Passage: Exodus 17, 18, 19, 20 (RSV)


Exodus 17


1All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of Sin by stages, according to the commandment of the LORD, and camped at Reph'idim; but there was no water for the people to drink.
2Therefore the people found fault with Moses, and said, "Give us water to drink." And Moses said to them, "Why do you find fault with me? Why do you put the LORD to the proof?"
3But the people thirsted there for water, and the people murmured against Moses, and said, "Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?"
4So Moses cried to the LORD, "What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me."
5And the LORD said to Moses, "Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel; and take in your hand the rod with which you struck the Nile, and go.
6Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, that the people may drink." And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel.
7And he called the name of the place Massah and Mer'ibah, because of the faultfinding of the children of Israel, and because they put the LORD to the proof by saying, "Is the LORD among us or not?"
8Then came Am'alek and fought with Israel at Reph'idim.
9And Moses said to Joshua, "Choose for us men, and go out, fight with Am'alek; tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand."
10So Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought with Am'alek; and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.
11Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed; and whenever he lowered his hand, Am'alek prevailed.
12But Moses' hands grew weary; so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat upon it, and Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side; so his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.
13And Joshua mowed down Am'alek and his people with the edge of the sword.
14And the LORD said to Moses, "Write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Am'alek from under heaven."
15And Moses built an altar and called the name of it, The LORD is my banner,
16saying, "A hand upon the banner of the LORD! The LORD will have war with Am'alek from generation to generation."

Exodus 18


1Jethro, the priest of Mid'ian, Moses' father-in-law, heard of all that God had done for Moses and for Israel his people, how the LORD had brought Israel out of Egypt.
2Now Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, had taken Zippo'rah, Moses' wife, after he had sent her away,
3and her two sons, of whom the name of the one was Gershom (for he said, "I have been a sojourner in a foreign land"),
4and the name of the other, Elie'zer (for he said, "The God of my father was my help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh").
5And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife to Moses in the wilderness where he was encamped at the mountain of God.
6And when one told Moses, "Lo, your father-in-law Jethro is coming to you with your wife and her two sons with her,"
7Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, and did obeisance and kissed him; and they asked each other of their welfare, and went into the tent.
8Then Moses told his father-in-law all that the LORD had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel's sake, all the hardship that had come upon them in the way, and how the LORD had delivered them.
9And Jethro rejoiced for all the good which the LORD had done to Israel, in that he had delivered them out of the hand of the Egyptians.
10And Jethro said, "Blessed be the LORD, who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh.
11Now I know that the LORD is greater than all gods, because he delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians, when they dealt arrogantly with them."
12And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, offered a burnt offering and sacrifices to God; and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses' father-in-law before God.
13On the morrow Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood about Moses from morning till evening.
14When Moses' father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, "What is this that you are doing for the people? Why do you sit alone, and all the people stand about you from morning till evening?"
15And Moses said to his father-in-law, "Because the people come to me to inquire of God;
16when they have a dispute, they come to me and I decide between a man and his neighbor, and I make them know the statutes of God and his decisions."
17Moses' father-in-law said to him, "What you are doing is not good.
18You and the people with you will wear yourselves out, for the thing is too heavy for you; you are not able to perform it alone.
19Listen now to my voice; I will give you counsel, and God be with you! You shall represent the people before God, and bring their cases to God;
20and you shall teach them the statutes and the decisions, and make them know the way in which they must walk and what they must do.
21Moreover choose able men from all the people, such as fear God, men who are trustworthy and who hate a bribe; and place such men over the people as rulers of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens.
22And let them judge the people at all times; every great matter they shall bring to you, but any small matter they shall decide themselves; so it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you.
23If you do this, and God so commands you, then you will be able to endure, and all this people also will go to their place in peace."
24So Moses gave heed to the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he had said.
25Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens.
26And they judged the people at all times; hard cases they brought to Moses, but any small matter they decided themselves.
27Then Moses let his father-in-law depart, and he went his way to his own country.

Exodus 19


1On the third new moon after the people of Israel had gone forth out of the land of Egypt, on that day they came into the wilderness of Sinai.
2And when they set out from Reph'idim and came into the wilderness of Sinai, they encamped in the wilderness; and there Israel encamped before the mountain.
3And Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him out of the mountain, saying, "Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel:
4You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself.
5Now therefore, if you will obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my own possession among all peoples; for all the earth is mine,
6and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel."
7So Moses came and called the elders of the people, and set before them all these words which the LORD had commanded him.
8And all the people answered together and said, "All that the LORD has spoken we will do." And Moses reported the words of the people to the LORD.
9And the LORD said to Moses, "Lo, I am coming to you in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and may also believe you for ever." Then Moses told the words of the people to the LORD.
10And the LORD said to Moses, "Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments,
11and be ready by the third day; for on the third day the LORD will come down upon Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.
12And you shall set bounds for the people round about, saying, `Take heed that you do not go up into the mountain or touch the border of it; whoever touches the mountain shall be put to death;
13no hand shall touch him, but he shall be stoned or shot; whether beast or man, he shall not live.' When the trumpet sounds a long blast, they shall come up to the mountain."
14So Moses went down from the mountain to the people, and consecrated the people; and they washed their garments.
15And he said to the people, "Be ready by the third day; do not go near a woman."
16On the morning of the third day there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled.
17Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God; and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain.
18And Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire; and the smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain quaked greatly.
19And as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him in thunder.
20And the LORD came down upon Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain; and the LORD called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.
21And the LORD said to Moses, "Go down and warn the people, lest they break through to the LORD to gaze and many of them perish.
22And also let the priests who come near to the LORD consecrate themselves, lest the LORD break out upon them."
23And Moses said to the LORD, "The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai; for thou thyself didst charge us, saying, `Set bounds about the mountain, and consecrate it.'"
24And the LORD said to him, "Go down, and come up bringing Aaron with you; but do not let the priests and the people break through to come up to the LORD, lest he break out against them."
25So Moses went down to the people and told them.

Exodus 20


1And God spoke all these words, saying,
2"I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
3"You shall have no other gods before me.
4"You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth;
5you shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me,
6but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
7"You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
8"Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9Six days you shall labor, and do all your work;
10but the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your manservant, or your maidservant, or your cattle, or the sojourner who is within your gates;
11for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it.
12"Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which the LORD your God gives you.
13"You shall not kill.
14"You shall not commit adultery.
15"You shall not steal.
16"You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
17"You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant, or his maidservant, or his ox, or his ass, or anything that is your neighbor's."
18Now when all the people perceived the thunderings and the lightnings and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled; and they stood afar off,
19and said to Moses, "You speak to us, and we will hear; but let not God speak to us, lest we die."
20And Moses said to the people, "Do not fear; for God has come to prove you, and that the fear of him may be before your eyes, that you may not sin."
21And the people stood afar off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.
22And the LORD said to Moses, "Thus you shall say to the people of Israel: `You have seen for yourselves that I have talked with you from heaven.
23You shall not make gods of silver to be with me, nor shall you make for yourselves gods of gold.
24An altar of earth you shall make for me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen; in every place where I cause my name to be remembered I will come to you and bless you.
25And if you make me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stones; for if you wield your tool upon it you profane it.
26And you shall not go up by steps to my altar, that your nakedness be not exposed on it.'



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