¹³ And the Lord said to me, “I have seen this people^(A), and they are a stiff-necked people indeed! ¹⁴ Let me alone,^(B) so that I may destroy them and blot out^(C) their name from under heaven.^(D) And I will make you into a nation stronger and more numerous than they.”

¹⁵ So I turned and went down from the mountain while it was ablaze with fire. And the two tablets of the covenant were in my hands.^{(E) 16} When I looked, I saw that you had sinned against the Lord your God; you had made for yourselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf.^(F) You had turned aside quickly from the way that the Lord had commanded you. ¹⁷ So I took the two tablets and threw them out of my hands, breaking them to pieces before your eyes.

¹⁸ Then once again I fell^(G) prostrate before the Lord for forty days and forty nights; I ate no bread and drank no water,^(H) because of all the sin you had committed,^(I) doing what was evil in the Lord’s sight and so arousing his anger. ¹⁹ I feared the anger and wrath of the Lord, for he was angry enough with you to destroy you.^(J) But again the Lord listened to me.^{(K) 20} And the Lord was angry enough with Aaron to destroy him, but at that time I prayed for Aaron too. ²¹ Also I took that sinful thing of yours, the calf you had made, and burned it in the fire. Then I crushed it and ground it to powder as fine as dust^(L) and threw the dust into a stream that flowed down the mountain.^(M)

ז Zayin

ח Heth

ט Teth

¹² See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.^{(A) 13} But encourage one another daily,^(B) as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.^{(C) 14} We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold^(D) our original conviction firmly to the very end.^{(E) 15} As has just been said:

¹⁶ Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt?^{(G) 17} And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies perished in the wilderness?^{(H) 18} And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest^(I) if not to those who disobeyed?^{(J) 19} So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.^(K)

²³ Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival,^(A) many people saw the signs^(B) he was performing and believed^(C) in his name.^{[a] 24} But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people. ²⁵ He did not need any testimony about mankind,^(D) for he knew what was in each person.^(E)

Jesus Teaches Nicodemus

3 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus^(F) who was a member of the Jewish ruling council.^{(G) 2} He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi,^(H) we know^(I) that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs^(J) you are doing if God were not with him.”^(K)

³ Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.^[b]”^(L)

⁴ “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”

⁵ Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.^{(M) 6} Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit^[c] gives birth to spirit.^{(N) 7} You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You^[d] must be born again.’ ⁸ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”^[e](O)

⁹ “How can this be?”^(P) Nicodemus asked.

¹⁰ “You are Israel’s teacher,”^(Q) said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? ¹¹ Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know,^(R) and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony.^{(S) 12} I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? ¹³ No one has ever gone into heaven^(T) except the one who came from heaven^(U)—the Son of Man.^{[f](V) 14} Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness,^(W) so the Son of Man must be lifted up,^{[g](X) 15} that everyone who believes^(Y) may have eternal life in him.”^[h](Z)