Get Wisdom at Any Cost

⁶ Understand, then, that it is not because of your righteousness that the Lord your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stiff-necked people.^(A)

The Golden Calf

⁷ Remember this and never forget how you aroused the anger^(B) of the Lord your God in the wilderness. From the day you left Egypt until you arrived here, you have been rebellious^(C) against the Lord.^{(D) 8} At Horeb you aroused the Lord’s wrath^(E) so that he was angry enough to destroy you.^{(F) 9} When I went up on the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant^(G) that the Lord had made with you, I stayed on the mountain forty days^(H) and forty nights; I ate no bread and drank no water.^{(I) 10} The Lord gave me two stone tablets inscribed by the finger of God.^(J) On them were all the commandments the Lord proclaimed to you on the mountain out of the fire, on the day of the assembly.^(K)

¹¹ At the end of the forty days and forty nights,^(L) the Lord gave me the two stone tablets,^(M) the tablets of the covenant. ¹² Then the Lord told me, “Go down from here at once, because your people whom you brought out of Egypt have become corrupt.^(N) They have turned away quickly^(O) from what I commanded them and have made an idol for themselves.”

¹³ And the Lord said to me, “I have seen this people^(P), and they are a stiff-necked people indeed! ¹⁴ Let me alone,^(Q) so that I may destroy them and blot out^(R) their name from under heaven.^(S) 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.^{(T) 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.^(U) 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^(V) prostrate before the Lord for forty days and forty nights; I ate no bread and drank no water,^(W) because of all the sin you had committed,^(X) 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.^(Y) But again the Lord listened to me.^{(Z) 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^(AA) and threw the dust into a stream that flowed down the mountain.^(AB)

²² You also made the Lord angry^(AC) at Taberah,^(AD) at Massah^(AE) and at Kibroth Hattaavah.^(AF)

²³ And when the Lord sent you out from Kadesh Barnea,^(AG) he said, “Go up and take possession^(AH) of the land I have given you.” But you rebelled^(AI) against the command of the Lord your God. You did not trust^(AJ) him or obey him. ²⁴ You have been rebellious against the Lord ever since I have known you.^(AK)

²⁵ I lay prostrate before the Lord those forty days and forty nights^(AL) because the Lord had said he would destroy you.^{(AM) 26} I prayed to the Lord and said, “Sovereign Lord, do not destroy your people,^(AN) your own inheritance^(AO) that you redeemed^(AP) by your great power and brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand.^{(AQ) 27} Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Overlook the stubbornness^(AR) of this people, their wickedness and their sin. ²⁸ Otherwise, the country^(AS) from which you brought us will say, ‘Because the Lord was not able to take them into the land he had promised them, and because he hated them,^(AT) he brought them out to put them to death in the wilderness.’^{(AU) 29} But they are your people,^(AV) your inheritance^(AW) that you brought out by your great power and your outstretched arm.^(AX)”

Tablets Like the First Ones

10 At that time the Lord said to me, “Chisel out two stone tablets^(AY) like the first ones and come up to me on the mountain. Also make a wooden ark.^{[a] 2} I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. Then you are to put them in the ark.”^(AZ)

³ So I made the ark out of acacia wood^(BA) and chiseled^(BB) out two stone tablets like the first ones, and I went up on the mountain with the two tablets in my hands. ⁴ The Lord wrote on these tablets what he had written before, the Ten Commandments^(BC) he had proclaimed^(BD) to you on the mountain, out of the fire, on the day of the assembly.^(BE) And the Lord gave them to me. ⁵ Then I came back down the mountain^(BF) and put the tablets in the ark^(BG) I had made,^(BH) as the Lord commanded me, and they are there now.^(BI)

⁶ (The Israelites traveled from the wells of Bene Jaakan to Moserah.^(BJ) There Aaron died^(BK) and was buried, and Eleazar^(BL) his son succeeded him as priest.^{(BM) 7} From there they traveled to Gudgodah and on to Jotbathah, a land with streams of water.^{(BN) 8} At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi^(BO) to carry the ark of the covenant^(BP) of the Lord, to stand before the Lord to minister^(BQ) and to pronounce blessings^(BR) in his name, as they still do today.^{(BS) 9} That is why the Levites have no share or inheritance among their fellow Israelites; the Lord is their inheritance,^(BT) as the Lord your God told them.)

¹⁰ Now I had stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights, as I did the first time, and the Lord listened to me at this time also. It was not his will to destroy you.^{(BU) 11} “Go,” the Lord said to me, “and lead the people on their way, so that they may enter and possess the land I swore to their ancestors to give them.”

Israel Unrepentant

Doing Good for the Sake of the Gospel

2 You, however, must teach what is appropriate to sound doctrine.^{(A) 2} Teach the older men^(B) to be temperate,^(C) worthy of respect, self-controlled,^(D) and sound in faith,^(E) in love and in endurance.

³ Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers^(F) or addicted to much wine,^(G) but to teach what is good. ⁴ Then they can urge the younger women^(H) to love their husbands and children, ⁵ to be self-controlled^(I) and pure, to be busy at home,^(J) to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands,^(K) so that no one will malign the word of God.^(L)

⁶ Similarly, encourage the young men^(M) to be self-controlled.^{(N) 7} In everything set them an example^(O) by doing what is good.^(P) In your teaching show integrity, seriousness ⁸ and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us.^(Q)

⁹ Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything,^(R) to try to please them, not to talk back to them, ¹⁰ and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior^(S) attractive.^(T)

¹¹ For the grace^(U) of God has appeared^(V) that offers salvation to all people.^{(W) 12} It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions,^(X) and to live self-controlled,^(Y) upright and godly lives^(Z) in this present age, ¹³ while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing^(AA) of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ,^{(AB) 14} who gave himself for us^(AC) to redeem us from all wickedness^(AD) and to purify^(AE) for himself a people that are his very own,^(AF) eager to do what is good.^(AG)

¹⁵ These, then, are the things you should teach. Encourage and rebuke with all authority. Do not let anyone despise you.