33 Adonai said to Moshe, “Leave, you and the people you brought up from the land of Egypt; and move on from here toward the land of which I swore to Avraham, Yitz’chak and Ya‘akov, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ ² I will send an angel ahead of you; and I will drive out the Kena‘ani, Emori, Hitti, P’rizi, Hivi and Y’vusi. ³ You will go to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I myself will not go with you, because you are such a stiffnecked people that I might destroy you on the way.” ⁴ When the people heard this bad news, they went into mourning; and no one wore his ornaments. ⁵ Adonai said to Moshe, “Tell the people of Isra’el, ‘You are a stiffnecked people! If I were to go up with you for even one moment, I would exterminate you! Now, keep your ornaments off; then I will decide what to do to you.’” ⁶ So from Mount Horev onward, the people of Isra’el stripped themselves of their ornaments.

⁷ Moshe would take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, far away from the camp. He called it the tent of meeting. Everyone who wanted to consult Adonai would go out to the tent of meeting, outside the camp. ⁸ Whenever Moshe went out to the tent, all the people would get up and stand, each man at his tent door, and look at Moshe until he had gone into the tent. ⁹ Whenever Moshe entered the tent, the column of cloud would descend and station itself at the entrance to the tent; and Adonai would speak with Moshe. ¹⁰ When all the people saw the column of cloud stationed at the entrance to the tent, they would get up and prostrate themselves, each man at his tent door. ¹¹ Adonai would speak to Moshe face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. Then he would return to the camp; but the young man who was his assistant, Y’hoshua the son of Nun, never left the inside of the tent.

(iii) ¹² Moshe said to Adonai, “Look, you say to me, ‘Make these people move on!’ But you haven’t let me know whom you will be sending with me. Nevertheless you have said, ‘I know you by name,’ and also, ‘You have found favor in my sight.’ ¹³ Now, please, if it is really the case that I have found favor in your sight, show me your ways; so that I will understand you and continue finding favor in your sight. Moreover, keep on seeing this nation as your people.” ¹⁴ He answered, “Set your mind at rest — my presence will go with you, after all.” ¹⁵ Moshe replied, “If your presence doesn’t go with us, don’t make us go on from here. ¹⁶ For how else is it to be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people, other than by your going with us? That is what distinguishes us, me and your people, from all the other peoples on earth.”

(iv) ¹⁷ Adonai said to Moshe, “I will also do what you have asked me to do, because you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.” ¹⁸ But Moshe said, “I beg you to show me your glory!” ¹⁹ He replied, “I will cause all my goodness to pass before you, and in your presence I will pronounce the name of Adonai. Moreover, I show favor to whomever I will, and I display mercy to whomever I will. ²⁰ But my face,” he continued, “you cannot see, because a human being cannot look at me and remain alive. ²¹ Here,” he said, “is a place near me; stand on the rock. ²² When my glory passes by, I will put you inside a crevice in the rock and cover you with my hand, until I have passed by. ²³ Then I will remove my hand, and you will see my back, but my face is not to be seen.”

34 (v) Adonai said to Moshe, “Cut yourself two tablets of stone like the first ones; and I will inscribe on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. ² Be ready by morning; in the morning you are to ascend Mount Sinai and present yourself to me on the top of the mountain. ³ No one is to come up with you, and no one is to be seen anywhere on the mountain; don’t even let the flocks or herds feed in front of this mountain.” ⁴ Moshe cut two stone tablets like the first. Then he got up early in the morning and, with the two stone tablets in his hands, ascended Mount Sinai, as Adonai had ordered him to do.

⁵ Adonai descended in the cloud, stood with him there and pronounced the name of Adonai. ⁶ Adonai passed before him and proclaimed: “YUD-HEH-VAV-HEH!!! Yud-Heh-Vav-Heh [Adonai] is God, merciful and compassionate, slow to anger, rich in grace and truth; ⁷ showing grace to the thousandth generation, forgiving offenses, crimes and sins; yet not exonerating the guilty, but causing the negative effects of the parents’ offenses to be experienced by their children and grandchildren, and even by the third and fourth generations.” ⁸ At once Moshe bowed his head to the ground, prostrated himself ⁹ and said, “If I have now found favor in your view, Adonai, then please let Adonai go with us, even though they are a stiffnecked people; and pardon our offenses and our sin; and take us as your possession.”

(vi) ¹⁰ He said, “Here, I am making a covenant; in front of all your people I will do wonders such as have not been created anywhere on earth or in any nation. All the people around you will see the work of Adonai. What I am going to do through you will be awesome! ¹¹ Observe what I am ordering you to do today. Here! I am driving out ahead of you the Emori, Kena‘ani, Hitti, P’rizi, Hivi and Y’vusi. ¹² Be careful not to make a covenant with the people living in the land where you are going, so that they won’t become a snare within your own borders. ¹³ Rather, you are to demolish their altars, smash their standing-stones and cut down their sacred poles; ¹⁴ because you are not to bow down to any other god; since Adonai — whose very name is Jealous — is a jealous God. ¹⁵ Do not make a covenant with the people living in the land. It will cause you to go astray after their gods and sacrifice to their gods. Then they will invite you to join them in eating their sacrifices, ¹⁶ and you will take their daughters as wives for your sons. Their daughters will prostitute themselves to their own gods and make your sons do the same!

¹⁷ “Do not cast metal gods for yourselves.

¹⁸ “Keep the festival of matzah by eating matzah, as I ordered you, for seven days during the month of Aviv; for it was in the month of Aviv that you came out from Egypt.

¹⁹ “Everything that is first from the womb is mine. Of all your livestock, you are to set aside for me the males, the firstborn of cattle and flock. ²⁰ The firstborn of a donkey you must redeem with a lamb; if you won’t redeem it, break its neck. All the firstborn of your sons you are to redeem, and no one is to appear before me empty-handed.

²¹ “Six days you will work, but on the seventh day you are to rest — even in plowing time and harvest season you are to rest.

²² “Observe the festival of Shavu‘ot with the first-gathered produce of the wheat harvest, and the festival of ingathering at the turn of the year. ²³ Three times a year all your men are to appear before the Lord, Adonai, the God of Isra’el. ²⁴ For I am going to expel nations ahead of you and expand your territory, and no one will even covet your land when you go up to appear before Adonai your God three times a year. ²⁵ You are not to offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread, and the sacrifice of the feast of Pesach is not to be left until morning. ²⁶ You are to bring the best firstfruits of your land into the house of Adonai your God.

“You are not to boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.”

(vii) ²⁷ Adonai said to Moshe, “Write these words down, because they are the terms of the covenant I have made with you and with Isra’el.” ²⁸ Moshe was there with Adonai forty days and forty nights, during which time he neither ate food nor drank water. [Adonai] wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Words.

²⁹ When Moshe came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand, he didn’t realize that the skin of his face was sending out rays of light as a result of his talking with [Adonai]. ³⁰ When Aharon and the people of Isra’el saw Moshe, the skin of his face was shining; and they were afraid to approach him. ³¹ But Moshe called to them; then Aharon and all the community leaders came back to him, and Moshe spoke to them. ³² Afterwards, all the people of Isra’el came near; and he passed on to them all the orders that Adonai had told him on Mount Sinai.

(Maftir) ³³ Once Moshe had finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face. ³⁴ But when he went in before Adonai for him to speak, he would take the veil off until he came out; then, when he came out, he would tell the people of Isra’el what he had been ordered. ³⁵ But when the people of Isra’el saw Moshe’s face, that the skin of Moshe’s face shone, he would put the veil back over his face until he went in again to speak with [Adonai].

Haftarah Ki Tissa: M’lakhim Alef (1 Kings) 18:1–39 (A); 18:20–39 (S)

B’rit Hadashah suggested reading for Parashah Ki Tissa: Luke 11:14 –20; Acts 7:35–8:1; 1 Corinthians 10:1–13; 2 Corinthians 3:1–18

9 Meanwhile, Sha’ul, still breathing murderous threats against the Lord’s talmidim, went to the cohen hagadol ² and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Dammesek, authorizing him to arrest any people he might find, whether men or women, who belonged to “the Way,” and bring them back to Yerushalayim.

³ He was on the road and nearing Dammesek, when suddenly a light from heaven flashed all around him. ⁴ Falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Sha’ul! Sha’ul! Why do you keep persecuting me?” ⁵ “Sir, who are you?” he asked. “I am Yeshua, and you are persecuting me. ⁶ But get up, and go into the city, and you will be told what you have to do.”

⁷ The men traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. ⁸ They helped Sha’ul get up off the ground; but when he opened his eyes, he could see nothing. So, leading him by the hand, they brought him into Dammesek. ⁹ For three days he remained unable to see, and he neither ate nor drank.

¹⁰ There was a talmid in Dammesek, Hananyah by name; and in a vision the Lord said to him, “Hananyah!” He said, “Here I am, Lord.” ¹¹ The Lord said to him, “Get up and go to Straight Street, to Y’hudah’s house; and ask for a man from Tarsus named Sha’ul; for he is praying, ¹² and in a vision he has seen a man named Hananyah coming in and placing his hands on him to restore his sight.” ¹³ But Hananyah answered, “Lord, many have told me about this man, how much harm he has done to your people in Yerushalayim; ¹⁴ and here he has a warrant from the head cohanim to arrest everyone who calls on your name.” ¹⁵ But the Lord said to him, “Go, because this man is my chosen instrument to carry my name to the Goyim, even to their kings, and to the sons of Isra’el as well. ¹⁶ For I myself will show him how much he will have to suffer on account of my name.”

¹⁷ So Hananyah left and went into the house. Placing his hands on him, he said, “Brother Sha’ul, the Lord — Yeshua, the one who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here — has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Ruach HaKodesh.” ¹⁸ In that moment, something like scales fell away from Sha’ul’s eyes; and he could see again. He got up and was immersed; ¹⁹ then he ate some food and regained his strength.

Sha’ul spent some days with the talmidim in Dammesek, ²⁰ and immediately he began proclaiming in the synagogues that Yeshua is the Son of God. ²¹ All who heard him were amazed. They asked, “Isn’t he the man who in Yerushalayim was trying to destroy the people who call on this name? In fact, isn’t that why he came here, to arrest them and bring them back to the head cohanim?” ²² But Sha’ul was being filled with more and more power and was creating an uproar among the Jews living in Dammesek with his proofs that Yeshua is the Messiah.

²³ Quite some time later, the non-believing Jews gathered together and made plans to kill him; ²⁴ but their plot became known to Sha’ul. They were watching the gates day and night in order to do away with him; ²⁵ but under cover of night, his talmidim took him and let him down over the city wall, lowering him in a large basket.

²⁶ On reaching Yerushalayim, he tried to join the talmidim; but they were all afraid of him — they didn’t believe he was a talmid. ²⁷ However, Bar-Nabba got hold of him and took him to the emissaries. He told them how Sha’ul had seen the Lord while traveling, that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Dammesek Sha’ul had spoken out boldly in the name of Yeshua. ²⁸ So he remained with them and went all over Yerushalayim continuing to speak out boldly in the name of the Lord. ²⁹ He talked and debated with the Greek-speaking Jews, but they began making attempts to kill him. ³⁰ When the brothers learned of it, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him away to Tarsus.

³¹ Then the Messianic community throughout Y’hudah, the Galil and Shomron enjoyed peace and was built up. They lived in the fear of the Lord, with the counsel of the Ruach HaKodesh; and their numbers kept multiplying.

³² As Kefa traveled around the countryside, he came down to the believers in Lud. ³³ There he found a man named Aeneas who had lain bedridden for eight years, because he was paralyzed. ³⁴ Kefa said to him, “Aeneas! Yeshua the Messiah is healing you! Get up, and make your bed!” ³⁵ Everyone living in Lud and the Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord.

Now in Yafo there was a talmidah named Tavita ³⁶ (which means “gazelle”); she was always doing tzedakah and other good deeds. ³⁷ It happened that just at that time, she took sick and died. After washing her, they laid her in a room upstairs. ³⁸ Lud is near Yafo, and the talmidim had heard that Kefa was there, so they sent two men to him and urged him, “Please come to us without delay.” ³⁹ Kefa got up and went with them.

When he arrived, they led him into the upstairs room. All the widows stood by him, sobbing and showing all the dresses and coats Tavita had made them while she was still with them. ⁴⁰ But Kefa put them all outside, kneeled down and prayed. Then, turning to the body, he said, “Tavita! Get up!” She opened her eyes; and on seeing Kefa, she sat up. ⁴¹ He offered her his hand and helped her to her feet; then, calling the believers and the widows, he presented her to them alive. ⁴² This became known all over Yafo, and many people put their trust in the Lord. ⁴³ Kefa stayed on in Yafo for some time with a man named Shim‘on, a leather-tanner.