# verses

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The earth was without form and empty. Darkness covered the deep water. The Spirit of God hovered over the waters.


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God called the light day. He called the darkness night. There was evening and there was morning, one day.


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Then God said: »Let there be an expanse in the middle of the waters. Let it separate the waters from the waters.«


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God made the expanse. He separated the waters that were below the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. It was so.


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Then God said: »Let the waters below the atmosphere be gathered into one place. Let the dry land appear.« It was so.


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God called the dry land earth. The gathering of the waters He called seas. God saw that it was good.


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Then God said: »Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit after their kind with seed in them.« It was so.


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The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit with seed in them, after their kind. God saw that it was good.


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Then God said: »Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. Let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years.


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God made the two great lights. The sun was to govern the day. The moon was to govern the night. He made the stars also.


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The lights were to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. God saw that it was good.


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God said: »Let the waters be filled with many kinds of living beings, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the sky.«


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God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves in the waters after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind. God saw that it was good.


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God blessed them and said: »Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.«


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God said: »Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind.« It was so.


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God made the wild animals according to their kinds. He made the livestock according to their kinds and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. God saw that it was good.


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Then God said: »Let us make man in our image, in our likeness. Let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth and over all the creatures that move along the ground.«


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God blessed them and said to them: »Be fruitful and increase in number. Fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and dominate the birds of the air. Have dominion over every living creature that moves on the ground.«


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Then God said: »I give you every plant that bears seed on the face of the entire earth. I also give you every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.


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»Also every beast of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground; everything that has the breath of life in it, I give every green plant for food.« It was so.


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God saw all that he had made. It was very good. There was evening, and there was morning, the sixth day.


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God blessed the seventh day and made it holy. This is because he rested from all the work of creation he had done.


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No shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth. No plant of the field had yet sprung up, for Jehovah God had not sent rain on the earth. There was no man to work the ground.


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Jehovah God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. The man became a living being.


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Jehovah God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground, trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.


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The name of the first river is the Pishon. It winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold.


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The name of the third river is the Tigris. It runs along the east side of Asshur. The fourth river is the Euphrates.


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»But you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. When you eat of it you will surely die.«


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Then Jehovah God formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to let him name them. Whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name.


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So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field. But no suitable helper was found for Adam.


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Jehovah God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. While he was sleeping, he took one of the mans ribs and closed up the place with flesh.


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The man said: »This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called Woman. This is because she was taken out of Man.«


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This is the reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife. They will become one flesh.


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Now the serpent was craftier than any of the wild animals Jehovah God had made. He said to the woman: »Did God really say, you must not eat from any tree in the garden?«


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»However, God did say: You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden. You must not touch it, or you will die.«


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»God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened. Then you will be like God, knowing good and evil.«


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When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.


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Then the eyes of both of them were opened. They realized they were naked. They sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.


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The man and his wife heard the sound <i>voice</i> of Jehovah God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day. They hid from Jehovah, among the trees of the garden.


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He <i>Adam</i> answered: »I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.«


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And he said: »Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?«


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Then Jehovah God said to the Eve: »What is this you have done?« The woman answered: »The serpent deceived me, and I ate.«


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So Jehovah God said to the serpent: »Because you have done this you are cursed above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life.


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»And I will put enmity <i>hostility hatred</i> between you and the woman, and between your offspring <i>seed</i> and hers. He will bruise <i>overwhelm crush</i> you in the head, and you will bruise <i>overwhelm crush</i> him in the heel.« (Romans 16:20)


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He said to the woman: »I will greatly increase your pains in childbirth; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.«


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He said to Adam: »Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, You must not eat of it, cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.


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»You will eat your food by the sweat of your brow until you return to the ground. You came from the ground. For dust you are and to dust you will return.«


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Jehovah said: »The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.«


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Therefore Jehovah God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.


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After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.


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Adam had sexual intercourse with his wife Eve. She became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said: »With the help of Jehovah I have brought forth a man.«


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But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn <i>firstlings</i> of his flock. Jehovah looked with favor on Abel and his offering.


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He did not look with favor on Cain and his offering. So Cain became very angry, and his face was downcast <i>he had a bad attitude</i> .


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»If you do what is right, will not your attitude improve? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door. It desires to have you, but you must master it.«


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Jehovah asked Cain: »Where is your brother Abel?« »I do not know,« he replied. »Am I my brothers keeper?«


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Jehovah said: »What have you done? Listen! Your brothers blood <i>life</i> cries out to me from the ground.


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»Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brothers blood from your hand.


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»When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer <i>vagabond</i> on the earth.«


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»You are driving me from the land today. I will be hidden from your presence. I will be a restless <i>homeless</i> wanderer on the earth. And whoever finds me will kill me.«


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Jehovah replied to him: »If anyone kills Cain, he will suffer vengeance seven times over.« Then Jehovah put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him.


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Cain went out from Jehovahs presence and lived in the land of Nod <i>Fugitiveness</i> . Nod is east of Eden.


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Cain had intercourse with his wife. She became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. Later Cain built a city. He named it after his son Enoch.


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To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad was the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael was the father of Methushael, and Methushael was the father of Lamech.


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Zillah also had a son, Tubal-Cain, who forged all kinds of tools out of copper and iron. Tubal-Cains sister was Naamah.


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Lamech said to his wives: »Adah and Zillah, listen to me; wives of Lamech, hear my words. I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for injuring me.


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Adam had intercourse with his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth. She said: »God has granted me another child in place of Abel, since Cain killed him.«


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Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh. At that time men began to call on <i>proclaim</i> the name of Jehovah.


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When Adam had lived one hundred and thirty years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth.


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After he became the father of Enosh, Seth lived eight hundred and seven years and had other sons and daughters.


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After he became the father of Kenan, Enosh lived eight hundred and fifteen years and had other sons and daughters.


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After he became the father of Jared, Mahalalel lived eight hundred and thirty years and had other sons and daughters.


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After he became the father of Enoch, Jared lived eight hundred years and had other sons and daughters.


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After he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God three hundred years and had other sons and daughters.


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After he became the father of Lamech, Methuselah lived seven hundred eighty-two years and had other sons and daughters.


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He named him Noah. He said: »He will comfort us in the labor and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground Jehovah has cursed.«


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After Noah was born, Lamech lived five hundred and ninety-five years and had other sons and daughters.


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Jehovah said: »My Spirit will not contend <i>judge plead</i> with man forever, for he is mortal and corrupt. Therefore his days will be a hundred and twenty years.«


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The NEPHILIM were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God had sexual intercourse with the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.


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Jehovah saw how great mans wickedness on the earth had become. Every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.


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So Jehovah said: »I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth. All of them: men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air. I am sorry that I created them.«


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This is the ACCOUNT OF NOAH. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time. He walked with God.


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God said to Noah: »I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am going to destroy them with the earth.


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»BUILD AN ARK of cypress wood <i>a resinous tree</i> . Make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out.


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»This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be four hundred and fifty feet long, seventy-five feet wide, and forty-five feet high.


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»Build a roof on it and finish the ark to within eighteen inches of the top. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle, and upper decks.


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»I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens. Every creature that has the breath of life in it, everything on earth will perish.


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»But I will establish my covenant with you. You will enter the ark, you and your sons and your wife and your sons wives with you.


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»Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal, and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive.


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Jehovah said to Noah: »Go into the ark, you and your whole family. For I have found you righteous in this generation.


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»Take with you seven of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and two of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate.


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»Also take seven of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth.


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»Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights. I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made.«


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Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood.


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In the six hundredth year of Noahs life, on the seventeenth day of the second month, on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the sky were opened.


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Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, together with his wife and the wives of his three sons, entered the ark.


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They had with them every wild animal according to its kind, all livestock according to their kinds, every creature that moves along the ground according to its kind, and every bird according to its kind, everything with wings.


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The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, just as God had commanded Noah. Then Jehovah shut him in.


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The flood came upon the earth for forty days. As the waters increased, they lifted the ark high above the earth.


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Every living thing that moved on the earth perished: birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind.


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Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out. Men and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds of the air were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark.


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God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark. He sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded.


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The springs of the deep and the floodgates of the skies were closed. So the rain stopped falling from the sky.


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Water receded steadily from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the water had gone down.


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The waters continued to recede until the tenth month. On the first day of the tenth month, the tops of the mountains became visible.


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The dove, however, could find no place to set its feet because there was water over all the surface of the earth. It returned to Noah in the ark. He reached out his hand and held the dove and brought it back to himself in the ark.


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When the dove returned to him in the evening, there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf! Then Noah knew that the water had receded from the earth.


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By the first day of the first month of Noahs six hundred and first year, the water had dried up from the earth. Noah then removed the covering from the ark and saw that the surface of the ground was dry.


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»Bring out every kind of living creature that is with you, the birds, the animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground. They will multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number upon it.«


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All the animals and all the creatures that move along the ground and all the birds, everything that moves on the earth came out of the ark, one kind after another.


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Noah built an altar to Jehovah and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it.


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Jehovah smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: »Never again will I curse the ground because of man, for the intent of his heart is evil from childhood. I will never again destroy every living creature, as I have done.


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»As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, will never cease.«


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»All the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air will be filled with fear and dread of you. Every creature that moves along the ground and all the fish of the sea are placed under your control.


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»Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.


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»I will require your lifeblood as an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. I will demand an accounting from each man for the life of his fellow man.


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»Whoever sheds the blood of man will have his blood shed by man. For man was made in the image of God.


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"and with every living creature that was with you, the birds, the livestock, and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you, every living creature on earth.


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»I establish my covenant with you: Never again will the waters of a flood destroy all life. Never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.«


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God said: »This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come:


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»I will remember my covenant with you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters flood to destroy all life.


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»Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the long lasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.«


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Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders. Then they walked in backward and covered their fathers nakedness. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their fathers nakedness.


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»May God extend the territory of Japheth. And may Japheth live in the tents of Shem, and may Canaan be his slave.«


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From these the maritime peoples spread out into their territories by their clans within their nations, each with its own language.


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He was a mighty hunter before Jehovah. That is why it is said: »Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before Jehovah.«


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and the borders of Canaan reached from Sidon toward Gerar as far as Gaza, and then toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha.


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Sons were also born to Shem, whose older brother was Japheth. Shem was the ancestor of all the sons of Eber.


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Two sons were born to Eber. One was named Peleg, because in his time the earth was divided. His brother was named Joktan.


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These are the clans of Noahs sons, according to their lines of descent, within their nations. From these the nations spread out over the earth after the flood.


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They said to each other: »Let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.« They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar.


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Then they said: »Let us build ourselves a city, with a lofty tower that reaches into space, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth.«


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Jehovah said: »If they become one people speaking the same language, nothing will be impossible for them. They have begun to do this.


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That is why it was called Babel <i>confusion</i> because Jehovah confused the language of the whole world. Jehovah scattered them from there over the face of the whole earth.


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This is the genealogy of Shem. Two years after the flood, when Shem was one hundred years old, he became the father of Arpachshad.


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After he became the father of Arpachshad, Shem lived five hundred years and had other sons and daughters.


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After he became the father of Shelah, Arpachshad lived four hundred and three years and had other sons and daughters.


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After he became the father of Eber, Shelah lived four hundred and thirty years and had other sons and daughters.


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After he became the father of Peleg, Eber lived four hundred and thirty years and had other sons and daughters.


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After he became the father of Reu, Peleg lived two hundred and nine years and had other sons and daughters.


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After he became the father of Serug, Reu lived two hundred and seven years and had other sons and daughters.


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After he became the father of Nahor, Serug lived two hundred years and had other sons and daughters.


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After he became the father of Terah, Nahor lived one hundred and nineteen years and had other sons and daughters.


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This is the genealogy of Terah. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot.


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While his father Terah was still alive, Haran died in Ur of the Chaldeans, in the land of his birth.


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Abram and Nahor both married. The name of Abrams wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahors wife was Milcah. She was the daughter of Haran, the father of both Milcah and Iscah.


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Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot, son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there.


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Jehovah said to Abram: »Leave your country, your people, and your fathers household, and go to the land I will show you.


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»I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you. I will make your name great. You will be a blessing.


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»I will bless those who bless you. I will curse whoever curses you. All the people on earth will be blessed through you.«


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So Abram left, just as Jehovah told him. Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Haran.


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He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Haran. They set out for the land of Canaan and soon arrived there.


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Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great <i>oak</i> tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land.


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Jehovah appeared to Abram and said: »I will give this land to your offspring <i>seed</i> .« He built an altar there to Jehovah, who had appeared to him.


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From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent. Bethel was on the west and Ai on the east. He built an altar to Jehovah and called on the name of Jehovah.


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There was a famine in the land. Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while, because the famine was severe.


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»When the Egyptians see you, they will say: This is his wife. Then they will kill me, but will let you live.


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»Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake, and my life will be spared because of you.«


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He treated Abram well for her sake. Abram acquired sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, menservants and maidservants, and camels.


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So Pharaoh summoned Abram. »What have you done to me?« he asked. »Why did you not tell me she was your wife?


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»Why did you say: She is my sister, so that I took her to be my wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go!«


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Pharaoh gave orders about Abram to his men, and they sent him on his way, with his wife and everything he had.


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He traveled from place to place from the Negev until he came to Bethel, to the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had been earlier.


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But the land could not support them while they stayed together. Their possessions were so great that they were not able to stay together.


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Quarreling arose between Abrams herdsmen and the herdsmen of Lot. The Canaanites and Perizzites were also living in the land at that time.


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Abram said to Lot: »Let us not have any quarreling between you and me, or between your herdsmen and mine, for we are brothers.


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»Is not the whole land before you? Let us part company. If you go to the left, I will go to the right. If you go to the right, I will go to the left.«


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Lot looked up and saw that the district of the Jordan River was well watered, like the garden of Jehovah, like the land of Egypt, toward Zoar. This was before Jehovah destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.


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So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east. The two men parted company:


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Abram lived in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain and pitched his tents near Sodom.


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After Lot had parted from Abram, Jehovah said to Abram: »Lift up your eyes from where you are and look north and south, east and west.


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»All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring <i>descendants</i> from generation to generation.


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»I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth. If anyone could count the dust, your offspring could be counted.


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Abram moved his tents and went to live near the great trees of Mamre at Hebron. He built an altar to Jehovah there.


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In the days of King Amraphel of Shinar, King Arioch of Ellasar, King Chedorlaomer of Elam, and King Tidal of Goiim,


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these four kings made war with King Bera of Sodom, King Birsha of Gomorrah, King Shinab of Admah, King Shemeber of Zeboiim, and the king of Zoar.


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In the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him came and subdued the Rephaim in Ashteroth-karnaim, the Zuzim in Ham, the Emim in Shaveh-kiriathaim,


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They turned back and came to En-mishpat <i>Kadesh</i> , and subdued all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites who lived in Hazazon-tamar.


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Then the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Zoar went out, and they joined battle in the Valley of Siddim.


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They fought against King Chedorlaomer of Elam, King Tidal of Goiim, King Amraphel of Shinar, and King Arioch of Ellasar, four kings against five.


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The Valley of Siddim was full of bitumen <i>tar</i> pits. As the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, some fell into them. The rest fled to the hill country.


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The enemy took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their food provisions, and went their way.


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Then one who had escaped came and told Abram the Hebrew. He was living by the oaks of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol and of Aner. They were Abrams allies.


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Abram heard that his nephew had been taken captive. Abram led his trained men, born in his house, three hundred eighteen of them, in pursuit as far as Dan.


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He divided his forces against them by night. He and his servants routed them and pursued them to Hobah, north of Damascus.


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As soon as the king of Sodom returned from defeating Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, he went out to meet Abram at the King's Valley of Shaveh.


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»Blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!« Abram gave him one tenth of everything.


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But Abram said to the king of Sodom: »I have sworn to Jehovah, God Most High, maker of heaven and earth:


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"I will take nothing. Not a thread or a sandal strap. You will not be able to say: 'I have made Abram rich.


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The word of Jehovah came to Abram in a vision: »Do not be afraid, Abram; I am your shield. Your reward shall be very great.«


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Abram said: »O Jehovah God, what will you give me? I continue childless! The heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus.«


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The word of Jehovah came to him: »This man shall not be your heir. No one but your very own issue shall be your heir.«


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He brought him outside and said: »Look toward heaven and count the stars. Are you able to count them?« He continued: »So shall your descendants be.«


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Then God said to him: »I AM JEHOVAH, who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess.«


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He <i>God</i> said to him: »Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.«


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Abram brought him all these and cut them in two, laying each half over against the other. He did not cut the birds in two.


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As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and a deep and terrifying darkness descended upon him.


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Jehovah said to Abram: »Know this for sure; your offspring will be strangers <i>aliens</i> in a land that is not theirs. They will be slaves there, and they shall be oppressed for four hundred years.


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»I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve! Afterward they will come out with great possessions.


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»They shall come back here in the fourth generation. The iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.«


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The sun went down and it was dark. A smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces.


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On that day Jehovah made a covenant with Abram. He said: »To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates,


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She said to Abram: »Jehovah has kept me from having children. Go sleep with my maidservant. Perhaps I can build a family through her.« Abram agreed to what Sarai said.


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After Abram lived in Canaan ten years, Sarai, his wife, gave her Egyptian maidservant Hagar to her husband to be his wife.


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Abram had intercourse with Hagar, and she conceived. When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress.


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Then Sarai said to Abram: »You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my servant in your arms; she knows she is pregnant and she despises me. May Jehovah judge between you and me.«


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»Your servant is in your hands,« Abram said. »Do with her whatever you think best.« Then Sarai mistreated Hagar. So she ran away from her.


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The angel of Jehovah found Hagar near a spring in the desert. It was the spring that is beside the road to Shur.


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He said: »Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?« »I am running away from my mistress Sarai,« she answered.


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Jehovahs angel also said: »You are now with child and you will have a son. You shall name him Ishmael <i>means: God hears</i> . Jehovah has heard of your misery.


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»He <i>Ishmael</i> will be a wild donkey of a man. His hand will be against everyone and everyones hand against him. He will live in hostility toward all his brothers.«


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She called the name of Jehovah, who spoke to her: »You are the God who sees me, for she said, I have not seen the one who sees me."


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That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi <i>Well of the Living One Who Sees Me</i> . It is still there, between Kadesh and Bered.


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Abram was ninety-nine years old. Jehovah appeared to him and said: »I am God Almighty. Walk before me and be blameless.


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»You will no longer be called Abram <i>Exalted Father</i> . Your name will be Abraham <i>means Father of Many</i> . I have made you a father of many nations.


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»I will establish my covenant as a long lasting covenant between us. It will be for your descendants after you, for the generations to come. I will be your God and the God of your descendants after you.


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»The whole land of Canaan, where you are now a guest <i>alien foreigner stranger</i> , I will give a long lasting possession to you and your descendants after you. I will be their God.«


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Then God said to Abraham: »As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come.


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»This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised.


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»For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised. This includes those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner, those who are not your offspring.


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»Whether born in your household or bought with your money, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh is to be a long lasting covenant.


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»I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations. Kings of peoples will come from her.«


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Abraham fell to his face. He laughed and said to himself: »Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?«


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God replied: »Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son! You will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as a long lasting covenant for his descendants after him.


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»Concerning Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him. I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation.


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On that very day Abraham took his son Ishmael and all those born in his household or bought with his money, every male in his household, and circumcised them, as God told him.


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Every male in Abrahams household, including those born in his household or bought from a foreigner, was circumcised with him.


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Jehovah appeared again to Abraham by the oak grove of Mamre. He was sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day.


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He looked up and noticed three men coming toward him. He ran from the tent door to meet them, and bowed to the ground.


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»I will bring a bite to eat to refresh you. Stay a while before you continue your journey.« They responded: »Very well, do as you have said.«


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Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah and said: »Quick! Make ready three measures of fine meal; knead it and make cakes.«


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Then Abraham ran to the herd. He selected a fat calf and told a servant to butcher it and prepare it.


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He took butter and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them. He stood by them under the tree as they ate.


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He said: »Next year I will give you and Sarah a son.« <i>Sarah was listening in the tent door behind him.</i>


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Therefore Sarah laughed within herself. She said to herself: "After I have grown old, shall I have a baby? My lord is old also."


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Jehovah said to Abraham: »Why did Sarah laugh, saying, 'Shall I surely bear a child, since I am old?'


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»Is anything too hard for Jehovah? At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life. Sarah shall have a son!«


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Then the men stood up from their meal and started in the direction of Sodom. Abraham went with them to send them on the way.


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»Abraham will definitely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed in him.


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»I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household; and that they may remain in the righteous and just way of Jehovah. Jehovah will bring to Abraham what he told him.«


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Jehovah said: »Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave,


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»I will go down now and see whether they have done the bad things I have been told. Then I will know.«


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»Suppose there were fifty righteous within the city. Would you also destroy the place and not spare it because the righteous people are there?


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»Surely you would not do that! Would you slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be as the wicked? Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?«


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Jehovah said: »If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, I will spare the entire place for their sakes.«


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Then Abraham answered and said: »Indeed now, I who am only dust and ashes have taken it upon myself to speak to Jehovah:


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»Suppose there were five less than the fifty righteous. Would you destroy the entire city for lack of five?« So He <i>God</i> said: »If I find there forty-five, I will not destroy it.«


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Abraham spoke again: »Suppose there should be forty found there?« God replied: »I will not do it for the sake of forty.«


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Abraham then said: »Do not be angry, and let me speak. Suppose thirty should be found there?« God replied: »I will not do it if I find thirty there.«


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Abraham then said: »Indeed now, I have taken it upon myself to speak to Jehovah: Suppose twenty should be found there?« God replied: »I will not destroy it for the sake of twenty.«


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Abraham again queried: »Please do not be angry as I speak once more: Suppose ten should be found there?« God said: »I will not destroy it for the sake of ten.«


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That evening the two angels came to the entrance of the city of Sodom. Lot was sitting there as they arrived. When he saw them, he got up to greet them. Then he welcomed them and bowed low to the ground.


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»My lords,« he said, »come to my home to wash your feet, and be my guests for the night. You may get up in the morning as early as you like and be on your way again.« »Oh no,« they said, »We will spend the night out here in the city square.«


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Lot insisted, so at last they went home with him. He set a great feast before them, complete with fresh unleavened <i>unfermented</i> bread.


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They prepared to retire for the night when suddenly all the men of Sodom, young and old, came from all over the city and surrounded the house.


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They shouted to Lot: »Where are the men who came to spend the night with you? Bring them out so we can have sex with them!«


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»I have two virgin daughters. Do with them as you wish, but leave these men alone, for they are under my protection.«


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»Stand back!« they shouted. »Who do you think you are? We let you settle among us, and now you are trying to tell us what to do! We will treat you far worse than those other men!« They pushed Lot and began breaking down the door.


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»Do you have any other relatives here in the city?« The angels asked. »Get them out of this place, sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone else.


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»We will destroy the city completely. The stench of the place has reached Jehovah. He has sent us to destroy it.«


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Lot rushed out to tell his sons-in-law: »Hurry! Get out of the city! Jehovah is going to destroy it.« But the young men thought he was only joking.


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At dawn the next morning the angels became insistent. They said to Lot: »Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here. Get out of here right now, or you will be caught in the destruction of the city.«


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Lot still hesitated. So the angels seized his hand and the hands of his wife and two daughters and rushed them to safety outside the city, for Jehovah was merciful.


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»Run for your lives!« The angels warned. »Do not stop and do not look behind you! Escape to the mountains, or you will die.«


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»You have been so kind to me and saved my life, and you have granted me such mercy. But I cannot go to the mountains. Disaster would catch up to me there, and I would soon die.


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»There is a small village nearby. Please let me go there instead. Do you see how small it is? Then my life will be saved.«


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The angel said to him: »All right, I will grant you this request too. I will not destroy the city you are talking about.


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»Run there quickly! I cannot do anything until you get there." The city is named Zoar <i>Small</i> .


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He destroyed those cities, the whole Plain, all who lived in the cities, and whatever grew on the ground.


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He looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah and all the land in the Plain. He saw smoke rising from the land like the thick smoke of a furnace.


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When God destroyed the cities of the valley where Lot was living, he kept Abraham in mind and allowed Lot to escape to safety.


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Lot was afraid to stay in Zoar. So he and his two daughters moved up into the hills and lived in a cave.


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The older daughter said to her sister: »Our father is getting old. There are no men in the whole world to marry us so we can have children.


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That night they gave him wine to drink. The older daughter had intercourse with him. But he was so drunk that he did not know it.


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The next day the older daughter said to her sister: »I slept with him last night. Let us get him drunk again tonight, and you sleep with him. Then each of us will have a child by our father.«


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So that night they got him drunk. The younger daughter had intercourse with him. Again he was so drunk that he did not know it.


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The younger daughter also had a son, whom she named Ben-ammi. He was the ancestor of the present-day Ammonites.


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Abraham moved from Mamre to the southern part of Canaan and lived between Kadesh and Shur. Later, while he was living in Gerar,


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God appeared to the king in a dream and said: »You are going to die, because you have taken this woman. She is already married.«


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»Abraham said that she was his sister. She said the same thing. I did this with a clear conscience. I have done no wrong!«


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God said to him in a dream: »Yes, I know that you did this with a clear conscience. In fact, I kept you from sinning against me. That is why I did not let you touch her.


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»Give the mans wife back to him now. He is a prophet. He will pray for you, and you will live. But if you do not give her back, you and all who belong to you are doomed to die.«


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So Abimelech got up early in the morning. He called all his servants and told them everything. The men were very afraid.


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Then Abimelech called Abraham. He said to him: »What have you done to us? And how have I sinned against you? You have brought a great sin on me and on my kingdom. You have done to me things that ought not to be done.«


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Abraham said: »I thought that because there are no people who reverence God in this place, I would be killed because of my wife.


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»When God had me leave my fathers home and travel around, I said to her: 'Do me a favor: Wherever we go, say that I am your brother.'"


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Abimelech took sheep, cattle, and male and female slaves and gave them to Abraham. He also gave his wife Sarah back to him.


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He said to Sarah: »Do not forget that I have given your brother twenty-five pounds of silver. This is to silence any criticism against you from everyone with you. You are completely cleared.«


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Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, his wife, and his female slaves so that they could have children.


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Jehovah had made it impossible for any woman in Abimelechs household to have children because of Abrahams wife Sarah.


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Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age. It was at the very time God had promised him.


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She added: »Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.«


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God said to Abraham: »Do not be upset about the boy and your slave. Listen to what Sarah says, because through Isaac your descendants will carry on your name.


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Early the next morning Abraham took bread and a container of water and gave them to Hagar, putting them on her shoulder. He also gave her the boy and sent her on her way. So she left and wandered around in the desert near Beer-sheba.


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She sat across from him at a distance. She thought: »I cannot watch the boy die." She sat opposite him, and lifted up her voice and wept.


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God heard the lad crying. The angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her: »What is the matter with you, Hagar? Do not fear! God has heard the voice of the lad where he is.


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Then God opened her eyes. She saw a well of water. She filled the skin with water and gave the lad a drink.


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Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, spoke to Abraham. They said: »God is with you in all that you do.


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»Swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me or with my offspring or with my posterity. Consider the kindness that I have shown to you. Please show it to me and to the land in which you have sojourned.«


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Abraham complained to Abimelech because of the well of water that the servants of Abimelech had seized.


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Abimelech said: »I do not know who has done this thing. You did not tell me, nor did I hear of it until today.«


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He said: »You shall take these seven ewe lambs from my hand so that it may be a witness to me, that I dug this well.«


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They made a covenant at Beer-sheba. Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, arose and returned to the land of the Philistines.


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Abraham planted a tamarisk tree at Beer-sheba. There he called on the name of Jehovah, the Everlasting God.


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»Take your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah. Offer him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.«


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Early the next morning Abraham saddled his donkey. He took two of his servants and his son Isaac with him. He had cut the wood for the burnt offering. Then he set out for the place that God had told him about.


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He said to the servants: »Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go over there and worship. Then we will come back to you.«


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Abraham made Isaac carry the wood for the sacrifice. Abraham carried a knife and live coals for starting the fire. As they walked along together,


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Isaac spoke up: »Father!« He answered: »Yes, my son?« Isaac asked: »I see that you have the coals and the wood, but where is the lamb for the sacrifice?«


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They came to the place God had told him about. Abraham built an altar and arranged the wood on it. He tied up his son and placed him on the altar, on top of the wood.


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»Do not hurt the boy or harm him in any way!« The angel said. »Now I know that you truly obey God, because you were willing to offer him your only son.«


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Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught by its horns in the bushes. So he took the ram and sacrificed it in place of his son.


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Abraham named that place »Jehovah Will Provide.« It is still said today: »It will be provided on the mountain of Jehovah.«


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He said: »I am taking an oath on my own name, declares Jehovah, that because you have done this and have not refused to give me your son, your only son,


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»I will certainly bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and the grains of sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of their enemies cities.


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»All the nations will ask me to bless them as I have blessed your descendants. This is because you obeyed my command.«


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Abraham and Isaac went back to the servants who had come with him. They returned to Abrahams home in Beer-sheba.


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Uz was their firstborn. Buz was next. Then there was Kemuel who became the father of Aram. Their other five sons were


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Bethuel became the father of Rebekah. These are the eight children Milcah bore to Nahor, Abrahams brother.


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Sarah died in Kiriath-arba <i>that is, Hebron</i> in the land of Canaan. Abraham went to mourn for Sarah and to cry because of her death.


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He said: »I am a stranger with no permanent home. Let me have some of your property for a tomb that I can bury my dead wife.«


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»Listen to us, my lord. You are a mighty leader among us. Bury your dead in one of our best tombs. Not one of us will withhold from you his tomb for burying your dead.«


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to sell me Machpelah Cave. It is near the edge of his field. Ask him to sell it to me for its full price here in your presence. Then I can own it as a burial ground.«


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Ephron was sitting with the other Hittites at the meeting place at the city gate. He answered in the hearing of everyone there:


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»Hear me my lord, I give you the field, including the cave. It is yours. With my own people as witnesses, I freely give it to you as a burial place for your dead.«


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He spoke to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land. He said: »If you will only please listen to me. I will give the price of the field. Accept it from me that I may bury my dead there.«


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»My lord, listen to me. It is a piece of land worth four hundred shekels of silver. What is that between you and me? So bury your dead.«


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Abraham listened to Ephron. Abraham weighed out for Ephron the silver that he had named in the hearing of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, commercial standard.


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His property included the field with the cave in it as well as all the trees inside the boundaries of the field. The Hittites together with all who had entered the city gate were the official witnesses for the agreement.


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Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave in the field of Machpelah, east of Mamre <i>Hebron</i> , in the land of Canaan.


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Abraham said to the senior servant of his household who was in charge of all that he owned: »Take a solemn oath.


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»I want you to swear by Jehovah God of heaven and earth that you will not get my son a wife from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I am living.


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The servant asked: »What if the young woman will not leave home to come with me to this land? Shall I send your son back to the land you came from?«


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»Jehovah, the God of heaven, took me from my fathers house and from the land of my birth. He spoke to me and swore to me. He said: I will give this land to your descendants. He will send his angel before you. You will take a wife for my son from there.


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»You will be free from this oath if the woman is not willing to follow you. Only do not take my son back there.«


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The servant placed his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master. He swore to him concerning this matter.


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The servant took ten camels from the camels of his master, and then set out with a variety of good things of his masters in his hand. He arose and went to Mesopotamia, to the city of Nahor.


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He made the camels kneel down outside the city by the well of water at evening time. This is the time when women go out to draw water.


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He said: »O Jehovah, the God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today. Show loving-kindness to my master Abraham.


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»Let there be the girl to whom I say: Please let down your jar so that I may drink,' and who answers: 'Drink, and I will water your camels also.' May she be the one whom you have appointed for your servant Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown loving-kindness to my master.«


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Before he finished praying, Rebekah came with her jar on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel, son of Milcah, who was the wife of Abrahams brother Nahor.


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The girl was a very attractive virgin. No man had ever had sexual intercourse with her. She went to the spring and filled her jar, and came back.


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When she finished giving him a drink, she said: »I will also keep drawing water for your camels until they have had enough to drink.«


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She quickly emptied her jar into the water trough. Then she ran back to the well to draw more water. She drew enough for all his camels.


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When the camels had finished drinking, the man took out a gold nose ring weighing a fifth of an ounce and two gold bracelets weighing four ounces.


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He said: »Please tell me who your father is. Is there room in his house for my men and me to spend the night?«


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He said: »Praise Jehovah, the God of my master Abraham. He has faithfully kept his promise to my master. Jehovah has led me straight to my masters relatives.«


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Laban had seen the nose ring and the bracelets on his sisters arms and had heard her say what the man told her. He went to Abrahams servant, who was standing by his camels at the well,


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and said: »Come home with me. You are a man Jehovah has blessed. Why are you standing out here? I have a room ready for you in my house. There is a place for your camels.«


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The man went into the house. Laban unloaded the camels and gave them straw and fodder. Then he brought water for Abrahams servant and his men to wash their feet.


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Food was brought. The man said: »I will not eat until I have said what I have to say.« Laban responded: »Go ahead and speak.«


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»Jehovah has greatly blessed my master and made him a rich man. He has given him flocks of sheep and goats, cattle, silver, gold, male and female slaves, camels, and donkeys.


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»Sarah, my masters wife, did not have any children until she was very old. Then she had a son, and my master has given him everything.


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»I solemnly promised my master I would do what he said. He told me: Do not choose a wife for my son from the women in this land of Canaan.


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»He said to me: Jehovah, before whom I have walked, will send his angel with you to make your journey successful. You will take a wife for my son from my relatives and from my fathers house.


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»I came to the spring today. I prayed to Jehovah: God of my master Abraham, if now you will make my journey successful,


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»make it be that the maiden who comes out to draw, and to whom I say, »Please let me drink a little water from your jar,«


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»And she will say to me, »You drink, and I will draw for your camels also,« let her be the woman whom Jehovah has appointed for my masters son.


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»Before I had finished speaking in my heart, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder. She went down to the spring and drew, and I said to her, Please let me drink.


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»She quickly lowered her jar from her shoulder, and said, Drink, and I will water your camels also; so I drank, and she watered the camels also.


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»Then I asked her: Whose daughter are you? She said: The daughter of Bethuel, Nahors son, whom Milcah bore to him. I put the ring on her nose, and the bracelets on her wrists.


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»I bowed low and worshiped Jehovah, and praised Jehovah, the God of my master Abraham. He guided me in the right way to take the daughter of my masters kinsman for his son.


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»If you are going to deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me. If not, let me know, that I may turn to the right hand or the left.«


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»Here is Rebekah before you; take her and go. Let her be the wife of your masters son, as Jehovah has spoken.«


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The servant took out gold and silver jewelry and clothes and gave them to Rebekah. He also gave expensive presents to her brother and mother.


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He and the men who were with him ate and drank and spent the night. When they got up in the morning, he said: »Let me go back to my master.«


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They gave Rebecca their blessing in these words: »May you, sister, become the mother of millions! May your descendants conquer the cities of their enemies!«


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Rebecca and her young women got ready. They mounted the camels to go with Abrahams servant, and they all started out.


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Isaac had come into the wilderness of »The Well of the Living One Who Sees Me.« He was staying in the southern part of Canaan.


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She asked Abrahams servant: »Who is that man walking toward us in the field?« »He is my master,« the servant answered. So she took her veil <i>scarf</i> and covered her face.


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Isaac brought Rebecca into the tent that his mother Sarah had lived in. She became his wife. Isaac loved Rebecca. He was comforted for the loss of his mother.


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Jokshan was the father of Sheba and Dedan, and the descendants of Dedan were the Asshurim, the Letushim, and the Leummim.


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The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All these were Keturahs descendants.


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While Abraham was still alive, he gave gifts to the sons of Hagar and Keturah. He also sent their sons to live in the east far from his son Isaac.


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Then he took his last breath and died at a very old age. After a long and full life, he joined his ancestors in death.


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His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron, the son of Zohar the Hittite, which is before Mamre.


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This was the field Abraham purchased from the sons of Heth. Abraham and Sarah his wife were buried there.


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After the death of Abraham, God blessed his son Isaac. Isaac lived by Beer-lahai-roi. <i>The Well of the Living One, My Beholder</i> .


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This is the genealogy of Ishmael, Abrahams son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarahs maid, bore to Abraham.


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These are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, in the order of their birth: Nebaioth, the firstborn of Ishmael, and Kedar and Adbeel and Mibsam


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These are the sons of Ishmael and these are their names, by their villages, and by their camps: twelve leaders according to their tribes.


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His descendants lived as nomads from the region of Havilah to Shur. This is near Egypt, in the direction of Assyria. He died in the presence of all his brothers.


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Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah, daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram, and sister of Laban the Aramean.


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Isaac prayed to Jehovah for his wife because she was childless. Jehovah answered his prayer. His wife Rebekah became pregnant.


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She was going to have twins. Before they were born they struggled against each other in her womb. She said: »Why should something like this happen to me?« She asked Jehovah for an answer.


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Jehovah said: »Two nations are within you. You will give birth to two rival peoples. One will be stronger than the other. The older will serve the younger.«


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The second one was born holding on tightly to the heel of Esau. He was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when they were born.


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The boys grew up. Esau became a skilled hunter, a man who loved the outdoors. Jacob was an upright man who stayed at home.


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Isaac preferred Esau. This is because he enjoyed eating the animals Esau killed. Rebecca preferred Jacob.


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He said to Jacob: »I am starving! Give me some of that red stuff.« <i>That is why he was named Edom.</i>


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Jacob answered: »First make a vow that you will give me your birthright.« Esau made the vow and gave his rights as firstborn to Jacob.


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Jacob gave him some bread and some of the soup. He ate and drank and then got up and left. Esau did not care about his birthright.


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There was another famine in the land besides the earlier one during the time of Abraham. Isaac went to Abimelech, king of the Philistines, at Gerar.


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Jehovah appeared to Isaac and said: »Isaac, stay away from Egypt! I will show you where I want you to go.


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»You will live there as a foreigner. I will be with you and bless you. I will keep my promise to your father Abraham by giving this land to you and your descendants.


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»I will give you as many descendants as there are stars in the sky. I will give your descendants all of this land. They will be a blessing to every nation on earth.


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His wife Rebekah was very beautiful. He was afraid that someone might kill him to get her. So he told everyone that Rebekah was his sister.


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After Isaac had been there a long time, King Abimelech looked out a window and saw Isaac intimately laughing and caressing Rebekah.


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Abimelech called him in and said: »Rebekah must be your wife! Why did you say she is your sister?« »I thought someone would kill me,« Isaac answered.


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»Do you know what you have done?« Abimelech shouted. »If someone had slept with her, you would have made our whole nation guilty!«


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So Abimelech charged all the people, saying: »He who touches this man or his wife will certainly be put to death.«


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The Philistines stopped up all the wells that his fathers servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father. They filled them with dirt.


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Then Isaac dug the water wells that had been dug in the days of his father Abraham. The Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham. He gave them the same names his father had given them.


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The herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with the herdsmen of Isaac. They said: »The water is ours!« So he named the well Esek, because they argued with him.


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They dug another well. And they quarreled over that one too. So Isaac named it Sitnah <i>Accusation</i> .


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He moved on from there and dug another well. They did not quarrel over this one. So he named it Rehoboth <i>Roomy</i> . He said: »Now Jehovah has made room for us. We will prosper in this land.«


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That night Jehovah appeared to Isaac. Jehovah said: »I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, because I am with you. I will bless you and increase the number of your descendants for my servant Abrahams sake.«


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Isaac built an altar there and worshiped Jehovah. Then he set up his camp. His servants dug another well.


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Abimelech came from Gerar with Ahuzzath, his friend <i>companion</i> , and Phicol, the commander of his army, to see Isaac.


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Isaac asked: »Why have you now come to see me? You were so unfriendly to me before and made me leave your country.«


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They answered: »Now we know that Jehovah is with you. We think that there should be a solemn agreement between us. We want you to promise


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»that you will not harm us. We did not harm you. We were kind to you and let you go peacefully. Now it is clear that Jehovah has blessed you.«


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Early the next morning each man made his promise and sealed it with a vow. Isaac said good-bye to them. They parted as friends.


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When Esau was forty he married Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite.


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Isaac was old and going blind. He called his older son Esau and said to him: »Son!« Esau answered: »Here I am.«


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»Please take your hunting equipment, your quiver and bow, and go out into the open country and hunt some wild game for me.


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»Prepare a good-tasting meal for me. Prepare it the way I like it. Bring it to me to eat so that I will bless you before I die.«


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Rebekah listened while Isaac was speaking to his son Esau. Esau went into the open country to hunt for some wild game to bring back.


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»He said: Bring me some wild game, and prepare a good-tasting meal for me to eat. Then I will bless you in the presence of Jehovah before I die.


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»Go to the flock and pick out two fat young goats. I will cook them and make some of that food your father likes so much.


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»Perhaps my father will touch me and find out that I am deceiving him. That way, I will bring a curse on myself instead of a blessing.«


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His mother replied: »Let any curse against you fall on me, my son. Just do as I say, and go and get the goats for me.«


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Jacob answered: »I am your older son Esau. I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of the meat that I brought you. Then you can give me your blessing.«


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Isaac said: »How did you find it so quickly, son?« Jacob answered: »Jehovah your God helped me find it.«


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Jacob went closer. His father touched him. He said: »You sound like Jacob, but your hands feel hairy like Esaus.«


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So Isaac told him: »Serve me the wild meat. I can give you my blessing.« Jacob gave him some meat, and he ate it. He also gave him some wine, and he drank it.


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He came close and kissed him. He smelled the smell of his garments. Then he blessed him and said: »See, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field Jehovah has blessed.«


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»May God give you of the dew of heaven, the fatness of the earth, and an abundance of grain and new wine.


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»May peoples serve you. And nations bow down to you. Be master of your brothers. And may your mothers sons bow down to you. Cursed be those who curse you. Blessed be those who bless you.«


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No sooner had Isaac finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob left his presence, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting.


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He also prepared a good-tasting meal and brought it to his father. Then he said to his father: »Please, Father, eat some of the meat I have hunted for you so that you will bless me.«


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Isaac began to tremble and shake all over. He asked: »Who was it, then, who killed an animal and brought it to me? I ate it just before you came. I gave him my final blessing, and so it is his forever.«


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When Esau heard this he cried out loudly and bitterly. He said: »Give me your blessing also, Father!«


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Esau said: »This is the second time that he has cheated me. No wonder his name is Jacob. He took my rights as the firstborn son. Now he has taken my blessing. Have you saved a blessing for me?«


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Isaac answered: »I have already made him master over you. I have made all his relatives his slaves. I have given him grain and wine. Now there is nothing that I can do for you, son!«


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Esau pleaded: »Father, please! Do you have only one blessing, Father? Bless me too, Father!« Esau broke down and wept.


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»You will live by your sword. You will serve your brother. Soon you will become restless and break his yoke from your neck.«


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So Esau bore a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him. Esau said to himself: »The days of mourning for my father are near. Then I will kill my brother Jacob.«


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When Rebekah heard about Esaus plans to kill Jacob, she called her younger son, Jacob. She said: »Your brother Esau is comforting himself by planning to kill you.


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»When your brothers anger is gone and he has forgotten what you did to him, I will let you know. Then you may come back. Why should I lose both of you in one day?«


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Rebekah said to Isaac: »I cannot stand Hittite women! I would rather die than see Jacob marry one of them.«


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»Go to Mesopotamia instead, to the home of your grandfather Bethuel. Marry one of the young women there, one of your uncle Labans daughters.


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»Almighty God will bless your marriage and give you many children. You will become the father of many nations!


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»He will bless you and your descendants as he blessed Abraham. You may take possession of this land, in which you have lived and which God gave to Abraham!«


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Esau found out that his father Isaac had blessed Jacob and had warned him not to marry any of the Canaanite women. He also learned that Jacob had been sent to find a wife in northern Syria.


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So Esau went to Ishmael and took Mahalath, the daughter of Abrahams son Ishmael, the sister of Nebaioth, to be his wife in addition to the wives he had.


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As soon as the sun went down he stopped for the night. He took one of the stones from that place, put it under his head, and lay down there.


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He had a dream in which he saw a stairway set up on the earth with its top reaching up to heaven. He saw the angels of God going up and coming down on it.


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Jehovah was standing above the stairway. He proclaimed: »I am Jehovah, the God of your grandfather Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give the land on which you are lying to you and your descendants.


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»Your descendants will be like the dust on the earth. You will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. Every family on earth will be blessed through you and through your descendants.


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»Remember, I am with you. I will watch over you wherever you go. I will also bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I do what I have promised you.«


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He was filled with reverence. He said: »This is an awesome place! Certainly, this is the house of God and the gateway to the heavens!«


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Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had under his head. He set it up as a marker and poured oil on top of it.


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Jacob made a vow. He said: »If God will be with me and will watch over me on my trip and give me food to eat and clothes to wear,


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»This stone I placed as a marker will be the house of God. I will certainly give you a tenth of everything you give me.«


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Suddenly he came upon a well out in the fields. There were three flocks of sheep lying around it. The flocks were watered from this well. It had a large stone over the opening.


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When all the flocks came together there, the shepherds would roll the stone back and water them. Then they would put the stone back in place.


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Jacob asked: »How is he?« They replied: »He is well. Here is Rachel his daughter coming with the sheep.«


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»It is still the heat of the day. It is not time for livestock to be gathered. Would you like to water the sheep so they can get back to grazing?«


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They said: »We cannot, until all the flocks are gathered, and they roll the stone from the mouth of the well. Then we water the sheep.«


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While he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with her fathers sheep, for she was a shepherdess.


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Jacob saw Rachel, daughter of his uncle Laban, with his uncle Labans sheep. He came forward and rolled the stone off the opening of the well and watered his uncle Labans sheep.


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Jacob told Rachel that he was her fathers nephew and that he was Rebekahs son. She ran and told her father.


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As soon as Laban heard the news about his sisters son Jacob, he ran to meet him. He embraced and kissed him and brought him into his home. Then Jacob told Laban all that had happened.


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Laban said to Jacob: »You should not work for me for nothing just because you are my relative. How much pay do you want?«


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Jacob was in love with Rachel, so he said: »I will work seven years for you, if you will let me marry Rachel.«


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Jacob worked seven years for Laban. The time seemed like only a few days, because he loved Rachel so much.


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In the evening when it was dark, he took Leah, his daughter, and gave her to him. Jacob slept with her.


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»What have you done to me?« Jacob asked Laban: »Did I work for you in return for Rachel? Why did you cheat me?«


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Laban answered: »It is not our custom to give the younger daughter in marriage before the older one.


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»Finish the week of wedding festivities with this daughter. Then we will give you the other one too. But you will have to work for me another seven years.«


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Jacob did that. He finished the week with Leah. Then Laban gave his daughter Rachel to him as his wife.


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Jacob slept with Rachel too. He loved Rachel more than Leah. So he worked for Laban another seven years.


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Jehovah saw that Leah was loved less, so he made it possible for her to have children. But Rachel had none.


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Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben, because she said: »Certainly, Jehovah has seen my misery. Now my husband will love me!«


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She became pregnant again and gave birth to another son. She said: »Certainly, Jehovah has heard that I am unloved. He has also given me this son.« She named him Simeon.


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She became pregnant again and gave birth to another son. She said: »Now at last my husband will become attached to me because I have given him three sons.« She named him Levi.


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Leah became pregnant again and gave birth to another son. She said: »This time I will praise Jehovah.« So she named him Judah <i>Praise</i> . Then she stopped having children.


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Rachel had not borne Jacob any children. As a result, she became jealous of her sister and said to Jacob: »Give me children, or I will die.«


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Jacob became angry with Rachel. He said: »I cannot take the place of God. He is the one who keeps you from having children.«


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She said: »Here is my maid Bilhah. Sleep with her, so that she can have a child for me. This way I can become a mother through her.«


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Rachel named him Dan, because she said: »God has answered my prayers. He has vindicated me and given me a son.«


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During the wheat harvest Reuben went out into the fields. He found some mandrake plants. He brought them to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah: »Please, give me some of your sons mandrake plants.«


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Leah replied: »Is it not enough that you took my husband? Are you also going to take my sons mandrake plants?« Rachel responded: »Very well, Jacob can go to bed with you tonight in return for your sons mandrake plants.«


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Jacob came in from the fields that evening. Leah went out to meet him. »You are to sleep with me,« she said. »You are my reward for my sons mandrake plants.« So he went to bed with her that night.


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Leah said: »God has given me my reward, because I gave my slave to my husband.« So she named him Issachar.


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Leah said: »God has presented me with a wonderful gift. This time my husband will honor me, because I have given him six sons.« So she named him Zebulun.


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When Rachel gave birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban: »Send me away, that I may go to my own place and to my own country.


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»Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you. Let me depart. For you know how much service I have done for you.«


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But Laban said: »If now it pleases you, stay with me. I have observed that Jehovah has blessed me on your account.«


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Jacob responded: »You know how much work I have done for you and what has happened to your livestock under my care.


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»The little that you had before I came has grown to a large amount. Jehovah has blessed you wherever I have been. When may I do something for my own family?«


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Laban asked: »What should I give you?« Jacob answered: »Do not give me anything. Instead, do something for me. Then I will go back to taking care of and watching your flocks again.


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»Let me go through all of your flocks today and take every speckled and spotted sheep, every black lamb, and every spotted and speckled goat. They will be my wages.


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»My honesty will speak for itself whenever you come to check on my wages. Any goat I have that is not speckled or spotted or any lamb that is not black will be considered stolen.«


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Laban took out the striped and spotted male goats, all the speckled and spotted female goats <i>every one with white on it</i> , and every black lamb. He had his sons take charge of them that same day.


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They moved away from Jacob with this flock as far as he could travel in three days. Jacob took care of the rest of Labans flocks.


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Jacob took green branches of poplar <i>storax</i> , almond, and plane trees and stripped off some of the bark so that the branches had white stripes on them.


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He placed these branches in front of the flocks at their drinking troughs. He put them there, because the animals mated when they came to drink.


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So when the goats bred in front of the branches, they produced young that were streaked, speckled, and spotted.


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Jacob kept the sheep separate from the goats and made them face in the direction of the streaked and black animals of Labans flock. In this way he built up his own flock and kept it apart from Labans.


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When the strongest of the flock were mating, Jacob would place the rods in the sight of the flock in the gutters, so that they might mate by the rods.


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When the flock was feeble, he did not put them in. That way the feebler were Labans and the stronger Jacobs.


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He became exceedingly prosperous, and had large flocks and female and male servants and camels and donkeys.


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Jacob heard that Labans sons were saying: »Jacob has taken everything that belonged to our father. He has gained all his wealth from him.«


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Jehovah said to Jacob: »Go back to the land of your ancestors and to your relatives. I will be with you.«


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He said to them: »I have seen that your fathers attitude toward me is not as friendly as before. The God of my father has been with me.


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»When Laban said, The speckled goats shall be your wages, all the flocks produced speckled young. When he said, The striped goats shall be your wages, all the flocks produced striped young.


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»He said, Look up and see, now <i>please</i> , that all the male goats that are mating are striped, speckled, or spotted, because I have seen everything that Laban is doing to you.


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»I am the God of Bethel. That is where you anointed a pillar and made a vow to me. Arise and leave this land. Return to the land of your birth.«


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»Are we not accounted as foreigners by him? He sold us and also utterly consumed the price paid for us.


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»For all the riches that God took away from our father belong to us and to our children. Do what God told you to do.«


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He drove all his livestock ahead of him. He took all the possessions that he had accumulated. He took his own livestock that he had accumulated in Paddan-aram and went back to his father Isaac in Canaan.


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He left in a hurry with all that belonged to him. He crossed the Euphrates River and went toward the mountains of Gilead.


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Laban took his men with him and pursued Jacob for seven days until he caught up with him in the hill country of Gilead.


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Jacob camped on a mountain. So when Laban caught up with Jacob as he was camped in the hill country of Gilead, he set up his camp not far from Jacods.


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»Why did you deceive me and slip away without telling me? If you had told me, I would have sent you on your way with rejoicing and singing to the music of tambourines and harps.


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»It is in my power to do you harm. But the God of your father came to me this night. He said, Take care that you say nothing good or bad to Jacob.


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»It appears that you are going because your hearts desire is for your fathers house. But why have you taken my gods?«


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»As for your gods, if anyone of us has them, let him be put to death. Make a search in front of us all for what is yours, and take it.« Jacob had no knowledge that Rachel had taken them.


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So Laban went into Jacobs tent and into Leahs tent, and into the tents of the two servant-women, but they were not there. He left Leahs tent and went into Rachels.


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Rachel took the images. She put them in the camels basket and was seated on them. Laban searched through the tent and did not find them.


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Rachel said to her father: »Do not be angry, Father, but I cannot get up to greet you. I am having my period.« So even though Laban had made a thorough search, he did not find the idols.


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Jacob lost his temper. »What crime have I committed?« he asked angrily. »What law have I broken that gives you the right to hunt me down?


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»Now that you have searched through all my belongings, what household article have you found that belongs to you? Put it out here where your men and mine can see it. Let them decide which one of us is right.


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»I have been with you now for twenty years. Your sheep and your goats have not failed to reproduce. I have not even eaten any rams from your flocks.


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»I always absorbed the loss when wild animals killed a sheep. I did not take it to you to show that it was not my fault. You demanded that I make good anything that was stolen during the day or during the night.


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»Many times I suffered from the heat during the day and from the cold at night. I was not able to sleep.


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»I have been in your house twenty years! I was your servant for fourteen years because of your daughters. I kept your flock for six years. You changed my wages ten times.


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»If the God of my father, the God of Abraham, out of respect for Isaac, had not been with me, you would have sent me away empty-handed by now. God has seen my misery and hard work. Last night he made it right!«


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Then Laban answered Jacob: »These are my daughters, my grandchildren, and my flocks. Everything you see is mine! Yet, what can I do today for my daughters or for their children?


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Jacob said to his relatives: »Gather some stones.« They took stones, put them into a pile, and ate there by the pile of stones.


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In his language, Laban called it »Jegar Sahadutha« <i>Witness Pile</i> , but Jacob called it »Galeed.«


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Laban said: »This pile of stones stands as a witness between you and me today.« This is why it was named Galeed,


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and also Mizpah <i>Watchtower</i> , because he said: »May Jehovah watch between you and me when we are unable to see each other.


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»If you mistreat my daughters or marry other women behind my back, remember that God stands as a witness between you and me.«


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Laban also said to Jacob: »Here is the pile of stones. Here is the marker that I have set up between you and me.


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»This pile of stones and this marker stand as witnesses that I will not go past the pile of stones to harm you, and that you will not go past the pile of stones or marker to harm me.


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»May the God of Abraham and Nahorthe God of their fatherjudge between us.« So Jacob swore this oath out of respect for his father Isaac.


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He offered a sacrifice on the mountain. He invited his relatives to eat the meal with him. They ate with him and spent the night on the mountain.


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Early the next morning Laban kissed his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them. Then Laban left and went back home.


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He informed them to say: »Your obedient servant, Jacob, reports to my master Esau that I have been staying with Laban and that I have delayed my return until now.


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»I own cattle, donkeys, sheep, goats, and slaves. I am sending you word in the hope of gaining your favor.«


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When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said: »We went to your brother Esau. He is already on his way to meet you. He has four hundred men with him.«


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Jacob was frightened and worried. He divided the people who were with him into two groups. He also divided his sheep, goats, cattle, and camels.


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Then Jacob prayed: »O God of my father Abraham, the God of my father Isaac, O Jehovah, you said to me: Go back to your country and your family and I will be good to you.


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»I am less than nothing in comparison with all your love and your faithfulness to me your servant. I only had a stick in my hand when I traveled across Jordan. Now I have become two armies.


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»Save me from the hand of Esau, my brother. I fear that he will attack me and kill both mothers and children.


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»You said, I will make sure that you are prosperous and that your descendants will be as many as the grains of sand on the seashore. No one will be able to count them because there are so many.«


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Jacob stayed there that night. Then he prepared a gift for his brother Esau from what he had brought with him:


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There were two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred female sheep and twenty male sheep,


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also thirty female camels with their young, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys.


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He placed servants in charge of each herd. He said to his servants: »Go ahead of me, and maintain a distance between the herds.«


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He commanded the first servant: »When my brother Esau meets you and asks you, To whom do you belong, and where are you going, and whose animals are these ahead of you?


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»Say, They belong to your servant Jacob. This is a gift sent to you. Jacob is directly behind us.«


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He also commanded the second servant, the third, and all the others who followed the herds. He said: »Say the same thing to Esau when you find him.


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»Be sure to say, Jacob is right behind us.« He thought: »I will make peace with him by giving him this gift that I am sending ahead of me. After that, I will see him, and he will welcome me back.«


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That same night Jacob got up, took his two wives, his two concubines, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok River.


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The man saw that he was not able to overcome Jacob. He gave him a blow in the hollow part of his thigh, so that his leg was damaged.


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He said to him: »Let me go now, for the dawn is near.« But Jacob said: »I will not let you go till you have given me your blessing.«


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The man said: »Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel <i>He Struggles With God</i> , because you have struggled with God and with menand you have won.«


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Jacob said: »Please tell me your name.« The man answered: »Why do you ask for my name?« Then he blessed Jacob there.


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Jacob named that place Peniel <i>Face of God</i> , because he said: »I have seen God face to face, yet my life was saved.«


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Therefore, even today the people of Israel do not eat the muscle of the thigh <i>the sinew</i> attached to the hip socket. This is because God touched the socket of Jacobs thigh at the muscle.


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Jacob saw Esau coming with his four hundred men. Therefore he divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and the two concubines.


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He put the concubines and their children first, then Leah and her children, and finally Rachel and Joseph at the rear.


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Esau looked around and saw the women and the children. He asked: »Who are these people with you?« Jacob answered: »These are the children whom God has been good enough to give me.«


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Esau asked: »What about that other group I met? What do you mean by all this company?« Jacob answered: »It was to gain your favor.«


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Jacob said: »Please accept these gifts as a sign of your friendship for me. When you welcomed me and I saw your face, it was like seeing the face of God.


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»Take my offering then, with my blessing. God has been very good to me and I have enough.« So at his strong request, he took it.


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Jacob responded: »My lord knows that the children are frail and that the flocks and herds that are nursing are a care to me. If they are driven hard one day, all the flocks will die.


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»Please let my lord pass on before his servant. I will proceed at my leisure, according to the pace of the cattle that are before me and according to the pace of the children, until I come to my lord at Seir.«


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Esau said: »Please let me leave with you some of the people who are with me.« But he said: »What need is there? Let me find favor in the sight of my lord.«


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Jacob moved on to Succoth. He built a house there for himself and made shelters for his livestock. That is why the place is named Succoth.


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Jacob traveled safely from Paddan-aram to the city of Shechem in Canaan. He camped within sight of the city.


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He bought the piece of land on which he pitched his tents. He bought it from the sons of Hamor, father of Shechem, for one hundred pieces of silver.


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Shechem, son of Hamor the Hivite, who was chief of that region, saw her. He grabbed her and raped <i>sexually defiled</i> her.


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He found the young woman so attractive that he fell in love with her. So he tried to win her affection.


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Jacob learned that his daughter had been disgraced. Since his sons were out in the fields with his livestock, he did nothing until they came back.


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About that time Jacobs sons were coming in from the fields. When they heard about it, they were shocked and furious that Shechem had done such a thing. He had insulted the people of Israel by raping Jacobs daughter.


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»Then you may stay here in our country with us. You may live anywhere you wish. You may trade freely and own property.«


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»Ask anything as the bride price, no matter how expensive. I will do anything. Just let me marry Dinah.«


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Jacobs sons wanted to get even with Shechem and his father because of what happened to their sister.


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So they tricked them by saying: »You are not circumcised! It would be a disgrace for us to let you marry Dinah now.


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»Then we will give our daughters to you. And we will take your daughters for us. We will live with you as one people.


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The young man did not delay to do what was required. This was because he had delight in Jacobs daughter. He was the most honored of all his family.


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»These people are friendly toward us. So let them live in our land and move about freely in the area. Look, there is plenty of room in this land for them. We can marry their daughters and let them marry ours.


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»These people will consent to live with us and become one nation on one condition: Every male must be circumcised, as they are.


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»Then all their livestock and everything else they own will be ours. So let us agree that they can live among us.«


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All the citizens of the city agreed with what Hamor and Shechem proposed. Then all the males were circumcised.


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Three days later the men who had been circumcised were still weak from pain. So Simeon and Levi, two of Dinahs brothers, attacked with their swords and killed every man in town.


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The sons of Jacob came upon the slain. They plundered the city, because their sister had been defiled.


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They captured their wives and all their little ones. They took all the wealth that was in their houses.


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Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi: »You have brought trouble on me by making me loathsome to the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites. My numbers are few. If they gather themselves against me and attack my household I will be destroyed.«


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God said to Jacob: »Go to Bethel and dwell there. Make an altar to God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.«


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Jacob said to his family and those who were with him: »Get rid of the foreign gods that you have. Wash yourselves until you are ritually clean. Change your clothes.


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»After that let us go to Bethel. I will make an altar there to God, who answered me when I was troubled and who has been with me wherever I have gone.«


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So everyone gave Jacob their idols and their earrings. He buried them under the oak <i>big</i> tree near Shechem.


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Jacob and his family traveled through Canaan. God terrified the people in the towns so much that no one dared bother them.


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Jacob built an altar there and called it God of Bethel. That was the place where God appeared to him when he was running from Esau.


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Deborah died. She was the servant who cared for Rebekah from childhood. She was buried near Bethel, under the holy tree. They named it Allon-bacuth <i>weeping tree</i> .


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God said to him: »Your name is Jacob. You shall no longer be called Jacob. Israel shall be your name.« Thus He called him Israel.


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God also said: »I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and increase in number. A nation and an assembly of nations will come from you. Kings shall come forth from you.


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»The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you. I will give the land to your descendants after you.«


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So Jacob set up a memorial, a stone marker, to mark the place where God had spoken with him. He poured a wine offering and olive oil on it.


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After that they moved from Bethel. When there was still some distance to go to Ephrath, Rachel went into labor. She had severe labor pains.


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Rachel was dying! With her last breath she named her son Ben-oni <i>Son of My Sorrow</i> , but his father named him Benjamin <i>Son of My Right Hand</i> .


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While Israel lived in that region, Reuben went to bed with his fathers concubine Bilhah. Israel heard about it. Jacob had twelve sons.


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The sons of Leahs slave Zilpah were Gad and Asher. These were Jacobs sons, who were born in Paddan-aram.


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Jacob came home to his father Isaac, to Mamres city, Kiriath-arba <i>Hebron</i> . Abraham and Isaac had lived there for a while.


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Isaac took his last breath and died. He joined his ancestors in death at a very old age. His sons Esau and Jacob buried him.


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Esau selected his wives from the daughters of Canaan: Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite; Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, the daughter of Zibeon the Hivite;


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And Oholibamah bore Jeush, Jaalam, and Korah. These were the sons of Esau who were born to him in the land of Canaan.


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Then Esau took his wives, his sons, his daughters, and all the persons of his household, his cattle and all his animals, and all his goods which he had gained in the land of Canaan, and went to a country away from the presence of his brother Jacob.


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For their possessions were too great for them to dwell together, and the land where they were strangers could not support them because of their livestock.


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These were the names of Esaus sons: Eliphaz the son of Adah, the wife of Esau, and Reuel the son of Basemath, the wife of Esau.


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Timna was the concubine of Eliphaz, Esaus son, and she bore Amalek to Eliphaz. These were the sons of Adah, Esaus wife.


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These were the sons of Reuel: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. These were the sons of Basemath, Esaus wife.


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These were the sons of Oholibamah, Esaus wife, the daughter of Anah, and the daughter of Zibeon. And she bore to Esau: Jeush, Jaalam, and Korah.


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These were the sheiks <i>chiefs</i> of the sons of Esau. The sons of Eliphaz, the firstborn son of Esau, were Chief Teman, Chief Omar, Chief Zepho, Chief Kenaz,


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Chief Korah, Chief Gatam, and Chief Amalek. These were the chiefs of Eliphaz in the land of Edom. They were the sons of Adah.


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These were the sons of Reuel, Esaus son: Chief Nahath, Chief Zerah, Chief Shammah, and Chief Mizzah. These were the chiefs of Reuel in the land of Edom. These were the sons of Basemath, Esaus wife.


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These were the sons of Oholibamah, Esaus wife: Chief Jeush, Chief Jaalam, and Chief Korah. These were the chiefs who descended from Oholibamah, Esaus wife, the daughter of Anah.


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Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan. These were the sheiks <i>chiefs</i> of the Horites, the sons of Seir, in the land of Edom.


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These were the sons of Zibeon: both Aiah and Anah. This was the Anah who found the water in the wilderness as he pastured the donkeys of his father Zibeon.


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Chief Dishon, Chief Ezer, and Chief Dishan. These were the chiefs of the Horites, according to their chiefs in the land of Seir.


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Now these were the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before any king reigned over the children of Israel:


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And when Husham died, Hadad the son of Bedad, who attacked Midian in the field of Moab, reigned in his place. And the name of his city was Avith.


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And when Baal-hanan the son of Achbor died, Hadar reigned in his place; and the name of his city was Pau. His wifes name was Mehetabel, the daughter of Matred, the daughter of Mezahab.


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These were the names of the sheiks <i>chiefs</i> of Esau, according to their families and their places, by their names: Chief Timnah, Chief Alvah, Chief Jetheth,


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Chief Magdiel, and Chief Iram. These were the sheiks of Edom, according to their dwelling places in the land of their possession. Esau was the father of the Edomites.


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This is the story of Jacob and his descendants. Joseph was a seventeen-year-old young man. He took care of the flocks with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his fathers wives. Joseph told his father about the bad things his brothers were doing.


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Jacob <i>Israel</i> loved Joseph more than all his sons because Joseph had been born in Israels old age. So he made Joseph a special multicolored robe with long sleeves.


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Josephs brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them. They hated Joseph and could not speak to him in a friendly way.


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»We were all in the field tying up sheaves of wheat. My sheaf got up and stood up straight. Yours formed a circle around mine and bowed down to it.«


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»Do you think you are going to be a king and rule over us?« his brothers asked. So they hated him even more because of his dreams and because of what he said about them.


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Joseph had another dream and told his brothers: »I had another dream, in which I saw the sun, the moon, and eleven stars bowing down to me.«


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He also told the dream to his father. His father scolded him. »What kind of a dream is that? Do you think that your mother, your brothers, and I are going to come and bow down to you?«


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His father Jacob said to him: »I want you to go to your brothers. They are with the sheep near Shechem.« »Yes, I will go,« Joseph answered.


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His father said: »Go and find out how your brothers and the sheep are doing. Then come back and let me know.« So he sent him from Hebron Valley. Joseph was near Shechem,


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Joseph answered: »I am looking for my brothers who are watching the sheep. Can you tell me where they are?«


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»They are not here anymore,« the man replied. »I heard them say they were going to Dothan.« Joseph soon found his brothers in Dothan.


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»Let us kill him and throw him into a water pit. We can say that some wild animal ate him. Then we will see what happens to those dreams.«


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»Do not murder him or even harm him. Just throw him into a dry well out here in the desert.« Reuben planned to rescue Joseph later and take him back to his father.


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As they sat down to eat, they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were carrying the materials for cosmetics, medicine, and embalming. They were on their way to take them to Egypt.


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»Let us sell him to the Ishmaelites. Let us not hurt him, because he is our brother, our own flesh and blood.« His brothers agreed.


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Some of the Midianite traders approached. The brothers pulled Joseph out of the well and sold him for twenty pieces of silver to the Ishmaelites. They took him to Egypt.


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He recognized it and said: »Yes, it is his! Some wild animal has killed him. My son Joseph has been torn to pieces!«


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All his sons and daughters came to comfort him. However, he refused to be comforted. He said: »I will go down to the grave still mourning for my son.« So he continued to mourn for his son Joseph.


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Meanwhile, in Egypt the Midianites sold Joseph to Potiphar, one of the kings officers, who was the captain of the palace guard.


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At that time Judah left his brothers and went to stay with a man named Hirah, who was from the town of Adullam.


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Then Judah said to Ers brother Onan: »Go sleep with your brothers widow. Fulfill your obligation to her as her husbands brother. That way your brother may have descendants.«


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Onan knew that the children would not belong to him. So when he had intercourse with his brothers widow, he let the semen spill on the ground, assuring that there would be no children for his brother.


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Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar: »Return to your fathers house and remain a widow until my son Shelah grows up.« He said this because he was afraid that Shelah would be killed, as his brothers had been. So Tamar went back home.


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After some time Judahs wife died. When he finished mourning, he and his friend Hirah of Adullam went to Timnah, where his sheep were being sheared.


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She realized that Shelah was now a grown man. She had not been allowed to marry him. So she decided to dress in something other than her widows clothes and to cover her face with a veil. Then she sat outside the town of Enaim on the road to Timnah.


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He answered: »One of my young goats.« Then she asked: »What will you give me to keep until you send the goat?«


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»What do you want?« he asked. »The ring on that cord around your neck,« she replied. »I also want the special walking stick you have with you.« So he gave them to her. They slept together and she became pregnant.


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Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adullamite, to receive the pledge from the womans hand. But he did not find her.


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He asked the men: »Where is the temple prostitute who was by the road at Enaim?« They said: »There has been no temple prostitute here.«


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So he went back to Judah and said: »I did not find her. Besides, the men who lived there said there has not been any temple prostitute here.«


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Then Judah said: »Let her keep what she has, or we will become a laughingstock. After all, I did send her this young goat, but you did not find her.«


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Three months later Judah was told: »Your daughter-in-law Tamar is guilty of prostitution, and as a result she is now pregnant.« Judah said: »Bring her out and have her burned to death!«


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As she was being brought out, she sent a message to her father-in-law. »I am pregnant by the man who owns these,« she said. She added: »See if you recognize whose seal and cord and staff these are.«


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Judah recognized them and said: »She is more righteous than I, since I would not give her to my son Shelah.« He did not sleep with her again.


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As she was giving birth, one of them put out his hand. The midwife took a scarlet thread and tied it on his wrist and said: »This one came out first.«


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When he drew back his hand, his brother came out. She said: »So this is how you have broken out!« He was named Perez.


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Then his brother, who had the scarlet thread on his wrist, came out and he was given the name Zerah.


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Joseph had been taken to Egypt. Potiphar, one of Pharaohs Egyptian officials and captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there.


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Jehovah was with Joseph. Joseph became a successful man. He worked in the house of his Egyptian master.


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Potiphar was pleased with him and made him his personal servant. He put him in charge of his house and everything he owned.


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Jehovah blessed the Egyptians household and everything he had in his house and in his fields because of Joseph.


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Potiphar turned over everything he had to the care of Joseph. He did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate. Joseph was well built and good-looking.


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He refused, and said to her: »My master does not have to concern himself with anything in the house, because I am here. He has put me in charge of everything he has.


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»No one in this house is greater than I. He has kept nothing back from me except you. You are his wife. How could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?«


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She grabbed him by his coat and said: »Come to bed with me!« But he ran outside and left his coat in her hand.


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she called her household servants and said to them: »Look! My husband brought this Hebrew here to fool around with us. He came in and tried to go to bed with me. I screamed as loud as I could.


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and threw Joseph in the same prison where the kings prisoners were kept. While Joseph was in prison,


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The jailer did not worry about anything, because Jehovah was with Joseph and made him successful in all that he did.


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So he put them in confinement in the house of the captain of the bodyguard. It was the same place where Joseph was imprisoned.


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The captain of the guard assigned them to Joseph. He took care of them. After they had been confined for some time,


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both prisoners, the cupbearer and the baker for the king of Egypt, had dreams one night. Each man had a dream with its own special meaning.


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He asked these officials of Pharaoh who were with him in his masters prison: »Why do you look so unhappy today?«


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»We both had dreams,« they answered him, »but there is no one to tell us what they mean.« »Is it not God who can tell what dreams mean?« Joseph asked them. »Tell me all about them.«


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So the chief cupbearer told Joseph his dream. He said: »In my dream a grapevine with three branches appeared in front of me.


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»Pharaohs cup was in my hand. I took the grapes and squeezed them into it. I put the cup in Pharaohs hand.«


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»In the next three days Pharaoh will release you and restore you to your position. You will put Pharaohs cup in his hand as you used to do when you were his cupbearer.


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»Remember me when things go well for you. Please do me a favor. Mention me to Pharaoh, and get me out of this prison.


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»I was in fact kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews. And here I have done nothing that they should have put me into the dungeon.«


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When the chief baker saw that he had interpreted favorably, he said to Joseph: »I also saw in my dream three baskets of white bread on my head.


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»The top basket contained all sorts of baked food for Pharaoh. The birds were eating them out of the basket on my head.«


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»In three more days Pharaoh will lift up your head from you. He will hang you on a tree, and the birds will eat your flesh off you.«


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It happened on the third day, which was Pharaohs birthday that he made a feast for all his servants. He lifted up the head of the chief cupbearer and the head of the chief baker among his servants.


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Suddenly, seven nice-looking well-fed cows came up from the river and began to graze among the reeds.


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Seven other cows came up from the river behind them. These cows were sickly and skinny. They stood behind the first seven cows on the riverbank.


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The cows that were sickly and skinny ate the seven nice-looking well-fed cows. Then Pharaoh woke up.


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He fell asleep again and had another dream. Seven heads of grain, full and ripe, were growing on one stalk.


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The thin heads of grain swallowed the full ones. The king woke up and realized that he had been dreaming.


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The king was upset the next morning. So he called his magicians and wise men and told them what he had dreamed. None of them could tell him what the dreams meant.


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»When you were angry with your chief cook and me, you threw us both in jail in the house of the captain of the guard.


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»A young Hebrew, who was a servant of the captain of the guard, was there with us at the time. When we told him our dreams, he explained what each of them meant.


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So the king sent for Joseph. He was quickly brought out of jail. He shaved, changed his clothes, and went to the king.


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The king said: »I had a dream. No one can explain what it means. I am told that you can interpret dreams.«


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»Next, seven skinny, bony cows came up out of the river. I have never seen such terrible looking cows anywhere in Egypt.


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»Even though they had eaten the fat cows, no one could tell they had eaten them. They looked just as sick as before. Then I woke up.


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»The thin heads of grain swallowed the seven good heads. I told this to the magicians, but no one could tell me what it meant.«


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Joseph said to Pharaoh: »Pharaoh had the same dream twice. God has told Pharaoh what he is going to do.


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»The seven good cows are seven years. The seven good heads of grain are seven years. It is all the same dream.


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»The seven thin, sickly cows that came up behind them are seven years. The seven empty heads of grain scorched by the east wind are also seven years. Seven years of famine are coming!


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»Seven years of famine will follow. Then people will forget that there was plenty of food in Egypt. The famine will ruin the land.


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»People will not remember that there was once plenty of food in the land, because the coming famine will be so severe.


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»The reason Pharaoh has had a recurring dream is because the matter has been definitely decided by God. He will do it very soon.


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»Make arrangements to appoint supervisors over the land. Take a fifth of Egypts harvest during the seven good years.


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»Have them collect all the food during these good years. Store up grain under Pharaohs control, to be kept for food in the cities.


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»This food will be a reserve supply for our country during the seven years of famine that will happen in Egypt. Then the land will not be ruined by the famine.«


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and he said to them: »We will never find a better man than Joseph. He is a man who has Gods Spirit in him.«


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The king said to Joseph: »God has shown you all this. Therefore it is obvious that you have greater wisdom and insight than anyone else.


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»I will put you in charge of my country. All my people will obey your orders. Your authority will be second only to mine.


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Pharaoh took his signet ring from his hand and put it on Josephs hand. He clothed him in garments of fine linen and put the gold necklace around his neck.


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He had him ride in his second chariot. They proclaimed before him: »Bow the knee!« Thus he set him over all the land of Egypt.


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Moreover, Pharaoh said to Joseph: »Though I am Pharaoh, yet without your permission no one shall raise his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.«


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Pharaoh named Joseph, Zaphenath-paneah. He gave him Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, as his wife. And Joseph went forth over the land of Egypt.


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Now Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh and went through all the land of Egypt.


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He gathered all the food of these seven years that occurred in the land of Egypt and placed the food in the cities. He placed in every city the food from its own surrounding fields.


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Thus Joseph stored up grain in great abundance, like the sand of the sea. He finally stopped measuring it, for it was beyond measure.


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Before the year of famine came, there were born to Joseph two sons, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, bore to him.


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Joseph named his firstborn son Manasseh, because God helped him forget all his troubles and all about his fathers family.


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The seven years of famine began, just as Joseph had said. There was famine in every other country, but there was food throughout Egypt.


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When the Egyptians became hungry, they cried out to the king for food. So he ordered them to go to Joseph and do what he told them.


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The famine grew worse and spread over the entire country. Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold grain to the Egyptians.


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People came to Egypt from all over the world to buy grain from Joseph, because the famine was severe everywhere.


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He said: »I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us from that place, so that we may live and not die.«


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Jacob would not send Josephs brother Benjamin with the other brothers. He was afraid that something would happen to him.


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Israels sons left with the others who were going to buy grain. This is because there was also famine in Canaan.


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As governor of the country, Joseph was selling grain to everyone. So when Josephs brothers arrived, they bowed in front of him with their faces touching the ground.


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Joseph recognized his brothers the moment he saw them. Even so, he acted as if he did not know them and spoke harshly to them: »Where did you come from?« They answered: »From Canaan, to buy food.«


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He remembered the dreams he had dreamed about them and said: »You are spies! You have come to find out where our country is weak.«


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They said: »Sir, we were twelve brothers in all, sons of the same man in the land of Canaan. One brother is dead, and the youngest is now with our father.«


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»This is how you will be tested: I swear by the name of the king that you will never leave unless your youngest brother comes here.


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»One of you must go and get him. The rest of you will be kept under guard until the truth of what you say can be tested. Otherwise, as sure as the king lives, you are spies.«


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»If you are honest men, let one of your brothers be confined in prison. Concerning the rest of you, carry grain for the famine of your households,


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»and bring your youngest brother to me. We will verify your words and you will not die.« They complied.


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They said to one another: »Truly we are guilty concerning our brother, because we saw his distress when he pleaded with us, yet we would not listen. Therefore this distress has come upon us.«


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Reuben said: »Did I not tell you? Did I say, Do not sin against the boy? You would not listen! Now comes the reckoning for his blood.«


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He turned away from them and wept. When he returned to them and spoke to them, he took Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes.


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Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain and to restore every mans money in his sack. They were to give them provisions for the journey. And thus it was done for them.


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They stopped for the night. One of them opened his sack to feed his donkey and his money was right inside his sack.


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He said to his brothers: »My money has been put back! It is right here in my sack!« They wanted to die. They trembled and turned to each other and asked: »What has God done to us?«


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They came to their father Jacob in Canaan. Then they told him all that had happened to them. They said:


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»We were twelve brothers, sons of the same father. One is no longer with us. The youngest brother stayed with our father in Canaan.


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»The governor of that land said to us, This is how I will know that you are honest men: Leave one of your brothers with me. Take food for your starving families and go.


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»But bring me your youngest brother. Then I will know that you are not spies but honest men. I will give your brother back to you, and you will be able to move about freely in this country.«


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As they were emptying their sacks, each man found his bag of money in his sack. When they and their father saw the bags of money, they were frightened.


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Their father Jacob said to them: »You are going to make me lose all my children! Joseph is no longer with us. Simeon is no longer with us. Now you want to take Benjamin. Everything is against me!«


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So Reuben said to his father: »You may put my two sons to death if I do not bring him back to you. Let me take care of him. I will bring him back to you.«


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Jacob replied: »My son will not go with you. His brother is dead, and he is the only one left. If any harm comes to him on the trip you are taking, the grief would drive this gray-haired old man to his grave!«


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When they finished eating the grain they brought from Egypt, Israel said to his sons: »Go back and buy us a little more food.«


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Judah said to him: »The man gave us strict warning! He said: You will not be allowed to see me again unless your brother is with you.


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»If you will not let him go, we will not go. The man said to us: You will not be allowed to see me again unless your brother is with you.«


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They answered: »The man kept asking about our family and us. He asked, Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother? We simply answered his questions. How could we possibly know he would say, Bring your brother here?«


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Then Judah said to his father Israel: »Send the boy along with me. Let us get going so that we will not starve to death.


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»I guarantee that he will come back. You can hold me responsible for him. If I do not bring him back to you and place him here in front of you, you can blame me the rest of my life.


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Their father Israel said: »If that is the way it has to be, then take the man a gift. Put some of the best products of the land in your bags. Take a little balm, a little honey, gum, myrrh, pistachio nuts, and almonds.


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»Take twice as much money with you, because you must take back the money that was returned in the top of your sacks. Maybe it was a mistake.


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»May God Almighty cause the man to have pity on you, so that he will give Benjamin and your other brother back to you. As for me, if I must lose my children, I must lose them.«


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So the brothers took the gifts and twice as much money, and set out for Egypt with Benjamin. There they presented themselves to Joseph.


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He saw Benjamin and told the servant in charge of his house: »Take these men to my house. Slaughter an animal and cook it, so they can eat with me at noon.«


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On the way they were worried and started talking: »We are being taken there because of the money that was put back in our sacks last time. He will arrest us and take our donkeys. He will make us his slaves!«


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»When we stopped for the night, we each found in our grain sacks the exact amount we had paid. We have brought that money back.


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»It is all right,« the servant replied. »Do not worry. The God you and your father worship must have put the money there, because your money came first to me.« Then he brought Simeon out to them.


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The servant took them into Josephs house. He gave them water to wash their feet. He also tended their donkeys.


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The brothers prepared their gifts so they could give them to Joseph at noon. For they had heard they were going to eat there.


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Joseph looked around and saw his brother Benjamin. He said: »This must be the youngest brother you told me about. God bless you, my son.«


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Joseph was served at a table by himself. His brothers were served at another. The Egyptians sat at yet another table. This is because Egyptians felt it was disgusting to eat with Hebrews.


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To the surprise of Josephs brothers, they were seated in front of him according to their ages, from the oldest to the youngest.


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They were served food from Josephs table. And Benjamin was given five times as much as each of the others. So Josephs brothers drank with him and had a good time.


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Later, Joseph told the servant in charge of his house: »Fill the mens grain sacks with as much as they can hold and put their money in the sacks.


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They just left the city and were not far off, when Joseph said to the man in charge of his house: »Follow the men and when you overtake them, say to them: Why have you repaid evil for good?


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»Is this the cup that my master drinks from and that he uses for telling the future? What you have done is evil!«


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They answered him: »What do you mean, Sir, by talking like this? We swear that we have done no such thing.


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»You know that we brought back to you from the land of Canaan the money we found in the top of our sacks. Why should we steal silver or gold from your masters house?


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»Good!« the man replied. »I would do what you have said. But only the one who has the cup will become my slave. The rest of you can go free.«


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Josephs servant started searching the sacks. They began with the one that belonged to the oldest brother. When he came to Benjamins sack, he found the cup.


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This upset the brothers so much that they began tearing their clothes in sorrow. Then they loaded their donkeys and returned to the city.


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»Sir, what can we say?« Judah replied. »How can we prove we are innocent? God has shown that we are guilty. And now all of us are your slaves, especially the one who had the cup.«


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He said: »It is far from me that I should do this. The man in whose hand the cup is found, he shall be my servant. As for you, you go in peace to your father.«


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Judah went up to Joseph and said: »Please, Sir, let me speak openly with you. Do not be angry with me, although you are equal to Pharaoh.


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»We answered, We have a father who is old and a younger brother born to him when he was already old. The boys brother is dead. He is the only one of his mothers sons left, and his father loves him.


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»Then you said you will not be admitted to my presence again unless your youngest brother comes with you.


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»We answered, We cannot go. We will not be admitted to the mans presence unless our youngest brother is with us. We can go only if our youngest brother also goes.


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»One has already left me. He must have been torn to pieces by wild animals, because I have not seen him since he left.


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»If you take this one from me now and something happens to him, the sorrow you would cause me would kill me, as old as I am.


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»I promised my father I would bring him home safely. If I do not, I told my father he could blame me the rest of my life.


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»Sir, I am your slave. Please let me stay here in place of Benjamin. Please let him return home with his brothers.


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»How can I face my father if Benjamin is not with me? I could not bear to see my father in such sorrow.«


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Joseph could no longer control himself in front of those standing near him. He sent them out of the room and when he was alone with his brothers he made himself known to them. / Joseph could no longer control his feelings in front of his servants. He sent them out of the room. When he was alone with his brothers, he told them: »I am Joseph!«


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Joseph said to his brothers: »I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?« His brothers could not answer him because they were afraid of him.


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»Please come closer to me,« Joseph said to his brothers. They came closer. He said: »I am Joseph, the brother you sold into slavery in Egypt!


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»Dear brothers, do not be sad or angry with yourselves that you sold me. God sent me ahead of you to save lives.


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»The famine has been in the land for two years. There will be five more years without plowing or harvesting.


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»God sent me ahead of you to make sure that you would have descendants on the earth, and to save your lives in an amazing way.


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»It was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me like a father to Pharaoh. He made me lord over his entire household, and ruler of Egypt.


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»Hurry back to my father and tell him, This is what your son Joseph says: »God has made me lord of Egypt. Come here to me immediately!


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»»Live in the land of Goshen. You will be near me. Live there with your children and your grandchildren, as well as your flocks, your herds, and everything you have.


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»»I will provide for you in Egypt. For there will be five more years of famine. Then you, your family, and all who belong to you will not lose all that you have.« 


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»You must tell my father of my entire splendor in Egypt. Tell him all that you have seen. Hurry and bring my father down here.«


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Then he fell on his brother Benjamins neck <i>huged his brother</i> and wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck. (Acts 20:37)


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When the news reached the palace that Josephs brothers had come, the king and his officials were pleased.


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The king said to Joseph: »Tell your brothers to load their animals and to return to the land of Canaan.


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»Have them get their father and their families and come back here. I will give them the best of the land in Egypt. They will have more than enough to live on.


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»Tell them to take wagons with them from Egypt to bring their wives and small children and to bring their father with them.


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»They should not worry about leaving their possessions behind. The best in the whole land of Egypt will be theirs.«


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The sons of Israel did as they were told. Joseph gave them wagons filled with food for the trip, as the king had ordered.


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Joseph gave some new clothes to each of his brothers. He gave Benjamin five new outfits and three hundred pieces of silver.


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To his father he sent ten donkeys loaded with the best things in Egypt. And ten other donkeys loaded with grain and bread and other food for the return trip.


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they told their father that Joseph was still alive and was the ruler of Egypt. But their father was so surprised that he could not believe them.


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Then they told him everything Joseph said. When he saw the wagons Joseph had sent, he felt much better.


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He said: »Now I can believe you! My son Joseph must really be alive. I will get to see him before I die.«


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Jacob <i>Israel</i> packed up everything he owned and left for Egypt. On the way he stopped near the town of Beer-sheba and offered sacrifices to the God his father Isaac had worshiped.


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God said: »I am God! I am the same God your father worshiped. Do not be afraid to go to Egypt. I will give you so many descendants that one day they will become a nation.


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»I will go to Egypt with you. I will make sure you come back again. Joseph will close your eyes when you die.«


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Jacob left Beer-sheba. Israels sons put their father Jacob, their children, and their wives in the wagons Pharaoh had sent to bring him back.


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They took their livestock and the possessions they had acquired in Canaan. Jacob and all his family arrived in Egypt.


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These are the names of Israels descendants <i>Jacob and his descendants</i> who arrived in Egypt. Reuben was Jacobs firstborn.


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The sons of Simeon were Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul, the son of a Canaanite woman.


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The sons of Judah were Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah. <i>Er and Onan died in Canaan.</i> The sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul.


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These were the sons Leah gave to Jacob in Paddan-aram, in addition to his daughter Dinah. The total number of these sons and daughters was thirty-three.


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The sons of Asher were Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, and Beriah. Their sister was Serah. The sons of Beriah were Heber and Malchiel.


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These were the descendants of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to his daughter Leah. She gave birth to these children for Jacob. The total was sixteen.


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In Egypt, Manasseh and Ephraim were born to Joseph by Asenath, daughter of Potiphera, priest from the city of On.


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These were the descendants of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to his daughter Rachel. She gave birth to these sons for Jacob. The total was seven.


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The total number of Jacobs direct descendants who went with him to Egypt was sixty-six. This did not include the wives of Jacobs sons.


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Joseph had two sons who were born in Egypt. There were a total of seventy people in Jacobs household who went to Egypt.


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Joseph got in his chariot and went to Goshen to meet his father. When they met, Joseph threw his arms around his fathers neck and cried for a long time.


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Jacob said to Joseph: »Now I am ready to die. Now that I have seen you and know that you are still alive.«


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Joseph said to his brothers and the rest of his fathers family: »I must go and tell the king that my brothers and all my fathers family, who were living in Canaan, have come to me.


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»I will tell him that you are shepherds and take care of livestock. And that you have brought your flocks and herds and everything else that belongs to you.


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»Be sure to tell him that you have taken care of livestock all your lives, just as your ancestors did. In this way he will let you live in the region of Goshen. Joseph said this because Egyptians will have nothing to do with shepherds <i>consider shepherds loathsome</i> .


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Joseph took five of his brothers and went to the king. He told him: »My father and my brothers have come from Canaan with their flocks, their herds, and all that they own. They are now in the region of Goshen.«


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The king asked: »What is your occupation?« »We are shepherds, Sir, just as our ancestors were,« they answered.


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»We have come to live in this country. The famine is so severe in the land of Canaan that there is no pasture for our flocks. Please give us permission to live in the region of Goshen.«


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»the land of Egypt is theirs. Let them settle in the region of Goshen, the best part of the land. If there are any capable men among them, put them in charge of my own livestock.«


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Jacob answered: »My life of wandering has lasted a hundred and thirty years. Those years have been few and difficult, unlike the long years of my ancestors in their wanderings.«


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Joseph settled his father and his brothers in Egypt. He gave them property in the best of the land near the city of Rameses. This was as the king had commanded.


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Joseph provided food for his father, his brothers, and all the rest of his fathers family, including the very youngest.


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The famine was so severe that there was no food anywhere. The people of Egypt and Canaan became weak with hunger.


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When all the money in Egypt and Canaan was spent, the Egyptians came to Joseph and said: »Give us food! Do not let us die. Do something! Our money is all gone.«


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Joseph answered: »Bring your livestock. I will give you food in exchange for it if your money is all gone.«


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They brought their livestock to Joseph. He gave them food in exchange for their horses, sheep, goats, cattle, and donkeys. That year he supplied them with food in exchange for all their livestock.


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The following year they said to him: »We will not hide the fact from you, Sir, that our money is all gone and our livestock belongs to you. There is nothing left to give you except our bodies and our lands.


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»Do not let us die. Do something! Do not let our fields be deserted. Buy us and buy our land in exchange for food. We will be the kings slaves. He will own our land. Give us grain to keep us alive and seed so that we can plant our fields.«


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Joseph bought all the land in Egypt for the king. Every Egyptian was forced to sell his land, because the famine was so severe. All the land became the kings property.


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He <i>Joseph</i> removed the people into the cities from one end of the borders of Egypt to the other.


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The only land he did not buy was the land that belonged to the priests. The king gave the priests an allowance to live on. So they did not have to sell their lands.


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Joseph said to the people: »I have now bought you and your lands for the king. Here is seed for you to sow in your fields.


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»You must give one-fifth to the king at the time of harvest. You can use the rest for seed and for food for yourselves and your families.«


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Joseph made it a law for the land of Egypt that one-fifth of the harvest should belong to the king. This law still remains in force today. Only the lands of the priests did not become the kings property.


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When the time drew near for him to die, he called for his son Joseph and said to him: »Place your hand under my thighs and make a solemn vow that you will not bury me in Egypt.


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»I want to be buried where my fathers are. Carry me out of Egypt and bury me where they are buried.« Joseph answered: »I will do as you say.«


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Later Joseph was told that his father was ill. So he took his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, and went to see Jacob.


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»He promised: I will give you a large family with many descendants that will grow into a nation. I am giving you this land that will belong to you and your family from generation to generation.« <i>Hebrew: olam olam long lasting possession</i>


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Jacob went on to say: »Joseph, your two sons Ephraim and Manasseh were born in Egypt. But I accept them as my own, just as Reuben and Simeon are mine.


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»Any children you have later will be considered yours. Their inheritance will come from Ephraim and Manasseh.


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»Your mother Rachel died in Canaan after we left northern Syria and before we reached Bethlehem. I had to bury her along the way.«


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»They are my sons. God has given them to me here in Egypt.« »Bring them to me,« Jacob said. »I want to give them my blessing.« Joseph brought the boys to him.


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Israels eyesight was failing because of old age. He could hardly see. So Joseph brought his sons close to his father. Israel hugged them and kissed them.


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Then Joseph took both of them, Ephraim on his right, facing Israels left, and Manasseh on his left, facing Israels right, and brought them close to him.


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But Israel crossed his hands and reached out. He put his right hand on Ephraims head, although Ephraim was the younger son. He put his left hand on Manassehs head, although Manasseh was older.


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Jacob blessed Joseph. He said: »May God, in whose presence my grandfather Abraham and my father Isaac walked, may this God who has been my shepherd all my life to this very day,


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»May the being who rescued me from all evil bless these boys! May they be called by my name and by the names of my grandfather Abraham and my father Isaac. May they have many children on the earth.«


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Joseph saw that his father had put his right hand on Ephraims head. Joseph did not like it. So he took his fathers hand in order to move it from Ephraims head to Manassehs.


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He said to his father: »That is not right, Father! This is the firstborn. Put your right hand on his head.«


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His father refused and said: »I know, Son, I know! Manasseh, too, will become a nation. He, too, will be important. Nevertheless, his younger brother will be more important than he. His descendants will become many nations.«


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That day he blessed them. He said: »Because of you, Israel will speak this blessing: May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh! In this way Israel put Ephraim ahead of Manasseh.«


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Then Israel said to Joseph: »I am about to die. God will be with you. He will bring you back to the land of your fathers.


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»I am giving you one more mountain ridge than your brothers. I took it from the Amorites with my own sword and bow.«


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Jacob called for his sons. He said: »Gather around, and I will tell you what will happen to you in the future.


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»Reuben, you are my firstborn; you are my strength and the first child of my manhood. You are the proudest and strongest of all my sons.


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»You are like a raging flood. But you will not be the most important, for you slept with my concubine. You dishonored your fathers bed.


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»I will not join in their secret talks. I will not take part in their meetings. They killed people in anger. They crippled bulls for sport.


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»A curse is on their anger, because it is so fierce. And a curse is on their fury, because it is so cruel. I will scatter them throughout the land of Israel. I will disperse them among its people.


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»Judah, your brothers will praise you. You hold your enemies by the neck. Your brothers will bow down before you.


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»Judah is like a lion, killing his victim and returning to his den. He is like a lion stretching out and lying down. No one dares disturb him.


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»The royal scepter shall not depart from Judah. His descendants will always rule. Nations will bring him tribute and bow in obedience before him. This, until Shiloh comes and all will obey him.


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»He will tie his donkey to a grapevine, his colt to the best vine. He will wash his clothes in wine, his garments in the blood of grapes.


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»Zebulun will live by the coast. He will have ships by the coast. His border will go as far as Sidon.


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»When he sees that his resting place is good and that the land is pleasant, he will bend his back to the burden and will become a slave laborer.


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»Dan will be a snake on a road, a viper on a path that bites a horses heels so that its rider falls backwards.


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»His bow stayed steady! His arms remained limber because of the help of the Mighty One of Jacob, because of the name of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel,


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»because of the God of your father who helps you, because of the Almighty who blesses you from the heavens above, blessings from the deep springs below the ground, blessings from breasts and womb.


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»The blessings of your father are greater than the blessings of the oldest mountains and the riches of the ancient hills. May these blessings rest on the head of Joseph, on the crown of the prince among his brothers.


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»Abraham bought the cave from Ephron the Hittite to use as a burial place. It is near the field of Machpelah. It is also near the town of Mamre in Canaan.


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»Abraham and his wife Sarah are buried there. Isaac and his wife Rebekah are buried there. I also buried Leah there.


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Jacob finished giving these instructions to his sons. He pulled his feet into his bed. He took his last breath and joined his ancestors in death.


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It took forty days, which is the normal time for embalming. The Egyptians mourned for him seventy days.


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When the time of mourning was over, Joseph said to the kings officials: »Please take this message to the king:


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»When my father was about to die, he made me promise him that I would bury him in the tomb that he had prepared in the land of Canaan. Please, let me go and bury my father. Then I will come back.«


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So Joseph went to bury his father. All the kings officials, the senior men of his court, and all the leading men of Egypt went with Joseph.


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His family, including his brothers, and the rest of his fathers family all went with him. Only their small children and their sheep, goats, and cattle stayed in the region of Goshen.


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They mourned loudly for a long time at the threshing place at Atad east of the Jordan. Joseph performed mourning ceremonies for seven days.


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The citizens of Canaan saw those people mourning at Atad. They said: »What a solemn ceremony of mourning the Egyptians are holding!« That is why the place was named Abel-mizraim.


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They carried his body to Canaan and buried it in the cave at Machpelah east of Mamre. He was buried in the field Abraham bought from Ephron the Hittite for a burial ground.


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After Jacob died, Josephs brothers said to each other: »What if Joseph still hates us and wants to get even with us for all the cruel things we did to him?«


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»You are to say to Joseph: »Let the wrongdoing of your brothers be overlooked, and the evil they did to you. If it is your pleasure, forgive the sin of the servants of your fathers God.« « Upon hearing these words Joseph was overcome with weeping.


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Then his brothers also came and immediately bowed down in front of him. »We are your slaves!« they said.


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»Even though you planned evil against me, God planned good to come out of it. This was to keep many people alive, as he is doing now.


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»You have nothing to fear. I will take care of you and your children.« So he reassured them with kind words that touched their hearts.


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Joseph continued to live in Egypt with his fathers family. He was a hundred and ten years old when he died.


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Joseph lived long enough to see Ephraims children and grandchildren. He also lived to see the children of Manassehs son Machir. He welcomed them into his family.


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Before Joseph died, he told his brothers: »I will not live much longer. God will take care of you. He will lead you out of Egypt to the land he promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.


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The children of Israel had many children. They became so numerous and strong that the land was filled with them.


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»We must outsmart them or they will increase in number. If war breaks out they will leave the country and join our enemies to fight against us.«


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So the Egyptians put slave masters over them in order to oppress them through forced labor. They built Pithom and Rameses as supply <i>storage</i> cities for Pharaoh.


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However the more the Israelites were oppressed, the more they increased in number and spread out. The Egyptians could not stand them any longer.


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They made their lives bitter with backbreaking work in mortar and bricks and every kind of work in the fields. All the jobs the Egyptians gave them were brutally hard work.


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He said: »When you help the Hebrew women give birth on the birth stool, if it is a son you shall put him to death. If it is a daughter, then she shall live.«


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The midwives respected God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them. They let the boys live.


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The midwives replied to Pharaoh: »Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women. They are vigorous and give birth before the midwife can get to them.«


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Then Pharaoh commanded all his people: Every son who is born must be thrown into the Nile River. However, keep every daughter alive.


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The woman became pregnant and bore a son. She saw how beautiful he was and hid him for three months.


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When she could not hide him any longer, she took a basket made of papyrus reeds and coated it with tar and pitch. She put the baby in it and set it among the papyrus reeds near the bank of the Nile River.


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The kings daughter came to the river to bathe. Her servants walked along the bank. Suddenly she noticed the basket in the papyrus reeds and sent a slave woman to get it.


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She opened it and saw a baby boy. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. »This is one of the Hebrew babies,« she said.


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Pharaohs daughter told her: »Take care of this child, and I will pay you. The babys mother carried him home and took care of him.«


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When he was old enough, she took him to the kings daughter, who adopted him. She named him Moses because she said: »I pulled him out of the water.«


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After Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people <i>his brothers</i> were hard at work. He saw an Egyptian beating one of them.


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Moses looked around to see if anyone was watching. Then he killed the Egyptian and hid his body in the sand.


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The next day when Moses went out, he saw two Hebrews fighting. So he went to the man who started the fight and asked: »Why are you beating up one of your own people?«


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The man replied: »Who made you a prince or a judge over us? Are you intending to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?« Moses was afraid and said: »Surely the matter has become known.«


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When Pharaoh heard of this matter, he tried to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the presence of Pharaoh and settled in the land of Midian by a well.


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The priest of Midian had seven daughters. They came to draw water and filled the troughs to water their fathers flock.


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They said: »An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds. He drew water for us and watered the flock.«


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She bore a son, and he called his name Gershom. For he said: »I have been a stranger in a strange land.«


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Time went by and the king of Egypt died. The Israelites still groaned because they were slaves. So they cried out, and their cries for help went up to God.


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One day Moses was taking care of the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. He led the flock across the desert to Sinai, the holy mountain.


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There the angel of Jehovah appeared to him in a flame of fire coming from the middle of a bush. Moses saw that the bush was on fire but that it was not burning up.


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Jehovah saw that Moses came closer. He called to him from the middle of the bush: »Moses! Moses!« Moses answered: »Yes, here I am.«


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»I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.« Moses covered his face, because he was afraid to look at God.


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Jehovah said: »I have seen how my people are suffering as slaves in Egypt. I have heard them beg for my help because of the way they are being mistreated. I feel sorry for them.


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»I have come down to rescue them from the Egyptians. I will bring my people out of Egypt into a country where there is good land, rich with milk and honey. I will give them the land where the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites now live.


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God said: »I will be with you! This shall be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God at this mountain.«


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Then Moses said to God: »Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel. I will say to them: The God of your fathers has sent me to you. Now they may ask me: What is His name? What shall I say to them?«


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God then said to Moses: »<i>I exist and</i> I WILL BE WHO I WILL BE.« You shall say to the sons of Israel: »I WILL BE, has sent me to you.« <i>Hebrew: hayah, »I was, I am, I will be« gives evidence of Gods eternal existence</i>


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God, further said to Moses: »You shall say to the sons of Israel: JEHOVAH, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. <i>JEHOVAH</i> THIS IS MY NAME FOREVER! This is my memorial-name to all generations.


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Go and gather the elders of Israel together and say to them: JEHOVAH, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, has appeared to me. He said: »I am indeed concerned about you and what has been done to you in Egypt.«


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»So I said: I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, to a land flowing with milk and honey.« 


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»They will listen to what you say. You with the elders of Israel will approach the king of Egypt. You will say to him: Jehovah the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. So now, please, let us go a three days journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to Jehovah our God.


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»So I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all my wonders that I will do in its midst. After that he will let you go.


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»I will grant this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. When you go you will not go empty handed.


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»But every woman shall ask of her neighbor and the woman who lives in her house, articles of silver and articles of gold, and clothing. You will put them on your sons and daughters. Thus you will plunder the Egyptians.«


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Moses responded: »What if they will not believe me or listen to what I say? For they may say: Jehovah has not appeared to you.«


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Jehovah said: »Throw it on the ground.« When Moses threw it on the ground, it became a snake, and he ran away from it.


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Jehovah said to Moses: »Reach down and pick it up by the tail.« So Moses reached down and caught it. Suddenly it became a walking stick again.


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Jehovah said: »Do this to prove to the Israelites that Jehovah, the God of their ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, has appeared to you.«


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Jehovah spoke to Moses again: »Put your hand inside your robe.« Moses obeyed. When he took his hand out, it was diseased, covered with white spots, like snow.


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Jehovah said: »Put your hand inside your robe again.« He did so, and when he took it out this time, it was healthy, just like the rest of his body.


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Jehovah said: »If they will not believe you or be convinced by the first sign, then this one will convince them.


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»If in spite of these two signs they still will not believe you, and if they refuse to listen to what you say, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the ground. The water will turn into blood.«


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Moses said: »O Jehovah I am not a man of words. I have never been so, and am not now, even after what you have said to your servant. Talking is hard for me, and I am slow of tongue.«


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Jehovah said to him: »Who has made mans mouth? Or who makes him mute or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I, Jehovah?


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Then the anger of Jehovah burned against Moses, and He said: »Is there not your brother Aaron the Levite? I know that he speaks fluently. He is coming out to meet you. When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart.


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»You are to speak to him and put the words in his mouth. I will be with your mouth and his mouth. I will teach you what you are to do.


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Moreover, he shall speak for you to the people. He will be as a mouth for you and you will be as God to him.


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Moses departed and returned to Jethro his father-in-law and said to him: »Please, let me go, that I may return to my brothers who are in Egypt, and see if they are still alive.« Jethro said to Moses: »Go in peace.«


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Jehovah said to Moses in Midian: »Go back to Egypt, for all the men who were seeking your life are dead.«


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So Moses took his wife and his sons and mounted them on a donkey and returned to the land of Egypt. Moses also took the staff of God in his hand.


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Jehovah said to Moses: »When you go back to Egypt see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders that I have put in your power. I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go.«


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»So I said to you: Let My son go that he may serve me. But you have refused to let him go. Behold, I will kill your son, your firstborn.« «


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Now it came about at the lodging place on the way that Jehovah met him and sought to put him to death.


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Zipporah took a flint and cut off her sons foreskin and threw it at Moses feet. She said: »You are indeed a bridegroom of blood to me.«


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So He let him alone. At that time she said: »You are a bridegroom of blood, because of the circumcision.«


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Jehovah said to Aaron: »Go to meet Moses in the wilderness.« So he went and met him at the mountain of God and kissed him.


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Moses told Aaron all the words Jehovah sent him to tell Moses, and all the signs that he had commanded him to do.


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Aaron told them everything Jehovah had said to Moses. He also did the miraculous signs for the people.


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The people believed them. When they heard that Jehovah was concerned about the people of Israel and that he had seen their misery, they knelt, bowed low and worshiped.


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Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh. They said: »Jehovah, the God of Israel, says: Let My people go that they may celebrate a feast to me in the wilderness.«


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But Pharaoh responded: »Who is Jehovah, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I do not know Jehovah, and besides, I will not let Israel go.«


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Then they said: »The God of the Hebrews met with us. Please, let us go on a three-day journey into the wilderness. Then we may sacrifice to Jehovah our God. Otherwise he will fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword.«


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The king of Egypt replied: »Moses and Aaron, why do you distract the people from their work? Get back to work!«


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»Do not give the people any more straw to make bricks as you have been doing. Let them gather their own straw.


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»Insist that they make the same number of bricks they were making before. Making fewer bricks will not be acceptable. They are lazy! That is why they are crying: Let us go offer sacrifices to our God.


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The slave drivers and the Israelite foremen went out and said to the Israelites: »The king has said that he will not supply you with any more straw.


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»He says that you must go and get it for yourselves wherever you can find it. You must still make the same number of bricks.«


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The slave bosses were hard on them. They kept saying: »Each day you have to make as many bricks as you did when you were given straw.«


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The bosses beat the men in charge of the slaves and said: »Why did you not force the slaves to make as many bricks yesterday and today as they did before?«


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Finally, the men in charge of the slaves went to the king and asked: »Why are you treating us like this?


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»No one brings us any straw. Yet we are still ordered to make the same number of bricks. We are beaten with whips, and your own people are to blame.«


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The king replied: »You are lazy. You are just lazy! That is why you keep asking me to let you go and sacrifice to Jehovah.


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The Israelite foremen realized they were in trouble when they were told: »Do not make fewer bricks each day than you are supposed to.«


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They said: »May Jehovah see what you have done and judge you! You have made Pharaoh and his officials hate us. You have given them an excuse to kill us.«


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Moses went back to Jehovah and asked: »Why have you brought this trouble on your people? Why did you send me?


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»Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak for you, he has treated your people cruelly, and you have done nothing at all to rescue your people.«


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Jehovah said to Moses: »Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh. I will show him my power. He will let my people go! I will show him my power, and he will throw them out of his country.«


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»I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name, Jehovah, I did not make myself known to them.


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»I also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as foreigners.


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»Furthermore I have heard the groaning of the sons of Israel. This is because the Egyptians are holding them in bondage. I have remembered my covenant.


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»Tell the sons of Israel: I am Jehovah. I will bring you out from under the oppression of the Egyptians. I will free you from slavery! I will rescue you with my powerful arm and with mighty acts of judgment.


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»I will make you my people, and I will be your God. You will know that I am Jehovah your God. I brought you out from under the forced labor of the Egyptians.


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»I will bring you to the land I solemnly swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I will give it to you as your own possession. I am Jehovah!«


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Moses reported this to the Israelites. But they would not listen to him. For they were so discouraged by their backbreaking work.


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But Moses replied: »I am not a powerful speaker. If the sons of Israel will not listen to me, why should the king of Egypt?«


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Jehovah sent Aaron and Moses with a message for the sons of Israel and for the king. He also ordered Aaron and Moses to free the people from Egypt.


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The following men were the heads of their fathers households: The sons of Reuben, Jacobs oldest son, were Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi.


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


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These are the names of the sons of Levi according to their generations: Gershon and Kohath and Merari. Levi lived one hundred and thirty-seven years.


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The sons of Kohath: Amram and Izhar and Hebron and Uzziel. Kohath lived one hundred and thirty-three years.


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The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. These are the families of the Levites according to their generations.


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Amram married his fathers sister Jochebed, and she bore him Aaron and Moses. Amram lived one hundred and thirty-seven years.


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


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Aarons son Eleazar married one of the daughters of Putiel, and she bore him Phinehas. These are the heads of the fathers households of the Levites according to their families.


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It was the same Aaron and Moses to whom Jehovah said: »Bring out the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt according to their hosts.«


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They were the ones who spoke to Pharaoh king of Egypt about bringing out the sons of Israel from Egypt. It was the same Moses and Aaron.


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Jehovah said to Moses: »See, I make you as God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet.


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»You shall speak all that I command you. Your brother Aaron shall speak to Pharaoh that he let the sons of Israel go out of his land.


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»Pharaoh will not listen to you. Then I will use my power to punish <i>lay my hand upon</i> Egypt severely. I will bring my people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt in organized family groups.


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»The Egyptians will know that I am Jehovah when I use my power against Egypt and bring the sons of Israel out of there.«


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»Pharaoh will say: Give me a sign to prove that God has sent you. Tell Aaron: Take your shepherds staff and throw it down in front of Pharaoh. It will become a large snake.


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Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh. They did as Jehovah commanded. Aaron threw his staff down in front of Pharaoh and his officials. It became a large snake.


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Then Pharaoh sent for his wise men and sorcerers. These Egyptian magicians did the same thing using their magic spells.


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Each of them threw his staff down. They all became large snakes. But Aarons staff swallowed theirs.


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»In the morning meet Pharaoh when he is on his way to the Nile. Wait for him on the bank of the river. Take the staff that turned into a snake.


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»Say to Pharaoh: Jehovah the God of the Hebrews sent me to tell you, Let my people go to worship me in the wilderness. So far you have not listened.«


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»Jehovah says: This is the way you will recognize that I am Jehovah: I will strike the Nile with this staff in my hand. The water will turn into blood.


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The fish in the Nile will die. The river will stink. The Egyptians will not be able to drink any water from the Nile.« «


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Jehovah then spoke to Moses: »Tell Aaron, Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt; its rivers, canals, ponds, and all its reservoirs. They will turn into blood. There will be blood everywhere in Egypt, even in the buckets of wood and stone pitchers.«


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Moses and Aaron did as Jehovah commanded. Aaron raised his staff and struck the Nile in front of Pharaoh and his officials. All the water in the river turned into blood.


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The fish in the Nile died. The river smelled bad. The Egyptians could not drink any water from the river. There was blood everywhere in Egypt.


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But the Egyptian magicians did the same thing using their magic spells. So Pharaoh continued to be stubborn. He would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as Jehovah predicted.


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All the Egyptians dug along the Nile for water to drink because they could not drink any of the water from the river.


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Then Jehovah said to Moses: »Approach Pharaoh and say to him, Jehovah says: »Let My people go, that they may serve me.


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»»The Nile will swarm with frogs. They will come up and go into your house and into your bedroom and on your bed. They will go into the houses of your servants and on your people, and into your ovens and into your kneading bowls.


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Jehovah also said to Moses: »Say to Aaron, Stretch out your hand with your staff over the rivers, over the streams and over the pools. Make frogs come up on the land of Egypt.«


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»So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt. The frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt.


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»The king sent for Moses and Aaron and told them: If you ask Jehovah to take these frogs away from me and my people, I will let your people go and offer sacrifices to him.«


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Moses answered: »You choose the time when I am to pray for the frogs to stop bothering you, your officials, and your people, and for them to leave your houses and be found only in the river.«


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The king replied: »Do it tomorrow!« »As you wish:« Moses agreed. »Then everyone will discover that there is no god like Jehovah!


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Moses and Aaron left the palace. Moses begged Jehovah to do something about the frogs he had sent as punishment for the king.


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The king saw that the frogs were dead. He became stubborn again and, just as Jehovah had said, the king would not listen to Moses and Aaron.


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Jehovah said to Moses: »Tell Aaron, »Strike the ground with your stick. The dust will change into gnats in all of Egypt.«


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So Aaron struck the ground with his stick. The dust in Egypt was turned into gnats. They swarmed over the people and the animals.


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The magicians tried to use their magic to make gnats appear, but they failed. There were gnats everywhere!


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The magicians said to the king: »It is the finger of God!« <i>God has done this!</i> But the king was stubborn. Just as Jehovah predicted, the king would not listen to Moses and Aaron.


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Jehovah said to Moses: »Early tomorrow morning, go and meet the king as he goes to the river. Tell him that Jehovah says: Let my people go, so that they can serve me.


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»»I warn you that if you refuse, I will punish you by sending flies on you, your officials, and your people. The houses of the Egyptians will be full of flies. The ground will be covered with them.


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»»At that same time I will cut off the land of Goshen where my people live. No swarms of flies shall be there. / Then you will know that I am Jehovah in the midst of the earth.


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»»I will put a dividing line between my people and your people. This sign will happen tomorrow.« «


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Jehovah did what he said. Dense swarms of flies came into Pharaohs palace and into the houses of his officials. All over Egypt the flies ruined everything.


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Moses replied: »It is not right to do that. The sacrifices we offer to Jehovah our God are disgusting to Egyptians. If they see us offer sacrifices that they consider disgusting, will they not stone us to death?


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»We need to travel three days into the desert to offer sacrifices to Jehovah our God, as he told us to do.«


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Pharaoh said: »I will let you go, but do not go far. You may offer sacrifices to Jehovah your God in the desert and pray for me.«


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Moses answered: »As soon as I leave you, I will pray to Jehovah. Tomorrow the swarms of flies will go away from you, your officials, and your people. But you must stop tricking us by not letting the people go to offer sacrifices to Jehovah.«


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Jehovah did what Moses asked. The swarms of flies left Pharaoh, his officials, and his people. Not a single fly was left.


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Then Jehovah said to Moses: »Go to Pharaoh, and tell him, this is what Jehovah the God of the Hebrews says: Let my people go to serve me.


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Jehovah will bring a terrible plague on your livestock, including your horses, donkeys, camels, cattle, sheep, and goats.


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»»Jehovah will distinguish between Israels livestock and the livestock of the Egyptians. The animals belonging to the Israelites will not die.« «


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The next day Jehovah did as he had said. The Egyptians animals all died. Not one of the animals of the Israelites died.


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The king asked what had happened. He was told that none of the animals of the Israelites had died. He was stubborn and would not let the people go.


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Then Jehovah said to Moses and Aaron: »Take a few handfuls of ashes from a furnace. Moses is to throw them into the air in front of the king.


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»They will spread out like fine dust over all the land of Egypt. They will produce boils that become open sores on the people and the animals.«


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They got some ashes and stood before the king. Moses threw them into the air. They produced boils that became open sores on the people and the animals.


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The magicians were not able to appear before Moses, because they were covered with boils, like all the other Egyptians.


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Jehovah hardened the heart of Pharaoh and he did not listen to Moses and Aaron. Everything happened just as Jehovah had told Moses.


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Jehovah told Moses to get up early the next morning and say to the king: »God of the Hebrews commands you to let his people go, so they can serve him!


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»If you do not, he will send his worst plagues to strike you, your officials, and everyone else in your country. Then you will find out that no one can oppose Jehovah.


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»I have allowed you to remain, in order to show you my power and in order to proclaim my name through all the earth.


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»At this time tomorrow, I will send a very heavy hail, such as has not been seen in Egypt from the day it was founded until now.


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»Bring your livestock and whatever you have in the field to safety. Every man and beast that is found in the field and is not brought home will die from the hail.«


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The ones among the servants of Pharaoh who respected the word of Jehovah made his servants and his livestock flee into the houses.


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Jehovah said to Moses: »Stretch out your hand toward the sky. Hail will fall on all the land of Egypt, on man and on beast and on every plant of the field, throughout the land of Egypt.«


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Moses stretched out his staff toward the sky. Then Jehovah sent thunder and hail, and fire ran down to the earth. Jehovah rained hail on the land of Egypt.


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It hailed, and lightning flashed while it hailed. This was the worst storm in all the land of Egypt since it had become a nation.


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All over Egypt the hail knocked down everything that was out in the open. It struck down people, animals, and every plant in the fields and destroyed every tree in the fields.


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The king sent for Moses and Aaron and said: »This time I have sinned. Jehovah is in the right. My people and I are in the wrong.


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»Pray to Jehovah! We have had enough of this thunder and hail! I promise to let you go. You do not have to stay here any longer.«


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Moses said to him: »As soon as I go out of the city, I will lift up my hands in prayer to Jehovah. The thunder will stop. There will be no more hail. Thus you may know that the earth belongs to Jehovah.


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Moses left the royal palace and the city. He lifted his arms in prayer to Jehovah. The thunder, hail, and drenching rain stopped.


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The king realized that the storm was over. He disobeyed once more. He and his officials were so stubborn


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Jehovah told Moses: »Go back to the king. I have made him and his officials stubborn, so that I could work these signs.


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»I did this because I want you to tell your children and your grandchildren about the mighty things and the signs I have done in Egypt. Then all of you will know that I am Jehovah.«


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Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him: »Thus says Jehovah, the God of the Hebrews, How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, that they may serve me.


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»They shall cover the surface of the land. No one will be able to see the land. They will also eat the rest of what has escaped and is left to you from the hail. They will eat every tree that sprouts for you out of the field.


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»Your houses shall be filled and the houses of all your servants and the houses of all the Egyptians. This is something neither your fathers nor your grandfathers have seen, from the day that they came upon the earth until this day. He turned and went out from Pharaoh.«


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Pharaohs servants said to him: »How long shall this man be a snare to us? Let the men go so that they may serve Jehovah their God. Do you not yet know that Egypt is destroyed?«


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Moses and Aaron were brought again to Pharaoh. He said to them: »Go! Serve Jehovah your God. Who are the ones that shall go?«


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Moses said: »We will go with our young and with our old, with our sons and with our daughters. We will go with our flocks and with our herds. We must hold a feast to Jehovah.«


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He said to them: »May Jehovah be with you, as I send you and your little ones away. Watch out for evil is before you.


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»Not so! You men go now and serve Jehovah. It is you who desired it.« So they were driven out from Pharaohs presence.


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Jehovah said to Moses: »Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts. Let them come up upon the land of Egypt and eat every herb of the land, all that the hail has left.«


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Moses held his staff over the land of Egypt. Jehovah made a wind from the east blow over the land all that day and all that night. By morning the east wind had brought the locusts.


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They invaded all of Egypt and landed all over the country in great swarms. Never before had there been so many locusts, nor would there ever be that many again.


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They covered all the ground until it was black with them. They ate all the plants and all the fruit on the trees that the hail had left. Nothing green was left on any tree or plant anywhere in Egypt.


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Pharaoh quickly called for Moses and Aaron and said: »I have sinned against Jehovah your God and against you.


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»Please forgive my sin one more time. Pray to Jehovah your God to take this deadly plague away from me.«


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Jehovah changed the wind to a very strong west wind. It picked up the locusts and blew them into the Red Sea. Not one locust was left anywhere in Egypt.


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Jehovah then said to Moses: »Raise your hand toward the sky. Darkness thick enough to be felt will cover the land of Egypt.«


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The Egyptians could not see each other. No one left his house during that time. The Israelites, however, had light where they were living.


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The king called Moses. He said: »You may go and worship Jehovah. Even your women and children may go with you. But your sheep, goats, and cattle must stay here.«


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Moses answered: »Then you would have to provide us with animals for sacrifices and burnt offerings to offer to Jehovah our God.


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»No, we will take our animals with us! Not one will be left behind. We must select the animals with which to worship Jehovah our God. We will not know what animals to sacrifice to him until we get there.«


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He said to Moses: »Get out of my sight! Do not let me ever see you again! On the day I do, you will die!«


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Jehovah said to Moses: »I will send only one more punishment <i>plague</i> on the king of Egypt and his people. After that he will let you leave. In fact, he will drive all of you out of here.


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»Speak to the people of Israel and tell all of them to ask their neighbors for gold and silver jewelry.«


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Jehovah made the Egyptians respect the Israelites. Indeed, the officials and all the people considered Moses to be a very great man.


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Moses approached the king. He said: »I have come to let you know what Jehovah is going to do. About midnight he will go through the land of Egypt,


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and wherever he goes, the first-born son in every family will die. Your own son will die. So will the son of the lowest slave woman. Even the first-born males of cattle will die.


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»Everywhere in Egypt there will be loud crying. Nothing like this has ever happened before or will ever happen again.


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»But against any of the sons of Israel a dog will not even bark, whether against man or beast. This is so you may understand how Jehovah makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.«


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All these your servants will come down to me and bow themselves before me. They will say: »Go out, you and all the people who follow you. Then I will go out.« He went out from Pharaoh in hot anger.


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Then Jehovah said to Moses: »Pharaoh will not listen to you, so that my signs will be multiplied in the land of Egypt.«


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Moses and Aaron performed all these wonders before Pharaoh. Yet Jehovah hardened Pharaohs heart. He did not let the sons of Israel go out of his land.


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»This month shall be the beginning of months for you. It is to be the first month of the year to you.


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»Tell the whole community of Israel: On the tenth day of this month each man must take a sheep for his family, one animal per household.


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»A household may be too small to eat a whole animal. That household and the one next-door can share one animal. Choose your animal based on the number of people and what each person can eat.


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»Your animal must be a one-year-old male that has no defects. You may choose a lamb or a young goat.


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»Take care of it until the fourteenth day of this month. Then at dusk, all the assembled people from the community of Israel must slaughter their animals.


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»Some of the blood must be put on the two doorposts and above the door of each house where the animals are to be eaten.


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»That night the animals are to be roasted and eaten, together with bitter herbs <i>greens</i> and unleavened bread made without yeast.


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»Do not eat the meat raw or boiled. The entire animal, including its head, legs, and insides, must be roasted.


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»Eat it in this manner: with your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste. It is Jehovahs Passover.«


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Jehovah said: »That night I will go through the land of Egypt. I will strike down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast. I will execute judgments against all the gods of Egypt! I am Jehovah!


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»The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you live. When I see the blood I will pass over you. No plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.


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»This day will be a memorial to you. You shall celebrate it as a feast to Jehovah. You are to celebrate it as a permanent ordinance throughout your generations.


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»You will eat unleavened bread for seven days. The first day you shall remove leaven from your houses. Whoever eats anything leavened from the first day until the seventh day will be cut off from Israel.


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»You shall have a holy assembly on the first day. There should be another holy assembly on the seventh day. No work at all will be done on them, except what must be eaten by every person that alone may be prepared by you.


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»You shall also observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread. That was the day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt. Observe this day throughout your generations as a long lasting ordinance.


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»In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at evening.


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»There shall be no leaven found in your houses for seven days. Whoever eats what is leavened shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is an alien or a native of the land.


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Moses called all the elders of Israel and said: »Take lambs according to your families and slay the Passover lamb.


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»Take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin. Apply some of the blood that is in the basin to the lintel and the two doorposts. No one shall go outside the door of his house until morning.


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»Jehovah will pass through to strike the Egyptians. When he sees the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe, Jehovah will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to come in to your houses to kill you.


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»You shall observe this event as an ordinance for you and your children from generation to generation.


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»You shall say: It is a Passover sacrifice to Jehovah who passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt when He killed the Egyptians, but spared our homes. The people bowed low and worshiped.«


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At midnight Jehovah killed every firstborn male in Egypt from the firstborn son of Pharaoh who ruled the land to the firstborn son of the prisoner in jail, and also every firstborn animal.


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Pharaoh, all his officials, and all the other Egyptians got up during the night. There was loud crying throughout Egypt because in every house someone had died.


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Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron during the night. He said: »You and the Israelites must leave my people at once. Go serve Jehovah just as you requested.


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The Egyptians begged the people to leave the country quickly. They said: »We will all be dead soon!«


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The people picked up their bread dough before it had risen. They carried it on their shoulders in bowls and wrapped up in their clothes.


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The sons of Israel did what Moses told them. They asked the Egyptians for gold and silver jewelry and for clothes.


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Jehovah made the Egyptians generous to the people. They gave them what they asked for. So the sons of Israel stripped Egypt of its wealth.


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The Israelites left Rameses to go to Succoth. There were about six hundred thousand men on foot, plus all the women and children.


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With the dough they had brought from Egypt, they baked round, flat bread. The dough had not risen because they had been thrown out of Egypt and had no time to prepare food for the trip.


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After exactly four hundred and thirty years all of Jehovahs people left Egypt in organized family groups.


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It is a night to be observed for Jehovah for having brought them out from the land of Egypt. This night is for Jehovah and should be observed by all the sons of Israel throughout their generations.


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Jehovah said to Moses and Aaron: »This is the ordinance of the Passover: no foreigner is to eat of it.


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»The meal must be eaten inside one house. Never take any of the meat outside the house. Do not break any of the bones.


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»The uncircumcised man may not eat it. If a foreigner has settled among you and wants to celebrate Passover to honor Jehovah, you must first circumcise all the males of his household. He is then to be treated like a native-born Israelite and may join in the festival.


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»Consecrate <i>appoint sanctify</i> all the first-born males to me. Every first-born male Israelite and every first-born male animal belongs to me!«


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Moses said to the people: »Remember this day in the month of Abib. It is the day Jehovahs mighty power rescued you from slavery in Egypt. Do not eat anything made with yeast.


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»Jehovah shall bring you into the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites. He swore to your fathers to give you this land flowing with milk and honey. You shall observe this rite in this month.


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»Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days. No leavened bread shall be seen with you or in all your borders.


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»On that day tell your children: We do this because of what Jehovah did for us when we left Egypt.«


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»This festival will be like a mark on your hand. It will be a reminder on your forehead that the teachings of Jehovah are always to be a part of your conversation! Jehovah used his mighty hand to bring you out of Egypt.


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»When Jehovah brings you to the land of the Canaanites and gives it to you, as he swore to you and your ancestors,


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sacrifice every firstborn male offspring to Jehovah. The firstborn male offspring of each of your animals belongs to Jehovah.


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»It will cost you a sheep or a goat to buy any firstborn donkey back from Jehovah. You must break the donkeys neck if you do not buy it back. You must also buy every firstborn son back from Jehovah.


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»In the future when your children ask you, What does this mean? tell them: Jehovah used his mighty hand to bring us out of slavery in Egypt.«


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»Pharaoh was too stubborn to let us go. Because of this every firstborn male in Egypt-human and animal was killed. This is why we sacrifice every firstborn male to Jehovah and buy every firstborn son back from Jehovah.


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»This festival will be like a mark on your hand and like a band on your forehead, because Jehovah used his mighty hand to bring us out of Egypt.«


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»When the king of Egypt let the people go God did not take them on the road that goes up the coast to Philistia, although it was the shortest way. God thought: I do not want the people to change their minds and return to Egypt when they see that they are going to have to fight.«


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Moses took the body of Joseph with him. Joseph made the Israelites solemnly promise to do so. Joseph said: When God rescues you, you must carry my body with you from this place.


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Jehovah went in front of them in a pillar of cloud to show them the way during the day. He went in front of them in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel at night.


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The pillar of cloud was always in front of the people during the day, and the pillar of fire at night.


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»Tell the Israelites to turn back and camp in front of Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the Red Sea, near Baal Zephon.


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»The king will think that the Israelites are wandering around in the country and are closed in by the desert.


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»I will make him stubborn. He will pursue you. My victory over the king and his army will bring me honor. Then the Egyptians will know that I am Jehovah!« The Israelites did as they were told.


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The king of Egypt was told that the people had escaped. He and his officials changed their minds and said: »What have we done? We have let the Israelites escape, and we have lost them as our slaves!«


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He commanded his officers in charge of his six hundred best chariots and all his other chariots to start after the Israelites.


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Jehovah made the king so stubborn that he went after them. The Israelites proudly went on their way.


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The kings horses and chariots and soldiers caught up with them while they were camping by the Red Sea near Pi-Hahiroth and Baal-Zephon.


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They also complained to Moses: Was there not enough room in Egypt to bury us? Is that why you brought us out here to die in the desert? Why did you bring us out of Egypt?


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»Did we not say in Egypt: Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert.«


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But Moses said to the people: »Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of Jehovah. He will accomplish this for you today. The Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever.


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»As for you, lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it. The sons of Israel shall go through the midst of the sea on dry land.


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»I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them. I will be honored through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen.


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»Then the Egyptians will know that I am Jehovah, when I am honored through Pharaoh, through his chariots and his horsemen.«


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The angel of God, who had been going before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them. The pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them.


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So it came between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel. There was the cloud along with the darkness, yet it gave light at night. Thus the one did not come near the other all night.


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Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. Jehovah swept the sea back by a strong east wind all night and turned the sea into dry land. The waters were divided.


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The Israelites went through the middle of the sea on dry ground. The water stood like a wall on their right and on their left.


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Just before dawn, Jehovah looked down from the column of fire and smoke and threw the Egyptian camp into a panic.


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He made the wheels of their chariots come off. They could hardly move. Then the Egyptians shouted: »Let us get out of here! Jehovah is fighting for Israel! He is against us!«


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Jehovah then said to Moses: »Hold out your hand over the sea, and the water will flow back over the Egyptians and their chariots and drivers.«


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Moses held out his hand over the sea. At daybreak the water returned to its normal level. The Egyptians tried to escape from the water. But Jehovah threw them into the sea.


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The water returned and covered the chariots, the drivers, and all the Egyptian army that had followed the Israelites into the sea. None of them were left.


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On the other hand, the Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground, with walls of water on both sides.


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That day Jehovah saved the people of Israel from the Egyptians. The Israelites saw them lying dead on the seashore.


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The Israelites saw the great power with which Jehovah had defeated the Egyptians. So they stood in awe of Jehovah. They had faith in Jehovah and in his servant Moses.


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Moses and the Israelites sang this song to Jehovah: »I will sing to Jehovah, because he has won a glorious victory. He has thrown the horses and their riders into the sea.


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»Jehovah is my strong defender. He is the one who has saved me. He is my God, and I will praise him, my fathers God, and I will sing about his greatness.


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»He threw the chariots and army of Egypts king into the Red Sea, and he drowned the best of the kings army.


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»In the greatness of your excellence you overthrow those who rose up against you. You sent your wrath and consumed them like stubble.


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»With a blast from your nostrils, the water piled up. The waves stood up like a dam. The deep water thickened in the middle of the sea.


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»The enemy said: I will pursue them! I will catch them! I will divide the loot! I will take all I want! I will use my sword! I will take all they have!«


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»Who among the gods is like you Jehovah? Who is like you, wonderful in holiness? Who can work wonders and mighty acts like yours?


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»The sheiks <i>chiefs</i> of Edom were dismayed. The leaders of Moab are griped with fear. The inhabitants of Canaan are filled with fear.


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»Terror and dread fall upon them. By the greatness of your arm they are motionless as stone. Until your people pass over, O Jehovah, until the people pass over whom you have purchased.


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»You will bring them and plant them on your own mountain, the place where you live, O Jehovah, the holy place that you built with your own hands, O Jehovah.


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When Pharaohs horses, chariots, and cavalry went into the sea, Jehovah made the water of the sea flow back over them. The Israelites had gone through the sea on dry ground.


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The prophet Miriam, Aarons sister, took a tambourine in her hand. All the women, danced with tambourines, and followed her.


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Miriam sang to them: »Sing to Jehovah. He has won a glorious victory. He has thrown horses and their riders into the sea.«


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Moses led Israel away from the Red Sea into the desert of Shur. For three days they traveled in the desert without finding water.


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When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water because it tasted bitter. That is why the place was called Marah <i>Bitter Place</i> .


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Moses cried out to Jehovah. Jehovah showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. Jehovah presented laws and rules for them to live by. He tested them there.


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He said: »If you will listen carefully to Jehovah your God and do what he considers right, if you pay attention to his commands and obey all his laws, I will never make you suffer any of the diseases I made the Egyptians suffer. I am Jehovah, who heals you.«


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Then they went to Elim. There were twelve springs and seventy palm trees. They camped there by the water.


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The whole congregation of Israelites moved from Elim to the desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai. This was on the fifteenth day of the second month after they left Egypt.


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The Israelites said to them: »If only Jehovah had allowed us die in Egypt! There we sat by our pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted! You brought us out into this desert to let us all starve to death!«


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Jehovah said to Moses: »I am going to cause food to rain down from the sky for all of you. The people must go out every day and gather enough for that day. In this way I can test them to find out if they will follow my instructions.


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Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites: »This evening you will know that it was Jehovah who brought you out of Egypt.


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»In the morning you will see the glory of Jehovahs presence. He hears your complaints against him. But what are we that you complain against us?«


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Moses said: »This will happen when Jehovah gives you meat to eat in the evening, and bread to eat in the morning. Jehovah hears your complaints against him. And what are we? Your complaints are not against us but against Jehovah.«


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Moses said to Aaron: »Say to all the congregation of the sons of Israel: Come near before Jehovah for he has heard your complaints.«


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Aaron was speaking to them, when everyone looked out toward the desert and saw the bright glory of Jehovah in a cloud.


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»I have heard my people complain. I said to them: Each evening you will have meat and each morning they will have more than enough bread. Then you will know that I am Jehovah their God.«


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That evening many quails came and landed everywhere in the camp, and the next morning dew covered the ground.


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When the children of Israel saw, they said to one another: »What is this?« For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them: »This is the bread Jehovah has given you to eat.«


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This is what Jehovah has commanded: »Each man should gather according to what he can eat. You shall take two quarts for each person in your tent.«


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They measured it. Those who gathered much did not have too much. Some who gathered less did not have too little. Each had gathered just what he needed.


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Some of them did not listen to Moses and saved part of it. The next morning it was full of worms and smelled rotten. Moses was angry with them.


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Every morning each one gathered as much as he needed. When the sun grew hot, what was left on the ground melted.


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The sixth day they gathered twice as much food, four quarts for each person. All the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses about it. (Mark 15:42)


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Moses said: »Jehovah has commanded that tomorrow is a holy day of rest, dedicated to God. Bake today what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil. Whatever is left should be put aside and kept for tomorrow.«


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Moses said: »Eat this today, because today is the Sabbath, a day of rest dedicated to Jehovah. You will not find any food outside the camp.


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»Jehovah has given you the Sabbath. He gives you bread for two days on the sixth day. Remain every man in his place! Let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.«


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The house of Israel called its name manna. It was like coriander seed, white in color. It tasted like wafers made with honey.


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Moses said: »This is what Jehovah has commanded: Let two quarts of it be kept throughout your generations. Then they may see the bread with which I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.«


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Moses said to Aaron: »Take a jar, and put two quarts of manna in it. Place it before Jehovah, to be kept throughout your generations.«


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The children of Israel ate the manna forty years, until they came to an inhabited land. They ate the manna until they came to the border of the land of Canaan.


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The entire congregation of Israelites left the desert of Sin and traveled from place to place as Jehovah commanded them. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink.


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So they complained to Moses about this: »Give us water to drink!« Moses said: »Why do you complain to me? Why do you test Jehovah?«


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The people were thirsty for water. They complained to Moses and asked: »Why did you bring us out of Egypt? Was it to make us, our children, and our livestock die of thirst?«


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Moses cried out to Jehovah: »What should I do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me!«


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Jehovah said to Moses: »Go in front of the people. Take the elders of Israel with you. Take your rod with which you struck the river, in your hand, and go.


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»Behold! I will stand before you there upon the rock in Horeb. Strike the rock and water will come out of it. Then the people may drink.« Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel.


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He called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the complaining of the children of Israel, and because they tested Jehovah, saying: »Is Jehovah among us or not?«


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Moses said to Joshua: »Choose some of our men. Then fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill. I will hold in my hand the staff God told me to take along.«


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Joshua did as Moses told him. They fought the Amalekites, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went to the top of the hill.


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As long as Moses held up his hands, Israel would win, but as soon as he put his hands down, the Amalekites would start to win.


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Finally, Moses was so tired that Aaron and Hur got a rock for him to sit on. They stood beside him and supported his arms in the same position until sunset.


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After the fight Jehovah said to Moses: »Write an account of this victory and read it to Joshua. I want the Amalekites to be forgotten forever.«


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Then Moses explained: »This is because I depended on Jehovah. But in future generations, Jehovah will have to fight the Amalekites again.«


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Jethro was the priest of Midian and the father-in-law of Moses. He heard what Jehovah God had done for Moses and his people, after rescuing them from Egypt.


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Moses was still a foreigner in Midian when his first son was born. Moses said: »I will name him Gershom.«


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When his second son was born, Moses said: »I will name him Eliezer, because the God my father worshiped has saved me from the king of Egypt.«


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Jethro, Moses father-in-law brought Moses sons and wife to Moses in the desert. He was camped near the mountain of God.


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Moses went out to meet his father-in-law. Moses bowed with his face touching the ground and kissed Jethro. They asked each other how they were. Then they entered the tent.


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Moses told his father-in-law everything Jehovah had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians for Israel. He talked about all the hardships they had on the way, and how Jehovah saved them.


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Jethro rejoiced over all the goodness Jehovah had done to Israel, in delivering them from the hand of the Egyptians.


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Jethro said: »Blessed be Jehovah who delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of Pharaoh. He delivered the people from under the domination of the Egyptians.


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»Now I know that Jehovah is greater than all the other gods. It was proven when they treated the people with contempt.«


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Jethro, Moses father-in-law, took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God, and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat a meal with Moses father-in-law before God.


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Jethro saw everything that Moses had to do. He asked: »What is all this that you are doing for the people? Why are you doing this all alone? There are people standing here from morning till night to consult you?«


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»You and your people will wear yourselves out. This is too much work for you. You cannot do it alone!


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»Listen to the advice I give you. May God be with you! You must be the peoples representative to God and bring their disagreements to him.


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»You must instruct them in the laws and the teachings. Show them how to live and tell them what to do.


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»You should choose capable men from all the people. Find men who respect God. These must be men you can trust who hate corruption. Put them in charge of groups of thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens.


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»They must be the ones who usually settle disagreements among the people. They should bring all-important cases to you. But they should settle all minor cases themselves. Make it easier for yourself by letting them help you.


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»If you do this, as God commands, you will not wear yourself out. All these people can go home with their disputes settled.«


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and chose capable men from among all the Israelites. He appointed them as leaders of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens.


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They judged the people on a permanent basis. The difficult cases were taken to Moses but they decided the smaller disputes themselves.


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They traveled from Rephidim to the desert of Sinai. Israel camped in the wilderness at the foot of Mount Sinai.


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Jehovah called Moses from the mountain. So Moses went up the mountain to God. Jehovah told him: »This is what you must say to the descendants of Jacob. Tell the Israelites:


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You have seen what I did to Egypt and how I carried you on the wings of eagles and brought you to me.


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If you will obey me and are faithful to the terms of my covenant, then out of all the nations you will be my own special possession, for all the earth is mine.


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You will be my kingdom of priests and my holy nation. These are the words you must speak to the children of Israel.«


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Moses went down the mountain and called for the elders of the people. He repeated to them all the words that Jehovah had commanded him.


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All the people answered together: »We will do everything Jehovah has said.« So Moses brought their answer back to Jehovah.


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Jehovah said to Moses: »I will come to you in a thick cloud. The people will hear me speaking with you and will believe you from now on.« Moses gave Jehovah the peoples answer.


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Jehovah continued: »Go to the people and tell them to spend today and tomorrow purifying themselves for worship. They must wash their clothes.


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»Warn the people that they are forbidden to touch any part of the mountain. Anyone who touches the mountain will be put to death,


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with stones or arrows, and no one must touch the body of a person killed in this way. Even an animal that touches this mountain must be put to death. You may go up the mountain only after a signal is given on the trumpet.«


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Moses went down from the mountain to the people. He consecrated the people, and they washed their garments.


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He said to the people: »Get ready for the third day. Do not go near a woman for sexual intercourse.«


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On the morning of the third day there were thunder and lightning flashes and a thick cloud upon the mountain. A very loud trumpet sounded. It caused all the people in the camp to tremble.


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Mount Sinai was all in smoke because Jehovah descended upon it in fire. Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace. The whole mountain quaked violently!


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Jehovah descended on the top of Mount Sinai. Jehovah called Moses to the top of the mountain. Moses climbed to the peak of Mount Sinai.


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Jehovah spoke to Moses: »Go down and warn the people. They should not break through to gaze at Jehovah. Many of them would perish.


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»Let the priests who come near to Jehovah consecrate <i>purify</i> themselves, or else Jehovah will destroy them.«


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Moses said to Jehovah: »The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai for you warned us. You said: Put limits around the mountain and set it apart as holy.«


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Jehovah replied to him: »You and Aaron come up to me. But do not let the priests and the people break through to come up to Jehovah, or he will destroy some of them.«


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»Do not make your own carved idols or statues that represent any creature in the sky, on the earth, or in the water.


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»Do not worship them or serve them. I, Jehovah your God, am a God demanding exclusive devotion. <i>I do not tolerate rivals.</i> I will not share your affection with any other god. I punish children for their parents sins to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me.


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»I show mercy <i>loving kindness</i> to thousands of generations of those who love me and obey my commandments.


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»Never use the name of Jehovah your God in a false and evil way. Jehovah will make sure that anyone who is false, evil, careless and vain with his name will be punished.


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»The seventh day is a Sabbath dedicated to Jehovah your God. Do not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you.


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»Jehovah made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them in six days. He rested on the seventh day. Therefore Jehovah blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.


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»Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land Jehovah your God gives you.


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»Do not covet <i>desire</i> another mans house. Do not desire his wife, his slaves, his cattle, his donkeys, or anything else that he owns.


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The people heard the thunder and the trumpet blast. They saw the lightning and the smoking mountain. They trembled with fear and stood at a distance.


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They said to Moses: »If you speak to us, we will listen. However, we are afraid that if God speaks to us, we will die.«


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Moses responded: »Do not be afraid. God has only come to test you and to inspire you to obey him, so that you will not sin.«


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Jehovah commanded Moses to tell the Israelites: »You have seen how I have spoken to you from heaven.


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»Make an altar of earth for me. Sacrifice your sheep and your cattle as offerings to be completely burned and as peace offerings. In every place that I set-aside for you to worship me, I will come to you and bless you.


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»If you make an altar of stone for me, do not build it out of cut stones. This is because when you use a chisel on stones, you make them unfit for my use.


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»Do not build an altar for me with steps leading up to it. If you do, you will expose yourselves as you go up the steps.«


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»When you buy a Hebrew slave he will be your slave for six years. In the seventh year he may leave as a free man without paying for his freedom.


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»If he was single at the time you bought him he alone must be set free. If he was married at that time, both he and his wife must be given their freedom.


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»If his master gives him a wife, and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children will belong to her master. He shall go out alone.


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»He must stand beside either the door or the doorpost at the place of worship. His owner will punch a small hole through one of his ears with a sharp metal rod. This makes him a slave for life.


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»If she does not please the master who has chosen her as a wife, he must let her be bought back by one of her close relatives. He has no right to sell her to foreigners, since he has treated her unfairly.


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»If a man takes a second wife, he must continue to give his first wife the same amount of food and clothing and the same rights that she had before.


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»If you did not intend to kill someone and I, Jehovah, let it happen anyway, you may run for safety to a place that I have set aside.


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»Whoever kidnaps another person must be put to death regardless of whether he has sold the kidnapped person or still has him.


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»When men quarrel and one hits the other with a rock or with his fist and injures him so that he has to stay in bed you must do this.


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»If the injured man is able to stand up again and walk around outside with a cane, the one who hit him must not be punished. He must pay the injured man for the loss of his time and for all his medical expenses.


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»If a slave owner takes a stick and beats his slave, whether male or female, and the slave dies on the spot, the owner is to be punished.


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»If the slave lives a few days after the beating, you are not to be punished. After all, you have already lost the services of that slave who was your property.


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»When a pregnant woman suffers a miscarriage as the result of an injury caused by someone who is fighting, if she is not badly hurt, the one who injured her must pay whatever fine her husband demands and the judges approve.


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»If a man strikes the eye of his male or female slave, and destroys it, he shall let him go free because of his eye.


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»If he knocks out a tooth of his male or female slave, he shall let him go free because of his tooth.


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»If an ox gores a man or a woman to death, the ox shall surely be stoned and its flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall go unpunished.


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»If an ox was previously in the habit of goring and its owner has been warned, yet he does not confine it and it kills a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned and its owner also shall be put to death.


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»If a ransom is demanded of him, then he shall give for the redemption of his life whatever is demanded of him.


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»If the ox gores a male or female slave, the owner shall give his or her master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned.


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»If a man opens a pit, or digs a pit and does not cover it over, and an ox or a donkey falls into it,


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the owner of the pit shall make restitution. He will give money to its owner, and the dead animal shall become his.


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»If one mans ox hurts anothers so that it dies, then they shall sell the live ox and divide its price equally. They should divide the dead ox.


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»If it is known that the ox was previously in the habit of goring, yet its owner has not confined it, he shall surely pay ox for ox, and the dead animal shall become his.«


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»A man steals an ox or a sheep and slaughters it or sells it. He must pay five oxen for the ox and four sheep for the sheep.


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»If the thief is caught while breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there will be no blood guiltiness on his account.


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»But if it happens after sunrise, he is guilty of murder. A thief must make up for what he has stolen. If he is unable to do so, he should be sold as a slave to pay for what he stole.


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»If the stolen animal is found alive in his possession, whether it is a bull, donkey, or a sheep, he must make up for the loss with double the amount.


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»Someone lets his livestock graze in a field or a vineyard. They stray and graze in another persons field. He must make up for what the damaged field was expected to produce. If he lets them ruin the whole field with their grazing, he must make up from his own field for the loss with the best from his field and vineyard.


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»A fire starts and spreads into the underbrush so that it burns up stacked or standing grain or ruins a field. The person who started the fire must make up for the loss.


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»Someone gives his neighbor silver or other valuables to keep for him. They are stolen from that persons house. If the thief is caught, he must make up for the loss with double the amount.


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»If the thief is not caught, the owner of the house must be brought to God to find out whether or not he took his neighbors valuables.


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»There is a dispute over the ownership of a bull, a donkey, a sheep, an article of clothing, and any other lost property which two people claim as their own. Both people must bring their case to God. The one whom God declares guilty must make up for his neighbors loss with double the amount.


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»Someone gives his neighbor a donkey, a bull, a sheep, or any other kind of animal to keep for him, and it dies, is injured, or is captured in war, and there are no witnesses.


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»The case between them must be settled by swearing an oath to Jehovah that the neighbor did not take the other persons animal. The owner must accept the oath. The neighbor does not have to make up for the loss.


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»If a wild animal killed the neighbors animal he must bring in the dead body of the wild animal as evidence. He does not have to make up for an animal that has been killed.


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»Whenever someone borrows an animal from his neighbor, and it is injured or dies while the owner is not present, the borrower must make up for the loss.


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»If the owner is with the animal, the borrower does not have to make up for the loss. If it is rented, the rental fee covers the loss.


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»When a man seduces a virgin who is not engaged to anyone and has sexual intercourse with her, he must pay the bride price and marry her.


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»If her father refuses to give her to him, he must pay an amount of money equal to the bride price for virgins.


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and I will become angry and kill you in war. Your wives will become widows, and your children will be fatherless.


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»When you lend money to any of my people who are poor, do not act like a moneylender and require him to pay interest.


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»If you take someones cloak as a pledge that he will pay you, you must give it back to him before the sunsets,


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for it is the only covering he has to keep him warm. What else can he sleep in? When he cries out to me for help, I will answer him because I am merciful.


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»Do not delay the offering from your harvest and your vintage. Give the firstborn of your sons to me.


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»Do the same with your oxen and with your sheep. Its mother may keep it for seven days. On the eighth day give it to me.


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»You are to be my holy people. Do not eat any flesh torn to bits in the field. Throw it to the dogs.


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»If your enemys donkey falls under its load, help him get the donkey to its feet again. Do not just walk away.


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»Do not make false accusations. Do not put an innocent person to death. I will condemn anyone who does this evil thing.


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»Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe makes the discerning blind to what is right and perverts the words of the righteous.


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»Do not mistreat a foreigner. You know how it feels to be a foreigner. After all you were foreigners in Egypt.


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»Let your land rest the seventh year. Do not harvest anything that grows on it. The poor may eat what grows there. The wild animals may have what is left. Do the same with your vineyards and your olive trees.


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»Work six days a week. Do no work on the seventh day. Allow your slaves and the foreigners who work for you and even your animals to rest.


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»Listen to everything Jehovah has said to you. Do not pray to other gods! Do not even mention their names.


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»In the month of Abib, the month in which you left Egypt, celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread in the way that I commanded you. Do not eat any bread made with yeast during the seven days of this festival. Never come to worship me without bringing an offering.


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»Celebrate the Harvest Festival when you begin to harvest your crops. Celebrate the Festival of Shelters in the autumn, when you gather the fruit from your vineyards and orchards.


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»Do not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread. Do not allow the fat of my feast to remain overnight until morning.


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»Bring the choice first fruits of your soil into the house of Jehovah your God. Do not boil a young goat in the milk of its mother.


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»I am going to send an angel before you to guard you along the way and to bring you into the place that I have prepared.


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»Be on your guard before him and obey his voice. Do not be rebellious toward him. He will not pardon your transgression, since my name is in him. <i>He has my honor, authority and character</i>


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»If you truly obey his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.


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»My messenger will go ahead of you. I will lead you to the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, and Jebusites. I will wipe them out.


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»Do not worship or serve their gods or follow their practices. You must destroy their gods and crush their sacred stones.


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»You must serve Jehovah your God! I will bless your food and water. I will take away all sickness from among you.


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»No woman in your land will miscarry or be unable to have children. I will let you live a normal life span.


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»I will send my terror ahead of you and throw any nation you meet into a panic. I will make all your enemies flee from you.


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»I will throw your enemies into panic! I will drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites as you advance.


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»I will not drive them out within a years time. If I did, the land would become deserted. There would be too many wild animals for you.


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»I will make the borders of your land extend from the Gulf of Aqaba to the Mediterranean Sea and from the desert to the Euphrates River. I will give you power over the inhabitants of the land. You will drive them out as you advance.


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»Do not allow them to live in your land for they will make you sin against me. If you serve their gods it will be a snare to you.«


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Jehovah said to Moses: »You and Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of Israels elders come up the mountain to me and worship at a distance.


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Moses told the people all Jehovahs words and legal decisions. Then all the people answered with one voice: »We will do everything Jehovah told us to do.«


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Moses wrote down all Jehovahs words. Early the next morning he built an altar at the foot of the mountain. He erected twelve sacred stones for the twelve tribes of Israel.


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Moses took half of the blood of the animals and put it in bowls. The other half he threw against the altar.


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He took the book of the covenant, in which Jehovahs commandments were written, and read it aloud to the people. They said: »We will obey Jehovah. We will do everything that he has commanded.«


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Moses took the blood from the bowls and sprinkled it on the people. Next, he told them: With this blood Jehovah makes his agreement with you.


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They saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something that looked like a pavement made out of sapphire. It was as bright as the sky.


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Jehovah said to Moses: »Come up on the mountain and stay here for a while. I will give you the two stone tablets on which I have written the laws that my people must obey.«


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He said to the elders: »Wait here for us until we return to you. Aaron and Hur are with you. Anyone with a legal matter should approach them.«


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The glory of Jehovah rested on Mount Sinai. The cloud covered it for six days. God called to Moses on the seventh day. He spoke from inside the cloud.


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To the eyes of the Israelites the appearance of the glory of Jehovah was like a consuming fire on the top of the mountain.


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Moses entered the midst of the cloud as he went up to the mountain. He was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.


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»Tell the Israelites to choose something to give me as a special contribution. You must accept whatever contribution each person freely gives.


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olive oil for the lamps, spices <i>balsam oil</i> for the anointing oil and for the sweet-smelling incense,


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»Make a Box out of acacia wood, forty-five inches long, twenty-seven inches wide, and twenty-seven inches high.


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»Make four carrying rings of gold for it and attach them to its four legs, with two rings on each side.


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»Make one cherub at one end and one cherub at the other end. You shall make the cherubim of one piece with the chest at its two ends.


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»The cherubim shall have their wings spread upward, covering the chest with their wings and facing one another. The faces of the cherubim are to be turned toward the chest.


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»After you put into the ark the words of my covenant that I will give you, place the throne of mercy on top.


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»I will be above the throne of mercy between the angels whenever I meet with you. I will give you all my commandments for the Israelites.


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»Make a table of acacia wood thirty-six inches long, eighteen inches wide, and twenty-seven inches high.


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»The plates and dishes for the table should be out of pure gold. Also make pitchers and bowls to be used for pouring wine offerings.


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»The table should be placed in front of the Covenant Box. There is always to be the sacred bread offered to me for the table.


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»Make lamp stand of pure gold. Make its base and its shaft of hammered gold. Its decorative flowers, including buds and petals, are to form one piece with it.


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»Three cups shall be shaped like almond blossoms in the one branch, a bulb and a flower, and three cups shaped like almond blossoms in the other branch. This should go on for six branches going out from the lamp stand.


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»Their bulbs and their branches shall be of one piece. All of it must be one piece of hammered work of pure gold.


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»Then make a total of seven lamps. Mount the lamps so that they shed light on the space in front of it.


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»Construct the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twisted linen and blue and purple and scarlet material. Make them with cherubim, the work of a skillful workman.


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»Make fifty gold fasteners. Use them to link the two sets of curtains together so that the tent is a single unit.


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»Sew five of the curtains together into one set. Sew the remaining six into another set. Fold the sixth curtains in half to hang in front of the tent.


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»Make fifty bronze fasteners. Put the fasteners through the loops to link the inner tent together as a single unit.


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»Eighteen inches will be left over on each side because of the length of the outer tents curtains. That should hang over each side in order to cover the inner tent.


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»Make a cover of rams skins that have been dyed red for the outer tent. Place a cover made of fine leather over that.


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»Provide forty silver sockets at the bottom of the twenty frames, two sockets at the bottom of each frame for the two pegs.


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»Fasten these together at the bottom and tightly at the top by a single ring. Both corner frames will be made this way.


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»Also prepare five for those on the other side, and five for the frames on the far end of the inner tent, the west side.


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»Build a canopy of violet, purple, and bright red yarn. Creatively work an angel design of cherubim into fine linen yarn.


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»Hang it on four pillars of acacia overlaid with gold. Their hooks should also be of gold, on four sockets of silver.


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»Hang up the veil under the clasps. Bring in the Ark of the Covenant there within the veil. The veil shall serve for you as a partition between the holy place and the holy of holies.


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»Set the table outside the veil. Place the lamp stand opposite the table on the side of the tabernacle toward the south. Place the table on the north side.


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»Make a screen for the doorway of the tent of blue and purple and scarlet material and fine twisted linen, the work of a weaver.


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»Make five pillars of acacia for the screen and overlay them with gold. Their hooks should also be of gold. Cast five sockets of bronze for them.


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»Build the altar with acacia wood. It should be seven and one half feet square and four and one half feet tall.


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»Place a horn at each of its four corners. The four horns and the altar must be made out of one piece of wood covered with copper.


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»Make all the utensils for it out of copper: pots for taking away the altars ashes, also shovels, bowls, forks, and incense burners.


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»Make a grate for it out of copper mesh. Make a copper ring for each of the four corners of the grate.


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»Make the altar out of boards so that it is hollow inside. It must be made just as you were shown on the mountain.


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»Make a courtyard for the tent <i>tabernacle</i> . The south side of the courtyard <i>toward the Negeb</i> should be one hundred and fifty feet long and have curtains made out of fine linen yarn.


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»Hang on them twenty posts set in twenty copper bases. The hooks and bands on the posts should be made of silver.


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»The north side should be the same one hundred fifty feet long, with curtains on twenty posts set in twenty copper bases. The hooks and bands on the posts should be made of silver.


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»The courtyard on the west side should be seventy-five wide and have curtains hung on ten posts set in ten bases.


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»One side of the entrance will be twenty-two and one half feet wide with curtains hung on three posts set in three bases.


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»Use four more of these posts for the entrance. Hang on them an embroidered curtain of fine linen ten yards long and woven with blue, purple, and red wool.


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»The curtains that surround the courtyard must be two and a half yards high and should be hung from the bronze posts with silver hooks and rods.


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»The courtyard should be one hundred and fifty feet long, seventy-five feet wide, and seven and one half feet high. The curtains should be made of fine linen yarn and with copper bases.


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»Regardless of how they are used all the things for the tent must be made of copper. Even the pegs for the tent and the courtyard must be made of copper.


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»Command the Israelites that the lighting must be provided by pure virgin olive oil so that the lamps will not go out.


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»Keep the lamps lit in the tent of meeting outside the canopy where the words of my covenant are. Aaron and his descendants must keep the lamps lit in Jehovahs presence from evening until morning. This is a long lasting law among the Israelites for generations to come.


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Jehovah continued: »Bring your brother Aaron and his sons Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar to you from all the Israelites. They will serve me as priests.


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»Tell all the skilled men whom I have given this ability to make Aarons clothes. These clothes will set him apart as holy when he serves me as priest.


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»The clothes they will make are as follows: a breastplate, an ephod and the robe that is worn with it, another specially woven linen robe, the chief priests turban, and a cloth belt. They will make these holy clothes for your brother Aaron and his sons so that they will be able to serve me as priests.


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»prepare the ephod with fine linen yarn. Embroider gold, violet, purple, and bright red yarn into the fabric.


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»Engrave the names of the sons of Israel on the two stones the same way a jeweler engraves a signet ring. Mount them in gold settings.


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»Then fasten them on the shoulder straps of the ephod as reminders of who the Israelites are. In this way Aaron will carry their names on his shoulders as a reminder in Jehovahs presence.


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»Also make two chains of pure gold. These gold chains should be twisted like ropes. Fasten these chains to the settings.


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»Prepare the breast piece for decision-making using a skilled craftsman. Make it like the ephod out of gold, violet, purple, and bright red yarn and out of fine linen yarn.


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»The stones represent the twelve sons of Israel, by name, each stone engraved like a signet ring with the name of one of the twelve tribes.


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»Fasten the other ends of the ropes to the two settings on the shoulder straps of the ephod so that the breastplate hangs in front of it.


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»Make two gold rings, and connect them to the other two corners of the breastplate on the inside edge next to the ephod.


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»Make two more gold rings, and fasten them to the bottom of the shoulder straps on the front of the ephod. This will be close to the seam just above the belt of the ephod.


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»Then the breastplate should be fastened by its rings to the rings of the ephod with a violet cord. Attach it just above the belt of the ephod. This will hold the breastplate in place.


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»When Aaron goes into the holy place, he will carry the names of the sons of Israel over his heart as a continual reminder in Jehovahs presence. He must do this by wearing the breast piece for decision-making.


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Put the Urim and Thummim into the breast piece for decision-making. They, too, will be over Aarons heart when he comes into Jehovahs presence. In this way when he is in Jehovahs presence, Aaron will always be carrying over his heart the means for determining Jehovahs decisions for the Israelites.


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»Provide an opening for the head in the center with a reinforced edge like a leather collar all around it to keep it from tearing.


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»Along the hem of the robe weave pomegranates of blue, purple, and red wool with a gold bell between each of them.


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»Aaron should wear it when he serves as priest. The sound of the bells must be heard when he comes into and goes out of Jehovahs presence in the holy place so that he will not die.


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»It shall be on Aarons forehead. Aaron will take away the iniquity of the holy things that the sons of Israel consecrate. Concerning their holy gifts it will always be on his forehead that they may be accepted before Jehovah.


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»Weave the tunic of checkered work of fine linen. Make a turban of fine linen and a sash, the work of a weaver.


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»Make linen robes, belts, and turbans for Aarons sons. These clothes will give them dignity and honor.


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»Dress your brother Aaron and his sons in these clothes and anoint them, ordain them, and set them apart to serve me as priests.


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»Aaron and his sons must wear them when they go into the tent of meeting or when they come near the altar to serve as priests in the holy place. They will be blameless and will not die. This is a long lasting law for him and his descendants.


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Jehovah also said: »This is what you must do in order to <i>consecrate</i> set Aaron and his sons apart to serve me as priests: Take a young bull that has no defects and two rams that have no defects.


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»Use the best wheat flour to make some unleavened bread. Bake some with olive oil, some without it, and some in the form of thin cakes brushed with oil.


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»Bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the sacred tent of meeting and have them wash themselves.


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»Aaron should dress in the priestly shirt and robe under the sacred vest. Put on the vest, the breast piece, and the sash.


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»Lead the bull to the entrance of the sacred tent. Aaron and his sons will lay their hands on its head there.


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»Use a finger to smear some of its blood on each of the four corners of the altar. Pour out the rest of the blood on the ground next to the altar.


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»Take all the fat that covers the internal organs, the lobe of the liver, and the two kidneys with the fat on them, and burn them on the altar.


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»Cut the ram in pieces. Wash its internal organs and its legs, and put them on top of the head and the other pieces.


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»Burn the whole ram on the altar. It is burnt offering to Jehovah. The odor of this offering pleases me.


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»Kill it and take some of its blood and put it on the lobes of the right ears of Aaron and his sons, on the thumbs of their right hands and on the big toes of their right feet. Sprinkle the rest of the blood all around the altar.


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»Take some of the blood that is on the altar and some of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it on Aaron and his clothes and on his sons and their clothes. He, his sons, and their clothes will then be dedicated to me.


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»Remove the rams fat, the fat tail, the fat covering the internal organs, the fat attached to the liver, the two kidneys with the fat on them, and the right thigh.


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»From the basket of bread which has been offered to me, take one loaf of each kind: one loaf made with olive oil and one made without it and one thin cake.


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»Put all this food in the hands of Aaron and his sons and have them dedicate it to me as a special gift.


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»You may eat the choice breast from this second ram, but you must first lift them up to show that this meat is dedicated to me.


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»You shall consecrate the breast of the wave offering and the thigh of the heave offering which was waved and which was offered from the ram of ordination, from the one that was for Aaron and from the one that was for his sons.


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»It will be for Aaron and his sons as their long lasting portion from the sons of Israel. It is a heave offering. It will be a heave offering from the sons of Israel from the sacrifices of their peace offerings, even their heave offering to Jehovah.


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»The holy garments of Aaron shall be for his sons after him. They may wear them when they are anointed and ordained.


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»For seven days the one of his sons who is priest in his stead shall put them on when he enters the tent of meeting to minister in the holy place.


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»Aaron and his sons shall eat the flesh of the ram and the bread that is in the basket, at the doorway of the tent of meeting.


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»They shall eat those things used for their atonement and their ordination and consecration. A layman shall not eat them, because they are holy.


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»If any of the flesh of ordination or any of the bread remains until morning it should be burned with fire. It should not be eaten because it is holy.


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»Offer a bull as a sin offering for atonement each day. Purify the altar when you make atonement for it. Anoint it to consecrate it.


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»Make atonement for the altar and consecrate it for seven days. Then the altar shall be most holy, and whatever touches the altar shall be holy.


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»Make an offering of eight cups of flour mixed with one quart of virgin olive oil with the first lamb. Offer one quart of wine for a drink offering with the other lamb.


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»You will offer the other lamb at twilight. Offer it with the same grain offering and the same drink offering as in the morning, for a soothing aroma, an offering by fire to Jehovah.


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»It shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the doorway of the tent of meeting before Jehovah. That is where I will meet with you to speak to you.


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»I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar. I will also consecrate Aaron and his sons to minister as priests to me.


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»They shall know that I am Jehovah their God who brought them out of the land of Egypt, that I might dwell among them. I am Jehovah their God!


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»Make it eighteen inches square and thirty-six inches high. The horns that extend out of it and the altar should be made out of one piece of wood.


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»Make two gold rings. Place them below the molding on opposite sides to hold the poles for carrying it.


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»Place the altar in front of the canopy that hangs over the ark containing the words of my covenant I will meet with you there in front of the throne of mercy that is on the ark.


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»When Aaron lights the lamps at dusk he must burn incense. An incense offering must burn <i>smoke</i> constantly in Jehovahs presence for generations to come.


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»Do not burn any unauthorized incense on this altar or any burnt offerings or grain offerings. Do not pour a wine offering on it.


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»Once a year Aaron must make atonement with Jehovah by putting blood on its horns. Once a year for generations to come blood from the offering must be placed on the altar to make atonement with Jehovah. It is most holy to Jehovah.«


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»When you take a census of the people of Israel, each man is to pay me a price for his life. This to insure that no disaster will come on him while the census is being taken.


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»Everyone included in the census must pay the required amount of money. It should be weighed according to the official standard. Everyone must pay this as an offering to me.


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»The rich man is not to pay more. The poor man is not to pay less, when they pay this amount for their lives.


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»Collect this money from the people of Israel and spend it for the upkeep of the tent of meeting. This tax will be the payment for their lives. I will remember to protect them.«


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»Make a copper basin with a bronze stand for washing. Put it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and fill it with water.


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»Before they go into the tent of meeting, they must wash so that they will not die. Before they come near the altar to serve as priests and burn an offering by fire to Jehovah.


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« They must wash their hands and feet, so that they will not die. This is a long lasting rule that they and their descendants are to observe.«


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»Take top quality spices: twelve pounds of liquid myrrh, six pounds of sweet-smelling cinnamon, six pounds of sweet-smelling cane,


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the table with its equipment, the lamp stand with its equipment, the incense altar with all its utensils,


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»You will make them so holy that anyone who even touches them will become holy when you dedicate them this way.


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»Say this to the people of Israel: This oil must always be used in the ordination service of a priest. It is holy because it is dedicated to Jehovah.


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Jehovah said to Moses: »Take one part fragrant spices and two kinds of gum resin and aromatic mollusk shells, and mix them with one part pure frankincense.


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»Grind some of it into a fine powder. Put it in front of the ark containing the words of my covenant in the tent of meeting, where I will meet with you. You must treat it as most holy.


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»I filled him with the Spirit of God <i>my power</i> . I gave him understanding, skill, and ability for every kind of artistic work.


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»It is also for cutting jewels to be set and for carving wood and for every other kind of artistic work.


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»I also appointed Oholiab, son of Ahisamach, from the tribe of Dan, to help him. I have given every craftsman the skill necessary to make what I have commanded you:


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the tent of meeting, the ark containing the words of my covenant with the throne of mercy on it, and all the other furnishings for the tent,


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the special clothes the holy clothes for the priest Aaron and the clothes for his sons when they serve as priests,


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the anointing oil, and the sweet incense for the holy place. They will make all these things as I commanded you.«


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»Speak to the people of Israel. Say: You must observe my Sabbaths. This is a sign between you and me throughout your generations that you may know that I am Jehovah, the one who sanctifies you.


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»You are to observe the Sabbath. It is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it will absolutely be put to death. Whoever does any work on it will be removed from his people.


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»Work may be done for six days. The seventh day there is a Sabbath of complete rest. It is holy to Jehovah. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day will definitely be put to death.


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»The Israelites must observe the Sabbath and celebrate the Sabbath throughout their generations as a long lasting covenant.


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»It is a long lasting sign between the people of Israel and me for the reason that Jehovah made heaven and earth in six days. Then He ceased from work and was refreshed on the seventh day.«


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When God finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai, He gave him the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written by the finger of God.


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The people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain. They gathered around Aaron. They said to him: »We do not know what has happened to Moses, the man who led us out of Egypt. Make gods to lead us.«


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Aaron replied: »Have your wives, sons, and daughters take off the gold earrings they are wearing. Bring them to me.«


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After he worked on the gold with a tool, he made it into a statue of a calf. Then they said: »Israel, this is your god, who brought you out of Egypt.«


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Aaron built an altar in front of it when he saw what happened. Then he announced: »Tomorrow there will be a festival in Jehovahs honor.«


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Early the next day the people sacrificed burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. After that they sat down to a feast, which turned into an orgy.


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Jehovah said to Moses: »Go down there. Your people whom you brought out of Egypt have corrupted themselves.


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»They have already turned from the way I commanded them to live. They made a statue of a calf for themselves. They have bowed down to it and offered sacrifices to it. They said: »Israel, here is your god who brought you out of Egypt.«


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Jehovah added: »I have seen these people. They have an iron sinew <i>stiff necked people are impossible to deal with</i> .


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»Now let me alone. Let my anger burn against them. I am so angry with them I am going to destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.«


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»But Moses pleaded with Jehovah his God. »Jehovah,« he said, »why are you so angry with your people? These are your people whom you brought out of Egypt using your great power and mighty hand!


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»Do not let the Egyptians say: He was planning all along to kill them in the mountains and wipe them off the face of the earth. That is why he brought them out of our land. Do not be so angry. Reconsider your decision to bring this disaster on your people.


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»Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. You took an oath, swearing on yourself. You told them: I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky. I will give to your descendants all the land I spoke of. It will be their long lasting possession.«


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Moses went back down the mountain. He carried the two stone tablets with the commandments written on both sides.


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Moses replied: »That does not sound like a shout of victory or a cry of defeat; it is the sound of singing.«


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Moses came close enough to the camp at the foot of the mountain to see the bull-calf and to see the people dancing. He became furious! He threw down the tablets he was carrying and broke them.


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He took the bull-calf that they had made, melted it, ground it into fine powder, and mixed it with water. Then he made the people of Israel drink it.


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Moses asked Aaron: »What did these people do to harm you? Why did you make them sin in this terrible way?«


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Aaron said, »Do not be angry with me. You know the people as well as I do. They are determined to do evil.


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»They said to me: That man Moses led us out of Egypt, but now we do not know what has happened to him. Make us a god to lead us.«


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»Then I asked them to bring me their gold earrings. They took them off and gave them to me. I threw the gold into a fire, and out came this bull.«


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Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said: »Who is on Jehovahs side? Come to me. All the sons of Levi came to him.«


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He said to them, »Jehovah, the God of Israel says: Each man put his sword by his side. Go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp. Kill each one his brother, and each one his neighbor, and each one his kindred.«


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Moses said: »Today you are ordained as Jehovahs. God gave you a blessing today. Each of you fought with your own sons and brothers.«


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The next day Moses said to the people: »You have committed a serious sin. Now I will go up the mountain to Jehovah. Maybe I will be able to make a payment for your sin and make atonement with Jehovah for your sin.«


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So Moses went back to Jehovah and said: »These people have committed such a serious sin! They made a god out of gold for themselves.


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»Now, go and lead the people to the place I told you about. My angel will go ahead of you. But on the day when I punish, I will punish them for their sin.«


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Jehovah said to Moses: »You and the people you brought out of Egypt must leave this place. Go to the land I promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob with an oath, saying: I will give it to your descendants.«


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»I will send an angel ahead of you. I will force out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.


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»Go to that land flowing with milk and honey. I will not be with you, because you are impossible to deal with. I would probably destroy you on the way.«


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Jehovah said to Moses: »Tell the Israelites: You are impossible to deal with. If I were with you, I might destroy you at any time. Take off your jewelry and I will decide what to do with you.«


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Moses used to take a tent and set it up far outside the camp. He called it the tent of meeting. Anyone who was seeking Jehovahs will used to go outside the camp to the tent of meeting.


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Whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people would rise and stand at the entrances to their tents and watch Moses until he went in.


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After Moses entered, the pillar of cloud would come down and stay at the door of the Tent. Jehovah would speak to Moses from the cloud.


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Jehovah would speak with Moses in person <i>intimately face to face</i> just as someone speaks with a friend. Moses would then return to the camp. But the young man who was his helper, Joshua son of Nun, stayed in the Tent.


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Moses said to Jehovah: »It is true that you have told me to lead these people to that land, but you did not tell me whom you would send with me. You said that you know me well and are pleased with me.


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If you are, tell me your plans, so that I may serve you and continue to please you. Remember also that you have chosen this nation to be your own.«


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»If you do go with us, everyone will know that you are pleased with your people and with me. That way, we will be different from the rest of the people on earth.«


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Jehovah said to Moses: »I will do this thing of which you have spoken. You have found favor in my sight. I have known you by name.


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Jehovah said: »I will make all my goodness pass in front of you. I will call out my name, JEHOVAH. I will be kind to anyone I want to. I will be merciful to anyone I want to.«


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»When my glory passes by, I will put you in a crevice in the cliff and cover you with my hand until I have passed by.


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Jehovah said to Moses: »Cut two more stone tablets like the first ones. I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets that you smashed.


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»Be ready in the morning. Come up on Mount Sinai and present yourself to me there on top of the mountain.


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»No man may come with you or even be seen anywhere on the mountain. Even the flocks and herds may not graze in front of this mountain.«


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Moses cut two more stone tablets. Early the next morning he carried them up Mount Sinai, just as Jehovah commanded.


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Jehovah then passed in front of him and called out: »I, Jehovah, am a God who is full of compassion and pity. I am not easily angered and show great love and faithfulness.


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»I keep my promise for thousands of generations and forgive evil and sin. But I will not fail to punish children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation for the sins of their fathers.«


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He prayed: »Jehovah, if you really are pleased with me, I pray that you will go with us. It is true that these people are sinful and rebellious. However, please forgive our sin and let us be your people.«


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Jehovah said: »Behold! I offer a covenant <i>promise</i> to perform signs and miracles for you that have never been done in all the earth. Neighboring nations will stand in fear and know that I was the one who did these marvelous things.


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»I will force out the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. You must do what I command you today.


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»Watch yourself that you make no covenant with the inhabitants of the land into which you are going. It will become a snare in your midst.


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»Do not worship any other god but Jehovah for his reputation is filled with zeal, and he is a God who demands exclusive devotion.


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Otherwise you might make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land. They would commit spiritual immorality <i>fornication</i> with their gods and sacrifice to their gods. Someone might invite you to eat of his sacrifice.


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»You might take some of his daughters for your sons, and his daughters might commit spiritual immorality <i>fornication</i> with their gods and cause your sons also to commit spiritual immorality with their gods.


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»Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread. As I commanded you, you must eat unleavened bread for seven days at the appointed time in the month of Abib. This is because in that month you came out of Egypt.


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»Every first male offspring is mine. The firstborn males of all your livestock, whether cattle, sheep, or goats are mine.


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»It will cost you a sheep or a goat to buy back the firstborn donkey. If you do not buy it back, then you must break the donkeys neck. You must buy back every firstborn of your sons. No one may come into my presence without an offering.


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»You may work six days. On the seventh day you must not work. Even during the time of plowing or harvesting you must not work on this day.


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»Celebrate the Festival of Weeks with the first grain from your wheat harvest. Celebrate the Festival of the Final Harvest at the end of the season.


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»Three times a year all your men must come into the presence of the Sovereign Jehovah, the God of Israel.


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»I will force nations out of your way and will expand your countrys borders. No one will want to take away your land while you are gone three times a year to Jehovahs festivals.


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»Do not offer the blood of a sacrifice to me at the same time you offer anything containing yeast. No part of the sacrifice at the Passover festival should be left over in the morning.


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»I am Jehovah your God! You must bring the first part of your harvest to the place of worship. Do not boil a young goat in its mothers milk.«


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Jehovah told Moses: »Put these laws in writing, as part of my agreement <i>covenant</i> with Israel.«


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Moses was there with Jehovah forty days and forty nights. He did not eat bread or drink water. He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments <i>Ten Words</i> .


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Moses came down from Mount Sinai. The two tablets of the testimony were in Moses hand as he came down from the mountain. Moses did not know that the skin of his face glowed because he spoke with God.


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Aaron and all the Israelites looked at Moses and saw his face glowing. They were afraid to come near him.


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Moses called to them. Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation came back to him. Then Moses spoke to them.


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All the other Israelites came near him. He commanded them to do everything Jehovah told him on Mount Sinai.


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When Moses went into Jehovahs presence to speak with him, he took off the veil until he came out. When he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded,


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they would see that Moses face was glowing. Moses would put the veil back on until he went in again to speak with Jehovah.


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Moses assembled the whole Israelite congregation and said to them: »These are the things Jehovah commanded you to do:


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»You may work for six days. The seventh day is a holy day of worship <i>a Sabbath</i> . It is a day when you do not work. It is dedicated to Jehovah. Whoever does any work on this day should be put to death.


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Make an offering to Jehovah. Everyone who wishes to do so is to bring an offering of gold, silver, or copper.


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The offering could also be carnelians and other jewels to be set in the High Priests ephod and in his breast piece.


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the Tent, its covering and its outer covering, its hooks and its frames, its crossbars, its posts, and its bases;


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the altar for burning incense and its poles; the anointing oil; the sweet incense; the curtain for the entrance of the Tent;


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the altar on which to burn offerings, with its bronze grating attached, its poles, and all its equipment; the washbasin and its base;


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and the garments the priests are to wear when they serve in the Holy Place---the sacred clothes for Aaron the priest and for his sons.«


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Those who were willing and whose hearts moved them brought their contributions to Jehovah. The gifts were used to construct the tent of meeting, to pay other expenses, and to make the holy clothes.


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All willing, men and women alike, brought all kinds of gold jewelry: pins, brooches, earrings, signet rings, and pendants. They offered these gifts of gold to Jehovah.


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Those who had violet, purple, or bright red yarn, fine linen, goats hair, rams skins dyed red, or fine leather brought them.


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Those who could give silver or copper brought it as their contribution to Jehovah. Those who had acacia wood that could be used in the construction brought it.


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All the skilled women brought fine linen thread and thread of blue, purple, and red wool, which they made.


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The leaders brought different kinds of jewels to be sewn on the special clothes and the breast piece for the high priest.


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And the spice and the oil for the light, and the holy <i>anointing</i> oil and the sweet perfume <i>balsam oil</i> .


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The people of Israel, every man and woman whose hearts were willing, gave their offerings freely to Jehovah. This was for the work that Jehovah gave Moses orders to have done.


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Then Moses said to the sons of Israel: »Jehovah has called by name Bezalel son of Uri son of Hur of the tribe of Judah.


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»He has filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding and in knowledge and in all craftsmanship.


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»Jehovah also gave Bezalel and Oholiab, son of Ahisamach, from the tribe of Dan the ability to teach others.


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»Jehovah made these men highly skilled in all trades. They can do the work of jewelers, carpenters, and designers. They know how to embroider violet, purple and bright red yarn on fine linen. They know how to weave yarn on a loom. They can do all kinds of trades. They are master artists.


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Moses continued speaking: »Bezalel and Oholiab will do the work as Jehovah commanded. They will do this with the help of every other craftsman to whom Jehovah has given the necessary skills and talents. They will know how to do all the work for constructing the holy place.«


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Moses called Bezalel and Oholiab and every craftsman to whom Jehovah gave these skills and who was willing to come and do the work.


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Moses provided them with all the contributions the Israelites brought for the work of constructing the holy place. Plus, the people still kept bringing him <i>voluntary</i> freewill offerings every morning.


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to Moses. They said: »The people are bringing more than is needed for the work Jehovah commanded to be done.«


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Moses sent a command throughout the camp, saying: »No one is to make any further contribution for the sacred Tent.« So the people did not bring any more.


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The most skilled men among those doing the work made the Tent of Jehovahs presence. They made it out of ten pieces of fine linen woven with blue, purple, and red wool and embroidered with figures of winged creatures.


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They also made fifty gold fasteners. They used them to link the two sets of curtains together so that the inner tent was a single unit.


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They made a cover out of rams skins that had been dyed red for the outer tent, and over that they put a cover made of fine leather.


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Then they made forty silver sockets placed at the bottom of the twenty frames. There were two sockets at the bottom of each frame for the two pegs.


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They were held together at the bottom and held tightly at the top by a single ring. Both corner frames were made this way.


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They also made crossbars out of acacia wood. Five were for the frames on one side of the inner tent,


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five were for those on the other side, and five were for the frames on the far side of the inner tent, the west side.


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They covered the frames with gold and made gold rings to hold the crossbars. They also covered the crossbars with gold.


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They made the canopy out of violet, purple, and bright red yarn and fine linen yarn. A cherubim <i>angel</i> design was creatively worked into the fabric.


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Four posts of acacia wood were prepared for it. They covered them with gold. They made gold hooks for the posts. They cast four silver bases for them.


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They made a screen out of fine linen yarn for the entrance to the outer tent. It was embroidered with violet, purple, and bright red yarn.


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They also made five posts with hooks for hanging the screen. They covered the tops of the posts and the bands with gold. The five bases for the posts were made of copper.


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Bezalel made the ark out of acacia wood forty-five inches long, twenty-seven inches wide, and twenty-seven inches high.


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one for each end of the lid. He made them so that they formed one piece with the lid, one cherub at each end.


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The cherubim had their wings spread upward. They covered the mercy seat with their wings. The faces of the cherubim were toward the mercy seat and toward each other.


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He made the table of acacia wood. It was thirty-six inches long and eighteen inches wide and twenty-seven inches high.


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He made plates, dishes, bowls, and pitchers to be used for pouring wine offerings on the table. All of them were made out of pure gold.


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He made the lamp stand out of pure gold. The lamp stand, its base, and its shaft, as well as the flower cups, buds, and petals were hammered out of one piece of gold.


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The lamp stand, including its branches and decorative flowers, was made from a single piece of hammered pure gold.


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He made an altar out of acacia wood for burning incense. It was eighteen inches square and thirty-six inches high. The horns and altar were made out of one piece of wood.


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All of it was covered with pure gold, the top, the sides, and the horns. He put a gold molding around it.


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He made two gold rings and put them below the molding on opposite sides to hold the poles for carrying it.


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He made the altar for burnt offerings out of acacia wood seven and one half feet square and four and one half feet high.


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Then he placed a horn at each of its four corners. He made the four horns and the altar out of one piece of wood covered with copper.


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He also made all the equipment for the altar: the pans, the shovels, the bowls, the hooks, and the fire pans. All this equipment was made of copper.


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A copper grating was also made. It was placed under the rim of the altar, so that it reached halfway up the altar.


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He made the laver <i>basin</i> of copper with its base of copper, from the mirrors of the serving women who served at the doorway of the tent of meeting.


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He made the courtyard. The south side curtains of the courtyard were fine twisted linen, one hundred and fifty feet long.


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The courtyard had twenty pillars, and twenty sockets, made of copper. The hooks of the pillars and their bands were of silver.


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The north side was also one hundred and fifty feet long with twenty posts and twenty copper bases. The hooks and bands on the posts were made of silver.


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The west side was seventy-five feet long. It had curtains hung on ten posts set in ten bases. The hooks and bands on the posts were made of silver.


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The curtains for the gate were twenty-two and one half feet long, with their three pillars and their three sockets,


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There were seven and one half yards of curtains with three posts and three bases on each side of the entrance.


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The bases for the posts were made of copper. The hooks and bands on the posts were made of silver. The tops of the posts were covered with silver. And the bands on all the posts of the courtyard were made of silver.


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The screen for the entrance to the courtyard was made of violet, purple, and bright red yarn embroidered on fabric made from fine linen yarn. It was thirty feet long and seven and one half feet high, just like the curtains of the courtyard.


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The screen hung on four posts set in four copper bases. The hooks and bands on the posts were made of silver. The tops of the posts were covered with silver.


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This is the inventory of the tent, the Tent of Testimony. An inventory was ordered by Moses and carried out by the Levites under the direction of Ithamar, son of the priest Aaron.


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Bezalel, son of Uri and grandson of Hur, from the tribe of Judah, made everything Jehovah commanded Moses.


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Bezalel was a jeweler, carpenter, designer, and he knew how to embroider violet, purple, and bright red yarn on fine linen. His assistant was Oholiab, son of Ahisamach, from the tribe of Dan.


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All the gold from the offerings presented to Jehovah used in building the holy place weighed over two thousand one hundred and ninety three pounds using the standard weight of the holy place.


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The silver collected when the census of the community was taken weighed seven thousand five hundred and forty four pounds using the standard weight of the holy place.


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This amounted to one-fifth of an ounce per person, for everyone counted who was at least twenty years old. There were six hundred and three thousand five hundred and fifty people.


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He used seven thousand five hundred pounds of silver to cast the one hundred bases for the holy place and the canopy. That came to seventy-five pounds per base.


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Bezalel used forty-four pounds of silver to make the hooks and bands for the posts and the coverings for the tops of the posts.


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He used this to make the bases for the entrance to the tent of meeting, the copper altar with its copper grate and all its accessories,


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the bases all around the courtyard, the bases for the entrance to the courtyard, all the pegs for the tent, and all the pegs for the surrounding courtyard.


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From the violet, purple, and bright red yarn they made special clothes worn for official duties in the holy place. They also made the holy clothes for Aaron. They obeyed Jehovahs instructions to Moses.


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The gold was hammered into thin sheets and cut up. They twisted the gold into threads, which they creatively worked into each strand of the violet, purple, and bright red yarn, and throughout the fine linen.


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From this they made two shoulder straps for the ephod and attached them to its sides, so that it could be fastened.


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The finely woven belt, made of the same materials, was attached to the ephod so as to form one piece with it. This was as Jehovah had commanded Moses.


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They prepared the carnelians and mounted them in gold settings. They were skillfully engraved with the names of the twelve sons of Jacob.


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They placed them on the shoulder straps of the ephod to represent the twelve tribes of Israel. Again, this was just as Jehovah commanded Moses.


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They mounted four rows of precious stones on it. Ruby was mounted on the first row along with topaz, and garnet.


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Each of the twelve stones had engraved on it the name of one of the sons of Jacob, in order to represent the twelve tribes of Israel.


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Two gold settings and two gold rings were prepared and attached, the two rings to the top two corners of the breast piece.


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They fastened the other ends of the ropes to the two settings on the shoulder straps of the ephod. The breastplate hung in front of it.


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They made two gold rings and fastened them to the other two corners of the breast piece on the inside edge next to the ephod.


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They made two more gold rings and fastened them to the bottom of the shoulder straps on the front of the ephod. This was close to the seam just above the belt of the ephod.


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Finally they fastened the breast piece by its rings to the rings of the ephod with a violet cord. So the breast piece was attached just above the belt of the ephod and was held in place. They followed Jehovahs instructions to Moses.


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The opening in the center of the robe had a finished edge, somewhat like a leather collar, all around it to keep it from tearing.


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On the hem of the robe they made pomegranates of violet, purple, and bright red yarn, and fine yarn.


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Bells were made out of pure gold. They were fastened in between the pomegranates all around the hem of the robe.


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A gold bell alternated with a pomegranate all around the hem of the robe that is worn by Aaron when he served as priest. They followed Jehovahs instructions to Moses.


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They also made the chief priests turban and the other beautiful turbans out of fine linen. They made the undergarments and belt out of fine linen yarn.


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The belt was embroidered with violet, purple, and bright red yarn. They followed Jehovahs instructions to Moses.


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The flower-shaped medallion, the holy crown, was fashioned out of pure gold. The statement: HOLY TO JEHOVAH was engraved on it.


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They fastened a violet cord to it and tied it on top of the turban. They followed Jehovahs instructions to Moses.


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So all the work on the inner tent of the tent of meeting was now done. The Israelites obeyed all Jehovahs instructions to Moses.


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They brought everything to Moses: the inner tent, the outer tent and all its furnishings, the fasteners, frames, crossbars, posts, sockets,


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the copper altar with its copper grate, its poles, and all its accessories, the basin with its stand,


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the curtains for the courtyard, the posts, bases, and screen for the entrance to the courtyard, the ropes and pegs, all the equipment needed for the service of the inner tent for tent of meeting;


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the special clothes worn when serving as priests in the holy place, both the holy clothes for the priest Aaron and the clothes for his sons when serving as priests.


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Moses inspected all the work. He saw that they had followed Jehovahs instructions. So Moses blessed them.


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»Bring in the table and place the equipment on it. Also bring the lamp stand and set up the lamps on it.


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»Put the gold altar for burning incense in front of the Covenant Box and hang the curtain at the entrance of the Tabernacle.


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»Then dedicate the Tabernacle and all its equipment by anointing it with the sacred oil, and it will be holy.


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»Dress Aaron in the priestly garments and anoint him. Consecrate him so that he can serve me as priest.


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»Anoint them just as you anointed their father that they can serve me as priests. This anointing will make them priests for generations to come.«


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The Tent of Jehovahs presence was set up on the first day of the first month of the second year after they left Egypt.


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When Moses set up the tent, he put the sockets in place, put up the frames, inserted the crossbars, and set up the posts.


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He spread the outer tent over the inner tent and put the cover on top. Moses followed Jehovahs instructions.


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He took the words of Gods promise <i>covenant</i> and put them in the ark. He put the poles on the ark and placed the throne of mercy on top of the ark.


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Then he brought the ark into the tent and hung the canopy over it to mark off where the ark was. Moses followed Jehovahs instructions.


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He put the altar for burnt offerings at the entrance to the tabernacle of the tent of meeting. He sacrificed burnt offerings and grain offerings on it. Moses followed Jehovahs instructions.


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They washed whenever they went into the tent of meeting or whenever they approached the altar. Moses obeyed Jehovahs instructions.


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He set up the courtyard around the tent and the altar and put up the screen at the entrance to the courtyard. At last Moses finished the work.


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Moses could not go into the tent of meeting because the smoke settled on it and the glory of Jehovah filled the tent.


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In all their travels, when the column of smoke moved from the tent, the Israelites would break camp.


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Jehovahs column of smoke stayed over the tent during the day. There was fire in the smoke at night. This way all the Israelites could see the column throughout their travels.


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»Tell the Israelites: When you bring an offering to Jehovah, bring your offering of animals from the herd or the flock.


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»If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, it should be a male without defect. He shall offer it at the doorway of the Tent of Meeting, that he may be accepted before Jehovah.


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»He should lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering. It may then be accepted for him to make atonement with Jehovah on his behalf.


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»Slaughter the bull in Jehovahs presence. Aaron's sons, the priests, will offer the blood. They will throw it against all sides of the altar that is at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.


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»Aaron's sons, the priests, will also lay the pieces, the head, and the fat on top of the wood burning on the altar.


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»Wash the internal organs and legs. The priest will then burn all of it on the altar. It is a burnt offering, an offering by fire, a soothing aroma to Jehovah.


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»Slaughter it on the north side of the altar. The priests should throw its blood on all four sides of the altar.


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»After you cut it up, the officiating priest will lay them in order on the wood that is on the fire.


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»Wash the internal organs and the hind legs. The priest will present the sacrifice to Jehovah and burn all of it on the altar. The odor of this food offering is pleasing to Jehovah.


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»A priest will take the bird to the copper altar. He will wring its neck and put its head on the fire. Then he will drain out its blood on one side of the altar,


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»Remove the bird's crop with its feathers, and throw them on the ash heap at the east side of the altar.


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»Finally, he will take the bird by its wings, tear it partially open, and send it up in smoke with a smell that pleases Jehovah.


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»When you present an offering of grain to Jehovah, you must first grind it into flour. You must put oil and incense on it.


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»Give it to Aarons sons the priests. The priest will take a handful of the flour and oil and all of the incense and burn it on the altar as a memorial. It is all offered by fire to Jehovah. The odor of this food offering is pleasing to Jehovah.


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»The rest of the grain offering will belong to Aaron and his sons. It is most holy and set apart from Jehovahs offering by fire.


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»If your grain offering has been baked in an oven, it must be rings of unleavened bread made of flour mixed with olive oil or wafers of unleavened bread brushed with oil.


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»If your grain offering is prepared in a frying pan, it, too, will be unleavened bread made of flour mixed with oil.


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»Bring Jehovah the grain offering prepared in any of these ways. Offer it to the priest who will bring it to the altar.


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»To show that the whole offering belongs to me, the priest will lay part of it on the altar. He will send it up in smoke and fire with a smell that pleases Jehovah.


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»The rest of the offering belongs to the priests. It is very holy, since it is taken from the food offered to Jehovah.


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»Every grain offering you bring to Jehovah must be made without yeast. Do not use yeast or honey in food offered to Jehovah.


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»Bring them to Jehovah as an offering of first fruits. Do not offer them on the altar as a soothing aroma.


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»Season every grain offering with salt. Do not leave the salt of the covenant of your God out of your grain offering. All of your offerings must have salt.


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»When you bring a grain offering of early-ripened things to Jehovah, you should bring fresh heads of grain roasted in the fire, grits of new growth, for the grain offering of your early-ripened things.


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»The priest will burn the flour, oil, and all the incense as a reminder. It is an offering by fire to Jehovah.


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»If your sacrifice is a fellowship offering of cattle in Jehovahs presence, it must be a male or female animal that has no defects.


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»Put your hand on the head of the animal and kill it at the entrance of the Tent of Jehovahs presence. Then Aarons sons the priests must throw the blood against all four sides of the altar.


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»Offer all of the fat on the animal's insides as a sacrifice of the peace offering made by fire to Jehovah.


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»Some of the priests will lay these pieces on the altar and send them up in smoke with a smell that pleases me, together with the sacrifice that is offered to Jehovah.


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»If your sacrifice is a fellowship offering of sheep to Jehovah, you must bring a male or female animal that has no defects.


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»Place your hand on the animal's head. Slaughter it in front of the Tent of Meeting. Aaron's sons will throw the blood against the altar on all sides.


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»Take the fat from the fellowship offering and offer it by fire to Jehovah. Remove all the fat from the tail and the fat that covers the internal organs.


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»Put your hand on its head and slaughter it in front of the Tent. The priests will throw its blood against all four sides of the altar.


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»Also the two kidneys with the fat that is on them, which is on the loins, and the lobe of the liver, which he will remove with the kidneys.


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»The priest will burn them on the altar. It is food, an offering by fire to Jehovah. It is a soothing aroma. All the fat belongs to Jehovah.


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»This is a long lasting law for generations to come wherever you live. Never eat any fat or blood.«


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to tell the people of Israel: »If a person sins unintentionally and does not keep Jehovahs commandments he would have to observe the following rules:


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»If it is the High Priest who sins and brings guilt on the people, he should present a young bull without any defects and sacrifice it to Jehovah for his sin.


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»The priest must lead the bull to the entrance of the sacred tent. He must lay his hand on its head and kill it there.


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dip a finger in the blood, and sprinkle some of it seven times toward the sacred chest behind the curtain.


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»In my presence, he will smear some of the blood on each of the four corners of the incense altar, before pouring out the rest at the foot of the copper altar near the entrance to the tent.


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»He must remove from it all the fat of the bull of the sin offering: the fat that covers the entrails, and all the fat which is on the entrails,


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and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them, which is on the loins, and the lobe of the liver, which he shall remove with the kidneys


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»It is to be removed from the bull of the sacrifice of peace offerings. The priest is to offer them up in smoke on the altar of burnt offering.


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»But the hide of the bull and all its flesh with its head and its legs and its entrails and its refuse,


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»He is to bring the rest of the bull to a clean place outside the camp where the ashes are poured out. There he will burn it on wood with fire; where the ashes are poured out it shall be burned.


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»If the whole congregation of Israel commits error and the matter escapes the notice of the assembly, and they commit any of the things that Jehovah commands not to be done they become guilty.


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»When the sin they have committed becomes known the assembly shall offer a bull of the herd. This is for a sin offering. Bring it before the Tent of Meeting.


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»The elders of the congregation will place their hands on the bull's head in Jehovahs presence. One of them will slaughter it in Jehovahs presence.


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»The priest will dip his finger in some of the blood and sprinkle it seven times in Jehovahs presence in front of the veil.


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»He will put some blood on the horns of the altar in Jehovahs presence in the Tent of Meeting. He will pour the remaining blood at the bottom of the altar. This is for burnt offerings at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.


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»He will do the same thing with this bull that he did with the bull used as the offering for sin. So the priest will pay compensation for the wrong and make peace with Jehovah for the people. They will be forgiven.


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»He will take the bull outside the camp and burn it the same way he burned the first bull. It is an offering for sin for the community.


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as soon as the sin is called to his attention, the priest will bring as his offering a male goat without any defects.


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»He will place his hand on the goat's head. He will slaughter it in Jehovahs presence where he slaughters animals for burnt offerings. It is an offering for sin.


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»The priest will then take some of the blood of the offering for sin with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar for burnt offerings. He will pour the rest of the blood at the bottom of the altar for burnt offerings.


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»He will burn all the fat on the altar the same way the fat of the fellowship offering is burned. The priest will pay compensation for the wrong and make peace for what the leader did wrong. The leader will be forgiven.


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»When a common person unintentionally does something wrong, even one thing forbidden by Jehovahs commandments, he will be guilty.


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»When he learns what he has done wrong, he must bring a female goat that has no defects as his offering for what he has done wrong.


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»He will place his hand on the animal's head and slaughter it where animals for burnt offerings are slaughtered.


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»The priest will take some of the blood with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar for burnt offerings. He will pour the rest of the blood out at the bottom of the altar.


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»He will remove all the fat the same way it is removed from the peace offering. The priest will burn it on the altar for a soothing aroma to Jehovah. So the priest will make peace with Jehovah for that person. That person will be forgiven.


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»He will place his hand on the animal's head and slaughter it where he slaughters animals for burnt offerings.


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»Then the priest will take some of the blood from the offering for sin with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar for burnt offerings. He will pour the rest of the blood at the bottom of the altar.


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»He will remove all the fat the same way the fat of the lamb is removed from the peace offerings. Then the priest will burn it on the altar with the offering by fire to Jehovah. Then the priest will pay compensation for the wrong and make peace with Jehovah for what that person did wrong. That person will be forgiven.


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Jehovah continued: »If you are a witness under oath who refuses to tell what you saw or what you know, you are sinning and will be punished.


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»If you touch anything unclean such as an unclean dead body of a wild or tame animal or the body of an unclean, swarming creature and then ignore what you did, you are unclean and will be guilty.


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»If you become unclean by touching human uncleanness of any kind and then ignore it knowing what you did you will be guilty.


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»When you pledge a vow in haste about what you will or will not do, as some people do, and then ignore it; although you know what you said, you will be guilty.


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»Bring your guilt offering to Jehovah for the sin you committed. It must be a female sheep or goat as an offering for sin. Then the priest will pay compensation for the wrong and make peace with Jehovah for what you did wrong.


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»If you cannot afford a sheep, you must bring two turtledoves or two pigeons to Jehovah as a guilt offering for the sin you committed. One will be an offering for sin. The other will be a burnt offering.


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»Bring them to the priest. He will sacrifice the offering for sin first. He will break the bird's neck without pulling its head off.


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»He will sprinkle some of the blood from the offering for sin on the side of the altar. The rest of the blood will be drained at the bottom of the altar. It is an offering for sin.


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»Following the proper procedures he will sacrifice the second bird as a burnt offering. The priest will pay compensation and make peace with Jehovah for what you did wrong.


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»If you cannot afford two turtledoves or two pigeons, bring eight cups of flour as an offering for the sin you committed. Never put olive oil on it or add incense to it. This is because it is an offering for sin.


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»Bring it to the priest. The priest will take a handful of it. He will burn it as a reminder on top of the offering by fire to Jehovah on the altar. It is an offering for sin.


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»The priest will pay compensation and make peace with Jehovah for your sin <i>what you did wrong</i> . You will be forgiven. The offering will belong to the priest like the grain offering.«


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»If any of you fail to do your duty by unintentionally doing something wrong with any of Jehovahs holy things, bring a guilt offering to Jehovah. It must be a ram that has no defects or its value in silver weighed according to the official standards of the holy place.


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»You must make the payments you have failed to hand over and must pay an additional twenty percent. Give it to the priest. The priest will offer the animal as a sacrifice for your sin. You will be forgiven.


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»If any of you sin unintentionally by breaking any of Jehovahs commandments, you are guilty and must pay the penalty.


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»Bring to the priest as a repayment offering a male sheep or goat without any defects. Its value is to be determined according to the official standard. The priest shall offer the sacrifice for the sin that you committed unintentionally. You will be forgiven.


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»If any of you sin against Jehovah by failing to do your duty, if you lie to your neighbor about something you were supposed to take care of or if you lie about something stolen or seized from your neighbor, you are sinning and will be guilty.


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»If you find something that someone lost and lie about it under oath, or commit any other sin like this,


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you have sinned and are guilty. Return what you stole or seized, what you were supposed to take care of, the lost item you found,


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or whatever it was that you swore falsely about. Pay it back in full plus one-fifth more. Give it back to its owner on the day you bring your guilt offering.


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»Then bring your guilt offering to Jehovah. Bring a ram that has no defects or its value in money. Bring it to the priest.


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»The priest will pay compensation for your wrong and make peace with Jehovah. Then you will be forgiven for whatever you did that made you guilty.«


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»Command Aaron and his sons: These are the instructions for the burnt offering that stays on the altar overnight while the altar fire is kept burning.


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»The priest must put on his linen clothes. This includes linen undergarments. Then he will remove the ashes left on the altar from the fire that consumed the burnt offering and will put them next to the altar.


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»He will take off these clothes and put on some others. He will take the ashes to a clean place outside the camp.


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»The fire must always be burning on the altar. It must never go out. The priest will burn wood on it every morning. He will lay the burnt offering on the fire and burn the fat of the fellowship offering.


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»This is the law of the grain offering: the sons of Aaron shall present it in the presence of Jehovah in front of the altar.


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»One of them will lift up from it a handful of the fine flour of the grain offering. Using its oil and all the incense that is on the grain offering, and he will offer it up in smoke on the altar. It will be a soothing aroma and a memorial offering to Jehovah.


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»Any thing left is for Aaron and his sons to eat. It will be eaten as unleavened cakes in a holy place. They must eat it in the court of the Tent of Meeting.


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»It shall not be baked with leaven. I have given it as their share from my offerings by fire. It is most holy, like the sin offering and the guilt offering.


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»Every male among the sons of Aaron may eat it. It is a long lasting ordinance throughout your generations, from the offerings by fire to Jehovah. Whoever touches them will become consecrated.«


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»This is the offering Aaron and his sons are to present to Jehovah on the day when he is anointed: a tenth of an ephah of fine flour as a regular grain offering, half of it in the morning and half of it in the evening.


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»Prepare it with oil on a griddle. Stir it well and bring it. Present the grain offering in baked pieces as a soothing aroma to Jehovah.


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»The anointed priest who will be in his place among his sons will offer it. By a long lasting ordinance it shall be entirely offered up in smoke to Jehovah.


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»Tell Aaron and his sons: These are the instructions for the offering for sin. The offering for sin must be slaughtered in Jehovahs presence. It is very holy.


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»The priest who makes the offering for sin will eat it in a holy place, in the courtyard of the Tent of Meeting. This is in the same place where the burnt offering is slaughtered.


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»Everything that touches its meat will be holy. If blood gets on someone's clothes, he must wash them in a holy place.


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»The piece of pottery in which the offering for sin is cooked must be broken into pieces. The copper kettle in which the offering for sin is cooked must be scoured and rinsed with water.


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»The offering for sin must not be eaten if some of the blood was brought into the holy place in the Tent of Meeting to pay compensation for wrongdoing and make peace with Jehovah. It must be burned.


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»It should be slaughtered in the same place where the burnt offering is slaughtered. A priest will throw the blood against all sides of the altar.


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»That includes the two kidneys with the fat on them. He will also remove the lobe of the liver along with the kidneys.


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»The same instructions apply to the offering for sin and the guilt offering. Both offerings belong to the priest to pay compensation for wrongdoing and make peace with Jehovah.


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»Every grain offering, whether baked in an oven or prepared in a skillet or a frying pan, belongs to the priest who offers it.


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»Every grain offering, whether mixed with olive oil or dry, will be shared equally by all of Aaron's sons.


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»If you offer it as a thank offering, you must also bring rings of unleavened bread mixed with oil, wafers of unleavened bread brushed with oil, and loaves made from flour mixed well with oil.


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»In addition to these rings of bread, you must bring leavened bread <i>with yeast</i> along with your fellowship offering of thanksgiving.


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»He will present one of every offering as a contribution to Jehovah. It will belong to the priest who sprinkles the blood of the peace offerings.


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»The flesh of the sacrifice of his thanksgiving peace offerings will be eaten on the day of his offering. He should not leave any of it over until morning.


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»If the sacrifice of his offering is a votive or a freewill offering, it shall be eaten on the day that he offers his sacrifice as well as on the next day.


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»If any of the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings is eaten on the third day, he who offers it will not be accepted. It will not be considered for his benefit. It will be an offensive thing, and the person who eats of it will bear his own iniquity.


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»The flesh that touches anything unclean shall not be eaten. It should be burned with fire. As for other flesh, anyone who is clean may eat such flesh.


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»The person who eats the flesh of the sacrifice of peace offerings that belong to Jehovah, in his uncleanness, that person will be cut off from his people.


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»When someone touches anything unclean, whether human uncleanness, or an unclean animal, or any unclean detestable thing, and eats of the flesh of the sacrifice of peace offerings which belong to Jehovah, that person shall be cut off from his people.«


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»The fat from an animal that dies naturally or is killed by wild animals you may use for any other purpose. However, you must not eat it.


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»Those who eat the fat from an animal they sacrificed by fire to Jehovah must be excluded from the people.


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»Tell the Israelites: Anyone who offers Jehovah a fellowship offering must bring a part of that sacrifice as a gift to Jehovah.


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»Bring the sacrifices by fire made to Jehovah. Bring the fat with the breast. Take the breast and present it to Jehovah.


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»When any of Aaron's sons offer the blood and fat of the fellowship offering, the right thigh will belong to him as his share.


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»I have taken the breast and thigh that was presented to me from the contribution offering from the Israelites. I have given them to the priest Aaron and his sons. This is a long lasting law for generations to come.


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»This is the share for Aaron and his sons from the sacrifices by fire made to Jehovah. It was given to them on the day Moses ordained them to serve Jehovah as priests.«


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Jehovah commanded the Israelites to give it to them on the day he anointed them. This is a long lasting law for generations to come.


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These are the instructions for the burnt offering, the grain offering, the offering for sin, the guilt offering, the ordination offering, and the fellowship offering.


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On Mount Sinai Jehovah gave Moses commands about these offerings. At the same time he commanded the Israelites to bring their offerings to him in the Sinai Desert.


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»Bring Aaron and his sons, the priests' clothes, the anointing oil, the bull that will be the offered for sin, the two rams, and the basket of unleavened bread.


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Moses did as Jehovah commanded him. All the people gathered <i>assembled</i> at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.


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He clothed Aaron with the embroidered tunic and tied the sash around him. He also dressed him in the linen robe that is worn with the ephod. He fastened the ephod to it.


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He put the turban on Aarons head and fastened the gold medallion, the holy crown, to the front of the turban as Jehovah had commanded Moses.


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He sprinkled the altar seven times. He anointed the altar; its utensils, the washbasin and its pedestal. This made them holy.


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He also poured some of the anointing oil on Aaron's head and anointed him to set him apart for his holy duties.


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Next, Moses dressed the sons of Aaron. He put shirts on them; put sashes around their waists, and tied caps on their heads, just as Jehovah commanded.


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Moses killed it and took some of the blood. Using his finger he put it on the projections at the corners of the altar, in order to dedicate it. He then poured out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar. In this way he dedicated it and purified it.


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Moses took all the fat on the internal organs. He took the best part of the liver, and the kidneys with the fat on them, and burned it all on the altar.


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Finally, he took the skin and the flesh of the bull, together with the food still in its stomach, and burned them outside the camp, just as Jehovah commanded.


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Moses led out the ram for the sacrifice to please Jehovah. After Aaron and his sons laid their hands on its head,


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He washed the internal organs and the legs. Then Moses burned the whole ram on the altar as Jehovah commanded him. It was a burnt offering, a pleasant aroma, an offering by fire to Jehovah.


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He brought the second ram for the ordination offering. Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the ram's head.


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Moses slaughtered it. He took some of the blood, and put it on Aaron's right ear lobe, on his right thumb, and on the big toe of his right foot.


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Moses also brought Aaron's sons forward. He put some of the blood on their right ear lobes, on their right thumbs, and on the big toes of their right feet. Moses threw the rest of the blood against all the sides of the altar.


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He took the fat from the tail, all the fat on the internal organs, the lobe of the liver, the two kidneys with their fat, and the right thigh.


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He took a loaf of unleavened bread, a ring of bread made with olive oil. He took a wafer from the basket of unleavened bread in Jehovahs presence. He put them on the fat and the right thigh.


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He placed all these things in the hands of Aaron and his sons. Moses presented all these things to Jehovah as an offering.


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Then he took them from their hands and burned them on top of the burnt offering on the altar. These were ordination offerings, offerings by fire, a soothing aroma to Jehovah.


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Moses also took the breast from the ram of the ordination offering and presented it to Jehovah. It was Moses' share, as Jehovah commanded.


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Moses took some of the anointing oil and some of the blood that was on the altar. He sprinkled it on Aaron and his clothes and on his sons and their clothes. In this way he dedicated Aaron, his clothes, his sons, and their clothes.


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Moses told Aaron and his sons: »Cook the meat at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. Take the meat and the bread in the basket of the ordination offering. Eat them there as I commanded when I said: Aaron and his sons will eat it.


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»You will not leave the entrance to the Tent of Meeting for seven days. Do not leave until the last day of your ordination is over. It will take seven days to ordain you.


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»I did today what Jehovah commanded me to pay compensation for wrongdoing and make peace with Jehovah for you.


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»You will stay at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting day and night for seven days and keep the watch as Jehovah directs you. Then you will not die. This is what I was commanded.«


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He told Aaron: »Take a calf that has no defects for an offering for sin and a ram that has no defects as a burnt offering. Sacrifice them in Jehovahs presence.


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»Tell the Israelites: Take a male goat as an offering for sin, a calf and a lamb, each one-year-old and without defects, as a burnt offering,


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a bull and a ram as a fellowship offering, and a grain offering mixed with olive oil to sacrifice in Jehovahs presence. Jehovah will appear to you today.«


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They took the things Moses commanded and brought them in front of the Tent of Meeting. The entire congregation stood in Jehovahs presence.


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Moses told Aaron: »Come to the altar and sacrifice an offering for sin and a burnt offering to pay compensation for your sins and the sins of the people and make peace with Jehovah. Then make an offering for the people that they may pay compensation for their wrongdoing and to make peace with Jehovah just as Jehovah has commanded.«


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Aaron's sons brought him the blood. He dipped his finger in the blood and put it on the horns of the altar. After that he poured out the blood at the bottom of the altar.


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On the altar he burned the fat, kidneys, and lobe of the liver from the offering for sin as Jehovah commanded Moses.


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He slaughtered the animal for the burnt offering. Aaron's sons gave him the blood. He threw it against the altar on all sides.


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They also gave him the burnt offering. It was cut in pieces and included the head. He burned it on the altar.


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He brought the people's offerings. He took the male goat for the people's offering for sin and slaughtered it. Then he sacrificed it to take away sins as he had done before.


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He also brought the grain offering. He took a handful of grain and burned it on the altar in addition to the morning burnt offering.


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He slaughtered the bull and the ram for the people's fellowship offering. Aaron's sons gave him the blood. He threw it against the altar on all sides.


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The fat from the bull and the ram, the fat from the tail, the layer of fat, the kidneys, and the lobe of the liver


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First he took the breasts and the right thighs and presented them to Jehovah just as Moses commanded.


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Aaron raised his hands toward the people and blessed them. He sacrificed the offering for sin, the burnt offering, and the fellowship offering. Then he came down from the altar.


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Moses and Aaron went into the Tent of Meeting. As soon as they came out, they blessed the people. Then Jehovahs glory appeared to all the people.


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Fire came out from Jehovahs presence and consumed the burnt offering and the pieces of fat on the altar. As soon as all the people saw this, they shouted and bowed with their faces touching the ground.


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Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu each took an incense burner. They put burning coals and incense in it. Then in Jehovahs presence they offered this unauthorized fire.


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Moses said to Aaron: »This is what Jehovah was speaking about when he said: All who serve me must respect my holiness. I will reveal my glory to my people.« But Aaron remained silent.


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Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Uzziel, Aaron's uncle. He said: »Come here and carry your cousins' bodies away from the sacred tent and put them outside the camp.«


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So they came and took hold of the clothing on the corpses. They carried them outside the camp just as Moses had commanded.


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Moses said to Aaron and to his sons Eleazar and Ithamar: Do not leave your hair uncombed or tear your clothes to show that you are in mourning. If you do you will die. For Jehovah will be angry with the whole community. But all other Israelites are allowed to mourn this death caused by the fire Jehovah sent.


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»You are Jehovahs chosen priests. You must not leave the sacred tent, or you will die.« Aaron and his two sons obeyed Moses.


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»Never drink beer or wine when you or your sons enter the sacred tent. If you do, you will die right there! This is a long lasting law from generation to generation.


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»You must learn the difference <i>distinction</i> between what is holy and what is not holy and between the clean and the unclean.


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Moses spoke to Aaron and his two remaining sons, Eleazar and Ithamar. He said: »Take the grain offering that is left over from the food offered to Jehovah. Bake unleavened bread with it and eat it beside the altar. This is because this offering is very holy.


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»Eat it in a holy place. It is the part that belongs to you and your sons from the food offered to Jehovah. That is what Jehovah commanded me.


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»You and your families may eat the breast and the hind leg that are presented as the special gift and the special contribution to Jehovah for the priests. You may eat them in any ritually clean place. These offerings have been given to you and your children as the part that belongs to you from the fellowship offerings of the people of Israel.


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»They shall bring the hind leg and the breast at the time the fat is presented as a food offering to Jehovah. These parts belong to you and your children from generation to generation, just as Jehovah commanded.«


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Moses asked about the goat for the sin offering and learned that it had already been burned. This made him angry with Eleazar and Ithamar. He demanded:


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»Why did you not eat the sin offering in a sacred place? It is very holy! Jehovah gave it to you in order to take away the sin of the community.


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»Since its blood was not brought into the sacred Tent, you should have eaten the sacrifice there, as I commanded.«


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Aaron answered: »If I had eaten the sin offering today, would Jehovah have approved? The people presented their sin offering to Jehovah today. They brought their burnt offering, but still these terrible things have happened to me.«


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»You must not eat those that either chew their cud or have divided hoofs. These are the kinds you must never eat: You must never eat camels. Camels are unclean because they chew their cud but do not have divided hoofs.


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»Never eat rock badgers. Rock badgers are unclean because they chew their cud but do not have divided hoofs.


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»You must never eat rabbits. Rabbits are unclean because they chew their cud but do not have divided hoofs.


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»Never eat pigs. Pigs have completely divided hoofs but do not chew their cud. They are also unclean.


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»Here are the kinds of creatures that live in the water that you may eat. You may eat anything in the seas and streams that have fins and scales.


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»On the other hand, you must consider all swarming creatures living in the seas or the streams that have no fins or scales disgusting.


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»Here are the kinds of birds you must consider disgusting and must not eat. They are eagles, bearded vultures, black vultures,


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»Every swarming, winged insect that walks across the ground like a four-legged animal is disgusting to you.


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»Every kind of winged insect that walks across the ground like a four-legged animal is disgusting to you.


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»Regarding the creatures mentioned above, this is how you would become unclean: When you touch their dead bodies you will be unclean until evening.


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»When you carry any part of their dead bodies you must wash your clothes. You will be unclean until evening.


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»All animals whose hoofs are not completely divided or that do not chew their cud are unclean for you. Whoever touches them is unclean.


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»All four-legged animals that walk on their paws are unclean for you. Whoever touches their dead bodies will be unclean until evening.


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»Those who carry the dead body of any of these animals must wash their clothes and will be unclean until evening. These animals are unclean for you.


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»The following swarming creatures that move on the ground are unclean for you: the weasels, mole rats, mice, and all types of lizards,


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»Of all the swarming creatures that move on the ground, these are unclean for you. He who touches their dead bodies will be unclean until evening.


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»When the dead body of one of these creatures falls on something, that thing will be unclean. It may be a wooden article, clothing, leather, a sack, or anything used for any purpose. It should be put in water and will be unclean until evening. It will then be clean again.


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»If any of these creatures falls into a piece of pottery, break the pottery because everything in it is unclean.


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»If water from that pottery touches any food, the food is unclean. Any liquid that you drink from that pottery is unclean.


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»Anything on which their dead bodies fall is unclean. If it is an oven or a stove, smash it. It is unclean and will remain unclean for you.


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»A spring or a cistern holding water will remain clean. But anyone who touches their dead bodies will be unclean.


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»When any animal that you are allowed to eat dies, whoever touches its dead body will be unclean until evening.


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»Those who eat any of its dead body must wash their clothes. They will be unclean until evening. Those who carry its dead body away will wash their clothes and will be unclean until evening.


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»Do not eat any creature with many legs that goes on its belly or on the ground like a four-legged animal, or any creature that swarms on the ground. Consider them disgusting.


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»Do not become disgusting by eating anything that swarms on the ground. Do not allow yourselves to become unclean because of them.


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»The reason is because I am Jehovah your God. You must live holy lives. Consecrate yourselves and be holy because I am holy. Never become unclean by touching anything that swarms or crawls on the ground.


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»This is the law about animals, birds, and every living creature that swims in the water and every creature that swarms on the ground.


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»This law helps you distinguish between clean and unclean, the animals you may eat and those you may not eat.«


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»Tell the Israelites: When a woman gives birth to a boy, she will be unclean for seven days. This is the same number of days she is unclean for her monthly period.


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»She must stay at home for thirty-three days in order to be made clean from her bleeding. She must not touch anything holy or go into the holy place until the days needed to make her clean are over.


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»When a woman gives birth to a girl, she will be unclean as in her monthly period. She will be unclean for two weeks. Then she must stay at home for sixty-six days in order to be made clean from her bleeding.


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»When the days needed to make her clean are over, she must bring a one-year-old lamb for a burnt offering and a pigeon or a mourning dove as an offering for sin. She should bring them to the priest at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.


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»The priest will offer them in Jehovahs presence to pay compensation for sin and make peace with Jehovah for her. Then she will be clean from her flow of blood. These are the instructions for the woman who gives birth to a boy or a girl.


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»If she cannot afford a lamb, she must use two mourning doves or two pigeons. One will be the burnt offering and the other the offering for sin. So the priest will pay compensation for sin and make peace with Jehovah for her and she will be clean.«


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»If any of you have a sore on your skin or a boil or an inflammation that could develop into a dreaded skin disease, you shall be brought to the priest.


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»The priest will examine the sore. If the hairs in it have turned white and the sore appears to be deeper than the surrounding skin, it is a dreaded skin disease, and the priest will pronounce you unclean.


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»If the sore is white and does not appear to be deeper than the skin around it and the hairs have not turned white, the priest will isolate you for seven days.


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»The priest will examine you again on the seventh day. If in his opinion the sore looks the same and has not spread, he will isolate you for another seven days.


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»The priest will examine you again on the seventh day. If the sore has faded and has not spread, he will pronounce you ritually clean. It is only a sore. You will wash your clothes and be ritually clean.


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»If the sore spreads after the priest has examined you and pronounced you clean, you must return to the priest again.


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»The priest will examine you again. If it has spread, he will pronounce you unclean. It is a dreaded skin disease.


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»He will examine you. If there is a white sore on your skin that turns the hairs white and is full of pus,


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it is a chronic skin disease. The priest will pronounce you unclean. There is no need to isolate you. You are obviously unclean.


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the priest should examine you again. If he finds that it actually has covered the whole body, he will pronounce you ritually clean. If your whole skin has turned white you are ritually clean.


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»The priest will examine you again. If he sees an open sore, he will pronounce you unclean. An open sore means a dreaded skin disease. You are unclean.


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»He will examine you again. If the sore has turned white you are ritually clean. The priest will pronounce you clean.


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and if afterward a white swelling or a reddish-white spot appears where the boil was, you should go to the priest.


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»The priest will examine you. If the spot seems to be deeper than the surrounding skin and the hairs in it have turned white, he will pronounce you unclean. It is a dreaded skin disease that has started in the boil.


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»If the priest examines it and finds that the hairs in it have not turned white and that it is not deeper than the surrounding skin, but is light in color, the priest will isolate you for seven days.


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»If it remains unchanged and does not spread, it is only the scar left from the boil. The priest will pronounce you ritually clean.


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the priest will examine it. If the hair on the affected area has turned white and the affected area looks deeper than the rest of the skin, an infectious skin disease has developed in the burn. The priest will pronounce you unclean. It is an infectious skin disease.


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»But if the priest examines it and the hair in it is not white and the affected area is not deeper than the rest of the skin but has faded, the priest must put you in isolation for seven days.


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»The priest will examine you again on the seventh day. If it is spreading it is a dreaded skin disease. The priest will pronounce you unclean.


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»If the spot remains unchanged and does not spread and is light in color, it is not a dreaded skin disease. The priest will pronounce you ritually clean, because it is only a scar from the burn.


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the priest will examine it. If it seems to be deeper than the surrounding skin and the hairs in it are yellowish and thin, it is a dreaded skin disease. He will declare you unclean.


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»If the priest examines you and finds the sore does not appear to be deeper than the surrounding skin, but there are still no healthy hairs in it, he will isolate you for seven days.


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»The priest will examine the sore again on the seventh day. If it has not spread and there are no yellowish hairs in it and it does not seem to be deeper than the surrounding skin,


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you will shave the head accept the area around the sore. The priest will isolate you for another seven days.


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»The priest will again examine the sore on the seventh day. If it has not spread and does not seem to be deeper than the surrounding skin, he will declare you ritually clean. You will wash your clothes. You will be clean.


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the priest will examine you again. If the sore has spread, he need not look for yellowish hairs. You are obviously unclean.


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»If in the priest's opinion the sore has not spread and healthy hairs are growing in it, the sore has healed. The priest will pronounce you ritually clean.


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the priest shall examine you. If the spots are dull white, it is only a blemish that has broken out on the skin. You are ritually clean.


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»If you have a dreaded skin disease, you must wear torn clothes, leave your hair uncombed, cover the lower part of your face, and call out: Unclean, unclean!


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»You remain unclean as long as you have the disease. You must live outside the camp, away from others.


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»He shall examine it again and if the mildew has not changed color, even though it has not spread, it is still unclean. You must burn the object, whether the rot is on the front or the back.


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»When the priest examines it again, the mildew has faded; he will tear it out of the clothing or leather.


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»If he washes the object and the spot disappears, he should wash it again. It will be ritually clean.«


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This is the law about mildew on clothing. Whether it is wool or linen, or on linen or wool cloth or on anything made of leather; this is how the decision is made as to whether it is ritually clean or unclean.


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the following regulations about the ritual purification of those of you cured of a dreaded skin disease: »On the day you are to be pronounced clean, you should be brought to the priest.


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the priest will order that two ritually clean birds be brought, along with a piece of cedar wood, a red cord, and a sprig of hyssop.


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»The priest will order that one of the birds be killed over a clay bowl containing fresh spring water.


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»He will take the other bird and dip it, together with the cedar wood, the red cord, and the hyssop, in the blood of the bird that was killed.


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»He will sprinkle the blood seven times on the one of you who is to be purified from your skin disease. He will then pronounce you clean. He will let the live bird fly away over the open fields.


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»You must wash your clothes, shave off all your hair, and take a bath. You will then be ritually clean. You may enter the camp. You must live outside your tent for seven days.


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»On the seventh day you should again shave your head, your beard, your eyebrows, and all the rest of the hair on your body. You should wash your clothes and take a bath. Then you will be ritually clean.


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»The eighth day bring two male lambs and one female lamb a year old that are without any defects. Also bring five pounds of flour mixed with olive oil, and half a pint of olive oil.


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»Then the priest will take one of the male lambs and together with the half pint of oil he will offer it as a repayment offering. He will present them as a special gift to Jehovah for the priest.


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»He will slaughter the lamb in the holy place where the animals for the sin offerings and the burnt offerings are slaughtered. He must do this because the repayment offering, like the sin offering, belongs to the priest and is very holy.


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»The priest will take some of the blood from the guilt offering and put it on the right ear lobe, on the right thumb, and on the big toe of the right foot of the one to be cleansed.


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»He will dip his right finger in the oil in his left hand, and with his finger sprinkle some of the oil seven times in Jehovahs presence.


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»The priest will put some of the oil that is still in his hand on the right ear lobe, on the right thumb, and on the big toe of the right foot of the one to be cleansed. These are the same places he had put the blood of the guilt offering.


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»The priest will put the rest of the oil in his hand on the head of the one to be cleansed. So he will pay compensation for wrongdoing and make peace with Jehovah for that person in Jehovahs presence.


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»The priest will also sacrifice the offering for sin to make peace with Jehovah for the one who is being cleansed from his impurity. After that, he will slaughter the burnt offering.


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»He will sacrifice the burnt offering and the grain offering on the altar. So the priest will pay compensation for the wrong and make peace with Jehovah for that person. The person who had the skin disease will be clean.


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»If the one to be cleansed is poor and cannot afford that much, he must take one male lamb, present it to pay compensation for the wrong and make peace with Jehovah for himself, and use it for his guilt offering. He will take only eight cups of flour mixed with olive oil as a grain offering, a quart of olive oil,


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and two mourning doves or two pigeons, whatever he can afford. The one will be an offering for sin and the other a burnt offering.


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»The eighth day he will take them to the priest for his cleansing at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting in Jehovahs presence.


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»The priest will take the lamb for the guilt offering and the quart of olive oil and present them to Jehovah.


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»He will slaughter the lamb as a guilt offering. The priest will take some of the blood of the guilt offering and put it on the right ear lobe, on the right thumb, and on the big toe of the right foot of the one to be cleansed.


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»The priest will put some of the oil that is in his hand on the right ear lobe, on the right thumb, and on the big toe of the right foot of the one to be cleansed. These are the same places he had put the blood of the guilt offering.


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»In Jehovahs presence, the priest will pour the rest of the oil in his hand on the head of the one to be cleansed in order to make a payment for him.


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and sacrifice it as an offering for sin. He will take the other and sacrifice it as a burnt offering together with the grain offering. So in Jehovahs presence the priest will pay compensation for the wrong and make peace with Jehovah for the one who is being cleansed.


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»These are the instructions for one who has an infectious skin disease but cannot afford what is needed for his cleansing.«


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»The owner of that house must come and tell the priest that there is something that looks like mildew in his house.


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»Before the priest examines the house, he will order everything taken out of it so that nothing in the house will become unclean. Then the priest will go inside to examine the house.


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»He will examine the mildew area on the walls. If it is green and red in sunken areas that are deeper than the rest of the wall,


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»The priest will go back and examine it again on the seventh day. If the mildew in the walls of the house has spread,


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he must order the stones that have the mildew to be torn out and thrown outside the city in an unclean place.


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»He must have the entire inside of the house scraped. The plaster dust scraped off the walls must be dumped in an unclean place outside the city.


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»If the mildew breaks out again in the house after the stones have been removed and the house has been scraped and plastered,


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»It must be torn down, and its stones, its wood, and all its plaster must be carried out of the city to an unclean place.


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»Whoever goes into the house during the time that he has quarantined it, becomes unclean until evening.


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»Whoever lies down in the house must wash his clothes, and whoever eats in the house must wash his clothes.


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»If the mildew has not reappeared after the house has been replastered, the priest will pronounce the house ritually clean. This is because the mildew has been completely removed.


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»Then he will take the cedar wood, the hyssop, the red cord, and the live bird and dip them in the blood of the bird that was killed and in the fresh water. He will sprinkle the house seven times.


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»This is the way he will purify the house with the bird's blood, the fresh water, the live bird, the cedar wood, the hyssop, and the red cord.


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»Then the priest will let the living bird fly from the city into the open country. He will pay compensation for wrongdoing and make peace with Jehovah for the house. It will be clean.«


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These instructions for skin diseases and mildew help you distinguish between what is clean and unclean.


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»He is unclean because of the discharge from his body. Whether it is chronic or not makes no difference. He is still unclean.


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»Those who touch his bed must wash their clothes and their bodies. They will be unclean until evening.


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»Those who sit on anything he sat on must wash their clothes and their bodies. They will be unclean until evening.


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»Those who touch a man who has a discharge must wash their clothes and their bodies. They will be unclean until evening.


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»Should a man who has a discharge spit on anyone who is clean, the person he spits on must wash his clothes and his body. He will be unclean until evening.


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»Those who carry such things must wash their clothes and their bodies. They will be unclean until evening.


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»If a man who has a discharge touches anyone without first rinsing his hands, the person he touched must wash his clothes and his body. He will be unclean until evening.


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»When a man who has a discharge touches pottery, it must be broken. When he touches a wooden bucket it must be rinsed.


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»When a man's discharge stops, he must wait seven days to be cleansed. He must wash his clothes and his body in fresh water. Then he will be clean.


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»He must take two mourning doves or two pigeons and come into Jehovahs presence at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting on the eighth day. He will give these birds to the priest.


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»The priest will sacrifice one as an offering for sin and the other as a burnt offering. Thus in Jehovahs presence, the priest will pay compensation for the wrongdoing and make peace with Jehovah for the man who had a discharge.


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»If a man has an emission of semen, he must bathe his whole body. He will be unclean until evening.


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»When a man has sexual intercourse with a woman and has an emission of semen, they must wash themselves. They will be unclean until evening.


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»When a woman has her monthly period, she will be unclean for seven days. Those who touch her will be unclean until evening.


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»Those who touch her bed must wash their clothes and their bodies. They will be unclean until evening.


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»Those who touch anything she sits on must wash their clothes and their bodies. They will be unclean until evening.


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»If her blood touches anything on the bed or anything she sits on, it will be unclean until evening.


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»If a man has sexual intercourse with her while she has her period, he will be unclean for seven days. Any bed he lies on will become unclean.


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»When a woman has a discharge of blood for many days other than her monthly period, she is unclean. If her period lasts longer than usual, she will be unclean as long as she has a discharge. It is similar to her period.


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»As long as she has a discharge, any bed she lies on or anything she sits on is unclean. It is similar to her period.


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»Those who touch these things are unclean and must wash their clothes and their bodies. They will be unclean until evening.


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»She must take two mourning doves or two pigeons on the eighth day and bring them to the priest at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.


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»The priest will offer one as an offering for sin and the other as a burnt offering. So in Jehovahs presence the priest will pay compensation for wrongdoing and make peace with Jehovah for the woman who had an unclean discharge.«


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»You must separate the Israelites from anything that keeps them from being presentable to me. Otherwise they will die. This is because they defile my tent, which is among them, and make it unclean.«


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These are the instructions for any man, who has a discharge or an emission of semen that makes him unclean,


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for any woman who has her period, for any man or woman who has a discharge, or for any man who has sexual intercourse with a woman when she is unclean.


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Jehovah said: »Tell your brother Aaron that he cannot go into the holy place whenever he wants to. If he goes up to the canopy and stands in front of the throne of mercy on the Ark, he will die. This is because I appear in the smoke above the throne of mercy.


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»This is what Aaron must do in order to come into the holy place: He must take a bull as an offering for sin and a ram as a burnt offering.


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»He must dress in a holy linen robe and wear linen undergarments. He must wear a linen belt and turban. These are holy clothes. He should wash his body and put them on.


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»He will take two male goats from the congregation of Israel as an offering for sin and a ram as a burnt offering.


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»Aaron must sacrifice the bull as his own offering for sin. By doing this, he will pay compensation for wrongdoing and make peace with Jehovah for himself and his family.


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»He must take the two male goats and bring them into Jehovahs presence at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.


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»I will show Aaron which goat will be sacrificed to me and which one will be sent into the desert to the demon Azazel.


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the other one must be presented to me alive, before he sends it into the desert to take away the sins of the people.


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»He must offer the bull as a sacrifice to ask forgiveness for your own sins and for the sins of your family.


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»He will take an incense burner full of burning coals from the altar in Jehovahs presence, and two handfuls of finely ground, sweet-smelling incense. He will bring them up to the canopy.


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»He must place the incense on the fire in Jehovahs presence. The cloud of incense will cover the throne of mercy. This is over the words of God's promise, so that he will not die.


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»He will take some of the bull's blood and sprinkle it with his finger on the east side of the throne of mercy. Then he will sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times in front of the throne of mercy.


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»Aaron will slaughter the goat for the people's offering for sin. He will take the blood inside, go up to the canopy, and sprinkle it on the throne of mercy and in front of it, as he did with the bull's blood.


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»He will pay compensation for the wrongdoing and make peace with Jehovah for all the sins the Israelites committed against the holy place. These sins happened because the Israelites were unclean and because they committed rebellious acts. He will do the same for the Tent of Meeting that is among an unclean people.


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»No one may be in the Tent of Meeting from the time Aaron enters the holy place to do this until he comes out. Aaron will pay compensation for wrongdoing and peace with Jehovah for his own sins, his family's sins, and the sins of the entire assembly of Israel.


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»He will go out to the altar in Jehovahs presence and pay compensation for the wrong and make peace with Jehovah for the sins committed. He will take some of the blood from the bull and some of the goat's blood and put it all around the horns of the altar.


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»With his finger he will sprinkle some of the blood on it seven times. Because the Israelites made it unclean, he will cleanse it and declare it holy.


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»When he finishes making peace with Jehovah at the holy place, the Tent of Meeting, and the altar, he will bring the living goat forward.


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»Aaron will place both hands on its head. He will confess over it all the sins, all the rebellious acts, and all the things the Israelites did wrong. He will transfer them to the goat's head. A man will be appointed to release the goat in the desert.


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»The goat will take all their sins away to a deserted place. The man must release the goat in the desert.


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»Aaron will go to the Tent of Meeting. He will take off the linen clothes he put on to go into the holy place, and leave them there.


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»He will wash his body in the holy place and put on his other clothes. Then he will come out and sacrifice the burnt offering for himself and for the people to make peace with Jehovah for his own sins and the sins of the people.


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»The man who released the goat to Azazel must wash his clothes and his body. Then he may return to the camp.


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»The bull and the goat used for the sin offering, whose blood was brought into the Most Holy Place to take away sin, will be carried outside the camp and burned. Skin, meat, and intestines must all be burned.


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»The following regulations are to be observed for a long lasting time to come. On the tenth day of the seventh month the Israelites and the foreigners living among them must fast and must not do any work.


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»On that day the ritual is to be performed to purify them from all their sins, so that they will be ritually clean.


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»That day is to be a very holy day, one on which they fast and do no work at all. These regulations are to be observed for a long lasting time to come.


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»High Priest, properly ordained and consecrated to succeed his father, is to perform the ritual of purification. He must dress in priestly garments


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and perform the ritual to purify the Most Holy Place, the rest of the Tent of Jehovahs presence, the altar, the priests, and all the people of the community.


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»These regulations are to be observed for a long lasting time to come. This ritual must be performed once a year to purify the people of Israel from all their sins.« So Moses did as Jehovah commanded.


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is guilty of bloodshed. He has shed blood and must be excluded from the people. Bring the animal to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. Offer it to Jehovah in front of the Jehovahs Tent.


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»This means that the people of Israel must take the sacrifices they have been making in the open fields and bring them to Jehovah. They must bring them to the priest at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. The people will sacrifice them as peace offerings to Jehovah.


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»The priest will pour the blood against Jehovahs altar at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. He will burn the fat as a soothing aroma to Jehovah.


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»The people must stop sacrificing to goat idols <i>demons</i> and chasing after them as though they were prostitutes. This is a long lasting law for the people and for future generations.


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but do not bring them to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting to offer them to Jehovah. They must be excluded from the people.


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»This is because life of every living thing is in the blood. I have given this blood to you to pay compensation for wrongdoing and make peace with me on the altar. Blood is needed to pay compensation for wrongdoing and make peace with me.«


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»That is why I have said to the people of Israel: Neither you nor foreigners should ever eat blood.«


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»If Israelites or foreigners hunt any animal or bird that may be eaten, they must pour out the animal's blood and cover it with dirt.


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»This is because the life of any creature is in its blood. So I have said to the people of Israel: Never eat any blood, because the life of any creature is in its blood. Whoever eats blood must be excluded from the people.«


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»Native Israelites or foreigners who eat the body of an animal that dies naturally or is killed by another animal must wash their clothes and their bodies. They will be unclean until evening. Then they will be clean.


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»Do not follow the customs of Egypt where you used to live or those of Canaan where I am bringing you.


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»Never have sexual intercourse with your stepsister, whether she is your father's daughter or your mother's daughter. It makes no difference whether or not she was born in your house.


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»Do not have sexual intercourse with your granddaughter, whether she is your son's daughter or your daughter's daughter, because she is related to you.


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»Never have sexual intercourse with a daughter of your father and his wife. She is your own sister.


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»Never have sexual intercourse with your daughter-in-law. She is your son's wife. Never have sexual intercourse with her.


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»Do not have sexual intercourse with a woman and her daughter or a woman and her granddaughter. They are related. Doing this is perverted.


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»While your wife is living, never marry her sister as a rival wife and have sexual intercourse with her.


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»Never give your children as sacrifices to the god Molech by burning them alive. If you do, you are dishonoring the name of your God. I am Jehovah!


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»Do not have sexual intercourse with any animal and become unclean with it. A woman must never offer herself to an animal for sexual intercourse. It is unnatural.


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»Do not become unclean in any of these ways. By these practices all the nations that I am forcing out of your way have become unclean.


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»The land has become unclean. I will punish it for its sins. The land will vomit out those who live in it.


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»Live by my standards, and obey my rules. Neither you nor any foreigner should ever do any of these disgusting things.


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»The people of the land who were there before you did all these disgusting things. As a result, the land has become unclean.


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»If you make the land unclean, it will vomit you out as it has vomited out the people who were there before you.


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»Therefore you must follow my instructions. Do not live by the standards of the people who lived there before you. What they do is disgusting. Never become unclean that way. I am Jehovah your God!«


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»Do not turn to worthless gods or cast metal idols. Never make any gods for yourselves. I am Jehovah your God.


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»Eat your sacrifice on the day you bring it and on the next day. On the third day burn whatever is left over.


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»Those who eat it will be punished because they have dishonored what is holy to Jehovah. They must be excluded from the people.


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»When you reap the harvest of your land, you should not reap to the very corners of your field. You should not gather the gleanings of your harvest.


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»Do not glean your vineyard. Do not gather the fallen fruit of your vineyard. Leave them for the needy and for the stranger. I am Jehovah your God.


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»Do not oppress your neighbor and do not rob him. Do not fail to pay your workers at the end of each day.


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»Do not curse a deaf man. Do not place a stumbling block before the blind. You must deeply respect your God. I am Jehovah.


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»Do no injustice in judgment. Do not be partial to the poor nor defer to the great. Judge your neighbor fairly.


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»Never hate your brother in your heart. Be sure to correct your neighbor so that you will not be guilty of sinning along with him.


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»Do not seek revenge. Never hold a grudge against any of your people. Instead, love your neighbor as you love yourself. I am Jehovah.


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»Obey my laws. Never crossbreed different kinds of animals. Do not plant two kinds of crops in your field. Never wear clothes made from two kinds of material.


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»If a man has sexual intercourse with a female slave who is engaged to another man and if her freedom was never bought or given to her, they should not be put to death. He will only pay a fine because she is a slave.


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»In Jehovahs presence the priest will use them to pay compensation for the wrongdoing and make peace with Jehovah for this sin. The man will be forgiven for this sin.


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»When you come into the land and plant all kinds of fruit trees, you must not eat the fruit for the first three years.


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»You may eat the fruit in the fifth year. Do this to make the trees produce more for you. I am Jehovah your God.


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»Do not eat any meat with blood still in it. Never cast evil spells, and never consult fortunetellers.


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»Do not dishonor your daughter by making her a prostitute, or the country will turn to prostitution and be filled with people who are perverted.


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»Do not turn to psychics or mediums to get help. That will make you unclean. I am Jehovah your God.


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»Show respect to the elderly, and honor older people. In this way you show respect for your God. I am Jehovah.


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»Foreigners living among you will be like your own people. Love them as you love yourself, because you were foreigners living in Egypt. I am Jehovah your God.


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»Use honest scales, honest weights, and honest measures. I am Jehovah your God who brought you out of Egypt.


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»Tell the Israelites: If Israelites or foreigners living among you give one of their children as a sacrifice to the god Molech, they must be put to death. The common people must stone them to death.


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»I will condemn them and exclude them from the people. They gave one of their children to Molech. They made my holy tent unclean, and dishonored my holy name.


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»If the people of the land ignore those who give their children to Molech and do not put them to death,


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»I will condemn them and their families. I will exclude them from the people. I will exclude from the people everyone who chases after Molech as if he were a prostitute.


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»If any of you go for advice to people who consult the spirits of the dead, I will turn against you and will no longer consider you one of my people.


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»Jehovah gave the following regulations. Any of you that curse your father or mother shall be put to death. You are responsible for your own death.


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»If a man commits adultery with the wife of an Israelite, both he and the woman should be put to death.


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»A man who has intercourse with one of his father's wives disgraces his father. Both he and the woman must be put to death. They are responsible for their own death.


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»If a man has sexual intercourse with his daughter-in-law, both of them must be put to death. They have done a disgusting thing and deserve to die.


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»When a man has sexual intercourse with another man as with a woman, both men are doing something disgusting and must be put to death. They deserve to die!


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»When a man marries a woman and her mother, they have done a perverted thing. The man and the two women must be burned. Never do this perverted thing.


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»If a woman tries to have sexual relations with an animal, she and the animal must be put to death. They are responsible for their own death.


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»If a man marries his sister or half sister, they must be publicly disgraced and driven out of the community. He has had intercourse with his sister and must suffer the consequences.


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»If a man has intercourse with a woman during her monthly period, both of them are to be driven out of the community, because they have broken the regulations about ritual uncleanness.


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»Whoever has sexual intercourse with his uncle's wife violates his uncle's marriage. That man and woman are guilty of sin. They will die without children.


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»He who marries his brother's wife violates his brother's marriage and does an unclean thing. That man and woman will have no children.


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»If you carefully obey all my laws and my rules, the land I am bringing you to live in will not vomit you out.


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»The nations I am chasing out did these disgusting things. I hated them for it! So do not follow their example.


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»I am Jehovah your God. I have promised you their land that is rich with milk and honey. I have chosen you to be different from other people.


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»That is why you must make a difference between animals and birds that I have said are clean and unclean. This will keep you from becoming disgusting to me.


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»If you claim to receive messages from the dead, you will be put to death by stoning, just as you deserve.


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Jehovah gave Moses these instructions for Aaron's sons, the priests: »Touching a dead body will make you unclean. So do not go near a dead relative,


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»You should never mourn by shaving bald spots on your heads, shaving the edges of your beards, or slashing your bodies.


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»Be God's holy men. Do not dishonor the name of your God. Be holy because you bring sacrifices by fire to Jehovah. It is the food <i>bread</i> of your God.


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»Never marry prostitutes, those who have lost their virginity, or divorced women because a priest is God's holy man.


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»Be holy because you offer the food of your God. Be holy because I, Jehovah, am holy. I set you apart as holy.


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»When a priest's daughter dishonors herself by becoming a prostitute, she dishonors her father. She must be burned.


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»The priest who is anointed with oil and wears the chief priest's clothes is chief over his brothers. He must never mourn by leaving his hair uncombed or by tearing his clothes.


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»He must not leave the holy tent of his God. If he does, he will be dishonoring it, because he is dedicated with the anointing oil of his God. I am Jehovah.


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»He must not marry a widow, a divorced woman, a woman who has lost her virginity, or a prostitute. He may only marry a virgin from his own people.


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»Tell Aaron: If any of your descendants, now or in future generations, has a physical defect, he must never bring food to offer to God.


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»No one who has a physical defect may ever come near the altar. That means anyone who is blind or lame, who has a disfigured face, a deformity,


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»If a descendant of the priest Aaron has a physical defect, he must never bring sacrifices by fire to Jehovah. He has a defect. He must never bring food to offer to God.


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»However, he must never come up to the canopy or to the altar, since he has a physical defect. He must never dishonor the holy places because I, Jehovah, set them apart as holy.«


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»Tell Aaron and his sons that they must respect the holy offerings that the Israelites set apart for me. In this way they will not dishonor my holy name. I am Jehovah.«


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»Tell them: In future generations if any of your descendants, while unclean, comes near the holy offerings the Israelites set apart for Jehovah, that person must be excluded from my presence. I am Jehovah.


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»None of the descendants of Aaron who has a dreaded skin disease or a discharge may eat any of the sacred offerings until he is ritually clean. Any priest is unclean if he touches anything that is unclean through contact with a corpse or if he has an emission of semen


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»Any priest who becomes unclean remains unclean until evening. Even then he may not eat any of the sacred offerings until he has taken a bath.


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»He must not eat the meat of any animal that has died a natural death or has been killed by wild animals. It will make him unclean. I am Jehovah.


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»All priests must observe the regulations that I have given. Otherwise, they will become guilty and die, because they have disobeyed the sacred regulations. I am Jehovah and I make them holy.


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»Only a member of a priestly family may eat any of the sacred offerings. No one else may eat them, not even someone staying with a priest or hired by him.


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»A priest's slaves, bought with his own money or born in his home, may eat the food the priest receives.


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»A priest's daughter who marries someone who is not a priest may not eat any of the sacred offerings.


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»A widowed or divorced daughter who has no children and who has returned to live in her father's house as a dependent may eat the food her father receives as a priest. Only a member of a priestly family may eat any of it.


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»If any people who are not members of a priestly family eat any of the sacred offerings without intending to, they must repay the priest its full value plus an additional twenty percent.


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by letting any unauthorized people eat them. This would bring guilt and punishment on such people. I am Jehovah and I make the offerings holy.«


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»Speak to Aaron, his sons, and all the Israelites, and tell them: Israelites or foreigners may bring burnt offerings to Jehovah for anything they vowed or as freewill offerings.


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»The offering must be a male that has no defects from your cattle, sheep, or goats in order to be accepted.


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»Do not bring any animal with a physical defect. This is because it will not be acceptable for you.


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»A person may bring Jehovah a peace offering to fulfill a vow or for a freewill offering. Whether it is from the cattle, sheep, or goats, it must be an animal that has no defects in order to be acceptable. It must never be an animal that has defects.


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»Do not bring Jehovah an animal that is blind, has broken bones, cuts, warts, scabs, or ringworm. Never give Jehovah any of these in a sacrifice by fire on the altar.


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»You may use a bull or a sheep with a deformity or one that is stunted in growth as a freewill offering. However, it will not be accepted for a vow.


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»Do not bring Jehovah an animal that has bruised, crushed, torn out, or cut out testicles. Never do any of these things to an animal in your land.


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»Never bring any kind of castrated animal received from a foreigner as a food offering for your God. A castrated animal will not be accepted on your behalf because castration is a physical defect.«


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He said: »When a calf, a lamb, or a goat is born, it must stay with its mother for seven days. It may be accepted as a sacrifice by fire to Jehovah from the eighth day on.


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»Never dishonor my holy name. I will show my holiness among the Israelites. I am Jehovah, who sets you apart as holy.


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»Tell the Israelites: These are the appointed festivals with Jehovah. You must announce these as holy assemblies.


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»You may work for six days. But the seventh day is a day of worship <i>Sabbath</i> , a day when you do not work, and a holy assembly. Do not do any work. It is Jehovahs day of worship wherever you live.


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»The following are Jehovahs appointed festivals with holy assemblies. You must announce these at their appointed times.


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»The Passover, celebrated to honor Jehovah, begins at sunset on the fourteenth day of the first month.


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»The fifteenth day of the same month the Festival of Unleavened Bread begins. You must not eat any bread made with yeast for seven days.


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»Bring a sacrifice to Jehovah for seven days. On the seventh day there will be a holy assembly. Do not do any regular work.«


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»Tell the Israelites: When you come to the land I am going to give you and you harvest grain, bring a bundle of the first grain you harvest to the priest.


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»He will present it to Jehovah so that you will be accepted. He will present it on the day after Passover.


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»On the day you present the bundle, you must sacrifice a one-year-old male lamb that has no defects as a burnt offering to Jehovah.


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»Present a grain offering of four quarts of flour mixed with olive oil with it. This will be a sacrifice by fire made to Jehovah. It will be a soothing aroma. Use one quart of wine for the wine offering.


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»Do not eat bread, roasted grain, or fresh grain until this same day. Then bring the offering to your God. It is a long lasting law for generations to come wherever you live.


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»Count seven full weeks from the day after Passover, the day you bring the bundle of grain as an offering presented to Jehovah


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until the day after the seventh week. This is a total of fifty days. Then bring a new grain offering to Jehovah.


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»Bring two loaves of bread from your homes to present to Jehovah. Bake them with four quarts of flour. They are the first harvested grain for Jehovah.


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»Using the bread the community is to present seven one-year-old lambs, one bull, and two rams, none of which may have any defects. They should be offered as a burnt offering to Jehovah, along with a grain offering and a wine offering. The odor of this offering is pleasing to Jehovah.


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»Also offer one male goat as a sin offering and two one-year-old male lambs as a fellowship offering.


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»The priest should present the bread with the two lambs as a special gift to Jehovah for the priests. These offerings are holy.


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»Do none of your daily work. Gather for worship. Your descendants are to observe this regulation from generation to generation, no matter where they live.


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»When you harvest your fields, do not cut the grain at the edges of the fields. Do not go back to cut the heads of grain that were left. Leave them for poor people and foreigners. Jehovah is your God.«


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»Observe a special day of rest on the first day of the seventh month. Gather together for worship when the trumpets sound.


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»The tenth day of this seventh month is a special day for the payment for sins. There will be a holy assembly. Humble yourselves, and bring Jehovah a sacrifice by fire.


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»Do not do any work that day. It is a special day for the payment for sins. It is a time when you pay compensation for wrongdoing and make peace with Jehovah your God.


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»It is a day of worship <i>sabbath</i> , a day when you do not work. Humble yourselves starting on the evening of the ninth day of the month. From that evening to the next, observe the day of worship.«


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Inform the Israelites: The fifteenth day of this seventh month is the Festival of Booths to Jehovah. It will last seven days.


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»Bring a sacrifice by fire to Jehovah for seven consecutive days. On the eighth day there will be a holy assembly. Bring Jehovah a sacrifice by fire. This is the last festival of the year. Do not do any regular work.


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»These are Jehovahs appointed festivals. Announce them as holy assemblies for bringing sacrifices by fire to Jehovah. Bring burnt offerings, grain offerings, other sacrifices, and wine offerings-each one on its special day.


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»This is in addition to Jehovahs days of worship, your gifts, all your vows, and your freewill offerings to Jehovah.


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»Celebrate Jehovahs festival for seven days. This should begin on the fifteenth day of the seventh month; at the time you gather what the land produces. The first and the eighth days will be worship festivals.


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»Take the best fruits, palm branches, the branches of leafy trees and poplars on the first day, and celebrate in the presence of Jehovah your God for seven days.


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»It is Jehovahs festival. Celebrate it for seven days each year. This is a long lasting law for generations to come. Celebrate this festival in the seventh month.


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»This is how generations to come may learn how I made the people of Israel live in booths when I brought them out of Egypt. I am Jehovah your God!«


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»Command the Israelites to bring you pure, virgin olive oil for the lamp stand so that the lamps will not go out.


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»Aaron must keep the lamps lit in the Tent of Meeting from evening until morning. This is outside the canopy where the words of my covenant are in Jehovahs presence. It is a long lasting law for generations to come.


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»Place pure incense on top of each stack. The incense on the bread will be a reminder, an offering by fire to Jehovah.


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»Every day of worship <i>sabbath day</i> a priest must arrange the bread in Jehovahs presence. It is a long lasting reminder of my promise to the Israelites.


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»The bread will belong to Aaron and his sons. They will eat it in a holy place. It is very holy, set apart from Jehovahs offering by fire. This is a long lasting law.«


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A man, whose mother was Shelomith <i>daughter of Dibri, from the tribe of Dan in Israel</i> and whose father was from Egypt, got into a quarrel with an Israelite in the camp.


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The Israelite woman's son began cursing Jehovahs name and treating it with contempt. So they brought him to Moses.


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»The man who cursed my name must be taken outside the camp. All who heard him curse my name must lay their hands on his head. Then the whole congregation must stone him to death.


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»However those who curse Jehovahs name must be put to death. The whole congregation must stone them to death. It makes no difference whether they are Israelites or foreigners. Whoever curses <i>abuses</i> Jehovahs name must die.


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»If you break a bone, one of your bones must be broken. If you put out an eye, one of your eyes must be put out. Should you knock out a tooth, one of your teeth shall be knocked out. Whatever injury you cause another person must be done to you in return.


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»This law applies to all of you. It applies to Israelites and to foreigners living among you. I am Jehovah your God.«


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When Moses had said this to the people of Israel, they took the man outside the camp and stoned him to death. The people of Israel did what Jehovah commanded Moses.


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»Give the following regulations to the people of Israel: When you enter the land that Jehovah is giving you, honor Jehovah by not cultivating the land every seventh year.


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»But the seventh year is to be a sabbath year of complete rest for the land. It is a year dedicated to Jehovah. Do not plant your fields or prune your vineyards.


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»Do not even harvest the grain that grows by itself without being planted. Do not gather the grapes from your unpruned vines. It is a year of complete rest for the land.


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»Even though the land has not been cultivated during that year, it will provide food for you, your slaves, your hired men, the foreigners living with you,


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your domestic animals, and the wild animals in your fields. Everything that it produces may be eaten.


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»Then, on the tenth day of the seventh month, the Day of Atonement, send someone to blow a trumpet throughout the whole land.


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»In this way you will set the fiftieth year apart and proclaim freedom to all the inhabitants of the land. During this year all property that has been sold must be restored to the original owner or the descendants, and any who have been sold as slaves may return to their families.


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»That fiftieth year will be your jubilee year. Do not plant or harvest what grows by itself or pick grapes from the vines in the land.


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»Corresponding to the number of years after the jubilee, you shall buy from your friend; he is to sell to you according to the number of years of crops.


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»In proportion to the extent of the years you shall increase its price, and in proportion to the fewness of the years you shall diminish its price, for it is a number of crops he is selling to you.


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»You must observe my statutes and keep my judgments, so as to carry them out. That way you may live securely on the land.


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»I will give you my blessing in the sixth year so that the land will produce enough for three years.


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»You will plant again in the eighth year but live on what the land already produced. You will eat it, even in the ninth year, until the land produces more.


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»No land may be permanently bought or sold. It all belongs to me! It is not your land! You only live there for a little while.


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»If any of you Israelites become so poor that you are forced to sell your property, your closest relative must buy it back.


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you must pay enough to make up for what the present owner will lose on it before the next Year of Celebration, when the property would become yours again.


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»If he cannot earn enough to buy it back, what he sold stays in the hands of the buyer until the year of jubilee. In the jubilee it will be released, and he will own it again.


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»If anyone sells a home in a walled city, for one year after selling it he has the right to buy it back. He may buy it back only within that time.


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»If he does not buy it back during that year, the house in the city belongs to the buyer for generations to come. It will not be released in the jubilee.


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»Houses in villages without walls are regarded as belonging to the fields of the land. They can be bought back. They will be released in the jubilee.


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»If any Levite buys back a house, in the jubilee the purchased house in the city will be released. This is because the houses in the Levite cities are their property among the Israelites.


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»But a field that belongs to their cities must not be sold, because it is their property from generation to generation.


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»If an Israelite becomes poor and cannot support himself, you should help him. He must live with you as a stranger without a permanent home.


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»Do not collect interest or make any profit from him. Respect your God by respecting other Israelites' lives.


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»He will be like a hired worker or a visitor to you. He may work with you until the year of jubilee.


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»Then you will release him and his children to go back to their family and the property of their ancestors.


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»You may also buy the children of the foreigners who are living among you. Such children born in your land may become your property.


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»You may leave them as an inheritance to your children, whom they must serve as long as they live. But you must not treat any Israelites harshly.


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»Suppose a foreigner living with you becomes rich, while some Israelites become poor and sell themselves as slaves to that foreigner or to a member of that foreigner's family.


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»His uncle, his cousin, or some other relative could also buy him back. If he becomes rich, he could buy his own freedom.


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»Then he and his buyer must take into account the number of years from the year he was bought until the year of jubilee. His sale price will be adjusted based on the number of years he was with his buyer. This is like the wages of a hired worker.


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»If there are many years left, he must refund from his purchase price an amount equal to those years.


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»If there are only a few years left until the year of jubilee, he must take them into account. He must refund from his purchase price an amount equal to those years.


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»He should serve his buyer as a hired worker during those years. His buyer should not treat him harshly.


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»The Israelites belong to me! They are my servants. I brought them out of Egypt. I am Jehovah your God!«


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»Do not make idols or set up statues, stone pillars, or carved stones to worship. I am Jehovah your God!


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»I will send you rain at the proper time. Then the land will produce crops and the trees will bear fruit.


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»Your crops will be so plentiful that you will still be harvesting grain when it is time to pick grapes. You will still be picking grapes when it is time to plant grain. You will have all you want to eat and you will live in safety in your land.


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»I will give you peace in your land. You can sleep without being afraid of anyone. I will get rid of the dangerous animals in the land. And there will be no more war there.


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»I will bless you and give you many children. I will keep my part of the covenant that I made with you.


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»Your harvests will be so plentiful that they will last for a year. Even after that you will have to throw away what is left of the old harvest to make room for the new!


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»I am Jehovah your God. I brought you out of Egypt so that you are no longer slaves of the Egyptians. I have broken their power over you and made you live as a free people.


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if you reject my laws and look at my rules with disgust, if you reject my promise by disobeying my commandments,


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then this is what I will do to you: I will terrorize you with disease and fever. You will suffer from eye problems and depression. You will plant your crops and get nothing because your enemies will eat them.


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»I will condemn you so that you will go down in defeat in front of your enemies. Those who hate you will be your rulers. You will run away even when no one is chasing you.


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»Your strength will be spent uselessly. Your land will not yield its produce and the trees of the land will not yield their fruit.


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»If you act with hostility against me and are unwilling to obey me I will increase the plague on you seven times according to your sins.


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»I will send wild animals among you. They will rob you of your children. They will destroy your cattle, and make you so few that your roads will be deserted.


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»I will bring war on you to get revenge for my promise you rejected. When you gather in your cities, I will send plagues on you and you will fall under the control of your enemy.


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»I will destroy your food supply. Ten women will need only one oven to prepare your food. You will eat and go away hungry.


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»I will destroy your worship sites. I will cut down your incense altars and pile your dead bodies on top of your dead idols. I will view you with disgust.


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»I will make your cities deserted and ruin your sacred places. I will no longer accept the soothing aroma from your sacrifices.


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»I will scatter you among the nations. War will follow you. Your country will be in ruins. Your cities will be deserted.


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»Then the land will enjoy its time to honor Jehovah while it lies deserted. You will be in your enemies' land. Then the land will joyfully celebrate its time to honor Jehovah.


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»All the days it lies deserted, it will celebrate the time to honor Jehovah it never celebrated while you lived there.


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»I will fill those who are left in the land of their enemies with despair. The sound of a windblown leaf will make them run. They will run away and fall, but no one will be chasing them.


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»They will stumble over each other. Yet no one will be after them. They will not be able to stand up to their enemies.


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»Those who are left will waste away in the lands of their enemies because of their sins and the sins of their ancestors.


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»However if they confess their sins and the sins of their ancestors and the treacherous things they did to oppose me,


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»I will oppose them and bring them into the lands of their enemies. Then, if they humble their uncircumcised hearts and accept their guilt,


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»The land, abandoned by them, will enjoy its time to honor Jehovah while it lies deserted without them. They must accept their guilt because they rejected my rules and looked at my laws with disgust.


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»Even when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them or look at them with disgust. I will not reject or cancel my promise to them, because I am Jehovah their God.


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»For their well being, I will remember the promise to their ancestors. I brought them out of Egypt to be their God while nations looked on. I am Jehovah!«


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These are the laws, rules, and instructions Jehovah gave to the Israelites through Moses on Mount Sinai.


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»Give the following regulations for the people of Israel: When any of you have been given to Jehovah in fulfillment of a special vow, you may be set free by the payment of the following sums of money,


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»This is according to the official standard: adult male, twenty to sixty years old: fifty pieces of silver, adult female: thirty pieces of silver, young male, five to twenty years old: twenty pieces of silver, young female: ten pieces of silver, infant male under five: five pieces of silver, infant female: three pieces of silver, male above sixty years of age: fifteen pieces of silver, female above sixty: ten pieces of silver.


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»For a boy from one month to five years old, give two ounces of silver and for a girl give about one ounce.


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»The person who is too poor to pay the required amount must stand in front of the priest. The priest will determine the amount based on what the person can afford.


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»If the vow is to give the kind of animal that people offer to Jehovah, it will be considered holy.


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»Do not exchange or substitute animals, a good one for a bad one or a bad one for a good one. If you do exchange one animal for another, then both animals will be holy.


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»If it is an unclean animal that cannot be brought to Jehovah as an offering, bring it in front of the priest.


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»If you give your house to Jehovah as something holy, the priest will determine what its value is. The value will be whatever the priest decides.


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»If a person gives part of a field to Jehovah as something holy, its value will be based on the seed planted on it. Ground planted with two quarts of barley will be worth twenty ounces of silver.


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»Should you give the field after the jubilee year, the priest will estimate its value based on the number of years left until the next jubilee year.


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»When the field is released in the jubilee year, it will be holy like a field claimed by Jehovah. It will become the property of the priest.


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»You may give a field you bought, not one that was a part of your family property, to Jehovah as something holy.


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»The priest must figure out the field's value until the jubilee year. You will pay its value on that day as something holy, belonging to Jehovah.


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»In the jubilee year the field will go back to the person from whom it was bought, to whom it belongs as family property.


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»A firstborn animal already belongs to Jehovah because it was born first. Therefore, it cannot be set apart as holy. Whether it is a bull or a sheep, it belongs to Jehovah.


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»If it is an unclean animal it must be bought back. The payment will be its full value plus one-fifth more. If it is not bought back, it must be sold at the value given it.


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»However, everything dedicated to Jehovah for destruction, a person, an animal, or a field that belongs to you, must not be sold or bought back. Everything dedicated in that way is very holy. It belongs to Jehovah.


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»You must not look to see if it is good or bad or exchange it. If you do exchange it, both the first animal and its substitute will be holy. They may not be bought back.«


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Jehovah spoke to Moses in the tent of meeting in the Desert of Sinai. It was the first day of the second month in the second year after leaving Egypt. He said:


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»Take a census of all the males of the congregation of Israel by families and households. List every man by name


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who is at least twenty years old. You and Aaron must register everyone in Israel who is eligible for military duty. List them by divisions.


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»Elishama, son of Ammihud, from the tribe of Ephraim; Gamaliel, son of Pedahzur, from the tribe of Manasseh; Ephraim and Manasseh are Josephs descendants.


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»These were the men chosen from the congregation. They were the leaders of their ancestors tribes, and heads of the divisions of Israel.«


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and assembled the whole congregation on the first day of the second month. Each man at least twenty years old provided his genealogy by family and household. Then his name was listed.


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The roster of families and households for the descendants of Reuben, Israels firstborn son, listed every man by name that was at least twenty years old and eligible for military duty.


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The roster of families and households for the descendants of Simeon registered and listed every man by name that was at least twenty years old and eligible for military duty.


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The roster of families and households for the descendants of Gad listed the men by name that were at least twenty years old and eligible for military duty.


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The roster of families and households for the descendants of Judah listed the men by name that were at least twenty years old and eligible for military duty.


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The roster of families and households for the descendants of Issachar listed the men by name that were at least twenty years old and eligible for military duty.


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The roster of families and households for the descendants of Zebulun listed the men by name that were at least twenty years old and eligible for military duty.


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The roster of families and households for the descendants of Joseph, those from Ephraim, listed the men by name that were at least twenty years old and eligible for military duty.


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The roster of families and households for the descendants of Manasseh listed the men by name that were at least twenty years old and eligible for military duty.


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The roster of families and households for the descendants of Benjamin listed the men by name that were at least twenty years old and eligible for military duty.


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The roster of families and households for the descendants of Dan listed the men by name that were at least twenty years old and eligible for military duty.


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The roster of families and households for the descendants of Asher listed the men by name that were at least twenty years old and eligible for military duty.


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The roster of families and households for the descendants of Naphtali listed the men by name that were at least twenty years old and eligible for military duty.


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Moses, Aaron, and the twelve leaders of Israel, each representing his own family, added up these totals.


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The Israelites registered by households. The grand total of men who were at least twenty years old and eligible for military duty


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»Put the Levites in charge of the tent of Gods words, including the equipment for the tent and everything else having to do with the tent. The Levites will carry the tent and all its equipment. They will take care of the tent and camp around it.


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»When the tent is to be moved, the Levites will take it down. When we camp, they will set it up. Anyone else who comes near the tent will be put to death.


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»The Levites will camp all around the tent of Gods words. In this way Jehovah will not be angry with the congregation of Israel. So the Levites will be in charge of the tent of Gods words.«


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»The Israelites will put up their tents with each family under the flag that symbolizes its household. They will locate their tents around and facing the tent of meeting.


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»On the east side, facing the rising sun, the armies led by Judah will camp under their flag. The leader for the people of Judah is Nahshon, son of Amminadab.


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»Next to them will be the tribe of Issachar. The leader for the people of Issachar is Nethanel, son of Zuar.


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»The grand total of all the troops in Judahs camp is one hundred and eighty-six thousand four hundred. They will be the first group to move out.


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»On the south side the armies led by Reuben will camp under their flag. The leader for the people of Reuben is Elizur, son of Shedeur


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»The tribe of Simeon will be next to them. Shelumiel, son of Zurishaddai is the leader for the people of Simeon.


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»The grand total of all the troops in Reubens camp is one hundred and fifty-one thousand four hundred and fifty. They will be the second group to move out.


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»When the tent of meeting is moved, the Levites will stay in the middle of the groups. The tribes will move out in the same order as they are in the camp, everyone in place under his own flag <i>staff scepter</i> .


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»On the west side the armies led by Ephraim will camp under their flag. Elishama, son of Ammihud is the leader for the people of Ephraim.


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»Next to them will be the tribe of Manasseh. The leader for the people of Manasseh is Gamaliel, son of Pedahzur.


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»Then will be the tribe of Benjamin. The leader for the people of Benjamin is Abidan, son of Gideoni.


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»The grand total of all the troops in Ephraims camp is one hundred and eight thousand one hundred. They will be the third group to move out.


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»On the north side the armies led by Dan will camp under their flag. The leader for the people of Dan is Ahiezer, son of Ammishaddai.


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»Next to them will be the tribe of Asher. The leader for the people of Asher is Pagiel, son of Ochran.


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»The grand total of all the men in Dans camp is one hundred and fifty-seven thousand six hundred. They will be the last group to move out. They will travel under their own flag.«


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This is the total number of Israelites, counted by households. The grand total of all the troops in the camps was six hundred and three thousand five hundred and fifty.


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The Israelites did everything as Jehovah had commanded Moses. They set up camp under their flags, and each person traveled with his own family and household.


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Nadab and Abihu died in Jehovahs presence because they offered unauthorized fire in his presence in the Desert of Sinai. They had no children. So only Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests during the lifetime of their father Aaron.


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»They will work for him and the whole community in front of the tent of meeting, doing what needs to be done for the inner tent.


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»They will take care of all the furnishings in the tent of meeting and work for the Israelites, doing what needs to be done for the inner tent.


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»Appoint Aaron and his sons to serve as priests. Anyone else who tries to do the priests duties must be put to death.«


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»Out of all the Israelites, I have taken the Levites to be substitutes for every firstborn male offspring among them. The Levites are mine,


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because every firstborn is mine. The day I killed every firstborn male in Egypt, I set apart as holy every firstborn in Israel, whether human or animal. They will be mine. I am Jehovah.«


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Mahli and Mushi were the sons of Merari. Their families were named after them. These were the households of Levite families.


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To Gershon belonged the families descended from Libni and Shimei. These were the families descended from Gershon.


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The Gershonites were in charge of the inner tent, the outer tent and cover, the screen for the entrance to the tent of meeting,


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the curtains for the courtyard, the screen for the entrance to the courtyard that surrounds the inner tent and the altar, and the ropes. They took care of all these things.


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To Kohath belonged the families descended from Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. These were the families descended from Kohath.


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The number of all the males at least one month old was eight thousand six hundred. They were in charge of the holy place.


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They were in charge of the Ark, the table, the lamp stand, the altars, the utensils used in the holy place, and the screen. They took care of all these things.


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The leader of the Levites was Eleazar son of Aaron the priest. He was in charge of those who carried out the duties in the Holy Place.


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This clan was to camp on the north side of the Tent, with Zuriel son of Abihail as leader of the clan.


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It was the duty of the Merarites to be in charge of the framework of the inner tent, the crossbars, posts, sockets, and all the equipment. They took care of these things.


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Moses, Aaron, and his sons put up their tents on the east side in front of the tent of meeting. They were in charge of the holy place on behalf of the Israelites. Anyone else who tried to do the Levites duties had to be put to death.


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The grand total of Levites that Moses and Aaron counted at Jehovahs command, by families, every male who was at least one month old, was twenty-two thousand.


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Jehovah said to Moses: »Register every firstborn male of the Israelites who is at least one month old, and make a list of their names.


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»I am Jehovah. Take the Levites for me to be substitutes for all firstborn Israelites. Also take the animals of the Levites to be substitutes for all firstborn animals of the Israelites.«


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The total of all the firstborn males at least one month old was twenty-two thousand two hundred and seventy three. They were listed by name.


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»Take the Levites to be substitutes for all the firstborn Israelites and the animals of the Levites to be substitutes for their animals. The Levites will be mine. I am Jehovah.


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»It will cost you two ounces of silver per person, using the standard weight of the holy place, to buy them back.


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»Give the silver to Aaron and his sons. It will buy back those Israelites who outnumber the Levites.«


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The silver Moses collected for the firstborn Israelites weighed thirty-four pounds using the standard weight of the holy place.


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Then Moses did what Jehovah said and gave Aaron and his sons this ransom money as he had been commanded.


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»Register all the men between the ages of thirty and fifty who are qualified to work at the tent of meeting.


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»This is the work the Kohathites will do in the tent of meeting: They will take care of the most holy things.


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»When the camp is to move, Aaron and his sons will go in and take down the canopy that hangs over the Ark containing the words of Gods Covenant. First they will cover the Ark with the canopy.


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»Over this they will put a covering of fine leather. On top of that they will spread a cloth made entirely of violet material. Then they will put the poles in place.


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»They will spread a violet cloth over the table of the presence and put on it the plates, dishes, bowls, and pitchers for the wine offerings. The bread that is always in Jehovahs presence will also be on it.


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»They will spread a bright red cloth over everything on the table. They will then cover all this with fine leather. Then they will put the poles in place.


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»They will use a violet cloth to cover the lamp stand, as well as the lamps, snuffers, trays, and all the containers for the olive oil used in the lamps.


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»Then they will put the lamp stand and all its utensils under a covering of fine leather and put them on a frame to carry them.


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»They will spread a violet cloth over the gold altar and cover the cloth with fine leather. Then they will put the poles in place.


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»They will take all the articles that are used in the holy place and put them in a violet cloth. Then they will cover that with fine leather, and put them on a frame to carry them.


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»They will put all the accessories used at the altar on it. These are the trays, forks, shovels, and bowls-all the altars accessories. They will spread a covering of fine leather <i>sealskin</i> over all this. Then they will put the poles in place.


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»When Aaron and his sons finished covering the holy things and the camp is ready to move, the Kohathites will come to carry all the holy articles. They must never touch the holy things, or they will die. The Kohathites will carry all the things from the tent of meeting.


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»Eleazar, son of the priest Aaron, will be in charge of the oil for the lamps, the sweet-smelling incense, the daily grain offering, and the anointing oil. He is in charge of the whole tent and everything in it, the holy place and its contents.«


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»This is what you must do so that they will not die when they come near the most holy things: Aaron and his sons will go into the holy place and tell each man what he will do and what he will carry.


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»However the Kohathites must not go in to look at the holy things, even for a moment, or they will die.«


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»Register all the men between the ages of thirty and fifty who are qualified to serve at the tent of meeting.


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»They will carry the sheets that are part of the inner tent and the tent of meeting. They will also carry the inner cover for the tent of meeting, the outer cover of fine leather that goes over it, the screen for the entrance to the tent of meeting,


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the curtains for the courtyard around the tent and the altar, the screen for the entrance to the courtyard, the ropes, and all the equipment used to set up the curtains. The Gershonites will do everything that needs to be done with these things.


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»All their work, whatever they carry and all their duties, will be done under the direction of Aaron and his sons. You are in charge of telling them everything they are to carry.


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»This is the work of the Gershonite families in the tent of meeting. Ithamar, son of the priest Aaron, will be in charge of them.


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»These are their duties as they work at the tent of meeting: They will carry the framework for the inner tent, the crossbars, posts, and sockets,


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the posts for the surrounding courtyard, the bases, pegs, and ropes. They must take care of all this equipment. Tell each man by name the things he will carry.


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»This is what the Merarite families will do as they work at the tent of meeting. Ithamar, son of the priest Aaron, will be in charge of them.«


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Moses, Aaron, and the leaders of the congregation registered the Kohathites by their families and households.


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They registered all the men between the ages of thirty and fifty who were qualified to work at the tent of meeting.


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The total of those who were registered was two thousand seven hundred and fifty. They were listed by families.


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This was the total of all those in the Kohathite families who served at the tent of meeting. Moses and Aaron did as Jehovah commanded Moses and registered the Kohathites.


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All the men between the ages of thirty and fifty who were qualified to serve at the tent of meeting were registered.


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The total of those registered was two thousand six hundred and seventy. They were listed by families and households.


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This was the total of all those in the Gershonite families who worked at the tent of meeting. Moses and Aaron did as Jehovah commanded Moses and registered the Gershonites.


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The total of all those who were registered was three thousand two hundred. They were listed by families.


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This was the total of those registered in the Merarite families. Moses and Aaron did as Jehovah commanded Moses and registered the Merarites.


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All the numbered men of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron and the leaders of Israel counted, by their families and by their fathers households,


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were the men between the ages of thirty and fifty who were qualified to do the work of serving and who carried the tent of meeting.


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At Jehovahs command through Moses each man was registered and told what to do and what to carry. So they were registered as Jehovah commanded Moses.


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»Command the Israelites to send outside the camp anyone who has a serious skin disease or a discharge or anyone who is unclean from touching a dead body.


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»Send all of these unclean men and women outside the camp. They must not make this camp where I live among you unclean.«


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»Tell the Israelites: If you do something wrong to another person, you have been unfaithful to Jehovah. When you realize your guilt,


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you must confess your sin, pay in full for what you did wrong, add one-fifth to it, and give it to the person who was wronged.


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»There may be no heir to whom the payment can be made. In that case, the payment for what you did wrong must be given to Jehovah for the priest to use. This payment is in addition to the ram that is used to pay compensation for the wrongdoing makes peace with Jehovah.


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»Any contribution over and above the holy offerings that the Israelites bring to the priest belongs to the priest.


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»Each persons holy offerings will belong to that person. Everything given to the priest will belong to the priest.«


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and may have had sexual intercourse with another man without her husbands knowledge. She may have kept it secret if there were no witnesses to accuse her and she was not caught in the act.


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»A husband may have a fit of jealousy and suspect his wife, whether she was actually unfaithful or not.


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»He must then take his wife to the priest along with eight cups of barley flour as an offering for her. He must not pour olive oil on the flour or put frankincense on it, since it is a grain offering brought because of the husbands jealousy. It is an offering used for a confession, to remind someone of a sin that was committed.


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»The priest will then take holy water in a piece of pottery and put some dust from the floor of the tent into the water.


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»The priest will bring the woman into Jehovahs presence and loosen her hair. In her hands he will put the offering used for a confession, that is, the grain offering brought because of the husbands jealousy. The priest will hold the bitter water that can bring a curse in his hands.


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»The priest will say to her: If no other man has had sexual intercourse with you and you have not been unfaithful to your husband, you are not guilty. This bitter water that can bring a curse will not harm you.


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»Jehovah will make you an example for your people to see what happens when the curse of this oath comes true: Jehovah will make your uterus drop and your stomach swell. Then the priest will administer the oath and the curse by saying:


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»May this water that can bring a curse go into your body and make your stomach swell and your uterus drop!« Then the woman will say: »Amen!« »Amen!«


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»He will have the woman drink the bitter water that can bring the curse. This water will go into her and become bitter.


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»The priest will take the grain offering she was holding. He will present it to Jehovah, and bring it to the altar.


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»The priest will take a handful of the grain offering as a memorial portion and burn it on the altar. Then he will have the woman drink the water.


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»If she has become unclean by being unfaithful to her husband, the water that can bring the curse will go into her and become bitter. Her stomach will swell, her uterus will drop, and she will become cursed among her people.


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»However if the woman is not unclean and is pure, she is not guilty and will be able to have children.


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»These are the instructions for how to deal with jealousy. They tell you what to do when a woman is unfaithful to her husband and becomes unclean.


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»They also tell you what to do when a husband has a fit of jealousy and is suspicious of his wife. He will make his wife stand in Jehovahs presence. The priest will do everything these instructions tell him to do.


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»The husband is not guilty of doing anything wrong. But the woman will suffer the consequences of her sin.«


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»Tell the Israelites: A man or a woman may make a special vow to live as a Nazirite dedicated to Jehovah.


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»Nazirites must never drink wine, liquor, vinegar made from wine or liquor, or any kind of grape juice. They must never eat fresh grapes or raisins.


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»As long as they are Nazirites they must never eat anything that comes from a grapevine, not even grape seeds or skins.


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»As long as they are under the Nazirite vow no razor may touch their heads. During the entire time that they are dedicated to Jehovah as Nazirites, they will be holy. They must let their hair grow long.


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»Even if their own father, mother, brother, or sister dies, they must not make themselves unclean by going near them. Nazarites show their vow to God with their long hair.


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»Someone might suddenly drop dead next to a Nazirite and make the Nazirites hair unclean. Seven days later he must shave his head in order to be declared clean.


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»The eighth day he must bring two mourning doves or two young pigeons to the priest at the entrance to the tent of meeting.


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»The priest will sacrifice one as an offering for sin and the other one as a burnt offering. The priest will pay compensation for the wrongdoing and make peace with Jehovah for the person who touched the dead body. That same day the person must dedicate his head again.


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»Once again he will dedicate himself to Jehovah as a Nazirite for the same length of time as before. He must bring a one-year-old male lamb as an offering for guilt. The first time period will not count. He has to start over from when he became unclean.


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»These are the instructions for Nazirites to complete their vows: They must come to the entrance of the tent of meeting.


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»They are to bring these offerings to Jehovah: a one-year-old male lamb as a burnt offering, a one-year-old female lamb as an offering for sin, and a ram as a fellowship offering. All of these animals must have no defects.


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»They must also bring a basket of unleavened bread containing some rings of bread made with olive oil and wafers of unleavened bread brushed with olive oil, along with other grain offerings and wine offerings.


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»The priest will bring these offerings to Jehovah. He will make the offering for sin and the burnt offering.


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»He will sacrifice the ram as a fellowship offering to Jehovah. He will offer the basket of unleavened bread along with it, and make the grain offerings and wine offerings.


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»The Nazirites will shave their heads at the entrance to the tent of meeting. Then they will take the hair as proof that they had made this vow, and put it on the fire under the fellowship offering.


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»The priest will take one of the shoulders from a boiled ram, one ring of unleavened bread from the basket, and one wafer of unleavened bread and hand them to the Nazirites after they have shaved off their hair.


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»The priest will present them as an offering to Jehovah. They are holy and belong to the priest, along with the rams breast that is presented and the thigh that is given. After that, the Nazirites may drink wine.«


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»These are the instructions for those who have vowed to bring their offerings to Jehovah as Nazirites. They must bring these offerings in addition to anything else they can afford. They must fulfill the requirements of these instructions for Nazirites and finish whatever they vowed to do.«


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Moses finished setting up the tent. He anointed it and dedicated it and all the furnishings. He also anointed and dedicated the altar and all the utensils.


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The leaders of Israel, the heads of the households, those tribal leaders who helped in the census came to give their offerings.


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They brought these gifts to Jehovah: six freight wagons and twelve oxen, one wagon from every two leaders and one ox from each leader. They brought them in front of the tent.


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»Accept these gifts from them to use in the work done for the tent of meeting. Give them to the Levites to use where they need them for their work.«


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He gave four wagons and eight oxen to the Merarites for the work they had to do under the direction of Ithamar, son of the priest Aaron.


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However Moses gave none of these gifts to the Kohathites, because they took care of the holy things. They had to carry the holy things on their own shoulders.


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The leaders also brought offerings for the dedication of the altar when it was anointed. They presented their gifts in front of the altar.


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Jehovah said to Moses: »Each day a different leader will bring his gift for the dedication of the altar.«


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He brought a silver plate that weighed three and one fourth pounds and a silver bowl that weighed one and three quarter pounds using the standard weight of the holy place. Each dish was filled with flour mixed with olive oil as a grain offering.


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and two bulls, five rams, five male goats, and five one-year-old male lambs as a fellowship offering. These were the gifts from Nahshon, son of Amminadab.


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He brought a silver plate that weighed three and three fourths pounds and a silver bowl that weighed one and three quarter pounds using the standard weight of the holy place. Each dish was filled with flour mixed with olive oil as a grain offering.


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and two bulls, five rams, five male goats, and five one-year-old male lambs as a fellowship offering. These were the gifts from Nethanel, son of Zuar.


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brought his gifts: a silver plate that weighed three and one quarter pounds and a silver bowl that weighed one and three quarter pounds using the standard weight of the holy place. Each dish was filled with flour mixed with olive oil as a grain offering.


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and two bulls, five rams, five male goats, and five one-year-old male lambs as a fellowship offering. These were the gifts from Eliab, son of Helon.


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and two bulls, five rams, five male goats, and five one-year-old male lambs as a fellowship offering. These were the gifts from Elizur, son of Shedeur.


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and two bulls, five rams, five male goats, and five one-year-old male lambs as a fellowship offering. These were the gifts from Shelumiel, son of Zurishaddai.


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and two bulls, five rams, five male goats, and five one-year-old male lambs as a fellowship offering. These were the gifts from Eliasaph, son of Deuel.


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and two bulls, five rams, five male goats, and five one-year-old male lambs as a fellowship offering. These were the gifts from Elishama, son of Ammihud.


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and two bulls, five rams, five male goats, and five one-year-old male lambs as a fellowship offering. These were the gifts from Gamaliel, son of Pedahzur.


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and two bulls, five rams, five male goats, and five one-year-old male lambs as a fellowship offering. These were the gifts from Abidan, son of Gideoni.


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and two bulls, five rams, five male goats, and five one-year-old male lambs as a fellowship offering. These were the gifts from Ahiezer, son of Amishaddai.


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and two bulls, five rams, five male goats, and five one-year-old male lambs as a fellowship offering. These were the gifts from Pagiel, son of Ochran.


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and two bulls, five rams, five male goats, and five one-year-old male lambs as a fellowship offering. These were the gifts from Ahira, son of Enan.


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These were the gifts from the leaders of Israel for the dedication of the altar when it was anointed: twelve silver plates, twelve silver bowls, and twelve gold dishes.


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Each silver plate weighed three and one quarter pounds, and each bowl weighed one and three quarter pounds. Together all the silver dishes weighed sixty pounds using the standard weight of the holy place.


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The twelve gold dishes filled with incense weighed four ounces each using the standard weight of the holy place. Together all the gold dishes weighed about three pounds.


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The total number of animals for the burnt offerings was twelve young bulls, twelve rams, twelve one-year-old male lambs, along with their grain offerings. Twelve male goats were used as offerings for sin.


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The total number of animals for fellowship offerings was twenty-four bulls, sixty rams, sixty male goats, and sixty one-year-old male lambs. These were the gifts for the dedication of the altar after it was anointed.


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When Moses went into the tent of meeting to speak with Jehovah, he heard the voice speaking to him from above the throne of mercy on the Ark containing the words of Gods Covenant, from between the two cherubim. This is how Jehovah spoke with Moses.


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»Speak to Aaron and tell him: When you set up the seven lamps on the lamp stand, they should illuminate the area in front of it.«


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So Aaron set up the lamps on the lamp stand to illuminate the area in front of it, as Jehovah commanded Moses.


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This is how the lamp stand was made: The whole lamp stand, from top to bottom, was hammered out of gold. It was made exactly like the one Jehovah had shown Moses.


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»This is what you must do to make them clean: Sprinkle them with water to take away their sins. Make them shave their whole bodies and wash their clothes. Then they will be clean.


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»They must take a young bull and the grain offering of flour mixed with olive oil that is offered with it. You must take a second young bull as an offering for sin.


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»Aaron will present the Levites to Jehovah as an offering from the Israelites. Then they will be ready to do Jehovahs work.


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»The Levites will place their hands on the heads of the young bulls. Sacrifice one of them as an offering for sin and the other one as a burnt offering to Jehovah. These sacrifices will pay compensation for wrongdoing and make peace with Jehovah for the Levites.


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»Once you have made them clean and presented them as an offering, the Levites may come and do their work at the tent of meeting.


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»They will be the only Israelites given to me. I have taken them to be mine as substitutes for every firstborn male offspring of the Israelites.


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»When I killed all the first-born in Egypt, I consecrated as my own the oldest son of each Israelite family and the first-born of every animal.


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»I assign the Levites to Aaron and his sons, as a gift from the Israelites. They are to work in the tent for the people of Israel and to protect the Israelites from the disaster that would strike them if they came too near the Holy Place.«


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So the Levites purified themselves and washed their clothes. Aaron dedicated them as a special gift to Jehovah. He also performed the ritual of purification for them.


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The people did everything Jehovah commanded Moses concerning the Levites. Thus the Levites were qualified to work in the tent under Aaron and his sons.


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»They may assist the other Levites in their duties at the tent of meeting. But they may not do any regular work. This is how you will handle the Levites duties.«


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Jehovah spoke to Moses in the Desert of Sinai in the first month of the second year after the Israelites left Egypt. He said:


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»You must celebrate it on the fourteenth day of this month at dusk. Follow all the rules and regulations for the celebration of the Passover.«


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They celebrated it on the fourteenth day of the first month at dusk while they were in the Desert of Sinai. The Israelites did everything as Jehovah commanded Moses.


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There were some men who had become unclean from touching a dead body. They could not celebrate the Passover that day. They went to Moses and Aaron.


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They said: »We are unclean because we touched a dead body. Why are we prevented from making our offerings to Jehovah at the same time the rest of the Israelites bring their offerings?«


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»Should you or any of your descendants be unclean from touching a dead body or away on a long trip. You may still celebrate the Passover.


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»You will celebrate it on the fourteenth day of the second month at dusk. Eat the Passover animal along with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.


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»Never leave any of the meat until morning or break any of the animals bones. Follow all the rules for the Passover when you celebrate it.


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»If you are clean and not on a trip and yet do not bother to celebrate the Passover, you must be excluded from the people. You did not bring your offering to Jehovah at the right time. You must suffer the consequences for your sin.


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»Foreigners living with you may want to celebrate Jehovahs Passover. They must follow these same rules and regulations. The same rules will apply to foreigners and native-born Israelites.«


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That day the tent of the words of Gods Covenant was set up. The column of smoke covered it. The smoke over the tent glowed like fire from evening until morning.


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When the smoke moved from the tent the Israelites would break camp. Wherever it stopped the Israelites would set up camp.


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The Israelites would break camp or set up camp at Jehovahs command. They stayed at the place where the column of smoke stayed over the tent.


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When the smoke stayed over the tent for a long time, the Israelites obeyed Jehovahs command and did not break camp.


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The same thing happened when the smoke stayed only a few days over the tent: At Jehovahs command they would set up camp, and at his command they would break camp.


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Sometimes the column of smoke stayed only from evening until morning. They broke camp when the smoke moved in the morning. Day or night, when the smoke moved, they broke camp.


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Whether it was two days, a month, or a year, as long as the column of smoke stayed over the tent, the Israelites stayed in the same place. But when the smoke moved, they would break camp and move.


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At Jehovahs command they set up camp, and at his command they broke camp. They obeyed the command Jehovah gave through Moses.


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»When long blasts are sounded on both trumpets, the whole community is to gather around you at the entrance to the tent of my presence.


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»When short blasts are sounded a second time, the tribes on the south will move out. So short blasts are to be sounded to break camp,


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»Aarons sons the priests are to blow the trumpets. The following rule is to be observed for all time to come.


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»When there is war in your land and you defend yourselves against an enemy attack, sound the signal for battle on these trumpets. I, Jehovah your God, will help you and save you from your enemies.


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»Joyful occasions such as your New Moon Festivals and your other religious festivals, you are to blow the trumpets when you present your burnt offerings and your fellowship offerings. Then I will help you. I AM JEHOVAH YOUR GOD!«


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The cloud over the tent of Jehovahs presence lifted the twentieth day of the second month in the second year after the people left Egypt.


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At last the Israelites started on their journey out of the Sinai Desert. The cloud came to rest in the wilderness of Paran.


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They were in the same order each time they moved. Those under the banner of the division led by the tribe of Judah started out first, company by company, with Nahshon son of Amminadab in command.


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Next, the banner of the division led by the tribe of Reuben would start out, company by company. Elizur son of Shedeur was in command.


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The Levite clan of Kohath started the march. They carried the sacred objects. By the time they arrived at the next camp, the tent had been set up again.


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Next, the banner of the division led by the tribe of Ephraim would start out, company by company, with Elishama son of Ammihud in command.


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Finally, the banner of the division led by the tribe of Dan, serving as the rear guard of all the divisions, started out, company by company. Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai was in command.


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Moses said to his brother-in-law Hobab son of Jethro the Midianite: We are about to start out for the place Jehovah said he would give us. He promised to make Israel prosperous, so come with us, and we will share our prosperity with you.


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« Please do not leave us,« Moses said. »You know where we can camp in the desert. You can be our guide.


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The people left Sinai, the holy mountain. They traveled three days. Jehovahs Ark of the Covenant always went ahead of them to find a place for them to camp.


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When the Ark of the Covenant started out, Moses would say: »ARISE, JEHOVAH; scatter your enemies and put to flight those who hate you!«


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The people complained out loud to Jehovah about their troubles. Jehovah heard them and he became angry. Fire from Jehovah burned among them. It destroyed some people on the outskirts of the camp.


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Some foreigners among the Israelites had a strong craving for other kinds of food. Even the Israelites cried again and said: »If only we had meat to eat!


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»Remember all the free fish we ate in Egypt and the cucumbers, watermelons, leeks, onions, and garlic we had?


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The people would gather it and then grind it in a hand mill or crush it in a mortar. They would cook it in a pot or make round loaves of bread out of it. It tasted like rich sweet pastry made with oil.


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Moses heard people from every family cry at the entrance to their tents. Jehovah became very angry. Moses did not like it either.


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So he asked: »Jehovah, why have you brought me this trouble? How have I displeased you that you put the burden of all these people on me?


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»Am I their mother? Did I give birth to them? Are you really asking me to carry them in my arms, as a nurse carries a baby, all the way to the land you promised their ancestors with an oath?


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»If you treat me like this have pity on me and kill me. That way I will not have to endure my shame any longer.«


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Jehovah replied to Moses: »Assemble seventy respected men who are recognized as elders of the people. Bring them to me at the tent of my presence, and tell them to stand there beside you.


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»I will come down and speak with you there. I will take some of the spirit I have given and give it to them. Then they can help you bear the responsibility for these people. You will not have to bear it alone.


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»Tell the people: Purify yourselves for tomorrow. You will have meat to eat! Jehovah has heard you whining and saying that you wished you had some meat and that you were better off in Egypt. Jehovah will now give you meat, and you will have to eat it.


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»You will eat it for a whole month, until it comes out of your nose, until you are sick of it. This will happen because you have rejected Jehovah who is here among you and have complained to him that you should not have left Egypt.«


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Moses said to Jehovah: »Here I am leading six hundred thousand people, and you say that you will give them enough meat for a month?«


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»Could enough cattle and sheep even be killed to satisfy them? Are all the fish in the sea enough for them?


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»Is there a limit to my power?« Jehovah answered. »You will soon see whether what I have said will happen or not!«


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Thus Moses went out and told the people what Jehovah said. He assembled seventy of the leaders and placed them around the tent.


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Jehovah came down in the cloud and spoke to him. He took some of the spirit he had given to Moses and gave it to the seventy elders. When the Spirit came on them, they began to shout like prophets, but not for long.


