# verses

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 The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep water. The Spirit of God was hovering over the water.


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 God named the light [day], and the darkness he named [night]. There was evening, then morning-the first day.


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 Then God said, "Let the water under the sky come together in one area, and let the dry land appear." And so it was.


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 God named the dry land [earth]. The water which came together he named [sea]. God saw that it was good.


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 Then God said, "Let the earth produce vegetation: plants bearing seeds, each according to its own type, and fruit trees bearing fruit with seeds, each according to its own type." And so it was.


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 The earth produced vegetation: plants bearing seeds, each according to its own type, and trees bearing fruit with seeds, each according to its own type. God saw that they were good.


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 Then God said, "Let there be lights in the sky to separate the day from the night. They will be signs and will mark religious festivals, days, and years.


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 God made the two bright lights: the larger light to rule the day and the smaller light to rule the night. He also made the stars.


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 to dominate the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. God saw that it was good.


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 Then God said, "Let the water swarm with swimming creatures, and let birds fly through the sky over the earth."


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 So God created the large sea creatures, every type of creature that swims around in the water and every type of flying bird. God saw that they were good.


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 God blessed them and said, "Be fertile, increase in number, fill the sea, and let there be many birds on the earth."


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 Then God said, "Let the earth produce every type of living creature: every type of domestic animal, crawling animal, and wild animal." And so it was.


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 God made every type of wild animal, every type of domestic animal, and every type of creature that crawls on the ground. God saw that they were good.


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 Then God said, "Let us make humans in our image, in our likeness. Let them rule the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the domestic animals all over the earth, and all the animals that crawl on the earth."


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 So God created humans in his image. In the image of God he created them. He created them male and female.


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 God blessed them and said, "Be fertile, increase in number, fill the earth, and be its master. Rule the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that crawl on the earth."


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 God said, "I have given you every plant with seeds on the face of the earth and every tree that has fruit with seeds. This will be your food.


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 I have given all green plants as food to every land animal, every bird in the sky, and every animal that crawls on the earth-every living, breathing animal." And so it was.


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 And God saw everything that he had made and that it was very good. There was evening, then morning-the sixth day.


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 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing. On the seventh day he stopped the work he had been doing.


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 Then God blessed the seventh day and set it apart as holy, because on that day he stopped all his work of creation.


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 This is the account of heaven and earth when they were created, at the time when the LORD God made earth and heaven.


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 Wild bushes and plants were not on the earth yet because the LORD God hadn't sent rain on the earth. Also, there was no one to farm the land.


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 Instead, underground water would come up from the earth and water the entire surface of the ground.


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 Then the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the earth and blew the breath of life into his nostrils. The man became a living being.


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 The LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east. That's where he put the man whom he had formed.


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 The LORD God made all the trees grow out of the ground. These trees were nice to look at, and their fruit was good to eat. The tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil grew in the middle of the garden.


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 The name of the first river is Pishon. This is the one that winds throughout Havilah, where there is gold.


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 The name of the third river is Tigris. This is the one that flows east of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates.


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 Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to farm the land and to take care of it.


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 But you must never eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil because when you eat from it, you will certainly die."


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 Then the LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is right for him."


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 The LORD God had formed all the wild animals and all the birds out of the ground. Then he brought them to the man to see what he would call them. Whatever the man called each creature became its name.


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 So the man named all the domestic animals, all the birds, and all the wild animals. But the man found no helper who was right for him.


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 So the LORD God caused him to fall into a deep sleep. While the man was sleeping, the LORD God took out one of the man's ribs and closed up the flesh at that place.


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 Then the LORD God formed a woman from the rib that he had taken from the man. He brought her to the man.


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 The man said, "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She will be named [woman] because she was taken from man."


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 That is why a man will leave his father and mother and will be united with his wife, and they will become one flesh.


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 The snake was more clever than all the wild animals the LORD God had made. He asked the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must never eat the fruit of any tree in the garden'?"


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 except the tree in the middle of the garden. God said, 'You must never eat it or touch it. If you do, you will die!'"


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 God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened. You'll be like God, knowing good and evil."


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 The woman saw that the tree had fruit that was good to eat, nice to look at, and desirable for making someone wise. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.


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 Then their eyes were opened, and they both realized that they were naked. They sewed fig leaves together and made clothes for themselves.


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 In the cool of the evening, the man and his wife heard the LORD God walking around in the garden. So they hid from the LORD God among the trees in the garden.


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 God asked, "Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat fruit from the tree I commanded you not to eat from?"


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 The man answered, "That woman, the one you gave me, gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it."


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 Then the LORD God asked the woman, "What have you done?" "The snake deceived me, and I ate," the woman answered.


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 So the LORD God said to the snake, "Because you have done this, You are cursed more than all the wild or domestic animals. You will crawl on your belly. You will be the lowest of animals as long as you live.


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 I will make you and the woman hostile toward each other. I will make your descendants and her descendant hostile toward each other. He will crush your head, and you will bruise his heel."


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 He said to the woman, "I will increase your pain and your labor when you give birth to children. Yet, you will long for your husband, and he will rule you."


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 Then he said to the man, "You listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree, although I commanded you, 'You must never eat its fruit.' The ground is cursed because of you. Through hard work you will eat [food that comes] from it every day of your life.


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 By the sweat of your brow, you will produce food to eat until you return to the ground, because you were taken from it. You are dust, and you will return to dust."


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 Then the LORD God said, "The man has become like one of us, since he knows good and evil. He must not reach out and take the fruit from the tree of life and eat. Then he would live forever."


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 So the LORD God sent the man out of the Garden of Eden to farm the ground from which the man had been formed.


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 After he sent the man out, God placed angels and a flaming sword that turned in all directions east of the Garden of Eden. He placed them there to guard the way to the tree of life.


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 Adam made love to his wife Eve. She became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, "I have gotten the man that the LORD promised."


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 Then she gave birth to another child, Abel, Cain's brother. Abel was a shepherd, and Cain was a farmer.


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 Abel also brought some choice parts of the firstborn animals from his flock. The LORD approved of Abel and his offering,


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 If you do well, won't you be accepted? But if you don't do well, sin is lying outside your door ready to attack. It wants to control you, but you must master it."


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 Cain talked to his brother Abel. Later, when they were in the fields, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.


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 The LORD asked Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?" "I don't know," he answered. "Am I supposed to take care of my brother?"


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 So now you are cursed from the ground, which has received the blood of your brother whom you killed.


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 When you farm the ground, it will no longer yield its best for you. You will be a fugitive, a wanderer on the earth."


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 You have forced me off this land today. I have to hide from you and become a fugitive, a wanderer on the earth. Now anyone who finds me will kill me!"


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 So the LORD said to him, "Not so! Anyone who kills Cain will suffer vengeance seven times over." The LORD gave Cain a sign so that anyone meeting him would not kill him.


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 Cain made love to his wife. She became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. Cain was building a city, and he named it Enoch after his son.


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


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 Lamech said to his wives, "Adah and Zillah, listen to me! Wives of Lamech, hear what I say! I killed a man for bruising me, a young man for wounding me.


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 Adam made love to his wife again. She gave birth to a son and named him Seth, because [she said,] "God has given me another child in place of Abel, since Cain killed him."


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 A son was also born to Seth, and he named him Enosh. At that time people began to worship the LORD.


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 This is the written account of Adam and his descendants. When God created humans, he made them in the likeness of God.


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 When Adam was 130 years old, he became the father [of a son] in his own likeness, in his own image. He named him Seth.


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 After he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God for 300 years and had other sons and daughters.


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 He named him Noah [Relief], and said, "This child will bring us relief from the work and painful labor of our hands since the LORD has cursed the ground."


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 The sons of God saw that the daughters of other humans were beautiful. So they married any woman they chose.


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 Then the LORD said, "My Spirit will not struggle with humans forever, because they are flesh and blood. They will live 120 years."


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 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, as well as later, when the sons of God slept with the daughters of other humans and had children by them. These children were famous long ago.


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 The LORD saw how evil humans had become on the earth. All day long their deepest thoughts were nothing but evil.


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 So he said, "I will wipe off the face of the earth these humans that I created. I will wipe out not only humans, but also domestic animals, crawling animals, and birds. I'm sorry that I made them."


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 This is the account of Noah and his descendants. Noah had God's approval and was a man of integrity among the people of his time. He walked with God.


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 God said to Noah, "I have decided to put an end to all people because the earth is full of their violence. Now I'm going to destroy them along with the earth.


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 Make a roof for the ship, and leave an 18-inch-high opening at the top. Put a door in the side of the ship. Build the ship with lower, middle, and upper decks.


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 I'm about to send a flood on the earth to destroy all people under the sky-every living, breathing human. Everything on earth will die.


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 "But I will make my promise to you. You, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives will go into the ship.


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 Bring two of every living creature into the ship in order to keep them alive with you. They must be male and female.


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 Two of every type of bird, every type of domestic animal, and every type of creature that crawls on the ground will come to you to be kept alive.


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 The LORD said to Noah, "Go into the ship with your whole family because I have seen that you alone are righteous among the people of today.


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 Take with you seven pairs of every kind of clean animal (a male and a female of each) and one pair of every kind of unclean animal (a male and a female).


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 Also, take seven pairs of every kind of bird (a male and a female of each) to preserve animal life all over the earth after the flood.


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 In seven days I will send rain to the earth for 40 days and 40 nights. I will wipe off the face of the earth every living creature that I have made."


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 On the seventeenth day of the second month of the six hundredth year of Noah's life, all the deep springs burst open. The sky opened,


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 On that same day Noah and his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, as well as Noah's wife and his three daughters-in-law went into the ship.


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 They had with them every type of wild animal, every type of domestic animal, every type of creature that crawls on the earth, and every type of bird (every creature with wings).


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 A male and a female of every animal went in as God had commanded Noah. Then the LORD closed the door behind them.


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 The flood continued for 40 days on the earth. The water increased and lifted the ship so that it rose high above the ground.


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 The water rose very high above the earth. It covered all the high mountains everywhere under the sky.


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 Every creature that crawls on the earth died, including birds, domestic and wild animals, and everything that swarms over the earth, along with every human.


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 Every living creature on the face of the earth was wiped out. Humans, domestic animals, crawling creatures, and birds were wiped off the earth. Only Noah and those with him in the ship were left.


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 God remembered Noah and all the wild and domestic animals with him in the ship. So God made a wind blow over the earth, and the water started to go down.


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 The water kept decreasing until the tenth month. On the first day of the tenth month, the tops of the mountains appeared.


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 The dove couldn't find a place to land because the water was still all over the earth. So it came back to Noah in the ship. He reached out and brought the dove back into the ship.


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 The dove came to him in the evening, and in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf. Then Noah knew that the water was gone from the earth.


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 By the first day of the first month of Noah's six hundred and first year, the water on the land had dried up. Noah opened the top of the ship, looked out, and saw the surface of the ground.


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 Bring out every animal that's with you: birds, domestic animals, and every creature that crawls on the earth. Be fertile, increase in number, and spread over the earth."


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 Every animal, crawling creature, and bird-everything that moves on the earth-came out of the ship, one kind after another.


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 Noah built an altar to the LORD. On it he made a burnt offering of each type of clean animal and clean bird.


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 The LORD smelled the soothing aroma. He said to himself, "I will never again curse the ground because of humans, even though from birth their hearts are set on nothing but evil. I will never again kill every living creature as I have just done.


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 As long as the earth exists, planting and harvesting, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never stop."


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 God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, "Be fertile, increase in number, and fill the earth.


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 All the wild animals and all the birds will fear you and be terrified of you. Every creature that crawls on the ground and all the fish in the sea have been put under your control.


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 Everything that lives and moves will be your food. I gave you green plants as food; I now give you everything else.


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 In addition, I will demand your blood for your life. I will demand it from any animal or from any person. I will demand the life of any person [who kills] another person.


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 Whoever sheds human blood, by humans his blood will be shed, because in the image of God, God made humans.


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 and every living being that is with you-birds, domestic animals, and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ship-every living thing on earth.


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 I am making my promise to you. Never again will all life be killed by floodwaters. Never again will there be a flood that destroys the earth."


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 God said, "This is the sign of the promise I am giving to you and every living being that is with you for generations to come.


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 Then I will remember my promise to you and every living animal. Never again will water become a flood to destroy all life.


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 Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember my everlasting promise to every living animal on earth."


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 These were Noah's three sons. From them the whole earth was populated. Ham was the father of Canaan.


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 Shem and Japheth took a blanket and laid it over their shoulders. Then they walked in backwards and covered their father's naked body. They turned their faces away so that they didn't see their father naked.


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 May God expand the territory of Japheth. May he live in the tents of Shem. Canaan will be his slave."


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 This is the account of Noah's sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and their descendants. Shem, Ham and Japheth had children after the flood.


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 From these descendants the people of the coastlands spread into their own countries. Each nation had its own language and families.


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 Cush's descendants were Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. Raamah's descendants were Sheba and Dedan.


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 He was a mighty hunter whom the LORD blessed. That's why people used to say, "[He's] like Nimrod, a mighty hunter whom the LORD blessed."


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 The border of the Canaanites extended from Sidon toward Gerar as far as Gaza and then toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim as far as Lasha.


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 Two sons were born to Eber. The name of the one was Peleg [Division], because in his day the earth was divided. His brother's name was Joktan.


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 These were Shem's descendants by families and languages within their countries according to their nations.


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 These were the families of Noah's sons listed by their genealogies, nation by nation. From these [descendants] the nations spread over the earth after the flood.


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 They said to one another, "Let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly." They used bricks as stones and tar as mortar.


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 Then they said, "Let's build a city for ourselves and a tower with its top in the sky. Let's make a name for ourselves so that we won't become scattered all over the face of the earth."


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 The LORD said, "They are one people with one language. This is only the beginning of what they will do! Now nothing they plan to do will be too difficult for them.


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 This is why it was named Babel, because there the LORD turned the language of the whole earth into babble. From that place the LORD scattered them all over the face of the earth.


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 This is the account of Shem and his descendants. Two years after the flood when Shem was 100 years old, he became the father of Arpachshad.


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 This is the account of Terah and his descendants. Terah was the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran was the father of Lot.


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 Both Abram and Nahor married. The name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife was Milcah, daughter of Haran. (Haran was the father of Milcah and Iscah.)


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 Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot (son of Haran), and his daughter-in-law Sarai, wife of his son Abram. They set out together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. When they came as far as Haran, they stayed there.


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 The LORD said to Abram, "Leave your land, your relatives, and your father's home. Go to the land that I will show you.


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 I will make you a great nation, I will bless you. I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.


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 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you, I will curse. Through you every family on earth will be blessed."


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 So Abram left, as the LORD had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was 75 years old when he left Haran.


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 Abram set out for Canaan. He took along his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all the possessions they had accumulated and the servants they had acquired in Haran.


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 They arrived in Canaan, and Abram traveled through the land to the oak tree belonging to Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land.


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 Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, "I'm going to give this land to your descendants." So he built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him.


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 He moved on to the hills east of Bethel, and he put up his tent-with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. He also built an altar to the LORD there and worshiped the LORD.


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 When he was about to enter Egypt, Abram said to his wife Sarai, "I know that you're a beautiful woman.


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 When the Egyptians see you, they'll say, 'This is his wife!' Then they'll kill me but let you live.


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 Please say that you're my sister. Then everything will be alright for me, and because of you I will live."


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 When Pharaoh's officials saw her, they raved about her to Pharaoh, so Sarai was taken to Pharaoh's palace.


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 Everything went well for Abram because of her, and he was given sheep, cattle, donkeys, male and female slaves, and camels.


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 However, the LORD struck Pharaoh and his household with terrible plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife.


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 Then Pharaoh called for Abram. "What have you done to me?" he asked. "Why didn't you tell me that she's your wife?


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 Why did you say, 'She's my sister' and allow me to take her for my wife? Here's your wife! Take her and go!"


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 Pharaoh gave his men orders concerning Abram. They sent Abram away with his wife and everything that he had.


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 He traveled from place to place. He went from the Negev as far as Bethel, to the area between Bethel and Ai where his tent had been originally,


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 There wasn't enough pastureland for both of them. They had so many possessions that they were unable to remain together.


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 Quarrels broke out between Abram's herders and Lot's herders. (Canaanites and Perizzites were also living in that area.)


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 Abram said to Lot, "Please, let's not have any more quarrels between us or between our herders. After all, we're relatives.


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 Isn't all this land yours also? Let's separate. If you go to the left, I'll go to the right, and if you go to the right, I'll go to the left."


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 Then Lot looked in the direction of Zoar as far as he could see. He saw that the whole Jordan Plain was well-watered like the LORD's garden or like Egypt. (This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.)


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 Lot chose the whole Jordan Plain for himself. He moved toward the east. They each went their own way.


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 Abram lived in Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain, moving his tents as far as Sodom.


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 I will also give you as many descendants as the dust of the earth. If anyone could count the dust of the earth, then he could also count your descendants.


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 So Abram moved his tents and went to live by the oak trees belonging to Mamre at Hebron. There he built an altar for the LORD.


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 At that time [four kings]-King Amraphel of Shinar, King Arioch of Ellasar, King Chedorlaomer of Elam, and King Tidal of Goiim-


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 went to war against [five kings]-King Bera of Sodom, King Birsha of Gomorrah, King Shinab of Admah, King Shemeber of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar).


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 In the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer and his allies came and defeated the Rephaim at Ashteroth Karnaim, the Zuzim at Ham, the Emim at Shaveh Kiriathaim,


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 On their way back, they came to En Mishpat (that is, Kadesh), and they conquered the whole territory of the Amalekites and also the Amorites who were living at Hazazon Tamar.


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 Then the kings of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and Bela (that is, Zoar) marched out and prepared for 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 tar pits. As the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, they fell because of the tar pits, but the other kings fled to the hills.


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 So the four kings took all the possessions of Sodom and Gomorrah, as well as all their food, and left.


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 Then a soldier who had escaped came and told Abram the Hebrew what had happened. He was living next to the oak trees belonging to Mamre the Amorite, a brother of Eshcol and Aner. (These men were Abram's allies.)


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 When Abram heard that his nephew had been captured, he armed his 318 trained men, born in his own household, and pursued the four kings all the way to Dan.


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 He split up his men to attack them at night. He defeated them, pursuing them all the way to Hobah, which is north of Damascus.


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 He brought back everything they had, including women and soldiers. He also brought back his relative Lot and his possessions.


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 After Abram came back from defeating Chedorlaomer and his allies, the king of Sodom came out to meet him in the Shaveh Valley (that is, the King's Valley).


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 Blessed is God Most High, who has handed your enemies over to you." Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.


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 But Abram said to the king of Sodom, "I now raise my hand and solemnly swear to the LORD God Most High, maker of heaven and earth,


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 that I won't take a thread or a sandal strap. I won't take anything that is yours so that you will never be able to say, 'I made Abram rich.'


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 I won't take one single thing except what my men have eaten. But let my allies Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre take their share."


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 Later the LORD spoke his word to Abram in a vision. He said, "Abram, don't be afraid. I am your shield. Your reward will be very great."


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 Abram asked, "Almighty LORD, what will you give me? Since I'm going to die without children, Eliezer of Damascus will inherit my household.


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 Suddenly, the LORD spoke his word to Abram again. He said, "This man will not be your heir. Your own son will be your heir."


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 He took Abram outside and said, "Now look up at the sky and count the stars, if you are able to count them." He also said to him, "That's how many descendants you will have!"


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 Then the LORD said to him, "I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land so that you will take possession of it."


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 He answered Abram, "Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a mourning dove, and a pigeon."


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 So Abram brought all these animals to him. He cut each of them in half and laid each half opposite the other. However, he did not cut the birds in half.


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 God said to Abram, "You can know for sure that your descendants will live in a land that is not their own, where they will be slaves, and they will be oppressed for 400 years.


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 In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, because the sin of the Amorites will not have run its course until then."


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 The sun had gone down, and it was dark. Suddenly a smoking oven and a flaming torch passed between the animal pieces.


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 At that time the LORD made a promise to Abram. He said, "I will give this land to your descendants. This is the land from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates.


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 So Sarai said to Abram, "The LORD has kept me from having children. Why don't you sleep with my slave? Maybe I can build a family through her." Abram agreed with Sarai.


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 After Abram had lived in Canaan for ten years, Abram's wife Sarai took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife.


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 He slept with Hagar, and she became pregnant. When Hagar realized that she was pregnant, she began to be disrespectful to Sarai, her owner.


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 So Sarai complained to Abram, "I'm being treated unfairly! And it's your fault! I know that I gave my slave to you, but now that she's pregnant, she's being disrespectful to me. May the LORD decide who is right-you or me."


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 Abram answered Sarai, "Here, she's your slave. Do what you like with her." Then Sarai mistreated Hagar so much that she ran away.


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 He said, "Hagar, Sarai's slave, where have you come from, and where are you going?" She answered, "I'm running away from my owner Sarai."


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 The Messenger of the LORD said to her, "Go back to your owner, and place yourself under her authority."


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 The Messenger of the LORD also said to her, "I will give you many descendants. No one will be able to count them because there will be so many."


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 Then the Messenger of the LORD said to her, "You are pregnant, and you will give birth to a son. You will name him Ishmael [God Hears], because the LORD has heard your cry of distress.


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 He will be as free and wild as an untamed donkey. He will fight with everyone, and everyone will fight with him. He will have conflicts with all his relatives."


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 Hagar named the LORD, who had been speaking to her, "You Are the God Who Watches Over Me." She said, "This is the place where I watched [the one] who watches over me."


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 This is why the well is named Beer Lahai Roi [Well of the Living One Who Watches Over Me]. It is still there between Kadesh and Bered.


text:
 When Abram was 99 years old, the LORD appeared to him. He said to Abram, "I am God Almighty. Live in my presence with integrity.


text:
 So your name will no longer be Abram [Exalted Father], but Abraham [Father of Many] because I have made you a father of many nations.


text:
 I will make my promise to you and your descendants for generations to come as an everlasting promise. I will be your God and the God of your descendants.


text:
 I am also giving this land where you are living-all of Canaan-to you and your descendants as your permanent possession. And I will be your God."


text:
 God also said to Abraham, "You and your descendants in generations to come are to be faithful to my promise.


text:
 For generations to come every male child who is eight days old must be circumcised, whether he is born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner who's not related to you.


text:
 Every male born in your household or bought with your money is to be circumcised without exception. So my promise will be a sign on your flesh, an everlasting promise.


text:
 God said to Abraham, "Don't call your wife by the name Sarai anymore. Instead, her name is Sarah [Princess].


text:
 I will bless her, and I will also give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she will become [a mother of] nations, and kings will come from her."


text:
 Immediately, Abraham bowed with his face touching the ground. He laughed as he thought to himself, "Can a son be born to a hundred-year-old man? Can Sarah, a ninety-year-old woman, have a child?"


text:
 God replied, "No! Your wife Sarah will give you a son, and you will name him Isaac [He Laughs]. I will make an everlasting promise to him and his descendants.


text:
 I have heard your request about Ishmael. Yes, I will bless him, make him fertile, and increase the number of his descendants. He will be the father of 12 princes, and I will make him a great nation.


text:
 So Abraham took his son Ishmael, everyone born in his household, and everyone bought with money-every male in his household-and circumcised them that day, as God had told him.


text:
 All the men of his household, whether born in the household or bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.


text:
 The LORD appeared to Abraham by the oak trees belonging to Mamre as he was sitting at the entrance of his tent during the hottest part of the day.


text:
 Abraham looked up, and suddenly he saw three men standing near him. When he saw them, he ran to meet them, and he bowed with his face touching the ground.


text:
 Why don't we let someone bring a little water? After you wash your feet, you can stretch out and rest under the tree.


text:
 Let me bring some bread so that you can regain your strength. After that you can leave, since this is why you stopped by to visit me." They answered, "That's fine. Do as you say."


text:
 So Abraham hurried into the tent to find Sarah. "Quick," he said, "get three measures of flour, knead it, and make bread."


text:
 Then Abraham ran to the herd and took one of his best calves. He gave it to his servant, who prepared it quickly.


text:
 Abraham took cheese and milk, as well as the meat, and set these in front of them. Then he stood by them under the tree as they ate.


text:
 The LORD said, "I promise I'll come back to you next year at this time, and your wife Sarah will have a son." Sarah happened to be listening at the entrance of the tent, which was behind him.


text:
 And so Sarah laughed to herself, thinking, "Now that I've become old, will I enjoy myself again? What's more, my husband is old!"


text:
 The LORD asked Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh and say, 'Can I really have a child now that I'm old?'


text:
 Is anything too hard for the LORD? I will come back to you next year at this time, and Sarah will have a son."


text:
 Because she was afraid, Sarah denied that she had laughed. But the LORD said, "Yes, you did laugh."


text:
 Then the men got up to leave. As Abraham was walking with them to see them off, they looked toward Sodom.


text:
 After all, Abraham is going to become a great and mighty nation and through him all the nations of the earth will be blessed.


text:
 I have chosen him so that he will direct his children and his family after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just. In this way I, the LORD, will do what I have promised Abraham."


text:
 The LORD also said, "Sodom and Gomorrah have many complaints against them, and their sin is very serious.


text:
 From there the men turned and went on toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing in front of the LORD.


text:
 What if there are 50 innocent people in the city? Are you really going to sweep them away? Won't you spare that place for the sake of the 50 innocent people who are in it?


text:
 It would be unthinkable for you to do such a thing, to treat the innocent and the guilty alike and to kill the innocent with the guilty. That would be unthinkable! Won't the judge of the whole earth do what is fair?"


text:
 The LORD said, "If I find 50 innocent people inside the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake."


text:
 Abraham asked, "Consider now, if I may be so bold as to ask you, although I'm [only] dust and ashes,


text:
 what if there are 45 innocent people? Will you destroy the whole city because of 5 fewer people?" The LORD answered, "I will not destroy it if I find 45 there."


text:
 Abraham asked him again, "What if 40 are found there?" He answered, "For the sake of the 40 I will not do it."


text:
 "Please don't be angry if I speak again," Abraham said. "What if 30 are found there?" He answered, "If I find 30 there, I will not do it."


text:
 "Look now, if I may be so bold as to ask you," Abraham said. "What if 20 are found there?" He answered, "I will not destroy it for the sake of the 20."


text:
 "Please don't be angry if I speak only one more time," Abraham said. "What if 10 are found there?" He answered, "I will not destroy it for the sake of the 10."


text:
 The two angels came to Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting in the gateway. When Lot saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed with his face touching the ground.


text:
 He said, "Please, gentlemen, why don't you come to my home and spend the night? [You can] wash your feet there. Then early tomorrow morning you can continue your journey." "No," they answered, "we'd rather spend the night in the city square."


text:
 But he insisted so strongly that they came with him and went into his home. He prepared a special dinner for them, baked some unleavened bread, and they ate.


text:
 They called to Lot, "Where are the men who came to [stay with] you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them."


text:
 "Look, I have two daughters who have never had sex. Why don't you let me bring them out to you? Do whatever you like with them. But don't do anything to these men, since I'm responsible for them."


text:
 But the men yelled, "Get out of the way! This man came here to stay awhile. Now he wants to be our judge! We're going to treat you worse than those men." They pushed hard against Lot and lunged forward to break down the door.


text:
 Then they struck all the men who were in the doorway of the house, young and old alike, with blindness so that they gave up trying to find the door.


text:
 Then the men asked Lot, "Do you have anyone else here-any in-laws, sons, daughters, or any other relatives in the city? Get them out of here


text:
 because we're going to destroy this place. The complaints to the LORD against its people are so loud that the LORD has sent us to destroy it."


text:
 So Lot went out and spoke to the men engaged to his daughters. He said, "Hurry! Get out of this place, because the LORD is going to destroy the city." But they thought he was joking.


text:
 As soon as it was dawn, the angels urged Lot by saying, "Quick! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you'll be swept away when the city is punished."


text:
 When he hesitated, the men grabbed him, his wife, and his two daughters by their hands, because the LORD wanted to spare Lot. They brought them safely outside the city.


text:
 As soon as they were outside, one [of the angels] said, "Run for your lives! Don't look behind you, and don't stop on the plain. Run for the hills, or you'll be swept away!"


text:
 Even though you've been so good to me and though you've been very kind to me by saving my life, I can't run as far as the hills. This disaster will overtake me, and I'll die.


text:
 Look, there's a city near enough to flee to, and it's small. Why don't you let me run there? Isn't it small? Then my life will be saved."


text:
 The angel said to him, "Alright, I will grant you this request too. I will not destroy the city you're talking about.


text:
 Run there quickly, because I can't do anything until you get there." (The city is named Zoar [Small].)


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


text:
 When 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.


text:
 When God destroyed the cities on the plain, he remembered Abraham. Lot was allowed to escape from the destruction that came to the cities where he was living.


text:
 Lot left Zoar because he was afraid to stay there. He and his two daughters settled in the mountains where they lived in a cave.


text:
 The older daughter said to the younger one, "Our father is old. No men are here. We can't get married as other people do.


text:
 Let's give our father wine to drink. Then we'll go to bed with him so that we'll be able to preserve our family line through our father."


text:
 That night they gave their father wine to drink. Then the older one went to bed with her father. He didn't know when she came to bed or when she got up.


text:
 The next day the older daughter said to the younger one, "I did it! Last night I went to bed with my father. Let's give him wine to drink again tonight. Then you go to bed with him so that we'll be able to preserve our family line through our father."


text:
 That night they gave their father wine to drink again. Then the younger one went to bed with him. He didn't know when she came to bed or when she got up.


text:
 The younger daughter also gave birth to a son and named him Ben Ammi. He is the ancestor of the Ammonites of today.


text:
 Abraham told everyone that his wife Sarah was his sister. So King Abimelech of Gerar sent men to take Sarah.


text:
 God came to Abimelech in a dream one night and said to him, "You're going to die because of the woman that you've taken! She's a married woman!"


text:
 Abimelech hadn't come near her, so he asked, "Lord, will you destroy a nation even if it's innocent?


text:
 Didn't he tell me himself, 'She's my sister,' and didn't she even say, 'He's my brother'? I did this in all innocence and with a clear conscience."


text:
 "Yes, I know that you did this with a clear conscience," God said to him in the dream. "In fact, I kept you from sinning against me. That's why I didn't let you touch her.


text:
 Give the man's wife back to him now, because he's a prophet. He will pray for you, and you will live. But if you don't give her back, you and all who belong to you are doomed to die."


text:
 Early in the morning Abimelech called together all his officials. He told them about all of this, and they were terrified.


text:
 Then Abimelech called for Abraham and asked him, "What have you done to us? How have I sinned against you that you would bring such a serious sin on me and my kingdom? You shouldn't have done this to me."


text:
 Abraham said, "I thought that because there are no God-fearing people in this place, I'd be killed because of my wife.


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


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


text:
 He said to Sarah, "Don't forget, I've given your brother 25 pounds of silver. This is to silence any criticism against you from everyone with you. You're completely cleared."


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


text:
 (The LORD had made it impossible for any woman in Abimelech's household to have children because of Abraham's wife Sarah.)


text:
 So she became pregnant, and at the exact time God had promised, she gave birth to a son for Abraham in his old age.


text:
 Who would have predicted to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet, I have given him a son in his old age."


text:
 She said to Abraham, "Get rid of this slave and her son, because this slave's son must never share the inheritance with my son Isaac."


text:
 But God said to Abraham, "Don't be upset about the boy and your slave. Listen to what Sarah says because through Isaac your descendants will carry on your name.


text:
 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 Beersheba.


text:
 Then she went about as far away as an arrow can be shot and sat down. She said to herself, "I don't want to watch the boy die." So she sat down and sobbed loudly.


text:
 God heard the boy crying, and the Messenger of God called to Hagar from heaven. "What's the matter, Hagar?" he asked her. "Don't be afraid! God has heard the boy crying from the bushes.


text:
 Come on, help the boy up! Take him by the hand, because I'm going to make him into a great nation."


text:
 God opened her eyes. Then she saw a well. She filled the container with water and gave the boy a drink.


text:
 At that time Abimelech, accompanied by Phicol, the commander of his army, said to Abraham, "God is with you in everything you do.


text:
 Now, swear an oath to me here in front of God that you will never cheat me, my children, or my descendants. Show me and the land where you've been living the same kindness that I have shown you."


text:
 Abimelech replied, "I don't know who did this. You didn't tell me, and I didn't hear about it until today."


text:
 Abraham took some sheep and cattle and gave them to Abimelech, and the two of them made an agreement.


text:
 After they made the treaty at Beersheba, Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, left and went back to the land of the Philistines.


text:
 God said, "Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I will show you."


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


text:
 Then Abraham said to his servants, "You stay here with the donkey while the boy and I go over there. We'll worship. After that we'll come back to you."


text:
 Then Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and gave it to his son Isaac. Abraham carried the burning coals and the knife. The two of them went on together.


text:
 Isaac spoke up and said, "Father?" "Yes, Son?" Abraham answered. Isaac asked, "We have the burning coals and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?"


text:
 Abraham answered, "God will provide a lamb for the burnt offering, Son." The two of them went on together.


text:
 When they came to the place that God had told him about, Abraham built the altar and arranged the wood on it. Then he tied up his son Isaac and laid him on top of the wood on the altar.


text:
 But the Messenger of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, "Abraham! Abraham!" "Yes?" he answered.


text:
 "Do not lay a hand on the boy," he said. "Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you did not refuse to give me your son, your only son."


text:
 When Abraham looked around, he saw a ram behind him caught by its horns in a bush. So Abraham took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering in place of his son.


text:
 Abraham named that place The LORD Will Provide. It is still said today, "On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided."


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


text:
 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.


text:
 Then Abraham returned to his servants, and together they left for Beersheba. Abraham remained in Beersheba.


text:
 Nahor's concubine, whose name was Reumah, had the following children: Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah."


text:
 She died in Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron) in Canaan. Abraham went to mourn for Sarah and to cry about her death.


text:
 "I'm a stranger with no permanent home. Let me have some of your property for a tomb so that I can bury my dead wife."


text:
 "Listen to us, sir. 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."


text:
 Abraham got up in front of the Hittites, the people of that region, and bowed with his face touching the ground.


text:
 He said to them, "If you are willing to let me bury my wife, listen to me. Encourage Ephron, son of Zohar,


text:
 to let me have the cave of Machpelah that he owns at the end of his field. He should sell it to me for its full price as my property to be used as a tomb among you."


text:
 Ephron was sitting among the Hittites. He answered Abraham so that everyone who was entering the city gate could hear him. He said,


text:
 "No, sir, listen to me. I'm giving you the field together with the cave that is in it. My people are witnesses that I'm giving it to you. Bury your wife!"


text:
 He spoke to Ephron so that the people of that region could hear him. He said, "If you would only listen to me. I will pay you the price of the field. Take it from me so that I can bury my wife there."


text:
 "Sir, listen to me. The land is worth ten pounds of silver. What is that between us? Bury your wife!"


text:
 Abraham agreed to Ephron's terms. So he weighed out for Ephron the amount stated in front of the Hittites: ten pounds of silver at the current merchants' exchange rate.


text:
 to Abraham. 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.


text:
 After this, Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave in the field of Machpelah, east of Mamre (that is, Hebron).


text:
 So the field and its cave were sold by the Hittites to Abraham as his property to be used as a tomb.


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


text:
 I want you to swear by the LORD God of heaven and earth that you will not get my son a wife from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I'm living.


text:
 The servant asked him, "What if the woman doesn't want to come back to this land with me? Should I take your son all the way back to the land you came from?"


text:
 "The LORD God of heaven took me from my father's home and the land of my family. He spoke to me and swore this oath: 'I will give this land to your descendants.' "God will send his angel ahead of you, and you will get my son a wife from there.


text:
 If the woman doesn't want to come back with you, then you'll be free from this oath that you swear to me. But don't take my son back there."


text:
 Then the servant took ten of his master's camels and left, taking with him all of his master's best things. He traveled to Aram Naharaim, Nahor's city.


text:
 The servant had the camels kneel down outside the city by the well. It was evening, when the women would go out to draw water.


text:
 Then he prayed, "LORD, God of my master Abraham, make me successful today. Show your kindness to Abraham.


text:
 I will ask a girl, 'May I please have a drink from your jar?' If she answers, 'Have a drink, and I'll also water your camels,' let her be the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac. This way I'll know that you've shown your kindness to my master."


text:
 Before he had finished praying, Rebekah came with her jar on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel, son of Milcah, who was the wife of Abraham's brother Nahor.


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


text:
 When she had finished giving him a drink, she said, "I'll also keep drawing water for your camels until they've had enough to drink."


text:
 So she quickly emptied her jar into the water trough, ran back to the well to draw more water, and drew enough for all his camels.


text:
 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.


text:
 He asked, "Whose daughter are you? Please tell me whether there is room in your father's house for us to spend the night."


text:
 He said, "Praise the LORD, the God of my master Abraham. The LORD hasn't failed to be kind and faithful to my master. The LORD has led me on this trip to the home of my master's relatives."


text:
 He saw the nose ring and the bracelets on his sister's wrists and heard her tell what the man had said to her. Immediately, Laban ran out to the man by the spring. He came to the man, who was standing with the camels by the spring.


text:
 He said, "Come in, you whom the LORD has blessed. Why are you standing out here? I have straightened up the house and made a place for the camels."


text:
 So the man went into the house. The camels were unloaded and given straw and feed. Then water was brought for him and his men to wash their feet.


text:
 When the food was put in front of him, he said, "I won't eat until I've said what I have to say." "Speak up," Laban said.


text:
 "The LORD has blessed my master, and he has become wealthy. The LORD has given him sheep and cattle, silver and gold, male and female slaves, camels and donkeys.


text:
 My master's wife Sarah gave him a son in her old age, and my master has given that son everything he has.


text:
 My master made me swear this oath: 'Don't get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I'm living.


text:
 "He answered me, 'I have been living the way the LORD wants me to. The LORD will send his angel with you to make your trip successful. You will get my son a wife from my relatives and from my father's family.


text:
 Then you will be free from your oath to me. You will also be free of your oath to me if my relatives are not willing to do this when you go to them.'


text:
 "When I came to the spring today, I prayed, 'LORD God of my master Abraham, please make my trip successful.


text:
 I'm standing by the spring. I'll say to the young woman who comes out to draw water, "Please give me a drink of water."


text:
 If she says to me, "Not only may you have a drink, but I will also draw water for your camels," let her be the woman the LORD has chosen for my master's son.'


text:
 "Before I had finished praying, Rebekah came with her jar on her shoulder. She went down to the spring and drew water. "So I asked her, 'May I have a drink?'


text:
 She quickly lowered her jar and said, 'Have a drink, and I'll water your camels too.' So I drank, and she also watered the camels.


text:
 "Then I asked her, 'Whose daughter are you?' "She answered, 'The daughter of Bethuel, son of Nahor and Milcah.' "I put the ring in her nose and the bracelets on her wrists.


text:
 I knelt, bowing down to the LORD. I praised the LORD, the God of my master Abraham. The LORD led me in the right direction to get the daughter of my master's relative for his son.


text:
 Tell me whether or not you're going to show my master true kindness so that I will know what to do."


text:
 Laban and Bethuel answered, "This is from the LORD. We can't say anything to you one way or another.


text:
 Here's Rebekah! Take her and go! She will become the wife of your master's son, as the LORD has said."


text:
 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.


text:
 Then 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."


text:
 He said to them, "Don't delay me now that the LORD has made my trip successful. Let me go back to my master."


text:
 They gave Rebekah a blessing: "May you, our sister, become the mother of many thousands of children. May your descendants take possession of their enemies' cities."


text:
 Then Rebekah and her maids left. Riding on camels, they followed the man. The servant took Rebekah and left.


text:
 She asked the servant, "Who is that man over there coming through the field to meet us?" "That is my master," the servant answered. Then she took her veil and covered herself.


text:
 Isaac took her into his mother Sarah's tent. He married Rebekah. She became his wife, and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother's death.


text:
 Jokshan was the father of Sheba and Dedan. Dedan's descendants were the Assyrians, the Letushites, and the Leummites.


text:
 The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. These were the descendants of Keturah.


text:
 But while he was still living, Abraham had given gifts to the sons of his concubines. He sent them away from his son Isaac to a land in the east.


text:
 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.


text:
 His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah in the field of Ephron, son of Zohar the Hittite. The cave is east of Mamre.


text:
 This was the field that Abraham had bought from the Hittites. There Abraham was buried with his wife Sarah.


text:
 This is the account of the descendants of Abraham's son Ishmael. He was the son of Sarah's Egyptian slave Hagar and Abraham.


text:
 These are the names of the sons of Ishmael listed in the order of their birth: Nebaioth (Ishmael's firstborn), Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam,


text:
 These are the sons of Ishmael and their names listed by their settlements and camps-12 leaders of their tribes.


text:
 His descendants lived as nomads from the region of Havilah to Shur, which is near Egypt, in the direction of Assyria. They all fought with each other.


text:
 Isaac was 40 years old when he married Rebekah, daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram and sister of Laban the Aramean.


text:
 Isaac prayed to the LORD for his wife because she was childless. The LORD answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant.


text:
 When the children inside her were struggling with each other, she said, "If it's like this now, what will become of me?" So she went to ask the LORD.


text:
 The LORD said to her, "Two countries are in your womb. Two nations will go their separate ways from birth. One nation will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger."


text:
 Afterwards, his brother was born with his hand holding on to Esau's heel, and so he was named Jacob [Heel]. Isaac was 60 years old when they were born.


text:
 They grew up. Esau became an expert hunter, an outdoorsman. Jacob remained a quiet man, staying around the tents.


text:
 So Esau said to Jacob, "Let me have the whole pot of red stuff to eat-that red stuff-I'm exhausted." This is why he was called Edom.


text:
 "First, swear an oath," Jacob said. So Esau swore an oath to him and sold him his rights as firstborn.


text:
 Then Jacob gave Esau a meal of bread and lentils. He ate and drank, and then he got up and left. This is how Esau showed his contempt for his rights as firstborn.


text:
 There was a famine in the land in addition to the earlier one during Abraham's time. So Isaac went to King Abimelech of the Philistines in Gerar.


text:
 Live here in this land for a while, and I will be with you and bless you. I will give all these lands to you and your descendants. I will keep the oath that I swore to your father Abraham.


text:
 I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and give all these lands to your descendants. Through your descendant all the nations of the earth will be blessed.


text:
 I will bless you because Abraham obeyed me and completed the duties, commands, laws, and instructions I gave him."


text:
 When the men of that place asked about his wife, Isaac answered, "She's my sister." He was afraid to say "my wife." He thought that the men of that place would kill him to get Rebekah, because she was an attractive woman.


text:
 When he had been there a long time, King Abimelech of the Philistines looked out of his window and saw Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah.


text:
 Abimelech called for Isaac and said, "So she's really your wife! How could you say, 'She's my sister'?" Isaac answered him, "I thought I would be killed because of her."


text:
 Then Abimelech said, "What have you done to us! One of the people might have easily gone to bed with your wife, and then you would have made us guilty of sin."


text:
 Isaac planted [crops] in that land. In that same year he harvested a hundred times as much as he had planted because the LORD had blessed him.


text:
 So the Philistines filled in all the wells that his father's servants had dug during his father Abraham's lifetime.


text:
 He dug out the wells that had been dug during his father Abraham's lifetime. The Philistines had filled them in after Abraham's death. He gave them the same names that his father had given them.


text:
 The herders from Gerar quarreled with Isaac's herders, claiming, "This water is ours!" So Isaac named the well Esek [Argument], because they had argued with him.


text:
 Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over that one too. So Isaac named it Sitnah [Accusation].


text:
 He moved on from there and dug another well. They didn't quarrel over this one. So he named it Rehoboth [Roomy] and said, "Now the LORD has made room for us, and we will prosper in this land."


text:
 That night the LORD appeared to Isaac, and said, "I am the God of your father Abraham. Don't be afraid, because I am with you. I will bless you and increase the number of your descendants for my servant Abraham's sake."


text:
 So Isaac built an altar there and worshiped the LORD. He also pitched his tent in that place, and his servants dug a well there.


text:
 Abimelech, his friend Ahuzzath, and Phicol, the commander of his army, came from Gerar to see Isaac.


text:
 They answered, "We have seen that the LORD is with you. So we thought, 'There should be a solemn agreement between us.' We'd like to make an agreement with you


text:
 that you will not harm us, since we have not touched you. We have done only good to you and let you go in peace. Now you are blessed by the LORD."


text:
 Early the next morning they exchanged oaths. Then Isaac sent them on their way, and they left peacefully.


text:
 That same day Isaac's servants came and told him about a well they had dug. They said to him, "We've found water."


text:
 When Esau was 40 years old, he married Judith, daughter of Beeri the Hittite. He also married Basemath, daughter of Elon the Hittite.


text:
 When Isaac was old and going blind, he called his older son Esau and said to him, "Son!" Esau answered, "Here I am."


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


text:
 Prepare a good-tasting meal for me, just the way I like it. Bring it to me to eat so that I will bless you before I die."


text:
 Rebekah was listening while Isaac was speaking to his son Esau. When Esau went into the open country to hunt for some wild game to bring back,


text:
 He said, 'Bring me some wild game, and prepare a good-tasting meal for me to eat so that I will bless you in the presence of the LORD before I die.'


text:
 Go to the flock, and get me two good young goats. I'll prepare them as a good-tasting meal for your father, just the way he likes it.


text:
 My father will feel [my skin] and think I'm mocking him. Then I'll bring a curse on myself instead of a blessing."


text:
 His mother responded, "Let any curse on you fall on me, Son. Just obey me and go! Get me [the young goats]."


text:
 He went and got them and brought them to his mother. She prepared a good-tasting meal, just the way his father liked it.


text:
 Then Rebekah took her older son Esau's good clothes, which she had in the house, and put them on her younger son Jacob.


text:
 Jacob answered his father, "I'm Esau, your firstborn. I've done what you told me. Sit up and eat this meat I've hunted for you so that you may bless me."


text:
 Isaac asked his son, "How did you find it so quickly, Son?" "The LORD your God brought it to me," he answered.


text:
 Then Isaac said to Jacob, "Come over here so that I can feel your skin, Son, [to find out] whether or not you really are my son Esau."


text:
 So Jacob went over to his father. Isaac felt [his skin]. "The voice is Jacob's," he said, "but the hands are Esau's."


text:
 He didn't recognize Jacob, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau's hands. So he blessed him.


text:
 Isaac said, "Bring me some of the game, and I will eat it, Son, so that I will bless you." Jacob brought it to Isaac, and he ate it. Jacob also brought him wine, and he drank it.


text:
 He went over and gave him a kiss. When Isaac smelled his clothes, he blessed him and said, "The smell of my son is like the smell of open country that the LORD has blessed.


text:
 May God give you dew from the sky, fertile fields on the earth, and plenty of fresh grain and new wine.


text:
 May nations serve you. May people bow down to you. Be the master of your brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed. May those who bless you be blessed."


text:
 He, too, 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've hunted for you so that you will bless me."


text:
 Trembling violently all over, Isaac asked, "Who hunted game and brought it to me? I ate it before you came in. I blessed him, and he will stay blessed."


text:
 When Esau heard these words from his father, he shouted out a very loud and bitter cry and said to his father, "Bless me too, Father!"


text:
 Esau said, "Isn't that why he's named Jacob? He's cheated me twice already: He took my rights as firstborn, and now he's taken my blessing." So he asked, "Haven't you saved a blessing for me?"


text:
 Isaac answered Esau, "I have made him your master, and I have made all his brothers serve him. I've provided fresh grain and new wine for him. What is left for me to do for you, Son?"


text:
 His father Isaac answered him, "The place where you live will lack the fertile fields of the earth and the dew from the sky above.


text:
 You will use your sword to live, and you will serve your brother. But eventually you will gain your freedom and break his yoke off your neck."


text:
 So Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing that his father had given him. Esau said to himself, "The time to mourn for my father is near. Then I'll kill my brother Jacob."


text:
 When Rebekah was told what her older son Esau had said, she sent for her younger son Jacob and said to him, "Watch out! Your brother Esau is comforting himself by planning to kill you.


text:
 When your brother's anger is gone and he has forgotten what you did to him, I'll send for you and get you back. Why should I lose both of you in one day?"


text:
 Rebekah said to Isaac, "I can't stand Hittite women! If Jacob marries a Hittite woman like one of those from around here, I might as well die."


text:
 Isaac called for Jacob and blessed him. Then he commanded him, "You are not to marry any of the Canaanite women.


text:
 Quick! Go to Paddan Aram. Go to the home of Bethuel, your mother's father, and get yourself a wife from there from the daughters of your uncle Laban.


text:
 May God Almighty bless you, make you fertile, and increase the number of your descendants so that you will become a community of people.


text:
 May he give to you and your descendants the blessing of Abraham so that you may take possession of the land where you are now living, the land that God gave to Abraham."


text:
 Isaac sent Jacob to Paddan Aram. Jacob went to live with Laban, son of Bethuel the Aramean and brother of Rebekah. She was the mother of Jacob and Esau.


text:
 Esau learned that Isaac had blessed Jacob and had sent him away to Paddan Aram to get a wife from there. He learned that Isaac had blessed Jacob and had commanded him not to marry any of the Canaanite women.


text:
 So he went to Ishmael and married Mahalath, daughter of Abraham's son Ishmael and sister of Nebaioth, in addition to the wives he had.


text:
 When he came to a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had gone down. He took one of the stones from that place, put it under his head, and lay down there.


text:
 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.


text:
 The LORD was standing above it, saying, "I am the LORD, 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.


text:
 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. Through you and through your descendant every family on earth will be blessed.


text:
 Remember, I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go. I will also bring you back to this land because I will not leave you until I do what I've promised you."


text:
 Then Jacob woke up from his sleep and exclaimed, "Certainly, the LORD is in this place, and I didn't know it!"


text:
 Filled with awe, he said, "How awe-inspiring this place is! Certainly, this is the house of God and the gateway to heaven!"


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


text:
 Then Jacob made a vow: "If God will be with me and will watch over me on my trip and give me food to eat and clothes to wear,


text:
 This stone that I have set up as a marker will be the house of God, and I will surely give you a tenth of everything you give me."


text:
 He looked around, and out in a field he saw a well with a large stone over the opening. Three flocks of sheep were lying down near it, because the flocks were watered from that well.


text:
 When all the flocks were gathered there, the stone would be rolled off the opening of the well so that the sheep could be watered. Then the stone would be put back in place over the opening of the well.


text:
 "How is he doing?" Jacob asked them. "He's fine," they answered. "Here comes his daughter Rachel with the sheep."


text:
 "It's still the middle of the day," he said. "It isn't time yet to gather the livestock. Water the sheep. Then let them graze."


text:
 They replied, "We can't until all the flocks are gathered. When the stone is rolled off the opening of the well, we can water the sheep."


text:
 While he was still talking to them, Rachel arrived with her father's sheep, because she was a shepherd.


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


text:
 When Jacob told Rachel that he was her father's nephew and that he was Rebekah's son, she ran and told her father.


text:
 As soon as Laban heard the news about his sister's son Jacob, he ran to meet him. He hugged and kissed him and brought him into his home. Then Jacob told Laban all that had happened.


text:
 Then Laban said to him, "Just because you're my relative doesn't mean that you should work for nothing. Tell me what your wages should be."


text:
 Laban had two daughters. The name of the older one was Leah, and the name of the younger one was Rachel.


text:
 Jacob loved Rachel. So he offered, "I'll work seven years in return for your younger daughter Rachel."


text:
 Jacob worked seven years in return for Rachel, but the years seemed like only a few days to him because he loved her.


text:
 [At the end of the seven years] Jacob said to Laban, "The time is up; give me my wife! I want to sleep with her."


text:
 In the evening he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob. Jacob slept with her. When morning came, he realized it was Leah.


text:
 "What have you done to me?" Jacob asked Laban. "Didn't I work for you in return for Rachel? Why did you cheat me?"


text:
 Laban answered, "It's not our custom to give the younger daughter [in marriage] before the older one.


text:
 Finish the week of wedding festivities with this daughter. Then we will give you the other one too. But you'll have to work for me another seven years."


text:
 That's what Jacob did. He finished the week with Leah. Then Laban gave his daughter Rachel to him as his wife.


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


text:
 When the LORD saw Leah was unloved, he made it possible for her to have children, but Rachel had none.


text:
 Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben [Here's My Son], because she said, "Certainly, the LORD has seen my misery; now my husband will love me!"


text:
 She became pregnant again and gave birth to another son. She said, "Certainly, the LORD has heard that I'm unloved, and he also has given me this son." So she named him Simeon [Hearing].


text:
 She became pregnant again and gave birth to another son. She said, "Now at last my husband will become attached to me because I've given him three sons." So she named him Levi [Attached].


text:
 She became pregnant again and gave birth to another son. She said, "This time I will praise the LORD." So she named him Judah [Praise]. Then she stopped having children.


text:
 Rachel saw that she could not have children for Jacob, and she became jealous of her sister. She said to Jacob, "Give me children, or I'll die!"


text:
 Jacob became angry with Rachel and asked, "Can I take the place of God, who has kept you from having children?"


text:
 She said, "Here's my servant Bilhah. Sleep with her. She can have children for me, and I can build a family for myself through her."


text:
 Rachel said, "Now God has judged in my favor. He has heard my prayer and has given me a son." So she named him Dan [He Judges].


text:
 Rachel said, "I have had a great struggle with my sister, and I have won!" So she named him Naphtali [My Struggle].


text:
 When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she took her slave Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as his wife.


text:
 During the wheat harvest Reuben went out into the fields and found some mandrakes. He brought them to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah, "Please give me some of your son's mandrakes."


text:
 Leah replied, "Isn't it enough that you took my husband? Are you also going to take my son's mandrakes?" Rachel said, "Very well, Jacob can go to bed with you tonight in return for your son's mandrakes."


text:
 As Jacob was coming 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 son's mandrakes." So he went to bed with her that night.


text:
 Leah said, "God has given me my reward because I gave my slave to my husband." So she named him Issachar [Reward].


text:
 Leah said, "God has presented me with a beautiful present. This time my husband will honor me because I have given him six sons." So she named him Zebulun [Honor].


text:
 Give me my wives and my children for whom I've worked, and let me go. You know how much work I've done for you."


text:
 Laban replied, "Listen to me. I've learned from the signs I've seen that the LORD has blessed me because of you."


text:
 Jacob responded, "You know how much work I've done for you and what has happened to your livestock under my care.


text:
 The little that you had before I came has grown to a large amount. The LORD has blessed you wherever I've been. When can I do something for my own family?"


text:
 Laban asked, "What should I give you?" "Don't give me anything," Jacob answered. "Instead, do something for me, then I'll go back to taking care of and watching your flocks again.


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


text:
 My honesty will speak for itself whenever you come to check on my wages. Any goat I have that isn't speckled or spotted or any lamb that isn't black will be considered stolen."


text:
 However, that same day Laban took out the striped and spotted male goats, all the speckled and spotted female goats (every one with white on it), and every black lamb. He had his sons take charge of them.


text:
 He traveled three days away from Jacob. Jacob continued to take care of the rest of Laban's flocks.


text:
 Then Jacob took fresh-cut branches of poplar, almond, and plane trees and peeled the bark on them in strips of white, uncovering the white which was on the branches.


text:
 He placed the peeled branches in the troughs directly in front of the flocks, at the watering places where the flocks came to drink. When they were in heat and came to drink,


text:
 they mated in front of the branches. Then they gave birth to young that were striped, speckled, or spotted.


text:
 Jacob separated the rams from the flock and made the rest of the sheep face any that were striped or black in Laban's flocks. So he made separate herds for himself and did not add them to Laban's flocks.


text:
 Whenever the stronger of the flocks were in heat, Jacob would lay the branches in the troughs in front of them so that they would mate by the branches.


text:
 But when the flocks in heat were weak, he didn't lay down the branches. So the weaker ones belonged to Laban and the stronger ones to Jacob.


text:
 As a result, Jacob became very wealthy. He had large flocks, male and female slaves, camels, and donkeys.


text:
 Jacob heard that Laban's sons were saying, "Jacob has taken everything that belonged to our father and has gained all his wealth from him."


text:
 Then the LORD said to Jacob, "Go back to the land of your ancestors and to your relatives, and I will be with you."


text:
 He said to them, "I have seen that your father isn't as friendly to me as he was before, but the God of my father has been with me.


text:
 Whenever he said, 'The speckled ones will be your wages,' all the flocks gave birth to speckled young. And whenever he said, 'The striped ones will be your wages,' all the flocks gave birth to striped young.


text:
 "During the mating season I had a dream: I looked up and saw that the male goats which were mating were striped, speckled, or spotted.


text:
 He said, 'Look up and see that all the male goats which are mating are striped, speckled, or spotted, because I have seen everything that Laban is doing to you.


text:
 I am the God who appeared to you at Bethel, where you poured olive oil on a stone marker for a holy purpose and where you made a vow to me. Now leave this land, and go back to the land of your relatives.' "


text:
 Doesn't he think of us as foreigners? Not only did he sell us, but he has used up the money that was paid for us.


text:
 Certainly, all the wealth that God took away from our father belongs to us and our children. Now do whatever God has told you."


text:
 He drove all his livestock ahead of him and 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.


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


text:
 He and his relatives pursued Jacob for seven days. Laban caught up with him in the mountains of Gilead.


text:
 God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night and said to him, "Be careful not to say anything at all to Jacob."


text:
 When Laban finally caught up with Jacob, Jacob had put up his tents in the mountains. So Laban and his relatives put up their tents in the mountains of Gilead.


text:
 Then Laban asked Jacob, "What have you done by tricking me? You've carried off my daughters like prisoners of war.


text:
 Why did you leave secretly and trick me? You didn't even tell me you were leaving. I would have sent you on your way rejoicing, with songs accompanied by tambourines and lyres.


text:
 I have the power to harm you. Last night the God of your father said to me, 'Be careful not to say anything at all to Jacob.'


text:
 Now you have left for your father's home because you were so homesick. But why did you steal my gods?"


text:
 Jacob answered Laban, "I left because I was afraid. I thought you would take your daughters away from me by force.


text:
 If you find your gods, the one who has them will not be allowed to live. In the presence of our relatives, search as much as you want through what I have, and take what is yours." (Jacob didn't know that Rachel had stolen the gods.)


text:
 So Laban went into Jacob's tent, into Leah's tent, and into the tent of the two slaves. But he found nothing. He came out of Leah's tent and went into Rachel's tent.


text:
 Rachel had taken the idols and had put them in her camel's saddle-bag and was sitting on them. Laban rummaged through the whole tent but found nothing.


text:
 Rachel said to her father, "Don't be angry, Father, but I can't get up to greet you; I'm having my period." So even though Laban had made a thorough search, he didn't find the idols.


text:
 Then Jacob became angry and confronted Laban. "What is my crime?" Jacob demanded of Laban. "What is my offense that you have come chasing after me?


text:
 Now that you've rummaged through all my things, did you find anything from your house? Put it here in front of all our relatives. Let them decide which one of us is right.


text:
 "I've been with you for 20 years. Your sheep and goats never miscarried, and I never ate any rams from your flocks.


text:
 I never brought you any of the flock that was killed by wild animals. I paid for the loss myself. That's what you demanded of me when any of the flock was stolen during the day or at night.


text:
 I've been with your household 20 years now. I worked for you 14 years for your two daughters and 6 years for your flocks, and you changed my wages ten times.


text:
 If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, you would have sent me away empty-handed by now. God has seen my misery and hard work, and last night he made it right."


text:
 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?


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


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


text:
 and also Mizpah [Watchtower], because he said, "May the LORD watch between you and me when we're unable to see each other.


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


text:
 Laban said to Jacob, "Here is the pile of stones, and here is the marker that I have set up between you and me.


text:
 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.


text:
 May the God of Abraham and Nahor-the God of their father-judge between us." So Jacob swore this oath by the Fear of his father Isaac


text:
 and 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.


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


text:
 He commanded them to give this message to Esau, "Sir, this is what Jacob has to say, 'I've been living with Laban and have stayed until now.


text:
 I have cattle and donkeys, sheep and goats, and male and female slaves. I've sent [these messengers] to tell you [this news] in order to win your favor.'"


text:
 When the messengers came back to Jacob, they said, "We went to your brother Esau. He is coming to meet you with 400 men."


text:
 Jacob was terrified and distressed. So he divided the people, the sheep and goats, the cattle, and the camels into two camps.


text:
 Then Jacob prayed, "God of my grandfather Abraham and God of my father Isaac! LORD, you said to me, 'Go back to your land and to your relatives, and I will make you prosperous.'


text:
 I'm not worthy of all the love and faithfulness you have shown me. I only had a shepherd's staff when I crossed the Jordan River, but now I have two camps.


text:
 Please save me from my brother Esau, because I'm afraid of him. I'm afraid that he'll come and attack me and the mothers and children too.


text:
 But you did say, '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.'"


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


text:
 He placed servants in charge of each herd. Then he said to his servants, "Go ahead of me, and keep a distance between the herds."


text:
 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?'


text:
 then say, 'Sir, they belong to your servant Jacob. This is a gift sent to you. Jacob is right behind us.'"


text:
 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.


text:
 And be sure to add, 'Jacob is right behind us, sir.' " He thought, "I'll make peace with him by giving him this gift that I'm sending ahead of me. After that I will see him, and he'll welcome me back."


text:
 During that night he got up and gathered his two wives, his two slaves and his eleven children and crossed at the shallow part of the Jabbok River.


text:
 When the man saw that he could not win against Jacob, he touched the socket of Jacob's hip so that it was dislocated as they wrestled.


text:
 Then the man said, "Let me go; it's almost dawn." But Jacob answered, "I won't let you go until you bless me."


text:
 The man said, "Your name will no longer be Jacob but Israel [He Struggles With God], because you have struggled with God and with men-and you have won."


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


text:
 So Jacob named that place Peniel [Face of God], because he said, "I have seen God face to face, but my life was saved."


text:
 (Therefore, even today the people of Israel do not eat the muscle of the thigh attached to the hip socket because God touched the socket of Jacob's hip at the muscle of the thigh.)


text:
 Jacob saw Esau coming with 400 men. So he divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and the two slaves.


text:
 He put the slaves and their children in front, Leah and her children after them, and Rachel and Joseph last.


text:
 He went on ahead of them and bowed seven times with his face touching the ground as he came near his brother.


text:
 Then Esau ran to meet Jacob. Esau hugged him, threw his arms around him, and kissed him. They both cried.


text:
 When he saw the women and children, Esau asked, "Who are these people here with you?" "The children God has graciously given me, sir," Jacob answered.


text:
 Likewise, Leah and her children came forward and bowed down. Finally, Joseph and Rachel came forward and bowed down.


text:
 Then Esau asked, "Why did you send this whole group [of people and animals] I met?" He answered, "To win your favor, sir."


text:
 Jacob said, "No, please take the gift I'm giving you, because I've seen your face as if I were seeing the face of God, and yet you welcomed me so warmly.


text:
 Please take the present I've brought you, because God has been gracious to me and has given me all that I need." So Esau took it because Jacob insisted.


text:
 Jacob said to him, "Sir, you know that the children are frail and that I have to take care of the flocks and cattle that are nursing their young. If they're driven too hard for even one day, all the flocks will die.


text:
 Go ahead of me, sir. I will slowly and gently guide the herds that are in front of me at their pace and at the children's pace until I come to you in Seir."


text:
 Esau said, "Then let me leave some of my men with you." "Why do that?" Jacob asked. "I only want to win your favor, sir."


text:
 But Jacob moved on to Succoth, where he built a house for himself and made shelters for his livestock. That is why the place is named Succoth [Shelters].


text:
 So having come from Paddan Aram, Jacob came safely to the city of Shechem in Canaan. He camped within sight of the city.


text:
 Then he bought the piece of land on which he had put up his tents. He bought it from the sons of Hamor, father of Shechem, for 100 pieces of silver.


text:
 Jacob heard that Shechem had dishonored his daughter Dinah. His sons were with his livestock out in the open country, so Jacob kept quiet until they came home.


text:
 Jacob's sons came in from the open country as soon as they heard the news. The men felt outraged and very angry because Shechem had committed such a godless act against Israel's family by raping Jacob's daughter. This shouldn't have happened.


text:
 You can live with us, and the land will be yours. Live here, move about freely in this area, and acquire property here."


text:
 Then Shechem said to Dinah's father and her brothers, "Do me this favor. I'll give you whatever you ask.


text:
 Set the price I must pay for the bride and the gift I must give her as high as you want. I'll pay exactly what you tell me. Give me the girl as my wife."


text:
 Then Jacob's sons gave Shechem and his father Hamor a misleading answer because he had dishonored their sister Dinah.


text:
 They said, "We can't do this. We can't give our sister to a man who is uncircumcised. That would be a disgrace to us!


text:
 Then we'll give our daughters to you and take yours for ourselves, and we'll live with you and become one people.


text:
 The young man didn't waste any time in doing what they said because he took such pleasure in Jacob's daughter. He was the most honored person in all his father's family.


text:
 "These people are friendly toward us, so let them live in our land and move about freely in the area. Look, there's plenty of room in this land for them. We can marry their daughters and let them marry ours.


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


text:
 Won't their livestock, their personal property, and all their animals be ours? We only need to agree to do this for them. Then they'll live with us."


text:
 All the men who had come out to the city gate agreed with Hamor and his son Shechem. So they were all circumcised at the city gate.


text:
 Two days later, while the men were still in pain, two of Jacob's sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers, took their swords and boldly attacked the city. They killed every man


text:
 They took the sheep and goats, cattle, donkeys, and whatever else was in the city or out in the fields.


text:
 They carried off all the wealth and all the women and children and looted everything in the houses.


text:
 Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, "You have caused me a lot of trouble! You've made the people living in the area, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, hate me. There are only a few of us. If they join forces against me and attack me, my family and I will be wiped out."


text:
 Then God said to Jacob, "Go to Bethel and live there. Make an altar there. I am the God who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your brother Esau."


text:
 So Jacob said to his family and those who were with him, "Get rid of the foreign gods which you have, wash yourselves until you are ritually clean, and change your clothes.


text:
 Then let's 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've gone."


text:
 So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods that they had in their possession as well as the earrings that they had on. Jacob buried these things under the oak tree near Shechem.


text:
 As they moved on, God made the people of the cities that were all around them terrified so that no one pursued them.


text:
 He built an altar there and called that place El Bethel [God of the House of God]. That's where God had revealed himself to Jacob when he was fleeing from his brother.


text:
 Rebekah's nurse Deborah died and was buried under the oak tree outside Bethel. So Jacob called it the Tree of Crying.


text:
 God said to him, "Your name is Jacob. You will no longer be called Jacob, but your name will be Israel." So he named him Israel.


text:
 God also said to him, "I am God Almighty. Be fertile, and increase in number. A nation and a community of nations will come from you, and kings will come from you.


text:
 I will give you the land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac. I will also give this land to your descendants."


text:
 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.


text:
 Then they moved on from Bethel. When they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel went into labor and was having severe labor pains.


text:
 Rachel was dying. As she took her last breath, she named her son Benoni [Son of My Sorrow], but his father named him Benjamin [Son of My Right Hand].


text:
 While Israel was living in that region, Reuben went to bed with his father's concubine Bilhah, and Israel heard about it. Jacob had 12 sons.


text:
 The sons of Leah's slave [Zilpah]were Gad and Asher. These were Jacob's sons, who were born in Paddan Aram.


text:
 Jacob came home to his father Isaac to Mamre's city, Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron). Abraham and Isaac had lived there for a while.


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


text:
 Esau chose his wives from the women of Canaan: Adah, daughter of Elon the Hittite; Oholibamah, daughter of Anah and granddaughter of Zibeon the Hivite;


text:
 Oholibamah gave birth to Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. These were the sons of Esau who were born in Canaan.


text:
 Esau took his wives, his sons, his daughters, all the members of his household, his possessions, all his cattle, and everything he had accumulated in Canaan and went to another land away from his brother Jacob.


text:
 He did this because they had too many possessions to live together. There wasn't enough pastureland for all of their livestock.


text:
 This is the account of Esau and his descendants. He was the father of the people of Edom in the mountains of Seir.


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


text:
 Timna was a concubine of Esau's son Eliphaz. She gave birth to Amalek for Eliphaz. These were the grandsons of Esau's wife Adah.


text:
 These were Reuel's sons: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. These were the grandsons of Esau's wife Basemath.


text:
 These were the sons of Esau's wife Oholibamah, daughter of Anah and granddaughter of Zibeon. She gave birth to Jeush, Jalam, and Korah for Esau.


text:
 These were the tribal leaders among Esau's descendants: The sons of Eliphaz, Esau's firstborn, were Teman, Omar, Zepho, Kenaz,


text:
 Korah, Gatam, and Amalek. These were the tribal leaders descended from Eliphaz in Edom. They were the grandsons of Adah.


text:
 These were the tribal leaders among the descendants of Esau's son Reuel: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. These were the tribal leaders descended from Reuel in Edom. They were the grandsons of Esau's wife Basemath.


text:
 These were the tribal leaders among the descendants of Esau's wife Oholibamah: Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. These were the tribal leaders descended from Esau's wife Oholibamah, Anah's daughter.


text:
 These were the sons of Seir the Horite, the people living in that land: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah,


text:
 These were the sons of Zibeon: Aiah and Anah. (Anah found the hot springs in the desert while he was taking care of the donkeys that belonged to his father Zibeon.)


text:
 After Husham died, Hadad, son of Bedad succeeded him as king. Hadad defeated the Midianites in the country of Moab. The name of his capital city was Avith.


text:
 After Baal Hanan, son of Achbor, died, Hadar succeeded him as king, and the name of his capital city was Pau. His wife's name was Mehetabel, daughter of Matred and granddaughter of Mezahab.


text:
 These were the names of the tribal leaders descended from Esau, by family, place, and name: Timna, Alvah, Jetheth,


text:
 Magdiel, and Iram. These were the tribal leaders of Edom listed by the places where they lived and the property they owned. Esau was the father of the people of Edom.


text:
 This is the account 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 father's wives. Joseph told his father about the bad things his brothers were doing.


text:
 Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons because Joseph had been born in Israel's old age. So he made Joseph a special robe with long sleeves.


text:
 Joseph's brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them. They hated Joseph and couldn't speak to him on friendly terms.


text:
 We were tying grain into bundles out in the field, and suddenly mine stood up. It remained standing while your bundles gathered around my bundle and bowed down to it."


text:
 Then his brothers asked him, "Are you going to be our king or rule us?" They hated him even more for his dreams and his words.


text:
 Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. "Listen," he said, "I had another dream: I saw the sun, the moon, and 11 stars bowing down to me."


text:
 When he told his father and his brothers, his father criticized him by asking, "What's this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers come and bow down in front of you?"


text:
 Israel then said to Joseph, "Your brothers are taking care of the flocks at Shechem. I'm going to send you to them." Joseph responded, "I'll go."


text:
 So Israel said, "See how your brothers and the flocks are doing, and bring some news back to me." Then he sent Joseph away from the Hebron Valley. When Joseph came to Shechem,


text:
 Joseph replied, "I'm looking for my brothers. Please tell me where they're taking care of their flocks."


text:
 The man said, "They moved on from here. I heard them say, 'Let's go to Dothan.' " So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan.


text:
 Let's kill him, throw him into one of the cisterns, and say that a wild animal has eaten him. Then we'll see what happens to his dreams."


text:
 "Let's not have any bloodshed. Put him into that cistern that's out in the desert, but don't hurt him." Reuben wanted to rescue Joseph from them and bring him back to his father.


text:
 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.


text:
 Let's sell him to the Ishmaelites. Let's not hurt him, because he is our brother, our own flesh and blood." His brothers agreed.


text:
 As the Midianite merchants were passing by, the brothers pulled Joseph out of the cistern. They sold him to the Ishmaelites for eight ounces of silver. The Ishmaelites took him to Egypt.


text:
 When Reuben came back to the cistern and saw that Joseph was no longer there, he tore his clothes in grief.


text:
 Then they brought the special robe with long sleeves to their father and said, "We found this. You better examine it to see whether it's your son's robe or not."


text:
 He recognized it and said, "It is my son's robe! A wild animal has eaten him! Joseph must have been torn to pieces!"


text:
 Then, to show his grief, Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth around his waist, and mourned for his son a long time.


text:
 All his other sons and daughters came to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. He said, "No, I will mourn for my son until I die." This is how Joseph's father cried over him.


text:
 Meanwhile, in Egypt the Midianites sold Joseph to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh's officials and captain of the guard.


text:
 About that time Judah left his brothers and went to stay with a man from Adullam whose name was Hirah.


text:
 There Judah met the daughter of a Canaanite man whose name was Shua. He married her and slept with her.


text:
 Then she became pregnant again and gave birth to another son, whom she named Shelah. He was born at Kezib.


text:
 Then Judah said to Onan, "Go sleep with your brother's widow. Do your duty for her as a brother-in-law, and produce a descendant for your brother."


text:
 But Onan knew that the descendant wouldn't belong to him, so whenever he slept with his brother's widow, he wasted his semen on the ground to avoid giving his brother a descendant.


text:
 Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, "Return to your father's home. Live as a widow until my son Shelah grows up." He thought that this son, too, might die like his brothers. So Tamar went to live in her father's home.


text:
 After a long time Judah's wife, the daughter of Shua, died. When Judah had finished mourning, he and his friend Hirah from Adullam went to Timnah where the men were shearing Judah's sheep.


text:
 she took off her widow's clothes, covered her face with a veil, and disguised herself. Then she sat down at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah. (She did this because she realized that Shelah was grown up now, and she hadn't been given to him in marriage.)


text:
 Since he didn't know she was his daughter-in-law, he approached her by the roadside and said, "Come on, let's sleep together!" She asked, "What will you pay to sleep with me?"


text:
 "I'll send you a young goat from the flock," he answered. She said, "First give me something as a deposit until you send it."


text:
 "What should I give you as a deposit?" he asked. "Your signet ring, its cord, and the shepherd's staff that's in your hand," she answered. So he gave them to her. Then he slept with her, and she became pregnant.


text:
 Judah sent his friend Hirah to deliver the young goat so that he could get back his deposit from the woman, but his friend couldn't find her.


text:
 He asked the men of that area, "Where's that prostitute who was beside the road at Enaim?" "There's no prostitute here," they answered.


text:
 So he went back to Judah and said, "I couldn't find her. Even the men of that area said, 'There's no prostitute here.'"


text:
 Then Judah said, "Let her keep what I gave her, or we'll become a laughingstock. After all, I did send her this young goat, but you couldn't find her."


text:
 About three months later Judah was told, "Your daughter-in-law Tamar has been acting like a prostitute. What's more, because of it she's pregnant." Judah ordered, "Bring her out to be burned."


text:
 As she was brought out, she sent a message to her father-in-law, "I'm pregnant by the man who owns these things. See if you recognize whose signet ring, cord, and shepherd's staff these are."


text:
 Judah recognized them and said, "She's not guilty. I am! She did this because I haven't given her my son Shelah." Judah never made love to her again.


text:
 When she was giving birth, one of them put out his hand. The midwife took a piece of red yarn, tied it on his wrist, and said, "This one came out first."


text:
 As he pulled back his hand, his brother was born. So she said, "Is this how you burst into the world!" He was named Perez [Bursting Into].


text:
 Joseph had been taken to Egypt. Potiphar, one of Pharaoh's Egyptian officials and captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there.


text:
 The LORD was with Joseph, so he became a successful man. He worked in the house of his Egyptian master.


text:
 Joseph's master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD made everything he did successful.


text:
 Potiphar liked Joseph so much that he made him his trusted servant. He put him in charge of his household and everything he owned.


text:
 From that time on the LORD blessed the Egyptian's household because of Joseph. Therefore, the LORD's blessing was on everything Potiphar owned in his house and in his fields.


text:
 So he left all that he owned in Joseph's care. He wasn't concerned about anything except the food he ate. Joseph was well-built and handsome.


text:
 But Joseph refused and said to her, "My master doesn't concern himself with anything in the house. He trusts me with everything he owns.


text:
 No one in this house is greater than I. He's kept nothing back from me except you, because you're his wife. How could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?"


text:
 She grabbed him by his clothes and said, "Come to bed with me!" But he ran outside and left his clothes in her hand.


text:
 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, but I screamed as loud as I could.


text:
 Then she told him the same story: "The Hebrew slave you brought here came in and tried to fool around with me.


text:
 When Potiphar heard his wife's story, especially when she said, "This is what your slave did to me," he became very angry.


text:
 So Joseph's master arrested him and put him in the same prison where the king's prisoners were kept. While Joseph was in prison,


text:
 the LORD was with him. The LORD reached out to him with his unchanging love and gave him protection. The LORD also put Joseph on good terms with the warden.


text:
 So the warden placed Joseph in charge of all the prisoners who were in that prison. Joseph became responsible for everything that they were doing.


text:
 The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph's care because the LORD was with Joseph and made whatever he did successful.


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


text:
 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.


text:
 So he asked these officials of Pharaoh who were with him in his master's prison, "Why do you look so unhappy today?"


text:
 "We both had dreams," they answered him, "but there's no one to tell us what they mean." "Isn't God the only one who can tell what they mean?" Joseph asked them. "Why don't you tell me all about them."


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


text:
 Pharaoh's cup was in my hand, so I took the grapes and squeezed them into it. I put the cup in Pharaoh's hand."


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


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


text:
 I was kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews, and even here I've done nothing to deserve being put in this prison."


text:
 The chief baker saw that the meaning Joseph had given to the cupbearer's dream was good. So he said to Joseph, "I had a dream too. In my dream three baskets of white baked goods were on my head.


text:
 The top basket contained all kinds of baked goods for Pharaoh, but the birds were eating them out of the basket on my head."


text:
 In the next three days Pharaoh will cut off your head and hang your dead body on a pole. The birds will eat the flesh from your bones."


text:
 Two days later, on his birthday, Pharaoh had a special dinner prepared for all his servants. Of all his servants he gave special attention to the chief cupbearer and the chief baker.


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


text:
 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.


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


text:
 He fell asleep again and had a second dream. Seven good, healthy heads of grain were growing on a single stalk.


text:
 The thin heads of grain swallowed the seven full, healthy heads. Then Pharaoh woke up. It was only a dream.


text:
 In the morning he was so upset that he sent for all the magicians and wise men of Egypt. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but no one could tell him what they meant.


text:
 Some time ago when Pharaoh was angry with his servants, he confined me and the chief baker to the captain of the guard's prison.


text:
 A young Hebrew, a slave of the captain of the guard, was with us. We told him our dreams, and he told each of us what they meant.


text:
 Then Pharaoh sent for Joseph, and immediately he was brought from the prison. After he had shaved and changed his clothes, he came in front of Pharaoh.


text:
 Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I had a dream, and no one can tell me what it means. I heard that when you are told a dream, you can say what it means."


text:
 Seven other cows came up behind them. These cows were scrawny, very sick, and thin. I've never seen such sickly cows in all of Egypt!


text:
 Even though they had eaten them, no one could tell they had eaten them. They looked just as sick as before. Then I woke up.


text:
 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."


text:
 Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, "Pharaoh had the same dream twice. God has told Pharaoh what he's going to do.


text:
 The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good heads of grain are seven years. It's all the same dream.


text:
 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.


text:
 After them will come seven years of famine. People will forget that there was plenty of food in Egypt, and the famine will ruin the land.


text:
 People won't remember that there once was plenty of food in the land, because the coming famine will be so severe.


text:
 The reason Pharaoh has had a recurring dream is because the matter has been definitely decided by God, and he will do it very soon.


text:
 Make arrangements to appoint supervisors over the land to take a fifth of Egypt's harvest during the seven good years.


text:
 Have them collect all the food during these good years and store up grain under Pharaoh's control, to be kept for food in the cities.


text:
 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."


text:
 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Because God has let you know all this, there is no one as wise and intelligent as you.


text:
 You will be in charge of my palace, and all my people will do what you say. I will be more important than you, only because I'm Pharaoh."


text:
 Then Pharaoh took off his signet ring and put it on Joseph's finger. He had Joseph dressed in robes of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck.


text:
 He had him ride in the chariot of the second-in-command. Men ran ahead of him and shouted, "Make way!" Pharaoh put Joseph in charge of Egypt.


text:
 He also said to Joseph, "Even though I am Pharaoh, no one anywhere in Egypt will do anything without your permission."


text:
 Pharaoh named Joseph Zaphenathpaneah and gave him Asenath as his wife. She was the daughter of Potiphera, priest from the city of On. Joseph traveled around Egypt.


text:
 Joseph was 30 years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh (the king of Egypt). He left Pharaoh and traveled all around Egypt.


text:
 Joseph collected all the food grown in Egypt during those seven years and put this food in the cities. In each city he put the food from the fields around it.


text:
 Joseph stored up grain in huge quantities like the sand on the seashore. He had so much that he finally gave up keeping any records because he couldn't measure it all.


text:
 Before the years of famine came, Joseph had two sons by Asenath, daughter of Potiphera, priest from the city of On.


text:
 Joseph named his firstborn son Manasseh [He Helps Me Forget], because God helped him forget all his troubles and all about his father's family.


text:
 He named the second son Ephraim [Blessed Twice With Children], because God gave him children in the land where he had suffered.


text:
 Then the seven years of famine began as Joseph had said they would. All the other countries were experiencing famine. Yet, there was food in Egypt.


text:
 When everyone in Egypt began to feel the effects of the famine, the people cried to Pharaoh for food. But Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, "Go to Joseph! Do what he tells you!"


text:
 When the famine had spread all over the country, Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold grain to the Egyptians. He did this because the famine was severe in Egypt.


text:
 The whole world came to Joseph in Egypt to buy grain, since the famine was so severe all over the world.


text:
 When Jacob found out that grain was for sale in Egypt, he said to his sons, "Why do you keep looking at each other?


text:
 I've heard there's grain for sale in Egypt. Go there and buy some for us so that we won't starve to death."


text:
 Jacob wouldn't send Joseph's brother Benjamin with the other brothers, because he was afraid that something would happen to him.


text:
 Israel's sons left with the others who were going to buy grain, because there was also famine in Canaan.


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


text:
 As soon as Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them. But he acted as if he didn't know them and spoke harshly to them. "Where did you come from?" he asked them. "From Canaan, to buy food," they answered.


text:
 Then he remembered the dreams he once had about them. "You're spies!" he said to them, "And you've come to find out where our country is unprotected."


text:
 They answered him, "We were 12 brothers, sons of one man in Canaan. The youngest brother stayed with our father, and the other one is no longer with us."


text:
 This is how you'll be tested: I solemnly swear, as surely as Pharaoh lives, that you won't leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here.


text:
 One of you must be sent to get your brother while the rest of you stay in prison. We'll see if you're telling the truth. If not, I solemnly swear, as surely as Pharaoh lives, you are spies!"


text:
 If you are honest men, you will let one of your brothers stay here in prison. The rest of you will go and take grain back to your starving families.


text:
 But you must bring me your youngest brother. This will show that you've been telling the truth. Then you won't die." So they agreed.


text:
 They said to each other, "We're surely being punished for what we did to our brother. We saw how troubled he was when he pleaded with us for mercy, but we wouldn't listen. That's why we're in trouble now."


text:
 Reuben said to them, "Didn't I tell you not to sin against the boy? But you wouldn't listen. Now we must pay for this bloodshed."


text:
 They didn't know that Joseph could understand them, because he was speaking through an interpreter.


text:
 He stepped away from them to cry. When he could speak to them again, he came back. Then he picked Simeon and had him arrested right in front of their eyes.


text:
 Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain. He put each man's money back into his sack and gave them supplies for their trip. After their bags were filled,


text:
 At the place where they stopped for the night, one of them opened his sack to feed his donkey. His money was right inside his sack.


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


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


text:
 We were 12 brothers, sons of the same father. One is no longer with us. The youngest brother stayed with our father in Canaan.'


text:
 "Then the governor of that land said to us, 'This is how I'll know that you're honest men: Leave one of your brothers with me. Take food for your starving families and go.


text:
 But bring me your youngest brother. Then I'll know that you're not spies but honest men. I'll give your brother back to you, and you'll be able to move about freely in this country.'"


text:
 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.


text:
 Their father Jacob said to them, "You're going to make me lose all my children! Joseph is no longer with us, Simeon is no longer with us, and now you want to take Benjamin. Everything's against me!"


text:
 So Reuben said to his father, "You may put my two sons to death if I don't bring him back to you. Let me take care of him, and I'll bring him back to you."


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


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


text:
 Judah said to him, "The man gave us a severe warning: 'You won't be allowed to see me again unless your brother is with you.'


text:
 If you won't let him go, we won't go. The man said to us, 'You won't be allowed to see me again unless your brother is with you.'"


text:
 They answered, "The man kept asking about us and our family: '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'?"


text:
 Then Judah said to his father Israel, "Send the boy along with me. Let's get going so that we won't starve to death.


text:
 I guarantee that he will come back. You can hold me responsible for him. If I don't bring him back to you and place him here in front of you, you can blame me the rest of my life.


text:
 Then their father Israel said to them, "If that's 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.


text:
 Take twice as much money with you. You must return the money that was put back in your sacks. Maybe it was a mistake.


text:
 May God Almighty make him merciful to you so that he will send your other brother and Benjamin [home] with you. If I lose my children, I lose my children."


text:
 The men took the gifts, twice as much money, and Benjamin. They went to Egypt, where they presented themselves to Joseph.


text:
 When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the man in charge of his house, "Take these men to my house. Butcher an animal, and prepare a meal, because they are going to eat with me at noon."


text:
 The men were frightened, because they had been brought to Joseph's house. They thought, "We've been brought here because of the money that was put back into our sacks the first time. They're going to attack us, overpower us, take our donkeys, and make us slaves."


text:
 When we stopped for the night, we opened our sacks, and each man found all of his money inside. So we brought it back with us.


text:
 "It's alright," he said. "Don't be afraid! Your God, the God of your father, must have given you treasure in your sacks. I received your money." Then he brought Simeon out to them.


text:
 The man took the brothers into Joseph's house. He gave them water to wash their feet and feed for their donkeys.


text:
 They got their gifts ready for Joseph's return at noon, because they had heard they were going to eat there.


text:
 When Joseph came home, they gave him the gifts they had brought to the house. Then they bowed to him with their faces touching the ground.


text:
 He asked them how they were. Then he said, "You told me about your elderly father. How is he? Is he still alive?"


text:
 As Joseph looked around, he saw his brother Benjamin, his mother's son. "Is this your youngest brother, the one you told me about?" he asked. "God be gracious to you, my son," he said.


text:
 Deeply moved at the sight of his brother, he hurried away, looking for a place to cry. He went into his private room and cried there.


text:
 Then he washed his face and came out. He was in control of his emotions when he said, "Serve the food."


text:
 He was served separately from his brothers. The Egyptians who were there with him were also served separately, because they found it offensive to eat with Hebrews.


text:
 The brothers were seated facing him according to their ages-from the oldest to the youngest. They looked at each other in amazement.


text:
 Joseph had portions of food brought to them from his table, but Benjamin's portion was five times more than any of the others. So they ate and drank with Joseph until they were drunk.


text:
 Joseph commanded the man in charge of his house, "Fill the men's sacks with as much food as they can carry. Put each man's money in his sack.


text:
 Then put my silver cup in the youngest brother's sack along with the money for his grain." He did what Joseph told him.


text:
 They had not gone far from the city when Joseph said to the man in charge of his house, "Go after those men at once, and when you catch up with them, say to them, 'Why have you paid me back with evil when I was good to you?


text:
 Isn't this the cup that my master drinks from and that he uses for telling the future? What you have done is evil!'"


text:
 They answered him, "Sir, how can you say such things? We would never think of doing anything like that!


text:
 We brought the money we found in our sacks back from Canaan. So why would we steal any silver or gold from your master's house?


text:
 "I agree," he said. "We'll do what you've said. The man who has the cup will be my slave, and the rest of you can go free."


text:
 Then the man made a thorough search. He began with the oldest and ended with the youngest. The cup was found in Benjamin's sack.


text:
 When they saw this, they tore their clothes in grief. Then each one loaded his donkey and went back into the city.


text:
 Judah and his brothers arrived at Joseph's house while Joseph was still there. Immediately, they bowed with their faces touching the ground.


text:
 Joseph asked them, "What have you done? Don't you know that a man like me can find things out because he knows the future?"


text:
 "Sir, what can we say to you?" Judah asked. "How else can we explain it? How can we prove we're innocent? God has uncovered our guilt. Now all of us are your slaves, including the one who had the cup."


text:
 But Joseph said, "I would never think of doing that! Only the man who had the cup will be my slave. The rest of you can go back to your father in peace."


text:
 Then Judah went up to Joseph and said, "Please, sir, let me speak openly with you. Don't be angry with me, although you are equal to Pharaoh.


text:
 We answered, 'We have a father who is old and a younger brother born to him when he was already old. The boy's brother is dead, so he's the only one of his mother's sons left, and his father loves him.'


text:
 Then you told us, 'If your youngest brother doesn't come here with you, you will never be allowed to see me again.'


text:
 We answered, 'We can't go back. We can only go back if our youngest brother is with us. The man won't see us unless our youngest brother is with us.'


text:
 If you take this one away from me too and anything happens to him, you'll drive this gray-haired old man to his grave.'


text:
 and he sees that the boy isn't [with me], he'll die. The grief would drive our gray-haired old father to his grave.


text:
 "I guaranteed my father that the boy would come back. I said, 'If I don't bring him back to you, then you can blame me the rest of my life, Father.'


text:
 Sir, please let me stay and be your slave in the boy's place, and let the boy go back with his brothers.


text:
 How could I go back to my father if the boy isn't with me? I couldn't bear to see my father's misery!"


text:
 Joseph could no longer control his emotions in front of everyone who was standing around him, so he cried out, "Have everyone leave me!" No one else was there when Joseph told his brothers who he was.


text:
 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.


text:
 "Please come closer to me," Joseph said to his brothers. When they did so, he said, "I am Joseph, the brother you sold into slavery in Egypt!


text:
 Now, don't be sad or angry with yourselves that you sold me. God sent me ahead of you to save lives.


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


text:
 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.


text:
 It wasn't you who sent me here, but God. He has made me [like] a father to Pharaoh, lord over his entire household, and ruler of Egypt.


text:
 "Hurry back to my father, and say to him, 'This is what your son Joseph says, "God has made me lord of Egypt. Come here to me right away!


text:
 Live in the land of Goshen, where you will be near me. Live there with your children and your grandchildren, as well as your flocks, your herds, and everything you have.


text:
 I will provide for you in Egypt, since there will be five more years of famine. Then you, your family, and all who belong to you won't lose everything.'"


text:
 Tell my father how greatly honored I am in Egypt and about everything you have seen. Hurry and bring my father here!"


text:
 He threw his arms around his brother Benjamin and cried with Benjamin, who was crying on his shoulder.


text:
 When Pharaoh's household heard the news that Joseph's brothers had come, Pharaoh and his officials were pleased.


text:
 Take your father and your families, and come to me. I will give you the best land in Egypt. Then you can enjoy the best food in the land.'


text:
 "Give them this order: 'Take wagons with you from Egypt for your children and your wives. Bring your father, and come back.


text:
 Israel's sons did as they were told. Joseph gave them wagons and supplies for their trip as Pharaoh had ordered.


text:
 He gave each of them a change of clothes, but he gave Benjamin three hundred pieces of silver and five changes of clothes.


text:
 He sent his father ten male donkeys carrying Egypt's best products and ten female donkeys carrying grain, bread, and food for his father's trip.


text:
 So Joseph sent his brothers on their way. As they were leaving, he said to them, "Don't quarrel on your way back!"


text:
 They told him, "Joseph is still alive! Yes, he is ruler of Egypt." Jacob was stunned and didn't believe them.


text:
 Yet, when they told their father everything Joseph had said to them and he saw the wagons Joseph had sent to bring him back, his spirits were lifted.


text:
 "You have convinced me!" Israel said. "My son Joseph is still alive. I will go and see him before I die."


text:
 Israel moved with all he had. When he came to Beersheba, he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac.


text:
 "I am God, the God of your father," he said. "Don't be afraid to go to Egypt, because I will make you a great nation there.


text:
 I will go with you to Egypt, and I will make sure you come back again. Joseph will close your eyes [when you die]."


text:
 So Jacob left Beersheba. Israel's sons put their father Jacob, their children, and their wives in the wagons Pharaoh had sent to bring him back.


text:
 They also took their livestock and the possessions they had accumulated in Canaan. Jacob and all his family arrived in Egypt.


text:
 These are the names of Israel's descendants ( Jacob and his descendants) who arrived in Egypt. Reuben was Jacob's firstborn.


text:
 The sons of [Simeon]were Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jakin, Zohar, and Shaul, the son of a Canaanite woman.


text:
 The sons of [Judah]were Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah. (Er and Onan had died in Canaan.) The sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul.


text:
 These were the descendants of the sons Leah gave to Jacob in Paddan Aram, in addition to his daughter Dinah. The total number of these sons and daughters was 33.


text:
 The sons of [Asher]were Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, and Beriah. Their sister was Serah. The sons of Beriah were Heber and Malchiel.


text:
 These were the descendants of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to his daughter Leah. She gave birth to these children for Jacob. The total was 16.


text:
 In Egypt, Manasseh and Ephraim were born to [Joseph]by Asenath, daughter of Potiphera, priest from the city of On.


text:
 These were the descendants of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to his daughter Rachel. She gave birth to these sons for Jacob. The total was 7.


text:
 The total number of Jacob's direct descendants who went with him to Egypt was 66. This didn't include the wives of Jacob's sons.


text:
 Joseph had two sons who were born in Egypt. The grand total of people in Jacob's household who went to Egypt was 70.


text:
 Israel sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph to get directions to Goshen. When Israel's family arrived in the region of Goshen,


text:
 Joseph prepared his chariot and went to meet his father Israel. As soon as he saw his father, he threw his arms around him and cried on his shoulder a long time.


text:
 Then Joseph said to his brothers and his father's family, "I'm going to Pharaoh to tell him, 'My brothers and my father's family, who were in Canaan, have come to me.


text:
 The men are shepherds. They take care of livestock. They've brought their flocks and herds and everything they own.'


text:
 you must answer, 'We have taken care of herds all our lives, as our ancestors have done.' [You must say this] so that you may live in the region of Goshen, because all shepherds are disgusting to Egyptians."


text:
 Joseph went and told Pharaoh, "My father and my brothers have arrived from Canaan with their flocks, herds, and everything they have. Now they are in Goshen."


text:
 Pharaoh asked the brothers, "What kind of work do you do?" They answered Pharaoh, "We are shepherds, as were our ancestors.


text:
 We have come to live in this land for a while. The famine is so severe in Canaan that there's no pasture for our flocks. So please let us live in Goshen."


text:
 All of Egypt is available to you. Have your father and your brothers live in the best part of the land. Let them live in Goshen. If they are qualified, put them in charge of my livestock."


text:
 Jacob answered Pharaoh, "The length of my stay on earth has been 130 years. The years of my life have been few and difficult, fewer than my ancestors' years."


text:
 As Pharaoh had ordered, Joseph had his father and his brothers live in the best part of Egypt, the region of Rameses. He gave them property there.


text:
 Joseph also provided his father, his brothers, and all his father's family with food based on the number of children they had.


text:
 The famine was so severe that there was no food anywhere. Neither Egypt nor Canaan were producing crops because of the famine.


text:
 Joseph collected all the money that could be found in Egypt and in Canaan as payment for the grain people bought. Then he took it to Pharaoh's palace.


text:
 When the money in Egypt and Canaan was gone, all the Egyptians came to Joseph. "Give us food," they said. "Do you want us to die right in front of you? We don't have any more money!"


text:
 Joseph replied, "If you don't have any more money, give me your livestock, and I'll give you food in exchange."


text:
 So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and he gave them food in exchange for their horses, sheep, goats, cattle, and donkeys. During that year he supplied them with food in exchange for all their livestock.


text:
 When that year was over, they came to him the next year. "Sir," they said to him, "you know that our money is gone, and you have all our livestock. There's nothing left to bring you except our bodies and our land.


text:
 Do you want us to die right in front of you? Do you want the land to be ruined? Take us and our land in exchange for food. Then we will be Pharaoh's slaves and our land will be his property. But give us seed so that we won't starve to death and the ground won't become a desert."


text:
 Joseph bought all the land in Egypt for Pharaoh. Every Egyptian sold his fields because the famine was so severe. The land became Pharaoh's.


text:
 But he didn't buy the priests' land because the priests received an income from Pharaoh, and they lived on that income. That's why they didn't sell their land.


text:
 Joseph said to the people, "Now that I have bought you and your land for Pharaoh, here is seed for you. Plant crops in the land.


text:
 Every time you harvest, give one-fifth of the produce to Pharaoh. Four-fifths will be yours to use as seed for your fields and as food for your households."


text:
 Joseph made a law concerning the land in Egypt which is still in force today: One-fifth [of the produce] belongs to Pharaoh. Only the land of the priests didn't belong to Pharaoh.


text:
 So the Israelites settled in Egypt in the region of Goshen. They acquired property there and had many children.


text:
 Israel was about to die. He called for his son Joseph and said to him, "I want you to swear that you love me and are faithful to me. Please don't bury me here.


text:
 I want to rest with my ancestors. Take me out of Egypt, and bury me in their tomb." "I will do as you say," Joseph answered.


text:
 "Swear to me," he said. So Joseph swore to him. Then Israel bowed down in prayer with his face at the head of his bed.


text:
 Later Joseph was told, "Your father is ill." So he took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim [to see Jacob].


text:
 When Jacob was told, "Your son Joseph is here to see you," Israel gathered his strength and sat up in bed.


text:
 He said to me, 'I will make you fertile and increase the number of your descendants so that you will become a community of people. I will give this land to your descendants as a permanent possession.'


text:
 "So your two sons, who were born in Egypt before I came here, are my sons. Ephraim and Manasseh will be mine just as Reuben and Simeon are.


text:
 Any other children you have after them will be yours. They will inherit the land listed under their brothers' names.


text:
 As I was coming back from Paddan, Rachel died in Canaan when we were still some distance from Ephrath. So I buried her there on the way to Ephrath" (that is, Bethlehem).


text:
 "They are my sons, whom God has given me here in Egypt," Joseph answered his father. Then Israel said, "Please bring them to me so that I may bless them."


text:
 Israel's eyesight was failing because of old age, and he could hardly see. So Joseph brought his sons close to his father, and Israel hugged them and kissed them.


text:
 Israel said to Joseph, "I never expected to see you again, and now God has even let me see your sons."


text:
 Then Joseph took both of them, Ephraim on his right, facing Israel's left, and Manasseh on his left, facing Israel's right, and brought them close to him.


text:
 But Israel crossed his hands and reached out. He put his right hand on Ephraim's head, although Ephraim was the younger son. He put his left hand on Manasseh's head, although Manasseh was older.


text:
 Then Jacob blessed Joseph, "May God, in whose presence my grandfather Abraham and my father Isaac walked, may God, who has been my shepherd all my life to this very day,


text:
 may the Messenger, who has 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."


text:
 When Joseph saw that his father had put his right hand on Ephraim's head, he didn't like it. So he took his father's hand in order to move it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's.


text:
 Then he said to his father, "That's not right, Father! This is the firstborn. Put your right hand on his head."


text:
 His father refused and said, "I know, Son, I know! Manasseh, too, will become a nation, and he, too, will be important. Nevertheless, his younger brother will be more important than he, and his descendants will become many nations."


text:
 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.


text:
 Then Israel said to Joseph, "Now I'm about to die, but God will be with you. He will bring you back to the land of your fathers.


text:
 I'm giving you one more mountain ridge than your brothers. I took it from the Amorites with my own sword and bow."


text:
 Jacob called for his sons and said, "Come here, and let me tell you what will happen to you in the days to come.


text:
 "[Reuben], you are my firstborn, my strength, the very first son I had, first in majesty and first in power.


text:
 You will no longer be first because you were out of control like a flood and you climbed into your father's bed. Then you dishonored it. He climbed up on my couch.


text:
 Do not let me attend their secret meetings. Do not let me join their assembly. In their anger they murdered men. At their whim they crippled cattle.


text:
 May their anger be cursed because it's so fierce. May their fury be cursed because it's so cruel. I will divide them among [the sons of] Jacob and scatter them among [the tribes of] Israel.


text:
 "[Judah], your brothers will praise you. Your hand will be on the neck of your enemies. Your father's sons will bow down to you.


text:
 Judah, you are a lion cub. You have come back from the kill, my son. He lies down and rests like a lion. He is like a lioness. Who dares to disturb him?


text:
 A scepter will never depart from Judah nor a ruler's staff from between his feet until Shiloh comes and the people obey him.


text:
 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.


text:
 "[Zebulun] will live by the coast. He will have ships by the coast. His border will go as far as Sidon.


text:
 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.


text:
 Dan will be a snake on a road, a viper on a path, that bites a horse's heels so that its rider falls off backwards.


text:
 But his bow stayed steady, and 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,


text:
 because of the God of your father who helps you, because of the Almighty who gives you blessings from the heavens above, blessings from the deep springs below the ground, blessings from breasts and womb.


text:
 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.


text:
 "[Benjamin] is a ravenous wolf. In the morning he devours his prey. In the evening he divides the plunder."


text:
 These are the 12 tribes of Israel and what their father said to them when he gave each of them his special blessing.


text:
 Then he gave them these instructions, "I am about to join my ancestors in death. Bury me with my ancestors in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite.


text:
 Abraham bought the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, east of Mamre in Canaan, from Ephron the Hittite to use as a tomb.


text:
 Abraham and his wife Sarah are buried there. Isaac and his wife Rebekah are buried there. I also buried Leah there.


text:
 When 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.


text:
 Then Joseph ordered the doctors in his service to embalm his father. So the doctors embalmed Israel.


text:
 When the time of mourning for Jacob was over, Joseph spoke to Pharaoh's palace staff. He said, "Please speak directly to Pharaoh. Tell him,


text:
 'My father made me swear an oath. He said, "I'm about to die. Bury me in the tomb I bought for myself in Canaan." Please let me go there and bury my father; then I'll come back.'"


text:
 So Joseph left to bury his father. All Pharaoh's officials, the leaders in his palace staff, and all the leaders of Egypt went with him.


text:
 Joseph's household, his brothers, and his father's household also went with him. (Only their children, their flocks, and their cattle were left in Goshen.)


text:
 When they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is on the east side of the Jordan River, they began a great and solemn ceremony to mourn Jacob's death. Joseph took seven days to mourn his father's death.


text:
 When the Canaanites living there saw the funeral ceremonies at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, "These funeral ceremonies are taken very seriously by the Egyptians." That's why that place on the east side of the Jordan was named Abel Mizraim [Egyptian Funeral Ceremonies].


text:
 They carried him back to Canaan and buried him in the cave in the field of Machpelah, east of Mamre. Abraham had bought this tomb from Ephron the Hittite.


text:
 After Joseph had buried his father, he went back to Egypt along with his brothers and everyone who had gone there with him to bury his father.


text:
 Joseph's brothers realized what their father's death could mean. So they thought, "What if Joseph holds a grudge against us? What if he decides to pay us back for all the evil we did to him?"


text:
 'This is what you should say to Joseph, "I'm begging you to forgive the crime and the sin your brothers committed against you. What they did to you was very evil.' " So now, please forgive our crime, because we are servants of your father's God." Joseph cried when he got their message.


text:
 Then his brothers also came and immediately bowed down in front of him. "We are your slaves!" they said.


text:
 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.


text:
 Don't be afraid! I will provide for you and your children." In this way he reassured them, setting their minds at ease.


text:
 He saw his grandchildren, Ephraim's children. Even the children of Machir, son of Manasseh, were adopted by Joseph at birth.


text:
 At last Joseph said to his brothers, "I'm about to die. God will definitely take care of you and take you out of this land to the land he swore with an oath to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."


text:
 Joseph made Israel's sons swear an oath. He said, "God will definitely take care of you. So be sure to carry my bones back with you."


text:
 Joseph died when he was 110 years old. His body was embalmed and placed in a coffin in Egypt. GENESIS


text:
 These are the names of the sons of Israel (that is, Jacob) who came with him to Egypt with their families:


text:
 But the descendants of Israel had many children. They became so numerous and strong that the land was filled with them.


text:
 We have to outsmart them, or they'll increase in number. Then, if war breaks out, they will join our enemies, fight against us, and leave the country."


text:
 So the Egyptians put slave drivers in charge of them in order to oppress them through forced labor. They built Pithom and Rameses as supply cities for Pharaoh.


text:
 But the more the Israelites were oppressed, the more they increased in number and spread out. The Egyptians couldn't stand them [any longer].


text:
 They made their lives bitter with back-breaking work in mortar and bricks and every kind of work in the fields. All the jobs the Egyptians gave them were brutally hard.


text:
 "When you help the Hebrew women in childbirth, look at the child when you deliver it. If it's a boy, kill it, but if it's a girl, let it live."


text:
 However, the midwives feared God and didn't obey the king of Egypt's orders. They let the boys live.


text:
 So the king of Egypt called for the midwives. He asked them, "Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?"


text:
 The midwives answered Pharaoh, "Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women. They are so healthy that they have their babies before a midwife arrives."


text:
 Then Pharaoh commanded all his people to throw into the Nile every [Hebrew] boy that was born, but to let every girl live.


text:
 The woman became pregnant and had a son. She saw how beautiful he was and hid him for three months.


text:
 When she couldn't hide him any longer, she took a basket made of papyrus plants and coated it with tar and pitch. She put the baby in it and set it among the papyrus plants near the bank of the Nile River.


text:
 While Pharaoh's daughter came to the Nile to take a bath, her servants walked along the bank of the river. She saw the basket among the papyrus plants and sent her slave girl to get it.


text:
 Pharaoh's daughter opened the basket, looked at the baby, and saw it was a boy. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. She said, "This is one of the Hebrew children."


text:
 Then the baby's sister asked Pharaoh's daughter, "Should I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?"


text:
 Pharaoh's daughter said to the woman, "Take this child, nurse him for me, and I will pay you." She took the child and nursed him.


text:
 When the child was old enough, she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. Pharaoh's daughter named him Moses [Pulled Out] and said, "I pulled him out of the water."


text:
 In the course of time Moses grew up. Then he went to [see] his own people and watched them suffering under forced labor. He saw a Hebrew, one of his own people, being beaten by an Egyptian.


text:
 He looked all around, and when he didn't see anyone, he beat the Egyptian to death and hid the body in the sand.


text:
 When Moses went there the next day, he saw two Hebrew men fighting. He asked the one who started the fight, "Why are you beating another Hebrew?"


text:
 The man asked, "Who made you our ruler and judge? Are you going to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?" Then Moses was afraid and thought that everyone knew what he had done.


text:
 When Pharaoh heard what Moses had done, he tried to have him killed. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and settled in the land of Midian. One day, while Moses was sitting by a well,


text:
 seven daughters of the priest of Midian came. They drew water and filled the troughs to water their father's sheep.


text:
 But some shepherds came and chased them away. So Moses got up, came to their defense, and then watered their sheep.


text:
 They answered, "An Egyptian rescued us from some shepherds. He even drew water for us and watered the sheep."


text:
 Reuel asked his daughters, "Where is he? Why did you leave the man there? Go, invite him to supper."


text:
 She gave birth to a son. Moses named him Gershom [Foreigner], because he said, "I was a foreigner living in another country."


text:
 After a long time passed, 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.


text:
 Moses was taking care of the sheep of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. As he led the sheep to the far side of the desert, he came to Horeb, the mountain of God.


text:
 The Messenger of the LORD appeared to him there as flames of fire coming out of a bush. Moses looked, and although the bush was on fire, it was not burning up.


text:
 When the LORD saw that Moses had come over to see it, God called to him from the bush, "Moses, Moses!" Moses answered, "Here I am!"


text:
 God said, "Don't come any closer! Take off your sandals because this place where you are standing is holy ground.


text:
 I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." Moses hid his face because he was afraid to look at God.


text:
 The LORD said, "I have seen the misery of my people in Egypt, and I have heard them crying out because of the slave drivers. I know how much they're suffering.


text:
 I have come to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and to bring them from that land to a good land with plenty of room [for everyone]. It is a land flowing with milk and honey where the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites live.


text:
 But Moses said to God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the people of Israel out of Egypt?"


text:
 God answered, "I will be with you. And this will be the proof that I sent you: When you bring the people out of Egypt, all of you will worship God on this mountain."


text:
 Then Moses replied to God, "Suppose I go to the people of Israel and say to them, 'The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' What should I tell them?"


text:
 God answered Moses, "I Am Who I Am. This is what you must say to the people of Israel: 'I Am has sent me to you.'"


text:
 Again God said to Moses, "This is what you must say to the people of Israel: The LORD God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, has sent me to you. This is my name forever. This is my title throughout every generation.


text:
 "Go, assemble the leaders of Israel. Say to them, 'The LORD God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, appeared to me. He said, "I have paid close attention to you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt.


text:
 I promise I will take you away from your misery in Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, a land flowing with milk and honey."'


text:
 "The leaders of Israel will listen to you. Then you and the leaders must go to the king of Egypt and say to him, 'The LORD God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us travel three days into the desert to offer sacrifices to the LORD our God.'


text:
 So I will use my power to strike Egypt. After all the miracles that I will do there, he will let you go.


text:
 I will make the Egyptians kind to the people of Israel so that, when you leave, you will not leave empty-handed.


text:
 "Every Hebrew woman should ask her Egyptian neighbor and any woman living in her home for silver and gold jewelry and for clothes. Put them on your sons and daughters. This way you will strip Egypt of its wealth."


text:
 "They will never believe me or listen to me!" Moses protested. "They will say, 'The LORD didn't appear to you.'"


text:
 The LORD said, "Throw it on the ground." When Moses threw it on the ground, it became a snake, and he ran away from it.


text:
 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Reach out and grab the snake by its tail." He reached out and grabbed it, and it turned back into a staff as he held it.


text:
 [The LORD explained,] "This is to convince the people that the LORD God of their ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, appeared to you."


text:
 The LORD said to him, "Put your hand inside your shirt." So Moses did this, and when he took his hand out, it had a skin disease. It looked as [flaky as] snow.


text:
 "Now put your hand back inside your shirt," the LORD said. Moses put it back, and when he took it out this time, it was healthy again like the rest of his body.


text:
 [Then the LORD said,] "If they won't believe you or pay attention to the first miraculous sign, they may believe the second.


text:
 But if they won't believe these two miraculous signs or listen to you, take some water from the Nile River and pour it on the ground. The water you take from the Nile will turn into blood on the ground."


text:
 Moses said to the LORD, "Please, Lord, I'm not a good speaker. I've never been a good speaker, and I'm not now, even though you've spoken to me. I speak slowly, and I become tongue-tied easily."


text:
 The LORD asked him, "Who gave humans their mouths? Who makes humans unable to talk or hear? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? It is I, the LORD!


text:
 Then the LORD became angry with Moses and asked, "What about your brother Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He's already on his way to meet you, and he will be very glad to see you.


text:
 You will speak to him and tell him what to say. I will help both of you speak, and I will teach you both what to do.


text:
 Then Moses went back to his father-in-law Jethro. Moses said to him, "Please let me go back to my own people in Egypt. I would like to see if they're still alive." Jethro said to Moses, "You may go."


text:
 Now, the LORD had said to Moses in Midian, "Go back to Egypt, because all the men who wanted to kill you are dead."


text:
 So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey, and started out for Egypt. He also brought with him the staff God had told him to take.


text:
 The LORD said to Moses, "When you get back to Egypt, see that you show Pharaoh all the amazing things that I have given you the power to do. But I will make him stubborn so that he will not let the people go.


text:
 I told you to let my son go so that he may worship me. But you refused to let him go. So now I'm going to kill your firstborn son.'"


text:
 Then Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son's foreskin, and touched Moses' feet [with it]. She said, "You are a bridegroom of blood to me!"


text:
 So the LORD let him alone. It was because of the circumcision that she said at that time, "You are a bridegroom of blood!"


text:
 Meanwhile, the LORD had told Aaron to meet Moses in the desert. When Aaron met Moses at the mountain of God, he kissed him.


text:
 Moses told Aaron everything the LORD had sent him to say and all the miraculous signs the LORD had commanded him to do.


text:
 Aaron told them everything the LORD had said to Moses. He also did the miraculous signs for the people,


text:
 and the people believed them. When they heard that the LORD was concerned about the people of Israel and that he had seen their misery, they knelt, bowing with their faces touching the ground.


text:
 Later Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, "This is what the LORD God of Israel says: Let my people go into the desert to celebrate a festival in my honor."


text:
 Pharaoh asked, "Who is the LORD? Why should I obey him and let Israel go? I don't know the LORD, and I won't let Israel go."


text:
 They replied, "The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us travel three days into the desert to offer sacrifices to the LORD our God. If we don't go, he may kill us with a plague or a war."


text:
 The king of Egypt said to them, "Moses and Aaron, why are you distracting the people from their work? Get back to work!"


text:
 Then Pharaoh added, "Look how many people there are in the land! Do you want them to quit working?"


text:
 "Don't give the people any more straw to make bricks as you have been doing. Let them gather their own straw,


text:
 but insist that they make the same number of bricks they were making before. Making fewer bricks will not be acceptable. They're lazy! That's why they're crying, 'Let us go offer sacrifices to our God.'


text:
 The slave drivers and foreman went out and said to them, "This is what Pharaoh says: I'm no longer giving you straw.


text:
 The slave drivers kept hurrying them. They said, "Finish the same amount of work each day, just as when you had straw."


text:
 Pharaoh's slave drivers had placed Israelite foremen in charge of the people. The slave drivers beat the foremen and said, "You didn't finish all the bricks you were ordered to make yesterday or today. Why didn't you make as many as you used to?"


text:
 We're given no straw, and yet we're told to make bricks. We're being beaten, but your men are at fault."


text:
 "You're lazy! [Just plain] lazy!" Pharaoh answered. "That's why you keep saying, 'Let us go offer sacrifices to the LORD.'


text:
 Now get back to work! You won't be given any straw, but you must still make the same number of bricks."


text:
 The Israelite foremen realized they were in trouble when they were told, "Don't make fewer bricks each day than you're supposed to."


text:
 So they said, "May the LORD 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."


text:
 Moses went back to the LORD and asked, "Why have you brought this trouble on your people? Why did you send me?


text:
 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."


text:
 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh. I will show him my power, and he will let my people go. I will show him my power, and he will throw them out of his country."


text:
 I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God Almighty, but I didn't make myself known to them by my name, the LORD.


text:
 Now I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians hold in slavery, and I have remembered my promise.


text:
 "Tell the Israelites, 'I am the LORD. I will bring you out from under the oppression of the Egyptians, and I will free you from slavery. I will rescue you with my powerful arm and with mighty acts of judgment.


text:
 Then I will make you my people, and I will be your God. You will know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the forced labor of the Egyptians.


text:
 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 the LORD.'"


text:
 Moses reported this to the Israelites. But they would not listen to him because they were so discouraged by their back-breaking work.


text:
 But Moses protested to the LORD, "The Israelites wouldn't listen to me. Why would Pharaoh listen to me? I'm such a poor speaker."


text:
 The LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron about the Israelites and Pharaoh (the king of Egypt). He commanded them to bring the Israelites out of Egypt.


text:
 These were the heads of the families: The sons of [Reuben], Israel's firstborn, were Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi. These were the families descended from Reuben.


text:
 The sons of [Simeon] were Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul, the son of a Canaanite woman. These were the families descended from Simeon.


text:
 These are the names of the sons of [Levi] listed in birth order: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. Levi lived 137 years.


text:
 The sons of Merari were Mahli and Mushi. These were the families descended from Levi listed in birth order.


text:
 Amram married his father's sister Jochebed. She gave birth to Aaron and Moses. Amram lived 137 years.


text:
 Aaron married Elisheba, daughter of Amminadab and sister of Nahshon. She gave birth to Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.


text:
 Eleazar, son of Aaron, married one of the daughters of Putiel. She gave birth to Phinehas. These were the heads of Levite households listed by their families.


text:
 This was the same Aaron and Moses to whom the LORD said, "Bring the Israelites out of Egypt in organized family groups."


text:
 The LORD answered Moses, "I have made you a god to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron is your prophet.


text:
 Tell your brother Aaron everything I command you, and he must tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites leave the country.


text:
 But I will make Pharaoh stubborn. Even though I will do many miraculous signs and amazing things in Egypt,


text:
 Pharaoh will not listen to you. Then I will use my power to punish Egypt severely, and I will bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt in organized family groups.


text:
 The Egyptians will know that I am the LORD when I use my power against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of there."


text:
 "When Pharaoh says to you, 'Give me a sign to prove that God has sent you,' tell Aaron, 'Take your shepherd's staff and throw it down in front of Pharaoh,' and it will become a large snake."


text:
 Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did as the LORD had commanded. Aaron threw his staff down in front of Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a large snake.


text:
 Then Pharaoh sent for his wise men and sorcerers. These Egyptian magicians did the same thing using their magic spells.


text:
 Each of them threw his staff down, and they all became large snakes. But Aaron's staff swallowed theirs.


text:
 In the morning meet Pharaoh when he's on his way to the Nile. Wait for him on the bank of the river. Take along the staff that turned into a snake.


text:
 Say to him, 'The LORD God of the Hebrews sent me to tell you, "Let my people go to worship me in the desert." So far you have not listened.


text:
 Here is what the LORD says: This is the way you will recognize that I am the LORD: With this staff in my hand, I'm going to strike the Nile, and the water will turn into blood.


text:
 The fish in the Nile will die, and the river will stink. The Egyptians will not be able to drink any water from the Nile.'"


text:
 The LORD said 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-so that they turn into blood. There will be blood everywhere in Egypt, even in the wooden and stone containers.'"


text:
 Moses and Aaron did as the LORD had commanded. In front of Pharaoh and his officials, Aaron raised his staff and struck the Nile. All the water in the river turned into blood.


text:
 The fish in the Nile died, and it smelled so bad that the Egyptians couldn't drink any water from the river. There was blood everywhere in Egypt.


text:
 But the Egyptian magicians did the same thing using their magic spells. So Pharaoh continued to be stubborn and would not listen to Moses and Aaron, as the LORD had predicted.


text:
 All the Egyptians dug along the Nile for water to drink because they couldn't drink any of the water from the river.


text:
 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh, and tell him, 'This is what the LORD says: Let my people go to worship me.


text:
 The Nile River will swarm with frogs. They will come into your palace, into your bedroom, on your bed, into the houses of your officials, on your people, into your ovens and into your mixing bowls.


text:
 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Tell Aaron, 'Hold your staff over the rivers, canals, and ponds. This will bring frogs onto the land.'"


text:
 Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron and said, "Pray that the LORD will take the frogs away from me and my people. Then I will let your people go to offer sacrifices to the LORD."


text:
 Moses answered Pharaoh, "You may have the honor of choosing when I should pray for you, your officials, and your people. Then the frogs will leave you and your homes. The only ones left will be those in the Nile."


text:
 "Pray for me tomorrow," Pharaoh said. Moses replied, "It will be as you say so that you will know that there is no one like the LORD our God.


text:
 The frogs will leave you, your homes, your officials, and your people. The only frogs left will be those in the Nile."


text:
 After Moses and Aaron left Pharaoh, Moses prayed to the LORD about the frogs he had brought on Pharaoh.


text:
 When Pharaoh saw that the plague was over, he became stubborn and would not listen to Moses and Aaron, as the LORD had predicted.


text:
 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Tell Aaron, 'Hold out your staff and strike the dust on the ground. All over Egypt the dust will turn into gnats.'"


text:
 When Moses told him, Aaron held out the staff in his hand and struck the dust on the ground. It turned into gnats that bit people and animals. All the dust on the ground everywhere in Egypt turned into gnats.


text:
 The magicians also tried to produce gnats using their magic spells, but they couldn't do it. The gnats bit people and animals.


text:
 So the magicians said to Pharaoh, "This is the hand of God!" Yet, Pharaoh continued to be stubborn and would not listen to Moses and Aaron, as the LORD had predicted.


text:
 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Early in the morning, stand in Pharaoh's way when he's going to the Nile. Say to him, 'This is what the LORD says: Let my people go to worship me.


text:
 If you will not let my people go, I will send swarms of flies on you, your officials, your people, and your houses. The homes of the Egyptians will be filled with flies, and even the ground outside will be covered with them.


text:
 But on that day I will treat the region of Goshen differently. That is where my people live. There won't be any flies there. This way you will know that I, the LORD, am here in this land.


text:
 The LORD did what he said. Dense swarms of flies came into Pharaoh's palace and into the houses of his officials. All over Egypt the flies were ruining everything.


text:
 Moses replied, "It wouldn't be right to do that. The sacrifices we offer to the LORD our God are disgusting to Egyptians. If they see us offer sacrifices that they consider disgusting, won't they stone us to death?


text:
 We need to travel three days into the desert to offer sacrifices to the LORD our God, as he told us to do."


text:
 Pharaoh said, "I will let you go, but don't go very far. You may offer sacrifices to the LORD your God in the desert and pray for me."


text:
 Moses answered, "As soon as I leave you, I will pray to the LORD. 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 the LORD."


text:
 The LORD did what Moses asked. The swarms of flies left Pharaoh, his officials, and his people. Not one fly was left.


text:
 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh, and tell him, 'This is what the LORD God of the Hebrews says: Let my people go to worship me.


text:
 the LORD will bring a terrible plague on your livestock, including your horses, donkeys, camels, cattle, sheep, and goats.


text:
 But the LORD will distinguish between Israel's livestock and the livestock of the Egyptians. No animals belonging to the Israelites will die.'"


text:
 The next day the LORD did as he said. All the livestock of the Egyptians died, but none of the Israelites' animals died.


text:
 Pharaoh found out that not one of the Israelites' animals had died. Yet, Pharaoh continued to be stubborn and would not let the people go.


text:
 Then the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, "Take a handful of ashes from a kiln, and have Moses throw them up in the air as Pharaoh watches.


text:
 They will become a fine dust throughout Egypt. The dust will cause boils to break into open sores on people and animals throughout Egypt."


text:
 They took ashes from a kiln and stood in front of Pharaoh. Moses threw the ashes up in the air, and they caused boils to break into open sores on people and animals.


text:
 But the LORD made Pharaoh stubborn, so he wouldn't listen to Moses and Aaron, as the LORD had predicted to Moses.


text:
 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Early in the morning, go to Pharaoh and say to him, 'This is what the LORD God of the Hebrews says: Let my people go to worship me.


text:
 Now I will send plagues that will affect you personally as well as your officials and people. This is how you will know that there is no one like me anywhere on earth.


text:
 By now I could have used my power to kill you and your people with a plague that would have wiped you off the earth.


text:
 But I have spared you for this reason. I want to show you my power and make my name famous throughout the earth.


text:
 So, at this time tomorrow I will send the worst hailstorm that has ever happened in Egypt since the beginning of its history.


text:
 Now, send [servants] to bring your livestock and everything else you have indoors. All people and animals still outside and not brought in will die when the hail falls on them.'"


text:
 Those members of Pharaoh's court who listened to the LORD's warning brought their servants and cattle indoors quickly.


text:
 But those who didn't take the LORD's warning seriously left their servants and animals out in the open.


text:
 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Lift your hand toward the sky, and hail will fall on people, animals, and every plant in the fields of Egypt."


text:
 When Moses lifted his staff toward the sky, the LORD sent thunder and hail, and lightning struck the earth. So the LORD made it hail on Egypt.


text:
 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.


text:
 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.


text:
 Then Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron. "This time I have sinned," he told them. "The LORD is right, and my people and I are wrong.


text:
 Pray to the LORD. We've had enough of God's thunder and hail. I'll let you go; you don't have to stay here any longer."


text:
 Moses replied, "As soon as I'm out of the city, I'll spread out my hands to the LORD in prayer. The thunder will stop, and there will be no more hail. This is how you will know that the earth belongs to the LORD.


text:
 (The flax and the barley were ruined, because the barley had formed heads and the flax was in bloom.


text:
 As soon as he left Pharaoh and went out of the city, Moses spread out his hands to the LORD in prayer. The thunder and the hail stopped, and no more rain came pouring down on the ground.


text:
 When Pharaoh saw that the rain, the hail, and the thunder had stopped, he sinned again. He and his officials continued to be stubborn.


text:
 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh. I have made him and his officials stubborn so that I can do these miraculous signs among them.


text:
 You will be able to tell your children and grandchildren exactly how I treated the Egyptians and what miraculous signs I did among them. This is how you will all know that I am the LORD."


text:
 So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him, "This is what the LORD God of the Hebrews says: How long will you refuse to humble yourself in my presence? Let my people go to worship me.


text:
 They will cover the land so that the ground can't be seen. They will eat everything left by the hail, including every tree still standing in the fields.


text:
 They will fill your houses and the houses of all your officials and those of all the Egyptians. Your parents and ancestors never saw anything like this from the time they first came here until now." Moses turned and left Pharaoh.


text:
 Then Pharaoh's officials asked him, "How long will this man hold us in his grip? Let the Israelite men go to worship the LORD their God. When will you realize that Egypt is ruined?"


text:
 So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh. "Go, worship the LORD your God," he said to them. "But exactly who will be going?"


text:
 Moses answered, "Everyone! We'll be taking our young and old, our sons and daughters, our flocks and herds with us. For us it's a pilgrimage festival in the LORD's honor."


text:
 Pharaoh said to them, "The LORD would have to be with you if I would ever let you take your women and children along. I know you're up to no good!


text:
 No! Only the men may go to worship the LORD, since that's what you've been asking for." Then Moses and Aaron were thrown out of Pharaoh's palace.


text:
 The LORD said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand over Egypt to bring locusts. They will invade Egypt and eat up every plant in the land-everything left by the hail."


text:
 Moses held his staff over the land of Egypt, and the LORD 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.


text:
 They invaded all of Egypt and landed all over the country in great swarms. Never before had there been so many locusts like this, nor would there ever be that many again.


text:
 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.


text:
 Then Pharaoh quickly called for Moses and Aaron and said, "I have sinned against the LORD your God and against you.


text:
 Please forgive my sin one more time. Pray to the LORD your God to take this deadly plague away from me."


text:
 Then the LORD 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.


text:
 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Lift your hand toward the sky, and a darkness [so thick] that it can be felt will come over Egypt."


text:
 Moses lifted his hand toward the sky, and throughout Egypt there was total darkness for three days.


text:
 People couldn't see each other, and no one went anywhere for three days. But all the Israelites had light where they were living.


text:
 Then Pharaoh called for Moses and said, "Go, worship the LORD! Even your women and children may go with you, but your flocks and herds must stay behind."


text:
 But Moses said, "You must allow us to take [our animals] for the sacrifices and burnt offerings we have to make to the LORD our God.


text:
 All our livestock must go with us. Not one animal must be left behind. We'll have to use some of them for worshiping the LORD our God, and we won't know what we'll need until we get there."


text:
 Pharaoh said to Moses, "Get out of my sight! Don't ever let me see your face again. The day I do, you will die."


text:
 Then the LORD said to Moses, "I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and Egypt. After that he will let you go. When he does, he will be certain to force all of you out of here.


text:
 Now announce to the people [of Israel] that each man and woman must ask the Egyptians for silver and gold jewelry."


text:
 The LORD made the Egyptians kind to the people. And Moses was highly respected by Pharaoh's officials and all the Egyptians.


text:
 Every firstborn son in Egypt will die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who rules the land, to the firstborn children of female slaves who use their handmills, including every firstborn domestic animal.


text:
 But where the Israelites are, not even a dog will be startled by any person or animal. This is how you will see that the LORD shows the distinction between Egypt and Israel.


text:
 Then all these officials of yours will come, bow down to me, and say, 'You and all the people who follow you, get out!' After that I will leave." Burning with anger, Moses left Pharaoh.


text:
 The LORD had said to Moses, "Pharaoh will not listen to you. This is why I will do more amazing things in Egypt."


text:
 Moses and Aaron showed Pharaoh all these amazing things. Yet, the LORD made Pharaoh stubborn, so he wouldn't let the Israelites leave his country.


text:
 Tell the whole community of Israel: On the tenth [day] of this month each man must take a lamb or a young goat for his family-one animal per household.


text:
 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.


text:
 Your animal must be a one-year-old male that has no defects. You may choose a lamb or a young goat.


text:
 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.


text:
 They must take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they will eat the animals.


text:
 The meat must be eaten that same night. It must be roasted over a fire and eaten with bitter herbs and unleavened bread.


text:
 This is how [you should be dressed when] you eat it: with your belt on, your sandals on your feet, and your shepherd's staff in your hand. You must eat it in a hurry. It is the LORD's Passover.


text:
 "On that same night I will go throughout Egypt and kill every firstborn male, both human and animal. I will severely punish all the gods of Egypt, [because] I am the LORD.


text:
 But the blood on your houses will be a sign for your protection. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. Nothing will touch or destroy you when I strike Egypt.


text:
 "This day will be one for you to remember. This is a permanent law for generations to come: You will celebrate this day as a pilgrimage festival in the LORD's honor.


text:
 For seven days you must eat unleavened bread. On the very first day you must remove any yeast that you have in your houses. Whoever eats anything with yeast in it from the first day through the seventh day must be excluded from Israel.


text:
 You must have a holy assembly on the first day and another one on the seventh. You must not work on these days except to prepare your own meals. That's all you may do.


text:
 You must celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread because it was on this very day that I brought you out of Egypt in organized family groups. This is a permanent law for future generations: You must celebrate this day.


text:
 From the evening of the fourteenth day of the first month until the evening of the twenty-first day you must eat unleavened bread.


text:
 There should be no yeast in your houses for seven days. Whoever eats anything with yeast in it must be excluded from the community of Israel, whether he is an Israelite or not.


text:
 Then Moses called for all the leaders of Israel. He said to them, "Pick out a lamb or a young goat for your families, and kill the Passover animal.


text:
 Take the branch of a hyssop plant, dip it in the blood which is in a bowl, and put some of the blood on the top and sides of the doorframes [of your houses]. No one may leave the house until morning.


text:
 The LORD will go throughout Egypt to kill the Egyptians. When he sees the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe, he will pass over that doorway, and he will not let the destroyer come into your home to kill you.


text:
 you must answer, 'It's the Passover sacrifice in the LORD's honor. The LORD passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when he killed the Egyptians.' " Then the people knelt, bowing with their faces touching the ground.


text:
 At midnight the LORD 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.


text:
 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.


text:
 Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron during the night. He said, "You and the Israelites must leave my people at once. Go, worship the LORD as you asked.


text:
 So the people picked up their bread dough before it had risen and carried it on their shoulders in bowls, wrapped up in their clothes.


text:
 The Israelites did what Moses had told them and asked the Egyptians for gold and silver jewelry and for clothes.


text:
 The LORD made the Egyptians generous to the people, and they gave them what they asked for. So the Israelites stripped Egypt of its wealth.


text:
 The Israelites left Rameses to go to Succoth. There were about six hundred thousand men on foot, plus all the women and children.


text:
 With the dough they had brought from Egypt, they baked round, flat bread. The dough hadn't risen because they'd been thrown out of Egypt and had no time to prepare food for the trip.


text:
 That night the LORD kept watch to take them out of Egypt. (All Israelites in future generations must keep watch on this night, since it is dedicated to the LORD.)


text:
 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, "These are the rules for the Passover: "No foreigner may eat the Passover meal.


text:
 "The meal must be eaten inside one house. Never take any of the meat outside the house. "Never break any of the bones.


text:
 "Foreigners may want to celebrate the LORD's Passover. First, every male in the household must be circumcised. Then they may celebrate the Passover like native-born Israelites. But no uncircumcised males may ever eat the Passover meal.


text:
 "Set apart every firstborn male for me. Every firstborn male offspring among the Israelites is mine, whether human or animal."


text:
 Then Moses said to the people, "Remember this day-the day when you left Egypt, the land of slavery. The LORD used his mighty hand to bring you out of there. Don't eat anything made with yeast.


text:
 The LORD swore to your ancestors that he would give you the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites, and Jebusites. When he brings you into that land flowing with milk and honey, you must observe this ceremony in this month.


text:
 "For seven days you must eat unleavened bread. The seventh day will be a pilgrimage festival in the LORD's honor.


text:
 Only unleavened bread should be eaten during these seven days. No sourdough or yeast should be seen anywhere in your territory.


text:
 On that day tell your children, 'We do this because of what the LORD did for us when we left Egypt.'


text:
 This [festival] will be [like] a mark on your hand or a reminder on your forehead that the teachings of the LORD are [always] to be a part of your conversation. Because the LORD used his mighty hand to bring you out of Egypt,


text:
 "When the LORD brings you to the land of the Canaanites and gives it to you, as he swore to you and your ancestors,


text:
 sacrifice every firstborn male offspring to the LORD. The firstborn male offspring of each of your animals belongs to the LORD.


text:
 It will cost you a sheep or a goat to buy any firstborn donkey back from the LORD. If you don't buy it back, then you must break the donkey's neck. You must also buy every firstborn son back from the LORD.


text:
 "In the future when your children ask you what this means, tell them, 'The LORD used his mighty hand to bring us out of slavery in Egypt.


text:
 When Pharaoh was too stubborn to let us go, the LORD killed every firstborn male in Egypt-human and animal. This is why we sacrifice every firstborn male to the LORD and buy every firstborn son back from the LORD.'


text:
 So this [festival] will be [like] a mark on your hand and [like] a band on your forehead, because the LORD used his mighty hand to bring us out of Egypt."


text:
 When Pharaoh let the people go, God didn't lead them on the road through Philistine territory, although that was the shortest route. God said, "If they see that they have to fight a war, they may change their minds and go back to Egypt."


text:
 So God led the people around the other way, on the road through the desert toward the Red Sea. The Israelites were ready for battle when they left Egypt.


text:
 Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, because Joseph had made the Israelites solemnly swear to do this. Joseph had said, "God will definitely come to help you. When he does, take my bones with you."


text:
 By day the LORD went ahead of them in a column of smoke to lead them on their way. By night he went ahead of them in a column of fire to give them light so that they could travel by day or by night.


text:
 The column of smoke was always in front of the people during the day. The column of fire was always there at night.


text:
 "Tell the Israelites to go back and set up their camp facing Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. Set up your camp facing north-by the sea.


text:
 Pharaoh will think, 'The Israelites are [just] wandering around. The desert is blocking their escape.'


text:
 I will make Pharaoh so stubborn that he will pursue them. Then, because of what I do to Pharaoh and his entire army, I will receive honor, and the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD." So that is what the Israelites did.


text:
 When Pharaoh (the king of Egypt) was told that the people had fled, he and his officials changed their minds about them. They said, "What have we done? We've lost our slaves because we've let Israel go."


text:
 He took 600 of his best chariots as well as all the other chariots in Egypt, placing an officer in each of them.


text:
 The LORD made Pharaoh (the king of Egypt) so stubborn that he pursued the Israelites, who were boldly leaving Egypt.


text:
 The Egyptians pursued the Israelites. Pharaoh's army, including all his horse-drawn chariots and cavalry, caught up with them as they were setting up their camp by the sea at Pi Hahiroth facing north.


text:
 As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up and saw that the Egyptians were coming after them. Terrified, the Israelites cried out to the LORD.


text:
 They said to Moses, "Did you bring us out into the desert to die because there were no graves in Egypt? Look what you've done by bringing us out of Egypt!


text:
 Didn't we tell you in Egypt, 'Leave us alone! Let us go on serving the Egyptians'? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!"


text:
 Moses answered the people, "Don't be afraid! Stand still, and see what the LORD will do to save you today. You will never see these Egyptians again.


text:
 Raise your staff, stretch out your hand over the sea, and divide the water. Then the Israelites will go through the sea on dry ground.


text:
 I am making the Egyptians so stubborn that they will follow the Israelites. I will receive honor because of what I will do to Pharaoh, his entire army, his chariots, and cavalry.


text:
 The Egyptians will know that I am the LORD when I am honored for what I did to Pharaoh, his chariots, and his cavalry."


text:
 The Messenger of God, who had been in front of the Israelites, moved behind them. So the column of smoke moved from in front of the Israelites and stood behind them


text:
 between the Egyptian camp and the Israelite camp. The [column of] smoke was there when darkness came, and it lit up the night. Neither side came near the other all night long.


text:
 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. All that night the LORD pushed back the sea with a strong east wind and turned the sea into dry ground. The water divided,


text:
 and 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.


text:
 The Egyptians pursued them, and all Pharaoh's horses, chariots, and cavalry followed them into the sea.


text:
 Just before dawn, the LORD looked down from the column of fire and smoke and threw the Egyptian camp into a panic.


text:
 He made the wheels of their chariots come off so that they could hardly move. Then the Egyptians shouted, "Let's get out of here! The LORD is fighting for Israel! He's against us!"


text:
 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the water will flow back over the Egyptians, their chariots, and their cavalry."


text:
 Moses stretched his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the water returned to its usual place. The Egyptians tried to escape, but the LORD swept them into the sea.


text:
 The water flowed back and covered Pharaoh's entire army, as well as the chariots and the cavalry that had followed Israel into the sea. Not one of them survived.


text:
 Meanwhile, the Israelites had gone through the sea on dry ground while the water stood like a wall on their right and on their left.


text:
 That day the LORD saved Israel from the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the seashore.


text:
 When the Israelites saw the great power the LORD had used against the Egyptians, they feared the LORD and believed in him and in his servant Moses.


text:
 Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the LORD: "I will sing to the LORD. He has won a glorious victory. He has thrown horses and their riders into the sea.


text:
 The LORD is my strength and my song. He is my Savior. This is my God, and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will honor him.


text:
 He has thrown Pharaoh's chariots and army into the sea. Pharaoh's best officers were drowned in the Red Sea.


text:
 Your right hand, O LORD, wins glory because it is strong. Your right hand, O LORD, smashes your enemies.


text:
 With your unlimited majesty, you destroyed those who attacked you. You sent out your burning anger. It burned them up like straw.


text:
 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.


text:
 "The enemy said, 'I'll pursue them! I'll catch up with them! I'll divide the loot! I'll take all I want! I'll use my sword! I'll take all they have!'


text:
 "Who is like you among the gods, O LORD? Who is like you? You are glorious because of your holiness and awe-inspiring because of your splendor. You perform miracles.


text:
 "Lovingly, you will lead the people you have saved. Powerfully, you will guide them to your holy dwelling.


text:
 The tribal leaders of Edom will be terrified. The powerful men of Moab will tremble. The people of Canaan will be deathly afraid.


text:
 Terror and dread will fall on them. Because of the power of your arm, they will be petrified until your people pass by, O LORD, until the people you purchased pass by.


text:
 You will bring them and plant them on your own mountain, the place where you live, O LORD, the holy place that you built with your own hands, O Lord.


text:
 When Pharaoh's horses, chariots, and cavalry went into the sea, the LORD made the water of the sea flow back over them. However, the Israelites had gone through the sea on dry ground.


text:
 Then the prophet Miriam, Aaron's sister, took a tambourine in her hand. All the women, dancing with tambourines, followed her.


text:
 Miriam sang to them: "Sing to the LORD. He has won a glorious victory. He has thrown horses and their riders into the sea."


text:
 Moses led Israel away from the Red Sea into the desert of Shur. For three days they traveled in the desert without finding water.


text:
 When they came to Marah, they couldn't drink the water because it tasted bitter. That's why the place was called Marah [Bitter Place].


text:
 Moses cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. There the LORD set down laws and rules for them to live by, and there he tested them.


text:
 He said, "If you will listen carefully to the LORD 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, because I am the LORD, who heals you."


text:
 Next, they went to Elim, where there were 12 springs and 70 palm trees. They camped there by the water.


text:
 The whole community of Israelites moved from Elim and came to the desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai. This was on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had left Egypt.


text:
 The Israelites said to them, "If only the LORD had let 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!"


text:
 The LORD said to Moses, "I'm going to send you food from heaven like rain. Each day the people should go out and gather only what they need for that day. In this way I will test them to see whether or not they will follow my instructions.


text:
 But on the sixth day when they prepare what they bring home, it should be twice as much as they gather on other days."


text:
 So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, "In the evening you will know that it was the LORD who brought you out of Egypt.


text:
 In the morning you will see the glory of the LORD, because he has heard you complaining about him. Why are you complaining about us?"


text:
 Moses also said, "The LORD will give you meat to eat in the evening and all the food you want in the morning. The LORD has heard you complaining about him. Who are we? You're not complaining about us but about the LORD."


text:
 Moses said to Aaron, "Tell the whole community of Israelites, 'Come into the LORD's presence. He has heard you complaining.'"


text:
 While Aaron was speaking to the whole community of Israelites, they looked toward the desert. Suddenly, they saw the glory of the LORD in the [column of] smoke.


text:
 "I've heard the Israelites complaining. Tell them, 'At dusk you will eat meat, and in the morning you will eat all the food you want. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God.'"


text:
 That evening quails came and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp.


text:
 When the dew was gone, the ground was covered with a thin layer of flakes like frost on the ground.


text:
 When the Israelites saw it, they asked each other, "What is this?" because they didn't know what it was. Moses said to them, "It's the food the LORD has given you to eat.


text:
 This is what the LORD has commanded: Each of you should gather as much as you can eat. Take two quarts for each person in your tent."


text:
 They measured it into two-quart containers. Those who had gathered more didn't have too much. Those who had gathered less didn't have too little. They gathered as much as they could eat.


text:
 But some of them didn't listen to Moses. They kept part of it until morning, and it was full of worms and smelled bad. So Moses was angry with them.


text:
 But on the sixth day they gathered twice as much food, four quarts per person. All the leaders of the community came to Moses and told him about it.


text:
 He said to them, "This is what the LORD said: Tomorrow is a day of worship, a holy day of worship dedicated to the LORD. Bake what you want to bake, and boil what you want to boil. Save all that's left over, and keep it until tomorrow morning."


text:
 So they saved it until the next morning as Moses had commanded, but it didn't smell or have worms in it.


text:
 "Eat it today," Moses said, "because today is a day of worship dedicated to the LORD. You won't find anything on the ground today.


text:
 The LORD said to Moses, "How long will you refuse to do what I have commanded and instructed you to do?


text:
 Remember: The LORD has given you this day of worship. That's why he gives you enough food on the sixth day for two days. On the seventh day you may not leave. Everyone, stay where you are."


text:
 The Israelites called the food [manna]. It was like coriander seeds. It was white and tasted like wafers made with honey.


text:
 Moses said, "This is what the LORD has commanded: Take two quarts of manna to be kept for your descendants. This way they will see the food that I gave you to eat in the desert when I brought you out of Egypt."


text:
 Moses said to Aaron, "Take a jar, put two quarts of manna in it, and put it in the LORD's presence to be kept for your descendants."


text:
 Aaron put the jar of manna in front of the words of God's promise to be kept there, as the LORD commanded Moses.


text:
 The Israelites ate manna for 40 years until they came to a place to settle. They ate manna until they came to the border of Canaan.


text:
 The whole community of Israelites left the desert of Sin and traveled from place to place as the LORD commanded them. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink.


text:
 So they complained to Moses by saying, "Give us water to drink!" Moses said to them, "Why are you complaining to me? Why are you testing the LORD?"


text:
 But the people were thirsty for water there. 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?"


text:
 So Moses cried out to the LORD, "What should I do with these people? They're almost ready to stone me!"


text:
 The LORD answered Moses, "Bring some of the leaders of Israel with you, and go to where the people can see you. Take the staff you used to strike the Nile River.


text:
 I'll be standing in front of you there by a rock at Mount Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink." Moses did this while the leaders of Israel watched him.


text:
 He named that place Massah [Testing] and Meribah [Complaining] because the Israelites complained and because they tested the LORD, asking, "Is the LORD with us or not?"


text:
 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."


text:
 Joshua did as Moses told him and fought the Amalekites, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went to the top of the hill.


text:
 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.


text:
 Eventually, Moses' hands felt heavy. So Aaron and Hur took a rock, put it under him, and he sat on it. Aaron held up one hand, and Hur held up the other. His hands remained steady until sunset.


text:
 The LORD said to Moses, "Write this reminder on a scroll, and make sure that Joshua hears it, too: I will completely erase any memory of the Amalekites from the earth."


text:
 He said, "Because a hand was lifted against the LORD's throne, he will be at war against the Amalekites from one generation to the next."


text:
 Moses' father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian, heard about everything God had done for Moses and his people Israel and how the LORD had brought Israel out of Egypt.


text:
 along with her two sons. The one son was named Gershom [Foreigner], because Moses said, "I was a foreigner living in another country."


text:
 The name of the other was Eliezer [My God Is a Helper], because he said, "My father's God was my helper. He saved me from Pharaoh's death sentence."


text:
 Moses' father-in-law Jethro brought Moses' sons and wife to Moses in the desert where he was camped near the mountain of God.


text:
 Jethro had sent word to Moses, "I'm coming to [visit] you, [and I'm bringing] your wife and her two sons."


text:
 So Moses went out to meet his father-in-law. Moses bowed with his face touching the ground and kissed Jethro. After they asked each other how they were, they went into the tent.


text:
 Moses told his father-in-law everything the LORD had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians for Israel, all the hardships they had had on the way, and how the LORD had saved them.


text:
 Jethro was delighted [to hear] about all the good things the LORD had done for Israel in rescuing them from the Egyptians.


text:
 He said, "Thank the LORD! He rescued you from the Egyptians and their Pharaoh and rescued these people from the control of the Egyptians,


text:
 Then Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, brought a burnt offering and other sacrifices to God. Aaron and all the leaders of Israel came to eat the meal with Moses' father-in-law in God's presence.


text:
 The next day Moses was settling disagreements among the people. The people stood around Moses from morning until evening.


text:
 When Moses' father-in-law saw everything Moses was doing for the people, he asked, "Why are you doing this for the people? Why do you sit here alone, while all the people stand around you from morning until evening?"


text:
 Whenever they have a disagreement and bring it to me, I decide which person is right, and I tell them God's laws and instructions."


text:
 You and your people will wear yourselves out. This is too much work for you. You can't do it alone!


text:
 Now listen to me, and I'll give you some advice. May God be with you! You must be the people's representative to God and bring their disagreements to him.


text:
 You must instruct them in the laws and the teachings, show them how to live, and tell them what to do.


text:
 "But choose capable men from all the people, men who fear God, men you can trust, men who hate corruption. Put them in charge of groups of 1,000, or 100, or 50, or 10 people.


text:
 Let them 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.


text:
 If God commands you, and you do this, you will be able to continue your work, and all these people will have their disagreements settled so that they can go home."


text:
 Moses chose capable men from all the Israelites and put them in charge of groups of 1,000, or 100, or 50, or 10 people.


text:
 These men were the ones who usually settled disagreements among the people. They would bring difficult cases to Moses, but they settled all minor ones themselves.


text:
 Israel had moved from Rephidim and had come into the desert of Sinai. They had set up camp there in front of the mountain.


text:
 Then Moses went up the mountain to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain, "This is what you must say to the descendants of Jacob. Tell the Israelites,


text:
 'You have seen for yourselves what I did to Egypt and how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to my mountain.


text:
 If you carefully obey me and are faithful to the terms of my promise, then out of all the nations you will be my own special possession, even though the whole world is mine.


text:
 You will be my kingdom of priests and my holy nation.' These are the words you must speak to the Israelites."


text:
 So Moses went down and called for the leaders of the people. He repeated to them all the words that the LORD had commanded him.


text:
 All the people answered together, "We will do everything the LORD has said." So Moses brought their answer back to the LORD.


text:
 The LORD said to Moses, "I am coming to you in a storm cloud so that the people will hear me speaking with you and will always believe you." Moses told the LORD what the people had said.


text:
 So the LORD said to Moses, "Go to the people, and tell them they have two days to get ready. They must set themselves apart as holy. Have them wash their clothes


text:
 and be ready by the day after tomorrow. On that day the LORD will come down on Mount Sinai as all the people watch.


text:
 Mark off a boundary around the mountain for the people, and tell them not to go up the mountain or even touch it. Those who touch the mountain must be put to death.


text:
 No one should touch them. They must be stoned or shot with arrows. No matter whether it's an animal or a person, it must not live. The people may go up the mountain [only] when the ram's horn sounds a long blast."


text:
 After Moses went down the mountain to the people, he had them get ready, and they washed their clothes.


text:
 Then Moses said to the people, "Be ready two days from now. Don't disqualify yourselves by having sexual intercourse."


text:
 On the morning of the second day, there was thunder and lightning with a heavy cloud over the mountain, and a very loud blast from a ram's horn [was heard]. All the people in the camp shook with fear.


text:
 Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain.


text:
 All of Mount Sinai was covered with smoke because the LORD had come down on it in fire. Smoke rose from the mountain like the smoke from a kiln, and the whole mountain shook violently.


text:
 As the sound of the horn grew louder and louder, Moses was speaking, and the voice of God answered him.


text:
 The LORD came down on top of Mount Sinai and called Moses to the top of the mountain. So Moses went up.


text:
 The LORD said to him, "Go down and warn the people not to force their way through [the boundary] to see the LORD, or many of them will die.


text:
 Even the priests who are allowed to come near the LORD must set themselves apart as holy, or the LORD will violently kill them."


text:
 Moses said to the LORD, "The people can't come up Mount Sinai, because you warned us yourself to mark off a boundary around the mountain and consider it holy."


text:
 The LORD said to him, "Go down, and bring Aaron back with you. But the priests and the people must not force their way through the boundary to come up to the LORD, or he will violently kill them."


text:
 Never make your own carved idols or statues that represent any creature in the sky, on the earth, or in the water.


text:
 Never worship them or serve them, because I, the LORD your God, am a God who does not tolerate rivals. I punish children for their parents' sins to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me.


text:
 "Never use the name of the LORD your God carelessly. The LORD will make sure that anyone who carelessly uses his name will be punished.


text:
 The seventh day is the day of worship dedicated to the LORD your God. You, your sons, your daughters, your male and female slaves, your cattle, and the foreigners living in your city must never do any work [on that day].


text:
 In six days the LORD made heaven, earth, and the sea, along with everything in them. He didn't work on the seventh day. That's why the LORD blessed the day he stopped his work and set this day apart as holy.


text:
 "Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live for a long time in the land the LORD your God is giving you.


text:
 "Never desire to take your neighbor's household away from him. "Never desire to take your neighbor's wife, his male or female slave, his ox, his donkey, or anything else that belongs to him."


text:
 All the people heard the thunder and saw the lightning. They heard the blast of the ram's horn and saw the mountain covered with smoke. So they shook with fear and stood at a distance.


text:
 Then they said to Moses, "You speak to us, and we'll listen. But don't let God speak to us, or we'll die!"


text:
 Moses answered the people, "Don't be afraid! God has come only to test you, so that you will be in awe of him and won't sin."


text:
 The LORD said to Moses, "This is what you must say to the Israelites: You've seen for yourselves that I have spoken to you from heaven.


text:
 "You must build an altar for me made out of dirt. Sacrifice your burnt offerings and your fellowship offerings, your sheep, goats, and cattle on it. Wherever I choose to have my name remembered, I will come to you and bless you.


text:
 If you build an altar for me made out of stones, never make it with cut stone blocks. If you use a chisel on it, you will make it unacceptable to me.


text:
 "Whenever 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.


text:
 If he comes to you by himself, he must leave by himself. If he comes as a married man, his wife may leave with him.


text:
 If his master gives him a wife and she gives birth to sons or daughters, the wife and her children belong to the master, and the slave must leave by himself.


text:
 But if he makes this statement: 'I hereby declare my love for my master, my wife, and my children. I don't want to leave as a free man,'


text:
 then his master must bring him to God. The master must bring him to the door or the doorframe and pierce his ear with an awl. Then he will be his slave for life.


text:
 If she doesn't 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.


text:
 If he doesn't give her these three things, she can go free, without paying any money for her freedom.


text:
 If it wasn't done intentionally, but God let it happen, the killer should flee to a place I will set aside for you.


text:
 But whenever someone becomes so angry that he plans to kill his neighbor, you must take him away from my altar and put him to death.


text:
 "Whoever kidnaps another person must be put to death, whether he has sold the kidnapped person or still has him.


text:
 "This is what you must do whenever 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.


text:
 If the injured man can get 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.


text:
 "Whenever an owner hits his male or female slave with a stick so that the slave dies from the beating, the owner must be punished.


text:
 But if the slave gets up in a day or two, the owner must not be punished. The slave is his property.


text:
 "This is what you must do whenever men fight and injure a pregnant woman so that she gives birth prematurely. If there are no other injuries, the offender must pay whatever fine the court allows the woman's husband to demand.


text:
 "Whenever an owner hits his male or female slave in the eye and the slave is blinded, he must let the slave go free to make up for the loss of the eye.


text:
 If the owner knocks out the tooth of his male or female slave, he must let the slave go free to make up for the loss of the tooth.


text:
 "Whenever a bull gores a man or a woman to death, the bull must be stoned to death, and its meat may not be eaten. The bull's owner is free from any liability.


text:
 But if the bull has had the habit of goring, and the owner has been warned but has not kept it confined, and it kills a man or a woman, then the bull must be stoned and its owner must be put to death, too.


text:
 However, if only a cash settlement is demanded from the owner, the bull's owner may save his life by paying whatever price is demanded of him.


text:
 If the bull gores a male or female slave, its owner must pay 12 ounces of silver to the slave's master, and the bull must be stoned.


text:
 "Whenever someone opens up a cistern or digs a new one and doesn't cover it and a bull or a donkey falls into it,


text:
 the owner of the cistern must make up for the loss. He must pay money to the animal's owner, and then the dead animal will be his.


text:
 "Whenever one person's bull kills another person's bull, they must sell the live bull and divide the money between them. They must divide the dead bull, too.


text:
 However, if it was known that the bull had the habit of goring, and its owner didn't keep it confined, the owner must make up for the loss-bull for bull-and then the dead bull will be his."


text:
 [The LORD continued,] "Whenever someone steals a bull or a sheep and butchers it or sells it, he must make up for the loss with five head of cattle to replace the bull or four sheep to replace the sheep.


text:
 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 must be sold [as a slave] to pay for what he stole.


text:
 But if the stolen animal is found alive in his possession, whether it's a bull, donkey, or a sheep, he must make up for the loss with double the amount.


text:
 "Whenever someone lets his livestock graze in a field or a vineyard, and they stray and graze in another person's field, he must make up for what the damaged field was expected to produce. But 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.


text:
 "Whenever 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.


text:
 "This is what you must do whenever someone gives his neighbor silver or [other] valuables to keep for him, and they are stolen from that person's house: If the thief is caught, he must make up for the loss with double the amount.


text:
 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 neighbor's valuables.


text:
 If there is a dispute over the ownership of a bull, a donkey, a sheep, an article of clothing, or 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 neighbor's loss with double the amount.


text:
 "This is what you must do whenever 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.


text:
 The case between them must be settled by swearing an oath to the LORD that the neighbor did not take the other person's animal. The owner must accept the oath. The neighbor doesn't have to make up for the loss.


text:
 If it was killed by a wild animal, he must bring in the dead body as evidence. He doesn't have to make up for an animal that has been killed.


text:
 "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.


text:
 If the owner is with the animal, the borrower doesn't have to make up for the loss. If it is rented, the rental fee covers the loss.


text:
 "Whenever 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.


text:
 If her father absolutely refuses to give her to him, he must pay an amount of money equal to the bride-price for virgins.


text:
 I will become angry and have you killed in combat. Then your wives and children will become widows and orphans.


text:
 "If you lend money to my people-to any poor person among you-never act like a moneylender. Charge no interest.


text:
 It may be the only clothes he has to cover his body. What else will he sleep in? When he cries out to me, I will listen because I am compassionate.


text:
 You must do the same with your cattle and your sheep. They will stay with their mothers seven days, but on the eighth day you must give them to me.


text:
 "You must be my holy people. Never eat the meat of an animal that has been killed by wild animals out in the countryside. Throw it to the dogs."


text:
 [The LORD continued,] "Never spread false rumors. Don't join forces with wicked people by giving false testimony.


text:
 Never follow a crowd in doing wrong. When you testify in court, don't side with the majority to pervert justice.


text:
 "Whenever you come across your enemy's ox or donkey wandering loose, be sure to take it back to him.


text:
 Whenever you see that the donkey of someone who hates you has collapsed under its load, don't leave it there. Be sure to help him with his animal.


text:
 Avoid telling lies. Don't kill innocent or honest people, because I will never declare guilty people innocent.


text:
 Never take a bribe, because bribes blind those who can see and deny justice to those who are in the right.


text:
 "Never oppress foreigners. You know what it's like to be foreigners because you were foreigners living in Egypt.


text:
 but in the seventh year you must leave the land unplowed and unused. In that way the poor among your people will have food to eat, and wild animals may eat what the poor people leave. You must do the same with your vineyards and olive groves.


text:
 "For six days you will do your work, but on the seventh day you must not work. Then your ox and donkey can rest. The slaves born in your household and foreigners will also be refreshed.


text:
 "Be careful [to do] everything I told you. "Never mention the names of other gods or let them be heard on your lips.


text:
 "Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread: For seven days you must eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you. Do this at the appointed time in the month of Abib, because that was when you left Egypt. No one may come into my presence without an offering.


text:
 "Celebrate the Festival of the Harvest with the first produce harvested from whatever you plant in your fields. "Celebrate the Festival of the Final Harvest at the end of the year when you harvest your crops from the fields.


text:
 "These are the three times each year that all your men must come into the presence of the Master, the LORD.


text:
 "Never offer the blood of a sacrifice to me at the same time you offer anything containing yeast. The fat sacrificed at my festivals should never be left over in the morning.


text:
 "You must bring the best of the first produce harvested from your soil to the house of the LORD your God. "Never cook a young goat in its mother's milk.


text:
 "I'm going to send a Messenger in front of you to protect you on your trip and bring you to the place I have prepared.


text:
 Pay attention to him, and listen to him. Don't defy him, because he will not forgive your disobedience. He is acting on my authority.


text:
 But if you will listen to him and do everything I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an opponent to your opponents.


text:
 "My Messenger will go ahead of you and will bring you to [the land of] the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, and Jebusites. I will wipe them out.


text:
 Never worship or serve their gods or follow their practices. Instead, you must destroy their gods and crush their sacred stones.


text:
 You must serve the LORD your God, and he will bless your food and water. I will take away all sickness from among you.


text:
 No woman in your land will miscarry or be unable to have children. I will let you live a normal life span.


text:
 "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.


text:
 I will not force them out of your way in one year. Otherwise, the land would be deserted, and wild animals would take over.


text:
 Little by little I will force them out of your way until you have increased enough in number to take possession of the land.


text:
 "I will establish your borders from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea and from the Sinai Desert to the Euphrates River. I will put the people living in the land under your control, and you will force them out of your way.


text:
 Never let them live in your land, or they will make you sin against me and trap you into serving their gods."


text:
 The LORD said to Moses, "You and Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and 70 of Israel's leaders come up the mountain to me and worship at a distance.


text:
 Moses went and told the people all the LORD's words and legal decisions. Then all the people answered with one voice, "We will do everything the LORD has told us to do."


text:
 So Moses wrote down all the LORD's words. Early the next morning he built an altar at the foot of the mountain and [set up] 12 sacred stones for the 12 tribes of Israel.


text:
 Then he sent young Israelite men, and they sacrificed bulls as burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to the LORD.


text:
 Then he took the Book of the LORD's Promise and read it while the people listened. They said, "We will obey and do everything the LORD has said."


text:
 Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people and said, "Here is the blood which seals the promise that the LORD has made to you based on everything you have just heard."


text:
 They saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement made out of sapphire as clear and blue as the sky itself.


text:
 The LORD said to Moses, "Come up to me on the mountain. Stay there, and I will give you the stone tablets with the teachings and the commandments I have written for the people's instruction."


text:
 He said to the leaders, "Wait here for us until we come back to you. Aaron and Hur are here with you. Take all your disagreements to them."


text:
 The glory of the LORD settled on Mount Sinai. For six days the cloud covered it, and on the seventh day the LORD called to Moses from inside the cloud.


text:
 Moses entered the cloud as he went up the mountain. He stayed on the mountain 40 days and 40 nights.


text:
 "Tell the Israelites to choose something to give me as a special contribution. You must accept whatever contribution each person freely gives.


text:
 onyx stones, and other precious stones to be set in the [chief priest's] ephod and his breastplate.


text:
 The angels should have their wings spread above the throne of mercy, overshadowing it. They should face each other, looking at the throne of mercy.


text:
 After you put into the ark the words of my promise which I will give you, place the throne of mercy on top.


text:
 I will be above the throne of mercy between the angels whenever I meet with you and give you all my commands for the Israelites.


text:
 Make plates and dishes for the table out of pure gold, as well as pitchers and bowls to be used for pouring wine offerings.


text:
 "Make a lamp stand out of pure gold. The lamp stand, its base, and its shaft, as well as the flower cups, buds, and petals must be hammered out of one piece of gold.


text:
 Each of the six branches coming out of the lamp stand is to have three flower cups shaped like almond blossoms, with buds and petals.


text:
 The lamp stand itself is to have four flower cups shaped like almond blossoms, with buds and petals.


text:
 The buds and branches should also be hammered out of the same piece of pure gold as the lamp stand.


text:
 [The LORD continued,] "Make the inner tent with ten sheets made from fine linen yarn. Take violet, purple, and bright red yarn, and creatively work an angel design into the fabric.


text:
 Make 50 gold fasteners. Use them to link the [two sets of] sheets together so that the tent is a single unit.


text:
 Sew five of the sheets together into one set and the remaining six into another set. Fold the sixth sheet in half [to hang] in front of the tent.


text:
 Make 50 bronze fasteners, and put them through the loops to link the inner tent together as a single unit.


text:
 There will be 18 inches left over on each side because of the length of the outer tent's sheets. That part should hang over each side in order to cover the inner tent.


text:
 Make a cover of rams' skins that have been dyed red for the outer tent. Over that put a cover made of fine leather.


text:
 Then make 40 silver sockets at the bottom of the 20 frames, two sockets at the bottom of each frame for the two pegs.


text:
 These will be held together at the bottom and held tightly at the top by a single ring. Both corner frames will be made this way.


text:
 five for those on the other side, and five for the frames on the far end of the inner tent, the west side.


text:
 Cover the frames with gold, make gold rings to hold the crossbars, and cover the crossbars with gold.


text:
 "Make a canopy of violet, purple, and bright red yarn. Creatively work an angel design into fine linen yarn.


text:
 Use gold hooks to hang it on four posts of acacia wood covered with gold, standing in four silver sockets.


text:
 Hang the canopy from the fasteners in the ceiling, and put the ark containing the words of my promise under it. The canopy will mark off the most holy place from the holy place.


text:
 "Place the table outside the canopy on the north side of the inner tent, and put the lamp stand opposite the table on the south side.


text:
 "For the entrance of the outer tent, make a screen out of fine linen yarn, embroidered with violet, purple, and bright red yarn.


text:
 Make five posts of acacia wood for the screen and cover them with gold. Make gold hooks for this screen. Cast five bronze bases for the posts."


text:
 [The LORD continued,] "Make an altar out of acacia wood. It should be 71/2 feet square, and 41/2 feet high.


text:
 Make 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 bronze.


text:
 "Make all the utensils for it out of bronze: pots for taking away the altar's ashes, also shovels, bowls, forks, and incense burners.


text:
 "Make a grate for it out of bronze mesh, and make a bronze ring for [each of] the four corners of the grate.


text:
 "Make the altar out of boards so that it's hollow inside. It must be made just as you were shown on the mountain.


text:
 "Make a courtyard for the tent. The south side of the courtyard should be 150 feet long and have curtains made out of fine linen yarn,


text:
 [hung] on 20 posts [set in] 20 bronze bases. The hooks and bands on the posts should be made of silver.


text:
 The north side should be the same: 150 feet long, with curtains on 20 posts set in 20 bronze bases. The hooks and bands on the posts should be made of silver.


text:
 "The courtyard on the west end should be 75 feet wide and have curtains [hung] on ten posts [set in] ten bases.


text:
 Each side [of the entrance] will be 221/2 feet wide with curtains [hung on] three posts [set in] three bases.


text:
 "The entrance to the courtyard must have a 30-foot screen made from fine linen yarn, embroidered with violet, purple, and bright red yarn, [hung] on four posts [set in] four bases.


text:
 The courtyard should be 150 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 71/2 feet high, with [curtains] made of fine linen yarn and with bronze bases.


text:
 "All the things for the tent, no matter how they're used, including all the pegs for the tent and the courtyard, must be made of bronze.


text:
 "For the lighting, you must command the Israelites to bring you pure, virgin olive oil so that the lamps won't go out.


text:
 In the tent of meeting outside the canopy where the words of my promise are, Aaron and his descendants must keep the lamps lit in the LORD's presence from evening until morning. This is a permanent law among the Israelites for generations to come."


text:
 [The LORD continued,] "Out of all the Israelites, bring your brother Aaron and his sons Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar to you. They will serve me as priests.


text:
 "Tell all those who have the skill-those to whom I have given this ability-to make Aaron's clothes. These clothes will set him apart as holy when he serves me as priest.


text:
 These are the clothes they will make: a breastplate, an ephod and the robe that is worn with it, another specially woven linen robe, the chief priest's turban, and a cloth belt. They will make these holy clothes for your brother Aaron and his sons so that they can serve me as priests.


text:
 "Make the ephod out of fine linen yarn. Creatively work gold, violet, purple, and bright red yarn into the fabric.


text:
 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,


text:
 and 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 the LORD's presence.


text:
 "Make the breastplate for decision-making as creatively as you make the ephod. Make it out of gold, violet, purple, and bright red yarn and out of fine linen yarn.


text:
 The stones correspond to the 12 sons of Israel, by name, each stone engraved (like a signet ring) with the name of one of the 12 tribes.


text:
 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.


text:
 Make two gold rings, and fasten them to the other two corners of the breastplate on the inside edge next to the ephod.


text:
 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.


text:
 Then the breastplate should be fastened by its rings to the rings of the ephod with a violet cord. This will attach it just above the belt of the ephod and will hold the breastplate in place.


text:
 "Whenever Aaron goes into the holy place, he will be carrying the names of the sons of Israel over his heart as a constant reminder in the LORD's presence. He must do this by wearing the breastplate for decision-making.


text:
 Put the Urim and Thummim into the breastplate for decision-making. They, too, will be over Aaron's heart when he comes into the LORD's presence. In this way whenever he's in the LORD's presence, Aaron will always be carrying over his heart the [means for determining the LORD's] decisions for the Israelites.


text:
 Make an opening for the head in the center with a reinforced edge (like a leather collar) all around it to keep it from tearing.


text:
 All around the hem of the robe make pomegranates of violet, purple, and bright red yarn with gold bells in between-


text:
 Aaron must wear it when he serves as priest. The sound of the bells must be heard when he comes into and goes out of the LORD's presence in the holy place so that he won't die.


text:
 "Make a flower-shaped medallion out of pure gold, and engrave on it (as on a signet ring): Holy to the LORD.


text:
 It will be on Aaron's forehead. He's the one to be blamed for anything done wrong when the Israelites bring their holy offerings-whatever their gifts may be. The medallion must always be on Aaron's forehead so that the LORD will accept their offerings.


text:
 "Make the specially woven inner robe of fine linen. Make the turban of fine linen, but the belt should be embroidered with colored yarn.


text:
 "Also make linen robes, belts, and turbans for Aaron's sons. These clothes will give them dignity and honor.


text:
 Put these clothes on your brother Aaron and his sons, anoint them, ordain them, and set them apart to serve me as priests.


text:
 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. Then they will be blameless and won't die. "This is a permanent law for him and his descendants."


text:
 [The LORD continued,] "Now, this is what you must do in order to 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.


text:
 Use the finest wheat flour, but no yeast, and bake some loaves of bread, some rings of bread made with olive oil, and some wafers brushed with olive oil.


text:
 Take the clothes, and put them on Aaron-the linen robe, the ephod and the robe that is worn with it, and the breastplate. Use the belt to tie it on him tightly.


text:
 and put turbans on them. Tie belts around the waists of Aaron and his sons. They alone are to be priests; this is a permanent law. In this way you will ordain Aaron and his sons.


text:
 "Then bring the young bull to the front of the tent of meeting. Aaron and his sons will place their hands on its head.


text:
 Take some of the bull's blood, and put it on the horns of the altar with your finger. Pour the rest of it out at the bottom of the altar.


text:
 "Then 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.


text:
 Cut the ram into pieces, wash the internal organs and legs, and put them with the other pieces and the head.


text:
 Then burn the whole ram on the altar. It's a burnt offering, a soothing aroma, an offering by fire to the LORD.


text:
 Slaughter it, take some of the blood, and put it on the right ear lobes of Aaron and his sons, on their right thumbs, and on the big toes of their right feet. Throw the [rest of the] blood against the altar on all sides.


text:
 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. In this way Aaron, his sons, and their clothes will be holy.


text:
 "From this [same] ram take the fat, the fat from the tail, the fat that covers the internal organs, the lobe of the liver, the two kidneys with the fat on them, and the right thigh. (This is the ram for the ordination.)


text:
 From the basket of unleavened bread which is in the LORD's presence, take a round loaf of bread, a ring of bread made with olive oil, and a wafer.


text:
 Then take them from their hands, and burn them on the altar on top of the burnt offering. It's a soothing aroma in the LORD's presence, an offering by fire to the LORD.


text:
 "Take the breast from the ram used for Aaron's ordination, and present it to the LORD. This will be your share.


text:
 Set apart as holy the breast that is offered to the LORD and the thigh that is the contribution. Both will come from the ram used for the ordination. They both belong to Aaron and his sons.


text:
 It is a permanent law that the Israelites give this portion to Aaron and his sons as a contribution. This will also be their contribution to the LORD from the fellowship offerings.


text:
 "Aaron's holy clothes will belong to his descendants so that they can be anointed and ordained in them.


text:
 The son who succeeds him as priest-the one who goes into the tent of meeting to serve in the holy place-will wear them for seven days.


text:
 At the entrance to the tent of meeting, Aaron and his sons will eat the meat of the ram and the bread [left] in the basket.


text:
 They will eat those offerings through which they made peace with the LORD at their ordination and installation. No one else may eat them because the offerings are holy.


text:
 If any meat or bread from the ordination is left over until morning, burn it up. It must not be eaten because it is holy.


text:
 Each day sacrifice a young bull as an offering to make peace with the LORD. Sacrifice this offering for sin on the altar in order to pay for its sins. Then anoint it [with olive oil] in order to dedicate it.


text:
 For seven days at the altar make peace with the LORD and set the altar apart for its holy purpose. Then the altar will be most holy. Anything that touches the altar will become holy.


text:
 With the first lamb make an offering of eight cups of flour mixed with one quart of virgin olive oil. Make a wine offering of one quart of wine.


text:
 Offer the other lamb at dusk, and with it make the same grain offering and wine offering as in the morning. This is a soothing aroma, an offering by fire to the LORD.


text:
 "For generations to come this will be the daily burnt offering [made] in the LORD's presence at the entrance to the tent of meeting. There I will meet with you to speak to you.


text:
 I will dedicate the tent of meeting and the altar for their holy purposes. I will set Aaron and his sons apart for their holy duties of serving me as priests.


text:
 They will know that I am the LORD their God. I brought them out of Egypt so that I might live among them. I am the LORD their God."


text:
 Make it 18 inches square and 36 inches high. The horns and altar must be made out of one piece [of wood].


text:
 Make two gold rings, and put them below the molding on opposite sides to hold the poles for carrying it.


text:
 Put the altar in front of the canopy which [hangs] over the ark containing the words of my promise. I will meet with you there in front of the throne of mercy that is on the ark.


text:
 "Aaron must burn sweet-smelling incense on this altar every morning when he takes care of the lamps.


text:
 Also, when Aaron lights the lamps at dusk, he must burn incense. For generations to come an incense offering must burn constantly in the LORD's presence.


text:
 "Never burn any unauthorized incense on this altar or any burnt offerings or grain offerings. Never pour a wine offering on it.


text:
 Once a year Aaron must make peace with the LORD 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 peace with the LORD. It is most holy to the LORD."


text:
 "When you take a census of the Israelites, each person must pay the LORD a ransom for his life when he is counted. Then no plague will happen to them when they are counted.


text:
 As each person is counted, he must give one-fifth of an ounce of silver using the standard weight of the holy place. This one-fifth of an ounce of silver is a contribution to the LORD.


text:
 The rich must not give more than one-fifth of an ounce of silver, and the poor must not give less. This contribution is given to make peace with the LORD and make your lives acceptable to the LORD.


text:
 Take the money the Israelites give to make peace with the LORD, and use it to pay the expenses of the tent of meeting. It will be a reminder for the Israelites in the LORD's presence that the sins in their lives are removed."


text:
 "Make a bronze basin with a bronze stand for washing. Put it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and fill it with water.


text:
 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 the LORD,


text:
 they will wash their hands and feet so that they will not die. This will be a permanent law for him and his descendants for generations to come."


text:
 "Take the finest spices: 121/2 pounds of powdered myrrh; half as much, that is, 61/4 pounds of fragrant cinnamon; 61/4 pounds of fragrant cane;


text:
 121/2 pounds of cassia-all weighed using the standard weight of the holy place-and 4 quarts of olive oil.


text:
 Have a perfumer make these into a holy oil, a fragrant mixture, used only for anointing. This will be the holy oil used for anointing.


text:
 In this way you will dedicate them for their holy purpose. Then they will be most holy, and anything that touches them will become holy.


text:
 Anoint Aaron and his sons as well. In this way you will set them apart for their holy duties of serving me as priests.


text:
 "Say to the Israelites, 'For generations to come, this will be my holy oil used only for anointing.


text:
 It must never be poured on the bodies of other people. Never make any perfumed oil using this formula. It is holy, and you must treat it as holy.


text:
 Whoever prepares a perfume like this or puts it on anyone who is not a priest must be excluded from the people.'"


text:
 The LORD said to Moses, "Take one part fragrant spices (two kinds of gum resin and aromatic mollusk shells), and mix them with one part pure frankincense.


text:
 Grind some of it into a fine powder, and put it in front of [the ark containing] the words of my promise in the tent of meeting, where I will meet with you. You must treat it as most holy.


text:
 I have filled Bezalel with the Spirit of God, making him highly skilled, resourceful, and knowledgeable in all trades.


text:
 Also, I have appointed Oholiab, son of Ahisamach, from the tribe of Dan, to help him. I have given every craftsman the skill necessary to make everything I have commanded you:


text:
 the tent of meeting, the ark containing the words of my promise with the throne of mercy on it, and all the [other] furnishings for the tent,


text:
 the special clothes-the holy clothes for the priest Aaron and the clothes for his sons when they serve as priests,


text:
 the anointing oil, and the sweet-smelling incense for the holy place. They will make all these things as I commanded you."


text:
 "Say to the Israelites, 'Be sure to observe my days of worship. This will be a sign between me and you for generations to come so that you will know that I am the LORD who makes you holy.


text:
 " 'Observe the day of worship because it is holy to you. Whoever treats it like any other day must be put to death. Whoever works on that day must be excluded from the people.


text:
 You may work for six days, but the seventh day is a day of worship, a day when you don't work. It is holy to the LORD. Whoever works on that day must be put to death.


text:
 The Israelites must observe this day of worship, celebrating it for generations to come as a permanent reminder of my promise.


text:
 It will be a permanent sign between me and the Israelites, because the LORD made heaven and earth in six days, and on the seventh day he stopped working and was refreshed.'"


text:
 The LORD finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai. Then he gave him the two tablets with his words on them, stone tablets inscribed by God himself.


text:
 When the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron. They said to him, "We don't know what has happened to this Moses, who led us out of Egypt. Make gods who will lead us."


text:
 Aaron said to them, "Have your wives, sons, and daughters take off the gold earrings they are wearing, and bring them to me."


text:
 After he had worked on the gold with a tool, he made it into a statue of a calf. Then they said, "Israel, here are your gods who brought you out of Egypt."


text:
 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of it and announced, "Tomorrow there will be a festival in the LORD's honor."


text:
 Early the next day the people sacrificed burnt offerings and brought fellowship offerings. Afterward, they sat down to a feast, which turned into an orgy.


text:
 The LORD said to Moses, "Go back down there. Your people whom you brought out of Egypt have ruined [everything].


text:
 They've already turned from the way I commanded them to live. They've made a statue of a calf for themselves. They've bowed down to it and offered sacrifices to it. They've said, 'Israel, here are your gods who brought you out of Egypt.'"


text:
 Now leave me alone. I'm so angry with them I am going to destroy them. Then I'll make you into a great nation."


text:
 But Moses pleaded with the LORD his God. "LORD," he said, "why are you so angry with your people whom you brought out of Egypt using your great power and mighty hand?


text:
 Don't 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's why he brought them out [of our land].' Don't be so angry. Reconsider your decision to bring this disaster on your people.


text:
 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 permanent possession.'"


text:
 Moses turned and went down the mountain carrying the two tablets with God's words. They were written on both sides, front and back.


text:
 Then Joshua heard the noise of the people shouting. He said to Moses, "It's the sound of war in the camp!"


text:
 Moses replied, "It's not the sound of winners shouting. It's not the sound of losers crying. It's the sound of a wild celebration that I hear."


text:
 When he came near the camp, he saw the calf and the dancing. In a burst of anger Moses threw down the tablets and smashed them at the foot of the mountain.


text:
 Then he took the calf they had made, burned it, ground it into powder, scattered it on the water, and made the Israelites drink it.


text:
 Moses asked Aaron, "What did these people do to you that you encouraged them to commit such a serious sin?"


text:
 They said to me, 'We don't know what's happened to this Moses who brought us out of Egypt. Make gods for us. They will lead us.'


text:
 So I told them to take off any gold they were wearing. They gave it to me. I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!"


text:
 Aaron had let the people get out of control, and they became an object of ridicule to their enemies. When Moses saw this,


text:
 he stood at the entrance to the camp and said, "If you're on the LORD's side, come over here to me!" Then all the Levites gathered around him.


text:
 He said to them, "This is what the LORD God of Israel says: Each of you put on your sword. Go back and forth from one end of the camp to the other, and kill your relatives, friends, and neighbors."


text:
 Moses said, "Today you are ordained as the LORD's priests. God gave you a blessing today because each of you fought with your own sons and brothers."


text:
 The next day Moses said to the people, "You have committed a serious sin. Now I will go up the mountain to the LORD. Maybe I will be able to make a payment for your sin and make peace with the LORD for your sin."


text:
 So Moses went back to the LORD and said, "These people have committed such a serious sin! They made gods out of gold for themselves.


text:
 Now, go! Lead the people to the place I told you about. My Messenger will go ahead of you. But when I punish, I will punish them for their sin."


text:
 Then the LORD 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.'


text:
 I will send a Messenger ahead of you, and I will force out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.


text:
 Go to that land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not be with you, because you are impossible to deal with, and I would destroy you on the way."


text:
 The LORD had said to Moses, "Tell the Israelites, 'You are impossible to deal with. If I were with you, I might destroy you at any time. Now take off your jewelry, and I'll decide what to do with you.'"


text:
 Now, 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 the LORD's will used to go outside the camp to the tent of meeting.


text:
 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.


text:
 As soon as Moses went into the tent, the column of smoke would come down and stay at the entrance to the tent while the LORD spoke with Moses.


text:
 When all the people saw the column of smoke standing at the entrance to the tent, they would all bow with their faces touching the ground at the entrance to their own tents.


text:
 The LORD would speak to Moses personally, as a man speaks to his friend. Then Moses would come back to the camp, but his assistant, Joshua, son of Nun, stayed inside the tent.


text:
 Moses said to the LORD, "You've been telling me to lead these people, but you haven't let me know whom you're sending with me. You've also said, 'I know you by name, and I'm pleased with you.'


text:
 If you really are pleased with me, show me your ways so that I can know you and so that you will continue to be pleased with me. Remember: This nation is your people."


text:
 How will anyone ever know you're pleased with your people and me unless you go with us? Then we will be different from all other people on the face of the earth."


text:
 The LORD answered Moses, "I will do what you have asked, because I am pleased with you, and I know you by name."


text:
 The LORD said, "I will let all my goodness pass in front of you, and there I will call out my name 'the LORD.' I will be kind to anyone I want to. I will be merciful to anyone I want to.


text:
 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.


text:
 The LORD said to Moses, "Cut two [more] stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets which you smashed.


text:
 Be ready in the morning. Then come up on Mount Sinai, and stand in my presence on the top of the mountain.


text:
 No one 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."


text:
 So Moses cut two [more] stone tablets like the first ones. Early the next morning he went up on Mount Sinai, as the LORD had commanded him, carrying the two stone tablets.


text:
 Then he passed in front of Moses, calling out, "The LORD, the LORD, a compassionate and merciful God, patient, always faithful and ready to forgive.


text:
 He continues to show his love to thousands of generations, forgiving wrongdoing, disobedience, and sin. He never lets the guilty go unpunished, punishing children and grandchildren for their parents' sins to the third and fourth generation."


text:
 Then he said, "Lord, please go with us! Even though we are impossible to deal with, forgive our sin and the wrong we have done, and accept us as your own people."


text:
 The LORD said, "I'm making my promise again. In front of all your people I will perform miracles that have never been done in any other nation in all the world. All the people around you will see how awesome these miracles are that I will perform for you.


text:
 Do everything that I command today. Then I will force the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites out of your way.


text:
 Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land where you're going. This will prove to be a trap to you.


text:
 But tear down their altars, crush their sacred stones, and cut down their poles dedicated to the goddess Asherah.


text:
 (Never worship any other god, because the LORD is a God who does not tolerate rivals. In fact, he is known for not tolerating rivals.)


text:
 Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in that land. When they chase after their gods as though they were prostitutes and sacrifice to them, they may invite you to eat the meat from their sacrifices with them.


text:
 Then your sons will end up marrying their daughters. When their daughters chase after their gods as though they were prostitutes, they'll lead your sons to do the same thing.


text:
 "You must 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, because in that month you came out of Egypt.


text:
 "Every first male offspring is mine, even the firstborn males of all your livestock, whether cattle, sheep, or goats.


text:
 It will cost you a sheep or a goat to buy back the firstborn donkey. If you don't buy it back, then you must break the donkey's neck. You must buy back every firstborn of your sons. "No one may come into my presence without an offering.


text:
 "You may work six days, but on the seventh day you must not work. Even during the time of plowing or harvesting you must not work [on this day].


text:
 "You must celebrate the Festival of Weeks with the first grain from your wheat harvest, and the Festival of the Final Harvest at the end of the season.


text:
 "Three times a year all your men must come into the presence of the Master, the LORD God of Israel.


text:
 I will force nations out of your way and will expand [your country's] borders. No one will want to take away your land while you're gone three times a year to the LORD's festivals.


text:
 "Never 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.


text:
 "You must bring the first and best of the produce harvested from your soil to the house of the LORD your God. "Never cook a young goat in its mother's milk."


text:
 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Write down these words, because on the basis of these words I'm making a promise to Israel and to you."


text:
 Moses was there with the LORD 40 days and 40 nights without food or water. He wrote on the tablets the words of the promise, the ten commandments.


text:
 Moses came down from Mount Sinai, carrying the two tablets with God's words on them. His face was shining from speaking with the LORD, but he didn't know it.


text:
 When Aaron and all the Israelites looked at Moses and saw his face shining, they were afraid to come near him.


text:
 Moses called to them, so Aaron and all the leaders of the community came back to him. Then Moses spoke to them.


text:
 After that, all the other Israelites came near him, and he commanded them to do everything the LORD told him on Mount Sinai.


text:
 But whenever Moses went into the LORD's presence to speak with him, he took off the veil until he came out. Whenever he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded,


text:
 they would see that Moses' face was shining. Then Moses would put the veil back on until he went in again to speak with the LORD.


text:
 Moses assembled the whole Israelite community and said to them, "These are the things the LORD has commanded you to do:


text:
 You may work for six days, but the seventh day is a holy day of worship, a day when you don't work. It is dedicated to the LORD. Whoever does any work on this day should be put to death.


text:
 Choose something of your own to give as a special contribution to the LORD. Let everyone who is willing bring this kind of contribution to the LORD: gold, silver, and bronze,


text:
 the inner tent, the outer tent, and cover, along with the fasteners, frames, crossbars, posts, and sockets,


text:
 the altar for incense with its poles, the anointing oil, the sweet-smelling incense, the screen for the entrance to the tent,


text:
 the altar for burnt offerings with its bronze grate, its poles, and all its accessories, the basin with its stand,


text:
 the curtains for the courtyard, the posts, bases, and the screen for the entrance to the courtyard,


text:
 the special clothes worn for official duties in the holy place-both the holy clothes for Aaron the priest and the clothes for his sons when they serve as priests."


text:
 Those who were willing and whose hearts moved them came and brought their contributions to the LORD. The gifts were used to construct the tent of meeting, to pay other expenses, and to make the holy clothes.


text:
 All who were willing-men and women alike-came and brought all kinds of gold jewelry: pins, earrings, signet rings, and pendants. They took these gifts of gold and offered them to the LORD.


text:
 Those who had violet, purple, or bright red yarn, fine linen, goats' hair, rams' skins dyed red, or fine leather brought them.


text:
 Those who could give silver or bronze brought it as their contribution to the LORD. Those who had acacia wood that could be used in the construction brought it.


text:
 All the women who were skilled in spinning yarn brought violet, purple, and bright red yarn, and fine linen, which they had made by hand.


text:
 The leaders brought onyx stones and other precious stones to be set in the [chief priest's] ephod and breastplate.


text:
 They also brought the spices and the olive oil for the lamps, the anointing oil, and the sweet-smelling incense.


text:
 Every Israelite man and woman who was willing brought all these items to the LORD as a freewill offering. They brought these items to be used to make everything the LORD had commanded through Moses.


text:
 Then Moses said to the Israelites, "The LORD has chosen Bezalel, son of Uri and grandson of Hur, from the tribe of Judah.


text:
 The LORD has filled Bezalel with the Spirit of God, making him highly skilled, resourceful, and knowledgeable in all trades.


text:
 Also, the LORD has given Bezalel and Oholiab, son of Ahisamach, from the tribe of Dan the ability to teach others.


text:
 The LORD has 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."


text:
 [Moses continued,] "So Bezalel and Oholiab will do the work as the LORD has commanded. They will do this with the help of every other craftsman to whom the LORD has given the necessary skills and talents. They will know how to do all the work for constructing the holy place."


text:
 Moses called Bezalel and Oholiab and every other craftsman to whom the LORD had given these skills and who was willing to come and do the work.


text:
 Moses turned over to them all the contributions the Israelites had brought for the work of constructing the holy place. But the people still kept bringing him freewill offerings every morning.


text:
 Finally, all the skilled craftsmen who were working on the holy place stopped what they were doing. They all came to Moses.


text:
 They said, "The people are bringing much more than we need for doing the work the LORD commanded us to do."


text:
 So Moses gave instructions to have the following message announced all over camp: "No man or woman needs to make anything more to give as their special contribution to the holy place." Then the people stopped bringing gifts.


text:
 All the skilled craftsmen among the workers made the inner tent with ten sheets made from fine linen yarn and violet, purple, and bright red yarn. An angel design was creatively worked into the fabric.


text:
 They also made 50 gold fasteners. They used them to link the [two sets of] sheets together so that the inner tent was a single unit.


text:
 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.


text:
 Then they made 40 silver sockets at the bottom of the 20 frames, two sockets at the bottom of each frame for the two pegs.


text:
 They were held together at the bottom and held tightly at the top by a single ring. Both corner frames were made this way.


text:
 They also made crossbars out of acacia wood. Five were for the frames on one side of the inner tent,


text:
 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.


text:
 They covered the frames with gold and made gold rings to hold the crossbars. They also covered the crossbars with gold.


text:
 They made the canopy out of violet, purple, and bright red yarn and fine linen yarn. An angel design was creatively worked into the fabric.


text:
 They made four posts of acacia wood for it and covered them with gold. They made gold hooks for the posts, and they cast four silver bases for them.


text:
 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.


text:
 They also made five posts with hooks for [hanging] the screen. They covered the tops of the posts and the bands with gold, but the five bases for the posts were made of bronze.


text:
 The angels had their wings spread above the throne of mercy, overshadowing it. They faced each other, looking at the throne of mercy.


text:
 He cast four gold rings for it and fastened the rings to the four corners, where the four legs were.


text:
 For the table he made plates, dishes, bowls, and pitchers to be used for pouring wine offerings. All of them were made out of pure gold.


text:
 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].


text:
 Each of the six branches coming out of the lamp stand had three flower cups shaped like almond blossoms, with buds and petals.


text:
 The lamp stand itself had four flower cups shaped like almond blossoms, each with a bud and petals.


text:
 He made an altar out of acacia wood for burning incense. It was 18 inches square and 36 inches high. The horns and altar were made out of one piece [of wood].


text:
 He covered all of it with pure gold-the top, the sides, and the horns-and he put a gold molding around it.


text:
 He made two gold rings and put them below the molding on opposite sides to hold the poles for carrying it.


text:
 He also had a perfumer make the holy oil to be used for anointing and for the pure, sweet-smelling incense.


text:
 He made a horn at each of its four corners. He made the four horns and the altar out of one piece [of wood] covered with bronze.


text:
 He made a grate for the altar out of bronze mesh, [and put it] under the ledge, halfway up the altar.


text:
 He put the poles through the rings on the sides of the altar to carry it. He made the altar out of boards so that it was hollow inside.


text:
 He made the basin and stand out of the bronze mirrors given by the women who served at the entrance to the tent of meeting.


text:
 He also made the courtyard. The south side of the courtyard was 150 feet long and had curtains made out of fine linen yarn,


text:
 The north side was also 150 feet long with 20 posts and 20 bronze bases. The hooks and bands on the posts were made of silver.


text:
 The west side was 75 feet long and had curtains [hung] on 10 posts [set in] 10 bases. The hooks and bands on the posts were made of silver.


text:
 Each side of the entrance to the courtyard was 221/2 feet wide with curtains [hung] on three posts [set in] three bases.


text:
 The bases for the posts were made of bronze. 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.


text:
 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 30 feet long and 71/2 feet high, just like the curtains of the courtyard.


text:
 It was hung on four posts [set in] four bronze bases. The hooks and bands on the posts were made of silver. The tops of the posts were covered with silver.


text:
 This is the amount of material that was used for the tent (the tent of the words of God's promise). An inventory was ordered by Moses and carried out by the Levites under the direction of Ithamar, son of the priest Aaron.


text:
 Now Bezalel, son of Uri and grandson of Hur, from the tribe of Judah, made everything the LORD had commanded Moses.


text:
 He 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.


text:
 The total amount of gold from the offerings presented to the LORD used in building the holy place weighed over 2,193 pounds, using the standard weight of the holy place.


text:
 The silver collected when the census of the community was taken weighed 7,544 pounds using the standard weight of the holy place.


text:
 This came to one-fifth of an ounce per person, for everyone counted who was at least 20 years old: 603,550 people.


text:
 He used 7,500 pounds of silver to cast the 100 bases for the holy place and the canopy. This was 75 pounds per base.


text:
 He used 44 pounds of silver to make the hooks and bands for the posts and the coverings for the tops of the posts.


text:
 With this he made the bases for the entrance to the tent of meeting, the bronze altar with its bronze grate and all its accessories,


text:
 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.


text:
 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 followed the LORD's instructions to Moses.


text:
 They hammered the gold into thin sheets and cut them 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.


text:
 They made the belt that is attached to the ephod out of the same fabric. They followed the LORD's instructions to Moses.


text:
 They mounted the onyx stones in gold settings, and engraved on them the names of the sons of Israel.


text:
 Then they fastened them on the shoulder straps of the ephod as a reminder of who the Israelites are. They followed the LORD's instructions to Moses.


text:
 They made the breastplate as creatively as they made the ephod. It was made out of gold, violet, purple, and bright red yarn, and of fine linen yarn.


text:
 They fastened four rows of precious stones on it. In the first row they put red quartz, topaz, and emerald.


text:
 They corresponded to the 12 sons of Israel, by name, each stone engraved (like a signet ring) with the name of one of the 12 tribes.


text:
 They made two gold settings and two gold rings and attached the two rings to the [top] two corners of the breastplate.


text:
 They fastened the other ends of the ropes to the two settings on the shoulder straps of the ephod [so that the breastplate hung] in front of it.


text:
 They made two gold rings and fastened them to the other two corners of the breastplate on the inside edge next to the ephod.


text:
 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.


text:
 Then they fastened the breastplate by its rings to the rings of the ephod with a violet cord. So the breastplate was attached just above the belt of the ephod and was held in place. They followed the LORD's instructions to Moses.


text:
 The opening in the center of the robe had a finished edge (like a leather collar) all around it to keep it from tearing.


text:
 On the hem of the robe they made pomegranates of violet, purple, and bright red yarn, and fine yarn.


text:
 They made bells out of pure gold and fastened them in between the pomegranates all around the hem of the robe.


text:
 A gold bell alternated with a pomegranate all around the hem of the robe that is worn by Aaron when he serves as priest. They followed the LORD's instructions to Moses.


text:
 They also made the chief priest's turban and the other beautiful turbans out of fine linen. They made the undergarments and belt out of fine linen yarn.


text:
 The belt was embroidered with violet, purple, and bright red yarn. They followed the LORD's instructions to Moses.


text:
 They made the flower-shaped medallion (the holy crown) out of pure gold and engraved on it (as on a signet ring): Holy to the LORD.


text:
 They fastened a violet cord to it and tied it on top of the turban. They followed the LORD's instructions to Moses.


text:
 So all the work on the inner tent (the tent of meeting) was now done. The Israelites followed all the LORD's instructions to Moses.


text:
 Then they brought everything to Moses-the inner tent, the outer tent and all its furnishings, the fasteners, frames, crossbars, posts, sockets,


text:
 the pure [gold] lamp stand with its lamps in a row and all its utensils, the olive oil for the lamps,


text:
 the gold altar, the anointing oil, the sweet-smelling incense, the screen for the entrance to the tent,


text:
 the bronze altar with its bronze grate, its poles, and all its accessories, the basin with its stand,


text:
 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 (the tent of meeting)-


text:
 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.


text:
 Moses inspected all the work and saw that they had followed the LORD's instructions. So Moses blessed them.


text:
 Take the anointing oil, and anoint the tent and everything in it. In this way you will dedicate it and all its furnishings. Then it will be holy.


text:
 Anoint the altar for burnt offerings and all the utensils. In this way you will dedicate the altar, and it will be most holy.


text:
 Then dress Aaron in the holy clothes, and anoint him. In this way you will dedicate him to serve me as priest.


text:
 Anoint them to serve me as priests, as you anointed their father. Their anointing will begin a permanent priesthood for them for generations to come."


text:
 So the tent was set up on the first day of the first month of the second year [after the Israelites had left Egypt].


text:
 When Moses set up the tent, he put the sockets in place, put up the frames, inserted the crossbars, and set up the posts.


text:
 He spread the outer tent over the inner tent and put the cover on top. Moses followed the LORD's instructions.


text:
 He took the words of God's promise and put them in the ark. He put the poles on the ark and placed the throne of mercy on top of the ark.


text:
 Then he brought the ark into the tent and hung the canopy over it to mark off where the ark was. Moses followed the LORD's instructions.


text:
 He put the altar for burnt offerings at the entrance to the tent (the tent of meeting). He sacrificed burnt offerings and grain offerings on it. Moses followed the LORD's instructions.


text:
 They would wash whenever they went into the tent of meeting or whenever they approached the altar. Moses followed the LORD's instructions.


text:
 He set up the courtyard around the tent and the altar and put up the screen at the entrance to the courtyard. Finally, Moses finished the work.


text:
 Moses couldn't go into the tent of meeting, because the smoke settled on it and the glory of the LORD filled the tent.


text:
 In all their travels, whenever the [column of] smoke moved from the tent, the Israelites would break camp.


text:
 So the LORD's column stayed over the tent during the day, and there was fire in the smoke at night. In this way all the Israelites could see the column throughout their travels.


text:
 "Tell the Israelites: If any of you bring a sacrifice to the LORD, you must offer an animal from your cattle, sheep, or goats.


text:
 "If you bring a burnt offering from your cattle, you must offer a male that has no defects. Offer it at the entrance to the tent of meeting so that the LORD will accept you.


text:
 Place your hand on the animal's head. The burnt offering will be accepted to make peace with the LORD.


text:
 Then slaughter the bull in the LORD's 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.


text:
 Aaron's sons, the priests, will also lay the pieces, the head, and the fat on top of the wood burning on the altar.


text:
 Wash the internal organs and legs. Then the priest will burn all of it on the altar. It is a burnt offering, an offering by fire, a soothing aroma to the LORD.


text:
 Slaughter it in the LORD's presence on the north side of the altar. Aaron's sons, the priests, will throw the blood against the altar on all sides.


text:
 Then cut it into pieces. The priest will lay the head and the fat on the wood burning on the altar.


text:
 The priest must bring it to the altar. He will break its neck and burn the bird on the altar. First, he will drain the blood against the side of the altar.


text:
 Remove the gizzard with its filth and throw it on the east side of the altar on the place for the ashes.


text:
 Then pull on the bird's wings to tear the bird open, but don't pull the wings off. Then the priest will lay the bird on the wood burning on the altar. It is a burnt offering, an offering by fire, a soothing aroma to the LORD."


text:
 [The LORD continued,] "Now, if any of you bring a grain offering to the LORD, your offering must be flour. Pour olive oil on it, and put incense on it.


text:
 Then bring it to Aaron's sons, the priests. Take from this a handful of flour with olive oil, and all the incense. The priest will burn it on the altar as a reminder. It is an offering by fire, a soothing aroma to the LORD.


text:
 The rest of the grain offering will belong to Aaron and his sons. It is very holy, set apart from the LORD's offering by fire.


text:
 "If you bring a grain offering which 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 olive oil.


text:
 If your grain offering is prepared in a frying pan, it, too, will be unleavened bread made of flour mixed with olive oil.


text:
 "Bring the LORD the grain offering prepared in any of these ways. Offer it to the priest who will bring it to the altar.


text:
 The priest will remove part of the grain offering and burn it as a reminder on the altar. It is an offering by fire, a soothing aroma to the LORD.


text:
 The rest of the grain offering belongs to Aaron and his sons. It is very holy, set apart from the LORD's offering by fire.


text:
 "Every grain offering that you bring to the LORD must be prepared without yeast. Never burn yeast or honey as an offering to the LORD.


text:
 You may bring them to the LORD as offerings of your first products. But they must never be placed on the altar to make a soothing aroma.


text:
 Also put salt on each of your grain offerings. The salt of God's promise must never be left out of your grain offerings. Put salt on all your offerings.


text:
 "If you bring a grain offering to the LORD from the first grain you harvest, roast the cracked grain over fire.


text:
 The priest will burn the flour, olive oil, and all the incense as a reminder. It is an offering by fire to the LORD."


text:
 [The LORD continued,] "If your sacrifice is a fellowship offering of cattle in the LORD's presence, it must be a male or female animal that has no defects.


text:
 Place your hand on the animal's head. Then slaughter it at the entrance to the tent of meeting. Then Aaron's sons, the priests, will throw the blood against the altar on all sides.


text:
 and the two kidneys with the fat on them and offer them by fire to the LORD. Also cut off the lobe of the liver along with the kidneys.


text:
 Then Aaron's sons will lay them on top of the burnt offering on the burning wood. It is an offering by fire, a soothing aroma to the LORD.


text:
 "If your sacrifice is a fellowship offering of sheep to the LORD, you must bring a male or female animal that has no defects.


text:
 Place your hand on the animal's head. Slaughter it in front of the tent of meeting. Then Aaron's sons will throw the blood against the altar on all sides.


text:
 Then take the fat from the fellowship offering and offer it by fire to the LORD. Remove all the fat from the tail and the fat that covers the internal organs.


text:
 Then the priest will burn the fellowship offering on the altar. It is food, an offering by fire to the LORD.


text:
 Place your hand on its head. Slaughter it in front of the tent of meeting. Then Aaron's sons will throw the blood against the altar on all sides.


text:
 and the two kidneys with the fat on them as an offering by fire to the LORD. Also remove the lobe of the liver along with the kidneys.


text:
 Then the priest will burn them on the altar. It is food, an offering by fire to the LORD. It is a soothing aroma. All the fat belongs to the LORD.


text:
 "Tell the Israelites: If a person unintentionally does something wrong-even one thing that is forbidden by any of the LORD's commands-this is what he must do.


text:
 "If the anointed priest does something wrong and brings guilt on the people, he must bring a bull that has no defects as an offering for sin to the LORD.


text:
 He must bring the bull into the LORD's presence at the entrance to the tent of meeting. He will place his hand on the bull's head. He will then slaughter the bull in the LORD's presence.


text:
 The priest will dip his finger in it and sprinkle some of the blood seven times in the LORD's presence facing the canopy in the holy place.


text:
 Then the priest will put some of the blood on the horns of the altar for sweet-smelling incense in the LORD's presence in the tent of meeting. He will pour the rest of the bull's blood at the bottom of the altar for burnt offerings at the entrance to the tent of meeting.


text:
 He will remove all of the fat from the bull that is the offering for sin, the fat that covers the internal organs,


text:
 and the two kidneys with the fat on them. He will also remove the lobe of the liver and the kidneys


text:
 the same way they were removed from the bull used for the fellowship offering. The priest will lay them on the altar for burnt offerings.


text:
 to a clean place outside the camp where the ashes are dumped. He will burn it there on a wood fire.


text:
 "If the whole congregation of Israel unintentionally does something wrong, without the assembly being aware of it, if they do even one thing that is forbidden by any of the LORD's commands, they will be guilty.


text:
 When the wrong they have done becomes known, the congregation must sacrifice a bull as an offering for sin. They must bring it in front of the tent of meeting.


text:
 The leaders of the congregation will place their hands on the bull's head in the LORD's presence. One of them will slaughter it in the LORD's presence.


text:
 The priest will dip his finger in some of the blood and sprinkle it seven times in the LORD's presence facing the canopy.


text:
 He will also put some blood on the horns of the altar in the LORD's presence in the tent of meeting. He will pour the rest of the blood at the bottom of the altar for burnt offerings at the entrance to the tent of meeting.


text:
 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 make peace with the LORD for the people, and they will be forgiven.


text:
 Then he will take the bull outside the camp and will burn it the same way he burned the first bull. It is an offering for sin for the community.


text:
 "When a leader unintentionally does something wrong-even one thing that is forbidden by any of the commands of the LORD his God-he will be guilty.


text:
 When he is told about what he has done wrong, he must bring a male goat that has no defects as his offering.


text:
 He will place his hand on the goat's head and slaughter it in the LORD's presence where he slaughters animals for burnt offerings. It is an offering for sin.


text:
 Then the priest will 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.


text:
 He will burn all the fat on the altar the same way the fat of the fellowship offering is burned. So the priest will make peace with the LORD for what the leader did wrong, and the leader will be forgiven.


text:
 "If a common person unintentionally does something wrong-even one thing forbidden by the LORD's commands-he will be guilty.


text:
 When he is told about what he has done wrong, he must bring a female goat that has no defects as his offering for what he has done wrong.


text:
 He will place his hand on the animal's head and slaughter it where animals for burnt offerings are slaughtered.


text:
 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 at the bottom of the altar.


text:
 He will remove all the fat the same way it is removed from the fellowship offering. The priest will burn it on the altar for a soothing aroma to the LORD. So the priest will make peace with the LORD for that person, and that person will be forgiven.


text:
 He will place his hand on the animal's head and slaughter it where he slaughters animals for burnt offerings.


text:
 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.


text:
 He will remove all the fat the same way the fat of the lamb is removed from the fellowship offerings. Then the priest will burn it on the altar with the offering by fire to the LORD. So the priest will make peace with the LORD for what that person did wrong, and that person will be forgiven."


text:
 [The LORD continued,] "Now, if you are a witness under oath and won't tell what you saw or what you know, you are sinning and will be punished.


text:
 "If you touch anything unclean-the 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.


text:
 "If you become unclean by touching human uncleanness of any kind and then ignore it (although you know what you did), you will be guilty.


text:
 "If you hastily take a vow 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.


text:
 Bring your guilt offering to the LORD for the sin you committed. It must be a female sheep or goat as an offering for sin. Then the priest will make peace with the LORD for what you did wrong.


text:
 "Now, if you cannot afford a sheep, you must bring to the LORD two mourning doves or two pigeons as a guilt offering for the sin you committed. One will be an offering for sin, the other a burnt offering.


text:
 Bring them to the priest, and he will sacrifice the offering for sin first. He will break the bird's neck without pulling its head off.


text:
 He will sprinkle some of the blood from the offering for sin on the side of the altar, and the rest of the blood will be drained at the bottom of the altar. It is an offering for sin.


text:
 Then, following the proper procedures, he will sacrifice the second bird as a burnt offering. So the priest will make peace with the LORD for what you did wrong.


text:
 "But if you cannot afford two mourning doves or two pigeons, then bring eight cups of flour as an offering for the sin you committed. Never put olive oil on it or add incense to it, because it is an offering for sin.


text:
 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 the LORD on the altar. It is an offering for sin.


text:
 So the priest will make peace with the LORD for what you did wrong, and you will be forgiven. The offering will belong to the priest like the grain offering."


text:
 "If any of you fail to do your duty by unintentionally doing something wrong with any of the LORD's holy things, bring a guilt offering to the LORD. It must be a ram that has no defects or its value in silver weighed according to the official standards of the holy place.


text:
 Pay for whatever holy things you used plus one-fifth more. Give it to the priest. So the priest will use the ram sacrificed for the guilt offering to make peace with the LORD for what you did wrong, and you will be forgiven.


text:
 "If any of you do wrong-even one thing forbidden by any of the LORD's commands, but you didn't know it-when you realize your guilt, you must be punished.


text:
 You must bring the priest a ram that has no defects from the flock or its value in money for a guilt offering. The priest will make peace with the LORD for the wrong you did unintentionally (although you didn't know what you did), and you will be forgiven.


text:
 "If any of you sin against the LORD 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.


text:
 If you find something that someone lost and lie about it under oath, or commit any other sin like this,


text:
 you are sinning and will be guilty. Return what you stole or seized, what you were supposed to take care of, the lost item you found,


text:
 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.


text:
 Then bring the LORD your guilt offering, a ram that has no defects or its value in money. Bring it to the priest.


text:
 So the priest will make peace with the LORD. Then you will be forgiven for whatever you did that made you guilty."


text:
 "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.


text:
 "The priest must put on his linen clothes, including his 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.


text:
 Then he will take off these clothes and put on some others. He will take the ashes to a clean place outside the camp.


text:
 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.


text:
 "These are the instructions for the grain offering. Aaron's sons must bring it into the LORD's presence in front of the altar.


text:
 One of them will remove a handful of flour from the grain offering, together with the olive oil and all the incense. He will burn it on the altar as a reminder. It is a soothing aroma to the LORD.


text:
 Aaron and his sons will eat the rest of it. They will eat unleavened bread in a holy place, in the courtyard of the tent of meeting.


text:
 Don't use yeast in baking the bread. I have given it to them as their share from the offerings by fire made to me. It is very holy like the offering for sin and the guilt offering.


text:
 Every male descendant of Aaron may eat it. It is a permanent law for generations to come regarding the offering by fire to the LORD. Everyone who touches it will become holy."


text:
 "This is the offering that Aaron and his sons must bring to the LORD on the day he is anointed-eight cups of flour. They must do this every day. He must offer half of it in the morning and half in the evening.


text:
 Prepare it in a frying pan with olive oil, mixing it well. Offer baked pieces of the grain offering as a soothing aroma to the LORD.


text:
 Aaron's son who is anointed to take his place as priest will prepare it. This is a permanent law of the LORD: It must be completely burned.


text:
 "Tell Aaron and his sons: These are the instructions for the offering for sin. The offering for sin must be slaughtered in the LORD's presence in the same place where the burnt offering is slaughtered. It is very holy.


text:
 The priest who makes the offering for sin will eat it in a holy place, in the courtyard of the tent of meeting.


text:
 Anything that touches its meat will be holy. If blood gets on someone's clothes, he must wash them in a holy place.


text:
 Any piece of pottery in which the offering for sin is cooked must be broken into pieces. Any copper kettle in which the offering for sin is cooked must be scoured and rinsed with water.


text:
 Any offering for sin must not be eaten if some of the blood was brought into the holy place in the tent of meeting to make peace with the LORD. It must be burned."


text:
 It must be slaughtered in the same place where the burnt offering is slaughtered. [A priest] will throw the blood against the altar on all sides.


text:
 and the two kidneys with the fat on them. He will also remove the lobe of the liver along with the kidneys.


text:
 "The same instructions apply to the offering for sin and the guilt offering. Both offerings belong to the priest to make peace with the LORD.


text:
 Every grain offering, whether baked in an oven or prepared in a skillet or a frying pan, belongs to the priest who offers it.


text:
 Every grain offering, whether mixed with olive oil or dry, will be shared equally by all of Aaron's sons.


text:
 If you offer it as a thank offering, you must also bring rings of unleavened bread mixed with olive oil, wafers of unleavened bread brushed with olive oil, and loaves made from flour mixed well with olive oil.


text:
 In addition to these rings of bread, you must bring bread with yeast along with your fellowship offering of thanksgiving.


text:
 From every offering you must bring one loaf to the LORD as a [special] contribution. It will belong to the priest who throws the blood of the fellowship offering.


text:
 "The meat from your fellowship offering of thanksgiving must be eaten on the day it is offered. Never leave any of it until morning.


text:
 "If your sacrificial offering is something you vowed or a freewill offering, it must be eaten the day you offer it or the next day.


text:
 You will not be accepted if any meat from the fellowship offering is eaten on the third day. You will not receive credit for it. It is repulsive to God. The person who eats any of it must be punished.


text:
 "Meat that touches anything unclean must not be eaten. It must be burned. Anyone who is clean may eat from these sacrifices.


text:
 Those who eat meat from the LORD's fellowship offering while unclean must be excluded from the people.


text:
 Those who touch anything unclean, human or animal, or any other disgusting uncleanness and still eat the LORD's fellowship offering must be excluded from the people."


text:
 The fat from an animal that dies naturally or is killed by wild animals you may use for any other purpose, but you must never eat it.


text:
 Those who eat the fat from an animal which they sacrificed by fire to the LORD must be excluded from the people.


text:
 "Tell the Israelites: Anyone who offers the LORD a fellowship offering must bring a part of that sacrifice as a gift to the LORD.


text:
 Bring the sacrifices by fire made to the LORD yourself. Bring the fat with the breast. Take the breast and present it to the LORD.


text:
 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.


text:
 From the fellowship offerings of the Israelites, I have taken the breast that was presented [to me] and the thigh from the contribution offering. I have given them to the priest Aaron and his sons. This is a permanent law for generations to come.


text:
 "This is the share for Aaron and his sons from the sacrifices by fire made to the LORD. It was given to them on the day Moses ordained them to serve the LORD as priests.


text:
 The LORD commanded the Israelites to give it to them on the day he anointed them. This is a permanent law for generations to come."


text:
 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.


text:
 On Mount Sinai the LORD gave Moses commands about these offerings at the same time that he commanded the Israelites to bring their offerings to him in the Sinai Desert.


text:
 "Take Aaron and his sons, the priests' clothes, the anointing oil, the bull that will be the offering for sin, the two rams, and the basket of unleavened bread.


text:
 Moses did as the LORD commanded him, and the congregation gathered at the entrance to the tent of meeting.


text:
 He put the linen robe on Aaron and fastened the belt around him. He also dressed him in the robe that is worn with the ephod. He fastened the ephod to it.


text:
 He put the turban on him and fastened the gold medallion (the holy crown) to the front of the turban as the LORD had commanded Moses.


text:
 He sprinkled some of the oil on the altar seven times and anointed the altar, all the utensils, and the basin with its stand to dedicate them.


text:
 He also poured some of the anointing oil on Aaron's head and anointed him to set him apart for his holy duties.


text:
 Moses had Aaron's sons come forward. He put linen robes on them, fastened their belts around them, and put turbans on them as the LORD had commanded Moses.


text:
 He brought the bull that was the offering for sin. Aaron and his sons placed their hands on its head.


text:
 When it was slaughtered, Moses took the blood and put it on the horns of the altar all around with his finger and cleansed the altar from sins. He poured the rest of the blood at the bottom of the altar and declared it holy so that priests could use it to make peace with the LORD.


text:
 Moses took all the fat that was on the internal organs, the lobe of the liver, and the two kidneys with their fat, and he burned them on the altar.


text:
 He burned the rest of the bull, its skin, meat, and excrement outside the camp, as the LORD commanded him.


text:
 He brought forward the ram for the burnt offering. Aaron and his sons placed their hands on the ram's head.


text:
 He washed the internal organs and the legs. Then Moses burned the whole ram on the altar as the LORD commanded him. It was a burnt offering, a soothing aroma, an offering by fire to the LORD.


text:
 He brought forward the second ram for the ordination offering. Aaron and his sons placed their hands on the ram's head.


text:
 Moses slaughtered it, 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.


text:
 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.


text:
 He took the fat, 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.


text:
 He took a loaf of unleavened bread, a ring of bread made with olive oil, and a wafer from the basket of unleavened bread which was in the LORD's presence. He put them on the fat and the right thigh.


text:
 Then he placed all these things in the hands of Aaron and his sons. Moses presented all these things to the LORD as an offering.


text:
 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 the LORD.


text:
 Moses also took the breast from the ram of the ordination offering and presented it to the LORD. It was Moses' share, as the LORD had commanded.


text:
 Moses took some of the anointing oil and some of the blood that was on the altar, 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.


text:
 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.'


text:
 You will not leave the entrance to the tent of meeting for seven days, not until the last day of your ordination is over. It will take seven days to ordain you.


text:
 You will stay at the entrance to the tent of meeting day and night for seven days and serve as the LORD tells you. Then you will not die. This is what I was commanded."


text:
 He told Aaron, "Take a calf that has no defects for yourself as an offering for sin and a ram that has no defects as a burnt offering. Sacrifice them in the LORD's presence.


text:
 Also 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,


text:
 a bull and a ram as a fellowship offering, and a grain offering mixed with olive oil to sacrifice in the LORD's presence. The LORD will appear to you today.'"


text:
 So they took the things Moses commanded and brought them in front of the tent of meeting. The whole congregation came and stood in the LORD's presence.


text:
 Moses said, "The LORD has commanded you to offer these sacrifices so that you may see the LORD's glory."


text:
 Moses told Aaron, "Come to the altar and sacrifice an offering for sin and a burnt offering to make peace with the LORD for your sins and the sins of the people. Also make an offering for the people, to make peace with the LORD for them as the LORD commanded."


text:
 Aaron's sons brought him the blood. He dipped his finger in the blood and put it on the horns of the altar. Then he poured out the blood at the bottom of the altar.


text:
 On the altar he burned the fat, kidneys, and lobe of the liver from the offering for sin as the LORD had commanded Moses.


text:
 He slaughtered the animal for the burnt offering. Aaron's sons gave him the blood, and he threw it against the altar on all sides.


text:
 They also gave him the burnt offering, which was cut in pieces and included the head. He burned it on the altar.


text:
 He washed the internal organs and the legs and laid them on top of the burnt offering on the altar.


text:
 He brought the people's offerings. He took the male goat for the people's offering for sin and slaughtered it. He sacrificed it to take away sins as he had done before.


text:
 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.


text:
 He slaughtered the bull and the ram for the people's fellowship offering. Aaron's sons gave him the blood, which he threw against the altar on all sides.


text:
 However, 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)


text:
 However, he first took the breasts and the right thighs and presented them to the LORD as Moses commanded.


text:
 Then 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].


text:
 Moses and Aaron went into the tent of meeting. When they came out, they blessed the people. Then the LORD's glory appeared to all the people.


text:
 Fire came out from the LORD's presence and consumed the burnt offering and the pieces of fat on the altar. When all the people saw this, they shouted and bowed with their faces touching the ground.


text:
 Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu each took an incense burner and put burning coals and incense in it. Then in the LORD's presence they offered this unauthorized fire.


text:
 Moses said to Aaron, "This is exactly what the LORD said: 'I will show my holiness among those who come to me. I will show my glory to all the people.' " Aaron was speechless.


text:
 Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Aaron's uncle, Uzziel. He told them, "Come and take your relatives away from in front of the holy place. Take them outside the camp."


text:
 So they came and took them away to a place outside the camp, as Moses told them. The dead men were still in their linen robes.


text:
 Moses told Aaron and his sons Eleazar and Ithamar: "Do not mourn by leaving your hair uncombed or tearing your clothes. If you do, you will die and the LORD will become angry with the whole congregation. All the other Israelites may cry over the fire the LORD sent, but you may not.


text:
 You must not leave the entrance to the tent of meeting or else you, too, will die, because the LORD has anointed you with his oil." They obeyed Moses.


text:
 "You and your sons must not drink any wine or liquor when you go into the tent of meeting, or you will die. This is a permanent law for generations to come.


text:
 Teach them the difference between what is holy and what is unholy, what is clean and what is unclean.


text:
 Moses told Aaron and his surviving sons Eleazar and Ithamar, "Take the grain offering left over from the offering by fire to the LORD. Make unleavened bread, and eat it next to the altar because it is very holy.


text:
 Eat it in a holy place because it is the part of the offering by fire to the LORD that belongs to you and your children. That is the command I received.


text:
 Also eat the breast presented [to the LORD] and the thigh that was given as a contribution. You and your sons and daughters may eat them in a clean place because they are your part of the fellowship offerings from the Israelites.


text:
 They will bring the thigh given as a contribution, the breast presented [to the LORD], and the fat that is to be burned and present them to the LORD. These parts will belong to you and your children. This will be a permanent law, as the LORD has commanded."


text:
 Moses tried to find out what had happened to the male goat that was supposed to be the offering for sin. To his surprise, it had already been burned. So he became angry with Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron's surviving sons.


text:
 He asked them, "Why didn't you eat the offering for sin in the holy place? It is very holy and was given to you to take away the sins of the congregation and to make peace with the LORD for them.


text:
 Since its blood was not brought inside the holy place, you certainly should have eaten it there, as I commanded."


text:
 Aaron answered Moses, "Today they sacrificed their offering for sin and their burnt offering in the LORD's presence, and look what happened to me. If I had eaten the offering for sin today, would the LORD have approved?"


text:
 However, from 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.)


text:
 You must never eat rock badgers. (Rock badgers are unclean because they chew their cud but do not have divided hoofs.)


text:
 You must never eat rabbits. (Rabbits are unclean because they chew their cud but do not have divided hoofs.)


text:
 You must never eat pigs. (Because pigs have completely divided hoofs but do not chew their cud, they are also unclean.)


text:
 "Here are the kinds of creatures that live in the water which you may eat-anything in the seas and streams that has fins and scales.


text:
 However, you must consider all swarming creatures living in the seas or the streams that have no fins or scales disgusting.


text:
 "Here are the kinds of birds you must consider disgusting and must not eat. They are eagles, bearded vultures, black vultures,


text:
 "Every swarming, winged insect that walks across the ground like a four-legged animal is disgusting to you.


text:
 Every kind of winged insect that walks across the ground like a four-legged animal is disgusting to you.


text:
 "Regarding the creatures mentioned above, this is how you would become unclean: Whoever touches their dead bodies will be unclean until evening.


text:
 Whoever carries any part of their dead bodies must wash his clothes. He will be unclean until evening.


text:
 All animals whose hoofs are not completely divided or that don't chew their cud are unclean for you. Whoever touches them is unclean.


text:
 All four-legged animals that walk on their paws are unclean for you. Whoever touches their dead bodies will be unclean until evening.


text:
 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.


text:
 "The following swarming creatures that move on the ground are unclean for you-moles, mice, and all types of lizards:


text:
 Among all the swarming creatures that move on the ground, these are unclean for you. Whoever touches their dead bodies will be unclean until evening.


text:
 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. Then it will be clean [again].


text:
 "If any of these creatures falls into a piece of pottery, break the pottery because everything in it is unclean.


text:
 If water [from that pottery] touches any food, the food is unclean. Any liquid that you drink from that pottery is unclean.


text:
 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.


text:
 However, a spring or a cistern holding water will remain clean. But anyone who touches their dead bodies will be unclean.


text:
 "When any animal that you are allowed to eat dies, whoever touches its dead body will be unclean until evening.


text:
 Those who eat any of its dead body must wash their clothes and will be unclean until evening. Those who carry its dead body away will wash their clothes and will be unclean until evening.


text:
 Don't 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.


text:
 Don't become disgusting by eating anything that swarms on the ground. Never allow yourselves to become unclean because of them.


text:
 "Here is the reason: I am the LORD your God. You must live holy lives. Be holy because I am holy. Never become unclean by touching anything that swarms or crawls on the ground.


text:
 Here is the reason [again]: I am the LORD. I brought you out of Egypt to be your God. Be holy because I am holy.


text:
 "These are the instructions about animals, birds, and every living creature that swims in the water and every creature that swarms on the ground.


text:
 These instructions help you distinguish between clean and unclean, the animals you may eat and those you may not eat."


text:
 "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.


text:
 Then she must stay at home for 33 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.


text:
 "When a woman gives birth to a girl, she will be unclean as in her monthly period. However, she will be unclean for two weeks. Then she must stay at home for 66 days in order to be made clean from her bleeding.


text:
 "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 must bring them to the priest at the entrance to the tent of meeting.


text:
 The priest will offer them in the LORD's presence to make peace with the LORD 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.


text:
 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 make peace with the LORD for her, and she will be clean."


text:
 "If anyone has a sore, a rash, or an irritated area on his skin that turns into an infectious skin disease, he must be taken to the priest Aaron or to one of his sons who are also priests.


text:
 The priest will examine the disease. If the hair in the diseased area has turned white, and the diseased area looks deeper than the rest of his skin, it is an infectious skin disease. When the priest has examined him, he must declare him unclean.


text:
 But if the irritated area is white and does not look deeper than the rest of the skin, and the hair has not turned white, the priest must put him in isolation for seven days.


text:
 On the seventh day the priest will examine him again. If the disease looks the same and has not spread, the priest must put him in isolation for another seven days.


text:
 On the seventh day the priest will examine him again. If the diseased area has faded and not spread, the priest must declare him clean. It is only a rash. The person must wash his clothes and will be clean.


text:
 But if the rash has spread after he has shown himself to the priest to be declared clean, he must show himself to the priest again.


text:
 The priest will examine him one more time, and if the rash has spread, the priest must declare him unclean. It is an infectious skin disease.


text:
 The priest will examine him. If there is a white sore that has turned the hair white, and if there is raw flesh in the sore,


text:
 he has a chronic skin disease. Without putting him in isolation, the priest must declare him unclean because he is unclean.


text:
 If skin disease develops and covers the whole person from head to foot (so far as the priest can see),


text:
 the priest will examine him. If the disease does cover his whole body, the priest must declare the diseased person clean. His body has turned white. The person is clean.


text:
 The priest will examine the raw flesh and declare him unclean. The raw flesh is unclean. It is an infectious skin disease.


text:
 The priest will examine him again, and if the diseased area has turned white, the priest must declare the diseased person clean. He is clean.


text:
 The priest will examine it. If it looks deeper than the rest of the skin and its hair has turned white, the priest must declare the person unclean. An infectious skin disease has developed in the boil.


text:
 But if the priest examines the affected area and the hair in it is not white or the affected area is not deeper than the rest of the skin but has faded, the priest must put him in isolation for seven days.


text:
 But if the irritated area has not spread, it is a scar caused by the boil. The priest must declare him clean.


text:
 "If anyone has a burn on his skin and the raw flesh of the burn turns into a pink or bright white area,


text:
 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 must declare him unclean. It is an infectious skin disease.


text:
 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 him in isolation for seven days.


text:
 On the seventh day the priest will examine him again. If the area has spread, the priest must declare him unclean. It is an infectious skin disease.


text:
 If the irritated area does not spread but has faded, it is only a sore caused by the burn. The priest must declare him clean, because it is a scar caused by the burn.


text:
 the priest will examine the disease. If it looks deeper than the rest of the skin and there is thin yellow hair on it, the priest must declare the person unclean. It is a scab, a disease on the head or the chin.


text:
 But if the priest examines the scabby disease and it does not look deeper than the rest of the skin and there is no black hair in it, the priest must put the person with the scabby disease in isolation for seven days.


text:
 On the seventh day the priest will examine the disease. If the scab has not spread, there is no yellow hair on it, and the scab does not look deeper than the rest of the skin,


text:
 the person will shave everything except the scab. The priest will put the person with the scab in isolation for another seven days.


text:
 On the seventh day the priest will examine the scab again. If the scab has not spread on the skin and does not look deeper than the rest of the skin, the priest must declare him clean. When he has washed his clothes, he will be clean.


text:
 the priest will make another examination. If the scab has spread on the skin, the priest does not have to look for yellow hair. The person is unclean.


text:
 But if he sees that the scab hasn't spread and black hair grows on it, the scab is healed. The person is clean, so the priest must declare him clean.


text:
 the priest will make an examination. If the irritated areas on the skin are pale white, a rash has developed on the skin. The person is clean.


text:
 If he loses the hair on the front of his head, he is clean, even though he is bald on the forehead.


text:
 But if there is a pink patch on the bald places in back or in front, a skin disease is developing in those places.


text:
 The priest will examine him. If the sore from the disease in the bald places in back or in front is pink like a skin disease somewhere else on the body,


text:
 the man has come down with an infectious skin disease. He is unclean. The priest must declare him unclean because of the skin disease on his head.


text:
 "People who come down with a skin disease must wear torn clothes and leave their hair uncombed. They must cover their upper lips and call out, 'Unclean, unclean!'


text:
 The priest will examine the area again after it is washed. If it doesn't look any different and the mildew has not spread, it is still unclean. It must be burned, whether the area is on the outside or the inside.


text:
 If the priest sees that the area is pale after washing, he will tear it out of the clothing or the leather.


text:
 But if the area disappears from the woven or knitted clothing or any leather article when it is washed, wash it again, and it will be clean.


text:
 "These are the instructions for deciding whether mildew in clothing that is woven or knitted from linen or wool or in any leather article is clean or unclean."


text:
 "These are the instructions for making a person clean after a skin disease. He must be taken to the priest.


text:
 the priest will order someone to get two living, clean birds, some cedar wood, red yarn, and a hyssop sprig to use for the cleansing.


text:
 The priest will take the living bird, the cedar wood, the red yarn, and the hyssop sprig and dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the fresh water.


text:
 He will sprinkle the blood seven times on the one to be cleansed and will declare that person clean. Then he will let the living bird fly away into the open country.


text:
 "The one to be cleansed must wash his clothes, shave off all his hair, and wash. Then he will be clean. After that he may go into the camp. However, for seven days he will live outside his tent.


text:
 On the seventh day he must shave off all the hair on his head, his beard, and his eyebrows, and he must wash his clothes and body. Then he will be clean.


text:
 "On the eighth day he must take two male lambs that have no defects and a one-year-old female lamb that has no defects. He must also take eight cups of flour mixed with olive oil for a grain offering along with a quart of olive oil.


text:
 The priest who will declare him clean must bring the person and his offerings into the LORD's presence at the entrance to the tent of meeting.


text:
 The priest will take one of the male lambs and the quart of olive oil and present them to the LORD as a guilt offering.


text:
 He will slaughter the lamb in the holy place where he slaughters the offering for sin and the burnt offering. He will do this because the guilt offering, like the offering for sin, belongs to the priest. It is very holy.


text:
 Then 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.


text:
 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 the LORD's presence.


text:
 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.


text:
 The priest will put the rest of the oil in his hand on the head of the one to be cleansed. So he will make peace with the LORD for that person in the LORD's presence.


text:
 The priest will also sacrifice the offering for sin to make peace with the LORD for the one who is being cleansed from his impurity. After that, he will slaughter the burnt offering.


text:
 The priest will sacrifice the burnt offering and the grain offering on the altar. So the priest will make peace with the LORD for that person, and the person who had the skin disease will be clean.


text:
 "But if the one to be cleansed is poor and cannot afford that much, he must take one male lamb, present it to make peace with the LORD 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,


text:
 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.


text:
 On the eighth day he will take them to the priest for his cleansing at the entrance to the tent of meeting in the LORD's presence.


text:
 The priest will take the lamb for the guilt offering and the quart of olive oil and present them to the LORD.


text:
 He will slaughter the lamb as a guilt offering. Then 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.


text:
 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.


text:
 In the LORD's 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.


text:
 Then the one to be cleansed must take one of the mourning doves or pigeons (whichever he can afford),


text:
 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 the LORD's presence the priest will make peace with the LORD for the one who is being cleansed.


text:
 These are the instructions for one who has an infectious skin disease but cannot afford what is needed for his cleansing."


text:
 The owner of that house must come and tell the priest that there is something that looks like mildew in his house.


text:
 "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.


text:
 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,


text:
 On the seventh day the priest will go back and examine it again. If the mildew in the walls of the house has spread,


text:
 the priest must order the stones that have the mildew to be torn out and thrown outside the city in an unclean place.


text:
 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.


text:
 the priest will examine it one more time. If it is a spreading type of mildew, the house is unclean.


text:
 The house-stones, wood, and all the plaster-must be torn down and taken to an unclean place outside the city.


text:
 But if the priest comes and makes an examination and the mildew has not spread in the house after it is plastered again, the priest must declare the house clean. The mildew is gone.


text:
 "The priest must take two birds, cedar wood, red yarn, and a hyssop sprig and use them to make the house clean.


text:
 He must take the cedar wood, the hyssop sprig, the red yarn, and the living bird and dip them in the fresh water containing the blood of the bird that was killed. He must sprinkle the house seven times.


text:
 So he must use the bird's blood, the fresh water, the living bird, the cedar wood, the hyssop, and the red yarn to make the house clean.


text:
 Then he will let the living bird fly from the city into the open country. He will make peace with the LORD for the house, and it will be clean.


text:
 These instructions for skin diseases and mildew help you distinguish between what is clean and what is unclean."


text:
 He is unclean because of the discharge from his penis. Whether it is chronic or not makes no difference; he is still unclean.


text:
 Those who touch his bed must wash their clothes and their bodies. They will be unclean until evening.


text:
 Those who sit on anything he sat on must wash their clothes and their bodies. They will be unclean until evening.


text:
 Those who touch a man who has a discharge must wash their clothes and their bodies. They will be unclean until evening.


text:
 If a man who has a discharge spits on anyone who is clean, the person he spits on must wash his clothes and his body. He will be unclean until evening.


text:
 Those who carry such things must wash their clothes and their bodies. They will be unclean until evening.


text:
 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.


text:
 When a man who has a discharge touches pottery, it must be broken, and any wooden bucket he touches must be rinsed.


text:
 "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.


text:
 On the eighth day he must take two mourning doves or two pigeons and come into the LORD's presence at the entrance to the tent of meeting. He will give these birds to the priest.


text:
 The priest will sacrifice one as an offering for sin and the other as a burnt offering. So in the LORD's presence, the priest will make peace with the LORD for the man who had a discharge.


text:
 "If a man has an emission of semen, he must bathe his whole body. He will be unclean until evening.


text:
 "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.


text:
 "When a woman has her monthly period, she will be unclean for seven days. Those who touch her will be unclean until evening.


text:
 Those who touch her bed must wash their clothes and their bodies. They will be unclean until evening.


text:
 Those who touch anything she sits on must wash their clothes and their bodies. They will be unclean until evening.


text:
 If her blood touches anything on the bed or anything she sits on, it will be unclean until evening.


text:
 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.


text:
 "If 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 like her period.


text:
 As long as she has a discharge, any bed she lies on or anything she sits on is unclean. It is like her period.


text:
 Those who touch these things are unclean and must wash their clothes and their bodies. They will be unclean until evening.


text:
 On the eighth day she must take two mourning doves or two pigeons and bring them to the priest at the entrance to the tent of meeting.


text:
 The priest will offer one as an offering for sin and the other as a burnt offering. So in the LORD's presence the priest will make peace with the LORD for the woman who had an unclean discharge.


text:
 "You must separate the Israelites from anything that keeps them from being presentable to me. Otherwise, they will die because they make my tent, which is among them, unclean.


text:
 "These are the instructions for any man who has a discharge or an emission of semen that makes him unclean,


text:
 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."


text:
 The LORD 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, because I appear in the smoke above the throne of mercy.


text:
 "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.


text:
 He must put on a holy linen robe and wear linen undergarments. He must wear a linen belt and turban. These are holy clothes. He must wash his body and put them on.


text:
 He will take two male goats from the congregation of Israel as an offering for sin and a ram as a burnt offering.


text:
 "Aaron must sacrifice the bull as his own offering for sin. By doing this, he will make peace with the LORD for himself and his family.


text:
 He must take the two male goats and bring them into the LORD's presence at the entrance to the tent of meeting.


text:
 Then Aaron must throw lots for the two goats. One lot will be for the LORD and the other for Azazel.


text:
 But he must bring the goat chosen by lot for Azazel into the LORD's presence. He will release it in the desert to Azazel in order to make peace with the LORD for himself and his family.


text:
 "Aaron will bring the bull. He will then slaughter it as his own offering for sin. By doing this he will make peace with the LORD for himself and his family.


text:
 He will take an incense burner full of burning coals from the altar, which is in the LORD's presence, and two handfuls of finely ground, sweet-smelling incense. He will bring them up to the canopy.


text:
 Then he will put the incense on the fire in the LORD's presence. The cloud of incense will cover the throne of mercy, which is over the words of God's promise, so that he will not die.


text:
 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.


text:
 "Next, 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.


text:
 So he will make peace with the LORD 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 which is among an unclean people.


text:
 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 make peace with the LORD for his own sins, his family's sins, and the sins of the entire assembly of Israel.


text:
 Then he will go out to the altar that is in the LORD's presence and make peace with the LORD there 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.


text:
 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.


text:
 "When he finishes making peace with the LORD at the holy place, the tent of meeting, and the altar, he will bring the living goat forward.


text:
 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.


text:
 The goat will take all their sins away to a deserted place. The man must release the goat in the desert.


text:
 "Then Aaron will go to the tent of meeting, take off the linen clothes he had put on to go into the holy place, and leave them there.


text:
 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 the LORD for his own sins and the sins of the people.


text:
 "The man who released the goat to Azazel must wash his clothes and his body. Then he may return to the camp.


text:
 He must take the bull and the goat outside the camp. These animals were the offering for sin whose blood was brought into the holy place to make peace with the LORD for sins. The skin, meat, and excrement from the animals must be burned.


text:
 "This will be a permanent law for you: On the tenth day of the seventh month both native Israelites and foreigners must humble themselves. They must do no work.


text:
 On this day Aaron will make peace with the LORD to make you clean. Then you will be clean from all your sins in the LORD's presence.


text:
 This is the most important worship festival there is for you. You will humble yourselves. It is a permanent law.


text:
 The priest who is anointed and ordained to serve as chief priest in his father's place will pay for sins. He will put on the holy linen clothes


text:
 and will make peace with the LORD at the holy place, the tent of meeting, and the altar. He will make peace with the LORD for the priests and all the worshipers.


text:
 "This permanent law tells you how to make peace with the LORD once a year for all the sins the Israelites committed." Aaron did as the LORD had commanded Moses.


text:
 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 the LORD in front of the LORD's tent.


text:
 [This means] that the people of Israel must take the sacrifices they have been making in the open fields and bring them to the LORD. They must bring them to the priest at the entrance to the tent of meeting. The people will sacrifice them as fellowship offerings to the LORD.


text:
 The priest will pour the blood against the LORD's altar at the entrance to the tent of meeting. He will burn the fat as a soothing aroma to the LORD.


text:
 The people must stop sacrificing to goat idols and chasing after them as though they were prostitutes. This is a permanent law for the people and for future generations.


text:
 but do not bring them to the entrance of the tent of meeting to offer them to the LORD, they must be excluded from the people.


text:
 because blood contains life. I have given this blood to you to make peace with me on the altar. Blood is needed to make peace with me.


text:
 "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.


text:
 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].


text:
 "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.


text:
 You used to live in Egypt. Don't live the way the Egyptians do. I am bringing you to Canaan. Don't live the way the Canaanites do. Never live by their standards.


text:
 "Never have sexual intercourse with your mother. She is your own mother. Never have sexual intercourse with her.


text:
 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.


text:
 Never have sexual intercourse with your granddaughter, whether she is your son's daughter or your daughter's daughter, because she is related to you.


text:
 Never have sexual intercourse with your daughter-in-law. She is your son's wife. Never have sexual intercourse with her.


text:
 Never have sexual intercourse with a woman and her daughter or a woman and her granddaughter. They are related. Doing this is perverted.


text:
 While your wife is living, never marry her sister as a rival wife and have sexual intercourse with her.


text:
 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 the LORD.


text:
 Never 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.


text:
 "Do not become unclean in any of these ways. By these practices all the nations which I am forcing out of your way have become unclean.


text:
 The land has become unclean. I will punish it for its sins. The land will vomit out those who live in it.


text:
 Live by my standards, and obey my rules. Neither you nor any foreigner should ever do any of these disgusting things.


text:
 The people of the land who were there before you did all these disgusting things. As a result, the land has become unclean.


text:
 If you make the land unclean, it will vomit you out as it has vomited out the people who were there before you.


text:
 So you must follow my instructions. Don't live by the standards of the people who lived there before you. What they do is disgusting. Never become unclean that way. I am the LORD your God."


text:
 "Don't turn to worthless gods or cast metal idols. Never make any gods for yourselves. I am the LORD your God.


text:
 "When you bring a fellowship offering to the LORD, sacrifice it [properly] so that you will be accepted.


text:
 Eat your sacrifice on the day you bring it and on the next day. On the third day burn whatever is left over.


text:
 Those who eat it will be punished because they have dishonored what is holy to the LORD. They must be excluded from the people.


text:
 "When you harvest the grain in your land, don't harvest the grain in the corners of your fields or gather what is left after you're finished.


text:
 Don't harvest your vineyard a second time or pick up fallen grapes. Leave them for poor people and foreigners. I am the LORD your God.


text:
 "Never swear by my name in order to deceive anyone. This dishonors the name of your God. I am the LORD.


text:
 Never curse deaf people or put anything in the way of blind people to make them stumble. Instead, fear your God. I am the LORD.


text:
 "Don't be corrupt when administering justice. Never give special favors to poor people, and never show preference to important people. Judge your neighbor fairly.


text:
 "Never hate another Israelite. Be sure to correct your neighbor so that you will not be guilty of sinning along with him.


text:
 Never get revenge. Never hold a grudge against any of your people. Instead, love your neighbor as you love yourself. I am the LORD.


text:
 "Obey my laws. Never crossbreed different kinds of animals. Never plant two kinds of crops in your field. Never wear clothes made from two kinds of material.


text:
 "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.


text:
 In the LORD's presence the priest will use them to make peace with the LORD for this sin. The man will be forgiven for this sin.


text:
 "When you come into the land and plant all kinds of fruit trees, you must not eat the fruit for [the first] three years.


text:
 In the fifth year you may eat the fruit. Do this to make the trees produce more for you. I am the LORD your God.


text:
 "Never eat any meat with blood still in it. "Never cast evil spells, and never consult fortunetellers.


text:
 "Never dishonor your daughter by making her a prostitute, or the country will turn to prostitution and be filled with people who are perverted.


text:
 "Don't turn to psychics or mediums to get help. That will make you unclean. I am the LORD your God.


text:
 "Show respect to the elderly, and honor older people. In this way you show respect for your God. I am the LORD.


text:
 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 the LORD your God.


text:
 Use honest scales, honest weights, and honest measures. I am the LORD your God who brought you out of Egypt.


text:
 "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.


text:
 I will condemn them and exclude them from the people. They gave one of their children to Molech, made my holy tent unclean, and dishonored my holy name.


text:
 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.


text:
 "I will condemn people who turn to mediums and psychics and chase after them as though they were prostitutes. I will exclude them from the people.


text:
 "Whoever curses his father or mother must be put to death. He has cursed his father or mother and deserves to die.


text:
 "If a man commits adultery with another man's wife or with his neighbor's wife, both he and the woman must be put to death for their adultery.


text:
 Whoever has sexual intercourse with his father's wife has violated his father's marriage. Both he and his father's wife must be put to death. They deserve to die.


text:
 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.


text:
 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.


text:
 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.


text:
 A man who has sexual intercourse with an animal must be put to death. You must kill the animal, too.


text:
 When a woman offers herself sexually to any animal, you must kill both the woman and the animal. They must be put to death. They deserve to die.


text:
 Whoever takes his sister, his father's daughter or his mother's daughter and has sexual intercourse does a shameful thing. They both must be publicly excluded from the people. He has had sexual intercourse with his sister and must be punished.


text:
 If a man has sexual intercourse with a woman while she has her monthly period, both of them have had sexual intercourse in blood. They must be excluded from the people.


text:
 Never have sexual intercourse with your mother's sister or your father's sister. Whoever has sexual intercourse with a close relative must be punished.


text:
 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.


text:
 Whoever marries his brother's wife violates his brother's marriage and does an unclean thing. That man and woman will have no children.


text:
 "If you carefully obey all my laws and my rules, the land I am bringing you to live in will not vomit you out.


text:
 Never follow the practices of the people I am forcing out of your way. I cannot stand them because they did all these things.


text:
 I have told you that you will take their land. I will give it to you as your own. It is a land flowing with milk and honey. I am the LORD your God who separated you from other people.


text:
 Separate clean and unclean animals and birds. Never become disgusting by eating any animal or bird or anything that crawls on the ground. I have separated you from every unclean thing.


text:
 Be my holy people because I, the LORD, am holy. I have separated you from other people to be my very own.


text:
 "Every man or woman who is a medium or a psychic must be put to death. They must be stoned to death because they deserve to die."


text:
 The LORD spoke to Moses, "Tell the priests, Aaron's sons: None of you should become unclean by touching one of your relatives who has died.


text:
 However, you are allowed to become unclean when one of your nearest relatives dies. These relatives include your mother, father, son, daughter, or brother,


text:
 "You should never mourn by shaving bald spots on your heads, shaving the edges of your beards, or slashing your bodies.


text:
 "Be God's holy men, and don't dishonor the name of your God. Be holy because you bring sacrifices by fire to the LORD. It is the food of your God.


text:
 You should never marry prostitutes, those who have lost their virginity, or divorced women because a priest is God's holy man.


text:
 Be holy because you offer the food of your God. Be holy because I, the LORD, am holy. I set you apart as holy.


text:
 When a priest's daughter dishonors herself by becoming a prostitute, she dishonors her father. She must be burned.


text:
 "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.


text:
 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 the LORD.


text:
 He must never 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.


text:
 "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.


text:
 Indeed, 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,


text:
 If a descendant of the priest Aaron has a physical defect, he must never bring sacrifices by fire to the LORD. He has a defect. He must never bring food to offer to God.


text:
 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, the LORD, set them apart as holy."


text:
 "Tell Aaron and his sons that they must respect the holy offerings which the Israelites set apart for me. In this way they will not dishonor my holy name. I am the LORD.


text:
 "Tell them: In future generations if any of your descendants, while unclean, comes near the holy offerings the Israelites set apart for the LORD, that person must be excluded from my presence. I am the LORD.


text:
 "No descendant of Aaron who has a skin disease or a discharge may eat any of the holy offerings until he is clean. Any person who has an emission of semen or touches a dead body,


text:
 will be unclean until evening. He must not eat any of the holy offerings unless he has washed himself.


text:
 When the sun has set, he will be clean. Then he may eat the holy offerings because they are his food.


text:
 He must never eat the meat of an animal that dies naturally or is killed by wild animals. It will make him unclean. I am the LORD.


text:
 The priests must do what I order, or their sin will bring them death because they dishonored a holy offering. I am the LORD, who sets them apart as holy.


text:
 "Laypeople must never eat any holy offering, even if they are visiting a priest or are working for him.


text:
 But if a priest buys a slave, the slave and anyone born in his household may eat the priest's food.


text:
 However, if a priest's daughter marries a layman, she must never eat the food taken from the holy contributions.


text:
 If a priest's daughter is widowed or divorced, doesn't have any children, and comes back to live in her father's home, she may eat her father's food. But a layperson must never eat it.


text:
 "Those who eat a holy offering by mistake must give another holy offering to the priest and add one-fifth more to it.


text:
 They must make those people pay the penalty for their guilt because they have eaten the priests' holy offerings. I am the LORD, who sets them apart as holy."


text:
 "Tell Aaron, his sons, and all the Israelites: Israelites or foreigners may bring burnt offerings to the LORD for anything they vowed or as freewill offerings.


text:
 The offering must be a male that has no defects from your cattle, sheep, or goats in order to be accepted.


text:
 A person may bring the LORD a fellowship 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 accepted. It must never be an animal that has defects.


text:
 Never bring the LORD an animal that is blind, has broken bones, cuts, warts, scabs, or ringworm. Never give the LORD any of these in a sacrifice by fire on the altar.


text:
 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.


text:
 Never bring the LORD an animal that has bruised, crushed, torn out, or cut out testicles. Never do any of these things to an animal in your land.


text:
 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."


text:
 "When a calf, a lamb, or a goat is born, it must stay with its mother for seven days. From the eighth day on it may be accepted as a sacrifice by fire to the LORD.


text:
 Never dishonor my holy name. I will show my holiness among the Israelites. I am the LORD, who sets you apart as holy.


text:
 "Tell the Israelites: These are the appointed festivals with the LORD, which you must announce as holy assemblies.


text:
 You may work for six days. But the seventh day is a day of worship, a day when you don't work, a holy assembly. Don't do any work. It is the LORD's day of worship wherever you live.


text:
 "The following are the LORD's appointed festivals with holy assemblies, which you must announce at their appointed times.


text:
 The fifteenth day of this same month is the LORD's Festival of Unleavened Bread. For seven days you must eat unleavened bread.


text:
 Bring the LORD a sacrifice by fire for seven days. On the seventh day there will be a holy assembly. Don't do any regular work."


text:
 "Tell the Israelites: When you come to the land I am going to give you and you harvest grain, bring the priest a bundle of the first grain you harvest.


text:
 He will present it to the LORD so that you will be accepted. He will present it on the day after Passover.


text:
 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 the LORD.


text:
 Bring a grain offering of four quarts of flour mixed with olive oil with it. This will be a sacrifice by fire made to the LORD, a soothing aroma. Use one quart of wine for the wine offering.


text:
 Don't eat bread, roasted grain, or fresh grain until this same day, when you bring the offering to your God. It is a permanent law for generations to come wherever you live.


text:
 "Count seven full weeks from the day after Passover (the day you bring the bundle of grain as an offering presented to the LORD)


text:
 until the day after the seventh week. This is a total of fifty days. Then bring a new grain offering to the LORD.


text:
 Bring two loaves of bread from your homes to present to the LORD. Bake them with four quarts of flour. They are the first harvested grain for the LORD.


text:
 With the bread bring seven one-year-old lambs that have no defects, one bull, and two rams. They will be a burnt offering to the LORD. With these offerings also bring grain and wine offerings. They will be a sacrifice by fire, a soothing aroma to the LORD.


text:
 Also sacrifice one male goat as an offering for sin and two one-year-old lambs as a fellowship offering.


text:
 The priest must present them along with the bread of the first harvested grain as an offering to the LORD. All this, along with the two lambs, will be holy and will belong to the LORD's priests.


text:
 Make an announcement that there will be a holy assembly on that same day. Don't do any regular work. It is a permanent law for generations to come wherever you live.


text:
 "When you harvest the grain in your land, don't harvest the grain in the corners of your fields or gather what is left after you're finished. Leave it for poor people and foreigners. I am the LORD your God."


text:
 "Tell the Israelites: On the first day of the seventh month hold a worship festival. It will be a memorial day, a holy assembly announced by the blowing of rams' horns.


text:
 "In addition, 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 the LORD a sacrifice by fire.


text:
 Don't do any work that day. It is a special day for the payment for sins. It is a time when you make peace with the LORD your God.


text:
 It is a day of worship, a day when you don't 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."


text:
 "Tell the Israelites: The fifteenth day of this seventh month is the Festival of Booths to the LORD. It will last seven days.


text:
 For seven consecutive days bring a sacrifice by fire to the LORD. On the eighth day there will be a holy assembly. Bring the LORD a sacrifice by fire. This is the last festival of the year. Don't do any regular work.


text:
 "These are the LORD's appointed festivals. Announce them as holy assemblies for bringing sacrifices by fire to the LORD. Bring burnt offerings, grain offerings, other sacrifices, and wine offerings-each one on its special day.


text:
 This is in addition to the LORD's days of worship, your gifts, all your vows, and your freewill offerings to the LORD.


text:
 "However, on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered what the land produces, celebrate the LORD's festival for seven days. The first and the eighth days will be worship festivals.


text:
 On the first day take the best fruits, palm branches, the branches of leafy trees and poplars, and celebrate in the presence of the LORD your God for seven days.


text:
 It is the LORD's festival. Celebrate it for seven days each year. This is a permanent law for generations to come. Celebrate this festival in the seventh month.


text:
 so that generations to come may learn how I made the people of Israel live in booths when I brought them out of Egypt. I am the LORD your God."


text:
 "Command the Israelites to bring you pure, virgin olive oil for the lamp stand so that the lamps won't go out.


text:
 In the tent of meeting, outside the canopy where the words of my promise are, Aaron must keep the lamps lit in the LORD's presence from evening until morning. It is a permanent law for generations to come.


text:
 Lay pure incense on top of each stack. The incense on the bread will be a reminder, an offering by fire to the LORD.


text:
 Every day of worship [a priest] must arrange the bread in the LORD's presence. It is a continual reminder of my promise to the Israelites.


text:
 The bread will belong to Aaron and his sons. They will eat it in a holy place. It is very holy, set apart from the LORD's offering by fire. This is a permanent law."


text:
 A man, whose mother was Shelomith (daughter of Dibri, from the tribe of Dan in Israel) and whose father was from Egypt, got into a quarrel with an Israelite in the camp.


text:
 The Israelite woman's son began cursing the LORD's name and treating it with contempt. So they brought him to Moses.


text:
 "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.


text:
 But those who curse the LORD's 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 the LORD's name must die.


text:
 a broken bone for a broken bone, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Whoever injures another person must receive the same injury in return.


text:
 The same rule applies to every one of you. It makes no difference whether you are a foreigner or an Israelite, because I am the LORD your God."


text:
 Moses spoke to the people of Israel. So the man who had cursed the LORD's name was taken outside the camp. There they stoned him to death as the LORD commanded Moses. The Israelites did as the LORD commanded Moses.


text:
 "Tell the Israelites: When you come into the land I'm giving you, the land will celebrate a year to honor the LORD.


text:
 Then, for six years you may plant crops in your fields, prune your vineyards, and gather what they produce.


text:
 However, the seventh year will be a festival year for the land. It will be a year to honor the LORD. Don't plant crops in your fields or prune your vineyards.


text:
 Don't harvest what grows by itself or harvest grapes from your vines. That year will be a festival for the land.


text:
 Whatever the land produces during that year is for all of you to eat-for you, your male and female slaves, your hired workers, foreigners among you,


text:
 your animals, and the wild animals in your land. Everything the land produces will be yours to eat.


text:
 On the tenth day of the seventh month, the special day for the payment for sin, sound rams' horns throughout the country.


text:
 Set apart the fiftieth year as holy, and proclaim liberty to everyone living in the land. This is your jubilee year. Every slave will be freed in order to return to his property and to his family.


text:
 That fiftieth year will be your jubilee year. Don't plant or harvest what grows by itself or pick grapes from the vines in the land.


text:
 When you buy property from your neighbor, take into account the number of years since the jubilee. Your neighbor must sell it to you taking into account the number of crops [until the next jubilee].


text:
 If there are still many years [until the jubilee], you will pay more for it. If there are only a few years [until the jubilee], you will pay less for it because he is selling you only the number of crops.


text:
 I will give you my blessing in the sixth year so that the land will produce enough for three years.


text:
 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.


text:
 "Land must never be sold permanently, because the land is mine. To me you are strangers without permanent homes.


text:
 If your brother becomes poor and sells some of his property, then the one who can assume responsibility, his nearest relative, must buy back what he sold.


text:
 If a man doesn't have anyone to buy it back for him, but if he prospers and earns enough to buy it back himself,


text:
 he must count the years from its sale. Then he will pay what is left to the man to whom he sold it, and it will be his property again.


text:
 However, 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.


text:
 "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.


text:
 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.


text:
 However, 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.


text:
 If any Levite buys back [a house], in the jubilee the purchased house in the city will be released, because the houses in the Levite cities are their property among the Israelites.


text:
 "If an Israelite becomes poor and cannot support himself, help him. He must live with you as a stranger without a permanent home.


text:
 Don't collect interest or make any profit from him. Fear your God by respecting other Israelites' lives.


text:
 He will be like a hired worker or a visitor to you. He may work with you until the year of jubilee.


text:
 Then you will release him and his children to go back to their family and the property of their ancestors.


text:
 You may also buy them from the foreigners living among you and from their families born in your country. They will be your property.


text:
 You may acquire them for yourselves and for your descendants as permanent property. You may work them as slaves. However, do not treat the Israelites harshly. They are your relatives.


text:
 "Someone who is a foreigner without a permanent home among you may become rich, and your relative living with him may be poor. The poor Israelite may sell himself to that foreigner or a member of his family.


text:
 After he has sold himself, he has the right to be bought back. One of his brothers may buy him back.


text:
 His uncle, his cousin, or some other relative could also buy him back. If he becomes rich, he could buy his own freedom.


text:
 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, like the wages of a hired worker.


text:
 If there are many years left, he must refund from his purchase price an amount equal [to those years].


text:
 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.


text:
 During those years he should serve his buyer as a hired worker. His buyer should not treat him harshly.


text:
 If he cannot buy his freedom in these ways, he and his children will be released in the year of jubilee.


text:
 "The Israelites belong to me as servants. They are my servants. I brought them out of Egypt. I am the LORD your God."


text:
 [The LORD continued,] "Never make worthless idols or set up a carved statue or a sacred stone for yourselves. Never cut figures in stone to worship them in your country, because I am the LORD your God.


text:
 "I will give you rain at the right time. The land will produce its crops, and the trees in the field will produce their fruit.


text:
 Threshing time will last until grape gathering, and grape gathering will last until planting. You will eat all you want and live securely in your land.


text:
 "I will bring peace to your land. You will lie down with no one to scare you. I will remove dangerous animals, and there will be no war in your land.


text:
 Five of you will chase a hundred of them, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand of them. You will defeat your enemies,


text:
 I am the LORD 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.


text:
 if you reject my laws and look at my rules with disgust, if you reject my promise by disobeying my commands,


text:
 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.


text:
 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.


text:
 You will work hard for nothing because your land will produce no crops and the trees will produce no fruit.


text:
 I will send wild animals among you. They will rob you of your children, destroy your cattle, and make you so few that your roads will be deserted.


text:
 I will bring war on you to get revenge for my promise [that you rejected]. When you gather in your cities, I will send plagues on you and you will fall under the control of your enemy.


text:
 I will destroy your food supply. Ten women will need only one oven to prepare your food. You will eat and go away hungry.


text:
 I will destroy your worship sites, cut down your incense altars, and pile your dead bodies on top of your dead idols. I will look at you with disgust.


text:
 I will make your cities deserted and ruin your sacred places. I will no longer accept the soothing aroma from your sacrifices.


text:
 I will scatter you among the nations. War will follow you. Your country will be in ruins. Your cities will be deserted.


text:
 "Then the land will enjoy its time [to honor the LORD] while it lies deserted and you are in your enemies' land. Then the land will joyfully celebrate its time [to honor the LORD].


text:
 All the days it lies deserted, it will celebrate the time [to honor the LORD] it never celebrated while you lived there.


text:
 I will fill with despair those who are left in the land of their enemies. The sound of a windblown leaf will make them run. They will run away and fall, but no one will be chasing them.


text:
 They will stumble over each other, but no one will be after them. They will not be able to stand up to their enemies.


text:
 Those who are left will waste away in the lands of their enemies because of their sins and the sins of their ancestors.


text:
 "But if they confess their sins and the sins of their ancestors-the treacherous things they did to oppose me-


text:
 I will oppose them and bring them into the lands of their enemies. Then, if they humble their uncircumcised hearts and accept their guilt,


text:
 The land, abandoned by them, will enjoy its time to honor the LORD while it lies deserted without them. They must accept their guilt because they rejected my rules and looked at my laws with disgust.


text:
 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 the LORD their God.


text:
 But for their sake, I will remember the promise to their ancestors. I brought them out of Egypt to be their God while nations looked on. I am the LORD."


text:
 These are the laws, rules, and instructions that the LORD gave to the Israelites through Moses on Mount Sinai.


text:
 "Tell the Israelites: If any of you makes a special vow [to give a person] to the LORD, you may give money instead of the person.


text:
 The amount you must give for a man from 20 to 60 years old is 20 ounces of silver. Use the standard weight of the holy place.


text:
 For a boy from one month to five years old, give 2 ounces of silver and for a girl give about one ounce.


text:
 But 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.


text:
 "If [the vow] is to give the kind of animal that people offer to the LORD, it will be considered holy.


text:
 Don't 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.


text:
 If it is an unclean animal that cannot be brought to the LORD as an offering, bring it in front of the priest.


text:
 "If you give your house to the LORD as something holy, the priest will determine what its value is. The value will be whatever the priest decides.


text:
 "If a person gives part of a field to the LORD as something holy, its value will be based on the seed planted on it. Ground planted with 2 quarts of barley will be worth 20 ounces of silver.


text:
 But if 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.


text:
 When the field is released in the jubilee year, it will be holy like a field claimed by the LORD. It will become the property of the priest.


text:
 You may give a field you bought (not one that was a part of your family property) to the LORD as something holy.


text:
 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 the LORD.


text:
 In the jubilee year the field will go back to the person from whom it was bought, to whom it belongs as family property.


text:
 "A firstborn animal already belongs to the LORD because it was born first. Therefore, it cannot be set apart as holy. Whether it is a bull or a sheep, it belongs to the LORD.


text:
 But 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.


text:
 "However, everything dedicated to the LORD 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 the LORD.


text:
 You must not look to see if it is good or bad or exchange it. But if you do exchange it, both the first animal and its substitute will be holy. They cannot be bought back."


text:
 The LORD 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,


text:
 who is at least 20 years old. You and Aaron must register everyone in Israel who is eligible for military duty. List them by divisions.


text:
 "Here are the names of the men who will help you: Elizur, son of Shedeur, from the tribe of Reuben;


text:
 Elishama, son of Ammihud, from the tribe of Ephraim; Gamaliel, son of Pedahzur, from the tribe of Manasseh; (Ephraim and Manasseh are Joseph's descendants.)


text:
 These were the men chosen from the community, the leaders of their ancestors' tribes, and heads of the divisions of Israel.


text:
 and assembled the whole community on the first day of the second month. Each man at least 20 years old provided his genealogy by family and household. Then his name was listed.


text:
 The roster of families and households for the descendants of [Reuben], Israel's firstborn son, listed every man by name who was at least 20 years old and eligible for military duty.


text:
 The roster of families and households for the descendants of [Simeon] registered and listed every man by name who was at least 20 years old and eligible for military duty.


text:
 The roster of families and households for the descendants of [Gad] listed the men by name who were at least 20 years old and eligible for military duty.


text:
 The roster of families and households for the descendants of [Judah] listed the men by name who were at least 20 years old and eligible for military duty.


text:
 The roster of families and households for the descendants of [Issachar] listed the men by name who were at least 20 years old and eligible for military duty.


text:
 The roster of families and households for the descendants of [Zebulun] listed the men by name who were at least 20 years old and eligible for military duty.


text:
 The roster of families and households for the descendants of [Joseph]-those from [Ephraim]-listed the men by name who were at least 20 years old and eligible for military duty.


text:
 The roster of families and households for the descendants of [Manasseh] listed the men by name who were at least 20 years old and eligible for military duty.


text:
 The roster of families and households for the descendants of [Benjamin] listed the men by name who were at least 20 years old and eligible for military duty.


text:
 The roster of families and households for the descendants of [Dan] listed the men by name who were at least 20 years old and eligible for military duty.


text:
 The roster of families and households for the descendants of [Asher] listed the men by name who were at least 20 years old and eligible for military duty.


text:
 The roster of families and households for the descendants of [Naphtali] listed the men by name who were at least 20 years old and eligible for military duty.


text:
 Moses, Aaron, and the 12 leaders of Israel, each representing his own family, added up these totals.


text:
 So the Israelites were registered by households. The grand total of men who were at least 20 years old and eligible for military duty


text:
 Put the Levites in charge of the tent of God's 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.


text:
 When the tent has 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.


text:
 The Levites will camp all around the tent of God's words. In this way [the LORD] won't be angry with the community of Israel. So the Levites will be in charge of the tent of God's words."


text:
 "The Israelites will put up their tents with each family under the flag that symbolizes its household. They will put their tents around the tent of meeting, facing it.


text:
 "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.


text:
 "Next to them will be the tribe of [Issachar]. The leader for the people of Issachar is Nethanel, son of Zuar.


text:
 "Then [will be] the tribe of [Zebulun]. The leader for the people of Zebulun is Eliab, son of Helon.


text:
 "The grand total of all the troops in Judah's camp is 186,400. They will be the first group to move out.


text:
 "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.


text:
 "Next to them will be the tribe of [Simeon]. The leader for the people of Simeon is Shelumiel, son of Zurishaddai.


text:
 "The grand total of all the troops in Reuben's camp is 151,450. They will be the second group to move out.


text:
 "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.


text:
 "On the west side the armies led by [Ephraim] will camp under their flag. The leader for the people of Ephraim is Elishama, son of Ammihud.


text:
 "Next to them will be the tribe of [Manasseh]. The leader for the people of Manasseh is Gamaliel, son of Pedahzur.


text:
 "Then [will be] the tribe of [Benjamin]. The leader for the people of Benjamin is Abidan, son of Gideoni.


text:
 "The grand total of all the troops in Ephraim's camp is 108,100. They will be the third group to move out.


text:
 "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.


text:
 "Next to them will be the tribe of [Asher]. The leader for the people of Asher is Pagiel, son of Ochran.


text:
 "Then [will be] the tribe of [Naphtali]. The leader for the people of Naphtali is Ahira, son of Enan.


text:
 "The grand total of all the men in Dan's camp is 157,600. They will be the last group to move out. They will travel under their own flag."


text:
 This is the total number of Israelites, counted by households. The grand total of all the troops in the camps was 603,550.


text:
 So the Israelites did everything as the LORD had commanded Moses. They set up camp under their flags, and each person traveled with his own family and household.


text:
 This is the list of Aaron and Moses' descendants at the time when the LORD spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai.


text:
 Nadab and Abihu died in the LORD's 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.


text:
 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.


text:
 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.


text:
 Appoint Aaron and his sons to serve as priests. Anyone else who tries to do the priests' duties must be put to death."


text:
 "Out of all the Israelites, I have taken the Levites to be substitutes for every firstborn male offspring among them. The Levites are mine,


text:
 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 the LORD."


text:
 Mahli and Mushi were the sons of Merari. Their families were named after them. These were the households of Levite families.


text:
 To [Gershon] belonged the families descended from Libni and Shimei. These were the families descended from Gershon.


text:
 The families descended from Gershon put up their tents on the west side behind the tent of meeting.


text:
 At the tent of meeting the Gershonites were in charge of the inner tent, the outer tent and cover, the screen for the entrance to the tent of meeting,


text:
 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.


text:
 To [Kohath] belonged the families descended from Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. These were the families descended from Kohath.


text:
 The number of all the males at least one month old was 8,600. They were in charge of the holy place.


text:
 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.


text:
 The chief leader of the Levites was Eleazar, son of the priest Aaron. It was Eleazar's duty to supervise those who were in charge of the holy place.


text:
 To [Merari] belonged the families descended from Mahli and Mushi. These were the families descended from Merari.


text:
 The leader of the Merarite families and households was Zuriel, son of Abihail. They put up their tents on the north side of the tent of meeting.


text:
 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 all these things.


text:
 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.


text:
 The grand total of Levites that Moses and Aaron counted at the LORD's command, by families, every male who was at least one month old, was 22,000.


text:
 The LORD said to Moses, "Register every firstborn male of the Israelites who is at least one month old, and make a list of their names.


text:
 I am the LORD. 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."


text:
 "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 the LORD.


text:
 It will cost you two ounces of silver per person (using the standard weight of the holy place) to buy them back.


text:
 Give the silver to Aaron and his sons. It will buy back those Israelites who outnumber the Levites."


text:
 The silver Moses collected for the firstborn Israelites weighed 34 pounds using the standard weight of the holy place.


text:
 Then Moses did what the LORD said and gave Aaron and his sons this ransom money as he had been commanded.


text:
 Register all the men between the ages of 30 and 50 who are qualified to work at the tent of meeting.


text:
 "This is the work the Kohathites will do in the tent of meeting: They will take care of the most holy things.


text:
 When the camp is supposed to move, Aaron and his sons will go in and take down the canopy that hangs over the ark containing the words of God's promise. First they will cover the ark with the canopy.


text:
 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.


text:
 "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 the LORD's presence will also be on it.


text:
 They will spread a bright red cloth over everything on the table. They will cover all this with fine leather. Then they will put the poles in place.


text:
 "They will take a violet cloth and cover the lamp stand, as well as the lamps, tongs, trays, and all the containers for the olive oil used in the lamps.


text:
 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.


text:
 "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.


text:
 "They will take all the articles that are used in the holy place, put them in a violet cloth, cover that with fine leather, and put them on a frame to carry them.


text:
 Next, they will put all the accessories used at the altar on it. These are the trays, forks, shovels, and bowls-all the altar's accessories. They will spread a covering of fine leather over all this. Then they will put the poles in place.


text:
 "When Aaron and his sons have 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.


text:
 "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."


text:
 This is what you must do so that they won't 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.


text:
 But the Kohathites must not go in to look at the holy things, even for a moment, or they will die."


text:
 Register all the men between the ages of 30 and 50 who are qualified to serve at the tent of meeting.


text:
 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,


text:
 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.


text:
 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're supposed to carry.


text:
 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.


text:
 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,


text:
 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.


text:
 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."


text:
 Moses, Aaron, and the leaders of the community registered the Kohathites by their families and households.


text:
 They registered all the men between the ages of 30 and 50 who were qualified to work at the tent of meeting.


text:
 This was the total of all those in the Kohathite families who served at the tent of meeting. Moses and Aaron did as the LORD had commanded Moses and registered the Kohathites.


text:
 All the men between the ages of 30 and 50 who were qualified to serve at the tent of meeting were registered.


text:
 This was the total of all those in the Gershonite families who worked at the tent of meeting. Moses and Aaron did as the LORD had commanded Moses and registered the Gershonites.


text:
 This was the total of those registered in the Merarite families. Moses and Aaron did as the LORD had commanded Moses and registered the Merarites.


text:
 The grand total of all the Levites whom Moses, Aaron, and the leaders of Israel registered was 8,580. They were listed by families and households.


text:
 These were the men between the ages of 30 and 50 who were qualified to do the work of serving and who carried the tent of meeting.


text:
 At the LORD's command through Moses each man was registered and told what to do and what to carry. So they were registered as the LORD commanded Moses.


text:
 "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.


text:
 Send all of these unclean men and women outside the camp. They must not make this camp where I live among you unclean."


text:
 "Tell the Israelites: If you do something wrong to another person, you have been unfaithful to the LORD. When you realize your guilt,


text:
 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.


text:
 But 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 the LORD for the priest [to use]. This payment is in addition to the ram which makes peace with the LORD.


text:
 "Any contribution over and above the holy offerings that the Israelites bring to the priest will belong to the priest.


text:
 Each person's holy offerings will belong to that person, but whatever is given to the priest will belong to the priest."


text:
 and may have had sexual intercourse with another man without her husband's knowledge. She may have kept it secret if there were no witnesses to accuse her and she wasn't caught in the act.


text:
 "A husband may have a fit of jealousy and suspect his wife, whether she was actually unfaithful or not.


text:
 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 husband's jealousy, an offering used for a confession-to remind someone of a sin that was committed.


text:
 Then the priest will take holy water in a piece of pottery and put some dust from the floor of the tent into the water.


text:
 The priest will bring the woman into the LORD's 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 husband's jealousy). The priest will hold in his hands the bitter water that can bring a curse.


text:
 "Then the priest will say to her, 'If no other man has had sexual intercourse with you and you haven't been unfaithful to your husband, you're not guilty. This bitter water that can bring a curse will not harm you.


text:
 may the LORD make you an example for your people to see what happens when the curse of this oath comes true: The LORD will make your uterus drop and your stomach swell.' "Then the priest will administer the oath and the curse by saying:


text:
 '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!'


text:
 Then he will have the woman drink the bitter water that can bring the curse. This water will go into her [and] become bitter.


text:
 The priest will take the grain offering she was holding, present it to the LORD, and bring it to the altar.


text:
 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.


text:
 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.


text:
 "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.


text:
 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 the LORD's presence, and the priest will do everything these instructions tell him to do.


text:
 The husband isn't guilty of doing anything wrong, but the woman will suffer the consequences of her sin."


text:
 "Speak to the Israelites and tell them: A man or a woman may make a special vow to live as a Nazirite dedicated to the LORD.


text:
 Nazirites must never drink wine, liquor, vinegar made from wine or liquor, or any kind of grape juice, and they must never eat fresh grapes or raisins.


text:
 As long as they are Nazirites, they must never eat anything that comes from a grapevine, not even grape seeds or skins.


text:
 "As long as they are under the Nazirite vow, no razor may touch their heads. During the entire time that they are dedicated to the LORD as Nazirites, they will be holy. They must let their hair grow long.


text:
 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.


text:
 "Someone might suddenly drop dead next to a Nazirite and make the Nazirite's hair unclean. Seven days later he must shave his head in order to be declared clean.


text:
 On the eighth day he must bring two mourning doves or two young pigeons to the priest at the entrance to the tent of meeting.


text:
 The priest will sacrifice one as an offering for sin and the other one as a burnt offering. The priest will make peace with the LORD for the person who touched the dead body. That same day the person must dedicate his head again.


text:
 Once again he will dedicate himself to the LORD 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 won't count. He has to start over from when he became unclean.


text:
 "These are the instructions for Nazirites who complete their vows: They must come to the entrance of the tent of meeting.


text:
 They must bring these offerings to the LORD: 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.


text:
 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.


text:
 "The priest will bring these offerings to the LORD and make the offering for sin and the burnt offering.


text:
 He will sacrifice the ram as a fellowship offering to the LORD, offer the basket of unleavened bread along with it, and make the grain offerings and wine offerings.


text:
 "Then the Nazirites will shave their heads at the entrance to the tent of meeting, take the hair as proof that they had made this vow, and put it on the fire under the fellowship offering.


text:
 "Then 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.


text:
 The priest will present them as an offering to the LORD. They are holy and belong to the priest, along with the ram's breast that is presented and the thigh that is given. After that, the Nazirites may drink wine.


text:
 "These are the instructions for those who have vowed to bring their offerings to the LORD because they were 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."


text:
 When 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.


text:
 Then the leaders of Israel, the heads of the households-those tribal leaders who helped in the census-came to give their offerings.


text:
 They brought these gifts to the LORD: 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.


text:
 "Accept these gifts from them to use in the work done for the tent of meeting. Give them to the Levites to use wherever they need these gifts for their work."


text:
 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.


text:
 But 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.


text:
 The leaders also brought offerings for the dedication of the altar when it was anointed. They presented their gifts in front of the altar.


text:
 The LORD said to Moses, "Each day a different leader will bring his gift for the dedication of the altar."


text:
 The one who brought his gifts on the first day was Nahshon, son of Amminadab, from the tribe of [Judah].


text:
 He brought a silver plate that weighed 31/4 pounds and a silver bowl that weighed 13/4 pounds using the standard weight of the holy place. Each dish was filled with flour mixed with olive oil as a grain offering.


text:
 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.


text:
 On the second day Nethanel, son of Zuar, the leader from the tribe of [Issachar], brought his gifts.


text:
 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.


text:
 brought his gifts: a silver plate that weighed 31/4 pounds and a silver bowl that weighed 13/4 pounds using the standard weight of the holy place. Each dish was filled with flour mixed with olive oil as a grain offering.


text:
 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.


text:
 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.


text:
 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.


text:
 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.


text:
 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.


text:
 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.


text:
 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.


text:
 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.


text:
 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.


text:
 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.


text:
 These were the gifts from the leaders of Israel for the dedication of the altar when it was anointed: 12 silver plates, 12 silver bowls, and 12 gold dishes.


text:
 Each silver plate weighed 31/4 pounds, and each bowl weighed 13/4 pounds. Together all the silver dishes weighed 60 pounds using the standard weight of the holy place.


text:
 The 12 gold dishes filled with incense weighed 4 ounces each using the standard weight of the holy place. Together all the gold dishes weighed about 3 pounds.


text:
 The total number of animals for the burnt offerings was 12 young bulls, 12 rams, 12 one-year-old male lambs, along with their grain offerings. Twelve male goats were used as offerings for sin.


text:
 The total number of animals for fellowship offerings was 24 bulls, 60 rams, 60 male goats, and 60 one-year-old male lambs. These were the gifts for the dedication of the altar after it was anointed.


text:
 Whenever Moses went into the tent of meeting to speak with the LORD, he heard the voice speaking to him from above the throne of mercy on the ark containing the words of God's promise, from between the two angels. This is how the LORD spoke with Moses.


text:
 "Speak to Aaron and tell him: When you set up the seven lamps on the lamp stand, they should light up the area in front of it."


text:
 So Aaron set up the lamps on the lamp stand to light up the area in front of it, as the LORD commanded Moses.


text:
 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 the LORD had shown Moses.


text:
 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.


text:
 Next, 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.


text:
 Then bring the Levites into the LORD's presence, and the Israelites will place their hands on them.


text:
 Aaron will present the Levites to the LORD as an offering from the Israelites. Then they will be ready to do the LORD's work.


text:
 "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 the LORD. These sacrifices will make peace with the LORD for the Levites.


text:
 Make the Levites stand in front of Aaron and his sons, and present them as an offering to the LORD.


text:
 "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.


text:
 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.


text:
 Every firstborn in Israel, whether human or animal, is mine. The day I killed every firstborn male in Egypt, I set them apart as holy to me.


text:
 The Levites will be the only Israelites I give to Aaron and his sons. They will work for the Israelites at the tent of meeting. They will make peace with the LORD for the Israelites. Then no plague will strike the Israelites when they come near the holy place."


text:
 Moses, Aaron, and the whole community of Israel did what the LORD commanded Moses to do to the Levites.


text:
 The Levites performed the ceremonies to take away their sins and washed their clothes. Aaron presented them as an offering to the LORD and made peace with the LORD for them in order to make them clean.


text:
 After that, the Levites came and did their work at the tent of meeting in the presence of Aaron and his sons. They did as the LORD had commanded Moses.


text:
 "These are the instructions for the Levites: Men 25 years old or older are eligible to serve at the tent of meeting.


text:
 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."


text:
 In the first month of the second year after the Israelites left Egypt, the LORD spoke to Moses in the Desert of Sinai. He said,


text:
 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."


text:
 and 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 the LORD had commanded Moses.


text:
 But there were some men who had become unclean from touching a dead body, and they couldn't celebrate the Passover that day. They came to Moses and Aaron


text:
 and said, "We are unclean because we touched a dead body. Why won't you let us bring our offerings to the LORD at the same time the rest of the Israelites bring their offerings?"


