Exodus 25 

Offerings for the Tabernacle

1 The Lord said to Moses, ² “Tell the people of Israel to bring me their sacred offerings. Accept the contributions from all whose hearts are moved to offer them. ³ Here is a list of sacred offerings you may accept from them:

⁸ “Have the people of Israel build me a holy sanctuary so I can live among them. ⁹ You must build this Tabernacle and its furnishings exactly according to the pattern I will show you.

Plans for the Ark of the Covenant

¹⁰ “Have the people make an Ark of acacia wood—a sacred chest 45 inches long, 27 inches wide, and 27 inches high.^[a] 11 Overlay it inside and outside with pure gold, and run a molding of gold all around it. ¹² Cast four gold rings and attach them to its four feet, two rings on each side. ¹³ Make poles from acacia wood, and overlay them with gold. ¹⁴ Insert the poles into the rings at the sides of the Ark to carry it. ¹⁵ These carrying poles must stay inside the rings; never remove them. ¹⁶ When the Ark is finished, place inside it the stone tablets inscribed with the terms of the covenant,^[b] which I will give to you.

¹⁷ “Then make the Ark’s cover—the place of atonement—from pure gold. It must be 45 inches long and 27 inches wide.^[c] 18 Then make two cherubim from hammered gold, and place them on the two ends of the atonement cover. ¹⁹ Mold the cherubim on each end of the atonement cover, making it all of one piece of gold. ²⁰ The cherubim will face each other and look down on the atonement cover. With their wings spread above it, they will protect it.²¹ Place inside the Ark the stone tablets inscribed with the terms of the covenant, which I will give to you. Then put the atonement cover on top of the Ark. ²² I will meet with you there and talk to you from above the atonement cover between the gold cherubim that hover over the Ark of the Covenant.^[d] From there I will give you my commands for the people of Israel.

Plans for the Table

²³ “Then make a table of acacia wood, 36 inches long, 18 inches wide, and 27 inches high.^[e]24 Overlay it with pure gold and run a gold molding around the edge. ²⁵ Decorate it with a 3-inch border^[f] all around, and run a gold molding along the border. ²⁶ Make four gold rings for the table and attach them at the four corners next to the four legs. ²⁷ Attach the rings near the border to hold the poles that are used to carry the table. ²⁸ Make these poles from acacia wood, and overlay them with gold. ²⁹ Make special containers of pure gold for the table—bowls, ladles, pitchers, and jars—to be used in pouring out liquid offerings. ³⁰ Place the Bread of the Presence on the table to remain before me at all times.

Plans for the Lampstand

³¹ “Make a lampstand of pure, hammered gold. Make the entire lampstand and its decorations of one piece—the base, center stem, lamp cups, buds, and petals. ³² Make it with six branches going out from the center stem, three on each side. ³³ Each of the six branches will have three lamp cups shaped like almond blossoms, complete with buds and petals. ³⁴ Craft the center stem of the lampstand with four lamp cups shaped like almond blossoms, complete with buds and petals. ³⁵ There will also be an almond bud beneath each pair of branches where the six branches extend from the center stem. ³⁶ The almond buds and branches must all be of one piece with the center stem, and they must be hammered from pure gold. ³⁷ Then make the seven lamps for the lampstand, and set them so they reflect their light forward. ³⁸ The lamp snuffers and trays must also be made of pure gold.³⁹ You will need 75 pounds^[g] of pure gold for the lampstand and its accessories.

⁴⁰ “Be sure that you make everything according to the pattern I have shown you here on the mountain.

Exodus 23 

A Call for Justice

1 “You must not pass along false rumors. You must not cooperate with evil people by lying on the witness stand.

² “You must not follow the crowd in doing wrong. When you are called to testify in a dispute, do not be swayed by the crowd to twist justice. ³ And do not slant your testimony in favor of a person just because that person is poor.

⁴ “If you come upon your enemy’s ox or donkey that has strayed away, take it back to its owner. ⁵ If you see that the donkey of someone who hates you has collapsed under its load, do not walk by. Instead, stop and help.

⁶ “In a lawsuit, you must not deny justice to the poor.

⁷ “Be sure never to charge anyone falsely with evil. Never sentence an innocent or blameless person to death, for I never declare a guilty person to be innocent.

⁸ “Take no bribes, for a bribe makes you ignore something that you clearly see. A bribe makes even a righteous person twist the truth.

⁹ “You must not oppress foreigners. You know what it’s like to be a foreigner, for you yourselves were once foreigners in the land of Egypt.

¹⁰ “Plant and harvest your crops for six years, ¹¹ but let the land be renewed and lie uncultivated during the seventh year. Then let the poor among you harvest whatever grows on its own. Leave the rest for wild animals to eat. The same applies to your vineyards and olive groves.

¹² “You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but on the seventh day you must stop working. This gives your ox and your donkey a chance to rest. It also allows your slaves and the foreigners living among you to be refreshed.

¹³ “Pay close attention to all my instructions. You must not call on the name of any other gods. Do not even speak their names.

Three Annual Festivals

¹⁴ “Each year you must celebrate three festivals in my honor. ¹⁵ First, celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread. For seven days the bread you eat must be made without yeast, just as I commanded you. Celebrate this festival annually at the appointed time in early spring, in the month of Abib,^[a] for that is the anniversary of your departure from Egypt. No one may appear before me without an offering.

¹⁶ “Second, celebrate the Festival of Harvest,^[b] when you bring me the first crops of your harvest.

“Finally, celebrate the Festival of the Final Harvest^[c] at the end of the harvest season, when you have harvested all the crops from your fields. ¹⁷ At these three times each year, every man in Israel must appear before the Sovereign, the Lord.

¹⁸ “You must not offer the blood of my sacrificial offerings together with any baked goods containing yeast. And do not leave the fat from the festival offerings until the next morning.

¹⁹ “As you harvest your crops, bring the very best of the first harvest to the house of the Lordyour God.

“You must not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.

A Promise of the Lord’s Presence

²⁰ “See, I am sending an angel before you to protect you on your journey and lead you safely to the place I have prepared for you. ²¹ Pay close attention to him, and obey his instructions. Do not rebel against him, for he is my representative, and he will not forgive your rebellion.²² But if you are careful to obey him, following all my instructions, then I will be an enemy to your enemies, and I will oppose those who oppose you. ²³ For my angel will go before you and bring you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, and Jebusites, so you may live there. And I will destroy them completely. ²⁴ You must not worship the gods of these nations or serve them in any way or imitate their evil practices. Instead, you must utterly destroy them and smash their sacred pillars.

²⁵ “You must serve only the Lord your God. If you do, I^[d] will bless you with food and water, and I will protect you from illness. ²⁶ There will be no miscarriages or infertility in your land, and I will give you long, full lives.

²⁷ “I will send my terror ahead of you and create panic among all the people whose lands you invade. I will make all your enemies turn and run. ²⁸ I will send terror^[e] ahead of you to drive out the Hivites, Canaanites, and Hittites. ²⁹ But I will not drive them out in a single year, because the land would become desolate and the wild animals would multiply and threaten you. ³⁰ I will drive them out a little at a time until your population has increased enough to take possession of the land. ³¹ And I will fix your boundaries from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea,^[f] and from the eastern wilderness to the Euphrates River.^[g] I will hand over to you the people now living in the land, and you will drive them out ahead of you.

³² “Make no treaties with them or their gods. ³³ They must not live in your land, or they will cause you to sin against me. If you serve their gods, you will be caught in the trap of idolatry.”

Exodus 21 

Fair Treatment of Slaves

1 “These are the regulations you must present to Israel.

² “If you buy a Hebrew slave, he may serve for no more than six years. Set him free in the seventh year, and he will owe you nothing for his freedom. ³ If he was single when he became your slave, he shall leave single. But if he was married before he became a slave, then his wife must be freed with him.

⁴ “If his master gave him a wife while he was a slave and they had sons or daughters, then only the man will be free in the seventh year, but his wife and children will still belong to his master. ⁵ But the slave may declare, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children. I don’t want to go free.’ ⁶ If he does this, his master must present him before God.^[a] Then his master must take him to the door or doorpost and publicly pierce his ear with an awl. After that, the slave will serve his master for life.

⁷ “When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she will not be freed at the end of six years as the men are. ⁸ If she does not satisfy her owner, he must allow her to be bought back again. But he is not allowed to sell her to foreigners, since he is the one who broke the contract with her. ⁹ But if the slave’s owner arranges for her to marry his son, he may no longer treat her as a slave but as a daughter.

¹⁰ “If a man who has married a slave wife takes another wife for himself, he must not neglect the rights of the first wife to food, clothing, and sexual intimacy. ¹¹ If he fails in any of these three obligations, she may leave as a free woman without making any payment.

Cases of Personal Injury

¹² “Anyone who assaults and kills another person must be put to death. ¹³ But if it was simply an accident permitted by God, I will appoint a place of refuge where the slayer can run for safety. ¹⁴ However, if someone deliberately kills another person, then the slayer must be dragged even from my altar and be put to death.

¹⁵ “Anyone who strikes father or mother must be put to death.

¹⁶ “Kidnappers must be put to death, whether they are caught in possession of their victims or have already sold them as slaves.

¹⁷ “Anyone who dishonors^[b] father or mother must be put to death.

¹⁸ “Now suppose two men quarrel, and one hits the other with a stone or fist, and the injured person does not die but is confined to bed. ¹⁹ If he is later able to walk outside again, even with a crutch, the assailant will not be punished but must compensate his victim for lost wages and provide for his full recovery.

²⁰ “If a man beats his male or female slave with a club and the slave dies as a result, the owner must be punished. ²¹ But if the slave recovers within a day or two, then the owner shall not be punished, since the slave is his property.

²² “Now suppose two men are fighting, and in the process they accidentally strike a pregnant woman so she gives birth prematurely.^[c] If no further injury results, the man who struck the woman must pay the amount of compensation the woman’s husband demands and the judges approve. ²³ But if there is further injury, the punishment must match the injury: a life for a life, ²⁴ an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot, ²⁵ a burn for a burn, a wound for a wound, a bruise for a bruise.

²⁶ “If a man hits his male or female slave in the eye and the eye is blinded, he must let the slave go free to compensate for the eye. ²⁷ And if a man knocks out the tooth of his male or female slave, he must let the slave go free to compensate for the tooth.

²⁸ “If an ox^[d] gores a man or woman to death, the ox must be stoned, and its flesh may not be eaten. In such a case, however, the owner will not be held liable. ²⁹ But suppose the ox had a reputation for goring, and the owner had been informed but failed to keep it under control. If the ox then kills someone, it must be stoned, and the owner must also be put to death. ³⁰ However, the dead person’s relatives may accept payment to compensate for the loss of life. The owner of the ox may redeem his life by paying whatever is demanded.

³¹ “The same regulation applies if the ox gores a boy or a girl. ³² But if the ox gores a slave, either male or female, the animal’s owner must pay the slave’s owner thirty silver coins,^[e] and the ox must be stoned.

³³ “Suppose someone digs or uncovers a pit and fails to cover it, and then an ox or a donkey falls into it. ³⁴ The owner of the pit must pay full compensation to the owner of the animal, but then he gets to keep the dead animal.

³⁵ “If someone’s ox injures a neighbor’s ox and the injured ox dies, then the two owners must sell the live ox and divide the price equally between them. They must also divide the dead animal. ³⁶ But if the ox had a reputation for goring, yet its owner failed to keep it under control, he must pay full compensation—a live ox for the dead one—but he may keep the dead ox.

Exodus 17 

Water from the Rock

1 At the Lord’s command, the whole community of Israel left the wilderness of Sin^[a] and moved from place to place. Eventually they camped at Rephidim, but there was no water there for the people to drink. ² So once more the people complained against Moses. “Give us water to drink!” they demanded.

“Quiet!” Moses replied. “Why are you complaining against me? And why are you testing the Lord?”

³ But tormented by thirst, they continued to argue with Moses. “Why did you bring us out of Egypt? Are you trying to kill us, our children, and our livestock with thirst?”

⁴ Then Moses cried out to the Lord, “What should I do with these people? They are ready to stone me!”

⁵ The Lord said to Moses, “Walk out in front of the people. Take your staff, the one you used when you struck the water of the Nile, and call some of the elders of Israel to join you. ⁶ I will stand before you on the rock at Mount Sinai.^[b] Strike the rock, and water will come gushing out. Then the people will be able to drink.” So Moses struck the rock as he was told, and water gushed out as the elders looked on.

⁷ Moses named the place Massah (which means “test”) and Meribah (which means “arguing”) because the people of Israel argued with Moses and tested the Lord by saying, “Is the Lordhere with us or not?”

Israel Defeats the Amalekites

⁸ While the people of Israel were still at Rephidim, the warriors of Amalek attacked them.⁹ Moses commanded Joshua, “Choose some men to go out and fight the army of Amalek for us. Tomorrow, I will stand at the top of the hill, holding the staff of God in my hand.”

¹⁰ So Joshua did what Moses had commanded and fought the army of Amalek. Meanwhile, Moses, Aaron, and Hur climbed to the top of a nearby hill. ¹¹ As long as Moses held up the staff in his hand, the Israelites had the advantage. But whenever he dropped his hand, the Amalekites gained the advantage. ¹² Moses’ arms soon became so tired he could no longer hold them up. So Aaron and Hur found a stone for him to sit on. Then they stood on each side of Moses, holding up his hands. So his hands held steady until sunset. ¹³ As a result, Joshua overwhelmed the army of Amalek in battle.

¹⁴ After the victory, the Lord instructed Moses, “Write this down on a scroll as a permanent reminder, and read it aloud to Joshua: I will erase the memory of Amalek from under heaven.”¹⁵ Moses built an altar there and named it Yahweh-Nissi (which means “the Lord is my banner”). ¹⁶ He said, “They have raised their fist against the Lord’s throne, so now^[c] the Lordwill be at war with Amalek generation after generation.”

Exodus 16 

Manna and Quail from Heaven

1 Then the whole community of Israel set out from Elim and journeyed into the wilderness of Sin,^[a] between Elim and Mount Sinai. They arrived there on the fifteenth day of the second month, one month after leaving the land of Egypt.^[b] 2 There, too, the whole community of Israel complained about Moses and Aaron.

³ “If only the Lord had killed us back in Egypt,” they moaned. “There we sat around pots filled with meat and ate all the bread we wanted. But now you have brought us into this wilderness to starve us all to death.”

⁴ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Look, I’m going to rain down food from heaven for you. Each day the people can go out and pick up as much food as they need for that day. I will test them in this to see whether or not they will follow my instructions. ⁵ On the sixth day they will gather food, and when they prepare it, there will be twice as much as usual.”

⁶ So Moses and Aaron said to all the people of Israel, “By evening you will realize it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt. ⁷ In the morning you will see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your complaints, which are against him, not against us. What have we done that you should complain about us?” ⁸ Then Moses added, “The Lord will give you meat to eat in the evening and bread to satisfy you in the morning, for he has heard all your complaints against him. What have we done? Yes, your complaints are against the Lord, not against us.”

⁹ Then Moses said to Aaron, “Announce this to the entire community of Israel: ‘Present yourselves before the Lord, for he has heard your complaining.’” ¹⁰ And as Aaron spoke to the whole community of Israel, they looked out toward the wilderness. There they could see the awesome glory of the Lord in the cloud.

¹¹ Then the Lord said to Moses, ¹² “I have heard the Israelites’ complaints. Now tell them, ‘In the evening you will have meat to eat, and in the morning you will have all the bread you want. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.’”

¹³ That evening vast numbers of quail flew in and covered the camp. And the next morning the area around the camp was wet with dew. ¹⁴ When the dew evaporated, a flaky substance as fine as frost blanketed the ground. ¹⁵ The Israelites were puzzled when they saw it. “What is it?” they asked each other. They had no idea what it was.

And Moses told them, “It is the food the Lord has given you to eat. ¹⁶ These are the Lord’s instructions: Each household should gather as much as it needs. Pick up two quarts^[c] for each person in your tent.”

¹⁷ So the people of Israel did as they were told. Some gathered a lot, some only a little. ¹⁸ But when they measured it out,^[d] everyone had just enough. Those who gathered a lot had nothing left over, and those who gathered only a little had enough. Each family had just what it needed.

¹⁹ Then Moses told them, “Do not keep any of it until morning.” ²⁰ But some of them didn’t listen and kept some of it until morning. But by then it was full of maggots and had a terrible smell. Moses was very angry with them.

²¹ After this the people gathered the food morning by morning, each family according to its need. And as the sun became hot, the flakes they had not picked up melted and disappeared. ²² On the sixth day, they gathered twice as much as usual—four quarts^[e] for each person instead of two. Then all the leaders of the community came and asked Moses for an explanation. ²³ He told them, “This is what the Lord commanded: Tomorrow will be a day of complete rest, a holy Sabbath day set apart for the Lord. So bake or boil as much as you want today, and set aside what is left for tomorrow.”

²⁴ So they put some aside until morning, just as Moses had commanded. And in the morning the leftover food was wholesome and good, without maggots or odor. ²⁵ Moses said, “Eat this food today, for today is a Sabbath day dedicated to the Lord. There will be no food on the ground today. ²⁶ You may gather the food for six days, but the seventh day is the Sabbath. There will be no food on the ground that day.”

²⁷ Some of the people went out anyway on the seventh day, but they found no food. ²⁸ The Lord asked Moses, “How long will these people refuse to obey my commands and instructions? ²⁹ They must realize that the Sabbath is the Lord’s gift to you. That is why he gives you a two-day supply on the sixth day, so there will be enough for two days. On the Sabbath day you must each stay in your place. Do not go out to pick up food on the seventh day.” ³⁰ So the people did not gather any food on the seventh day.

³¹ The Israelites called the food manna.^[f] It was white like coriander seed, and it tasted like honey wafers.

³² Then Moses said, “This is what the Lord has commanded: Fill a two-quart container with manna to preserve it for your descendants. Then later generations will be able to see the food I gave you in the wilderness when I set you free from Egypt.”

³³ Moses said to Aaron, “Get a jar and fill it with two quarts of manna. Then put it in a sacred place before the Lord to preserve it for all future generations.” ³⁴ Aaron did just as the Lordhad commanded Moses. He eventually placed it in the Ark of the Covenant—in front of the stone tablets inscribed with the terms of the covenant.^[g] 35 So the people of Israel ate manna for forty years until they arrived at the land where they would settle. They ate manna until they came to the border of the land of Canaan.

³⁶ The container used to measure the manna was an omer, which was one-tenth of an ephah; it held about two quarts.^[h]