The Tent of Meeting

⁷ Now Moses used to take a tent and pitch it outside the camp some distance away, calling it the “tent of meeting.”^(A) Anyone inquiring^(B) of the Lord would go to the tent of meeting outside the camp. ⁸ And whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people rose and stood at the entrances to their tents,^(C) watching Moses until he entered the tent. ⁹ As Moses went into the tent, the pillar of cloud^(D) would come down and stay at the entrance, while the Lord spoke^(E) with Moses. ¹⁰ Whenever the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance to the tent, they all stood and worshiped, each at the entrance to their tent.^{(F) 11} The Lord would speak to Moses face to face,^(G) as one speaks to a friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young aide Joshua^(H) son of Nun did not leave the tent.

⁵ Then the Lord came down in the cloud^(A) and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the Lord.^{(B) 6} And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate^(C) and gracious God, slow to anger,^(D) abounding in love^(E) and faithfulness,^{(F) 7} maintaining love to thousands,^(G) and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.^(H) Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished;^(I) he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.”^(J)

⁸ Moses bowed to the ground at once and worshiped. ⁹ “Lord,” he said, “if I have found favor^(K) in your eyes, then let the Lord go with us.^(L) Although this is a stiff-necked^(M) people, forgive our wickedness and our sin,^(N) and take us as your inheritance.”^(O)

²⁸ Moses was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights^(A) without eating bread or drinking water.^(B) And he wrote on the tablets^(C) the words of the covenant—the Ten Commandments.^(D)

The Parable of the Weeds Explained

³⁶ Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, “Explain to us the parable^(A) of the weeds in the field.”

³⁷ He answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man.^{(B) 38} The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil one,^{(C) 39} and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest^(D) is the end of the age,^(E) and the harvesters are angels.^(F)

⁴⁰ “As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. ⁴¹ The Son of Man^(G) will send out his angels,^(H) and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. ⁴² They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.^{(I) 43} Then the righteous will shine like the sun^(J) in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears, let them hear.^(K)