Bible: Exodus - Milestone Documents

Bible: Exodus

( 1250 BCE )

Document Text

Chapter 1

  • 1 These are the names of the sons of Israel who went to Egypt with Jacob, each with his family:
  • 2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah;
  • 3 Issachar, Zebulun and Benjamin;
  • 4 Dan and Naphtali; Gad and Asher.
  • 5 The descendants of Jacob numbered seventy in all; Joseph was already in Egypt.
  • 6 Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died,
  • 7 but the Israelites were exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly, increased in numbers and became so numerous that the land was filled with them.
  • 8 Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt.
  • 9 “Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become far too numerous for us.
  • 10 Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.”
  • 11 So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh.
  • 12 But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites
  • 13 and worked them ruthlessly.
  • 14 They made their lives bitter with harsh labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their harsh labor the Egyptians worked them ruthlessly.
  • 15 The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah,
  • 16 “When you are helping the Hebrew women during childbirth on the delivery stool, if you see that the baby is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live.”
  • 17 The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live.
  • 18 Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?”
  • 19 The midwives answered Pharaoh, “Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive.”
  • 20 So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous.
  • 21 And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own.
  • 22 Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: “Every Hebrew boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live.”

Chapter 2

  • 1 Now a man of the tribe of Levi married a Levite woman,
  • 2 and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months.
  • 3 But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket[a] for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile.
  • 4 His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him.
  • 5 Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the riverbank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her female slave to get it.
  • 6 She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. “This is one of the Hebrew babies,” she said.
  • 7 Then his sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?”
  • 8 “Yes, go,” she answered. So the girl went and got the baby’s mother.
  • 9 Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you.” So the woman took the baby and nursed him.
  • 10 When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses, saying, “I drew him out of the water.”
  • 11 One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people.
  • 12 Looking this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.
  • 13 The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?”
  • 14 The man said, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and thought, “What I did must have become known.”
  • 15 When Pharaoh heard of this, he tried to kill Moses, but Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian, where he sat down by a well. …

Chapter 3

  • 1 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.
  • 2 There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up.
  • 3 So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”
  • 4 When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”And Moses said, “Here I am.”
  • 5 “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”
  • 6 Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.
  • 7 The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering.
  • 8 So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.
  • 9 And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them.
  • 10 So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”
  • 11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”
  • 12 And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.”
  • 13 Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?
  • 14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’”
  • 15 God also said to Moses, “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 to you.’ This is my name forever, the name you shall call me from generation to generation.
  • 16 “Go, assemble the elders of Israel and say to them, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—appeared to me and said: I have watched over you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt.
  • 17 And I have promised to bring you up out of your misery in Egypt into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—a land flowing with milk and honey.’
  • 18 “The elders of Israel will listen to you. Then you and the elders are to go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God.’
  • 19 But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand compels him.
  • 20 So I will stretch out my hand and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders that I will perform among them. After that, he will let you go.” …

Chapter 6

  • 1 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh: Because of my mighty hand he will let them go; because of my mighty hand he will drive them out of his country.”
  • 2 God also said to Moses, “I am the Lord.
  • 3 “I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as God Almighty, but by my name the Lord I did not make myself fully known to them.
  • 4 “I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, where they resided as foreigners.
  • 5 “Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered my covenant.
  • 6 “Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment.
  • 7 ‘I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.
  • 8 ‘And I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the Lord.’”
  • 9 Moses reported this to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him because of their discouragement and harsh labor.
  • 10 Then the Lord said to Moses,
  • 11 “Go, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the Israelites go out of his country.”
  • 12 But Moses said to the Lord, “If the Israelites will not listen to me, why would Pharaoh listen to me, since I speak with faltering lips?”
  • 13 Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron about the Israelites and Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he commanded them to bring the Israelites out of Egypt. …

Chapter 7

  • 1 Then the Lord said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet.
  • 2 “You are to say everything I command you, and your brother Aaron is to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his country.
  • 3 “But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in Egypt,
  • 4 “he will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and with mighty acts of judgment I will bring out my divisions, my people the Israelites.
  • 5 “And the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it.”
  • 6 Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord commanded them.
  • 7 Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three when they spoke to Pharaoh.
  • 8 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron,
  • 9 “When Pharaoh says to you, ‘Perform a miracle,’ then say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh,’ and it will become a snake.”
  • 10 So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord commanded. Aaron threw his staff down in front of Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a snake.
  • 11 Pharaoh then summoned wise men and sorcerers, and the Egyptian magicians also did the same things by their secret arts:
  • 12 Each one threw down his staff and it became a snake. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs.
  • 13 Yet Pharaoh’s heart became hard and he would not listen to them, just as the Lord had said.
  • 14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is unyielding; he refuses to let the people go.
  • 15 “Go to Pharaoh in the morning as he goes out to the river. Confront him on the bank of the Nile, and take in your hand the staff that was changed into a snake.
  • 16 “Then say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to say to you: Let my people go, so that they may worship me in the wilderness. But until now you have not listened.
  • 17 ‘This is what the Lord says: By this you will know that I am the Lord: With the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water of the Nile, and it will be changed into blood.
  • 18 ‘The fish in the Nile will die, and the river will stink; the Egyptians will not be able to drink its water.’”
  • 19 The Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt—over the streams and canals, over the ponds and all the reservoirs—and they will turn to blood.’ Blood will be everywhere in Egypt, even in vessels of wood and stone.”
  • 20 Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord had commanded. He raised his staff in the presence of Pharaoh and his officials and struck the water of the Nile, and all the water was changed into blood.
  • 21 The fish in the Nile died, and the river smelled so bad that the Egyptians could not drink its water. Blood was everywhere in Egypt.
  • 22 But the Egyptian magicians did the same things by their secret arts, and Pharaoh’s heart became hard; he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said.
  • 23 Instead, he turned and went into his palace, and did not take even this to heart.
  • 24 And all the Egyptians dug along the Nile to get drinking water, because they could not drink the water of the river. …

Chapter 10

  • 1 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his officials so that I may perform these signs of mine among them
  • 2 “that you may tell your children and grandchildren how I dealt harshly with the Egyptians and how I performed my signs among them, and that you may know that I am the Lord.”
  • 3 So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him, “This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, so that they may worship me.
  • 4 ‘If you refuse to let them go, I will bring locusts into your country tomorrow.
  • 5 ‘They will cover the face of the ground so that it cannot be seen. They will devour what little you have left after the hail, including every tree that is growing in your fields.
  • 6 ‘They will fill your houses and those of all your officials and all the Egyptians—something neither your parents nor your ancestors have ever seen from the day they settled in this land till now.’” Then Moses turned and left Pharaoh.
  • 7 Pharaoh’s officials said to him, “How long will this man be a snare to us? Let the people go, so that they may worship the Lord their God. Do you not yet realize that Egypt is ruined?”
  • 8 Then Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh. “Go, worship the Lord your God,” he said. “But tell me who will be going.”
  • 9 Moses answered, “We will go with our young and our old, with our sons and our daughters, and with our flocks and herds, because we are to celebrate a festival to the Lord.”
  • 10 Pharaoh said, “The Lord be with you—if I let you go, along with your women and children! Clearly you are bent on evil.
  • 11 “No! Have only the men go and worship the Lord, since that’s what you have been asking for.” Then Moses and Aaron were driven out of Pharaoh’s presence. …

Chapter 12

  • 29 At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner, who was in the dungeon, and the firstborn of all the livestock as well.
  • 30 Pharaoh and all his officials and all the Egyptians got up during the night, and there was loud wailing in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone dead.
  • 31 During the night Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Up! Leave my people, you and the Israelites! Go, worship the Lord as you have requested.
  • 32 Take your flocks and herds, as you have said, and go. And also bless me.”
  • 33 The Egyptians urged the people to hurry and leave the country. “For otherwise,” they said, “we will all die!”
  • 34 So the people took their dough before the yeast was added, and carried it on their shoulders in kneading troughs wrapped in clothing.
  • 35 The Israelites did as Moses instructed and asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold and for clothing.
  • 36 The Lord had made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and they gave them what they asked for; so they plundered the Egyptians.
  • 37 The Israelites journeyed from Rameses to Sukkoth. There were about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children.
  • 38 Many other people went up with them, and also large droves of livestock, both flocks and herds.
  • 39 With the dough the Israelites had brought from Egypt, they baked loaves of unleavened bread. The dough was without yeast because they had been driven out of Egypt and did not have time to prepare food for themselves. …

Chapter 14

  • 5 When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds about them and said, “What have we done? We have let the Israelites go and have lost their services!”
  • 6 So he had his chariot made ready and took his army with him.
  • 7 He took six hundred of the best chariots, along with all the other chariots of Egypt, with officers over all of them.
  • 8 The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, so that he pursued the Israelites, who were marching out boldly.
  • 9 The Egyptians—all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots, horsemen and troops—pursued the Israelites and overtook them as they camped by the sea near Pi Hahiroth, opposite Baal Zephon.
  • 10 As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the Lord.
  • 11 They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt?
  • 12 “Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!”
  • 13 Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again.
  • 14 “The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”
  • 15 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on.
  • 16 “Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground.
  • 17 “I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them. And I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen.
  • 18 “The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen.”
  • 19 Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel’s army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them,
  • 20 coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long.
  • 21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided,
  • 22 and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left.
  • 23 The Egyptians pursued them, and all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and horsemen followed them into the sea.
  • 24 During the last watch of the night the Lord looked down from the pillar of fire and cloud at the Egyptian army and threw it into confusion.
  • 25 He jammed the wheels of their chariots so that they had difficulty driving. And the Egyptians said, “Let’s get away from the Israelites! The Lord is fighting for them against Egypt.”
  • 26 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may flow back over the Egyptians and their chariots and horsemen.”
  • 27 Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea went back to its place. The Egyptians were fleeing toward it, and the Lord swept them into the sea.
  • 28 The water flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen—the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived.
  • 29 But the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. …

Chapter 19

  • 2 After they set out from Rephidim, they entered the Desert of Sinai, and Israel camped there in the desert in front of the mountain.
  • 3 Then Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain and said, “This is what you are to say to the descendants of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel:
  • 4 ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.
  • 5 ‘Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine,
  • 6 ‘you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.” …

Chapter 20

  • 1 And God spoke all these words:
  • 2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
  • 3 “You shall have no other gods before me.
  • 4 “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.
  • 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,
  • 6 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
  • 7 “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
  • 8 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.
  • 9 “Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
  • 10 “but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns.
  • 11 “For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
  • 12 “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
  • 13 “You shall not murder.
  • 14 “You shall not commit adultery.
  • 15 “You shall not steal.
  • 16 “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
  • 17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
  • 18 When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance
  • 19 and said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.” …

Chapter 25

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

Chapter 28

  • 1“Have Aaron your brother brought to you from among the Israelites, along with his sons Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, so they may serve me as priests.
  • 2 “Make sacred garments for your brother Aaron to give him dignity and honor.
  • 3 “Tell all the skilled workers to whom I have given wisdom in such matters that they are to make garments for Aaron, for his consecration, so he may serve me as priest.” …

Chapter 32

  • 1 When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.”
  • 2 Aaron answered them, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.”
  • 3 So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron.
  • 4 He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, “These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”
  • 5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, “Tomorrow there will be a festival to the Lord.”
  • 6 So the next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.
  • 7 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt.
  • 8 “They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.’
  • 9 “I have seen these people,” the Lord said to Moses, “and they are a stiff-necked people.
  • 10 “Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.”
  • 11 But Moses sought the favor of the Lord his God. “Lord,” he said, “why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand?
  • 12 “Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people.
  • 13 “Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self: ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever.’”
  • 14 Then the Lord relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.
  • 15 Moses turned and went down the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands. They were inscribed on both sides, front and back.
  • 16 The tablets were the work of God; the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.
  • 17 When Joshua heard the noise of the people shouting, he said to Moses, “There is the sound of war in the camp.”
  • 18 Moses replied: “It is not the sound of victory, it is not the sound of defeat; it is the sound of singing that I hear.”
  • 19 When Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burned and he threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain.
  • 20 And he took the calf the people had made and burned it in the fire; then he ground it to powder, scattered it on the water and made the Israelites drink it. …

Chapter 33

  • 12 Moses said to the Lord, “You have been telling me, ‘Lead these people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, ‘I know you by name and you have found favor with me.’
  • 13 “If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.”
  • 14 The Lord replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”
  • 15 Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here.
  • 16 “How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”
  • 17 And the Lord said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.”
  • 18 Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.”
  • 19 And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
  • 20 “But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”
  • 21 Then the Lord said, “There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock.
  • 22 “When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by.
  • 23 “Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen.”

Chapter 34

  • 1 The Lord said to Moses, “Chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke.
  • 2 “Be ready in the morning, and then come up on Mount Sinai. Present yourself to me there on top of the mountain.
  • 3 “No one is to come with you or be seen anywhere on the mountain; not even the flocks and herds may graze in front of the mountain.”
  • 4 So Moses chiseled out two stone tablets like the first ones and went up Mount Sinai early in the morning, as the Lord had commanded him; and he carried the two stone tablets in his hands.
  • 5 Then the Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the Lord.
  • 6 And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness,
  • 7 “maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.”
  • 8 Moses bowed to the ground at once and worshiped.
  • 9 “Lord,” he said, “if I have found favor in your eyes, then let the Lord go with us. Although this is a stiff-necked people, forgive our wickedness and our sin, and take us as your inheritance.”
  • 10 Then the Lord said: “I am making a covenant with you. Before all your people I will do wonders never before done in any nation in all the world. The people you live among will see how awesome is the work that I, the Lord, will do for you.”

 


Source: Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. NIV. COPYRIGHT 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

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Moses, holding the tablet with the Ten Commandments (Library of Congress)

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