Loading…

Exodus 23:1–25:40

Justice for All

23 “You ashall not circulate a false report. Do not put your hand with the wicked to be an bunrighteous witness. cYou shall not follow a crowd to do evil; dnor shall you testify in a dispute so as to turn aside after many to pervert justice. You shall not show partiality to a epoor man in his dispute.

f“If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, you shall surely bring it back to him again. gIf you see the donkey of one who hates you lying under its burden, and you would refrain from helping it, you shall surely help him with it.

h“You shall not pervert the judgment of your poor in his dispute. iKeep yourself far from a false matter; jdo not kill the innocent and righteous. For kI will not justify the wicked. And lyou shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds the discerning and perverts the words of the righteous.

“Also myou shall not oppress a 1stranger, for you know the heart of a stranger, because you were strangers in the land of Egypt.

The Law of Sabbaths

10 n“Six years you shall sow your land and gather in its produce, 11 but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave, the beasts of the field may eat. In like manner you shall do with your vineyard and your 2olive grove. 12 oSix days you shall do your work, and on the seventh day you shall rest, that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your female servant and the stranger may be refreshed.

13 “And in all that I have said to you, pbe circumspect and qmake no mention of the name of other gods, nor let it be heard from your mouth.

Three Annual Feasts

14 r“Three times you shall keep a feast to Me in the year: 15 sYou shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread (you shall eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt; tnone shall appear before Me empty); 16 uand the Feast of Harvest, the firstfruits of your labors which you have sown in the field; and vthe Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you have gathered in the fruit of your labors from the field.

17 w“Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord 3God.

18 x“You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leavened ybread; nor shall the fat of My 4sacrifice remain until morning. 19 zThe first of the firstfruits of your land you shall bring into the house of the Lord your God. aYou shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.

The Angel and the Promises

20 b“Behold, I send an Angel before you to keep you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. 21 Beware of Him and obey His voice; cdo not provoke Him, for He will dnot pardon your transgressions; for eMy name is in Him. 22 But if you indeed obey His voice and do all that I speak, then fI will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries. 23 gFor My Angel will go before you and hbring you in to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites and the Hivites and the Jebusites; and I will 5cut them off. 24 You shall not ibow down to their gods, nor serve them, jnor do according to their works; kbut you shall utterly overthrow them and completely break down their sacred pillars.

25 “So you shall lserve the Lord your God, and mHe will bless your bread and your water. And nI will take sickness away from the midst of you. 26 oNo one shall suffer miscarriage or be barren in your land; I will pfulfill the number of your days.

27 “I will send qMy fear before you, I will rcause confusion among all the people to whom you come, and will make all your enemies turn their backs to you. 28 And sI will send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite from before you. 29 tI will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the beasts of the field become too numerous for you. 30 Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased, and you inherit the land. 31 And uI will set your 6bounds from the Red Sea to the sea, Philistia, and from the desert to the 7River. For I will vdeliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you. 32 wYou shall make no 8covenant with them, nor with their gods. 33 They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against Me. For if you serve their gods, xit will surely be a snare to you.”

Israel Affirms the Covenant

24 Now He said to Moses, “Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, aNadab and Abihu, band seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship from afar. And Moses alone shall come near the Lord, but they shall not come near; nor shall the people go up with him.”

So Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the 1judgments. And all the people answered with one voice and said, c“All the words which the Lord has said we will do.” And Moses dwrote all the words of the Lord. And he rose early in the morning, and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve epillars according to the twelve tribes of Israel. Then he sent young men of the children of Israel, who offered fburnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the Lord. And Moses gtook half the blood and put it in basins, and half the blood he sprinkled on the altar. Then he htook the Book of the Covenant and read in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the Lord has said we will do, and be obedient.” And Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, “This is ithe blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you according to all these words.”

On the Mountain with God

Then Moses went up, also Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, 10 and they jsaw the God of Israel. And there was under His feet as it were a paved work of ksapphire stone, and it was like the lvery 2heavens in its clarity. 11 But on the nobles of the children of Israel He mdid not 3lay His hand. So nthey saw God, and they oate and drank.

12 Then the Lord said to Moses, p“Come up to Me on the mountain and be there; and I will give you qtablets of stone, and the law and commandments which I have written, that you may teach them.”

13 So Moses arose with rhis assistant Joshua, and Moses went up to the mountain of God. 14 And he said to the elders, “Wait here for us until we come back to you. Indeed, Aaron and sHur are with you. If any man has a difficulty, let him go to them.” 15 Then Moses went up into the mountain, and ta cloud covered the mountain.

16 Now uthe glory of the Lord rested on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day He called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. 17 The sight of the glory of the Lord was like va consuming fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the children of Israel. 18 So Moses went into the midst of the cloud and went up into the mountain. And wMoses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

Offerings for the Sanctuary

25 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: “Speak to the children of Israel, that they bring Me an 1offering. aFrom everyone who gives it willingly with his heart you shall take My offering. And this is the offering which you shall take from them: gold, silver, and bronze; blue, purple, and scarlet thread, fine linen, and goats’ hair; ram skins dyed red, 2badger skins, and acacia wood; boil for the light, and cspices for the anointing oil and for the sweet incense; onyx stones, and stones to be set in the dephod and in the breastplate. And let them make Me a esanctuary, 3 that f I may dwell among them. According to all that I show you, that is, the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings, just so you shall make it.

The Ark of the Testimony

10 g“And they shall make an ark of acacia wood; two and a half cubits shall be its length, a cubit and a half its width, and a cubit and a half its height. 11 And you shall overlay it with pure gold, inside and out you shall overlay it, and shall make on it a molding of hgold all around. 12 You shall cast four rings of gold for it, and put them in its four corners; two rings shall be on one side, and two rings on the other side. 13 And you shall make poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold. 14 You shall put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark, that the ark may be carried by them. 15 iThe poles shall be in the rings of the ark; they shall not be taken from it. 16 And you shall put into the ark jthe Testimony which I will give you.

17 k“You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold; two and a half cubits shall be its length and a cubit and a half its width. 18 And you shall make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work you shall make them at the two ends of the mercy seat. 19 Make one cherub at one end, and the other cherub at the other end; you shall make the cherubim at the two ends of it of one piece with the mercy seat. 20 And lthe cherubim shall stretch out their wings above, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and they shall face one another; the faces of the cherubim shall be toward the mercy seat. 21 mYou shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark, and nin the ark you shall put the Testimony that I will give you. 22 And othere I will meet with you, and I will speak with you from above the mercy seat, from pbetween the two cherubim which are on the ark of the Testimony, about everything which I will give you in commandment to the children of Israel.

The Table for the Showbread

23 q“You shall also make a table of acacia wood; two cubits shall be its length, a cubit its width, and a cubit and a half its height. 24 And you shall overlay it with pure gold, and make a molding of gold all around. 25 You shall make for it a frame of a handbreadth all around, and you shall make a gold molding for the frame all around. 26 And you shall make for it four rings of gold, and put the rings on the four corners that are

Read more Explain verse



A service of Logos Bible Software