The Song of Moses

15 Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord:

¹⁹ When the horses of Pharaoh with his chariots and his chariot drivers went into the sea, the Lord brought back the waters of the sea upon them, but the Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground.^(R)

The Song of Miriam

²⁰ Then the prophet Miriam, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after her with tambourines and with dancing.^{(S) 21} And Miriam sang to them:

Bitter Water Made Sweet

²² Then Moses ordered Israel to set out from the Red Sea,^[c] and they went into the wilderness of Shur. They went three days in the wilderness and found no water.^{(U) 23} When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter. That is why it was called Marah.^{[d](V) 24} And the people complained against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?”^{(W) 25} He cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a piece of wood; he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet.

There the Lord^[e] made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he put them to the test.^{(X) 26} He said, “If you will listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God, and do what is right in his sight, and give heed to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will not bring upon you any of the diseases that I brought upon the Egyptians, for I am the Lord who heals you.”^(Y)

²⁴ Very truly, I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and does not come under judgment but has passed from death to life.^(A)

²⁵ “Very truly, I tell you, the hour is coming and is now here when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.^{(B) 26} For just as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself, ²⁷ and he has given him authority to execute judgment because he is the Son of Man.^{(C) 28} Do not be astonished at this, for the hour is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice ²⁹ and will come out: those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation.^(D)

Witnesses to Jesus

³⁰ “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just because I seek to do not my own will but the will of him who sent me.^(E)

³¹ “If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true.^{(F) 32} There is another who testifies on my behalf, and I know that his testimony to me is true.^{(G) 33} You sent messengers to John, and he testified to the truth.^{(H) 34} Not that I accept such human testimony, but I say these things so that you may be saved. ³⁵ He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light.^{(I) 36} But I have a testimony greater than John’s. The works that the Father has given me to complete, the very works that I am doing, testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me.^{(J) 37} And the Father who sent me has himself testified on my behalf. You have never heard his voice or seen his form,^{(K) 38} and you do not have his word abiding in you, because you do not believe him whom he has sent.^(L)

³⁹ “You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life, and it is they that testify on my behalf.^{(M) 40} Yet you refuse to come to me to have life. ⁴¹ I do not accept glory from humans. ⁴² But I know that you do not have the love of God in^[a] you. ⁴³ I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; if another comes in his own name, you will accept him. ⁴⁴ How can you believe when you accept glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the one who alone is God?^{[b](N) 45} Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; your accuser is Moses, on whom you have set your hope.^{(O) 46} If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me.^{(P) 47} But if you do not believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?”

²⁷ Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they camped there by the water.^(A)

Bread from Heaven

16 The whole congregation of the Israelites set out from Elim and came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt.^{(B) 2} The whole congregation of the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.^{(C) 3} The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and ate our fill of bread, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”^(D)

⁴ Then the Lord said to Moses, “I am going to rain bread from heaven for you, and each day the people shall go out and gather enough for that day. In that way I will test them, whether they will follow my instruction or not.^{(E) 5} On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather on other days.”^{(F) 6} So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, “In the evening you shall know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, ⁷ and in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your complaining against the Lord. For what are we, that you complain against us?”^{(G) 8} And Moses said, “When the Lord gives you meat to eat in the evening and your fill of bread in the morning, because the Lord has heard the complaining that you utter against him—what are we? Your complaining is not against us but against the Lord.”

⁹ Then Moses said to Aaron, “Say to the whole congregation of the Israelites: ‘Draw near to the Lord, for he has heard your complaining.’ ”^{(H) 10} And as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the Israelites, they looked toward the wilderness, and the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud.^{(I) 11} The Lord spoke to Moses, ¹² “I have heard the complaining of the Israelites; say to them, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread; then you shall know that I am the Lord your God.’ ”

¹³ In the evening quails came up and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp.^{(J) 14} When the layer of dew lifted, there on the surface of the wilderness was a fine flaky substance, as fine as frost on the ground.^{(K) 15} When the Israelites saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?”^[a] For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, “It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat.^{(L) 16} This is what the Lord has commanded: Gather as much of it as each of you needs, an omer per person according to the number of persons, all providing for those in their own tents.” ¹⁷ The Israelites did so, some gathering more, some less. ¹⁸ But when they measured it with an omer, those who gathered much had nothing over, and those who gathered little had no shortage; they gathered as much as each of them needed.^{(M) 19} And Moses said to them, “Let no one leave any of it over until morning.”^{(N) 20} But they did not listen to Moses; some left part of it until morning, and it became wormy and rotten. And Moses was angry with them. ²¹ Morning by morning they gathered it, as much as each needed, but when the sun grew hot, it melted.

²² On the sixth day they gathered twice as much food, two omers apiece. When all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses,^{(O) 23} he said to them, “This is what the Lord has commanded: Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord; bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil, and all that is left over put aside to be kept until morning.”^{(P) 24} So they put it aside until morning, just as Moses commanded them, and it did not rot, and there were no maggots in it.^{(Q) 25} Moses said, “Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the field. ²⁶ Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, which is a Sabbath, there will be none.”

²⁷ On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, and they found none. ²⁸ The Lord said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and instructions?^{(R) 29} See! The Lord has given you the Sabbath; therefore on the sixth day he gives you food for two days; each of you stay where you are; do not leave your place on the seventh day.” ³⁰ So the people rested on the seventh day.

³¹ The Israelites called it manna; it was like white coriander seed, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.^{(S) 32} Moses said, “This is what the Lord has commanded: Let an omer of it be kept throughout your generations in order that they may see the food with which I fed you in the wilderness when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.” ³³ And Moses said to Aaron, “Take a jar, and put an omer of manna in it, and place it before the Lord, to be kept throughout your generations.”^{(T) 34} Just as the Lord commanded Moses, so Aaron placed it before the covenant, for safekeeping.^{(U) 35} The Israelites ate manna forty years, until they came to a habitable land; they ate manna, until they came to the border of the land of Canaan.^(V)

The Old Life and the New

¹⁷ Now this I affirm and insist on in the Lord: you must no longer walk as the^[a] gentiles walk, in the futility of their minds;^{(A) 18} they are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of their ignorance and hardness of heart.^{(B) 19} They have lost all sensitivity and have abandoned themselves to licentiousness, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. ²⁰ That is not the way you learned Christ! ²¹ For surely you have heard about him and were taught in him, as truth is in Jesus, ²² to put away your former way of life, your old self, corrupt and deluded by its lusts,^{(C) 23} and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, ²⁴ and to clothe yourselves with the new self, created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.^(D)

Rules for the New Life

²⁵ So then, putting away falsehood, let each of you speak the truth with your neighbor, for we are members of one another.^{(E) 26} Be angry but do not sin;^[b] do not let the sun go down on your anger, ²⁷ and do not make room for the devil. ²⁸ Those who steal must give up stealing; rather, let them labor, doing good work with their own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy. ²⁹ Let no evil talk come out of your mouths but only what is good for building up,^[c] as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear. ³⁰ And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption.^(F)