Exodus 23

1 "You shall not spread a false report. You shall not join hands with a wicked man to be a malicious witness.2 You shall not fall in with the many to do evil, nor shall you bear witness in a lawsuit, siding with the many, so as to pervert justice,3 nor shall you be partial to a poor man in his lawsuit.

4 "If you meet your enemy's ox or his donkey going astray, you shall bring it back to him.5 If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying down under its burden, you shall refrain from leaving him with it; you shall rescue it with him.

6 "You shall not pervert the justice due to your poor in his lawsuit.7 Keep far from a false charge, and do not kill the innocent and righteous, for I will not acquit the wicked.8 And you shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and subverts the cause of those who are in the right.

9 "You shall not oppress a sojourner. You know the heart of a sojourner, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.

Laws About the Sabbath and Festivals

10 "For six years you shall sow your land and gather in its yield,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. You shall do likewise with your vineyard, and with your olive orchard.

12 "Six days you shall do your work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; that your ox and your donkey may have rest, and the son of your servant woman, and the alien, may be refreshed.

13 "Pay attention to all that I have said to you, and make no mention of the names of other gods, nor let it be heard on your lips.

14 "Three times in the year you shall keep a feast to me.15 You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. As I commanded you, you shall eat unleavened bread for seven days at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt. None shall appear before me empty-handed.16 You shall keep the Feast of Harvest, of the firstfruits of your labor, of what you sow in the field. You shall keep the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in from the field the fruit of your labor.17 Three times in the year shall all your males appear before the Lord God.

18 "You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with anything leavened, or let the fat of my feast remain until the morning.

19 "The best of the firstfruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of the Lord your God.
"You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk.

Conquest of Canaan Promised

20 "Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared.21 Pay careful attention to him and obey his voice; do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression, for my name is in him.

22 "But if you carefully obey his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.

23 "When my angel goes before you and brings you to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, and I blot them out,24 you shall not bow down to their gods nor serve them, nor do as they do, but you shall utterly overthrow them and break their pillars in pieces.25 You shall serve the Lord your God, and het will bless your bread and your water, and I will take sickness away from among you.26 None shall miscarry or be barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days.27 I will send my terror before you and will throw into confusion all the people against whom you shall come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you.28 And I will send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites from before you.29 I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the wild beasts multiply against you.30 Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and possess the land.31 And I will set your border from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the Euphrates, for I will give the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you.32 You shall make no covenant with them and their gods.33 They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against me; for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you."

Exodus 24

The Covenant Confirmed

1 Then he said to Moses, "Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship from afar.2 Moses alone shall come near to the Lord, but the others shall not come near, and the people shall not come up with him."

3 Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the rules.t And all the people answered with one voice and said, "All the words that the Lord has spoken we will do."4 And Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. He rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel.5 And he sent young men of the people of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the Lord.6 And Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he threw against the altar.7 Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, "All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient."8 And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, "Behold the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words."

9 Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up,10 and they saw the God of Israel. There was under his feet as it were a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness.11 And he did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel; they beheld God, and ate and drank.

12 The Lord said to Moses, "Come up to me on the mountain and wait there, that I may give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction."13 So Moses rose with his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up into the mountain of God.14 And he said to the elders, "Wait here for us until we return to you. And behold, Aaron and Hur are with you. Whoever has a dispute, let him go to them."

15 Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain.16 The glory of the Lord dwelt 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 Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel.18 Moses entered the cloud and went up on the mountain. And Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

Exodus 25

Contributions for the Sanctuary

1 The Lord said to Moses,2 "Speak to the people of Israel, that they take for me a contribution. From every man whose heart moves him you shall receive the contribution for me.3 And this is the contribution that you shall receive from them: gold, silver, and bronze,4 blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen, goats' hair,5 tanned rams' skins, goatskins,t acacia wood,6 oil for the lamps, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense,7 onyx stones, and stones for setting, for the ephod and for the breastpiece.8 And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst.9 Exactly as I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle, and of all its furniture, so you shall make it.

The Ark of the Covenant

10 "They shall make an ark of acacia wood. Two cubitst and a half shall be its length, a cubit and a half its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height.11 You shall overlay it with pure gold, inside and outside shall you overlay it, and you shall make on it a molding of gold around it.12 You shall cast four rings of gold for it and put them on its four feet, two rings on the one side of it, and two rings on the other side of it.13 You shall make poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold.14 And you shall put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark to carry the ark by them.15 The poles shall remain in the rings of the ark; they shall not be taken from it.16 And you shall put into the ark the testimony that I shall give you.

17 "You shall make a mercy seatt of pure gold. Two cubits and a half shall be its length, and a cubit and a half its breadth.18 And you shall make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work shall you make them, on the two ends of the mercy seat.19 Make one cherub on the one end, and one cherub on the other end. Of one piece with the mercy seat shall you make the cherubim on its two ends.20 The cherubim shall spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy seat with their wings, their faces one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubim be.21 And you shall put the mercy seat on the top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the testimony that I shall give you.22 There I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are on the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you about all that I will give you in commandment for the people of Israel.

The Table for Bread

23 "You shall make a table of acacia wood. Two cubits shall be its length, a cubit its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height.24 You shall overlay it with pure gold and make a molding of gold around it.25 And you shall make a rim around it a handbreadtht wide, and a molding of gold around the rim.26 And you shall make for it four rings of gold, and fasten the rings to the four corners at its four legs.27 Close to the frame the rings shall lie, as holders for the poles to carry the table.28 You shall make the poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold, and the table shall be carried with these.29 And you shall make its plates and dishes for incense, and its flagons and bowls with which to pour drink offerings; you shall make them of pure gold.30 And you shall set the bread of the Presence on the table before me regularly.

The Golden Lampstand

31 "You shall make a lampstand of pure gold. The lampstand shall be made of hammered work: its base, its stem, its cups, its calyxes, and its flowers shall be of one piece with it.32 And there shall be six branches going out of its sides, three branches of the lampstand out of one side of it and three branches of the lampstand out of the other side of it;33 three cups made like almond blossoms, each with calyx and flower, on one branch, and three cups made like almond blossoms, each with calyx and flower, on the other branch—so for the six branches going out of the lampstand.34 And on the lampstand itself there shall be four cups made like almond blossoms, with their calyxes and flowers,35 and a calyx of one piece with it under each pair of the six branches going out from the lampstand.36 Their calyxes and their branches shall be of one piece with it, the whole of it a single piece of hammered work of pure gold.37 You shall make seven lamps for it. And the lamps shall be set up so as to give light on the space in front of it.38 Its tongs and their trays shall be of pure gold.39 It shall be made, with all these utensils, out of a talentt of pure gold.40 And see that you make them after the pattern for them, which is being shown you on the mountain.