Exodus 23

Justice for All

1 You shall not circulate a false report. Do not put your hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.2 You shall not follow a crowd to do evil; nor shall you testify in a dispute so as to turn aside after many to pervert justice. 3 You shall not show partiality to a poor man in his dispute.4 If you meet your enemys ox or his donkey going astray, you shall surely bring it back to him again.5 If 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.6 You shall not pervert the judgment of your poor in his dispute.7 Keep yourself far from a false matter; do not kill the innocent and righteous. For I will not justify the wicked.8 And you shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds the discerning and perverts the words of the righteous.9 Also you shall not oppress a stranger, for you know the heart of a stranger, because you were strangers in the land of Egypt.

The Law of Sabbaths

10 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 olive grove.12 Six 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, be circumspect and make no mention of the name of other gods, nor let it be heard from your mouth.

Three Annual Feasts

14 Three times you shall keep a feast to Me in the year:15 You 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; none shall appear before Me empty);16 and the Feast of Harvest, the firstfruits of your labors which you have sown in the field; and the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you have gathered in the fruit of your labors from the field.17 Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord God.18 You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leavened bread; nor shall the fat of My sacrifice remain until morning.19 The first of the firstfruits of your land you shall bring into the house of the Lord your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mothers milk.

The Angel and the Promises

20 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; do not provoke Him, for He will not pardon your transgressions; for My name is in Him.22 But if you indeed obey His voice and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.23 For My Angel will go before you and bring you in to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites and the Hivites and the Jebusites; and I will cut them off.24 You shall not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do according to their works; but you shall utterly overthrow them and completely break down their sacred pillars.25 So you shall serve the Lord your God, and He will bless your bread and your water. And I will take sickness away from the midst of you.26 No one shall suffer miscarriage or be barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days.27 I will send My fear before you, I will cause confusion among all the people to whom you come, and will make all your enemies turn their backs to you.28 And I will send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite from before you.29 I 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 I will set your bounds from the Red Sea to the sea, Philistia, and from the desert to the River. For I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you.32 You shall make no covenant 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, it will surely be a snare to you.

Exodus 24

Israel Affirms the Covenant

1 Now 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 And Moses alone shall come near the Lord, but they shall not come near; nor shall the people go up with him.3 So Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the judgments. And all the people answered with one voice and said, All the words which the Lord has said we will do.4 And Moses wrote 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 pillars according to the twelve tribes of Israel.5 Then he sent young men of the children of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the Lord.6 And Moses took half the blood and put it in basins, and half the blood he sprinkled on the altar.7 Then he took 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.8 And Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, This is the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you according to all these words.

On the Mountain with God

9 Then Moses went up, also Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel,10 and they saw the God of Israel. And there was under His feet as it were a paved work of sapphire stone, and it was like the very heavens in its clarity.11 But on the nobles of the children of Israel He did not lay His hand. So they saw God, and they ate and drank.12 Then the Lord said to Moses, Come up to Me on the mountain and be there; and I will give you tablets of stone, and the law and commandments which I have written, that you may teach them.13 So Moses arose with his 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 Hur are with you. If any man has a difficulty, let him go to them.15 Then Moses went up into the mountain, and a cloud covered the mountain.16 Now the 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 a 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 Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

Exodus 25

Offerings for the Sanctuary

1 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:2 Speak to the children of Israel, that they bring Me an offering. From everyone who gives it willingly with his heart you shall take My offering.3 And this is the offering which you shall take from them: gold, silver, and bronze;4 blue, purple, and scarlet thread, fine linen, and goats hair; 5 ram skins dyed red, badger skins, and acacia wood;6 oil for the light, and spices for the anointing oil and for the sweet incense;7 onyx stones, and stones to be set in the ephod and in the breastplate.8 And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.9 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 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 gold 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 The poles shall be in the rings of the ark; they shall not be taken from it.16 And you shall put into the ark the Testimony which I will give you.17 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 the 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 You shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the Testimony that I will give you.22 And there I will meet with you, and I will speak with you from above the mercy seat, from between 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 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 at its four legs.27 The rings shall be close to the frame, as holders for the poles to bear the table.28 And you shall make the poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold, that the table may be carried with them.29 You shall make its dishes, its pans, its pitchers, and its bowls for pouring. You shall make them of pure gold.30 And you shall set the showbread on the table before Me always.

The Gold Lampstand

31 You shall also make a lampstand of pure gold; the lampstand shall be of hammered work. Its shaft, its branches, its bowls, its ornamental knobs, and flowers shall be of one piece. 32 And six branches shall come out of its sides: three branches of the lampstand out of one side, and three branches of the lampstand out of the other side.33 Three bowls shall be made like almond blossoms on one branch, with an ornamental knob and a flower, and three bowls made like almond blossoms on the other branch, with an ornamental knob and a flowerand so for the six branches that come out of the lampstand.34 On the lampstand itself four bowls shall be made like almond blossoms, each with its ornamental knob and flower.35 And there shall be a knob under the first two branches of the same, a knob under the second two branches of the same, and a knob under the third two branches of the same, according to the six branches that extend from the lampstand.36 Their knobs and their branches shall be of one piece; all of it shall be one hammered piece of pure gold.37 You shall make seven lamps for it, and they shall arrange its lamps so that they give light in front of it.38 And its wick-trimmers and their trays shall be of pure gold.39 It shall be made of a talent of pure gold, with all these utensils.40 And see to it that you make them according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain.