Category: Exodus

[15:1] Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the Lord, saying, “I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.

[15:2] The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him.

[15:3] The Lord is a man of war; the Lord is his name.

[15:4] “Pharaoh’s chariots and his host he cast into the sea, and his chosen officers were sunk in the Red Sea.

[15:5] The floods covered them; they went down into the depths like a stone.

[15:6] Your right hand, O Lord, glorious in power, your right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy.

[15:7] In the greatness of your majesty you overthrow your adversaries; you send out your fury; it consumes them like stubble.

[15:8] At the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up; the floods stood up in a heap; the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea.

[15:9] The enemy said, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil, my desire shall have its fill of them. I will draw my sword; my hand shall destroy them.’

[15:10] You blew with your wind; the sea covered them; they sank like lead in the mighty waters.

[15:11] “Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?

[15:12] You stretched out your right hand; the earth swallowed them.

[15:13] “You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed; you have guided them by your strength to your holy abode.

[15:14] The peoples have heard; they tremble; pangs have seized the inhabitants of Philistia.

[15:15] Now are the chiefs of Edom dismayed; trembling seizes the leaders of Moab; all the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away.

[15:16] Terror and dread fall upon them; because of the greatness of your arm, they are still as a stone, till your people, O Lord, pass by, till the people pass by whom you have purchased.

[15:17] You will bring them in and plant them on your own mountain, the place, O Lord, which you have made for your abode, the sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have established.

[15:18] The Lord will reign forever and ever.”

[15:19] For when the horses of Pharaoh with his chariots and his horsemen went into the sea, the Lord brought back the waters of the sea upon them, but the people of Israel walked on dry ground in the midst of the sea.

[15:20] Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after her with tambourines and dancing.

[15:21] And Miriam sang to them: “Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.”

[15:22] Then Moses made Israel set out from the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness of Shur. They went three days in the wilderness and found no water.

[15:23] When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter; therefore it was named Marah.

[15:24] And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?”

[15:25] And he cried to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a log, and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. There the Lord made for them a statute and a rule, and there he tested them,

[15:26] saying, “If you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, your healer.”

[15:27] Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they encamped there by the water.

[16:1] They set out from Elim, and all the congregation of the people of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt.

[16:2] And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness,

[16:3] and the people of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”

[16:4] Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not.

[16:5] On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily.”

[16:6] So Moses and Aaron said to all the people of Israel, “At evening you shall know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt,

[16:7] and in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your grumbling against the Lord. For what are we, that you grumble against us?”

[16:8] And Moses said, “When the Lord gives you in the evening meat to eat and in the morning bread to the full, because the Lord has heard your grumbling that you grumble against him—what are we? Your grumbling is not against us but against the Lord.”

[16:9] Then Moses said to Aaron, “Say to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, ‘Come near before the Lord, for he has heard your grumbling.’”

[16:10] And as soon as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud.

[16:11] And the Lord said to Moses,

[16:12] “I have heard the grumbling of the people of Israel. Say to them, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread. Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God.’”

[16:13] In the evening quail came up and covered the camp, and in the morning dew lay around the camp.

[16:14] And when the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness a fine, flake-like thing, fine as frost on the ground.

[16:15] When the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, “It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat.

[16:16] This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Gather of it, each one of you, as much as he can eat. You shall each take an omer, according to the number of the persons that each of you has in his tent.’”

[16:17] And the people of Israel did so. They gathered, some more, some less.

[16:18] But when they measured it with an omer, whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack. Each of them gathered as much as he could eat.

[16:19] And Moses said to them, “Let no one leave any of it over till the morning.”

[16:20] But they did not listen to Moses. Some left part of it till the morning, and it bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them.

[16:21] Morning by morning they gathered it, each as much as he could eat; but when the sun grew hot, it melted.

[16:22] On the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers each. And when all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses,

[16:23] he said to them, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord; bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over lay aside to be kept till the morning.’”

[16:24] So they laid it aside till the morning, as Moses commanded them, and it did not stink, and there were no worms in it.

[16:25] Moses said, “Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the field.

[16:26] Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, which is a Sabbath, there will be none.”

[16:27] On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, but they found none.

[16:28] And the Lord said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws?

[16:29] See! The Lord has given you the Sabbath; therefore on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Remain each of you in his place; let no one go out of his place on the seventh day.”

[16:30] So the people rested on the seventh day.

[16:31] Now the house of Israel called its name manna. It was like coriander seed, white, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.

[16:32] Moses said, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Let an omer of it be kept throughout your generations, so that they may see the bread with which I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.’”

[16:33] And Moses said to Aaron, “Take a jar, and put an omer of manna in it, and place it before the Lord to be kept throughout your generations.”

[16:34] As the Lord commanded Moses, so Aaron placed it before the testimony to be kept.

[16:35] The people of Israel ate the manna forty years, till they came to a habitable land. They ate the manna till they came to the border of the land of Canaan.

[16:36] (An omer is the tenth part of an ephah.)

[17:1] All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of Sin by stages, according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink.

[17:2] Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?”

[17:3] But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?”

[17:4] So Moses cried to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.”

[17:5] And the Lord said to Moses, “Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go.

[17:6] Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.” And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel.

[17:7] And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the Lord by saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

[17:8] Then Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim.

[17:9] So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose for us men, and go out and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.”

[17:10] So Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought with Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.

[17:11] Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed.

[17:12] But Moses’ hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.

[17:13] And Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the sword.

[17:14] Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.”

[17:15] And Moses built an altar and called the name of it, The Lord Is My Banner,

[17:16] saying, “A hand upon the throne of the Lord! The Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.”

[18:1] Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses’ father-in-law, heard of all that God had done for Moses and for Israel his people, how the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt.

[18:2] Now Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, had taken Zipporah, Moses’ wife, after he had sent her home,

[18:3] along with her two sons. The name of the one was Gershom (for he said, “I have been a sojourner in a foreign land”),

[18:4] and the name of the other, Eliezer (for he said, “The God of my father was my help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh”).

[18:5] Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife to Moses in the wilderness where he was encamped at the mountain of God.

[18:6] And when he sent word to Moses, “I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons with her,”

[18:7] Moses went out to meet his father-in-law and bowed down and kissed him. And they asked each other of their welfare and went into the tent.

[18:8] Then Moses told his father-in-law all that the Lord had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel’s sake, all the hardship that had come upon them in the way, and how the Lord had delivered them.

[18:9] And Jethro rejoiced for all the good that the Lord had done to Israel, in that he had delivered them out of the hand of the Egyptians.

[18:10] Jethro said, “Blessed be the Lord, who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh and has delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians.

[18:11] Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods, because in this affair they dealt arrogantly with the people.”

[18:12] And Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, brought a burnt offering and sacrifices to God; and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses’ father-in-law before God.

[18:13] The next day Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood around Moses from morning till evening.

[18:14] When Moses’ father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, “What is this that you are doing for the people? Why do you sit alone, and all the people stand around you from morning till evening?”

[18:15] And Moses said to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me to inquire of God;

[18:16] when they have a dispute, they come to me and I decide between one person and another, and I make them know the statutes of God and his laws.”

[18:17] Moses’ father-in-law said to him, “What you are doing is not good.

[18:18] You and the people with you will certainly wear yourselves out, for the thing is too heavy for you. You are not able to do it alone.

[18:19] Now obey my voice; I will give you advice, and God be with you! You shall represent the people before God and bring their cases to God,

[18:20] and you shall warn them about the statutes and the laws, and make them know the way in which they must walk and what they must do.

[18:21] Moreover, look for able men from all the people, men who fear God, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe, and place such men over the people as chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens.

[18:22] And let them judge the people at all times. Every great matter they shall bring to you, but any small matter they shall decide themselves. So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you.

[18:23] If you do this, God will direct you, you will be able to endure, and all this people also will go to their place in peace.”

[18:24] So Moses listened to the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he had said.

[18:25] Moses chose able men out of all Israel and made them heads over the people, chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens.

[18:26] And they judged the people at all times. Any hard case they brought to Moses, but any small matter they decided themselves.

[18:27] Then Moses let his father-in-law depart, and he went away to his own country.

[19:1] On the third new moon after the people of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that day they came into the wilderness of Sinai.

[19:2] They set out from Rephidim and came into the wilderness of Sinai, and they encamped in the wilderness. There Israel encamped before the mountain,

[19:3] while Moses went up to God. The Lord called to him out of the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel:

[19:4] You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.

[19:5] Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine;

[19:6] and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”

[19:7] So Moses came and called the elders of the people and set before them all these words that the Lord had commanded him.

[19:8] All the people answered together and said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.” And Moses reported the words of the people to the Lord.

[19:9] And the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I am coming to you in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and may also believe you forever.” When Moses told the words of the people to the Lord,

[19:10] the Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments

[19:11] and be ready for the third day. For on the third day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.

[19:12] And you shall set limits for the people all around, saying, ‘Take care not to go up into the mountain or touch the edge of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall be put to death.

[19:13] No hand shall touch him, but he shall be stoned or shot; whether beast or man, he shall not live.’ When the trumpet sounds a long blast, they shall come up to the mountain.”

[19:14] So Moses went down from the mountain to the people and consecrated the people; and they washed their garments.

[19:15] And he said to the people, “Be ready for the third day; do not go near a woman.”

[19:16] On the morning of the third day there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people in the camp trembled.

[19:17] Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain.

[19:18] Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the Lord had descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled greatly.

[19:19] And as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him in thunder.

[19:20] The Lord came down on Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain. And the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.

[19:21] And the Lord said to Moses, “Go down and warn the people, lest they break through to the Lord to look and many of them perish.

[19:22] Also let the priests who come near to the Lord consecrate themselves, lest the Lord break out against them.”

[19:23] And Moses said to the Lord, “The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai, for you yourself warned us, saying, ‘Set limits around the mountain and consecrate it.’”

[19:24] And the Lord said to him, “Go down, and come up bringing Aaron with you. But do not let the priests and the people break through to come up to the Lord, lest he break out against them.”

[19:25] So Moses went down to the people and told them.

[20:1] And God spoke all these words, saying,

[20:2] “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

[20:3] “You shall have no other gods before me.

[20:4] “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

[20:5] You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me,

[20:6] but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

[20:7] “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

[20:8] “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

[20:9] Six days you shall labor, and do all your work,

[20:10] but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates.

[20:11] For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

[20:12] “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

[20:13] “You shall not murder.

[20:14] “You shall not commit adultery.

[20:15] “You shall not steal.

[20:16] “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

[20:17] “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”

[20:18] Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off

[20:19] and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.”

[20:20] Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.”

[20:21] The people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.

[20:22] And the Lord said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the people of Israel: ‘You have seen for yourselves that I have talked with you from heaven.

[20:23] You shall not make gods of silver to be with me, nor shall you make for yourselves gods of gold.

[20:24] An altar of earth you shall make for me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I cause my name to be remembered I will come to you and bless you.

[20:25] If you make me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stones, for if you wield your tool on it you profane it.

[20:26] And you shall not go up by steps to my altar, that your nakedness be not exposed on it.’

[21:1] “Now these are the rules that you shall set before them.

[21:2] When you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve six years, and in the seventh he shall go out free, for nothing.

[21:3] If he comes in single, he shall go out single; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him.

[21:4] If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master’s, and he shall go out alone.

[21:5] But if the slave plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’

[21:6] then his master shall bring him to God, and he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall be his slave forever.

[21:7] “When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she shall not go out as the male slaves do.

[21:8] If she does not please her master, who has designated her for himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He shall have no right to sell her to a foreign people, since he has broken faith with her.

[21:9] If he designates her for his son, he shall deal with her as with a daughter.

[21:10] If he takes another wife to himself, he shall not diminish her food, her clothing, or her marital rights.

[21:11] And if he does not do these three things for her, she shall go out for nothing, without payment of money.

[21:12] “Whoever strikes a man so that he dies shall be put to death.

[21:13] But if he did not lie in wait for him, but God let him fall into his hand, then I will appoint for you a place to which he may flee.

[21:14] But if a man willfully attacks another to kill him by cunning, you shall take him from my altar, that he may die.

[21:15] “Whoever strikes his father or his mother shall be put to death.

[21:16] “Whoever steals a man and sells him, and anyone found in possession of him, shall be put to death.

[21:17] “Whoever curses his father or his mother shall be put to death.

[21:18] “When men quarrel and one strikes the other with a stone or with his fist and the man does not die but takes to his bed,

[21:19] then if the man rises again and walks outdoors with his staff, he who struck him shall be clear; only he shall pay for the loss of his time, and shall have him thoroughly healed.

[21:20] “When a man strikes his slave, male or female, with a rod and the slave dies under his hand, he shall be avenged.

[21:21] But if the slave survives a day or two, he is not to be avenged, for the slave is his money.

[21:22] “When men strive together and hit a pregnant woman, so that her children come out, but there is no harm, the one who hit her shall surely be fined, as the woman’s husband shall impose on him, and he shall pay as the judges determine.

[21:23] But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life,

[21:24] eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,

[21:25] burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.

[21:26] “When a man strikes the eye of his slave, male or female, and destroys it, he shall let the slave go free because of his eye.

[21:27] If he knocks out the tooth of his slave, male or female, he shall let the slave go free because of his tooth.

[21:28] “When an ox gores a man or a woman to death, the ox shall be stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten, but the owner of the ox shall not be liable.

[21:29] But if the ox has been accustomed to gore in the past, and its owner has been warned but has not kept it in, and it kills a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned, and its owner also shall be put to death.

[21:30] If a ransom is imposed on him, then he shall give for the redemption of his life whatever is imposed on him.

[21:31] If it gores a man’s son or daughter, he shall be dealt with according to this same rule.

[21:32] If the ox gores a slave, male or female, the owner shall give to their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned.