei had defeated Og king of Bashan, who reigned in Ashtaroth.

⁵ East of the Jordan in the territory of Moab, Moses began to expound this law, saying:

⁶ The Lord (YHWH) our God (Elohim) said to us at Horeb, “You have stayed long enough at this mountain. ⁷ Break camp and advance into the hill country of the Amorites; go to all the neighboring peoples in the Arabah, in the mountains, in the western foothills, in the Negev and along the coast, to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon, as far as the great river, the Euphrates. ⁸ See, I have given you this land. Go in and take possession of the land the Lord (YHWH) swore he would give to your fathers—to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—and to their descendants after them.”

The Appointment of Leaders

⁹ At that time I said to you, “You are too heavy a burden for me to carry alone. ¹⁰ The Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim)  has increased your numbers so that today you are as numerous as the stars in the sky. ¹¹ May the Lord (YHWH), the God (Elohim) of your ancestors, increase you a thousand times and bless you as he has promised! ¹² But how can I bear your problems and your burdens and your disputes all by myself? ¹³ Choose some wise, understanding and respected men from each of your tribes, and I will set them over you.”

¹⁴ You answered me, “What you propose to do is good.”

¹⁵ So I took the leading men of your tribes, wise and respected men, and appointed them to have authority over you—as commanders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens and as tribal officials. ¹⁶ And I charged your judges at that time, “Hear the disputes between your people and judge fairly, whether the case is between two Israelites or between an Israelite and a foreigner residing among you. ¹⁷ Do not show partiality in judging; hear both small and great alike. Do not be afraid of anyone, for judgment belongs to God (Elohim). Bring me any case too hard for you, and I will hear it.” ¹⁸ And at that time I told you everything you were to do.

Spies Sent Out

¹⁹ Then, as the Lord (YHWH) our God (Elohim)   commanded us, we set out from Horeb and went toward the hill country of the Amorites through all that vast and dreadful wilderness that you have seen, and so we reached Kadesh Barnea. ²⁰ Then I said to you, “You have reached the hill country of the Amorites, which the Lord (YHWH) our God (Elohim)   is giving us. ²¹ See, the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim)   has given you the land. Go up and take possession of it as the Lord (YHWH), the God (Elohim)   of your ancestors, told you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”

²² Then all of you came to me and said, “Let us send men ahead to spy out the land for us and bring back a report about the route we are to take and the towns we will come to.”

²³ The idea seemed good to me; so I selected twelve of you, one man from each tribe. ²⁴ They left and went up into the hill country, and came to the Valley of Eshkol and explored it. ²⁵ Taking with them some of the fruit of the land, they brought it down to us and reported, “It is a good land that the Lord (YHWH) our God (Elohim) is giving us.”

Rebellion Against the Lord (YHWH)

²⁶ But you were unwilling to go up; you rebelled against the command of the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim)  . ²⁷ You grumbled in your tents and said, “The Lord (YHWH) hates us; so he brought us out of Egypt to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us. ²⁸ Where can we go? Our brothers have made our hearts melt in fear. They say, ‘The people are stronger and taller than we are; the cities are large, with walls up to the sky. We even saw the Anakites there.’”

²⁹ Then I said to you, “Do not be terrified; do not be afraid of them. ³⁰ The Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim), who is going before you, will fight for you, as he did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes, ³¹ and in the wilderness. There you saw how the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim)   carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place.”

³² In spite of this, you did not trust in the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim)  , ³³ who went ahead of you on your journey, in fire by night and in a cloud by day, to search out places for you to camp and to show you the way you should go.

³⁴ When the Lord (YHWH) heard what you said, he was angry and solemnly swore: ³⁵ “No one from this evil generation shall see the good land I swore to give your ancestors, ³⁶ except Caleb son of Jephunneh. He will see it, and I will give him and his descendants the land he set his feet on, because he followed the Lord (YHWH) wholeheartedly.”

³⁷ Because of you the Lord (YHWH) became angry with me also and said, “You shall not enter it, either. ³⁸ But your assistant, Joshua son of Nun, will enter it. Encourage him, because he will lead Israel to inherit it. ³⁹ And the little ones that you said would be taken captive, your children who do not yet know good from bad—they will enter the land. I will give it to them and they will take possession of it. ⁴⁰ But as for you, turn around and set out toward the desert along the route to the Red Sea.”

⁴¹ Then you replied, “We have sinned against the Lord (YHWH) . We will go up and fight, as the Lord (YHWH) our God (Elohim) commanded us.” So every one of you put on his weapons, thinking it easy to go up into the hill country.

⁴² But the Lord (YHWH) said to me, “Tell them, ‘Do not go up and fight, because I will not be with you. You will be defeated by your enemies.’”

⁴³ So I told you, but you would not listen. You rebelled against the Lord’s (YHWH’s)  command and in your arrogance you marched up into the hill country. ⁴⁴ The Amorites who lived in those hills came out against you; they chased you like a swarm of bees and beat you down from Seir all the way to Hormah. ⁴⁵ You came back and wept before the Lord (YHWH) , but he paid no attention to your weeping and turned a deaf ear to you. ⁴⁶ And so you stayed in Kadesh many days—all the time you spent there.

Wanderings in the Wilderness

2 Then we turned back and set out toward the wilderness along the route to the Red Sea, as the Lord (YHWH) had directed me. For a long time we made our way around the hill country of Seir.

² Then the Lord (YHWH) said to me, ³ “You have made your way around this hill country long enough; now turn north. ⁴ Give the people these orders: ‘You are about to pass through the territory of your relatives the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. They will be afraid of you, but be very careful. ⁵ Do not provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of their land, not even enough to put your foot on. I have given Esau the hill country of Seir as his own. ⁶ You are to pay them in silver for the food you eat and the water you drink.’”

⁷ The Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim)   has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He has watched over your journey through this vast wilderness. These forty years the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim)   has been with you, and you have not lacked anything.

⁸ So we went on past our relatives the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. We turned from the Arabah road, which comes up from Elath and Ezion Geber, and traveled along the desert road of Moab.

⁹ Then the Lord (YHWH) said to me, “Do not harass the Moabites or provoke them to war, for I will not give you any part of their land. I have given Ar to the descendants of Lot as a possession.”

¹⁰ (The Emites used to live there—a people strong and numerous, and as tall as the Anakites. ¹¹ Like the Anakites, they too were considered Rephaites, but the Moabites called them Emites. ¹² Horites used to live in Seir, but the descendants of Esau drove them out. They destroyed the Horites from before them and settled in their place, just as Israel did in the land the Lord (YHWH) gave them as their possession.)

¹³ And the Lord (YHWH) said, “Now get up and cross the Zered Valley.” So we crossed the valley.

¹⁴ Thirty-eight years passed from the time we left Kadesh Barnea until we crossed the Zered Valley. By then, that entire generation of fighting men had perished from the camp, as the Lord (YHWH) had sworn to them. ¹⁵ The Lord’s (YHWH’s)  hand was against them until he had completely eliminated them from the camp.

¹⁶ Now when the last of these fighting men among the people had died, ¹⁷ the Lord (YHWH) said to me, ¹⁸ “Today you are to pass by the region of Moab at Ar. ¹⁹ When you come to the Ammonites, do not harass them or provoke them to war, for I will not give you possession of any land belonging to the Ammonites. I have given it as a possession to the descendants of Lot.”

²⁰ (That too was considered a land of the Rephaites, who used to live there; but the Ammonites called them Zamzummites. ²¹ They were a people strong and numerous, and as tall as the Anakites. The Lord (YHWH) destroyed them from before the Ammonites, who drove them out and settled in their place. ²² The Lord (YHWH) had done the same for the descendants of Esau, who lived in Seir, when he destroyed the Horites from before them. They drove them out and have lived in their place to this day. ²³ And as for the Avvites who lived in villages as far as Gaza, the Caphtorites coming out from Caphtor destroyed them and settled in their place.)

Defeat of Sihon King of Heshbon

²⁴ “Set out now and cross the Arnon Gorge. See, I have given into your hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his country. Begin to take possession of it and engage him in battle. ²⁵ This very day I will begin to put the terror and fear of you on all the nations under heaven. They will hear reports of you and will tremble and be in anguish because of you.”

²⁶ From the Desert of Kedemoth I sent messengers to Sihon king of Heshbon offering peace and saying, ²⁷ “Let us pass through your country. We will stay on the main road; we will not turn aside to the right or to the left. ²⁸ Sell us food to eat and water to drink for their price in silver. Only let us pass through on foot— ²⁹ as the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir, and the Moabites, who live in Ar, did for us—until we cross the Jordan into the land the Lord (YHWH) our God (Elohim) is giving us.” ³⁰ But Sihon king of Heshbon refused to let us pass through. For the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim)   had made his spirit (Manifestation) stubborn and his heart obstinate in order to give him into your hands, as he has now done.

³¹ The Lord (YHWH) said to me, “See, I have begun to deliver Sihon and his country over to you. Now begin to conquer and possess his land.”

³² When Sihon and all his army came out to meet us in battle at Jahaz, ³³ the Lord (YHWH) our God (Elohim)  delivered him over to us and we struck him down, together with his sons and his whole army. ³⁴ At that time we took all his towns and completely destroyed them—men, women and children. We left no survivors. ³⁵ But the livestock and the plunder from the towns we had captured we carried off for ourselves. ³⁶ From Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Gorge, and from the town in the gorge, even as far as Gilead, not one town was too strong for us. The Lord (YHWH) our God (Elohim) gave us all of them. ³⁷ But in accordance with the command of the Lord (YHWH) our God (Elohim), you did not encroach on any of the land of the Ammonites, neither the land along the course of the Jabbok nor that around the towns in the hills.

Defeat of Og King of Bashan

3 Next we turned and went up along the road toward Bashan, and Og king of Bashan with his whole army marched out to meet us in battle at Edrei. ² The Lord (YHWH) said to me, “Do not be afraid of him, for I have delivered him into your hands, along with his whole army and his land. Do to him what you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon.”

³ So the Lord (YHWH) our God (Elohim)   also gave into our hands Og king of Bashan and all his army. We struck them down, leaving no survivors. ⁴ At that time we took all his cities. There was not one of the sixty cities that we did not take from them—the whole region of Argob, Og’s kingdom in Bashan. ⁵ All these cities were fortified with high walls and with gates and bars, and there were also a great many unwalled villages. ⁶ We completely destroyed them, as we had done with Sihon king of Heshbon, destroying every city—men, women and children. ⁷ But all the livestock and the plunder from their cities we carried off for ourselves.

⁸ So at that time we took from these two kings of the Amorites the territory east of the Jordan, from the Arnon Gorge as far as Mount Hermon. ⁹ (Hermon is called Sirion by the Sidonians; the Amorites call it Senir.) ¹⁰ We took all the towns on the plateau, and all Gilead, and all Bashan as far as Salekah and Edrei, towns of Og’s kingdom in Bashan. ¹¹ (Og king of Bashan was the last of the Rephaites. His bed was decorated with iron and was more than nine cubits long and four cubits wide. It is still in Rabbah of the Ammonites.)

Division of the Land

¹² Of the land that we took over at that time, I gave the Reubenites and the Gadites the territory north of Aroer by the Arnon Gorge, including half the hill country of Gilead, together with its towns. ¹³ The rest of Gilead and also all of Bashan, the kingdom of Og, I gave to the half-tribe of Manasseh. (The whole region of Argob in Bashan used to be known as a land of the Rephaites. ¹⁴ Jair, a descendant of Manasseh, took the whole region of Argob as far as the border of the Geshurites and the Maakathites; it was named after him, so that to this day Bashan is called Havvoth Jair.) ¹⁵ And I gave Gilead to Makir. ¹⁶ But to the Reubenites and the Gadites I gave the territory extending from Gilead down to the Arnon Gorge (the middle of the gorge being the border) and out to the Jabbok River, which is the border of the Ammonites. ¹⁷ Its western border was the Jordan in the Arabah, from Kinnereth to the Sea of the Arabah (that is, the Dead Sea), below the slopes of Pisgah.

¹⁸ I commanded you at that time: “The Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim)   has given you this land to take possession of it. But all your able-bodied men, armed for battle, must cross over ahead of the other Israelites. ¹⁹ However, your wives, your children and your livestock (I know you have much livestock) may stay in the towns I have given you, ²⁰ until the Lord (YHWH) gives rest to your fellow Israelites as he has to you, and they too have taken over the land that the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim)   is giving them across the Jordan. After that, each of you may go back to the possession I have given you.”

Moses Forbidden to Cross the Jordan

²¹ At that time I commanded Joshua: “You have seen with your own eyes all that the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim)   has done to these two kings. The Lord (YHWH) will do the same to all the kingdoms over there where you are going. ²² Do not be afraid of them; the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim)   himself will fight for you.”

²³ At that time I pleaded with the Lord (YHWH) : ²⁴ “Sovereign Lord (YHWH) , you have begun to show to your servant your greatness and your strong hand. For what God (Elohim) is there in heaven or on earth who can do the deeds and mighty works you do? ²⁵ Let me go over and see the good land beyond the Jordan—that fine hill country and Lebanon.”

²⁶ But because of you the Lord (YHWH) was angry with me and would not listen to me. “That is enough,” the Lord (YHWH) said. “Do not speak to me anymore about this matter. ²⁷ Go up to the top of Pisgah and look west and north and south and east. Look at the land with your own eyes, since you are not going to cross this Jordan. ²⁸ But commission Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him, for he will lead this people across and will cause them to inherit the land that you will see.” ²⁹ So we stayed in the valley near Beth Peor.

Obedience Commanded

(Moses proceeds to reiterate all that Israel must both know and remember before crossing the Jordan)

4 Now, Israel, hear the decrees and laws I am about to teach you. Follow them so that you may live and may go in and take possession of the land the Lord (YHWH) , the God (Elohim)   of your ancestors, is giving you. ² Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim)   that I give you.

³ You saw with your own eyes what the Lord (YHWH) did at Baal Peor. The Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim)   destroyed from among you everyone who followed the Baal of Peor, ⁴ but all of you who held fast to the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim)   are still alive today.

⁵ See, I have taught you decrees and laws as the Lord (YHWH) my God (Elohim)   commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land you are entering to take possession of it. ⁶ Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.” ⁷ What other nation is so great as to have their god’s (elohim)   near them the way the Lord (YHWH) our God (Elohim)  is near us whenever we pray to him? ⁸ And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you today?

⁹ Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them fade from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them. ¹⁰ Remember the day you stood before the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) at Horeb, when he said to me, “Assemble the people before me to hear my words so that they may learn to revere me as long as they live in the land and may teach them to their children.” ¹¹ You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain while it blazed with fire to the very heavens, with black clouds and deep darkness. ¹² Then the Lord (YHWH) spoke to you out of the fire. You heard the sound of words but saw no form; there was only a voice. ¹³ He declared to you his covenant, the Ten Commandments, which he commanded you to follow and then wrote them on two stone tablets. ¹⁴ And the Lord (YHWH) directed me at that time to teach you the decrees and laws you are to follow in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess.

Idolatry Forbidden

¹⁵ You saw no form of any kind the day the Lord (YHWH) spoke to you at Horeb out of the fire. Therefore watch yourselves very carefully, ¹⁶ so that you do not become corrupt and make for yourselves an idol, an image of any shape, whether formed like a man or a woman, ¹⁷ or like any animal on earth or any bird that flies in the air, ¹⁸ or like any creature that moves along the ground or any fish in the waters below. ¹⁹ And when you look up to the sky and see the sun, the moon and the stars—all the heavenly array—do not be enticed into bowing down to them and worshiping things the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) has apportioned to all the nations under heaven. ²⁰ But as for you, the Lord (YHWH) took you and brought you out of the iron-smelting furnace, out of Egypt, to be the people of his inheritance, as you now are.

²¹ The Lord (YHWH) was angry with me because of you, and he solemnly swore that I would not cross the Jordan and enter the good land the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim)   is giving you as your inheritance. ²² I will die in this land; I will not cross the Jordan; but you are about to cross over and take possession of that good land. ²³ Be careful not to forget the covenant of the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim)   that he made with you; do not make for yourselves an idol in the form of anything the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim)  has forbidden. ²⁴ For the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) is a consuming fire, a jealous God (Elohim).

²⁵ After you have had children and grandchildren and have lived in the land a long time—if you then become corrupt and make any kind of idol, doing evil in the eyes of the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) and arousing his anger, ²⁶ I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you this day that you will quickly perish from the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess. You will not live there long but will certainly be destroyed. ²⁷ The Lord (YHWH) will scatter you among the peoples, and only a few of you will survive among the nations to which the Lord (YHWH) will drive you. ²⁸ There you will worship man-made God’s (elohim)   of wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or eat or smell. ²⁹ But if from there you seek the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim), you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul. ³⁰ When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, then in later days you will return to the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) and obey him. ³¹ For the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim)  is a merciful God (Elohim); he will not abandon or destroy you or forget the covenant with your ancestors, which he confirmed to them by oath.

The Lord (YHWH) Is God (Elohim)

³² Ask now about the former days, long before your time, from the day God (Elohim) created human beings on the earth; ask from one end of the heavens to the other. Has anything so great as this ever happened, or has anything like it ever been heard of? ³³ Has any other people heard the voice of God (Elohim)   speaking out of fire, as you have, and lived? ³⁴ Has any God (Elohim) ever tried to take for himself one nation out of another nation, by testings, by signs and wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, or by great and awesome deeds, like all the things the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) did for you in Egypt before your very eyes?

³⁵ You were shown these things so that you might know that the Lord (YHWH) is God (Elohim); besides him there is no other. ³⁶ From heaven he made you hear his voice to discipline you. On earth he showed you his great fire, and you heard his words from out of the fire. ³⁷ Because he loved your ancestors and chose their descendants after them, he brought you out of Egypt by his Presence and his great strength, ³⁸ to drive out before you nations greater and stronger than you and to bring you into their land to give it to you for your inheritance, as it is today.

³⁹ Acknowledge and take to heart this day that the Lord (YHWH) is God (Elohim) in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other. ⁴⁰ Keep his decrees and commands, which I am giving you today, so that it may go well with you and your children after you and that you may live long in the land the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) gives you for all time.

Cities of Refuge

⁴¹ Then Moses set aside three cities east of the Jordan, ⁴² to which anyone who had killed a person could flee if they had unintentionally killed a neighbor without malice aforethought. They could flee into one of these cities and save their life. ⁴³ The cities were these: Bezer in the wilderness plateau, for the Reubenites; Ramoth in Gilead, for the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan, for the Manassites.

Introduction to the Law

⁴⁴ This is the law Moses set before the Israelites. ⁴⁵ These are the stipulations, decrees and laws Moses gave them when they came out of Egypt ⁴⁶ and were in the valley near Beth Peor east of the Jordan, in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon and was defeated by Moses and the Israelites as they came out of Egypt. ⁴⁷ They took possession of his land and the land of Og king of Bashan, the two Amorite kings east of the Jordan. ⁴⁸ This land extended from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Gorge to Mount Sirion (that is, Hermon), ⁴⁹ and included all the Arabah east of the Jordan, as far as the Dead Sea, below the slopes of Pisgah.

The Ten Commandments reiterated

5 Moses summoned all Israel and said:

Hear, Israel, the decrees and laws I declare in your hearing today. Learn them and be sure to follow them. ² The Lord (YHWH) our God (Elohim) made a covenant with us at Horeb. ³ It was not with our ancestors that the Lord (YHWH) made this covenant, but with us, with all of us who are alive here today. ⁴ The Lord (YHWH) spoke to you face to face out of the fire on the mountain. ⁵ (At that time I stood between the Lord (YHWH) and you to declare to you the word of the Lord (YHWH) , because you were afraid of the fire and did not go up the mountain.) And he said:

⁶ “I am the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim), who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

⁷ “You shall have no other god’s (elohim)  before me.

⁸ “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. ⁹ You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim), am a jealous God (Elohim)  , punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, ¹⁰ but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.

¹¹ “You shall not misuse (hold worthless)  the name of the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim), for the Lord (YHWH) will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses (hold worthless)  his name.

¹² “Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy (set-apart), as the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim)   has commanded you. ¹³ Six days you shall labor and do all your work, ¹⁴ but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim). On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns, so that your male and female servants may rest, as you do. ¹⁵ Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim)  has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.

¹⁶ “Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) is giving you.

¹⁷ “You shall not murder.

¹⁸ “You shall not commit adultery.

¹⁹ “You shall not steal.

²⁰ “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

²¹ “You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. You shall not set your desire on your neighbor’s house or land, his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

²² These are the commandments the Lord (YHWH) proclaimed in a loud voice to your whole assembly there on the mountain from out of the fire, the cloud and the deep darkness; and he added nothing more. Then he wrote them on two stone tablets and gave them to me.

²³ When you heard the voice out of the darkness, while the mountain was ablaze with fire, all the leaders of your tribes and your elders came to me. ²⁴ And you said, “The Lord (YHWH) our God (Elohim) has shown us his glory and his majesty, and we have heard his voice from the fire. Today we have seen that a person can live even if God (Elohim) speaks with them. ²⁵ But now, why should we die? This great fire will consume us, and we will die if we hear the voice of the Lord (YHWH) our God (Elohim) any longer. ²⁶ For what mortal has ever heard the voice of the living God (Elohim) speaking out of fire, as we have, and survived? ²⁷ Go near and listen to all that the Lord (YHWH) our God (Elohim) says. Then tell us whatever the Lord (YHWH) our God (Elohim) tells you. We will listen and obey.”

²⁸ The Lord (YHWH) heard you when you spoke to me, and the Lord (YHWH) said to me, “I have heard what this people said to you. Everything they said was good. ²⁹ Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always, so that it might go well with them and their children forever!

³⁰ “Go, tell them to return to their tents. ³¹ But you stay here with me so that I may give you all the commands, decrees and laws you are to teach them to follow in the land I am giving them to possess.”

³² So be careful to do what the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) has commanded you; do not turn aside to the right or to the left. ³³ Walk in obedience to all that the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess.

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Part 10

Deuteronomy 6 – 11:32

Love the Lord (YHWH) Your God (Elohim)

6 These are the commands, decrees and laws the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, ² so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. ³ Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord (YHWH) , the God (Elohim) of your ancestors, promised you.

⁴ Hear, O Israel: The Lord (YHWH) our God (Elohim), the Lord (YHWH) is one. ⁵ Love the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. ⁶ These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. ⁷ Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. ⁸ Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. ⁹ Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

¹⁰ When the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you—a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, ¹¹ houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant—then when you eat and are satisfied, ¹² be careful that you do not forget the Lord (YHWH) , who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

¹³ Fear the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim), serve him only and take your oaths in his name. ¹⁴ Do not follow other God’s (elohim), the God’s (elohim) of the peoples around you; ¹⁵ for the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim), who is among you, is a jealous God (Elohim) and his anger will burn against you, and he will destroy you from the face of the land. ¹⁶ Do not put the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim)  to the test as you did at Massah. ¹⁷ Be sure to keep the commands of the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) and the stipulations and decrees he has given you. ¹⁸ Do what is right and good in the Lord’s (YHWH’s) sight, so that it may go well with you and you may go in and take over the good land the Lord (YHWH) promised on oath to your ancestors, ¹⁹ thrusting out all your enemies before you, as the Lord (YHWH) said.

²⁰ In the future, when your son asks you, “What is the meaning of the stipulations, decrees and laws the Lord (YHWH) our God (Elohim) has commanded you?” ²¹ tell him: “We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the Lord (YHWH) brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. ²² Before our eyes the Lord (YHWH) sent signs and wonders—great and terrible—on Egypt and Pharaoh and his whole household. ²³ But he brought us out from there to bring us in and give us the land he promised on oath to our ancestors. ²⁴ The Lord (YHWH) commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear the Lord (YHWH) our God (Elohim), so that we might always prosper and be kept alive, as is the case today. ²⁵ And if we are careful to obey all this law before the Lord (YHWH) our God (Elohim), as he has commanded us, that will be our righteousness.”

Driving Out the Nations

7 When the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations – the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, seven nations larger and stronger than you— ² and when the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty with them, and show them no mercy. ³ Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, ⁴ for they will turn your children away from following me to serve other God’s (elohim), and the Lord’s (YHWH’s)  anger will burn against you and will quickly destroy you. ⁵ This is what you are to do to them: Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones, cut down their Asherah poles and burn their idols in the fire. ⁶ For you are a people holy (set-apart) to the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim). The Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.

⁷ The Lord (YHWH) did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. ⁸ But it was because the Lord (YHWH) loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. ⁹ Know therefore that the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim)   is God (Elohim)  ; he is the faithful God (Elohim)  , keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments. ¹⁰ But those who hate him he will repay to their face by destruction;  he will not be slow to repay to their face those who hate him.

¹¹ Therefore, take care to follow the commands, decrees and laws I give you today.

¹² If you pay attention to these laws and are careful to follow them, then the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) will keep his covenant of love with you, as he swore to your ancestors. ¹³ He will love you and bless you and increase your numbers. He will bless the fruit of your womb, the crops of your land—your grain, new wine and olive oil—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks in the land he swore to your ancestors to give you. ¹⁴ You will be blessed more than any other people; none of your men or women will be childless, nor will any of your livestock be without young. ¹⁵ The Lord (YHWH) will keep you free from every disease. He will not inflict on you the horrible diseases you knew in Egypt, but he will inflict them on all who hate you. ¹⁶ You must destroy all the peoples the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim)   gives over to you. Do not look on them with pity and do not serve their God’s (elohim)  , for that will be a snare to you.

¹⁷ You may say to yourselves, “These nations are stronger than we are. How can we drive them out?” ¹⁸ But do not be afraid of them; remember well what the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim)   did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt. ¹⁹ You saw with your own eyes the great trials, the signs and wonders, the mighty hand and outstretched arm, with which the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim)   brought you out. The Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim)   will do the same to all the peoples you now fear. ²⁰ Moreover, the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim)   will send the hornet among them until even the survivors who hide from you have perished. ²¹ Do not be terrified by them, for the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim), who is among you, is a great and awesome God (Elohim)  . ²² The Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) will drive out those nations before you, little by little. You will not be allowed to eliminate them all at once, or the wild animals will multiply around you. ²³ But the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) will deliver them over to you, throwing them into great confusion until they are destroyed. ²⁴ He will give their kings into your hand, and you will wipe out their names from under heaven. No one will be able to stand up against you; you will destroy them. ²⁵ The images of their god’s (elohim)   you are to burn in the fire. Do not covet the silver and gold on them, and do not take it for yourselves, or you will be ensnared by it, for it is detestable to the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim). ²⁶ Do not bring a detestable thing into your house or you, like it, will be set apart for destruction. Regard it as vile and utterly detest it, for it is set apart for destruction.

Do Not Forget the Lord (YHWH)

8 Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land the Lord (YHWH) promised on oath to your ancestors. ² Remember how the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. ³ He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord (YHWH). ⁴ Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. ⁵ Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) disciplines you.

⁶ Observe the commands of the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim), walking in obedience to him and revering him. ⁷ For the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim)   is bringing you into a good land—a land with brooks, streams, and deep springs gushing out into the valleys and hills; ⁸ a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey; ⁹ a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills.

¹⁰ When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) for the good land he has given you. ¹¹ Be careful that you do not forget the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim), failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. ¹² Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, ¹³ and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, ¹⁴ then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim), who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. ¹⁵ He led you through the vast and dreadful wilderness, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. ¹⁶ He gave you manna to eat in the wilderness, something your ancestors had never known, to humble and test you so that in the end it might go well with you. ¹⁷ You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” ¹⁸ But remember the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim)  , for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.

¹⁹ If you ever forget the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim)  and follow other God’s (elohim)   and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed. ²⁰ Like the nations the Lord (YHWH) destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) .

Not Because of Israel’s Righteousness

9 Hear, Israel: You are now about to cross the Jordan to go in and dispossess nations greater and stronger than you, with large cities that have walls up to the sky. ² The people are strong and tall—Anakites! You know about them and have heard it said: “Who can stand up against the Anakites?” ³ But be assured today that the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim)   is the one who goes across ahead of you like a devouring fire. He will destroy them; he will subdue them before you. And you will drive them out and annihilate them quickly, as the Lord (YHWH) has promised you.

⁴ After the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) has driven them out before you, do not say to yourself, “The Lord (YHWH) has brought me here to take possession of this land because of my righteousness.” No, it is on account of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord (YHWH) is going to drive them out before you. ⁵ It is not because of your righteousness or your integrity that you are going in to take possession of their land; but on account of the wickedness of these nations, the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) will drive them out before you, to accomplish what he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. ⁶ Understand, then, that it is not because of your righteousness that the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stiff-necked people.

The Golden Calf

⁷ Remember this and never forget how you aroused the anger of the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) in the wilderness. From the day you left Egypt until you arrived here, you have been rebellious against the Lord (YHWH). ⁸ At Horeb you aroused the Lord’s (YHWH’s) wrath so that he was angry enough to destroy you. ⁹ When I went up on the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant that the Lord (YHWH) had made with you, I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights; I ate no bread and drank no water. ¹⁰ The Lord (YHWH) gave me two stone tablets inscribed by the finger of God (Elohim). On them were all the commandments the Lord (YHWH) proclaimed to you on the mountain out of the fire, on the day of the assembly.

¹¹ At the end of the forty days and forty nights, the Lord (YHWH) gave me the two stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant. ¹² Then the Lord (YHWH) told me, “Go down from here at once, because your people whom you brought out of Egypt have become corrupt. They have turned away quickly from what I commanded them and have made an idol for themselves.”

¹³ And the Lord (YHWH) said to me, “I have seen this people, and they are a stiff-necked people indeed! ¹⁴ Let me alone, so that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven. And I will make you into a nation stronger and more numerous than they.”

¹⁵ So I turned and went down from the mountain while it was ablaze with fire. And the two tablets of the covenant were in my hands. ¹⁶ When I looked, I saw that you had sinned against the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim); you had made for yourselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. You had turned aside quickly from the way that the Lord (YHWH) had commanded you. ¹⁷ So I took the two tablets and threw them out of my hands, breaking them to pieces before your eyes.

¹⁸ Then once again I fell prostrate before the Lord (YHWH) for forty days and forty nights; I ate no bread and drank no water, because of all the sin you had committed, doing what was evil in the Lord’s (YHWH’s)  sight and so arousing his anger. ¹⁹ I feared the anger and wrath of the Lord (YHWH) , for he was angry enough with you to destroy you. But again the Lord (YHWH) listened to me. ²⁰ And the Lord (YHWH) was angry enough with Aaron to destroy him, but at that time I prayed for Aaron too. ²¹ Also I took that sinful thing of yours, the calf you had made, and burned it in the fire. Then I crushed it and ground it to powder as fine as dust and threw the dust into a stream that flowed down the mountain.

²² You also made the Lord (YHWH) angry at Taberah, at Massah and at Kibroth Hattaavah.

²³ And when the Lord (YHWH) sent you out from Kadesh Barnea, he said, “Go up and take possession of the land I have given you.” But you rebelled against the command of the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim). You did not trust him or obey him. ²⁴ You have been rebellious against the Lord (YHWH) ever since I have known you.

²⁵ I lay prostrate before the Lord (YHWH) those forty days and forty nights because the Lord (YHWH) had said he would destroy you. ²⁶ I prayed to the Lord (YHWH) and said, “Sovereign Lord (YHWH), do not destroy your people, your own inheritance that you redeemed by your great power and brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand. ²⁷ Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Overlook the stubbornness of this people, their wickedness and their sin. ²⁸ Otherwise, the country from which you brought us will say, ‘Because the Lord (YHWH) was not able to take them into the land he had promised them, and because he hated them, he brought them out to put them to death in the wilderness.’ ²⁹ But they are your people, your inheritance that you brought out by your great power and your outstretched arm.”

Tablets Like the First Ones

10 At that time the Lord (YHWH) said to me, “Chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones and come up to me on the mountain. Also make a wooden ark. ² I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. Then you are to put them in the ark.”

³ So I made the ark out of acacia wood and chiseled out two stone tablets like the first ones, and I went up on the mountain with the two tablets in my hands. ⁴ The Lord (YHWH) wrote on these tablets what he had written before, the Ten Commandments he had proclaimed to you on the mountain, out of the fire, on the day of the assembly. And the Lord (YHWH) gave them to me. ⁵ Then I came back down the mountain and put the tablets in the ark I had made, as the Lord (YHWH) commanded me, and they are there now.

⁶ (The Israelites traveled from the wells of Bene Jaakan to Moserah. There Aaron died and was buried, and Eleazar his son succeeded him as priest. ⁷ From there they traveled to Gudah and on to Jotbathah, a land with streams of water. ⁸ At that time the Lord (YHWH) set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord (YHWH), to stand before the Lord (YHWH) to minister and to pronounce blessings in his name, as they still do today. ⁹ That is why the Levites have no share or inheritance among their fellow Israelites; the Lord (YHWH) is their inheritance, as the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) told them.)

¹⁰ Now I had stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights, as I did the first time, and the Lord (YHWH) listened to me at this time also. It was not his will to destroy you. ¹¹ “Go,” the Lord (YHWH) said to me, “and lead the people on their way, so that they may enter and possess the land I swore to their ancestors to give them.”

Fear the Lord (YHWH)

¹² And now, Israel, what does the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim)   ask of you but to fear the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim)  , to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim)   with all your heart and with all your soul, ¹³ and to observe the Lord’s (YHWH’s)  commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?

¹⁴ To the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim)   belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it. ¹⁵ Yet the Lord (YHWH) set his affection on your ancestors and loved them, and he chose you, their descendants, above all the nations—as it is today. ¹⁶ Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer. ¹⁷ For the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) is God (Elohim) of god’s (elohim) and Lord (Maran – my Master) of Lord s (Maran’s -Maters), the great God (Elohim), mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. ¹⁸ He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing. ¹⁹ And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt. ²⁰ Fear the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) and serve him. Hold fast to him and take your oaths in his name. ²¹ He is the one you praise; he is your God (Elohim), who performed for you those great and awesome wonders you saw with your own eyes. ²² Your ancestors who went down into Egypt were seventy in all, and now the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) has made you as numerous as the stars in the sky.

Love and Obey the Lord (YHWH)

11 Love the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) and keep his requirements, his decrees, his laws and his commands always. ² Remember today that your children were not the ones who saw and experienced the discipline of the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim): his majesty, his mighty hand, his outstretched arm; ³ the signs he performed and the things he did in the heart of Egypt, both to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his whole country; ⁴ what he did to the Egyptian army, to its horses and chariots, how he overwhelmed them with the waters of the Red Sea as they were pursuing you, and how the Lord (YHWH) brought lasting ruin on them. ⁵ It was not your children who saw what he did for you in the wilderness until you arrived at this place, ⁶ and what he did to Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab the Reubenite, when the earth opened its mouth right in the middle of all Israel and swallowed them up with their households, their tents and every living thing that belonged to them. ⁷ But it was your own eyes that saw all these great things the Lord (YHWH) has done.

⁸ Observe therefore all the commands I am giving you today, so that you may have the strength to go in and take over the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, ⁹ and so that you may live long in the land the Lord (YHWH) swore to your ancestors to give to them and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey. ¹⁰ The land you are entering to take over is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you planted your seed and irrigated it by foot as in a vegetable garden. ¹¹ But the land you are crossing the Jordan to take possession of is a land of mountains and valleys that drinks rain from heaven. ¹² It is a land the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) cares for; the eyes of the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) are continually on it from the beginning of the year to its end.

¹³ So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today—to love the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul— ¹⁴ then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and olive oil. ¹⁵ I will provide grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied.

¹⁶ Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other god’s (elohim)   and bow down to them. ¹⁷ Then the Lord’s (YHWH’s) anger will burn against you, and he will shut up the heavens so that it will not rain and the ground will yield no produce, and you will soon perish from the good land the Lord (YHWH) is giving you. ¹⁸ Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. ¹⁹ Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. ²⁰ Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, ²¹ so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land the Lord (YHWH) swore to give your ancestors, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.

²² If you carefully observe all these commands I am giving you to follow—to love the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim), to walk in obedience to him and to hold fast to him— ²³ then the Lord (YHWH) will drive out all these nations before you, and you will dispossess nations larger and stronger than you. ²⁴ Every place where you set your foot will be yours: Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the Euphrates River to the Mediterranean Sea. ²⁵ No one will be able to stand against you. The Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim), as he promised you, will put the terror and fear of you on the whole land, wherever you go.

²⁶ See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse— ²⁷ the blessing if you obey the commands of the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) that I am giving you today; ²⁸ the curse if you disobey the commands of the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) and turn from the way that I command you today by following other god’s (elohim), which you have not known. ²⁹ When the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) has brought you into the land you are entering to possess, you are to proclaim on Mount Gerizim the blessings, and on Mount Ebal the curses. ³⁰ As you know, these mountains are across the Jordan, westward, toward the setting sun, near the great trees of Moreh, in the territory of those Canaanites living in the Arabah in the vicinity of Gilgal. ³¹ You are about to cross the Jordan to enter and take possession of the land the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) is giving you. When you have taken it over and are living there, ³² be sure that you obey all the decrees and laws I am setting before you today.

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Part 11

Deuteronomy 12 – 17:20

The One Place of Worship

12 These are the decrees and laws you must be careful to follow in the land that the Lord (YHWH) , the God (Elohim) of your ancestors, has given you to possess—as long as you live in the land. ² Destroy completely all the places on the high mountains, on the hills and under every spreading tree, where the nations you are dispossessing worship their god’s (elohim). ³ Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and burn their Asherah poles in the fire; cut down the idols of their god’s (elohim) and wipe out their names from those places.

⁴ You must not worship the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) in their way. ⁵ But you are to seek the place the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) will choose from among all your tribes to put his Name there for his dwelling. To that place you must go; ⁶ there bring your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, what you have vowed to give and your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks. ⁷ There, in the presence of the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim), you and your families shall eat and shall rejoice in everything you have put your hand to, because the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) has blessed you.

⁸ You are not to do as we do here today, everyone doing as they see fit, ⁹ since you have not yet reached the resting place and the inheritance the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) is giving you. ¹⁰ But you will cross the Jordan and settle in the land the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim)   is giving you as an inheritance, and he will give you rest from all your enemies around you so that you will live in safety. ¹¹ Then to the place the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) will choose as a dwelling for his Name—there you are to bring everything I command you: your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, and all the choice possessions you have vowed to the Lord (YHWH) . ¹² And there rejoice before the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim)  —you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levites from your towns who have no allotment or inheritance of their own. ¹³ Be careful not to sacrifice your burnt offerings anywhere you please. ¹⁴ Offer them only at the place the Lord (YHWH) will choose in one of your tribes, and there observe everything I command you.

¹⁵ Nevertheless, you may slaughter your animals in any of your towns and eat as much of the meat as you want, as if it were gazelle or deer, according to the blessing the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim)   gives you. Both the ceremonially unclean and the clean may eat it. ¹⁶ But you must not eat the blood; pour it out on the ground like water. ¹⁷ You must not eat in your own towns the tithe of your grain and new wine and olive oil, or the firstborn of your herds and flocks, or whatever you have vowed to give, or your freewill offerings or special gifts. ¹⁸ Instead, you are to eat them in the presence of the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) at the place the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) will choose—you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levites from your towns—and you are to rejoice before the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) in everything you put your hand to. ¹⁹ Be careful not to neglect the Levites as long as you live in your land.

²⁰ When the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) has enlarged your territory as he promised you, and you crave meat and say, “I would like some meat,” then you may eat as much of it as you want. ²¹ If the place where the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) chooses to put his Name is too far away from you, you may slaughter animals from the herds and flocks the Lord (YHWH) has given you, as I have commanded you, and in your own towns you may eat as much of them as you want. ²² Eat them as you would gazelle or deer. Both the ceremonially unclean and the clean may eat. ²³ But be sure you do not eat the blood, because the blood is the life, and you must not eat the life with the meat. ²⁴ You must not eat the blood; pour it out on the ground like water. ²⁵ Do not eat it, so that it may go well with you and your children after you, because you will be doing what is right in the eyes of the Lord (YHWH) .

²⁶ But take your consecrated things and whatever you have vowed to give, and go to the place the Lord (YHWH) will choose. ²⁷ Present your burnt offerings on the altar of the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim), both the meat and the blood. The blood of your sacrifices must be poured beside the altar of the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim), but you may eat the meat. ²⁸ Be careful to obey all these regulations I am giving you, so that it may always go well with you and your children after you, because you will be doing what is good and right in the eyes of the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim).

²⁹ The Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) will cut off before you the nations you are about to invade and dispossess. But when you have driven them out and settled in their land, ³⁰ and after they have been destroyed before you, be careful not to be ensnared by inquiring about their god’s (elohim)  , saying, “How do these nations serve their sod’s (elohim)? We will do the same.” ³¹ You must not worship the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) in their way, because in worshiping their god’s (elohim), they do all kinds of detestable things the Lord (YHWH) hates. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire as sacrifices to their god’s (elohim).

³² See that you do all I command you; do not add to it or take away from it.

Worshiping Other god’s (elohim)

13 If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a sign or wonder, ² and if the sign or wonder spoken of takes place, and the prophet says, “Let us follow other god’s (elohim)  ” (god’s (elohim)   you have not known) “and let us worship them,” ³ you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim)   is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul. ⁴ It is the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him. ⁵ That prophet or dreamer must be put to death for inciting rebellion against the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim), who brought you out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery. That prophet or dreamer tried to turn you from the way the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) commanded you to follow. You must purge the evil from among you.

⁶ If your very own brother, or your son or daughter, or the wife you love, or your closest friend secretly entices you, saying, “Let us go and worship other god’s (elohim)  ” (god’s (elohim)   that neither you nor your ancestors have known, ⁷ god’s (elohim) of the peoples around you, whether near or far, from one end of the land to the other), ⁸ do not yield to them or listen to them. Show them no pity. Do not spare them or shield them. ⁹ You must certainly put them to death. Your hand must be the first in putting them to death, and then the hands of all the people. ¹⁰ Stone them to death, because they tried to turn you away from the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim), who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. ¹¹ Then all Israel will hear and be afraid, and no one among you will do such an evil thing again.

¹² If you hear it said about one of the towns the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) is giving you to live in ¹³ that troublemakers have arisen among you and have led the people of their town astray, saying, “Let us go and worship other god’s (elohim)  ” (god’s (elohim)   you have not known), ¹⁴ then you must inquire, probe and investigate it thoroughly. And if it is true and it has been proved that this detestable thing has been done among you, ¹⁵ you must certainly put to the sword all who live in that town. You must destroy it completely, both its people and its livestock. ¹⁶ You are to gather all the plunder of the town into the middle of the public square and completely burn the town and all its plunder as a whole burnt offering to the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim). That town is to remain a ruin forever, never to be rebuilt, ¹⁷ and none of the condemned things are to be found in your hands. Then the Lord (YHWH) will turn from his fierce anger, will show you mercy, and will have compassion on you. He will increase your numbers, as he promised on oath to your ancestors— ¹⁸ because you obey the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) by keeping all his commands that I am giving you today and doing what is right in his eyes.

Clean and Unclean Food

14 You are the children of the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim). Do not cut yourselves or shave the front of your heads for the dead, ² for you are a people holy (set-apart) to the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim). Out of all the peoples on the face of the earth, the Lord (YHWH) has chosen you to be his treasured possession.

³ Do not eat any detestable thing. ⁴ These are the animals you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat, ⁵ the deer, the gazelle, the roe deer, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope and the mountain sheep. ⁶ You may eat any animal that has a divided hoof and that chews the cud. ⁷ However, of those that chew the cud or that have a divided hoof you may not eat the camel, the rabbit or the hyrax. Although they chew the cud, they do not have a divided hoof; they are ceremonially unclean for you. ⁸ The pig is also unclean; although it has a divided hoof, it does not chew the cud. You are not to eat their meat or touch their carcasses.

⁹ Of all the creatures living in the water, you may eat any that has fins and scales. ¹⁰ But anything that does not have fins and scales you may not eat; for you it is unclean.

¹¹ You may eat any clean bird. ¹² But these you may not eat: the eagle, the vulture, the black vulture, ¹³ the red kite, the black kite, any kind of falcon, ¹⁴ any kind of raven, ¹⁵ the horned owl, the screech owl, the gull, any kind of hawk, ¹⁶ the little owl, the great owl, the white owl, ¹⁷ the desert owl, the osprey, the cormorant, ¹⁸ the stork, any kind of heron, the hoopoe and the bat.

¹⁹ All flying insects are unclean to you; do not eat them. ²⁰ But any winged creature that is clean you may eat.

²¹ Do not eat anything you find already dead. You may give it to the foreigner residing in any of your towns, and they may eat it, or you may sell it to any other foreigner. But you are a people holy (set-apart) to the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim).

Do not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.

Tithes

²² Be sure to set aside a tenth of all that your fields produce each year. ²³ Eat the tithe of your grain, new wine and olive oil, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks in the presence of the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name, so that you may learn to revere the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) always. ²⁴ But if that place is too distant and you have been blessed by the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) and cannot carry your tithe (because the place where the Lord (YHWH) will choose to put his Name is so far away), ²⁵ then exchange your tithe for silver, and take the silver with you and go to the place the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) will choose. ²⁶ Use the silver to buy whatever you like: cattle, sheep, wine or other fermented drink, or anything you wish. Then you and your household shall eat there in the presence of the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) and rejoice. ²⁷ And do not neglect the Levites living in your towns, for they have no allotment or inheritance of their own.

²⁸ At the end of every three years, bring all the tithes of that year’s produce and store it in your towns, ²⁹ so that the Levites (who have no allotment or inheritance of their own) and the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be satisfied, and so that the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) may bless you in all the work of your hands.

The Year for Canceling Debts

15 At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts. ² This is how it is to be done: Every creditor shall cancel any loan they have made to a fellow Israelite. They shall not require payment from anyone among their own people, because the Lord’s (YHWH’s) time for canceling debts has been proclaimed. ³ You may require payment from a foreigner, but you must cancel any debt your fellow Israelite owes you. ⁴ However, there need be no poor people among you, for in the land the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you, ⁵ if only you fully obey the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) and are careful to follow all these commands I am giving you today. ⁶ For the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) will bless you as he has promised, and you will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. You will rule over many nations but none will rule over you.

⁷ If anyone is poor among your fellow Israelites in any of the towns of the land the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward them. ⁸ Rather, be openhanded and freely lend them whatever they need. ⁹ Be careful not to harbor this wicked thought: “The seventh year, the year for canceling debts, is near,” so that you do not show ill will toward the needy among your fellow Israelites and give them nothing. They may then appeal to the Lord (YHWH) against you, and you will be found guilty of sin. ¹⁰ Give generously to them and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to. ¹¹ There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your fellow Israelites who are poor and needy in your land.

Freeing Servants

¹² If any of your people—Hebrew men or women—sell themselves to you and serve you six years, in the seventh year you must let them go free. ¹³ And when you release them, do not send them away empty-handed. ¹⁴ Supply them liberally from your flock, your threshing floor and your winepress. Give to them as the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) has blessed you. ¹⁵ Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) redeemed you. That is why I give you this command today.

¹⁶ But if your servant says to you, “I do not want to leave you,” because he loves you and your family and is well off with you, ¹⁷ then take an awl and push it through his earlobe into the door, and he will become your servant for life. Do the same for your female servant.

¹⁸ Do not consider it a hardship to set your servant free, because their service to you these six years has been worth twice as much as that of a hired hand. And the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) will bless you in everything you do.

The Firstborn Animals

¹⁹ Set apart for the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) every firstborn male of your herds and flocks. Do not put the firstborn of your cows to work, and do not shear the firstborn of your sheep. ²⁰ Each year you and your family are to eat them in the presence of the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) at the place he will choose. ²¹ If an animal has a defect, is lame or blind, or has any serious flaw, you must not sacrifice it to the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim). ²² You are to eat it in your own towns. Both the ceremonially unclean and the clean may eat it, as if it were gazelle or deer. ²³ But you must not eat the blood; pour it out on the ground like water.

The Passover

16 Observe the month of Aviv and celebrate the Passover of the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim), because in the month of Aviv he brought you out of Egypt by night. ² Sacrifice as the Passover to the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) an animal from your flock or herd at the place the Lord (YHWH) will choose as a dwelling for his Name. ³ Do not eat it with bread made with yeast, but for seven days eat unleavened bread, the bread of affliction, because you left Egypt in haste—so that all the days of your life you may remember the time of your departure from Egypt. ⁴ Let no yeast be found in your possession in all your land for seven days. Do not let any of the meat you sacrifice on the evening of the first day remain until morning.

⁵ You must not sacrifice the Passover in any town the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) gives you ⁶ except in the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name. There you must sacrifice the Passover in the evening, when the sun goes down, on the anniversary of your departure from Egypt. ⁷ Roast it and eat it at the place the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) will choose. Then in the morning return to your tents. ⁸ For six days eat unleavened bread and on the seventh day hold an assembly to the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) and do no work.

The Festival of Weeks

⁹ Count off seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain. ¹⁰ Then celebrate the Festival of Weeks to the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) by giving a freewill offering in proportion to the blessings the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) has given you. ¹¹ And rejoice before the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name—you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, the Levites in your towns, and the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows living among you. ¹² Remember that you were slaves in Egypt, and follow carefully these decrees.

The Festival of Tabernacles

¹³ Celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles for seven days after you have gathered the produce of your threshing floor and your winepress. ¹⁴ Be joyful at your festival—you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levites, the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns. ¹⁵ For seven days celebrate the festival to the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) at the place the Lord (YHWH) will choose. For the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) will bless you in all your harvest and in all the work of your hands, and your joy will be complete.

¹⁶ Three times a year all your men must appear before the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) at the place he will choose: at the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Weeks and the Festival of Tabernacles. No one should appear before the Lord (YHWH) empty-handed: ¹⁷ Each of you must bring a gift in proportion to the way the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) has blessed you.

Judges

¹⁸ Appoint judges and officials for each of your tribes in every town the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) is giving you, and they shall judge the people fairly. ¹⁹ Do not pervert justice or show partiality. Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the innocent. ²⁰ Follow justice and justice alone, so that you may live and possess the land the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) is giving you.

Worshiping Other god’s (elohim)

²¹ Do not set up any wooden Asherah pole beside the altar you build to the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim), ²² and do not erect a sacred stone, for these the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) hates.

17 Do not sacrifice to the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) an ox or a sheep that has any defect or flaw in it, for that would be detestable to him.

² If a man or woman living among you in one of the towns the Lord (YHWH) gives you is found doing evil in the eyes of the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) in violation of his covenant, ³ and contrary to my command has worshiped other god’s (elohim), bowing down to them or to the sun or the moon or the stars in the sky, ⁴ and this has been brought to your attention, then you must investigate it thoroughly. If it is true and it has been proved that this detestable thing has been done in Israel, ⁵ take the man or woman who has done this evil deed to your city gate and stone that person to death. ⁶ On the testimony of two or three witnesses a person is to be put to death, but no one is to be put to death on the testimony of only one witness. ⁷ The hands of the witnesses must be the first in putting that person to death, and then the hands of all the people. You must purge the evil from among you.

Law Courts

⁸ If cases come before your courts that are too difficult for you to judge—whether bloodshed, lawsuits or assaults—take them to the place the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) will choose. ⁹ Go to the Levitical priests and to the judge who is in office at that time. Inquire of them and they will give you the verdict. ¹⁰ You must act according to the decisions they give you at the place the Lord (YHWH) will choose. Be careful to do everything they instruct you to do. ¹¹ Act according to whatever they teach you and the decisions they give you. Do not turn aside from what they tell you, to the right or to the left. ¹² Anyone who shows contempt for the judge or for the priest who stands ministering there to the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) is to be put to death. You must purge the evil from Israel. ¹³ All the people will hear and be afraid, and will not be contemptuous again.

The King

¹⁴ When you enter the land the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) is giving you and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, “Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us,” ¹⁵ be sure to appoint over you a king the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim)   chooses. He must be from among your fellow Israelites. Do not place a foreigner over you, one who is not an Israelite. ¹⁶ The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the Lord (YHWH) has told you, “You are not to go back that way again.” ¹⁷ He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold.

¹⁸ When he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the Levitical priests. ¹⁹ It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the Lord (YHWH) his God (Elohim) and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees ²⁰ and not consider himself better than his fellow Israelites and turn from the law to the right or to the left. Then he and his descendants will reign a long time over his kingdom in Israel.

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Part 12

Deuteronomy 18 – 23:25

Offerings for Priests and Levites

18 The Levitical priests—indeed, the whole tribe of Levi—are to have no allotment or inheritance with Israel. They shall live on the food offerings presented to the Lord (YHWH), for that is their inheritance. ² They shall have no inheritance among their fellow Israelites; the Lord (YHWH) is their inheritance, as he promised them.

³ This is the share due the priests from the people who sacrifice a bull or a sheep: the shoulder, the internal organs and the meat from the head. ⁴ You are to give them the firstfruits of your grain, new wine and olive oil, and the first wool from the shearing of your sheep, ⁵ for the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) has chosen them and their descendants out of all your tribes to stand and minister in the Lord’s (YHWH’s)  name always.

⁶ If a Levite moves from one of your towns anywhere in Israel where he is living, and comes in all earnestness to the place the Lord (YHWH) will choose, ⁷ he may minister in the name of the Lord (YHWH) his God (Elohim) like all his fellow Levites who serve there in the presence of the Lord (YHWH). ⁸ He is to share equally in their benefits, even though he has received money from the sale of family possessions.

Occult Practices

⁹ When you enter the land the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. ¹⁰ Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, ¹¹ or casts spells, or who is a medium or (Manifestation)ist or who consults the dead. ¹² Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord (YHWH); because of these same detestable practices the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) will drive out those nations before you. ¹³ You must be blameless before the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim).

The Prophet

¹⁴ The nations you will dispossess listen to those who practice sorcery or divination. But as for you, the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) has not permitted you to do so. ¹⁵ The Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him. ¹⁶ For this is what you asked of the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, “Let us not hear the voice of the Lord (YHWH) our God (Elohim) nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die.”

¹⁷ The Lord (YHWH) said to me: “What they say is good. ¹⁸ I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my words in his mouth. He will tell them everything I command him. ¹⁹ I myself will call to account anyone who does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name. ²⁰ But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other God’s (elohim), is to be put to death.”

²¹ You may say to yourselves, “How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the Lord (YHWH) ?” ²² If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord (YHWH) does not take place or come true, that is a message the Lord (YHWH) has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously, so do not be alarmed.

Cities of Refuge

19 When the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) has destroyed the nations whose land he is giving you, and when you have driven them out and settled in their towns and houses, ² then set aside for yourselves three cities in the land the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) is giving you to possess. ³ Determine the distances involved and divide into three parts the land the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) is giving you as an inheritance, so that a person who kills someone may flee for refuge to one of these cities.

⁴ This is the rule concerning anyone who kills a person and flees there for safety—anyone who kills a neighbor unintentionally, without malice aforethought. ⁵ For instance, a man may go into the forest with his neighbor to cut wood, and as he swings his ax to fell a tree, the head may fly off and hit his neighbor and kill him. That man may flee to one of these cities and save his life. ⁶ Otherwise, the avenger of blood might pursue him in a rage, overtake him if the distance is too great, and kill him even though he is not deserving of death, since he did it to his neighbor without malice aforethought. ⁷ This is why I command you to set aside for yourselves three cities.

⁸ If the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) enlarges your territory, as he promised on oath to your ancestors, and gives you the whole land he promised them, ⁹ because you carefully follow all these laws I command you today—to love the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) and to walk always in obedience to him—then you are to set aside three more cities. ¹⁰ Do this so that innocent blood will not be shed in your land, which the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) is giving you as your inheritance, and so that you will not be guilty of bloodshed.

¹¹ But if out of hate someone lies in wait, assaults and kills a neighbor, and then flees to one of these cities, ¹² the killer shall be sent for by the town elders, be brought back from the city, and be handed over to the avenger of blood to die. ¹³ Show no pity. You must purge from Israel the guilt of shedding innocent blood, so that it may go well with you.

¹⁴ Do not move your neighbor’s boundary stone set up by your predecessors in the inheritance you receive in the land the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) is giving you to possess.

Witnesses

¹⁵ One witness is not enough to convict anyone accused of any crime or offense they may have committed. A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.

¹⁶ If a malicious witness takes the stand to accuse someone of a crime, ¹⁷ the two people involved in the dispute must stand in the presence of the Lord (YHWH) before the priests and the judges who are in office at the time. ¹⁸ The judges must make a thorough investigation, and if the witness proves to be a liar, giving false testimony against a fellow Israelite, ¹⁹ then do to the false witness as that witness intended to do to the other party. You must purge the evil from among you. ²⁰ The rest of the people will hear of this and be afraid, and never again will such an evil thing be done among you. ²¹ Show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

Going to War

20 When you go to war against your enemies and see horses and chariots and an army greater than yours, do not be afraid of them, because the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim), who brought you up out of Egypt, will be with you. ² When you are about to go into battle, the priest shall come forward and address the army. ³ He shall say: “Hear, Israel: Today you are going into battle against your enemies. Do not be fainthearted or afraid; do not panic or be terrified by them. ⁴ For the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory.”

⁵ The officers shall say to the army: “Has anyone built a new house and not yet begun to live in it? Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else may begin to live in it. ⁶ Has anyone planted a vineyard and not begun to enjoy it? Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else enjoy it. ⁷ Has anyone become pledged to a woman and not married her? Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else marry her.” ⁸ Then the officers shall add, “Is anyone afraid or fainthearted? Let him go home so that his fellow soldiers will not become disheartened too.” ⁹ When the officers have finished speaking to the army, they shall appoint commanders over it.

¹⁰ When you march up to attack a city, make its people an offer of peace. ¹¹ If they accept and open their gates, all the people in it shall be subject to forced labor and shall work for you. ¹² If they refuse to make peace and they engage you in battle, lay siege to that city. ¹³ When the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) delivers it into your hand, put to the sword all the men in it. ¹⁴ As for the women, the children, the livestock and everything else in the city, you may take these as plunder for yourselves. And you may use the plunder the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) gives you from your enemies. ¹⁵ This is how you are to treat all the cities that are at a distance from you and do not belong to the nations nearby.

¹⁶ However, in the cities of the nations the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes. ¹⁷ Completely destroy them—the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—as the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) has commanded you. ¹⁸ Otherwise, they will teach you to follow all the detestable things they do in worshiping their God’s (elohim), and you will sin against the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim).

¹⁹ When you lay siege to a city for a long time, fighting against it to capture it, do not destroy its trees by putting an ax to them, because you can eat their fruit. Do not cut them down. Are the trees people, that you should besiege them? ²⁰ However, you may cut down trees that you know are not fruit trees and use them to build siege works until the city at war with you falls.

Atonement for an Unsolved Murder

21 If someone is found slain, lying in a field in the land the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim)   is giving you to possess, and it is not known who the killer was, ² your elders and judges shall go out and measure the distance from the body to the neighboring towns. ³ Then the elders of the town nearest the body shall take a heifer that has never been worked and has never worn a yoke ⁴ and lead it down to a valley that has not been plowed or planted and where there is a flowing stream. There in the valley they are to break the heifer’s neck. ⁵ The Levitical priests shall step forward, for the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) has chosen them to minister and to pronounce blessings in the name of the Lord (YHWH) and to decide all cases of dispute and assault. ⁶ Then all the elders of the town nearest the body shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley, ⁷ and they shall declare: “Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it done. ⁸ Accept this atonement for your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, Lord (YHWH) , and do not hold your people guilty of the blood of an innocent person.” Then the bloodshed will be atoned for, ⁹ and you will have purged from yourselves the guilt of shedding innocent blood, since you have done what is right in the eyes of the Lord (YHWH).

Marrying a Captive Woman

¹⁰ When you go to war against your enemies and the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) delivers them into your hands and you take captives, ¹¹ if you notice among the captives a beautiful woman and are attracted to her, you may take her as your wife. ¹² Bring her into your home and have her shave her head, trim her nails ¹³ and put aside the clothes she was wearing when captured. After she has lived in your house and mourned her father and mother for a full month, then you may go to her and be her husband and she shall be your wife. ¹⁴ If you are not pleased with her, let her go wherever she wishes. You must not sell her or treat her as a slave, since you have dishonored her.

The Right of the Firstborn

¹⁵ If a man has two wives, and he loves one but not the other, and both bear him sons but the firstborn is the son of the wife he does not love, ¹⁶ when he wills his property to his sons, he must not give the rights of the firstborn to the son of the wife he loves in preference to his actual firstborn, the son of the wife he does not love. ¹⁷ He must acknowledge the son of his unloved wife as the firstborn by giving him a double share of all he has. That son is the first sign of his father’s strength. The right of the firstborn belongs to him.

A Rebellious Son

¹⁸ If someone has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father and mother and will not listen to them when they discipline him, ¹⁹ his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his town. ²⁰ They shall say to the elders, “This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us. He is a glutton and a drunkard.” ²¹ Then all the men of his town are to stone him to death. You must purge the evil from among you. All Israel will hear of it and be afraid.

Various Laws

²² If someone guilty of a capital offense is put to death and their body is exposed on a pole, ²³ you must not leave the body hanging on the pole overnight. Be sure to bury it that same day, because anyone who is hung on a pole is under God’s (Elohim) curse. You must not desecrate the land the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) is giving you as an inheritance.

22 If you see your fellow Israelite’s ox or sheep straying, do not ignore it but be sure to take it back to its owner. ² If they do not live near you or if you do not know who owns it, take it home with you and keep it until they come looking for it. Then give it back. ³ Do the same if you find their donkey or cloak or anything else they have lost. Do not ignore it.

⁴ If you see your fellow Israelite’s donkey or ox fallen on the road, do not ignore it. Help the owner get it to its feet.

⁵ A woman must not wear men’s clothing, nor a man wear women’s clothing, for the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) detests anyone who does this.

⁶ If you come across a bird’s nest beside the road, either in a tree or on the ground, and the mother is sitting on the young or on the eggs, do not take the mother with the young. ⁷ You may take the young, but be sure to let the mother go, so that it may go well with you and you may have a long life.

⁸ When you build a new house, make a parapet around your roof so that you may not bring the guilt of bloodshed on your house if someone falls from the roof.

⁹ Do not plant two kinds of seed in your vineyard; if you do, not only the crops you plant but also the fruit of the vineyard will be defiled.

¹⁰ Do not plow with an ox and a donkey yoked together.

¹¹ Do not wear clothes of wool and linen woven together.

¹² Make tassels on the four corners of the cloak you wear.

Marriage Violations

¹³ If a man takes a wife and, after sleeping with her, dislikes her ¹⁴ and slanders her and gives her a bad name, saying, “I married this woman, but when I approached her, I did not find proof of her virginity,” ¹⁵ then the young woman’s father and mother shall bring to the town elders at the gate proof that she was a virgin. ¹⁶ Her father will say to the elders, “I gave my daughter in marriage to this man, but he dislikes her. ¹⁷ Now he has slandered her and said, ‘I did not find your daughter to be a virgin.’ But here is the proof of my daughter’s virginity.” Then her parents shall display the cloth before the elders of the town, ¹⁸ and the elders shall take the man and punish him. ¹⁹ They shall fine him a hundred shekels of silver and give them to the young woman’s father, because this man has given an Israelite virgin a bad name. She shall continue to be his wife; he must not divorce her as long as he lives.

²⁰ If, however, the charge is true and no proof of the young woman’s virginity can be found, ²¹ she shall be brought to the door of her father’s house and there the men of her town shall stone her to death. She has done an outrageous thing in Israel by being promiscuous while still in her father’s house. You must purge the evil from among you.

²² If a man is found sleeping with another man’s wife, both the man who slept with her and the woman must die. You must purge the evil from Israel.

²³ If a man happens to meet in a town a virgin pledged to be married and he sleeps with her, ²⁴ you shall take both of them to the gate of that town and stone them to death—the young woman because she was in a town and did not scream for help, and the man because he violated another man’s wife. You must purge the evil from among you.

²⁵ But if out in the country a man happens to meet a young woman pledged to be married and rapes her, only the man who has done this shall die. ²⁶ Do nothing to the woman; she has committed no sin deserving death. This case is like that of someone who attacks and murders a neighbor, ²⁷ for the man found the young woman out in the country, and though the betrothed woman screamed, there was no one to rescue her.

²⁸ If a man happens to meet a virgin who is not pledged to be married and rapes her and they are discovered, ²⁹ he shall pay her father fifty shekels of silver. He must marry the young woman, for he has violated her. He can never divorce her as long as he lives.

³⁰ A man is not to marry his father’s wife; he must not dishonor his father’s bed.

Exclusion From the Assembly

23 No one who has been emasculated by crushing or cutting may enter the assembly of the Lord (YHWH) .

² No one born of a forbidden marriage nor any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord (YHWH) , not even in the tenth generation.

³ No Ammonite or Moabite or any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord (YHWH) , not even in the tenth generation. ⁴ For they did not come to meet you with bread and water on your way when you came out of Egypt, and they hired Balaam son of Beor from Pethor in Aram Naharaim to pronounce a curse on you. ⁵ However, the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) would not listen to Balaam but turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) loves you. ⁶ Do not seek a treaty of friendship with them as long as you live.

⁷ Do not despise an Edomite, for the Edomites are related to you. Do not despise an Egyptian, because you resided as foreigners in their country. ⁸ The third generation of children born to them may enter the assembly of the Lord (YHWH) .

Uncleanness in the Camp

⁹ When you are encamped against your enemies, keep away from everything impure. ¹⁰ If one of your men is unclean because of a nocturnal emission, he is to go outside the camp and stay there. ¹¹ But as evening approaches he is to wash himself, and at sunset he may return to the camp.

¹² Designate a place outside the camp where you can go to relieve yourself. ¹³ As part of your equipment have something to dig with, and when you relieve yourself, dig a hole and cover up your excrement. ¹⁴ For the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) moves about in your camp to protect you and to deliver your enemies to you. Your camp must be holy (set-apart), so that he will not see among you anything indecent and turn away from you.

Miscellaneous Laws

¹⁵ If a slave has taken refuge with you, do not hand them over to their master. ¹⁶ Let them live among you wherever they like and in whatever town they choose. Do not oppress them.

¹⁷ No Israelite man or woman is to become a shrine prostitute. ¹⁸ You must not bring the earnings of a female prostitute or of a male prostitute into the house of the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) to pay any vow, because the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) detests them both.

¹⁹ Do not charge a fellow Israelite interest, whether on money or food or anything else that may earn interest. ²⁰ You may charge a foreigner interest, but not a fellow Israelite, so that the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) may bless you in everything you put your hand to in the land you are entering to possess.

²¹ If you make a vow to the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim), do not be slow to pay it, for the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) will certainly demand it of you and you will be guilty of sin. ²² But if you refrain from making a vow, you will not be guilty. ²³ Whatever your lips utter you must be sure to do, because you made your vow freely to the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim)  with your own mouth.

²⁴ If you enter your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat all the grapes you want, but do not put any in your basket. ²⁵ If you enter your neighbor’s grainfield, you may pick kernels with your hands, but you must not put a sickle to their standing grain.

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Part 13

Deuteronomy 24 to Joshua 1:18

24 If a man marries a woman who becomes displeasing to him because he finds something indecent about her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house, ² and if after she leaves his house she becomes the wife of another man, ³ and her second husband dislikes her and writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house, or if he dies, ⁴ then her first husband, who divorced her, is not allowed to marry her again after she has been defiled. That would be detestable in the eyes of the Lord (YHWH) . Do not bring sin upon the land the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) is giving you as an inheritance.

⁵ If a man has recently married, he must not be sent to war or have any other duty laid on him. For one year he is to be free to stay at home and bring happiness to the wife he has married.

⁶ Do not take a pair of millstones—not even the upper one—as security for a debt, because that would be taking a person’s livelihood as security.

⁷ If someone is caught kidnapping a fellow Israelite and treating or selling them as a slave, the kidnapper must die. You must purge the evil from among you.

⁸ In cases of defiling skin diseases, be very careful to do exactly as the Levitical priests instruct you. You must follow carefully what I have commanded them. ⁹ Remember what the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) did to Miriam along the way after you came out of Egypt.

¹⁰ When you make a loan of any kind to your neighbor, do not go into their house to get what is offered to you as a pledge. ¹¹ Stay outside and let the neighbor to whom you are making the loan bring the pledge out to you. ¹² If the neighbor is poor, do not go to sleep with their pledge in your possession. ¹³ Return their cloak by sunset so that your neighbor may sleep in it. Then they will thank you, and it will be regarded as a righteous act in the sight of the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) .

¹⁴ Do not take advantage of a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether that worker is a fellow Israelite or a foreigner residing in one of your towns. ¹⁵ Pay them their wages each day before sunset, because they are poor and are counting on it. Otherwise they may cry to the Lord (YHWH) against you, and you will be guilty of sin.

¹⁶ Parents are not to be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their parents; each will die for their own sin.

¹⁷ Do not deprive the foreigner or the fatherless of justice, or take the cloak of the widow as a pledge. ¹⁸ Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) redeemed you from there. That is why I command you to do this.

¹⁹ When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, so that the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim)   may bless you in all the work of your hands. ²⁰ When you beat the olives from your trees, do not go over the branches a second time. Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow. ²¹ When you harvest the grapes in your vineyard, do not go over the vines again. Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow. ²² Remember that you were slaves in Egypt. That is why I command you to do this.

25 When people have a dispute, they are to take it to court and the judges will decide the case, acquitting the innocent and condemning the guilty. ² If the guilty person deserves to be beaten, the judge shall make them lie down and have them flogged in his presence with the number of lashes the crime deserves, ³ but the judge must not impose more than forty lashes. If the guilty party is flogged more than that, your fellow Israelite will be degraded in your eyes.

⁴ Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.

⁵ If brothers are living together and one of them dies without a son, his widow must not marry outside the family. Her husband’s brother shall take her and marry her and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her. ⁶ The first son she bears shall carry on the name of the dead brother so that his name will not be blotted out from Israel.

⁷ However, if a man does not want to marry his brother’s wife, she shall go to the elders at the town gate and say, “My husband’s brother refuses to carry on his brother’s name in Israel. He will not fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to me.” ⁸ Then the elders of his town shall summon him and talk to him. If he persists in saying, “I do not want to marry her,” ⁹ his brother’s widow shall go up to him in the presence of the elders, take off one of his sandals, spit in his face and say, “This is what is done to the man who will not build up his brother’s family line.” ¹⁰ That man’s line shall be known in Israel as The Family of the Unsandaled.

¹¹ If two men are fighting and the wife of one of them comes to rescue her husband from his assailant, and she reaches out and seizes him by his private parts, ¹² you shall cut off her hand. Show her no pity.

¹³ Do not have two differing weights in your bag—one heavy, one light. ¹⁴ Do not have two differing measures in your house—one large, one small. ¹⁵ You must have accurate and honest weights and measures, so that you may live long in the land the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) is giving you. ¹⁶ For the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) detests anyone who does these things, anyone who deals dishonestly.

¹⁷ Remember what the Amalekites did to you along the way when you came out of Egypt. ¹⁸ When you were weary and worn out, they met you on your journey and attacked all who were lagging behind; they had no fear of God (Elohim). ¹⁹ When the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) gives you rest from all the enemies around you in the land he is giving you to possess as an inheritance, you shall blot out the name of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget!

Joshua

New International Version (NIV)

Joshua Installed as Leader

1 After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord (YHWH) , the Lord (YHWH) said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide: ² “Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites. ³ I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. ⁴ Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates—all the Hittite country—to the Mediterranean Sea in the west. ⁵ No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. ⁶ Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them.

⁷ “Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. ⁸ Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. ⁹ Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim)   will be with you wherever you go.”

¹⁰ So Joshua ordered the officers of the people: ¹¹ “Go through the camp and tell the people, ‘Get your provisions ready. Three days from now you will cross the Jordan here to go in and take possession of the land the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim)   is giving you for your own.’”

¹² But to the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh, Joshua said, ¹³ “Remember the command that Moses the servant of the Lord (YHWH) gave you after he said, ‘The Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim)   will give you rest by giving you this land.’ ¹⁴ Your wives, your children and your livestock may stay in the land that Moses gave you east of the Jordan, but all your fighting men, ready for battle, must cross over ahead of your fellow Israelites. You are to help them ¹⁵ until the Lord (YHWH) gives them rest, as he has done for you, and until they too have taken possession of the land the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim) is giving them. After that, you may go back and occupy your own land, which Moses the servant of the Lord (YHWH) gave you east of the Jordan toward the sunrise.”

¹⁶ Then they answered Joshua, “Whatever you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go. ¹⁷ Just as we fully obeyed Moses, so we will obey you. Only may the Lord (YHWH) your God (Elohim)   be with you as he was with Moses. ¹⁸ Whoever rebels against your word and does not obey it, whatever you may command them, will be put to death. Only be strong and courageous!”

THIS ENDS THE BIBLE ACCOUNT OF THE MOVIE, “TEN COMMANDMENTS”.

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