Exodus Chapters

The Hebrews Increase in Egypt

1 | •  ¹Here are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob, each with his family: ²Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah, ³Issachar, Zebulun and Benjamin, ⁴Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher. ⁵These descendants of Jacob numbered seventy in all; apart from these, Joseph was already in Egypt.

⁶Then Joseph died, as did all his brothers and all that generation. ⁷The sons of Israel were fruitful and kept increasing. They multiplied and strengthened to such an extent that the land teemed with them.

The Hebrews Reduced to Slavery

⁸Then a new king who had not known Joseph came to power ⁹and said to his people, “The Israelites are more numerous and stronger than we are. ¹⁰Let us deal warily with them lest they increase still more and, in case of war, side with our enemy, fight against us, and escape from the land.” ¹¹So they set taskmasters over them to oppress them with forced labor. In that way, they built the storage towns of Pithom and Raamses. ¹²But the more they oppressed the Hebrews the more they increased and spread until the Egyptians dreaded the Israelites ¹³and became ruthless in making them work. ¹⁴They made life bitter for them in hard labor with bricks and mortar and all kinds of work in the fields. In all their work the Egyptians treated them harshly.

¹⁵Then the king of Egypt gave orders to the Hebrew midwives—one of whom was called Shiphrah and the other Puah—¹⁶that when they attended Hebrew women who were on the birth stool and saw that it was a boy, they were to kill it, but if it was a girl they were to let it live. ¹⁷But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded but let the children live. ¹⁸The king called the midwives and said, “Why have you acted like that and let the children live?” ¹⁹The midwives replied, “Because the Hebrew women are unlike Egyptian women. They are vigorous and give birth even before a midwife arrives.”

²⁰God blessed the midwives, and the people increased and became even more numerous. ²¹Because the midwives revered God, he made them mothers of families.

²²Pharaoh then gave this order to all the people: “Every infant boy born to the Hebrews must be thrown into the Nile, but every girl may live.”

Moses Saved from the River

2 | •  ¹Now a man from the Levi clan married a woman of his own tribe. ²She gave birth to a boy and, seeing that he was a beautiful child, kept him hidden for three months. ³As she could no longer conceal him, she made a basket out of papyrus leaves and coated it with tar and pitch. She then laid the child in the basket and placed it among the reeds near the bank of the Nile, ⁴but the child's sister kept at a distance to see what would happen to him.      

⁵ The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe in the Nile; her attendants meanwhile walked along the bank. When she saw the basket among the reeds, she sent her maidservant to fetch it. ⁶She opened the basket and saw the child—a boy, and he was crying! She felt sorry for him, for she thought: “This is one of the Hebrew children.”

⁷Then the child's sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?” 8 Pharaoh’s daughter agreed, and the girl went to call the child's mother. ⁹Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take the child and nurse him for me and I will pay you.” So the woman took the child and nursed him ¹⁰and when the child had grown, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter who adopted him as her son. And she named him Moses to recall that she had drawn him out of the water.

Moses Discovers His People

•  ¹¹After a fairly long time, Moses, by now a grown man, wanted to meet his fellow Hebrews. He noticed how heavily they were burdened, and he saw an Egyptian striking a Hebrew, one of his own people. ¹²He looked around and saw no one; he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.

¹³When he went out the next day, he saw two Hebrews quarreling. Moses said to the man in the wrong, “Why are you striking a fellow countryman?” ¹⁴But he answered, “Who has set you prince and judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Moses was afraid and thought, “What I did must be known.”

¹⁵When Pharaoh heard about it, he tried to kill Moses, but Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in the land of Midian. There, he sat down by a well.

Moses in Midian

•  ¹⁶A priest of Midian had seven daughters. They came to draw water and fill the troughs to water their father’s sheep. ¹⁷Some shepherds came and drove them away, but Moses went to their help and watered the sheep.

¹⁸When the girls returned to their father Reuel, he asked them, “Why have you come back so early today?” ¹⁹They said, “An Egyptian protected us from the shepherds and even drew water for us and watered the sheep.” ²⁰The man said, “Where is he? Why did you leave him there? Call him and offer him a meal.”

²¹Moses agreed to stay with the man, and he gave Moses his daughter Zipporah in marriage. ²²She had a child, and Moses named him Gershom to recall that he had been a guest in a strange land.

God Remembers Israel

•  ²³It happened during that long period of time that the king of Egypt died. The sons of Israel groaned under their slavery; they cried to God for help, and from their bondage, their cry ascended to God. ²⁴God heard their sigh and remembered his Covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. ²⁵God looked upon the Israelites and revealed himself to them.

The Burning Bush

3 | •  ¹Moses pastured the sheep of Jethro, his father-in-law, priest of Midian. One day he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to Horeb, the Mountain of God.

²The angel of the Lord appeared to him through a flame of fire in the middle of a bush. Moses saw that although the bush was on fire, it did not burn up. ³Moses thought, “I will go and see this amazing sight; why is the bush not burning up?”

⁴The Lord saw that Moses was drawing near to look, and God called to him from the middle of the bush, “Moses! Moses!” He replied, “Here I am.” ⁵The Lord said to him, “Do not come near; take off your sandals because the place where you are standing is holy ground.” ⁶And God continued, “I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”

Moses hid his face lest his eyes look on God. ⁷The Lord said, “I have seen the humiliation of my people in Egypt, and I hear their cry when they are cruelly treated by their taskmasters. I know their suffering. ⁸I have come down to free them from the power of the Egyptians and to bring them up from that land to a beautiful spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the territory of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. ⁹The cry of the sons of Israel has reached me and I have seen how the Egyptians oppress them.

¹⁰Go now! I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt.”

¹¹Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the people of Israel out of Egypt?”

¹²God replied, “I will be with you, and this will be the sign I have sent you. When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.”

¹³Moses answered God, “If I go to the Israelites and say to them: ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ they will ask me: ‘What is his name?’ What shall I answer them?”

•  ¹⁴God said to Moses, “I AM WHO AM. This is what you will say to the sons of Israel: ‘I AM sent me to you.” ¹⁵God then said to Moses, “You will say to the Israelites: ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, has sent me.’ That will be my name forever, and by this name, they shall call upon me for all generations to come.

Moses Is Given His Mission

¹⁶Go! Call together the elders of Israel and say to them, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob appeared to me and said: I have seen and taken account of how the Egyptians have treated you, ¹⁷and I mean to bring you out of all this oppression in Egypt and take you to the land of the Canaanites, a land flowing with milk and honey.’

¹⁸The elders of Israel will listen to you, and you shall go to the palace of the king of Egypt with them and say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Now let us go a three-day journey into the wilderness to sacrifice to the Lord, our God.’

¹⁹I know that the Egyptian king will not allow you to go unless he is forced. ²⁰I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt in extraordinary ways, after which he will let you go. ²¹And I will make the Egyptians treat my people well when you leave; you will not go empty-handed. ²²Each woman will ask her neighbor and any Egyptian woman staying in her house to lend her ornaments of silver and gold and clothing. With these, you will clothe your sons and daughters, and in this way, you will plunder the Egyptians.”

Moses Granted Miraculous Powers

4 | •  ¹Moses replied to the Lord, “What if they will not believe me or listen to me? Maybe they will say: ‘That’s not true. The Lord did not appear to you.”

²The Lord then asked him, “What is that in your right hand?” “A staff,” he replied. ³God said, “Throw it to the ground.” He threw it, and it became a serpent, and Moses drew back from it. ⁴The Lord said, “Take it by the tail.” Moses took it, and it was again a staff in his hand. ⁵Then the Lord said, “With such signs, they may believe that the Lord, the God of your fathers, appeared to you.”

⁶Again the Lord said to him, “Put your hand on your chest.” He put his hand on his chest and when he took it away his hand was covered with leprosy, white as snow. ⁷And God said, “Put your hand back on your chest.” So he put it back, and when he took it away again, his hand was healthy like the rest of his body.

⁸The Lord added, “If they don’t believe you and are not convinced by the first sign, they will believe you when they see the second. ⁹But if these two signs are not enough to make them believe you, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the ground, and the water from the river will turn into blood.”

Aaron, Interpreter of Moses

•  ¹⁰Moses said to the Lord, “But, my Lord, never have I been a fluent speaker before or after you have spoken to me. I cannot find words to express what I want to say.” ¹¹The Lord said to him, “Who gave man a mouth? Who makes him dumb or deaf, with sight or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? ¹²Go now! I will be on your lips and will inspire what you say.”

¹³But Moses insisted, “My Lord, I pray you, why not send someone else?” ¹⁴At this, the Lord became angry with Moses and said, “What of your brother Aaron, the Levite? I know he speaks well. Look! He is coming to meet you, ¹⁵and he will be glad when he sees you. You will speak to him and tell him what I have told you to say. And when you tell him or he speaks, I will be with you and teach you what you have to say. ¹⁶Aaron will speak for you as a prophet speaks for his god. ¹⁷ You will work miraculous signs with this staff in your hand.”

Moses Returns to Egypt

•  ¹⁸Then Moses went back to Jethro, his father-in-law, and said to him, “I am going back to my brothers in Egypt to see if they are still alive.” Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace!”

¹⁹The Lord said to Moses in the land of Midian, “Go back to Egypt, for all those who wanted to kill you are dead.”

²⁰Moses took his wife and his sons with him. He put them on a donkey and set off for Egypt, holding the staff of God in his hand.

²¹The Lord said to Moses, “You are returning to Egypt, and you will perform all the miraculous signs that I have empowered you to do in the presence of Pharaoh. I will, however, make him stubborn so that he will not let the people go. ²²You shall then say to Pharaoh: ‘This is the Lord’s message: Israel is my first-born son, ²³and I said to you: Let my son go that he may worship me. But you have refused to let him go and because of this, I will take the life of your first-born son.”

²⁴At a lodging place on the way, the angel of the Lord approached Moses and tried to kill him. ²⁵But Zipporah took a flint stone and cut her son’s foreskin and, with it, she touched the feet of Moses saying, “You are now my husband by blood!” ²⁶And the angel left him. Zipporah said ‘husband by blood’ because of the circumcision.

Moses Meets Aaron

²⁷The Lord said to Aaron, “Go into the desert and meet your brother, Moses.” So Aaron went and met him at the Mountain of God and kissed him. ²⁸Moses related to Aaron all that the Lord had said to him and all the signs he had commanded him to perform. ²⁹Moses and Aaron assembled all the elders of the Israelites ³⁰and Aaron told them everything that the Lord had said to Moses. He also performed all the signs before the people and they believed him. ³¹When they heard that the Lord had visited the people of Israel and had seen their suffering, they bowed to the ground and worshiped him.

Moses Speaks with Pharaoh

5 | •  ¹After this, Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: ‘Let my people go, that they may hold a feast for me in the desert.’” ²Pharaoh replied, “Who is the Lord that I should listen to his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and I will not let Israel go.” ³They then said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Allow us to make a three days’ journey to the desert. There we shall offer sacrifices to the Lord, our God, lest he punish us with the plague or the sword.” ⁴The king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why do you take people away from their work? Get back to your tasks. ⁵The people are now numerous and you are asking them to interrupt their work.”

⁶That same day Pharaoh gave the following order to the taskmasters of the people and to the Israelite foremen: ⁷“You will no longer supply the people with straw for making bricks. Let them go and find it themselves; ⁸but you will exact from them the same number of bricks as before, not one less. They are lazy, so they are crying out to go and sacrifice to their God. ⁹Make the work harder for the people and pay no attention to their lies.”

First Difficulties

¹⁰The slave drivers and their Israelite foremen went out and said to the people, “Pharaoh will not give you any more straw. ¹¹Go and get it yourselves wherever you can find it, but the amount of work done must be the same as before.”

¹²The people scattered throughout Egypt to gather stubble to use for straw. ¹³The taskmasters kept pressing them, saying, “Complete the work required of you each day, as you did when you had straw.” ¹⁴The taskmasters beat the Israelite foremen they had placed over the people saying, “Why haven’t your people completed the same amount of work as before?”

¹⁵The Israelite foremen complained to Pharaoh saying, “Why do you treat us like this? ¹⁶We are given no straw and yet we are told to make bricks. We are being beaten, but the fault is with your own people.” ¹⁷Pharaoh replied, “Lazy! You are lazy, so you ask to go and sacrifice to the Lord. ¹⁸Go back to work. You will not be given straw, but you will produce the same number of bricks.”

¹⁹The Israelite foremen felt they were in great trouble. ²⁰They met Moses and Aaron who were waiting for them ²¹and said to them, “May the Lord look upon you and judge you, because you have made us hateful to Pharaoh and his ministers, and placed in his hand a sword to kill us.”

²²Moses then turned to the Lord and said, “O Lord! Why have you treated your people so badly? Why did you send me? ²³From the time I spoke to Pharaoh in your name, he has brought trouble on this people and you have done nothing to rescue them!”

6 | ¹The Lord said to Moses, “Now you will see that I will overcome him and oblige him to let you go, even force him to drive you out of his land.”

Another Narrative of the Call of Moses

•  ²God spoke to Moses saying, “I am the Lord!  ³I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God Almighty. Still, I did not make myself known to them by the name of Lord. ⁴I established my Covenant with them, promising to give them the land of Canaan, in which they lived as strangers, ⁵and now I remember my Covenant as I hear the groaning of the Israelites enslaved by the Egyptians.

⁶Therefore say this to them: “I am the Lord. I will take you away from the burden of Egypt and free you from its bondage; I will redeem you with the blows of my powerful hand. ⁷I will take you for my people, and you will know that I am the Lord your God who delivered you from the slavery of the Egyptians. ⁸I will bring you to the land I swore I would give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and I will give it to you as your own possession. I am the Lord.”

⁹This is how Moses spoke to the people of Israel but they did not listen, so discouraged were they by their cruel slavery.

¹⁰The Lord spoke to Moses saying, ¹¹“Go and speak to Pharaoh, king of Egypt and tell him to let the people of Israel leave the country.” ¹²But Moses said, “If the Israelites paid no attention to me, how then will Pharaoh listen to me, a man who has difficulty in expressing himself?” ¹³But the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron and ordered them, and Pharaoh as well, to bring the people of Israel out of Egypt.

The Forefathers of Moses and Aaron

¹⁴These were the heads of the tribes:

Sons of Reuben, Israel’s firstborn: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi; these are the families of Reuben.

¹⁵Sons of Simeon: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul, son of a Canaanite woman; these are the families of Simeon.

¹⁶These are the sons of Levi with their descendants: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. Levi lived for one hundred thirty-seven years. ¹⁷Sons of Gershon: Libni and Shimei and their descendants.

¹⁸Sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. Kohath lived for a hundred and thirty-three years.

¹⁹Sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. These are the descendants of Levi with their families.

²⁰Amram married Jochebed, his aunt, who gave him two sons, Aaron and Moses. Amram lived a hundred and thirty-seven years.

²¹The sons of Izhar were: Korah, Nepheg and Zichri.

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

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

²⁴The sons of Korah: Assir, Elkanah and Abiasaph. These are the families of the Korahites. ²⁵Eleazar, son of Aaron, married one of Putiel’s daughters and Phinehas was their son.

These are the heads of the families of the Levites according to their clans.

²⁶It was to Aaron and Moses that the Lord said, “Bring the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt in divisions.”

²⁷It was they who spoke with Pharaoh, king of Egypt, about bringing the Israelites out of Egypt. Yes, it was Moses and Aaron.

²⁸When the Lord spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt, ²⁹he said, “I am the Lord. Say to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, all that I tell you.” ³⁰But Moses replied, “I am a poor speaker and why would Pharaoh listen to me?”

Announcement of the Plagues

7 | ¹The Lord said to Moses, “See, I have made you like a god in Pharaoh’s eyes; and Aaron, your brother, will be your prophet. ²You will tell Aaron all that I command you, and he will tell Pharaoh to let the people of Israel leave the country. ³But I will make him stubborn and although I multiply my signs and miracles, ⁴he will not listen to you. Then I will use my power and lead my armies, my people, the Israelites out of Egypt using great punishments. ⁵Then will the Egyptians know that I am the Lord when they see with what power I bring the people of Israel out of their country.”

⁶Moses and Aaron did exactly what the Lord had commanded. ⁷Moses was eighty and Aaron eighty-three when they spoke to Pharaoh.

⁸The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron saying, ⁹“When Pharaoh speaks to you and tells you to perform a miracle to prove the truth of what you say, you will say to Aaron: ‘Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh, and it will become a snake.’”

¹⁰Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did what the Lord had commanded. Aaron threw his staff before Pharaoh and his ministers, and it became a snake. ¹¹Pharaoh then summoned wise men and magicians, and they, too, the magicians of Egypt, did the same through their secret arts. ¹²Each one threw his staff down, and the staff became serpents. But Aaron’s staff swallowed the magicians' staffs. ¹³ However, Pharaoh was obstinate and did not listen to them, as the Lord had said.

The Plagues of Egypt

•  ¹⁴The Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh is stubborn; he has refused to let the people leave. ¹⁵So you will go to Pharaoh in the morning when he goes to the water. Wait for him on the bank of the river and hold in your hand the staff that turned into a serpent. ¹⁶You will say to him, “The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to say to you: ‘Let my people go to worship me in the desert, but so far you have not listened. ¹⁷By this, you shall learn that I am the Lord: Look, I will strike the water of the Nile with the staff I have in my hand, and it will turn into blood! ¹⁸The fish in the river will die, and the Nile will become foul, and the Egyptians will no longer be able to drink its water.’”

¹⁹The Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron: ‘Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, rivers, canals, ponds, and pools of water; and they will turn into blood. There will be blood throughout Egypt, even in vessels of wood and stone.’” ²⁰Moses and Aaron did as the Lord had commanded.

Aaron raised his staff and struck the waters of the Nile, in the presence of Pharaoh and his ministers, and all the water in the Nile turned to blood. ²¹The fish in the river died and the Nile was contaminated so that the Egyptians could no longer drink the water of the Nile.

There was blood all over Egypt. ²² The Egyptian magicians, however, could do the same with their secret crafts, and Pharaoh remained unmoved. As the Lord had foretold, he would not listen to Moses and Aaron.

²³Pharaoh returned to his house as if nothing of importance had happened. ²⁴And yet all the Egyptians were digging near the Nile for water because they could not drink from the river.

The Second Plague: The Frogs

²⁵Seven days passed after the Lord had struck the Nile. ²⁶The Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and tell him that the Lord says, ‘Let my people go to worship me! ²⁷If you refuse to let them leave, I will punish the country with a plague of frogs. ²⁸The Nile will teem with frogs. They will invade your house, your bedroom, and your bed, your servants and your people’s houses, your ovens, and your kneading bowls. ²⁹Over you and your people, the frogs will climb.’”

8 | ¹The Lord spoke to Moses, “Say to Aaron: Stretch out your hand with your staff over the rivers, canals, and ponds of Egypt ²and cause frogs to cover all the country of Egypt.” ³The magicians of Egypt did the same utilizing their secret formulas, and they brought frogs over the land of Egypt!

⁴Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Ask the Lord to remove the frogs from me and my people, and I will send your people to sacrifice to the Lord.” ⁵But Moses replied, “Let me know, please, when I am to make the petition for you, your officials and your people that you may be rid of frogs except in the Nile.” ⁶Pharaoh answered, “Tomorrow.” Moses said, “Right, and that you may know that there is no one like the Lord, our God, ⁷the frogs will disappear from you and your house, your servants and your people; only in the Nile will they remain.” ⁸With this, Moses and Aaron left Pharaoh.

Then Moses called on the Lord concerning the frogs he inflicted on Pharaoh. ⁹The Lord did as Moses had promised Pharaoh, and the frogs died in the houses, the farms, and the fields. ¹⁰The people piled them in heaps, and the land was filled with a foul smell. ¹¹Now that relief had come, Pharaoh became even more stubborn and would not listen, just as the Lord had foretold.

The Third Plague: The Mosquitoes

¹²The Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron to strike the dust of the earth with his staff and turn it into mosquitoes throughout the land.” ¹³Aaron did this; he struck the dust of the earth, which turned into mosquitoes that tormented people and animals. All the dust of the earth all over Egypt turned into mosquitoes. ¹⁴But when the magicians tried, employing their secret formulas, to drive away the mosquitoes, they could not, and the mosquitoes kept tormenting people and animals. ¹⁵The magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God,” but Pharaoh was unmoved and did not listen, as the Lord had foretold.

The Fourth Plague: The Horseflies

¹⁶The Lord said to Moses, “Rise early in the morning and go to Pharaoh when he is on his way to the river. Say to him: This is the Lord’s message: Let my people go and worship me. ¹⁷If you refuse to let them go, I will send horseflies on you, your officials, your people, and your houses. The houses of the Egyptians will be filled with horseflies and even the ground on which they are built. ¹⁸But on that day, I will spare the land of Goshen where my people are. No horseflies will be there; by this, you may know that I, the Lord, am in the land. ¹⁹I will make a distinction between my people and your people. By tomorrow, this will have happened.”

²⁰The Lord did this and dense swarms of horseflies invaded Pharaoh’s house and the houses of all his people and devastated the whole country.

²¹Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron, saying, “Go and sacrifice to your God in this country.” ²²But Moses replied, “That would not be right. We offer to our God animals, which are sacred to the Egyptians. If we were to offer in their presence a sacrifice that offends the Egyptians, wouldn’t they stone us? ²³We must make a three-day journey into the desert, and there we will sacrifice to the Lord, our God, as he commands.”

²⁴Pharaoh replied, “I will let you go and sacrifice to your God in the desert, but on condition that you do not go far. And pray to God for me!”

²⁵Moses said, “I am leaving you and I will pray to the Lord for you, and tomorrow the horseflies will leave you, your officials and your people, but do not continue to deceive us by refusing to let the people go to the desert.” ²⁶Moses left Pharaoh’s house and prayed to the Lord ²⁷who did as Moses had asked, and delivered Pharaoh, his officers, and people from the horseflies. Not one horsefly was left.

²⁸But Pharaoh was relentless and refused to let the people go.

The Fifth Plague:

The Death of Egyptian Livestock

9 | ¹The Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘This is the message of the Lord, the God of the Hebrews: Let my people go and offer sacrifices to me. ²If you refuse to let them go and hold them back any longer, ³the hand of the Lord will bring a terrible plague on your horses, your donkeys, and your camels, on your cattle and your sheep. ⁴But the Lord will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and that of Egypt. Nothing belonging to the people of Israel will die.’”

⁵The Lord then fixed a time and said, “It will be done tomorrow.” ⁶The Lord did this the following day; all the livestock of the Egyptians died, but not one owned by the Israelites died. ⁷Pharaoh made inquiries and in fact, found that none of the cattle belonging to the Israelites had died. But Pharaoh remained adamant and did not let the people go.

The Sixth Plague: The Boils

⁸The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Take two handfuls of ashes from the brick oven and let Moses throw it up in the air in front of Pharaoh’s eyes. ⁹It will become fine dust all over Egypt and bring festering boils on people and animals.” ¹⁰So they took ashes from the oven and, in the presence of Pharaoh, Moses threw it up in the air, bringing festering boils on people and animals. ¹¹And the magicians could not stand before Moses because they had boils like all the other Egyptians.

¹²But the Lord made Pharaoh stubborn, and he did not listen to Moses and Aaron as the Lord had foretold.

The Seventh Plague: The Hail

¹³The Lord said to Moses, “Rise early; present yourself to Pharaoh and say to him: ‘This is the message of the Lord, the God of the Hebrews: Send my people away to worship me ¹⁴because this time I will send the full force of my plagues against you, your ministers and your people, that you may know there is no one like me in the whole world. ¹⁵For had I wished, I could have raised my hand against you and your people and, with a similar pestilence, wiped you from the face of the earth. ¹⁶But this is why I have let you live: that you may witness my power and that my name may be celebrated throughout the earth. ¹⁷Are you still set against my people leaving the country? ¹⁸Tomorrow at this time I will send very heavy hail such as has never been in Egypt from the day of its foundation. ¹⁹So now let all your livestock and all that you have in the fields take shelter because when the hail falls on all that remains in the fields, whether people or animals, they will die.’” ²⁰Those among Pharaoh’s officials who believed the Lord’s word hurried to bring their slaves and cattle inside; ²¹but those who paid no attention to the Lord’s warning left their slaves and their cattle in the fields.

²²Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand towards heaven and let hail fall throughout Egypt on people and animals, and all that grows in the field.” ²³Moses stretched out his staff towards heaven, and the Lord sent thunder and hail; lightning struck the earth 24 , and the Lord rained hail on the land of Egypt: lightning flashed amid the hail. It was very heavy hail such as had never been known in all Egypt from the time it had first become a nation.

²⁵Throughout Egypt, the hail struck everything in the fields, both people and animals. It beat down everything growing in the fields and felled every tree. ²⁶But where the Israelites lived, there was no hail.

²⁷Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron, saying, “Now it is clear I have sinned. The Lord is in the right; my people and I are in the wrong. ²⁸Pray the Lord to stop the thunder and hail! I will let you go, and no longer will you stay here.”

²⁹Moses said to him, “As soon as I leave the town, I will lift my hands towards the Lord; the thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, and you will know that the earth is the Lord’s. ³⁰But as for you and your officials, I know that you don’t yet fear the Lord, our God.” ³¹The flax and the barley were ruined, as the barley was almost ripe and the flax was in flower, ³²but the wheat and the spelt which are late crops were not destroyed.

³³Moses left Pharaoh, went out of the city, and raised his hands towards the Lord. The thunder and hail ceased, and it stopped raining. ³⁴Pharaoh, seeing no rain and the thunder and hail had ceased, sinned yet again. ³⁵He and his ministers remained unyielding and would not let the Israelites go, just as the Lord had foretold through Moses.

The Eighth Plague: The Locusts

10 | •  ¹The Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh for I have made him stubborn and his ministers as well, to show my signs among them, ²and that you may tell your grandchildren how I dealt harshly with the Egyptians and about the signs I worked among them, and that you may know that I am the Lord.”

³Moses went with Aaron and said to Pharaoh, “This is the word of the Lord, the God of the Hebrews: ‘How much longer will you refuse to submit to me? Let my people go and worship me. ⁴If you refuse to let my people go, I will bring locusts into your country, ⁵and they will completely cover the land's surface. They will devour what was left after the hail and every tree in the fields. ⁶They will fill your house and the houses of your ministers and all the houses in Egypt, something your fathers and their fathers before them have never seen from ancient times to this day.’” Having said this, Moses turned away and left Pharaoh’s presence.

⁷Pharaoh’s ministers said to him, “For how long will this man be a snare to us? Let the people go and worship the Lord, their God. Don’t you realize that Egypt is ruined?”

⁸So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh, and he said, “Go! Worship the Lord, your God. But exactly who are to go?” ⁹Moses said, “We shall go with our young and our old, with our sons and daughters, with our sheep and our cattle, for it is the great feast of the Lord that we are to celebrate.” ¹⁰Pharaoh said, “May the Lord help you if ever I let you go with your little ones! Oh no! It’s clear you are bent on evil. ¹¹No! Only the men will offer sacrifice to the Lord if that is what you want!” And they were driven away from Pharaoh’s presence.

¹²The Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand and bring locusts to the land of Egypt. Let them eat every plant in the land, everything left after the hail.” ¹³So Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt. All that day and night, the Lord brought an east wind over the land, and in the morning, the east wind brought the locusts. ¹⁴They came and settled on the land in such quantities as had never been seen before and will never be seen again. ¹⁵They covered the sky of Egypt, and the earth was in darkness. They devoured all the vegetation in the land and all the fruit of the trees left after the hail. Nothing green remained neither tree nor plant of the field, in all the land of Egypt.

¹⁶Because of all this, Pharaoh hastened to summon Moses and Aaron, saying, “I have sinned against the Lord, your God, and against you. ¹⁷Forgive my sin, I pray you, at least for once, and ask the Lord, your God, for a final favor: to rid me of this deadly plague.”

¹⁸Moses left Pharaoh and interceded with the Lord ¹⁹who brought a very strong wind from the west that carried off the locusts and swept them into the Red Sea. Not one locust was left within the boundaries of Egypt.

²⁰But the Lord let Pharaoh be stubborn, and he would not allow the Israelites to leave.

The Ninth Plague: The Darkness

²¹The Lord said to Moses, “Stretch your hand towards heaven and let darkness descend on the land of Egypt, a darkness so dense that it can be felt.” ²²Moses stretched out his hand towards heaven, and instantly, black darkness covered the land of Egypt for three days. ²³They could not see each other, and they could not move about for three days, but where the sons of Israel lived, there was light. ²⁴Pharaoh summoned Moses and said, “Go and worship the Lord, you and your children with you; leave only your flocks and herds behind!” ²⁵Moses said, “Are you going to give us animals for our sacrifices and burnt offerings? ²⁶No! Our cattle to the last hoof must also go with us, for it is from our livestock that we will choose the victims we will offer to the Lord. Moreover, we shall not know which ones we must sacrifice until we arrive at that place.”

²⁷But the Lord let Pharaoh be stubborn, and Pharaoh would not let them go.

²⁸Pharaoh said to Moses, “Get out of my sight! Take care! Never come before me again, for the day you do, you will die!” ²⁹Moses said, “As you say, I shall never come before you again.”

The Tenth Plague:

The Death of the Firstborn

11 | •  ¹The Lord said to Moses, “I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and Egypt. After that, he will send you away and even drive you away completely. ²Speak to the people and tell them that both men and women are to ask their neighbors for articles of silver and gold.”

³The Lord disposed the Egyptians favorably towards the people. Moses, moreover, was regarded as a person of importance in Egypt both by Pharaoh’s ministers and by the people.

⁴Moses said, “This is the Lord’s message: ‘About midnight, I shall go through Egypt ⁵and all the firstborn in Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who is heir to the throne, to the firstborn of the servant behind the mill and the firstborn of the animals. ⁶There will be great wailing throughout all of Egypt, such as has never been before and never will be again. ⁷But among the Israelites, not a dog will howl for the death of either man or beast. This is that you may understand that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.

⁸All these ministers of yours will come down to me and bow before me saying, ‘Go, you and all who follow you!’ After that, I will leave.” And turning in anger, he left Pharaoh.

⁹The Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh will not listen to you, and so the wonders that I do in Egypt will be multiplied.”

¹⁰Moses and Aaron had worked all these marvels in the presence of Pharaoh, but the Lord had made Pharaoh obstinate, and he would not let the people of Israel leave his country.

The Passover

12 | •  ¹The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt and said, ²“This month is to be the beginning of all months, the first month of your year. ³Speak to the community of Israel and say to them:

On the tenth day of this month, let each family take a lamb for each house. ⁴If the family is too small for a lamb, they must join with a neighbor, the nearest to the house, according to the number of persons and what each one can eat.

⁵You will select a perfect lamb without blemishes, a male born during the present year, taken from the sheep or goats. ⁶Then you will keep it until the fourteenth day of the month.

On that evening, all the people will slaughter their lambs ⁷and take some of the blood to put on the doorposts and on top of the doorframes of the houses where you eat.

⁸That night, you will eat the flesh roasted at the fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.

⁹Do not eat the meat lightly cooked or boiled in water but roasted entirely over the fire—the head, the legs, and the inner parts. ¹⁰Do not leave any of it until the morning. If any is left till morning, burn it in the fire.

¹¹This is how you will eat: with a belt around your waist, sandals on your feet, and a staff in your hand. You shall eat hastily, for it is a Passover in honor of the Lord. ¹²On that night, I shall go through Egypt and strike every firstborn in Egypt, men and animals; and I will even bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt, I, the Lord! ¹³The blood on your houses will be the sign that you are there. I will see the blood and pass over you, and you will escape the mortal plague when I strike Egypt.

¹⁴This is a day you are to remember and celebrate in honor of the Lord. It is to be kept as a festival day for all generations forever.

The Feast of the Unleavened Bread

•  ¹⁵  For seven days, you are to eat unleavened bread. From the first day, you are to remove all leaven from your houses, for whoever eats leavened bread from the first to the seventh day will no longer live in Israel. ¹⁶On the first day, there will be a sacred reunion and another on the seventh. No work is to be done on these days except what is necessary for food preparation.

¹⁷Celebrate the feast of unleavened bread because, on that day, I brought your armies out of Egypt. Celebrate it in future generations as an everlasting ordinance. ¹⁸In the first month, from the fourteenth day in the evening to the twenty-first, you are to eat unleavened bread. ¹⁹For seven days, there will be no leaven in your houses. Anyone who eats what is leavened will be cut off from the community of Israel, whether foreigner or native-born. ²⁰Nothing leavened is to be eaten; only unleavened bread is to be eaten.”

•  ²¹Moses called all Israel's elders and said, “Select and take one animal for each family and slaughter the Passover lamb. ²²Take a twig of hyssop dipped in its blood and sprinkle the blood on the doorposts and the top of the doorframe: from then on, no one will go out of the door of the house before morning. ²³Because the Lord will pass through to strike Egypt, and when he sees the blood on the lintel and the doorposts, he will pass over the door and not allow the destroyer to enter your houses and kill. ²⁴You and your descendants shall observe these instructions as an everlasting ordinance; ²⁵you will carry out this ceremony when you enter the land that the Lord will give you, as he promised. ²⁶And when your children ask you: ‘What does this ceremony mean?’ ²⁷you will tell them: It is the sacrifice of the Passover for the Lord who passed over the houses of the Israelites when he struck Egypt and spared our houses.”

When the people heard this, they bowed down and worshiped. ²⁸They went away and did what the Lord had ordered Moses and Aaron.

Death of the Firstborn

²⁹It happened that in the middle of the night, the Lord struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, heir to the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner in the dungeon and the firstborn of all the animals. ³⁰Pharaoh, his officials, and all the Egyptians got up in the night and there was loud wailing in Egypt for there was no house without a death.

³¹Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron at night, saying, “Get up and go from among my people, you and the people of Israel. Go and worship the Lord as you have said! ³²Take your sheep and cattle, as you told me, and go! Provided that the blessing be for me as well.” ³³The Egyptians, too, pressed the people to leave the country in all haste. For they said, “If they don’t go, we are all going to die.”

³⁴So the Israelites carried away on their shoulders the dough, which had not yet risen, and their kneading bowls wrapped in their cloaks. ³⁵They did as Moses had instructed them and borrowed from the Egyptians articles of gold, silver, and clothes. ³⁶The Lord made the Egyptians agree to the requests of his people and give them what they asked for. In this way, they plundered the Egyptians.

Israel Departs

•  ³⁷The Israelites left Rameses for Succoth, about six hundred thousand on the march, counting the men only, not the children.

³⁸Many other people of all descriptions went with them, as well as sheep and cattle in droves.

³⁹With the dough they had brought from Egypt, they made cakes of unleavened bread. It had not risen, for when they were driven from Egypt, they could not delay and had not even provided themselves with food.

⁴⁰The Israelites had been in Egypt for four hundred and thirty years. ⁴¹It was at the end of these four hundred and thirty years to the very day that the armies of the Lord left Egypt.

⁴²This is the watch for the Lord who brought Israel out of Egypt. This night is for the Lord, and all the Israelites are also to keep vigil on this night, year after year, for all time.

Ordinances for the Passover

⁴³The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “These are the precepts for celebrating the Passover. No foreigner is to eat it, ⁴⁴except the slave who has been circumcised after having been bought. ⁴⁵He may eat it, but not so the temporary resident or the hired worker. ⁴⁶The lamb must be eaten inside the house, and nothing shall be taken outside. Do not break any of its bones. ⁴⁷All the community of Israel will observe this rite.

⁴⁸If a guest is staying with you and wants to celebrate the Passover of the Lord, he must have all the males in his household circumcised. Then he may take part like one born in the land, but no uncircumcised man may participate. ⁴⁹The law is the same for the native and the stranger living with you.”

⁵⁰All the people of Israel did as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, ⁵¹and that same day the Lord brought out the sons of Israel and their armies from the land of Egypt.

The Offering of the Firstborn

13 | ¹The Lord spoke to Moses saying, ²“Consecrate to me every firstborn: the first to leave the womb among the sons of Israel, whether of man or beast, is mine.”

³Moses said to the people, “Remember the day you came out of Egypt from the house of slavery, for it was by his power that the Lord brought you out; because of this, you will not eat leavened bread.

•  ⁴The day you left was in the month of Abib. ⁵When the Lord brings you to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites—a land flowing with milk and honey which he swore to your fathers to give you—you will carry out this ceremony.

⁶For seven days, you will eat unleavened bread; on the seventh day, you will hold a feast in honor of the Lord. ⁷You will eat unleavened bread for seven days and no leavened bread is to be seen among you or anywhere throughout all your territory. ⁸On that day, you will tell your son: ‘I do this because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.’

⁹This ceremony will be for you as a sign on your hand and a reminder on your forehead, so that the Lord’s law may be ever on your lips, for it was with great power that the Lord brought you out of Egypt. ¹⁰Because of this you will observe this ordinance at the appointed time from year to year.

¹¹When the Lord brings you to the land of the Canaanites and gives it to you, as he swore to you and your ancestors, ¹²you are to give over to the Lord all that first opens the womb, and every firstborn of your cattle as well. These firstborns who are males are for the Lord.

¹³Every firstborn donkey will be redeemed by a lamb, and if you do not redeem it, you are to break its neck. Every firstborn among your sons you are to redeem. ¹⁴When in the future your son questions you as to what it means, you will say: ‘The Lord, by his power, brought us out of Egypt from the house of slavery. ¹⁵As Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the Lord slew every firstborn in Egypt, of man and beast. That is why I sacrifice to the Lord all the males of my cattle that first open the womb, but I redeem the firstborn of my sons.

¹⁶It will be as a sign on your hand and a charm between your eyes, reminding you that the power of the Lord brought us out of Egypt.”

The Departure

¹⁷It happened that when Pharaoh sent the people away, God did not lead them through the land of the Philistines. However, it was nearer, for God thought that the people might lose heart if faced with the prospect of a battle and would return to Egypt. ¹⁸God, therefore, led the people through the wilderness towards the Red Sea. So, the Israelites left Egypt in an orderly manner.

¹⁹Moses took with him the bones of Joseph, for he had made the Israelites swear to say, “God will surely remember you, and then you will carry my bones with you away from here.”

²⁰They moved on from Succoth and encamped at Etham, bordering the wilderness. ²¹By day, the Lord went before them in a pillar of cloud to guide them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, enabling them to travel day and night. ²²Neither the cloud by day nor the fire by night disappeared from the sight of the people.

The Egyptians Pursue the Israelites

14 | ¹Then the Lord said to Moses, ²“Tell the people of Israel to turn back and encamp in front of Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, facing Baal-zephon. You will encamp opposite this place and near the sea. ³So Pharaoh will think that the people of Israel have lost their way, and the wilderness has closed in on them. ⁴Then I will make the Lord’s heart stubborn so that he will pursue you. And I will draw glory for myself at the cost of Pharaoh and his army, and the Egyptians shall know I am the Lord!”

And the Israelites did as they had been instructed.

The Crossing of the Red Sea

•  ⁵The king of Egypt was told that the people had fled; then Pharaoh and his ministers changed their minds about the people. “What have we done,” they said, “in allowing Israel to go and be free of our service?” ⁶Pharaoh prepared his chariot and took his army with him. ⁷There were six hundred of his best chariots; indeed, he took all the Egyptian chariots, each with his warriors.

 ⁸The Lord had hardened the mind of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who set out to pursue the Israelites as they marched forth triumphantly. ⁹The Egyptians—all the chariots and horses of Pharaoh, his horsemen, and his army—chased and caught up with them when they had encamped by the sea near Pi-hahiroth, facing Baal-zephon.

¹⁰The Israelites saw the Egyptians marching after them: Pharaoh was drawing near. They were terrified and cried out to the Lord. ¹¹Then they said to Moses, “Were there no tombs in Egypt? Why have you brought us to the desert to die? ¹²What have you done by bringing us out of Egypt? Isn’t this what we said in Egypt: Let us work for the Egyptians. Far better serve Egypt than to die in the desert!”

¹³Moses said to the people, “Have no fear! Stay where you are and see the work the Lord will do to save you today. The Egyptians whom you see today, you will never see again! ¹⁴The Lord will fight for you and all you have to do is to keep still.”

¹⁵The Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward. ¹⁶You will raise your staff and stretch your hand over the sea and divide it to let the Israelites go dry foot through the sea. ¹⁷I will so harden the minds of the Egyptians that they will follow you. ¹⁸And I will have glory at the expense of Pharaoh, his army, chariots, and horsemen. The Egyptians will know I am the Lord when I gain glory for myself at the cost of Pharaoh and his army!”

¹⁹The angel of God who had gone ahead of the Israelites now placed himself behind them. The pillar of cloud changed its position ²⁰from the front to the rear, between the camps of the Israelites and the Egyptians. For one army, the cloud provided light; for the other, darkness so that throughout the night, the armies drew no closer to each other. ²¹Moses stretched his hand over the sea, and the Lord made a strong east wind blow all night and dry up the sea.

The waters divided ²²and the sons of Israel went on dry ground through the middle of the sea, with the waters forming a wall to their right and to their left. ²³The Egyptians followed them, and all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and horsemen moved forward in the middle of the sea.

²⁴It happened that in the morning watch, the Lord looked towards the Egyptian camp in the pillar of cloud and fire and threw it into confusion. ²⁵He so clogged their chariot wheels that they could hardly move. Then the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from the Israelites, for the Lord is fighting for them against Egypt.”

²⁶Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch your hand over the sea and let the waters come back over the Egyptians, over their chariots and horsemen.” ²⁷Moses stretched out his hand over the sea.

At daybreak, the sea returned to its place. The Lord swept them into the sea as the Egyptians tried to flee.

²⁸The waters flowed back and engulfed the chariots and horsemen of the whole army of Pharaoh that had followed Israel into the sea. Not one of them escaped. ²⁹As for the Israelites, they went forward on dry ground in the middle of the sea, the waters forming a wall on their right and left.

³⁰On that day, the Lord delivered Israel from the power of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the seashore. ³¹They understood what wonders the Lord had done for them against Egypt, and the people feared the Lord. They believed in the Lord and Moses, his servant.

15 | •  ¹Then Moses and the people sang this song to the Lord:

I will sing to the Lord, the glorious one,

horse and rider he has thrown into the sea.

²The Lord is my strength and my song,

and he is my salvation.

He is my God, and I will praise him;

the God of my father: I will extol him.

³The Lord is a warrior; Lord is his name.

⁴The chariots of Pharaoh and his army

he has hurled into the sea;

his chosen officers were drowned in the Red Sea.

⁵The deep covers them;

they went down like a stone.

⁶Your hand, O Lord, glorious and powerful,

your right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy.

⁷In the splendor of your majesty, you crush your foes;

you send forth your fury, which devours them like stubble.

⁸At the blast of your nostrils, the waters piled up,

the surging waters stood firm in a heap;

the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea.

⁹The enemy said, “I will give chase and overtake,

I will divide the spoil and make a feast of it.

I shall draw my sword, and my hand will destroy them.”

¹⁰A breath of yours and the sea covered them;

they sank like lead in the mighty waters.

¹¹Who among the gods is like you, Lord?

 Who is like you, majestic in holiness,

awesome in power, doing wonders?

¹²You stretched out your right hand;

the earth swallowed them.

¹³In unfailing love, you guided the people you redeemed,

in strength, you led them to your holy house.

¹⁴Hearing this, the nations tremble;

anguish grips the people of Philistia.

¹⁵The chieftains of Edom are dismayed;

the leaders of Moab are seized with trembling;

the people of Canaan melted away.

¹⁶Terror and dread fall upon them,

your powerful arm leaves them still as stone

until your people pass by, O Lord!

till the people you have purchased pass by.

¹⁷You will bring them in and plant them

on the mountain of your inheritance,

the place you chose to dwell in, O Lord,

the sanctuary prepared by your hands.

¹⁸The Lord will reign forever!

¹⁹When Pharaoh’s chariots, horses and horsemen went into the sea, the Lord brought back the waters over them, while the people of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea.

²⁰Then Miriam, the prophetess, sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women followed her, dancing and playing tambourines. ²¹Miriam sang to them, “Sing to the Lord the glorious one, horse and rider he has thrown into the sea.”

Through the Desert

•  ²²Moses then led Israel from the Red Sea towards the wilderness of Shur. They walked in the desert for three days without finding water.

²³They reached Marah but could not drink the bitter water there, which is why the place is called Marah.

²⁴The people grumbled against Moses and said, “What shall we drink?” ²⁵Moses then cried out to the Lord who showed him a piece of wood, and when he threw it in the water, the water became sweet.

There, the Lord gave the people statutes and laws. There he tested them ²⁶and said, “If you listen carefully to the voice of the Lord, your God, and if you do what is right in his eyes if you obey his commands and statutes, I will not inflict on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, the One who heals you.”

²⁷Then they came to Elim, where there are twelve springs and seventy palm trees, and there they pitched their camp beside the water.

The Manna

16 | •   ¹The Israelites left Elim and the entire community reached the desert of Sin, between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after leaving Egypt.

²In the desert, the whole community of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron ³and said to them, “If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in Egypt when we sat down to caldrons of meat and ate all the bread we wanted, whereas you have brought us to this desert to let the whole assembly die of starvation!”

⁴The Lord then said to Moses, “Now I am going to rain down bread from heaven for you. Each day the people are to gather what is needed for that day. In this way, I will test them to see if they will follow my Teaching or not. ⁵On the sixth day, when they prepare what they have brought in, they will find that there is twice as much as they gather each day.”

⁶Then Moses and Aaron said to the people of Israel, “In the evening you will know that it was the Lord who brought you out of Egypt, ⁷and in the morning you will see the Glory of the Lord. He has heard your grumbling against him because who are we that you should grumble against us?

⁸In the evening, the Lord will give you meat to eat and bread to satisfy your hunger because the Lord heard your grumbling. You are not grumbling against us but against the Lord, for who are we?

⁹Then Moses directed Aaron to say to the whole community of Israel, “Draw near to the Lord for he has heard your complaints.”

¹⁰As Aaron was speaking to the full assembly of Israel, they turned towards the desert and saw the Glory of the Lord in the midst of the cloud.

¹¹Then the Lord spoke to Moses, ¹²“I have heard Israel's complaints. Speak to them and say: Between the two evenings, you will eat meat, and in the morning, you will have bread to your heart’s content; then you shall know that I am the Lord, your God!”

¹³ In the evening, quails came up and covered the camp. And in the morning, dew had fallen around the camp. ¹⁴When the dew lifted, there was a thin crust like hoarfrost on the surface of the desert. ¹⁵The people of Israel upon seeing it said to one another, “What is it?” for they didn’t know what it was. Moses told them, “It is the bread the Lord has given you to eat.”

¹⁶“This is what the Lord commanded: Gather it according to the amount each eats, about four liters a piece, and according to the number of persons each of you has in his tent.”

¹⁷This is what the people of Israel did. They gathered it, some more, others less. ¹⁸But when they measured it with an omer, those who gathered more didn’t have too much, while those who gathered less didn’t have too little. Each one had as much as he needed.

Give Us Our Daily Bread

¹⁹Moses said to them, “Let no one leave any of it till the morning.” ²⁰But they did not listen to Moses and some left it till morning. It bred worms and became foul, and Moses was angry with them.

²¹Every morning, each one gathered as much as he could eat, and when the sun grew hot, it melted.

²²On the sixth day, they gathered the double amount of bread, two omers each, and the leader of the people came to tell Moses. ²³He said to them, “This is what the Lord commanded: Tomorrow you shall rest, for that day is a Rest—or Sabbath—sacred to the Lord. ²⁴Bake today what you have to bake and boil what you have to boil, and you shall put aside what is left over to be kept till the next day.”

So they put it aside until morning, as Moses had ordered. Its smell was not foul, and it was free of maggots. 25 And Moses said, “Eat it today, for this is a day of Rest—or Sabbath—in honor of the Lord. Today, you will not find it in the fields. ²⁶For six days, you will gather it, but there will be none on the seventh day, the Sabbath.”

²⁷Some people went out on the seventh day but found none. ²⁸Then the Lord said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to obey my commands and my laws? ²⁹The Lord has given you this Resting Day! That is why, on the sixth day, he gave you bread for two days. Each of you stay where you are; do not leave your place on the seventh day.” ³⁰And so the people rested on the seventh day.

³¹The people of Israel called this food manna. It was white like coriander seeds and tasted lik.

³²And Moses said, “This is what the Lord commanded: ‘Take a measure of manna and keep it for future generations to let them see the bread I gave you to eat in the desert when I brought you out of Egypt.’” ³³Then Moses said to Aaron, “Take a jar and fill it with a measure of manna and place it before the Lord for your descendants.” ³⁴Accordingly, Aaron put a full measure of manna in the jar as the Lord had commanded Moses and placed it for safekeeping in the Ark of the Covenant.

³⁵The people of Israel ate the manna until they reached an inhabited land. They ate it for forty years until they reached the border of Canaan. ³⁶—The container used for measuring the manna was two liters.

Water from the Rock

17 | •  ¹The whole community of the people of Israel moved on from the desert of Sin, going from place to place as the Lord commanded, and encamped at Rephidim. But there was no water to drink.

²The people complained to Moses, saying, “Give us water to drink.” But Moses replied, “Why do you find fault with me? Why do you put the Lord to the test?”

³But the people thirsted for water there and grumbled against Moses, “Why did you make us leave Egypt to have us die of thirst with our children and our cattle?”

⁴ Moses cried to the Lord, “What shall I do with the people? They are almost ready to stone me!” ⁵The Lord said to Moses, “Go ahead of the people and take with you the elders of Israel. Take the staff with which you struck the Nile and go. ⁶I will stand there before you on the rock at Horeb. You will strike the rock, and water will flow from it, and the people will drink.” Moses did this in the presence of the elders of Israel.

⁷The place was called Massah and Meribah because of the Israelites' complaints, who tested the Lord by asking, “Is the Lord with us or not?”

Victory Over Amalek

•  ⁸When the Israelites were at Rephidim, the Amalekites came and attacked them. ⁹So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites in the morning. As for me, I will stand with God’s staff in my hand at the top of the hill.”

¹⁰Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had directed, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went to the top of the hill. ¹¹It happened that when Moses raised his hands, the Israelites would win, but the Amalekites would have the advantage when he lowered them.

¹²As Moses’ arms grew weary, they placed a stone for him to sit on while Aaron and Hur on either side held up his arms, which remained steadily raised until sunset. ¹³For his part, Joshua mowed down Amalek and his people with the sword.

¹⁴The Lord then instructed Moses, “Write this in a book as something to be remembered, and make it known in the hearing of Joshua that I will wipe out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.”

¹⁵After that, Moses built an altar and called it ‘the Lord is my banner,’ ¹⁶for he said, “Take up the banner of the Lord! The Lord is at war with the Amalekites from generation to generation.”

Meeting with Jethro

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

²After Moses had sent away Zipporah, his wife, Jethro, his father-in-law, received her ³and her two sons. Moses had first called Gershom to remember that he had been a guest in a foreign land, ⁴and the other Eliezer, for he said, “The God of my father came to my help and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh.”

⁵So Jethro came with Moses’ wife and sons to the desert where the people had encamped at the mountain of God.

⁶Moses was told, “Your father-in-law Jethro is here. He has come with your wife and her two sons.” ⁷So Moses went out to meet his father-in-law and bowing low before him, he kissed him, and when each had inquired about the other’s health, they entered the tent. ⁸Moses then told his father-in-law all that the Lord had done to Pharaoh and Egypt for the sake of Israel and all the difficulties they had met on the way, and how the Lord had saved them.

⁹Jethro rejoiced at the Lord’s goodness in freeing Israel from Egypt's power, and he said, ¹⁰ “Blessed be the Lord who has delivered you from the power of Egypt and Pharaoh and has rescued the people from the grip of Egypt. ¹¹I know now that the Lord is greater than all the gods, for he delivered his people when they were being oppressed.”

¹²Then Jethro brought a burnt offering and other sacrifices to offer to God, and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to share this meal with Moses’ father-in-law in the presence of God.

Appointment of Judges

•  ¹³The next day, Moses took his seat to administer justice for the people who stood around him from morning till night.

¹⁴His father-in-law, seeing Moses's work for the people, said to him, “What is this you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit and judge while all the people stand around you from morning till night?” ¹⁵Moses answered, “The people come to me to know God’s will. ¹⁶When there is a dispute, they bring it to me to decide between the two parties, and I teach them God’s decrees and laws.”

¹⁷Jethro replied, “What you are doing is not good. ¹⁸You and your people will wear yourselves out, for the work is too heavy, and you cannot do it alone. ¹⁹Now listen to the advice I will give you, and God be with you. You will be the people’s representative before God and bring their cases to him. ²⁰You will teach them the statutes and laws, how they must live, and what they must do. ²¹But choose among the people, capable, God-fearing men, men of truth who hate a bribe, and appoint them as leaders for groups of a thousand, a hundred, fifty and ten.

²²They will administer justice at all times, bringing to your attention only those cases of major importance while they deal with all those of lesser importance. That will ease your burden since they will be sharing it with you. ²³If you do this, God will guide you, and you will be able to cope with this duty, and all these people will reach their place in peace.”

²⁴Moses followed his father-in-law’s advice and did as he said. ²⁵He chose capable men from among the Israelites. He placed them as leaders for groups of a thousand, a hundred, fifty, and ten. ²⁶They administered justice at all times, bringing difficult cases to Moses but judging all other cases themselves.

²⁷Then Moses let his father-in-law return to his own country.

Preparing for the Covenant

19 | •  ¹Exactly two months after the Israelites had left Egypt, they arrived at the wilderness of Sinai. ²⁷ They arrived there coming from Rephidim and camped in the wilderness of Sinai.

³The Israelites camped there in front of the mountain, but Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, “This is what you are to say and to explain to the Israelites: ⁴You have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I carried you on eagle’s wings and brought you to myself. ⁵Now, if you listen to me and keep my Covenant, you shall be my very own possession among all the nations. For all the earth is mine, ⁶but you will be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation for me.”

And he added, “This is what you are to say to the people of Israel.”

⁷So Moses summoned all the elders of the people and related to them all that the Lord had commanded him to say. ⁸All the people responded with one voice, “All that the Lord has said, we will do.” Moses then brought back to the Lord the people’s response.

⁹The Lord spoke to Moses, “I am going to come to you in a dense cloud so that the people may hear me speaking with you and trust you always.” Then Moses related to the Lord what the people had said.

¹⁰Again, the Lord spoke to Moses, “Go to the people and have them sanctified today and tomorrow; let them wash their garments ¹¹and be ready for the third day. On the third day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. ¹²You will fix a limit for the people all around, saying: ‘Take care not to go up to the mountain or touch its base. Whoever touches the mountain will die. ¹³No hand shall touch him, but he will be stoned or shot down by arrows; be it man or beast, he shall not live.’ Some of them may go up to the mountain only when the ram’s horn sounds.”

¹⁴Moses came down from the mountain to the people and purified them, and they washed their garments. ¹⁵He then said to the people, “Be ready in three days and abstain from sexual relations.”

¹⁶On the morning of the third day, there was thunder and lightning and a dense cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast was heard. All the people in the camp trembled. ¹⁷Moses then made the people leave the camp to meet God and stand at the foot of the mountain.

¹⁸Mount Sinai was completely covered in smoke because the Lord had come down in a fire, and the smoke rose as from a furnace. The whole mountain shook violently, ¹⁹while the trumpet's blast became louder and louder. Moses spoke, and God replied in thunder.

²⁰When the Lord had come down to the summit of Mount Sinai, God called Moses, who went to summit ²¹where the Lord said to him, “Go down and give this warning to the people, lest they rush to see the Lord and many of them perish. ²²Even the priests who come near the Lord must purify themselves lest the Lord breaks out against them.”

²³Moses answered the Lord, “The people cannot ascend Mount Sinai because you yourself ordered us to put limits around the mountain and set it apart as holy.” ²⁴The Lord replied, “Go down and bring up Aaron with you, but do not let the priests and the people break through to come up to the Lord or he will break out against them.”

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

The Decalogue

20 | •  ¹God spoke all these words. ²He said, “I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

–  ³Do not have other gods before me.

–  ⁴Do not make yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything in heaven, or on the earth beneath, or the waters under the earth; ⁵you shall not bow down to them or serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God; for the sin of the fathers, when they rebel against me, I punish the sons, the grandsons, and the great-grandsons; ⁶but I show steadfast love until the thousandth generation for those who love me and keep my commandments.

–  ⁷Do not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave anyone who takes his name in vain unpunished.

–  ⁸Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. ⁹For six days you will labor and do all your work, ¹⁰but the seventh day is a Sabbath for the Lord your God. Do not work that day, neither you, nor your son, nor your daughter nor your servants, men or women, nor your animals, nor the stranger who is staying with you. ¹¹For in six days, the Lord made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them, but on the seventh day he rested; that is why the Lord has blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

–  ¹²Honor your father and your mother so that you may have a long life in the land the Lord has given you.

–  ¹³Do not kill.

–  ¹⁴Do not commit adultery.

–  ¹⁵Do not steal.

–  ¹⁶Do not give false witness against your neighbor.

–  ¹⁷Do not covet your neighbor’s house. Do not covet your neighbor’s wife, his servant, man or woman, his ox, his donkey, or anything that is his.”

¹⁸In the meantime, all the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, heard the blast of the trumpet, and saw the mountain smoking. They trembled with fear and kept at a distance.

¹⁹Then they said to Moses, “You yourself speak to us, and we shall listen. But do not have God speak to us, lest we die.” ²⁰Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid, for God has come to test you, so that the fear of God may be with you, and that you may not sin again.” ²¹So the people kept at a distance while Moses went forward to the cloud where God was.

The Code of the Covenant

•  ²²The Lord spoke to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: You have seen for yourselves that I have spoken to you from the heavens. ²³Do not make any gods of silver or gold to stand beside me.

²⁴For me, you are to make an altar of earth, and on it, you will sacrifice burnt offerings and peace offerings, your sheep and your cattle. In every place where you come to remember my name, I will come to you and bless you. ²⁵If you build an altar of stone, do not make it of cut stones, for you will defile it using tools. ²⁶And you will not ascend my altar on steps lest you expose your nakedness on it.

21 | ¹These are the laws you are to set before them: ²When you buy a Hebrew slave, he will serve you for six years, and in the seventh year, he shall go free, with nothing to pay.

³If he came alone, he would leave alone. If he was married, his wife would leave with him. 4 If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children belong to his master; he will leave alone.

⁵But if the slave says: ‘I love my wife, my master, and my children, I will not go free,’ ⁶his master shall bring him to God; he will take him to the door or the doorpost, then his master will pierce his ear with an awl, and he shall serve him for life.

⁷When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she is not to go free as male slaves do. ⁸If she does not please the master who intended her for himself, he shall let another redeem her; he is not to sell her to foreigners because he has broken faith with her. ⁹If he intends her for his son, he will deal with her according to the rights of daughters. ¹⁰If he takes another for himself, he will not diminish her food, clothing, or marital rights. ¹¹ If he fails her regarding these three rights, she will go free without any payment.

¹²The man who strikes another and so causes his death shall die. ¹³If he did not want to kill him, but as it were, let it happen, then I will give you a place where he may find refuge. ¹⁴Instead, if a man willfully attacks another to kill him treacherously, you will take him away even from my altar and put him to death. ¹⁵Whoever strikes his father or mother shall be put to death.

¹⁶Anyone who kidnaps another and either sells him or is found holding him captive shall be put to death.

¹⁷He who curses his father or mother shall be put to death.

¹⁸When men quarrel, and one strikes another with a stone or with his fist so that the man is confined to bed, ¹⁹but after that, he gets up and walks about with the help of a stick, the man who struck the blow will not be held as a criminal. He will, however, pay the injured man for the loss of time and see that he is completely healed.

²⁰When a man strikes his slave, or his servant with a rod and the man dies at his hands, he shall be punished. ²¹But if the slave survives for a day or two, he will not be penalized since the slave is his property.

²²If men are fighting and a pregnant woman is hit so that the child is born prematurely, but she is not injured, the one who hurt her will pay the fine demanded by her husband and allowed by the court. ²³But if there is a serious injury, you are to take life for life, ²⁴ eyes for an eye, tooth for tooth, foot for foot, ²⁵ burns for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.

²⁶When a man strikes the eye of his slave, male or female, and the eye is lost, he will let the slave go free in compensation for the eye ²⁷or if he knocks out a tooth he will likewise give the slave his freedom.

²⁸When an ox gores a man or woman to death, the ox will be stoned, and its flesh will not be eaten, but the owner of the ox will not be punished.

²⁹If the ox had gored someone in the past and its owner had been warned but had not kept it fenced in, and if later it kills a man or woman, the ox will be stoned, and its owner put to death. ³⁰If the owner is allowed to pay a fine to save his life, he must pay all that is demanded.

³¹The same law applies if the ox gores a boy or a girl. ³²If the ox gores a man or woman slave, the owner of the slave shall be paid thirty pieces of silver, and the ox will be stoned.

³³When a man leaves a pit uncovered or digs a pit and leaves it open and an ox or a donkey falls into it, 34 the owner of the pit will compensate the animal's owner by paying him money, but he may keep the dead animal.

³⁵When a man’s ox injures the ox of his neighbor, and it dies, they will sell the live ox and share both the money and the meat of the dead animal. ³⁶Or if it is known that the ox has been in the habit of goring and its owner has not kept it in, he must make good the loss by giving his neighbor a live ox, but the dead ox will be his.

³⁷If a man steals an ox or a sheep and either slaughters or sells it, he must pay five oxen for the ox, four sheep for the sheep.

22 | ¹If a thief is caught breaking into a house and receives a mortal blow, the man who struck him will not be guilty of his death; ² but if it happened after dawn, he will be guilty of murder. The thief must make full restitution. If he cannot do this, he must be sold for what he has stolen. ³ If what has been stolen is found alive in his possession, be it an ox, donkey, or sheep, he must pay double.

⁴If a man puts his animals to graze and lets them stray and feed in another man’s field or vineyard, he must make good the loss with the best of his own crop and the best of his vineyard.

⁵When a fire breaks out and spreads through the thorn bushes, burning the grain that is either stacked or growing there, the one who started the fire must pay for the damage.

⁶If a man gives money or goods to another to keep for him, and they are stolen, the thief if he is found, shall pay back double. ⁷Should the thief not be found, the man who owns the house must swear before the judges that he has not stolen the other man’s property.

⁸Whenever there is a failure of trust, whether it concerns an ox, donkey, sheep, clothing, or any other lost object, the case shall be brought before the judges. The person the judges find guilty shall pay double to the other.

⁹If a man entrusts his donkey, cow, sheep, or other animals to his neighbor, and the animal dies or is injured or is carried off without being seen, ¹⁰an oath before the Lord shall prove that the man has not stolen the other’s property. The animal's owner shall accept the oath, and the other shall not make restitution. ¹¹But if the animal has been stolen, restitution shall be made. ¹²If the animal was killed by wild beasts, the man must bring the remains as evidence but shall not pay anything.

¹³When a man borrows an animal from his neighbor and the animal is injured or dies when the owner is not present, the man who borrowed must pay for it. ¹⁴But if the owner is present, the borrower need not pay.

¹⁵If a man seduces a virgin who is not betrothed and lies with her, he shall pay the “bride price” and marry her. ¹⁶If her father refuses to give her to him, he shall pay money equal to that for a virgin given in marriage.

¹⁷You shall not allow a sorceress to live.

¹⁸Whoever has sexual relations with a beast shall die.

¹⁹Whoever sacrifices to any god other than the Lord shall die.

²⁰You shall not wrong or oppress a stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.

²¹You shall not harm the widow or the orphan. ²²If you do harm them and they cry out to me, I will hear them ²³and my anger will blaze and I will kill you with the sword, and your own wives will be widows and your own children orphans.

²⁴If you lend money to any of my poor people, do not act like a moneylender and do not charge him interest.

²⁵If you ever take a person’s cloak as a pledge, you must give it back to him by sunset, ²⁶ for it is all the covering he has for his body. In what else will he sleep? And when he cries to me, I will hear him, for I am full of pity.

²⁷Do not revile God or curse a ruler of your people.

²⁸Do not delay giving me my share of your wheat and wine.

You shall give me the firstborn of your sons. ²⁹It shall be the same for your cattle and sheep. The firstborn shall stay with its mother for seven days; you shall give it to me on the eighth day.

³⁰You shall be consecrated to my service. Do not eat the flesh torn by wild animals; let it be given to the dogs.

23 | ¹Do not make false statements. And do not join hands with the wicked by being a malicious witness.

²Do not follow the majority when they do evil or pervert justice in a lawsuit. ³Do not be partial, not even to the poor.

⁴If you see your enemy’s ox or donkey going astray, return it to him.

⁵When you see the donkey of a man who hates you falling under its load, do not pass by but help him.

⁶Do not deny justice to any of your poor in a lawsuit.

⁷Keep away from lies.

Do not slay the innocent or the just, for I will not forgive the wicked.

⁸And do not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the clear-sighted and perverts the sentence of the just.

⁹Do not oppress a stranger; you know what it is to be a stranger, for that is what you were in the land of Egypt.

¹⁰For six years, you will sow your fields and reap their produce, 11 but in the seventh, you will let the land rest and lie fallow. The poor may eat what it produces, and what it leaves will be eaten by wild animals. It will be the same for your vineyard and your olive grove.

¹² You shall work for six days, but on the seventh, you shall rest so that your ox and your donkey may also rest and the son of your slave girl and the stranger may have breathing space.

¹³Pay attention to all that I tell you and do not call upon other gods; don’t let their names be heard on your lips.

¹⁴ You shall celebrate a feast in my honor three times each year. ¹⁵You shall keep the feast of Unleavened Bread, as I commanded you, and eat unleavened bread for seven days at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for it was then that you left Egypt. And do not come to me empty-handed.

 ¹⁶You shall keep the Feast of the Harvest, the feast of the first harvest of what you sowed in your fields, and the feast of Ingathering, which is the feast at the end of the year when you gather the fruit of your labor in the fields.

¹⁷Three times a year, all your men shall present themselves before the Lord.

¹⁸Do not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread or let the fat of my feast remain until morning.

¹⁹You will bring to the house of the Lord, your God, the first of the first fruits of your soil.

Do not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.

•  ²⁰See, I am sending an angel before you to keep you safe on the way and bring you to the place I have made ready.

²¹Be on your guard in his presence and listen to him; do not resist him, for he will not pardon your wrongdoing, for my name is in him.

²²If you listen to him and do what I say, I will be the enemy to your enemies and the opponent of your opponents. ²³My angel will go before you and bring you to the land of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; all these I will destroy.

²⁴You shall not bow down before their gods or serve them, or act according to their ways; rather, you will destroy them utterly and smash their sacred stones.

²⁵If you serve the Lord, your God, he will bless your bread and water—and I will keep sickness away from you. ²⁶No woman among you will miscarry or be barren. I will fulfill the number of your days.

²⁷Now I will send my terror ahead of you and confuse all the people you encounter; I will make all your enemies turn and flee before you.

²⁸I will send hornets ahead of you to drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites. ²⁹I will not drive them out in a year lest the land becomes a desert and the wild beasts increase and molest you. ³⁰I will drive them out before you little by little until your number increases and you can take possession of the land.

³¹I will fix your boundaries from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines and from the Wilderness to the Euphrates; for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your power and drive them out before you.

³²You shall make no treaty with them or with their gods. ³³They shall not live in your country lest they lead you to sin against me and to serve their gods. That would surely be a snare for you.”

24 | ¹Then he said to Moses, “Go up to the Lord, you, Aaron, Nadab and Abihu with seventy of the elders of Israel, and let them worship from a distance. ²Moses alone shall go forward to the Lord, but not the others, nor shall the people go up with him.”

Conclusion of the Covenant

•  ³Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all his laws. The people replied with one voice: “Everything that the Lord has said, we shall do.”

⁴Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord, then rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain with twelve raised stones for the twelve tribes of Israel.

⁵He then sent young men from among the sons of Israel to offer burnt offerings and sacrifice bullocks as peace offerings to the Lord.

⁶And Moses took half the blood and put it in basins, and with the other half of the blood, he sprinkled the altar.

⁷He then took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the people's hearing. They said, “All that the Lord said we shall do and obey.”

⁸Moses then took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, saying, “Here is the blood of the Covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”

⁹Then Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel. ¹⁰They saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was what seemed like a pavement of sapphire, clear as the sky itself. ¹¹And he did not let his hand overpower these chosen men from among the sons of Israel; they looked on God and ate and drank.

Moses Is Given the Law

¹²The Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and stay there. I will give you the tablets of stone, the law and commandment I have written for their instruction.”

¹³So Moses arose with his servant, Joshua, and before going up the mountain of God, ¹⁴Moses said to the elders, “Remain here until we come back to you. Aaron and Hur are with you; let whoever has a dispute to settle go to them.”

¹⁵When Moses went up the mountain, a cloud covered it. ¹⁶The Glory of the Lord rested on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days. On the seventh day, He called to Moses from within the cloud.

¹⁷The Glory of the Lord appeared like a consuming fire on the top of the mountain, as it appeared to the Israelites.

¹⁸And Moses entered the cloud and went up the mountain.

•  Moses stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

the holy tent (First Part)

25 | ¹The Lord spoke to Moses and said, ²“Tell the sons of Israel to set aside a contribution for me; you shall accept this contribution from every man who gives from the heart.

³The things you shall accept from them are these: gold, silver, and bronze; ⁴ purple cloth of violet shade and red, crimson cloth, fine linen, goats’ hair; ⁵ rams’ skins dyed red, fine leather, acacia wood; ⁶ oil for the lamps, spices for the chrism and fragrant incense; and precious stones and gems to be set in priestly vestments.

^7-8For they must build me a sanctuary so that I may dwell among them, ⁹and you shall make the tabernacle and its furnishings following exactly the pattern I shall show you.

¹⁰You are to make me an ark of acacia wood, two and a half cubits long, one and a half cubits wide, one and a half cubits high. ¹¹You are to cover it with pure gold, inside and out, and decorate it with gold molding. ¹²You will cast four gold rings for the ark and fix them to its four supports: two rings on one side and two rings on the other. ¹³You will also make poles of acacia wood covered with gold ¹⁴and pass the poles through the rings on the sides of the ark, to carry the ark by these. ¹⁵The poles must remain in the rings of the ark and not be withdrawn. ¹⁶Inside the ark, you will place the terms of the Covenant that I shall give you.

¹⁷Further, you are to make the mercy Seat of pure gold, two and a half cubits long and one and a half cubits wide. ¹⁸For the two ends of the mercy Seat, you are to make two golden cherubims of hammered gold. ¹⁹Make the first cherub for one end and the second for the other. Fasten them to the two ends of the cover so they may make one piece with it. ²⁰The cherubim are to have their wings spread upward to overshadow the mercy seat. They must face one another, their faces towards the mercy seat. ²¹You must place the mercy Seat on the top of the ark. Inside the ark, you must place the stone tablets with the terms of the Covenant I shall give you. ²²There I shall come to meet you; above the mercy Seat from between the two cherubim on it, I shall give you all my commands for the people of Israel.

The Table and the Lampstands

²³You are to make a table of acacia wood, two cubits long, one cubit wide, and one and a half cubits high. ²⁴You are to cover it with pure gold and decorate it all around with a gold edge. ²⁵You are to surround it with a frame three inches wide and decorate these with a golden edge. ²⁶You are to make four gold rings and fix these at the four corners where the four legs are. ²⁷The rings must be close to the frame to hold the poles for carrying the table. ²⁸You are to make the poles of acacia wood and cover them with gold. The table is to be carried by these. ²⁹You are to make dishes, cups, jars, and bowls for the wine offerings; you are to make these of pure gold. ³⁰On the table, you must place the bread of continual offering before me.

³¹You are to make a lampstand of pure gold; it must be of hammered gold, both its base and stem. Its decorative flowers, including buds and petals, must be of one piece with it. ³²Six branches must extend from its sides, three from one side, three from the other. ³³Each of the six branches of the lampstand is to have three decorative flowers shaped like almond blossoms, each with its bud and petals. ³⁴The lampstand itself is to have four decorative flowers shaped like almond blossoms, each with its bud and petals, thus: ³⁵one bud under the first two branches extending from the lampstand, one under the next pair, one under the last pair: corresponding to the six branches extending from the lampstand. ³⁶The buds and the branches must be of one piece, with the lampstand and the whole made from a single piece of pure hammered gold. ³⁷Then you are to make lamps for it, seven of them and set them so that they throw their light toward the front of it. ³⁸Tongs must be pure gold for extinguishing the burning lamps and trays. ³⁹You are to use seventy-five pounds of pure gold to make the lampstand and all its accessories. ⁴⁰See that you make them according to the pattern shown to you on the mountain.

The Holy Tent

26 | ¹The Holy Tent itself you are to make with ten sheets of fine twined linen, of purple wool, violet shade and red, and of crimson wool; you are to have these sheets finely embroidered with angels. ²The length of a single sheet is to be twenty-eight cubits, its width four cubits, all the sheets to be of the same size. ³Five sheets must be sewed together, and the other five, also. ⁴You must attach loops of violet wool to the border of the last sheet in one set and do the same for the border of the last sheet in the other set. ⁵You are to put fifty loops on the first sheet and match them one by one, fifty loops on the border of the last sheet in the second set. ⁶You are to make fifty gold clasps to draw the sheets together. In this way, the Holy Tent will be a unified whole.

⁷You are to make sheets of goats’ hair to form a cover over the Holy Tent. There will be eleven sheets. ⁸The length of a single sheet is to be thirty cubits, its width four cubits, and the eleven sheets to be all the same size. ⁹You must sew five of these sheets together into one sheet, the remaining six into another; the sixth you will fold double over the front of the cover.

¹⁰You must attach fifty loops to the border of the last sheet in one set and the same to the border of the last sheet in the second set. ¹¹ You must make fifty bronze clasps and put them into one of the loops, drawing the two sets together to form one tent over the Holy Tent.

¹²One sheet will be left over, half of which is to hang over the back of the Holy Tent. ¹³This extra cubit is to hang over the sides of the Holy Tent as a covering.

¹⁴For the Holy Tent, you will make further coverings: one of the rams’ skins dyed red and another covering of fine leather, to spread over this.

¹⁵You are to make frames of acacia wood for the Holy Tent, which will stand upright. ¹⁶Each board is ten cubits long and one and a half cubits wide. ¹⁷Each board shall have two arms that shall serve to fasten the boards in line; for all the frames of the Holy Tent, you must do this. ¹⁸There will be twenty boards for the southern side of the Holy Tent. ¹⁹You are to make forty silver bases for putting under the twenty boards thus: two bases under the first board to receive its two matching arms, and so on for the other boards. ²⁰The other side of the tabernacle, on the north, is to have also twenty boards ²¹supported by forty silver bases, two bases under each board. ²²For the back of the Holy Tent on the west, you must make six boards, ²³and also two boards for the corners at the back of the Holy Tent. ²⁴These boards must be joined at the bottom and top, up to the level of the first ring; and the same for the two boards that are to form the two corners. ²⁵So there will be eight boards with sixteen silver bases: two bases under the first board and so on.

²⁶You are to make five crossbars of acacia wood to hold together the boards for one side of the tabernacle, ²⁷and five to hold the boards that form the other side of the Holy Tent. ²⁸They will run halfway up the boards, from one end to the other. ²⁹The boards are to be covered with gold, with gold rings on them to take the crossbars you are to cover with gold. ³⁰This is how you are to set up the Holy Tent according to the model shown to you on the mountain.

³¹You are to make a veil of purple wool, violet shade and red, crimson wool, and of fine twined linen; you are to have it finely embroidered with cherubim. ³²You are to hang it on four posts of acacia wood covered with gold, furnished with gold hooks, and set in four silver bases. ³³You must hang the veil from the clasps, and there behind the veil, you must place the Ark of the Covenant, and the veil will serve to separate the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies. ³⁴The mercy Seat you must place on top of the Ark inside the Holy of Holies. ³⁵ Outside the veil, you shall set the table and the lampstand on the south side of the Holy Tent, opposite the table, for the table will be on the north side. ³⁶Finally, for the entrance to the Tent you are to make a curtain of purple wool, violet shade and red, crimson stuff and fine twined linen, the work of a skilled embroiderer. ³⁷And you shall have for this curtain five posts of acacia wood covered with gold hooks; for these, you are to cast five bronze bases.

The Altar of the Holocaust

27 | ¹You are to make an altar out of acacia wood, a square five cubits long and five cubits wide, its height to be three cubits. ²At its four corners, you are to put horns, the horns to be of one piece with it, covering it with bronze. ³For the service of the altar, you are to make plans for the ashes for burning the fat, shovels, sprinkling basins, and fire pans; you must make all the vessels for the altar out of bronze. ⁴You are also to make a grating for it of the bronze network, and on the four corners of this, put four bronze rings. ⁵You shall set it under the altar’s ledge, below, so that it reaches halfway up the altar. ⁶And for the carrying of the altar, you are to make poles of acacia wood and cover them with bronze. ⁷These are to be passed through the rings so they are on either side of the altar when carried. ⁸You are to make the altar of hollowed-out boards in the same way that was shown to you on the mountain.

⁹You are to make also the court of the Holy Tent. The hangings of the court on the side facing south are to be of fine twined linen, one hundred cubits long for one side. ¹⁰Their twenty bronze posts are to be set in the twenty bronze bases and to have hooks and rods of silver. ¹¹So, too, for the northern side, there are to be hangings one hundred cubits long and twenty posts set in twenty bases, with their hooks and rods of silver. ¹²Across the width of the court, on the western side, there are to be fifty cubits of hangings, carried on ten posts set in ten bases. ¹³The width of the court on the eastern side facing the sunrise is to be fifty cubits. ¹⁴On one side of the gateway, there are to be fifteen cubits of hangings carried on three posts set in three bases. ¹⁵On the other side of the gateway, there are also to be fifteen cubits of hangings, carried on three posts set in three bases. ¹⁶The gateway to the court is to consist of a curtain twenty cubits wide made of purple wool, violet shade and red, crimson wool, and fine twined linen, the work of a skilled embroiderer, carried on four posts set in their four bases. ¹⁷All the posts enclosing the court are to be connected by silver rods; their hooks are to be of silver, their bases of bronze. ¹⁸The length of the court is to be one hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, its height five cubits. All the hangings are to be made of fine twined linen and their bases of bronze. ¹⁹All the furnishings for whatever use in the tabernacle, all the pegs of it and of the court, must be of bronze.

²⁰You are to command the people of Israel to bring you pure olive oil for the light and to keep a flame burning there perpetually. ²¹Aaron and his sons are to set this flame in the Tent of Meeting, outside the veil before the Statement. It must burn there before the Lord from evening to morning perpetually. This command is to be kept forever by the people of Israel.

The Priestly Vestments

28 | ¹Set apart of the sons of Israel your brother Aaron and his sons and summon them to be priests in my service: Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. ²For Aaron, your brother, you are to make sacred vestments to give him dignity and magnificence. ³You are to instruct all the ablest craftsmen (I myself filled them with wisdom), to make Aaron’s vestments for his consecration to my priesthood. ⁴These are the vestments they must make: breastpiece, Ephod, robe, embroidered tunic, turban, and belt. Your brother, Aaron, and his sons will serve me with these sacred vestments. ⁵For them, you shall use gold, purple wool, violet shade and red, crimson wool, and fine twined linen.

⁶They are to make the Ephod of gold, purple wool, violet shade and red, crimson wool, and fine twined linen, the work of a skilled embroiderer. ⁷It must have two shoulder straps fitted to join its two ends together. ⁸The woven band on it to hold it on is to be of similar workmanship and to form one piece with it: this must be of gold thread, purple wool, violet shade and red, crimson wool, and fine twined linen. ⁹You will then take two precious stones and engrave them with the names of the sons of Israel, ¹⁰six of their names on one stone, the remaining six on the other, in the order of their birth. ¹¹With the art of a jeweler, of an engraver of seals, you are to engrave the two stones with the names of the sons of Israel and mount them in settings of a gold mesh. ¹²You are to fasten the two stones commemorating the sons of Israel to the shoulder straps of the Ephod. In this way, Aaron will bear their names on his shoulders in the presence of the Lord, that he may remember them. ¹³You must also make golden rosettes, ¹⁴and two chains of pure gold twisted like a cord; you are to attach these cordlike chains to the rosettes.

¹⁵You are to make the breastpiece of judgment, finely embroidered, of the same workmanship as the apron. You are to make it of gold, purple wool, violet shade and red, crimson wool, and fine twined linen. ¹⁶It is to be square and doubled over nine inches wide. ¹⁷In this, you are to set four rows of stones: sard, topaz, carbuncle for the first row; ¹⁸emerald, sapphire, diamond for the second row; ¹⁹for the third row, hyacinth, ruby, amethyst; ²⁰and for the fourth row, beryl, onyx, jasper. These are to be mounted in gold settings. ²¹There are to be twelve according to the number of the sons of Israel whose names are engraved on them. They are to be engraved like seals, each with the name of one of the twelve tribes.

²²For the breastpiece, you will make chains of pure gold twisted like cords, ²³and two gold rings and fix them to its two upper corners. ²⁴You must fasten the two gold cords to the two rings fixed on the corners of the breastpiece. ²⁵The other two ends of the cords you must fasten to the two rosettes so that they will be attached to the shoulder straps of the Ephod on the front. ²⁶You are to make two gold rings and fix them to the two lower corners of the breastpiece, on the inner hem, next to the Ephod, on the front. ²⁷You are to make two more gold rings and fix them low down on the front of the two shoulder pieces of the Ephod, close to the seam, above the woven band of the Ephod. ²⁸You must secure the breastpiece by passing a ribbon of violet-purple through its rings and those of the Ephod so that the breastpiece will sit above the woven band and not come apart from the Ephod.

²⁹So when Aaron enters the sanctuary wearing the breastpiece of judgment, he will bear the names of the sons of Israel on his breast to call them to mind continually in the presence of the Lord. ³⁰In the breastpiece of judgment, you will put the Urim and the Thummim using which he takes the decisions for the Israelites. Aaron shall have them on his breast when he enters the Lord’s presence.

³¹You are to make the robe of the Ephod entirely of violet-purple. ³²In the center, it must have an opening for the head, with a border woven around the neck to keep the robe from being torn. ³³You shall decorate the lower hem with pomegranates of purple wool, violet shade and red, crimson wool, and fine twined linen, ³⁴and you shall fit gold bells between; gold bells and pomegranates will be alternately all around the lower hem of the robe. ³⁵Aaron is to wear this robe when he serves before God so that the tinkling of the bells will be heard whenever he enters the sanctuary and goes into the Lord’s presence or leaves it; if he does not, he will die.

³⁶You are to make a plate of pure gold and engrave on it ‘Consecrated to the Lord.’ ³⁷You will tie this to the front of the headpiece with a ribbon of violet-purple. ³⁸Aaron is to wear it on his forehead and so take on himself any sins, which the sons of Israel may have committed in any of their sacred offerings. Aaron must always wear this plate on his forehead to draw down on the Israelites the goodwill of the Lord.

³⁹You shall also weave the shirt of fine linen, make a headpiece of fine linen, and make a belt, the work of a skilled embroiderer.

⁴⁰You are to make a shirt, belt, and headdress for the sons of Aaron to make them dignified and beautiful.

⁴¹You will put all these ornaments on your brother Aaron and his sons. You will then anoint, invest, and consecrate them to serve me in the priesthood. ⁴²You are to make them linen shorts to cover their nakedness from waist to thigh. ⁴³Aaron and his sons must wear these when they enter the Tent of Meeting and approach the altar to serve the sanctuary. If they do not, they will be guilty and die. This is a permanent rule for Aaron and his descendants after him.

The Consecration of the Priests

29 | ¹This is the ceremony you must use to consecrate them to serve me in the priesthood. Take one young bull and two rams without any defects, ²unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers spread with oil made from fine wheat flour. ³You must put these things into a basket and present them in the basket at the same time as the young bull and the two rams.

⁴Then you shall bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting after they have been bathed. ⁵Take the vestments and dress Aaron in the shirt, the robe over the Ephod, the Ephod and the breastpiece, and the embroidered belt. ⁶Put the headdress on his head and tie it to the sacred plate. ⁷Then pour the chrism oil on his head, and so anoint him. ⁸Next, bring his sons and clothe them with shirts, ⁹pass the belts around their waists and put the headdresses on their heads. With this, the priesthood will be theirs forever.

This is how you are to ordain Aaron and his sons. ¹⁰You are to bring the bull before the Tent of Meeting. Aaron and his sons are to lay their hands on its head. ¹¹Kill the bull there before the Lord at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. ¹²Then take some of its blood and, with your finger, put it on the horns of the altar. Next, pour out the rest of the blood at the foot of the altar. ¹³And then take all the fat that covers the inner organs, the fatty mass, which is over the liver, the two kidneys with their covering fat, and burn them on the altar. ¹⁴As for the bull’s flesh, its skin, and its intestines, you must burn them outside the camp, for it is an offering to take away the sins of the priests.

¹⁵Next, you are to take one of the rams. Aaron and his sons are to lay their hands on its head. ¹⁶You are to kill the ram, take up its blood, and pour it out on the sides of the altar. ¹⁷Next, divide the ram into pieces, wash the inner organs and legs, and put them on top of the head and the other pieces. ¹⁸Then burn the whole ram on the altar. This is a fire offering to the Lord, a fragrant offering by fire.

¹⁹Next, you are to take the other ram. Aaron and his sons are to lay their hands on its head. ²⁰You are to kill the ram, take some of its blood, and put it on the lobe of Aaron’s right ear, on the lobes of his sons’ right ears, the thumbs of their right hands, and the big toes of their right feet, and pour out the rest of the blood on the sides of the altar. ²¹Then take some of the blood that remains on the altar, together with the chrism oil, and sprinkle it on Aaron and his vestments and on his sons and their vestments so that he and his vestments will be consecrated and his sons, too, and their vestments.                    

²²You are to take the fatty parts of the ram: the tail, the fat that covers the inner organs, the fatty mass over the liver, the two kidneys with their covering fat, and also the right thigh, for this is a ram for the clothing ceremony. ²³You are to take a loaf of bread, a cake of bread made with oil, and a wafer, from the basket of unleavened bread placed before the Lord, ²⁴and put it all into Aaron’s hands and those of his sons and make the gesture of offering before the Lord. ²⁵Then you are to take them back and burn them on the altar, on top of the burnt offering, as a sweet-smelling offering which pleases the Lord.

²⁶You are to take the breast of the ram and make the gesture of offering before the Lord; this is to be your own portion. ²⁷You are to consecrate the breast that has been thus offered, as also the thigh that is set aside—the breast that has been offered and the thigh that has been set aside from the ram. ²⁸This, by a perpetual law, will be the portion that Aaron and his sons are to receive from the sons of Israel; this is the portion set aside, a portion the sons of Israel are to set aside from their communion sacrifices, the portion they owe to the Lord.

²⁹Aaron’s sacred vestments are to pass to his sons after him, and they will wear them for their anointing and consecration. ³⁰The son of Aaron, who comes after him in the priesthood and enters the Tent of Meeting to serve in the sanctuary, must wear them for seven days.

³¹You are to take the ram used for the ordination and cook its meat in a holy place. ³²Aaron and his sons will eat the meat of the ram and also the bread that is in the basket at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. ³³They are to eat what was used in the forgiveness ceremony during their ordination. No layman may eat these; they are holy things. ³⁴If any meat from the ordination sacrifice, or the bread, should be left till morning, you must put what is left in the fire. It is not to be eaten; it is a holy thing. ³⁵For Aaron and his sons, you are to do exactly as I have commanded you: to spend seven days ordaining them.

³⁶On each day of this week, you are also to offer a bull as a sacrifice for sin, in atonement; by offering an atonement sacrifice for sin, you will take sin away from the altar; then you must anoint it and consecrate it. ³⁷For seven days, you are to repeat the atonement sacrifice for the altar and consecrate it. So it will be extremely holy, and whatever touches it will become holy.

³⁸This is what you are to offer on the altar: two yearling lambs day by day continually. ³⁹The first lamb you must offer in the morning, the second in the evening twilight. ⁴⁰With the first lamb, you must offer two pounds of fine flour mixed with one quart of purest oil and pour out one quart of wine as an offering. ⁴¹The second lamb you must offer in the evening twilight; do this with the same amounts of flour, olive oil, and wine as in the morning. This is a sweet-smelling offering that pleases the Lord. ⁴²This is the perpetual offering, which is to be offered from generation to generation, at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting in the presence of the Lord.

That is where I shall meet you and speak to you. ⁴³There I will teach the people of Israel, and this place will be consecrated by the presence of my glory. ⁴⁴In this way, I will consecrate the Tent of Meeting, the altar, and Aaron and his sons to be priests in my service. ⁴⁵For I will remain with the people of Israel and be their God. ⁴⁶And so they will know that I, their God, brought them out of the land of Egypt to live among them: I, their God.

The Incense, the Water, and the Anointing Oil

30 | ¹You must make an altar on which to burn incense; you are to make it out of acacia wood. ²It is to be one cubit long and one cubit wide—that is to say, square—and to stand two cubits high; its horns are to be one piece with it. ³The top of the altar, its surrounding sides, and horns are to be covered with pure gold and decorated with a gold edge all around. ⁴You are to put two gold rings on it below the edge on its two opposite sides: these are to hold the poles used for carrying it. ⁵These poles you must make of acacia wood and cover with gold. ⁶You are to set up the altar before the veil that protects the Ark of the Covenant opposite the Ark and the mercy Seat from where I speak to you.

⁷On this altar, Aaron must burn fragrant incense each morning when he prepares the lamps, ⁸and in the evening twilight, when Aaron puts the lamps back, he must burn it again. You must make these offerings of incense before the Lord unfailingly from generation to generation. ⁹You must not offer unholy incense on this altar or animal or grain offering or pour out any wine offering. ¹⁰Once a year, Aaron is to perform the atonement on the horns of this altar; he shall do this atonement with the blood of the victim to take away sins. And you shall do the same once a year in future generations. This ceremony will be extremely holy in the eyes of the Lord.”

¹¹The Lord spoke to Moses and said, ¹²“When you take a census and make a register of the people of Israel, each is to pay the Lord a ransom for his life, so that no disaster comes on them when the census is being made. ¹³Everyone subject to the census must pay the required amount of money, weighed according to the official standard, and this shall be set aside for the Lord. ¹⁴Everyone subject to the census, that is to say, twenty years and over, must pay the sum set aside for the Lord. ¹⁵The rich man is not to give more, nor the poor man less, when they pay this amount for their lives. ¹⁶You will use this ransom money given to you by the people of Israel for the upkeep of the Tent of Meeting. It will remind the Lord of the people of Israel and be the ransom for your lives.”

¹⁷The Lord spoke to Moses and said, ¹⁸“You must also make a bronze basin on a stand for washing. You must place it between the Tent of Meeting and the altar and put water in it. ¹⁹Aaron and his sons must wash their hands and feet. ²⁰When they are about to enter the Tent of Meeting, they must wash in water lest they die, and when they have to approach the altar for their service, to burn the offering burned in honor of the Lord, ²¹they must wash their hands and feet lest they die. This is a lasting rule for them, for Aaron, and for his descendants from generation to generation.”

²²The Lord spoke to Moses and said, ²³“Take the choicest spices: twelve pounds of liquid myrrh, six pounds of sweet-smelling cinnamon, six pounds of scented cane and twelve pounds ²⁴of cassia (all weighed according to the official standard) and one gallon of olive oil. ²⁵These you are to make into a holy oil for anointing, such a blend as the perfumer might make. ²⁶With it you are to anoint the Tent of Meeting and the Ark of the Covenant, ²⁷the table and all its furnishings, the lampstand and all its accessories, ²⁸the altar of incense, the altar of burnt offering with all its furnishings, and the basin with its stand. ²⁹In this way, you shall consecrate them and they will remain extremely holy, and whatever touches them will become holy. ³⁰You must anoint Aaron and his sons and consecrate them so that they may be priests in my service. ³¹Then you are to say to the people of Israel: ‘Such will be the oil of holy anointing from generation to generation. ³²It is not to be used in any ordinary anointing of the body, nor are you to make any other oil of the same mixture. It is a holy thing, and you must consider it holy. ³³Whoever makes any like it or uses it on an ordinary person shall be outlawed from the people.”

³⁴The Lord said to Moses, “Take sweet spices: storax, onycha, galbanum, sweet spices, and pure frankincense in equal parts, ³⁵ and make incense, such as the perfumer might make, salted, pure, and holy. ³⁶Crush a part of it into a fine powder and put some of this in front of the Ark of the Covenant in the Tent of Meeting, the place appointed for my meetings with you. You must regard it as most holy. ³⁷You are not to make incense like it for your own use. You must hold it as a holy thing reserved for the Lord. ³⁸Whoever copies it for use as perfume shall be outlawed from his people.”

The Craftsmen for the Sanctuary

31 | ¹The Lord spoke to Moses and said, ²“See, I have chosen Bezalel, son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. ³I have filled him with the spirit of God, with wisdom, understanding, skill, and ability for every kind of craft: ⁴for the art of designing and working in gold and silver and bronze; ⁵for cutting stones to be set, for carving in wood, for every kind of craft. ⁶Here and now I give him a partner, Oholiab son of Ahisamach, one of the tribes of Dan; and to all the men that have a skill I have given more, for them to carry out all that I have commanded you: ⁷the Tent of Meeting; the Ark of Covenant and the mercy Seat that is on top of the ark, ⁸and all the furniture of the Holy Tent; the table and its furnishings; the pure lampstand and all its accessories; the altar of incense; ⁹the altar of burnt offering with all its furnishings; the basin with its stand; ¹⁰the beautiful priestly vestments, that is, the sacred vestment of Aaron, the priest and the vestments of his sons, for the priestly functions; ¹¹the anointing oil and the fragrant incense for the sanctuary. They are to do exactly as I have directed you.”

The Sabbath Rest

¹²The Lord said to Moses, ¹³“Speak to the people of Israel and say: ‘You shall keep my Sabbaths carefully because the Sabbath is a sign between myself and you from generation to generation to show that it is I, the Lord, who has made you my own people. ¹⁴You must keep the Sabbath; it is to be held sacred by you. Whoever does not keep it but works on that day must be put to death. ¹⁵Work is to be done for six days, but the seventh day must be a day of complete rest, consecrated to the Lord.

Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day must be put to death. ¹⁶The people of Israel are to keep the Sabbath, observing it from generation to generation: this is a lasting covenant. ¹⁷Between myself and the people of Israel, the Sabbath is a sign forever, since in six days the Lord made the heavens and earth, but on the seventh day he rested and drew breath.’”

¹⁸When the Lord had finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the two tablets of the Testimony, tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God.

the molten calf

32 | •  ¹When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they assembled around Aaron and said to him, “Come, make us gods to walk ahead of us; as for this Moses who brought us out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.”

²And Aaron said to them, “Take the gold earrings from your wives, your sons, and daughters and bring them to me.” ³So everyone took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. ⁴He took what they gave him and, with a graving tool, made the gold into a molten calf.

They said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you out of Egypt.”

⁵Now, when Aaron saw this, he built an altar before the molten calf and cried out, “Tomorrow will be a feast day for the Lord.”

⁶So the next day, they rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. They then sat down to eat and drink and got up to make merry.

⁷Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go down at once, for your people, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. ⁸They have quickly turned from the way I commanded them and have made for themselves a molten calf; they have bowed down before it and sacrificed to it and said: ‘These are your gods, Israel, who brought you out of Egypt.’”

•  ⁹And the Lord said to Moses, “I see that these people are a stiff-necked people. ¹⁰Now, just leave me that my anger may blaze against them. I will destroy them, but of you, I will make a great nation.”

¹¹But Moses implored the Lord, his God, saying, “Why, O Lord, should your anger burst against your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with such great power and with a mighty hand? ¹²Let not the Egyptians say: ‘The Lord brought them out with evil intent, for he wanted to kill them in the mountains and wipe them from the face of the earth.’ Turn away from the heat of your anger and do not bring disaster on your people. ¹³Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the promise you yourself swore: I will multiply your descendants like the stars of heaven, and all this land I spoke about I will give to them as an everlasting inheritance.”

¹⁴The Lord then changed his mind and would not yet harm his people. ¹⁵Moses then returned and came down from the mountain carrying in his hands the two Testimony tablets written on both sides, back and front. ¹⁶These tablets were the work of God, and the writing graven on the tablets was the writing of God.

¹⁷When Joshua heard the noise of the people who were shouting, he said to Moses, “There is a sound of war in the camp.” ¹⁸But Moses answered, “It is not a victory song, nor the cry of defeat that I hear, but the sound of singing.”

¹⁹When he drew near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burst forth, and he threw down the tablets he was holding, shattering them at the foot of the mountain. ²⁰Then he seized the calf they had made and burned it in the fire, grinding it into a powder that he scattered over the surface of the water, and this he made the Israelites drink.

²¹Moses said to Aaron, “What did these people do to you that you brought such a great sin on them?”

²²And Aaron said, “Don’t let your anger be roused. You know these people and how evil they are. ²³They said to me: ‘Make us gods to go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.’ ²⁴I then said to them that whoever had gold was to give it over to me. I threw it in the fire, and out came this calf!”

²⁵Moses saw that the people were out of control, for Aaron had let them run wild, to the point that it made them easy prey for their opponents.

²⁶Then Moses stood at the camp gate and said, “All those for the Lord, come to me.” And all the sons of Levi rallied around him.

²⁷Then he said to them, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, commands: Let each one carry a sword at his side. Go back and forth from door to door, and don’t hesitate to kill even your brothers, your companions, and your relatives.”

²⁸The Levites did what Moses had ordered, and that day, about three thousand men fell.

²⁹Moses then said, “From now on, your hands are consecrated to the Lord for each of you has been able to turn against his very sons and brothers. Because of this, the Lord gives you today his blessing.”

Moses Intercedes for the People

³⁰The next day Moses said to the people, “You have committed a very grave sin, but now I am going up to the Lord; perhaps I will obtain pardon for your sin.”

³¹So Moses went to the Lord and said, “Ah! These people have committed a very great sin; they made a god out of gold. 32 And now please forgive their sin. If not, blot me out of the book you have written.”

³³The Lord said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot him out from my book. ³⁴Go now! Lead the people where I told you. My angel will walk before you, and on the day of punishment, I will punish them for their sin.” ³⁵And so the Lord punished the people with a plague because of the calf Aaron had made for them.

The Mercy of the Lord for the People

33 | ¹The Lord said to Moses, “Go now! Leave this place, you and the people you brought out from the land of Egypt, and go to the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when I said: ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ ²I will send an angel before you to drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. ³But I will not go with you to this land flowing with milk and honey, for you are a stiff-necked people, and I might destroy you on the way.”

⁴When the people heard these distressing words, they were very sad, and none put on any ornaments.

⁵The Lord then said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites: ‘You are a stiff-necked people. If I were to go with you, even for a moment, I would destroy you! Now, take off your ornaments that I may know what I shall do to you.’”

⁶And so the Israelites gave up their ornaments before leaving Mount Horeb.

The Tent of Meeting

•  ⁷Moses then took the Tent and pitched it for himself outside the camp, at a distance from it, and called it the Tent of Meeting. Whoever sought the Lord would go to the Tent of Meeting outside the camp. ⁸And when Moses went to the tent, all the people would stand, each one at the entrance to his tent, and keep looking towards Moses until he entered the tent.

⁹Now, as soon as Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud came down and remained at the entrance while the Lord spoke with Moses.

¹⁰When all the people saw the pillar of cloud at the entrance to the tent, they would arise and worship, each one at the entrance to his own tent.

•  ¹¹Then the Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his neighbor, and then Moses would return to the camp, but his servant Joshua, son of Nun, would not leave the tent.

¹²Then Moses said to the Lord, “You say to me: ‘Lead these people up,’ but you haven’t told me who you will send with me, and yet you have said that you know me by name and that I have found favor in your sight. ¹³And now if I have found favor in your sight, let me know your ways that I may know you and so find favor in your sight. Look, these people are your own people.”

¹⁴The Lord said, “My face will go with you, and I will give you rest.” ¹⁵Moses said, “If your face does not come with us, do not take us from here. ¹⁶How will anyone here know that you look kindly on me and my people? Will it not be because you go with us? In that way, I myself and your people will be distinguished from every other nation on the face of the earth.”

¹⁷The Lord then said to Moses, “What you have said I will do, for I look kindly on you and know you by name.”

The Lord Passes Before Moses

•  ¹⁸Moses said, “Then let me see your glory.” ¹⁹And He said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and proclaim the name of the Lord before you. For I am gracious to whom I want to be gracious, and I am merciful to whom I want to be merciful.”

²⁰Then the Lord said, “You cannot see my face because man cannot see me and live.” ²¹And he added, “See this place near me; you shall stand on the rock ²²and when my Glory passes, I will put you in a hollow of the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. ²³Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.”

34 | ¹The Lord said to Moses, “Cut two tablets of stone like the first ones and come up to me on the mountain, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke.

²Be ready in the morning, come up to Mount Sinai, and wait for me on the top of the mountain. ³No one will go up with you, and no one is to be seen anywhere on the mountain. Even the sheep and the cattle are not to graze near the mountain.”

⁴So Moses cut two tablets of stone like the first, and, with the two tablets of stone in his hands, he went up Mount Sinai in the early morning, as the Lord had commanded.

⁵And the Lord came down in a cloud and stood there with him, and Moses called on the name of the Lord.

⁶Then the Lord passed in front of him and cried out, “The Lord, the Lord is a God full of pity and mercy, slow to anger and abounding in truth and loving kindness. ⁷He shows loving kindness to the thousandth generation and forgives wickedness, rebellion, and sin; yet he does not leave the guilty without punishment, even punishing the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.”

⁸Moses hastened to bow down to the ground and worshiped. ⁹He then said, “If you really look kindly on me, my Lord, please come and walk in our midst, and even though we are a stiff-necked people, pardon our wickedness and our sin and make us yours.”

The Law of the Covenant

•  ¹⁰The Lord said, “I am making a Covenant with you; in the presence of all the people, I will do marvels never yet done in any land or nation so that all the people among whom you live may see how awesome is the work of the Lord that I will do for you.

¹¹Obey what I command you today. I will drive out before you the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. ¹²Take care to make no treaty with the inhabitants of the country you enter, lest it is a snare for you. ¹³ Rather shall you knock down their altars and smash their sacred stones and cut down their Asherah poles.

¹⁴Do not worship another god, for the Lord whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God! ¹⁵So make no treaty with those who live in the land, for they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to them; otherwise, they will invite you, and you will eat of their sacrifices. ¹⁶Then you will take their daughters for your sons, and as those daughters prostitute themselves to their gods, they will lead your sons to do the same.

¹⁷Make no molten gods for yourself.

¹⁸Keep the feast of Unleavened Bread; for seven days in the month of Abib, you are to eat unleavened bread, for that was the month you left Egypt.

¹⁹All that first opens the womb is mine and every firstborn male of your livestock, sheep, and cattle. ²⁰You shall redeem the firstborn of a donkey with a lamb. If you do not redeem it, you must break its neck. You shall redeem every firstborn of your sons, and no one shall appear before me empty-handed.

²¹You shall work for six days and rest on the seventh day, even at the time of plowing and harvesting.

²²Celebrate the Feast of Weeks with the first fruits of the wheat harvest and the Feast of Ingathering at the turning of the year. ²³Three times each year, all your men shall appear before the Lord, God of Israel. ²⁴I will drive out nations before you and extend your boundaries. No one shall covet your country when you go up three times yearly to appear before the Lord, your God.

²⁵Do not offer the blood of a sacrifice to me together with leavened bread and do not let anything from the Passover Feast remain until morning.

²⁶Bring the very best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the Lord, your God.

Do not boil a kid in the milk of its mother.”

²⁷Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write down these words, for these are the requirements of the Covenant that I have made with you and Israel.”

²⁸Moses remained with the Lord forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. He wrote the words of the Covenant—the Ten Commandments—on tablets.

Moses Comes Down from the Mountain

•  ²⁹When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands, he was not aware that the skin of his face was radiant after speaking with the Lord.

³⁰Aaron and all the sons of Israel saw that Moses’ face was radiant, and they were afraid to go near him. ³¹But Moses called them, and Aaron with all the community leaders drew near, and Moses spoke to them. ³²Afterwards, all the Israelites came near, and he told them all that the Lord had commanded him on Mount Sinai. ³³When Moses finished speaking with them, he wore a veil over his face.

•  ³⁴Whenever Moses went before the Lord to speak with him, he removed the veil until he came out again. And when he came out and told them what he had been commanded, ³⁵the Israelites saw his face was radiant. Moses would then replace the veil over his face until he went again to speak with the Lord.

the holy tent (Second Part)

35 | ¹Moses assembled the whole community of the people of Israel and said to them, “This is what the Lord has ordered to be done: ²Work is to be done for six days, but the seventh is to be a holy day for you, a day of complete rest, consecrated to the Lord. Whoever does any work on that day shall be put to death. ³You must not light a fire on the Sabbath day in any of your homes.”

The Materials Are Collected

⁴Moses spoke to the whole community of the people of Israel, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ⁵Set aside a contribution for the Lord out of your possessions. Let all give willingly and bring this contribution for the Lord: gold, silver, and bronze; ⁶purple wool, of violet shade and red, crimson wool, fine linen, goats’ hair, ⁷rams’ skins dyed red and fine leather, acacia wood, ⁸oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil and the fragrant incense; ⁹precious stones and gems to be set in Ephod and breastpiece. ¹⁰Let all the most skilled craftsmen among you come and make all that the Lord has commanded: ¹¹the Holy Tent, its tent and its covering, its hooks and its frames, its crossbars, its posts, and its bases; ¹²the Ark with its poles, the mercy Seat on the Ark and the veil that screens it; ¹³the table with its poles and all the furnishings for it, and the loaves of offering; ¹⁴the lampstand for the light, with its accessories, its lamps, and the oil for the light; ¹⁵the altar of incense with its poles, the anointing oil, the fragrant incense, and the screen for the entrance to the Holy Tent; ¹⁶the altar of burnt offering with its bronze grating, its poles, and all the furnishings for it, the basin and its stand; ¹⁷the hangings of the court, its posts, its bases, and the screen for the gateway to the court; ¹⁸the pegs of the Holy Tent and of the court, together with their cords; ¹⁹the beautiful priestly vestments for service in the sanctuary, that is, the sacred vestments for Aaron the priest and the vestments of his sons for the priestly functions.”

²⁰Then, the whole community of Israel withdrew from Moses’ presence. ²¹And all those who wanted to give came, bringing their contribution to the Lord for making the Tent of Meeting, its functions, and the sacred vestments. ²²They came, men and women, all giving willingly, bringing brooches, rings, bracelets, necklaces, gold things of every kind—the gold each one had offered to the Lord. ²³All those who happened to own purple wool of violet shade or red, crimson wool, fine linen, goats’ hair, rams’ skins dyed red, or fine leather brought them. ²⁴All who could contribute to the collection of silver and bronze brought their contribution to the Lord. And all who owned acacia wood, suitable for any of the work to be done, brought it. ²⁵All the skilled women set their hands to spinning and brought purple wool, violet shade and red, crimson wool, and fine linen from what they had spun. ²⁶All the women willingly used their special skill and spun the goats’ hair. ²⁷The leaders brought precious stones and gems to be set in Ephod and breastpiece, ²⁸ and the spices and oil for the light, for the anointing oil, and for the fragrant incense. ²⁹All the men and women of Israel who wanted to contribute to all the work that the Lord had ordered through Moses to be done brought their free offering to the Lord.

The Craftsmen for the Sanctuary

³⁰Moses said to the people of Israel, “See, the Lord has chosen Bezalel, son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. ³¹He has filled him with the spirit of God and given him understanding, skill, and the ability for every kind of craft: ³²for the art of designing and working in gold and silver and bronze; ³³for cutting stones to be set, for carving in wood, for every kind of craft. ³⁴And to him and Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, he has given the gift of teaching. ³⁵He has filled them with the skill to carry out all the crafts of the engraver, weaver of fine linen, embroidered in purple wool, of violet shade and red, in crimson wool and fine linen, as well as of the common weaver; they can do work of all kinds, and are skillful designers.”

36 | ¹Bezalel and Oholiab and all the skilled craftsmen to whom the Lord had given skill and understanding to carry out all that was required to build the sanctuary did their work exactly as the Lord had directed.

²Moses then called Bezalel and Oholiab and all the skilled craftsmen to whom the Lord had given ability and who could do the work. ³They received from Moses all that the people of Israel had brought as contributions to building the sanctuary. In the meantime, the people continued each morning to bring their offerings. ⁴So the skilled craftsmen who did all the sacred work, besides their own work, ⁵went to tell Moses, “The people are bringing more than what is needed for the work which the Lord has told us to do.” ⁶Moses then sent this command throughout the camp: “Let no one, man or woman, do anything more toward the collection for the sanctuary.” So the people were stopped from bringing any more; ⁷the material they had was enough, and more than enough, to complete all the work.

⁸All the most skilled craftsmen among the workers made the Holy Tent. They made it with ten sheets of fine twined linen, purple wool, violet shade, and red, and crimson wool, finely embroidered with angels. ⁹The length of a single sheet was twenty-eight cubits, its width four cubits, all the sheets being the same size. ¹⁰They sewed five of the sheets together and the other five also. ¹¹They attached loops of violet wool to the border of the last sheet in one set and did the same for the border of the last sheet in the other set. ¹²They put fifty loops on the first sheet and, matching them one by one, fifty loops on the border of the last sheet in the second set. ¹³They made fifty gold clasps and, with them, joined the two sets into one piece.

¹⁴Next, they made sheets of goats’ hair to form a tent over the Holy Tent; they made eleven of these. ¹⁵The length of a single sheet was thirty cubits, its width four cubits; the eleven sheets were all the same size. ¹⁶They joined five of these sheets into one set, the remaining six into another. ¹⁷They attached fifty loops to the border of the last sheet in the first set and fifty loops to the border of the last sheet in the second set. ¹⁸And they made fifty bronze clasps to join the two sets to form one cover. ¹⁹They made another covering of rams’ skins dyed red to be put over the Holy Tent and a covering of fine leather to spread over that.

²⁰The Holy Tent was made with boards of acacia wood, which stood upright. ²¹Each board was ten cubits long and one and a half cubits wide. ²²Each board was fitted with two matching arms; this they did for all the boards of the Holy Tent. ²³They made twenty boards for the southern side, ²⁴with forty silver bases to put under the twenty boards: two bases under the first board to receive its two matching arms, and so on for the other boards. ²⁵For the other side on the north, they made twenty boards ²⁶and forty silver bases, two under each board. ²⁷For the back on the west, they made six boards. ²⁸They made two boards for the corners at the back of the Holy Tent. ²⁹These boards were joined at the bottom and top, up to the level of the first ring; this they did with the two boards that were to form the two corners. ³⁰In this way, there were eight boards with their sixteen silver bases, two bases under each board. ³¹They made crossbars of acacia wood: five to hold the boards together that were to form one side of the Holy Tent, ³²five on the other side to hold the boards that were to form the west side. ³³They made the middle bar, fixed halfway up, to run from one end to the other. ³⁴They covered the boards with gold and put gold rings on them to take the crossbars, which they covered with gold.

³⁵They made the veil of purple wool, violet shade, and red, crimson wool, and of fine twined linen, skillfully embroidered with Cherubim. ³⁶For hanging this veil, they made four posts of acacia wood, covered them with gold hooks, and cast four silver bases for them. ³⁷For the entrance to the tent, they made a curtain of purple wool, violet shade, and red, and crimson wool and fine twined linen, the work of a skilled embroiderer. ³⁸For the hanging of this, they made five posts with hooks; their tops and rods were plated with gold; their five bases were of bronze.

37 | ¹Bezalel made the ark of acacia wood, two and a half cubits long, one and a half cubits wide, one and a half cubits high. ²He covered it, inside and out, with pure gold and decorated it all around with a gold edge. ³He cast four gold rings for the ark, attaching them to its four feet: two on one side and two on the other. ⁴He also made poles of acacia wood, covering them with gold; ⁵and he passed the poles through the rings on the sides of the ark, for carrying it. ⁶Also, he made of pure gold the Mercy Seat, two and a half cubits long and one and a half cubits wide. ⁷For the two ends of the Mercy Seat, he made two golden Cherubim of hammered gold, ⁸the first Cherub for one end and the second for the other and fastened them to the two ends of the mercy Seat so that they made one piece with it. ⁹The Cherubim had their wings spread upward to overshadow the mercy Seat. They faced one another.

¹⁰He made the table of acacia wood, two cubits long, one cubit wide, and a half cubit high. ¹¹He covered it with pure gold and decorated it all around with a gold edge. ¹²He surrounded it with a frame three inches wide and decorated it with a gold edge. 13 He cast four gold rings and fixed them at the four corners where the four legs were. ¹⁴The rings lay close to the frame to hold the poles for carrying the table. ¹⁵He made the poles of acacia wood and covered them with gold; these were for carrying the table. ¹⁶He made furnishings of pure gold for the table: dishes, cups, jars, and bowls for the wine offerings.

¹⁷He made the lampstand of pure gold and made the lampstand, base, and stem, of hammered gold. Its decorative flowers, including buds and petals, were of one piece with it. ¹⁸Six branches extended from the sides of it, three from one side, three from the other. ¹⁹The first branch carried three decorative flowers shaped like almond blossoms, each with its bud and petals; the second branch carried three decorative flowers shaped like almond blossoms, each with its bud and petals, and similarly, all six branches extending from the lampstand.

²⁰The lampstand itself carried four decorative flowers shaped like almond blossoms, each with its bud and petals: ²¹one bud under the first two branches extending from the lampstand, one under the next pair, one under the last pair: for six branches were extending from the lampstand. ²²The buds and the branches were of one piece with the lampstand, and the whole was made from a single piece of pure hammered gold. ²³Then he made seven lamps for it, with tongs and trays of pure gold. ²⁴He used seventy-five pounds of pure gold to make the lampstand and all its accessories.

²⁵He made the altar of incense out of acacia wood. It was one cubit long and one cubit wide that is to say, square—and two cubits high; its horns were one piece with it. ²⁶He covered the top of it, its surrounding sides, and its horns with pure gold and decorated it all around with a gold edge. ²⁷He fixed two gold rings to it below the edge on its two opposite sides to hold the poles used for carrying it. ²⁸These poles he made of acacia wood and covered them with gold. ²⁹He also made the sacred anointing oil and the pure, fragrant incense, blending it as perfumers do.

38 | ¹He made the altar of burnt offering out of acacia wood, a square five cubits long and five cubits wide, and three cubits high. ²At its four corners, he put horns, the horns being of one piece with it, and covered it with bronze. ³He made all the altar vessels: caldrons, shovels, sprinkling basins, pans for the ashes, and fire pans; he made all the vessels for the altar out of bronze. ⁴He made a grating for it of the bronze network, which he set under the ledge below so that it reached halfway up the altar. ⁵He cast four rings and fixed them on the four corners of the bronze grating to hold the poles. ⁶He made the poles of acacia wood and covered them with bronze ⁷and placed them through the rings on the sides of the altar for carrying it. He made the altar hollow of boards.

⁸He also made the bronze basin and its bronze base from the mirrors of the women who served at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.

⁹He made the court. For the southern side of the court, facing the south country, there were one hundred cubits of hangings of fine twined linen. ¹⁰Their twenty posts with their twenty. Bases were of bronze, their hooks and rods of silver. ¹¹For the northern side, there were one hundred cubits of hangings. Their twenty posts with their twenty bases were of bronze, hooks, and rods of silver. ¹²For the western side, there were fifty cubits of hangings, carried on ten posts set in ten bases, with their hooks and rods of silver. ¹³Fifty cubits, too, for the eastern side facing the sunrise. ¹⁴On one side of the gateway, fifteen cubits of hangings were carried on three posts set in three bases. ¹⁵On the other side, there were fifteen cubits of hangings, with their three posts and three bases. ¹⁶All the hangings enclosing the court were of fine twined linen. ¹⁷The bases for the posts were of bronze, and their hooks were of silver like the rods at the top. The tips of the posts were of silver and had rods of silver. ¹⁸The screen for the gateway of the court, the work of a skilled embroiderer, was made of purple wool, violet shade, red, crimson wool, and fine twined linen. It was twenty cubits long and, along the width of it, five cubits high like the hangings of the court. ¹⁹Its four posts with their four bases were of bronze. The hooks for the posts were silver, like the plating at the top and their rods. ²⁰The pegs for the Holy Tent and the court enclosure were all bronze.

²¹Here is the account of metals used for the Holy Tent—the Tent of Meeting—the account drawn up by the Levites under the direction of Ithamar, son of Aaron, the priest, as Moses had ordered.

²²Bezalel, son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made all that the Lord had commanded. ²³ His partner was Oholiab, son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, an engraver, weaver of fine linen, and embroiderer of purple wool, violet shade and red, crimson wool, and fine linen.

²⁴The amount of gold used in the work—the entire work for the sanctuary—(this was gold consecrated by offering) weighed 2,195 pounds, according to the official standard. ²⁵The silver collected when the census of the community was taken weighed 7,550 pounds, according to the official standard. ²⁶A census of all those twenty years and over was made. They were 603,550; each of them paid a small silver coin. ²⁷The 7,500 pounds of silver were used for casting the one hundred bases for the sanctuary and the veil, 75 pounds for each base. ²⁸With the remaining 50 pounds of silver, he made the hooks for the posts, the plating for their tops, and their rods. ²⁹The bronze consecrated by offering amounted to 5,310 pounds, ³⁰and with this, he made the bases for the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, the bronze altar with its grating of bronze and all the furnishings for it, ³¹the bases for the enclosure of the court, those for the gateway to the court, all the pegs for the Holy Tent, and all the pegs for the court enclosure.

39 | ¹From the purple wool, violet shade and red, crimson wool, and fine linen, they made beautiful priestly vestments for service in the sanctuary. They made the sacred vestments for service for Aaron, as the Lord had directed Moses.

²They made the Ephod of gold thread, purple wool, violet shade and red, crimson wool, and fine twined linen. ³They beat the gold into thin plates and cut these into fine strips to weave into the purple wool, violet shade, and red, into the crimson wool and the fine linen, as does the weaver of fine linen. ⁴For the breastpiece, they made two shoulder straps, joined to it at its two ends. ⁵The woven band on it to hold it formed one piece with it and was of similar workmanship: this was of gold thread, purple wool, violet shade and red, crimson wool, and fine twined linen, as the Lord had directed Moses. ⁶They fashioned the precious stones, mounted in settings of gold mesh and engraved, as a seal is engraved, with the names of the sons of Israel. ⁷They fastened the stones to the shoulder straps of the breastpiece, stones commemorating the sons of Israel, as the Lord had directed Moses.

⁸They made the breastpiece finely embroidered, of the same workmanship as the Ephod, of gold thread, purple wool, violet shade and red, and fine twined linen. ⁹It was square and folded double, nine inches long and nine inches wide. ¹⁰In this, they set four rows of stones: sard, topaz, carbuncle for the first row; 11 emerald, sapphire, diamond for the second row; ¹²for the third row, hyacinth, ruby, amethyst; ¹³and for the fourth row, beryl, onyx, jasper. These were mounted in settings of gold mesh ¹⁴and bore the names of the twelve sons of Israel. They were engraved as seals are, each with the name of one of the twelve tribes. ¹⁵For the breastpiece, they made chains of pure gold twisted like cords. ¹⁶They made two gold rosettes and two gold rings, ¹⁷and fastened the two gold cords to the two rings fixed on the corners of the breastpiece. ¹⁸The other two ends of the cords they fastened to the two rosettes; they were thus attached to the shoulder straps of the Ephod on the front. ¹⁹They made two gold rings and fixed them to the lower corners of the breastpiece, on the inner hem, next to the Ephod. ²⁰And they made two more gold rings and fixed them low down on the front of the two shoulder straps of the Ephod, close to the seam, above the woven band of the apron. ²¹They secured the breastpiece by passing a ribbon of violet-purple through its rings and those of the apron so that the breastpiece would sit above the woven band and not come apart from the Ephod, as the Lord had directed Moses.

²²Then they made the robe of the Ephod woven entirely of violet-purple. ²³The opening in the center of it was like the neck of a shirt, and around the opening was a border to keep the robe from tearing. ²⁴The robe's lower hem they decorated with pomegranates of purple wool, violet shade and red, crimson wool, and fine twined linen. ²⁵They also made bells of pure gold and placed them all around the lower hem of the robe between the pomegranates, ²⁶bells, and pomegranates alternately all around the lower hem of the robe, as the Lord had directed Moses.

²⁷Then they made the shirts of finely woven linen for Aaron and his sons, ²⁸the headdress of fine linen, the shorts of fine twined linen, ²⁹the belts of fine twined linen, of purple wool, violet shade and red, and of crimson wool, finely embroidered, as the Lord had directed Moses.

³⁰They also made the holy plate of pure gold and engraved on it “Consecrated to the Lord,” as a man engraves a seal. ³¹They tied a ribbon of violet-purple to secure it to the top of the turban, as the Lord had directed Moses.

³²So all the work of the Tabernacle, that is, the Tent of Meeting, was completed. In carrying it out, the sons of Israel had done exactly as the Lord had directed Moses.

³³Then they brought to Moses all these things, the Tent of Meeting, and all its furnishings: its hooks, frames, crossbars, posts, bases, ³⁴the covering of rams’ skins dyed red, the covering of fine leather, and the screening veil; ³⁵the Ark of the Covenant with its poles and the mercy Seat; ³⁶the table with all its furnishings, and the loaves of offering; ³⁷the lampstand of pure gold with its lamps—the lamps that were to be set on it—and all its accessories; the oil, too, for the light; ³⁸the golden altar, the anointing oil, the fragrant incense, the curtain for the entrance to the tent; ³⁹the bronze altar with its grating of bronze, its poles and all its furnishings; the basin and its stand; ⁴⁰hangings of the court with their posts and bases, and the curtain for the gateway to the court, its cords, its pegs, and all the furniture for the service in the Holy Tent, the Tent of Meeting; ⁴¹the beautiful priestly vestments for service in the sanctuary, that is, the sacred vestments for Aaron the priest, and the vestments for his sons for the priestly functions. ⁴²The Israelites had done all the work exactly as the Lord had directed Moses.

⁴³Moses examined the whole work, and he saw that they had done it as the Lord had directed him. Then, Moses blessed them.

The Sanctuary Erected and Consecrated

40 | ¹The Lord spoke to Moses and said, ²“On the first day of the first month, you are to erect the Holy Tent, the Tent of Meeting, ³and place the Ark of the Covenant in it, screening it with the veil. ⁴Bring in the lampstand, too, and set up its lamps. ⁵Place the golden altar of incense in front of the Ark of the Covenant and set up the screen at the entrance of the Holy Tent. ⁶Place the altar for burnt offerings in front of the entrance to the Holy Tent, the Tent of Meeting. ⁷Place the basin between the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and fill it with water. ⁸Set up the enclosure of the court and hang the curtain at the gateway of the court. ⁹Then, taking the sacred oil, anoint the Holy Tent and everything in it, consecrating it with its furniture to make it a holy place. ¹⁰Anoint the altar for burnt offerings with all its furnishings; consecrate the altar, which will be a most holy thing. ¹¹Anoint the basin with its stand and consecrate it. ¹²Bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting and see that they bathe. ¹³Then clothe Aaron with the priestly garments and anoint and consecrate him, to serve me in the priesthood. ¹⁴Next, bring his sons and clothe them with shirts. ¹⁵Anoint them as you have anointed their father, to serve me in the priesthood. This anointing of them is to confer the priesthood on them forever from generation to generation.”

¹⁶Moses did this, exactly as the Lord had commanded him. ¹⁷The Holy Tent was set up on the first day of the first month in the second year. ¹⁸Moses set up the Holy Tent. He fixed the bases for it, put up its frames, put its crossbars in position, and set up its posts. ¹⁹He spread the tent over the Holy Tent and, on top of this, the covering for the tent, as the Lord had commanded Moses. ²⁰He took the Covenant and placed it inside the Ark. He set the poles to the Ark in place and put the Mercy Seat on it. ²¹He brought the Ark into the Holy Tent and put the screening veil in place; thus, he screened the Ark of covenant, as the Lord had commanded Moses. ²²He placed the table in the Tent of Meeting, on the north side of the Holy Tent, outside the veil, ²³and on it arranged the loaves before the Lord, as the Lord had commanded Moses. ²⁴He put the lampstand in the Tent of Meeting, opposite the table, on the southern side of the Holy Tent, ²⁵and he set up the lamps before the Lord, as the Lord had commanded Moses. ²⁶He put the golden altar in the Tent of Meeting in front of the veil, ²⁷and on it burned fragrant incense, as the Lord had commanded Moses. ²⁸Then he put the screen at the entrance to the Holy Tent. ²⁹Then he put the altar for the burnt offerings at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, and on it offered the burnt offering and grain offering, as the Lord had commanded Moses. ³⁰He filled the basin between the Tent of Meeting and the altar with water. ³¹This was for Aaron and his sons to wash their hands and feet: ³²Whenever they entered the Tent of Meeting or approached the altar they washed, as the Lord had commanded Moses. ³³Moses then set up the court around the Holy Tent and the altar and placed the screen at the gateway to the court. Thus, Moses completed the work.

The Lord Takes Possession of the Sanctuary

•  ³⁴Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the Glory of the Lord filled the Holy Tent. ³⁵Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting because of the cloud that rested on it and the Glory of the Lord filled the Holy Tent.

³⁶At every stage of their journey, the people of Israel would continue their march whenever the cloud rose from the Holy Tent. ³⁷If the cloud did not rise, they waited and would not move their camp until it did. ³⁸For the cloud rested on the Holy Tent by day, and a fire shone within the cloud by night for all the house of Israel to see. And so it was for every stage of their journey.