Category: Exodus

Laws About Restitution (EXO 21:33-22:15)

[21:33] “When a man opens a pit, or when a man digs a pit and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it,

[21:34] the owner of the pit shall make restoration. He shall give money to its owner, and the dead beast shall be his.

[21:35] “When one man’s ox butts another’s, so that it dies, then they shall sell the live ox and share its price, and the dead beast also they shall share.

[21:36] Or if it is known that the ox has been accustomed to gore in the past, and its owner has not kept it in, he shall repay ox for ox, and the dead beast shall be his.

[22:1] “If a man steals an ox or a sheep, and kills it or sells it, he shall repay five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep.

[22:2] If a thief is found breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there shall be no bloodguilt for him,

[22:3] but if the sun has risen on him, there shall be bloodguilt for him. He shall surely pay. If he has nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft.

[22:4] If the stolen beast is found alive in his possession, whether it is an ox or a donkey or a sheep, he shall pay double.

[22:5] “If a man causes a field or vineyard to be grazed over, or lets his beast loose and it feeds in another man’s field, he shall make restitution from the best in his own field and in his own vineyard.

[22:6] “If fire breaks out and catches in thorns so that the stacked grain or the standing grain or the field is consumed, he who started the fire shall make full restitution.

[22:7] “If a man gives to his neighbor money or goods to keep safe, and it is stolen from the man’s house, then, if the thief is found, he shall pay double.

[22:8] If the thief is not found, the owner of the house shall come near to God to show whether or not he has put his hand to his neighbor’s property.

[22:9] For every breach of trust, whether it is for an ox, for a donkey, for a sheep, for a cloak, or for any kind of lost thing, of which one says, ‘This is it,’ the case of both parties shall come before God. The one whom God condemns shall pay double to his neighbor.

[22:10] “If a man gives to his neighbor a donkey or an ox or a sheep or any beast to keep safe, and it dies or is injured or is driven away, without anyone seeing it,

[22:11] an oath by the Lord shall be between them both to see whether or not he has put his hand to his neighbor’s property. The owner shall accept the oath, and he shall not make restitution.

[22:12] But if it is stolen from him, he shall make restitution to its owner.

[22:13] If it is torn by beasts, let him bring it as evidence. He shall not make restitution for what has been torn.

[22:14] “If a man borrows anything of his neighbor, and it is injured or dies, the owner not being with it, he shall make full restitution.

[22:15] If the owner was with it, he shall not make restitution; if it was hired, it came for its hiring fee.

Laws About Social Justice (EXO 22:16-23:9)

[22:16] “If a man seduces a virgin who is not betrothed and lies with her, he shall give the bride-price for her and make her his wife.

[22:17] If her father utterly refuses to give her to him, he shall pay money equal to the bride-price for virgins.

[22:18] “You shall not permit a sorceress to live.

[22:19] “Whoever lies with an animal shall be put to death.

[22:20] “Whoever sacrifices to any god, other than the Lord alone, shall be devoted to destruction.

[22:21] “You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.

[22:22] You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child.

[22:23] If you do mistreat them, and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry,

[22:24] and my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless.

[22:25] “If you lend money to any of my people with you who is poor, you shall not be like a moneylender to him, and you shall not exact interest from him.

[22:26] If ever you take your neighbor’s cloak in pledge, you shall return it to him before the sun goes down,

[22:27] for that is his only covering, and it is his cloak for his body; in what else shall he sleep? And if he cries to me, I will hear, for I am compassionate.

[22:28] “You shall not revile God, nor curse a ruler of your people.

[22:29] “You shall not delay to offer from the fullness of your harvest and from the outflow of your presses. The firstborn of your sons you shall give to me.

[22:30] You shall do the same with your oxen and with your sheep: seven days it shall be with its mother; on the eighth day you shall give it to me.

[22:31] “You shall be consecrated to me. Therefore you shall not eat any flesh that is torn by beasts in the field; you shall throw it to the dogs.

[23:1] “You shall not spread a false report. You shall not join hands with a wicked man to be a malicious witness.

[23:2] You shall not fall in with the many to do evil, nor shall you bear witness in a lawsuit, siding with the many, so as to pervert justice,

[23:3] nor shall you be partial to a poor man in his lawsuit.

[23:4] “If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, you shall bring it back to him.

[23:5] If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying down under its burden, you shall refrain from leaving him with it; you shall rescue it with him.

[23:6] “You shall not pervert the justice due to your poor in his lawsuit.

[23:7] Keep far from a false charge, and do not kill the innocent and righteous, for I will not acquit the wicked.

[23:8] And you shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and subverts the cause of those who are in the right.

[23:9] “You shall not oppress a sojourner. You know the heart of a sojourner, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.

Laws About the Sabbath and Festivals (EXO 23:10-19)

[23:10] “For six years you shall sow your land and gather in its yield,

[23:11] but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave the beasts of the field may eat. You shall do likewise with your vineyard, and with your olive orchard.

[23:12] “Six days you shall do your work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; that your ox and your donkey may have rest, and the son of your servant woman, and the alien, may be refreshed.

[23:13] “Pay attention to all that I have said to you, and make no mention of the names of other gods, nor let it be heard on your lips.

[23:14] “Three times in the year you shall keep a feast to me.

[23:15] You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. As I commanded you, you shall eat unleavened bread for seven days at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt. None shall appear before me empty-handed.

[23:16] You shall keep the Feast of Harvest, of the firstfruits of your labor, of what you sow in the field. You shall keep the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in from the field the fruit of your labor.

[23:17] Three times in the year shall all your males appear before the Lord God.

[23:18] “You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with anything leavened, or let the fat of my feast remain until the morning.

[23:19] “The best of the firstfruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of the Lord your God. “You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.

Conquest of Canaan Promised (EXO 23:20-33)

[23:20] “Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared.

[23:21] Pay careful attention to him and obey his voice; do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression, for my name is in him.

[23:22] “But if you carefully obey his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.

[23:23] “When my angel goes before you and brings you to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, and I blot them out,

[23:24] you shall not bow down to their gods nor serve them, nor do as they do, but you shall utterly overthrow them and break their pillars in pieces.

[23:25] You shall serve the Lord your God, and he will bless your bread and your water, and I will take sickness away from among you.

[23:26] None shall miscarry or be barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days.

[23:27] I will send my terror before you and will throw into confusion all the people against whom you shall come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you.

[23:28] And I will send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites from before you.

[23:29] I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the wild beasts multiply against you.

[23:30] Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and possess the land.

[23:31] And I will set your border from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the Euphrates, for I will give the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you.

[23:32] You shall make no covenant with them and their gods.

[23:33] They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against me; for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.”

The Covenant Confirmed (EXO 24:1-18)

[24:1] Then he said to Moses, “Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship from afar.

[24:2] Moses alone shall come near to the Lord, but the others shall not come near, and the people shall not come up with him.”

[24:3] Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the rules. And all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words that the Lord has spoken we will do.”

[24:4] And Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. He rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel.

[24:5] And he sent young men of the people of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the Lord.

[24:6] And Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he threw against the altar.

[24:7] Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.”

[24:8] And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”

[24:9] Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up,

[24:10] and they saw the God of Israel. There was under his feet as it were a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness.

[24:11] And he did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel; they beheld God, and ate and drank.

[24:12] The Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and wait there, that I may give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction.”

[24:13] So Moses rose with his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up into the mountain of God.

[24:14] And he said to the elders, “Wait here for us until we return to you. And behold, Aaron and Hur are with you. Whoever has a dispute, let him go to them.”

[24:15] Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain.

[24:16] The glory of the Lord dwelt on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud.

[24:17] Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel.

[24:18] Moses entered the cloud and went up on the mountain. And Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

Contributions for the Sanctuary (EXO 25:1-9)

[25:1] The Lord said to Moses,

[25:2] “Speak to the people of Israel, that they take for me a contribution. From every man whose heart moves him you shall receive the contribution for me.

[25:3] And this is the contribution that you shall receive from them: gold, silver, and bronze,

[25:4] blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen, goats’ hair,

[25:5] tanned rams’ skins, goatskins, acacia wood,

[25:6] oil for the lamps, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense,

[25:7] onyx stones, and stones for setting, for the ephod and for the breastpiece.

[25:8] And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst.

[25:9] Exactly as I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle, and of all its furniture, so you shall make it.

The Ark of the Covenant (EXO 25:10-22)

[25:10] “They shall make an ark of acacia wood. Two cubits and a half shall be its length, a cubit and a half its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height.

[25:11] You shall overlay it with pure gold, inside and outside shall you overlay it, and you shall make on it a molding of gold around it.

[25:12] You shall cast four rings of gold for it and put them on its four feet, two rings on the one side of it, and two rings on the other side of it.

[25:13] You shall make poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold.

[25:14] And you shall put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark to carry the ark by them.

[25:15] The poles shall remain in the rings of the ark; they shall not be taken from it.

[25:16] And you shall put into the ark the testimony that I shall give you.

[25:17] “You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold. Two cubits and a half shall be its length, and a cubit and a half its breadth.

[25:18] And you shall make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work shall you make them, on the two ends of the mercy seat.

[25:19] Make one cherub on the one end, and one cherub on the other end. Of one piece with the mercy seat shall you make the cherubim on its two ends.

[25:20] The cherubim shall spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy seat with their wings, their faces one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubim be.

[25:21] And you shall put the mercy seat on the top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the testimony that I shall give you.

[25:22] There I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are on the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you about all that I will give you in commandment for the people of Israel.

The Table for Bread (EXO 25:23-30)

[25:23] “You shall make a table of acacia wood. Two cubits shall be its length, a cubit its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height.

[25:24] You shall overlay it with pure gold and make a molding of gold around it.

[25:25] And you shall make a rim around it a handbreadth wide, and a molding of gold around the rim.

[25:26] And you shall make for it four rings of gold, and fasten the rings to the four corners at its four legs.

[25:27] Close to the frame the rings shall lie, as holders for the poles to carry the table.

[25:28] You shall make the poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold, and the table shall be carried with these.

[25:29] And you shall make its plates and dishes for incense, and its flagons and bowls with which to pour drink offerings; you shall make them of pure gold.

[25:30] And you shall set the bread of the Presence on the table before me regularly.

The Golden Lampstand (EXO 25:31-40)

[25:31] “You shall make a lampstand of pure gold. The lampstand shall be made of hammered work: its base, its stem, its cups, its calyxes, and its flowers shall be of one piece with it.

[25:32] And there shall be six branches going out of its sides, three branches of the lampstand out of one side of it and three branches of the lampstand out of the other side of it;

[25:33] three cups made like almond blossoms, each with calyx and flower, on one branch, and three cups made like almond blossoms, each with calyx and flower, on the other branch—so for the six branches going out of the lampstand.

[25:34] And on the lampstand itself there shall be four cups made like almond blossoms, with their calyxes and flowers,

[25:35] and a calyx of one piece with it under each pair of the six branches going out from the lampstand.

[25:36] Their calyxes and their branches shall be of one piece with it, the whole of it a single piece of hammered work of pure gold.

[25:37] You shall make seven lamps for it. And the lamps shall be set up so as to give light on the space in front of it.

[25:38] Its tongs and their trays shall be of pure gold.

[25:39] It shall be made, with all these utensils, out of a talent of pure gold.

[25:40] And see that you make them after the pattern for them, which is being shown you on the mountain.

The Tabernacle (EXO 26:1-37)

[26:1] “Moreover, you shall make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twined linen and blue and purple and scarlet yarns; you shall make them with cherubim skillfully worked into them.

[26:2] The length of each curtain shall be twenty-eight cubits, and the breadth of each curtain four cubits; all the curtains shall be the same size.

[26:3] Five curtains shall be coupled to one another, and the other five curtains shall be coupled to one another.

[26:4] And you shall make loops of blue on the edge of the outermost curtain in the first set. Likewise you shall make loops on the edge of the outermost curtain in the second set.

[26:5] Fifty loops you shall make on the one curtain, and fifty loops you shall make on the edge of the curtain that is in the second set; the loops shall be opposite one another.

[26:6] And you shall make fifty clasps of gold, and couple the curtains one to the other with the clasps, so that the tabernacle may be a single whole.

[26:7] “You shall also make curtains of goats’ hair for a tent over the tabernacle; eleven curtains shall you make.

[26:8] The length of each curtain shall be thirty cubits, and the breadth of each curtain four cubits. The eleven curtains shall be the same size.

[26:9] You shall couple five curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves, and the sixth curtain you shall double over at the front of the tent.

[26:10] You shall make fifty loops on the edge of the curtain that is outermost in one set, and fifty loops on the edge of the curtain that is outermost in the second set.

[26:11] “You shall make fifty clasps of bronze, and put the clasps into the loops, and couple the tent together that it may be a single whole.

[26:12] And the part that remains of the curtains of the tent, the half curtain that remains, shall hang over the back of the tabernacle.

[26:13] And the extra that remains in the length of the curtains, the cubit on the one side, and the cubit on the other side, shall hang over the sides of the tabernacle, on this side and that side, to cover it.

[26:14] And you shall make for the tent a covering of tanned rams’ skins and a covering of goatskins on top.

[26:15] “You shall make upright frames for the tabernacle of acacia wood.

[26:16] Ten cubits shall be the length of a frame, and a cubit and a half the breadth of each frame.

[26:17] There shall be two tenons in each frame, for fitting together. So shall you do for all the frames of the tabernacle.

[26:18] You shall make the frames for the tabernacle: twenty frames for the south side;

[26:19] and forty bases of silver you shall make under the twenty frames, two bases under one frame for its two tenons, and two bases under the next frame for its two tenons;

[26:20] and for the second side of the tabernacle, on the north side twenty frames,

[26:21] and their forty bases of silver, two bases under one frame, and two bases under the next frame.

[26:22] And for the rear of the tabernacle westward you shall make six frames.

[26:23] And you shall make two frames for corners of the tabernacle in the rear;

[26:24] they shall be separate beneath, but joined at the top, at the first ring. Thus shall it be with both of them; they shall form the two corners.

[26:25] And there shall be eight frames, with their bases of silver, sixteen bases; two bases under one frame, and two bases under another frame.

[26:26] “You shall make bars of acacia wood, five for the frames of the one side of the tabernacle,

[26:27] and five bars for the frames of the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the frames of the side of the tabernacle at the rear westward.

[26:28] The middle bar, halfway up the frames, shall run from end to end.

[26:29] You shall overlay the frames with gold and shall make their rings of gold for holders for the bars, and you shall overlay the bars with gold.

[26:30] Then you shall erect the tabernacle according to the plan for it that you were shown on the mountain.

[26:31] “And you shall make a veil of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen. It shall be made with cherubim skillfully worked into it.

[26:32] And you shall hang it on four pillars of acacia overlaid with gold, with hooks of gold, on four bases of silver.

[26:33] And you shall hang the veil from the clasps, and bring the ark of the testimony in there within the veil. And the veil shall separate for you the Holy Place from the Most Holy.

[26:34] You shall put the mercy seat on the ark of the testimony in the Most Holy Place.

[26:35] And you shall set the table outside the veil, and the lampstand on the south side of the tabernacle opposite the table, and you shall put the table on the north side.

[26:36] “You shall make a screen for the entrance of the tent, of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen, embroidered with needlework.

[26:37] And you shall make for the screen five pillars of acacia, and overlay them with gold. Their hooks shall be of gold, and you shall cast five bases of bronze for them.