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New Stone Tablets: A New Copy of the Laws
34 The Lord said to Moses, “Cut out two stone tablets like the first ones. On these tablets I will write the same words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. 2 Be ready by morning, and come up to Mount Sinai in the morning. Present yourself to me there on top of the mountain. 3 No one may come up with you. In fact, no person is to be seen anywhere on the entire mountain. Do not even let the flocks or herds graze in front of that mountain.”
4 Moses cut out two stone tablets like the first ones. Moses got up early in the morning and went up Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and he carried the two stone tablets in his hand. 5 The Lord came down in the cloud. He took his stand there with Moses and proclaimed the name of the Lord. 6 The Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed: “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, and overflowing with mercy and truth, 7 maintaining mercy for thousands, forgiving guilt and rebellion and sin. He will by no means clear the guilty. He calls their children and their children’s children to account for the guilt of the fathers, even to the third and the fourth generation.”
8 Moses quickly bowed to the ground and worshipped. 9 He said, “If I have now found favor in your sight, Lord, please let the Lord go along with us. Although this is a stiff-necked people, pardon our guilt and our sin, and accept us as your possession.”
The Covenant Repeated
10 The Lord said,
See, I am making a covenant. In the presence of all your people I will do marvelous things such as have never been created anywhere on earth or in any nation. So all the people who are around you will see the work of the Lord. For it is an awe-inspiring thing that I will do for you. 11 Observe what I command you this day. Watch me as I drive out the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 12 Be careful that you do not make a treaty with the inhabitants of the land to which you are going, or it will be a trap in your midst. 13 But you must break down their altars and smash their sacred memorial stones to pieces, and you must cut down their Asherah poles.[a] 14 So you must worship no other god. For the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.[b] 15 Do not make a treaty with the inhabitants of the land, so that they can prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to their gods. If you do, they will invite you to eat their sacrifices, 16 and they will invite you to take their daughters as wives for your sons, and their daughters will prostitute themselves and make your sons prostitute themselves to their gods. 17 You shall not make any idols[c] for yourselves.
The Covenant Festivals
18 You shall observe the Festival of Unleavened Bread.[d] For seven days you are to eat bread without yeast, as I commanded you. Eat it at the time appointed in the month of Abib, because you came out of Egypt in the month of Abib.
19 The firstborn of every mother[e] is mine—the firstborn from all your male livestock, the firstborn of cattle and sheep. 20 The firstborn of a donkey you may redeem with a lamb, but if you do not want to redeem it, then you must break its neck. All the firstborn of your sons you must redeem. No one shall appear before me empty-handed.
21 Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you must rest. Even in plowing time and in harvest time you must rest.
22 You are to observe the Festival of Weeks[f] with the first ripe produce from the wheat harvest.
Observe the Festival of Ingathering[g] at the year’s end.
23 Three times a year all your males are to appear before God the Lord, the God of Israel. 24 Because I will drive out nations before you and expand your borders, no one will covet your land when you go up to be in the presence of[h] the Lord, your God, three times a year.
25 You shall not offer leavened bread along with the blood of my sacrifices. Nothing from the sacrifice of the Festival of the Passover is to be left over until morning. 26 You are to bring the best of the firstfruits from your soil to the house of the Lord your God.
You shall not boil a baby goat in its mother’s milk.
27 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write these words for yourself, for these are the words with which I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.”
28 Moses was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights. He did not eat any bread or drink any water. He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.[i]
Moses’ Shining Face
29 When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hand as he came down from the mountain, Moses did not realize that the skin of his face was shining because he had been speaking with the Lord. 30 When Aaron and all the people of Israel saw Moses, they were amazed that the skin of his face was shining, so they were afraid to come close to him. 31 Moses called to them, so Aaron and all the rulers of the community returned to him, and Moses spoke to them. 32 Afterward, all the people of Israel came close to him, and he gave them all of the commands that the Lord had spoken to him on Mount Sinai. 33 When Moses was finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face. 34 But whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he would take the veil off until he came out again. Then he would come out and tell the people of Israel what he had been commanded. 35 Whenever the people of Israel saw Moses’ face, they would see that the skin of Moses’ face was shining. Then Moses would put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with the Lord again.
35 Moses assembled the whole community of the people of Israel and told them, “These are the things which the Lord has commanded you to do.”
The Sabbath
2 On six days work may be done, but the seventh day shall be a holy day for you, a sabbath of complete rest to the Lord. Whoever does any work on that day must be put to death. 3 You must not even light a fire in any of your dwellings on the Sabbath day.
The Offering for the Construction of the Dwelling
4 Moses spoke to the whole community of the people of Israel. He told them what the Lord commanded:
5 From what you possess, gather a special offering[j] for the Lord. Whoever has a willing heart, let him bring these things as the Lord’s offering: gold, silver, and bronze; 6 blue, purple, and scarlet material, fine linen; goats’ hair, 7 rams’ skins dyed red, and the hides of sea cows; acacia wood, 8 olive oil for the Light, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, 9 onyx stones, and stones to be mounted on the special vest and on the chest pouch.
Barabbas or Jesus?
15 At the time of the Festival the governor had a custom to release to the crowd any one prisoner they wanted. 16 At that time they were holding a notorious prisoner named Barabbas. 17 So when they were assembled, Pilate said to them, “Which one do you want me to release to you? Barabbas—or Jesus, who is called Christ?” 18 For Pilate knew that they had handed Jesus over to him because of envy.
19 While he was sitting on the judgment seat, Pilate’s wife sent him a message. “Have nothing to do with that righteous man,” she said, “since I have suffered many things today in a dream because of him.” 20 But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus put to death. 21 The governor asked them, “Which of the two do you want me to release to you?”
“Barabbas!” they said.
22 Pilate said to them, “Then what should I do with Jesus, who is called Christ?”
They all said to him, “Crucify him!”
23 But the governor said, “Why? What has he done wrong?”
But they kept shouting even louder: “Crucify him!”
24 When Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing and that instead it was turning into a riot, he took water, washed his hands in front of the crowd, and said, “I am innocent of this righteous man’s blood. It is your responsibility.”
25 And all the people answered, “Let his blood be on us and on our children!”
26 Then he released Barabbas to them, but he had Jesus flogged and handed him over to be crucified.
Soldiers Mock Jesus
27 Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole cohort[a] of soldiers around him. 28 They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him. 29 They twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand, knelt in front of him, and mocked him by saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” 30 They spit on him, took the staff, and hit him repeatedly on his head.
The Crucifixion
31 After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.
12 How blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,
the people he chose to be his possession.
13 From heaven the Lord observes.
He sees all the children of Adam.
14 From his throne room he looks at all the inhabitants of earth.
15 He alone is the one who shapes all their hearts.
He understands all their deeds.
16 No king is saved by the great size of his army.
No hero is rescued by his great strength.
17 You cannot rely on a horse to save you.
Its great strength will not deliver you.
18 Look, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him,
on those who wait for his mercy.
19 He will deliver their souls from death.
He keeps them alive in famine.
Concluding Prayer
20 Our souls wait for the Lord.
He is our help and our shield.
21 Yes, in him our heart rejoices,
because we trust in his holy name.
22 May your mercy, O Lord, be on us,
even as we wait confidently for you.
Lady Wisdom’s Banquet
9 Wisdom has built her house.
She has carved out her seven pillars.
2 She has prepared her meat.
She has mixed her wine.
She has already set her table.
3 She has sent out her servant girls.
She calls from the highest point in the city,
4 “Whoever is naïve,[a] let him turn in here.”
To someone who lacks sense she says,
5 “Come, eat my food,
and drink the wine that I have mixed.
6 Abandon your naïve ways and live.
Travel the road to understanding.”
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.